Toulouse and Albi

This most recent weekend, some of my friends and I traveled to Toulouse, a hip college town in France, and Albi, the birthplace of post-impressionist artist Henri Toulouse-Lautrec.  The trip, actually, was for the express purpose of going to Albi, it just so happened that Toulouse is a nice place to visit as well, and trains connect there, so we ended up going to both. (Lucky us!)

Toulouse was a gorgeous city (be it a little reminiscent of Berkeley/Telegraph Ave).  It's your typical college town with a few (read: a lot) of grungy homeless people.   Also, very much unlike Berkeley, Asian people are not seen that often.  While we were there, my friends were called after all over, one een offering why he prefers les Asiatiques: Si belles, si sensuelles, si soumises.  Um, oh, good....creepy.  In fact our experience overall was just a little strange, though it didn't stop us from having a good time.  

Despite the somewhat odd encounters, Toulouse offered great sights.  There were several monuments including the Cathédrale St-Sernin,  the Couvent des Jacobins and Le Capitole. There was also great shopping, and amazing food.  The southern style cooking is really rich and very much based on meat and potatoes stews and flavorful meats.  The dish they are known for is cassoulet, a meat stew (among the meats: duck, sausages and straight lard) with white beans and starchy things, which has a very complex flavor and is incredibly filling.  It was really quite tasty.  I don't have any photos of the food, but below are some of the sights of Toulouse....

Here's the Capitole, note the pink bricks!

The Cathédrale Saint Sernin

The Interior of Cathédrale Saint Sernin

A cute little square with a fountain in between Cathédrale Saint Sernin and the Couvent des Jacobins

The exterior of the Couvent des Jacobins

The interior of the Couvent des Jacobins

Looking back from the circular dome, in the mirror that made it so easy to see the ceiling.  So pretty!

The Tomb of Thomas Aquinas, in Couvent des Jacobins

The fountain in the Place de Wilson, with a sculpture of a poet of Toulouse, it's quite picturesque, non?

A large gallery in the Musée des Augustins, it was a very very beautiful museum.

AND NOW, ALBI! The BEST TINY TOWN EVER.  

We decided to go to Toulouse and Albi for the weekend because my good friend KellyAnn really LOVES the post-impressionist painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.  He was born in Albi, and there's a painting there with a great collection of his works.  At first, Albi was just where the museum was, but it ended up having some of the best food and the prettiest sights I have ever seen.  Now, you may think that I'm exaggerating, but the restaurant, called Lou Sicret, had some of the best food I've ever had.  In fact, my travel companions and I sat in the restaurant RAVING for the whole meal.  I was quoted saying I want to be proposed to there, married just near there, have the wedding reception and meal there, have my children there, raise my children there, the whole nine yards.  It was fantastic.  I know, I sound ridiculous, but, really, BEST FOOD EVER, and the house wine was pretty fantastic as well.  As for the other jewel of the trip, the Cathédrale Sainte Cécile, described in the Lonely Planet tourbook as a cathedral with a tower reminiscent of a Dark Lord's tower from Lord of the Rings, I was somewhat less than enthused.  But, upon seeing it, it is truly a wonder to behold.  Built during the 1200s, with additions up through the gothic era the façade is mostly red brick with skinny windows in the clerestory, except for the door in the middle, which hints at the ornate beauty that lies inside.  The gothic decor on the inside of this church is absolutely breathtaking.  I can't even begin to tell you how amazing it was.  It houses one of the top 3 organs in France, according to their website, and every inch of the interior is adorned.  The following photos do not do it justice.

The exterior of Cathédrale Sainte Cécile

Looking at the main altar and the organ pipes.  Notice the ceiling!!!

A closer look

Looking back towards the Grand Choir, and the great treasures of the church.   You had to pay to go back there, so this is as close as I got.

Looking to the back of the cathedral from the front altar. Probably one of my favorite pictures I have taken to date.

So a slightly askew photo of the one above, but a better view of the ceiling and much more dramatic lighting. I had to include it.  I really, really, really loved this cathedral.

Overall, the trip was amazing. I loved every second.  I can't wait to go back to Albi and live happily ever after.  (Haha, only slightly kidding!)

blog.post.overload.

Alright, so the Paris post took longer to create than  expected, and I was surprisingly busy the last week, so here's the week in weather....It really was quite a bit colder with snow Wednesday evening through Thursday afternoon.  Like, I wish the weather had been this nice...

Of course, I check the weather every morning, to see what I'm in for.  And I prefer AccuWeather.com for that information, because it gives an hourly break down, and what the "Real Feel" is going to be, factoring in windchill and such.  On Thursday morning, however, the "Real Feel" was not appreciated.

SERIOUSLY?!?! NOT FUNNY.

Alright, that being done, school this week was quite enjoyable with such exchanges as:

Me: Hello, I come from California, and I was wondering if I should be doing anything different?  For Example, do I have different work to do and a different test?
Professor:  Yes, you should not do what the French students do, it will be too hard. You will have an oral final at the end, we will ask you questions about the class.
Me: Oh, great!  Is there any reading you would suggest?
Professor: You want to read?! That's great!  Yes, this book is good, you can read it in English if you want.

Some professors like foreign students, and some don't, but for the most part, as I awkwardly stumble up to them to chat, and fumble through my speech, they think: My goodness, she is foreign, she should not do the same work as everyone else, but wow, she's brave for coming here....I have been told on multiple occasions about how "brave" I am for taking classes in France and how it is quite "rigorous" and will be very challenging.  Good, bring it.  As of this moment, due to my blatant foreignness I have very little actual work, because nothing is graded, and we do separate things that the French students.  I am excited to get into the meat of things.

Also, I finally made some French friends!  Though, I think that they are just making fun of me and my friends because they talk so fast.  But, they were nice enough to give us their phone numbers, addresses, and e-mails, and they said we should hang out some time....how nice.  I just don't want them to laugh at how foreign we are all the time, nor do I want to be a party trick thing ("Hey, did you see what the Californians just did!? Oh, silly Californians").  Trying to show off, because I obviously was floundering as they whispered French very quickly in my ear during lecture, Jordan decided to write me a note. Because he's so proficient at the English language, and so much better at English than I am at French....hmmmm.  Though I have the sneaking suspicion that I might sound like that, I really hope not...

Also Mamette and Papi are back for the week and I'm very pleased.  It's Chinese New Year today, and I'm going to eat Chinese food (yikes!) in France! I will let you know how it turns out.....Gung Hay Fat Choy!

a weekend in paris

I spent the last weekend in Paris, and it was amazing. Summarizing it in a post, however, is somewhat daunting, but I shall try....We'll go day by day....

Day 0.5 (not a full day): 4/2/10: Getting there
I ended up sitting next to a very nice French girl a few rows up from my travel companions, Harmony and Kellyann. I had brought a book to read, but ended up sleeping quite a bit. It's really not that interesting, but once we got to Paris, we had directions to the hostel, and we were ready to be not on a train. After walking up and down stairs FOREVER, paying to use a public toilet, and buying tiny metro tickets, we were ready. We got to the hostel with very little trouble, but we were STARVING. Unfortunately the restaurant was no longer serving food, so we went in search of sustenance. We were told there was a kebab place somewhere near by, but we didn't find it. Harmony, however, was asked if she was Lady Gaga, and a not sober man ran towards us and really freaked us out....In the end, we bought chèvre (goat cheese), crackers, and chocolate muffins (the food of champions) and ate that in a small booth in the hostel. And, then we went to bed.

Day 1 (first full day): 5/2/10: WALKING

After the free breakfast provided at the hostel (baguette, jam, butter, nutella, coffee, tea, oj, cereal) we decided to go walking through Paris and hit up the touristy things. Also, the weather gods provided us with the prettiest clouds and most temperate weather, it was incredibly enjoyable. We got off the metro at l'Arc de Triomphe, walked down the Champs-Elysées, went towards la Tour Eiffel, (eating lunch between the walking), and then to Les Invalides and Le Tombeau de Napoléon, and then to the Musée d'Orsay (AMAZING), and then to le Jardin des Tuileries, where we took really pretty night time photos, and then home. We walked A LOT. We ended with a nice meal in the hostel and made some friends with our fellow hostel dwellers.

Also, about the Musée d'Orsay, it houses an AMAZING collection. It's art of the XIXème siècle which includes the artistic periods of Neo-classicism, Impressionism, post-Impressionism, Realism and Romanticism. MY FAVORITES. I went a little crazy. I was running around from one room to the next, because everywhere I looked, there was a really famous painting that I absolutely adore. I was able to get right up close and look at the brushstrokes. My heart beats a little faster just thinking about it. I was near tears and all trembly at several moments because it was all so beautiful and famous. DEFINITELY GOING BACK

 

L'Arc de Triomphe

 

from across the street

 

look, parents, I'm really in Paris!

 Les Invalides, in front of Napoleon's Tomb

 

the sky!

yes, I was this close to masterpieces.

the Musee d'Orsay, favorite place

A view of Les Invalides and Notre Dame in the dusk

a view of the Louvre by night

Day 2: 6/2/10: Montmartre, the Louvre Exterior, Notre Dame and the Latin Quarter.

Though the weather was not as splendid as the day before, we decided to walk around Montmartre, visit the Sacre Coeur basilica, and try and find the houses of several famous painters of the Impressionist and post-Impressionist eras. We were only successful in finding the house of Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec's house seemed not to be labeled. Though we could not find his house, we did find an amazing restaurant, with a 12.80€ formule (entrée+plat ou plat+dessert) and it was SO TASTY. Next time I'm in Paris, I would gladly return. Also, it was filled with the cutest French children. After lunch we went to the Moulin Rouge, and then back to the hostel for a little break. After that, we went decided to look at the exterior of the Louvre in the day time, and then walk to Notre Dame, and the Latin Quarter. After taking copious photos, we found ourselves in the Latin Quarter where we had an expensive meal, and then some inexpensive drinks at an awesome piano bar. The pianist was a young charming and attractive Frenchman with an amazing voice and a penchant for American tunes. After hearing "Sweet Home Alabama", many of Elton John's hits, some Coldplay, U2 and Sting, we were hooked. He was really good, and he greatly enjoyed that we were singing along. When we got up to leave (happy hour having finished long ago), he stopped mid-song and gave us puppy-dog eyes. It was rather flattering. We got crêpes at one of the many stands, and then went to a jazz club where we listened to live jazz in an old cave that used to be a prison. After that, we went back to the hostel, all in all, a good day.

Sacre Coeur

the Louvre exterior by day

Notre Dame

Day 3: 7/2/10: Le Musée de l'Orangerie, Latin Quarter by day, and dinner with an old friend

On the third day, we got a later start than usual, but still managed to walk A LOT and see some pretty amazing things. We went to the Musée de l'Orangerie where Monet's collossal paintings of Les Nymphéas (water lilies) are housed. They are breathtaking. After looking at the rest of the museum, we went to a tasty lunch near the Louvre, were the we were mistaken for French (SO COOL) and then we walked towards the Latin Quarter. We just walked around the boutiques, eating crêpes and chatting, it was very enjoyable. In the evening, I met up with my friend Lia, from Miramonte High School, and we had a really nice dinner with our travel buddies. It was like old times, and I loved every second.

Look, parents! More art

So beautiful, and a sneak photo of my travel companions (Harmony=blonde, KellyAnn=black hair)

The Fountain of St. Michael in the Latin Quarter

Day 4: 8/2/10: Le Louvre, and a train ride

The last day we went to the Louvre and walked far more than we intended. It was not very crowded, which was nice, and we got in for free because we're students, which was better. I would like to go back to the Louvre again, and really spend time looking at everything. The train home was uneventful, and I greatly enjoyed my small nap.

Venus de Milo

Winged Victory

The Raft of the Medusa (Gericault)

Death of Sardanapalus (Delacroix)

My favorite painting EVER. One of the reasons I decided to study art history.

a look at the Louvre from under a pyramid

Overall the trip was tiring but incredibly enjoyable. And I learned a lot about my ability to speak French. Also, I perfected the face needed to ignore/repel people. There were so many people trying to sell us useless, cheap crap. Some even tried flattery, but, saying "You 'ave a naice booty" will get you nowhere with me, thank you very much. All in all, it was amazing, and I can't wait to go back in the spring, when the gardens are in bloom!

first day of class!

For starters, my host brother Paco loves to sing, and gets songs stuck in his head all the time. He likes to sing while he does the dishes. I've heard "Le lion s'endort se soir," the tune to Aretha's "I Will Survive," and the "muh muh muh mah" of Lady Gaga's PokerFace. (Because he speaks no English, and certainly no American, he just hums the tunes....) And, as I write this post, he's singing some song in French that seriously annoys Manu. (What else are little brothers for, really?)

and a little weather update:

Alright, now for the first day of class. It started somewhat poorly with the tram breaking down. It was a very strange experience, really. At the St. Nicolas stop, a woman's voice came over the loud speaker and said (en français, biensûr) "This is the end of the line. There has been an incident on the tracks between St. Nicolas and Doyen Brus." With very few complaints, everyone on the relatively full train got off and started walking. I don't really know how to describe it. 50-100 people got off the train and just started walking, without a word. It really was somewhat upsetting how everyone reacted, mostly because it seemed to be such a normal thing for them. (I really hope tram breakdown is not super normal...) Because I'm slightly OCD, I left about 45 minutes early for the first day of class. Despite the large cushion I gave myself, I still arrived in class 15 minutes late, because I had to walk for an hour. 6.1 kilometers.

As I GoogleMapped this, I saw that it actually could have been only a nice 5.5 km walk, but I don't know the streets well enough, so I just walked along the tram tracks....bummer.

Once I got to school, (only 15min late after floundering trying to find the class) I sat down to listen to my first TD (travaux dirigés). The equivalent of a discussion section in the US. It was for Renaissance Art of the 14th and 15th centuries, a topic I have covered. So, the info was not new, but the methods of testing were. I would be required to do a 25-30 minute oral presentation in French, as well as a paper. I chose a topic that would be presented in 1 week. AAAH!!! At this point, I am thinking I might drop the class, but I wanted to give the CM (cours magistrale) a chance. The US equivalent of a CM is lecture. The CM was in a large lecture hall filled with many first year art history students. Here are some observations:

1. The classrooms are pretty grungy. There was graffiti all over the desks, and the lights didn't work, and the seats aren't cushioned. Also, there were some lighting issues, the first half hour f class being conducted in complete darkness...

2. The French students talked and joked throughout class, with a volume similar to that of a US classroom. (that is to say, perhaps "CA volume" and "French volume" are more similar than I thought)

3. Le Petit Pause (no translation necessary) is a time for half the class to leave and smoke. A la fin du petit pause, everyone comes back in the amphitheater surrounded by cold air and cigarette smoke. It's really quite amusing.

4. The French "Frenchify" everything (my professor admitted to it). This means, Leonardo de Vinci (pronunication: lee-oh-nar-doe da vin-chee) becomes Léonard de Vinci (pronounciation: lay-oh-nar de van-si). It is more difficult than it would seem, because she says these names quite quickly, everyone knows them, and she moves on. All the while, I hear the name, think about it, say it slowly in my head, and then realize "OH HIM!" and then scramble to write down her thoughts.

After the CM, I decided to drop the class. I don't really want to do that huge expose next week, and I'm not going to get credit for it back at UCLA (because I've taken an equivalent class) so it's not worth the effort.

After a nice lunch, I went to my next 2 hours of class (hours 5 and 6 of class for the day) on "L'art du Portrait." It was much better. It's a class for 3rd year students, and though the professor is the same for the Renaissance class and this one, she cares more in this class. She goes slower, more in detail, probably because in this class everyone is listening to her. It was really nice. After class I introduced myself, and told her I study at UCLA. She asked me if I had been to the Getty. "Of course!" I replied, "I usually have to go there for my classes!" She really liked that, and I think we kinda bonded. So after a somewhat exhausting morning, it turned out OK. Through the rest of the week, I have Art et histoire littéraire as well as L'art du XIXème siècle, hopefully these will be alright as well.

Et maintenant, je practique la langue française:

A jeudi, je prendrai le TGV à Paris pour le week-end. Je suis ravie d'y aller. J'espère qu'il ne pleuvra pas beaucoup! J'essaie de parler plus en français, mais, comme d'habitude, je ne peux jamais m'exprimer précisement. Quelle tristesse!

Si vous ne comprenez pas, traduisez-le à "Google Translator"

Bon Weekend!