Strasbourg! La plus belle ville du monde...

This is ridiculously overdue, but what can I say? It's been pretty busy this month.

For the weekend of May 13-16, also known in the Christian calendar as the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven, I went to Strasbourg, France with Inga and Rebecca, two American friends also studying French at CIDEF. First of all, thank goodness I go to school at a Catholic university that feels obligated to give us time off to go to church/be with our families/get one last vacation in. We left on Thursday morning and came back on Saturday afternoon.

Angers is in the west of France and Strasbourg is so far east that it's practically Germany (more on that later) so it was really interesting to watch the landscape change during the train ride to and from Strasbourg. Angers is part of the Loire Valley, so it's flat and green, but almost a bright, colored-printer-paper green. If you've seen any aerial photos of the classic chateaux of France, that's what we're dealing with. It's also very immaculately kept, for the most part--all gardens are neatly trimmed, etc. By the time we got to Strasbourg, the trees and grass had become wet (because of the rain, but the colors struck me as "wet") and the green had become a deep evergreen. It actually reminded me a lot of Southern VA/Northern TN/West Virginia. It was a very pretty train ride.

Unfortunately, it rained for the first day, and it was very, very cold. My fingers were numb when I held my umbrella. Our hotel was kind of a dump, but that didn't matter too much because a) it was cheap and b) I'm a college student. I've always, always seen worse. But the TV didn't work and the shower head was crazy with practically no partition to keep the water from spraying everywhere. The internet also didn't work in our room, and we had to pay to use the computer downstairs.

The food, though. Glorious! I've been subsisting on mostly fruit and yogurt lately, so I wanted to eat some MEAT. From about 1870 to 1919, Alsace and Lorraine were a part of Germany (or Prussia, at that time). Napolean III had picked a fight with Bismarck, and the French army was absolutely destroyed. Typical. The Prussians took the two departments in retaliation because they are so rich in carbon. As a result, "French" children went to German-style schools, spoke German as a first or second language, and basically became full-blooded German citizens. In the rest of France, maps showed Alsace and Lorraine shaded in black, and the country was literally in "mourning" for their lost brethren. It became this deep wound on the French psyche, and is one of the reasons that France jumped so quickly into WWI at the height of nationalistic sentiment in Europe. At the end of WWI, Alsace and Lorraine returned to France, which was confusing to everyone by that point. Even today, Strasbourg and the rest of the area retains a lot of it's German heritage. Strasbourg is even right on the border of Germany. There's a line on the city map, like: FRANCE / GERMANY.



The moral of this story is that there is a lot of fantastic food in Strasbourg. For lunch, we had Flammekuchen, which is a really crispy, thin pizza with creme fraiche and mushrooms and bacon. We also saw a bunch of the little pastries and breads that are unique to the region. But the best was the dinner on Friday night, when we all had regional specialities. The image above is what I ate: Baeckeoffe. It's basically three meats, potatoes, and carrots cooked with white wine and cooked in a "terrine." I loved the terrine so much that I picked one up for myself to take home. Honestly, it was a little dry, but I'm sure that's something I can learn to adjust. I was seriously jealous of Inga's pork knuckle with sauerkraut. Mmm. It looked delicious. I noticed that many restaurants in this area had what I can only describe as "family" seating. I'm very used to very small tables that only seat two people, four at the most. However, at two restaurants in three days, we were seated at one end of a long table that sat anywhere between six and ten people. I watched hostesses seat two different parties at the same table. It was interesting. I kind of liked it. It fit with the cozy atmosphere of the region. We also ate lunch one day at a sushi restaurant that had a conveyor belt that moved all of the dishes around the room. It was really cool, actually. And one of the cheapest meals I've eaten all semester!





We also visited the cathedral, which is huge and beautiful and will probably always stick in my mind. It's very gothic and mysterious looking because it's made out of sandstone. Inside, I lit a memory candle for my grandfather, whose mother was from Germany and who was Catholic. Never let it be said that I am not thoughtful. Also, Petite France was absolutely stunning and basically straight out of a children's book. The buildings are all timber framed and white with steeply sloping roofs. Interestingly enough, it's called "la Petite France" because it used to be the area where all of the french prostitutes did their business. Now it just sounds (and looks) like it should be a part of Disneyland. It was in this area that I was able to get my pretty terrine for only 25 euro!

We also went to a few gardens, but other than that, we just wandered around. I loved it, though. Strasbourg is definitely a city I would love to come back to. Only about 10 days left in France! It's a weird feeling, but more on that later.

Spring Break, Part II

Picking up from where I left off, we were in a taxi cab on our way to the hotel by Charles de Gaulle. Ibis in Roissy-en-France is probably one of the worst hotel experiences I've had in a while. The staff was generally unhelpful, unavailable, and un-nice (I know that's not a word, but I'm trying to keep with the "un" theme here). The room we were in is small and dark with only one window, but surprisingly the bathroom was kind of nice. Even as I say all of this, I'm going to have to deal with it all over again in a month when I stay there before my flight home. At least I know what I'm getting myself into this time around, though. And I know where I can go to eat dinner (hint: it's in another hotel).

On top of this, the news was not good and it was becoming clear that Mom wasn't going to be able to get out anytime soon, so she started crying and I almost wanted to peace out and go back to Angers and sleep for a couple of weeks. But I was a good daughter and started looking up other options. Like taking a ferry across the Mediterranean and flying out of Tunisia. Or taking the train to Madrid and flying from there. Or taking the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Or boarding a trans-Atlantic cargo ship as a passenger. Never, ever let it be said that I am not resourceful.

We ended up not taking any of those options and Mom rebooked herself for Thursday. By Monday morning, we were getting out of Ibis and back into the hotel that we loved so much in the center of Paris. The room was smaller, but we had a little bit of a balcony. There was just a shower though, and one with only a curtain, so water got everywhere and it was generally not fun. I wish we could say that we branched out for food, but I tend to find places that I like to eat and then keep going back, so that's what we did. We also finally got to go see the Eiffel Tower, and even though we didn't go up into it, we did walk around a little bit. It's always just nice to get out and walk around a little bit. Tuesday night, we went out for one last dinner and I had the best crême brulée and hot chocolate yet in France.

Wednesday, I went back to Angers. I left Mom at the hotel and I stayed perky and smiley so that our parting wouldn't turn into a sea of tears. Mom watched me until I turned the corner, which, yes, did make me cry a little bit but IT'S OKAY! because I'll be home very soon. It turns out that all of the attractive french men are in the army and wandering around the train stations. The TGV I took back to Angers was brand spanking new with bright seats and a very "modern" design. I liked it. I hope I get to ride in another one like that soon. It honestly felt like I hadn't been gone at all; it felt like coming home. I spent the rest of the week just hanging out, catching up on TV shows, sleeping, and reading.

I know. I live such an exciting life.

And that's it! Class started again and now I'm one week closer to being home!

Spring Break, Part I

I had two weeks of vacation for spring break, from April 9-26, and ended up spending the bulk of it with my mom. I was up at 5:30 the Saturday after classes let out, and on my way to Paris by 6:45. Her plane from Atlanta was a couple of ours late, but that was fine because I actually love hanging out in airports. So I had some breakfast--an espresso (they grow on you) and a croissant--and I read my new edition of Better Homes and Gardens from cover to cover. All in all, a good morning. When she finally exited the terminal, it wasn't a huge hysterical crying affair, luckily. I think that if we haden't been skyping each other religiously since February, it would have been worse. But we got our museum passes (which I highly recommend) and took the RER into Paris, which cost 9 euros for each of us! Ridiculous.

Our hotel was in the Latin Quarter, the oldest area of Paris after the little islands, and just a few blocks from the Sorbonne, only of the oldest colleges/universities in France. The rooms were soundproofed, which was great because Paris in general is very loud. I had a great time showing mom the typical Parisian vacation: the Louvre, the Orsay museum, and all of the other typical stuff. I have to say that anything less than five days in Paris is not enough if you want to see everything. At the end of each day, we curled up and watched International CNN and BBC World.




We spent an entire day at Versailles. The chateau itself is overwhelmingly and obscenely decorated and packed with rude tourists and tour guides. But afterward, we wandered in the gardents and ate lunch there, too. We both had the bruschetta at one of the little restaurants located on the grounds, and it was absolutely delicious. The bread wasn't too dry or hard, the cheese was only slightly melted, the halved cherry tomatoes were so sweet and warm, and the surprise of the spinach, pesto, and balsamic vinaigrette really made it perfect. I'm pretty sure they made my pear crumble from scratch, too. Yummy. It was one of the best meals I've had in France. Next, we headed to Marie Antoinette's getaways: the Petit Trianon and her hamlet all the way at the edge of the property. The Trianon was much more of my style--it had more of a Regency English feel, and unlike Versailles, they actually followed the caveat of "less is more." The hamlet was stunning. It was really interesting, coming from the tightly controlled and immaculately trimmed gardens of Versailles, to wander around rolling hills filled with winding paths, creeks, wild flowers, a grotto, and an open-air music room. The hamlet was a little farm where Marie Antoinette and her close friends dressed in simpler clothes, raises animals, and kept vegetable gardens. There are still sheep, goats, rabbits, cows, and even a few peacocks. I seriously wish I could impart how beautiful and serene it was. I wanted to just lay on a hillside and watch the swans in the lake and take a nap.

A few other things I would recommend to anyone thinking about taking a vacation to Paris: a boat tour of the Seine; a visit to the archeological crypt below Notre Dame; attending a Sunday afternoon organ concert at Notre Dame (free); and spending an afternoon at the Luxembourg Garden, making sure to take a little tour of the statues of the various women of French history that are in a semi-circle around the fountain.

During this whole time, the train conductors were on strike. This meant massive delays and cancellations. Mom and I found out that our train to Aix-en-Provence was cancelled, and that morning when we got up, I just happened to check online and saw that a train was scheduled to depart that morning...in half an hour. We were very lucky that it was still early morning, that the train station was close by, and that we had a wonderful taxi driver. We got there with 5 minutes to spare, and off we went! The Lyon train station is much bigger than I had thought, and I almost killed mom running to catch the train (sorry!), but we made it! After a quick conversation with an employee on the platform ("Our train was cancelled. We're getting on this one." "Okay."), we were good to go! The train was blissfuly empty and mom was able to nap a bit but also be awake enough to appreciate the scenery. The South is so beautiful and diverse. Cezanne lived in Aix and his Mont St. Victoire paintings do more than enough justice to the landscape. I spent a week with Emilie Dayan and her grandparents in Fos-sur-mer a few years ago and we covered a lot of ground in her car--mountains, islands, marshes, and the seaside! As breathtaking as the green hills of the Loire Valley are, they all look the same after a while.





Our time in Aix was nice and relaxing. We mostely ate, wandered, and did some shopping. Unfortunately, our hotel was further out this time around, and we had to take the bus to get into centre ville. But there was a market that first day where I bought my first real souvenir from France! (Sidenote: "souvenir" is a French verb that means "to remember." The more you know!) Mom and I went halfsies on four placemates and four napkins in a traditional Provençal print. The colors match my plates, so I'm really excited, and they weren't even horribly expensive! This is a photo from the internet, but it's the same colors and pattern:





We also went to the Cathedrale St. Sauver, which is famous for its cloister which was constructed in the first century using stones from the Roman forum that used to stand in Aix. We went on a little tour of the cloister that was all in French and explained the engravings on the columns, so I got to impress mom with my French --> English translation skillz. There were two Australians there though that got their noses out of joint that the tour guide couldn't do it in English, too. Aix is not Paris! Anyway, it was really nice to just wander around in a different, slower city, and to sleep in and read. This hotel didn't have English TV channels, so I think it got on Mom's nerves a bit, but it was good for me to listen to French while on break and to keep up with world events too. (Like volcanoes.)

We thought our train back to Paris had been cancelled, but there was just an error on the website. So, luckily, Mom and I had seats! The hallways between the cars and the stairwells between the two levels were full of people. Other than that, though, the train ride was fairly uneventful. Unfortunately, amidst my discussion (in French!) about the nuclear summit in DC with our taxi driver on the way to the hotel, we discovered that Charles de Gaulle Airport was closed, so both of our flights for the next day were cancelled...

Cliffhanger! And my fingers are hurting and I have class soon.