Travels 2: Cinque Terre

The end of March meant my first trip to Italy. Unfortunately, mismatched schedules and expensive tickets prevented me from being able to visit my friend Kori where she is studying in Rome, but she was going to Cinque Terre on the northwest coast with her roommates anyway, so I decided I could tag along. It was a fantastic choice.

I left Friday morning and flew to Milan, where I met up with Kori. We took the train to La Spezia, the closest city to Cinque Terre with a main train station. The train ride itself was an adventure... First of all, our seats for the 3 hr. ride were double booked, and the other people got there first. We decided to just take some other seats until it became a problem before we tried to talk to the conductor. This was fine until someone came to check our tickets. He informed us that our tickets were not valid because we had not “confirmed” them, and that we had to get off at the next big station, Genova, about halfway to La Spezia, to do so. We argued that of course they were valid, and we had bought them online, but he quite unconcernedly told us no, and moved on. This was all in broken Italian on our parts, and broken English in his, so there was much confusion. We were thrilled about the situation, but we knew that we had paid, so being the daredevils we are, we decided to just not get off at Genova and see what happened. In the meantime, we had to keep moving seats because people kept boarding and taking ours, and eventually we ended up on tiny seats that folded out of the aisles from the wall. This whole time we were petrified that the conductor would come back and kick us off or something. A few officials passed by us during the trip, but nobody questioned us at all. Quite ridiculous. We could easily have not had valid tickets and gotten away with it, little did we know. We found out later that the official had no idea what he was talking about and that our tickets were fine… We finally got to La Spezia and had to take a smaller regional train to Riomaggiore, the first village in Cinque Terre and the location of our hostel.

We managed to get on another long distance train instead, on its way back to Milan. Long story short, a couple hours later than planned, we made it to our hostel. It was too late to get dinner, so we settled for dessert and then crashed for the night. It was interesting first day.

Saturday morning we woke up to an absolutely gorgeous day. It was sunny and about 80°F, and we were in an adorable town on the Mediterranean.

We spent a few hours lying on the rocks by the marina, ‘cause why not? We then began our trek from Riomaggiore to Manarola on the Via dell’Amore, or “Lover’s Lane”. It’s about a 20 minute walk through the cliff wall, both in tunnels and in the open. Once in Manarola, were hungry, so we made our way upwards through the windy streets until we were well past the touristy areas. We stumbled on Billy’s Trattoria, and it was the perfect place for lunch.

The patio overlooked the rest of the town, the terraces of vineyards on the adjacent mountainside, and of course the Mediterranean. Billy’s served the best lunch I’ve possibly ever had, and certainly the best seafood.

I ordered the house white wine and seafood spaghetti, we got bread and olive oil and vinegar with it, and I spent less than €12. The spaghetti had the freshest clams, mussels, squid, scallops, and a gigantic shrimp-like animal. It may have been a pink baby lobster for all I know, but I really don’t care. It was sweet and tender and amazing. I even loved the wine, and I’m still learning to like wine, though I’ve made giant’s steps since coming to France.

After lunch, we took the train to the next town, Corniglia, since there had been a landslide and the most of the paths were closed. Corniglia is a fun trek, as you have to climb 382 steps from the train station to the town. We had climbed lots of cathedral towers in our time in Europe however, so it wasn’t too bad. Corniglia was a really cute town that seems to have been built almost straight up, rather than horizontally.Everything is just stacked up on top of itself on this tiny mountain.

We got ourselves some gelato and watched some kids play soccer for a while, then found a broad wall overlooking the sea and hung out for a while. We left as the sun was setting to head back to Riomaggiore, and caught the sunset while we were waiting for the train.

That night we met up with Kori’s roommates for dinner. Cinque Terre is famous for its pesto, so bought some interesting pasta, shaped like little twists, and some local pesto, wine, and veggies and made ourselves a feast in their room. The pesto IS all it’s cracked up to be! Back in our hostel dorm later, we met the other people we were sharing it with. There were 2 Puerto Rican guys, two Americans, and Australian girl and a Swiss girl. They were a riot, and we stayed up late talking with them about all manner of things, even getting an invitation to visit Puerto Rico. This is something I’m really hoping to do, especially after hearing how they would show us the non-touristy beaches that are barely touched.

The next day our luck wasn’t quite as good with the weather, as it was cloudy for the most of the day. Kori and I, with her roommate Kayla, took the train to the two other villages that we hadn’t been to, Vernazza and Monterosso al Mare. Vernazza was in my opinion the cutest village of the 5. We got lunch at a pizzeria with a very amusing staff that had a good time giving us a hard time. The pizza was delicious, as was the sangria that we drank with it. Monterosso was probably my least favorite, as its main attraction was its beach and we couldn’t really enjoy it given the weather. I can imagine that in the summer when it’s sunny the beach is magnificent. We spent our time there mostly sitting on some driftwood on the pebbly beach and exploring the trails on the surrounding cliffs a bit. Not too shabby, even if we weren’t getting a tan.

For dinner that night we headed back to Riomaggiore and went to one of the seafood restaurants. I got mussels stuffed with parmesean, tomato sauce, and herbs, which were phenomenal, and squash soup with lots of nutmeg, also delicious.

We had to leave on Monday to get back for classes, and it was probably good timing, as it rained all day Monday. We got a relaxed breakfast before leaving at a café that served the best fresh squeezed orange juice from red blood oranges, then I got back on the train for Milan, and Kori and Kayla headed back to Rome. I would have loved to do some actual hiking in Cinque Terre, but our time lying on the rocks in the sun replaced that, and I’m really not too cut up about it. I even got a little sunburnt!

Next installment will be my trip to Brussels, Belgium, land of fries and beer!

Back from the dead!

Wow, so its been a little while since I wrote about my life. Over a month. I’ve been rather busy, you know, traveling, living in Paris, eating good food, etc. Just living the life. Since I last wrote, I’ve been to Strasbourg, Cinque Terre, Italy, and Brussels, and Normandy, and had some excellent Parisian adventures. I’ve also planned out my spring break travels, which I will elaborate more on in a bit.

The 3^rd weekend in March, a couple friends and I decided, rather on a whim, to go to Strasbourg. It was my first time out of Paris (except for daytrips with my program) since I got here, and it was SO refreshing. We took a leisurely train ride there on Friday, and had most of the day to look around. Strasbourg is one of the most adorable cities I have ever been, almost painfully so. It’s all wood-framed houses, a beautiful river, lots of swans, and a wonderful mix of German and French that takes the best elements of both cultures.

We went to the Alsatian museum, which was both beautiful and interesting (quite like me, in fact), and was full of objects, furniture, and history of the daily life of an Alsatian in the past. We also saw the famous Cathedral, in all its ridiculously ornate Gothic glory. We also went to the European Union Parliament, which was pretty cool. Everything was wonderful, but it pales in comparison to the food we enjoyed there. Like everything else about the city, it’s a mix of German and French, and it is mostly definitely comfort food. Our first night there we splurged and got Baekoffe.

This wonderful Alsatian dish is 3 different types of meat (beef, pork, and lamb), potatoes, carrots, and lots of herbs in a white wine sauce. The waiter brought out a huge ceramic pot for the 3 of us, and it was probably enough for 3 meals for all of us, but of course we finished it. It was magnificent.

The next day, to save funds, we went to the produce market. There we found sauerkraut, sausages, finger potatoes, onions, bread, and some delicious greens for a salad. We used this to create our own Alsatian feast that night for dinner. It was even better than a restaurant cooked meal, because we had made it ourselves. I have to admit, the produce market got the best of my wallet, as well as my friends’, and we splurged on spiced bread, white creamy cheese with fruit, honey, and a fruity bread thing. It was so worth it though. Strasbourgian food is soooo good.

Later that day, outside the cathedral at sunset, we came across a rather interesting street performer. I won’t say more at this juncture, but it’s worth checking out the video.

We then walked over to Petite France, the even more adorable (more touristy) part of town with lots of restaurants and pubs. We celebrated being out of Paris by drinking some delicious beer, which is rather hard to find in the City of Lights.

Our last day in Strasbourg, we went up to the top of the cathedral’s tower. That is to say, we climbed all 432 steps to the top…The view was spectacular, though and the weather gorgeous, so I can’t complain. That afternoon, we stumbled across the carnival that the city puts on for the Jewish holiday Purim. We had no idea what the carnival was for until much later, but we enjoyed the flamboyant and hours –long parade that it included. We basically bummed around for the rest of the day until dinner when we tried the famous flammenkueche, a pizza like dish with crème fraiche for sauce, bacon, onions, and potatoes. It is of course, delicious. After that we left on our evening train back to Paris.

Alright, this is the first of a 3 part installment about my travels. Next comes Cinque Terre, so tune in soon to find out about my Mediterranean vacation!

Romance in Paris (with a French accent)

After writing my last blog entry, I spent my time hoping and praying that I would get over my mysterious illness completely before my beau came to visit. I managed to achieve my goal with a few days to spare, and by the time Erik arrived on Wednesday night, I was feeling as fresh and new as a daisy in spring...or something like that. We didn't get him home until after midnight, so there was nothing to be done but to go to bed, with the intention of getting up early and seeing a little bit of the city before my 2:00 class on Thursday. Us being rather lazy meant we didn't get out of the house until about noon...but we still managed to see the area around my program center and get some delicious baguette sandwiches (on my part) and calzones (that would be Erik), and we enjoyed them in a typical French park surrounded by the screams of children and some very brash pigeons, as well as some even bolder sparrows. Very French. I was confident that Erik would enjoy my Medieval French Literature course, so I dragged him along. Up until now, this class had been entirely in English. My luck, Professor Busby decided today was the day he would start doing the lectures in French! Erik held out very well though, and hopefully enjoyed listening to the beautiful language while not understanding a word. We agreed that he would come for the first half (the class is 3 hours long) and after the break he would go off all on his own, speaking no French, and explore the Marais. He was a teensy bit nervous :) I was not. Long story short, Prof. Busby happened to do the part of the class that did not include Erik mostly in English, and Erik had a lovely time exploring the Jewish Quarter, and got more acquainted with Victor Hugo after dropping by his house.

We had planned to spend that evening having date night and celebrating our anniver

sary, his birthday, and Valentines Day all together since we had been in different countries for all of them, but our plans fell through a bit and we decided to do it a different night. We end

ed up exploring Montmartre a bit and ended up at the Eiffel Tower to see it sparkle. Erik had never seen it from Trocadero Place, which is where you get by far the best view of it, so it was fun to see his reaction when we rounded a corner and there it was, in all its glory! He experienced those moments quite a few times while in my city. We ended up waiting almost an hour, being bombarded by miniature Tower salesmen, and almost freezing solid, but in the end we saw in sparkle and it was all worth it.

With the best intentions of getting out of the house early to see the city on Friday, we fin

ally left at about...noon. Are you beginning to see a pattern here? We started our day off at

the famous Arc de Triomphe, which is rather magnificent. We climbed all 240 steps t

o the top and got a fantastic 360° view of the city,

including our next destination, the Champs Elysees. We walked all the way down the much-filmed street, and Erik had fun remembering all the movies he had seen it in, and reveled in the fact that he was actually there now. It is a fantastic place to people watch, a very French notion, as well as to shop (if you like designer labels and very high prices). From there we headed closer to my house, to the Madeleine church, which I have decided is my favorite church in Paris (so far). We had planned to hit the market right by it to grab some food for a picnic lunch in the Tuileries, but, surprise, we got there too late. We ended up finding a lovely little boulangerie/pastisserie and indulging in 2 sandwiches, 2 pain au chocolat (chocolate croissants), a lemon tarte, and a flaky apple pastry thing. With this, we happily headed off to the Tuileries where we enjoyed our meal with a 1 euro bottle of champagne and some delicious chocolate. So, I had my favorite boy, chocolate, and some scrumptious French food on a sunny day in a beautiful park. Honestly, what more could a girl need?

Our next steps took us down the river, and dropped us off at Notre Dame. Though Erik had seen the outside before, he had never been inside, so that was a treat. There was a mass going on, complete with some pretty choir music and incense, and it was a wonderful addition to the

walk around the majestic cathedral. I then took him to the Shakespeare Company, which is a tiny, cramped, English bookstore dedicated to the Bard and completely stuffed to the gills wit

h books of all types, and 2 reading rooms, and a free for all piano. It is absolutely brimming

with character. From there we went on to see a tiny bit of the Latin Quarter and my school at the Institut Catholique de Paris. Our final destination was the Louvre, since I could get him in free from 6 to 10 on Friday nights, so after stopping for some Nutella crepes (which turned out to be microwaved...) we found ourselves at the Louvre at night, which is a stellar combination. The whole building was lit up and the pyramids looked very cool.

We had to limit our visit to about 2.5 hours, which is nothing in the Louvre, but we managed to hit all the most famous works and make interesting captions for many of the paintings, in true Erik fashion. We were both exhausted by this time, and Erik was coming down with a cold, so we hit the hay after getting home.

On his last day, Saturday, we headed to one of my favorite places in Paris, Pere Lachaise

cemetary. Before going in, we stopped at a market for some fruit, a boulangerie for some delicious mini baguettes, and a fromagerie for some cheese. We saw many famous dead people including Moliere, Edith Piaf, and Jim Morrison, and one of my favorite people of all time, Oscar Wilde. On our way out we stopped and had a mini picnic with our goat cheese covered in golden raisins and craisins, our sweet baguettes and our strawberries and oranges. It was the most delectable picnic of my life, to be sure.

Erik being the film buff that he his, he picked out a really cool little art house cinema for us to see a movie in. We saw the movie Winter's Bone, and then looked around the huge film editing table, the historical displays, and the old film-esque murals on the walls. The theater was gorgeous, and the movie was fantastic. He may turn me

into a film buff yet.

Then it was date night! We went to the love wall, which says "I love you" in pretty much every language. We headed up to Sacre Coeur where we finished our strawberries and chocolate while watching the sunset over the city. It was rather romantic :) We also watched a beautiful puppet show on the steps, and then went into the basilica, where, with Erik's luck, we caught a choir of nuns singing. Erik was, of course, hungry by this time (it was 7:00pm), so despite my protests that it was embarrassingly early to be eating, we headed toward the restaurant I had picked out. It was empty. Not only that, the guy hadn't even really started setting the tables yet. We made a couple loops around the area and headed back...He still wasn't done. We looped a couple more times (freezing our butts off along the way). Finally, it was ready! We were still the only

ones there, but the boy couldn't wait any longer to eat. Trendsetters that we are, after we sat down, people started coming in left, right, and center. Erik bravely ordered

escargot, which were delicious, and we had a wonderful dinner with good wine and good company. Our plan was to go out later with my friends, but we were both exhausted and little sick, so we agreed to just hang out with them for a bit before they went out. We didn't get there til about 11:30, and we didn't leave til 1:15, so its a good thing we didn't go out with them! It was great to have everybody get to know Erik though, and they loved him. We will definitely be spending some time together back in Madison!

That was basically the end of Erik's visit. We had to get up at 4:30 the next morning, which was awful after going to bed so late, but he got to the bus on time and then he was gone. I think I instilled in him my love for Paris though, so I think the trip was a great success.

It was back to the real world after that! And the real world is not as fun with a cold kicking my butt, one that Erik managed to give to me... I have had 2 meetings for my directed study, and so far I am loving it! I have been translating Old French and I could seriously do it all day. Its my new hobby!

I am trying to start making my travel plans for spring break, which is harder than it sounds because I need to figure out who I am spending my time with then. I'm sure it will work out when everyone knows their schedule.

There will be much for me to tell you next time, but until then, I think I've written quite enough! Off to bed for me. Hope everyone is healthy and happy, wherever you are!

A Less than Stellar Week...

As per my new resolution, I am attempting to write more frequently. This week was much much more boring than it should have been. Starting on Saturday-ish, I started feeling headachey and achey, and it was pretty bad Sunday, but Monday I thought I was on the mend...I was wrong. On Wednesday the flu hit with considerable force, forcing me to be bedridden and miserable for a solid 2 days. I had absolutely zero energy and could barely get out of bed. My madame was very sweet through all of this and brought me tea and, in very French fashion, asked me over and over again if I need a doctor or something from the pharmacie. The French LOVE their pharmacies, which to be quite honest, are good for very little. In America, you go to the pharmacy and you can get everything from macaroni to coloring books to cleaning supplies to actual medicine. Here, you can get some creams and lotions, and some medicine. Actually you can get some pretty strong stuff, as the pharmacists here can prescribe pills for minor things. But in general, pretty useless, relatively speaking. Anyway, as I had a good feeling that all I had was the flu, I didn't feel the need for a doctor or anything stronger than the asprin I already had, so I reassured her (again and again and again) that I would be fine as long as I got some sleep. I was a little concerned that after a couple days I was only mildly better. Today is the first day that I have felt pretty much all better.

On Friday my friends and I went to the Salon de l'Agriculture, which is basically like the state fair, but on steroids. It is held in a GIGANTIC facility with like 8 different "pavilions" (basically just huge buildings) that all house different aspects of the fair. We focused on the food one...and that was a good choice. It was 2 huge floors of French food and wine and cider and beer displays, from literally every region of France. More sausages and cheese than I could ever imagine. And ice cream, and foie gras (duck liver-actually quite tasty) and fish and caramel and escargot and SO MUCH BREAD!!! So here I was, surrounded by the best French cuisine it had to offer, and I was sick. I was well enough to walk around, so I thought I would be fine, but I did not dare to eat it. I decided it wasn't worth continuing to be sick. So, the experience was perhaps a bit lost on me, though I did try some tiny bits of a few things, and succumbed to the call of the most delicious kiwi sorbet. After a couple hours my friends carried on, but I need to be horizontal and asleep, so I headed home.

I ended up missing 2 classes due to my illness, including my first independent study meeting, which was most unfortunate. Nothing I can't make up, however.

Today, to celebrate the fact that I was FINALLY feeling well again, my friend Alexandra and went to a cafe to do homework! It was quite nice actually. It was right by the Eiffel Tower, which was very busy today. While I was waiting for her, I wandered around Trocadero Place, which is a very wide flat terrace with the best view of the Tower, and there was a group of breakdancers doing a show.

All in all, not the best week, but certainly not the worst. I am officially over being sick, and this week, my esteemed boyfriend comes to visit, and I cannot wait to show him around my city. Until next time!

Settling into the City of Lights

I have now been in Paris for almost 2 weeks, and am still very much in love with the city. I swear I would live here just for the metro... It is the best public transportation I have ever had the pleasure of using. I've had more of an opportunity to explore the city, hitting up a few museums, a few restaurants, and a few parks. That is to say, the best parts of Paris.

Our first weekend in Paris was a success, albeit a couple hours wandering around the 16th trying to find a club that no longer exists, apparently. It was one of the girls birthday's Friday night, so we went to delicious pizzeria and then tried to find "La Scene", which did not happen, and then trying to find any other bar, which also was a failure. Apparently on a Friday night most bars are closed at about midnight to a large group of young Americans... All the same, we had a good time seeing the city at night and getting to know each other a bit.

After wandering around my arrondissment for a while, we decided we wanted to take advantage of the sales going on that only happen a few times a year in Paris. We went to Les Halles, a gigantic underground mall with a ton of stores, a cinema, and lots of restaurants. I managed to find a skirt, a dress, and some shoes, so I feel like I'll be done shopping in Paris for while, despite the sales. I'd like to be able to do some travelling, which means no more retail therapy!

Saturday was a complete success, as I discovered that I live just a few blocks away from the Madeleine, a beautiful church with Greco-Roman columns and a marble and gilt interior. It was very fun to find such a historic and famous place so close to home!

A couple friends and I took walk in the Bois du Bologne last Sunday, a huge park on the west side of Paris. It's like 3 times the size of Central Park. We wandered around for a couple hours trying to find the Shakespeare Garden, which is apparently a garden filled with plants and animals that Shakespeare wrote about, and in the end never manage to find it... I guess our map reading skills need some work. We did however see a gorgeous, very picturesque lake with swans, and Chinese temple sort of thing, and many many dogs. We also found the Lac Superieur of Paris! Its tiny... But there were some very cute little toy sailboats and motor boats on it. It was very refreshing to have some exercise and get "out" of the city. Afterwards we went to a near by cafe and had some delicious hot chocolate and creme brulee!

On Monday we got a tour of our other school, l'Institut Catholique de Paris. It is a very pretty campus in the Latin Quarter, with a courtyard and a beautiful chapel. I will be taking my French classes there twice a week, and I am eager to explore the area famous for the cheap student bars and the Luxembourg Gardens.

For anyone who has heard of the catacombs in Paris, they are definitely worth a visit. We went there on Wednesday and it was sooo creepy! There are literally 6 million skeletons' worth of bones just lined up...for miles...under the city...in semi darkness. The people who put them there obviously had an artistic bone in them (har de har har) because they are all arranged very neatly, often in shapes or just very particular patterns. Its all very morbid and beautiful. And creepy. Definitely not for the faint of heart!

I had my first class on Thursday. It is a class about French literature, but so far it has more to do with medieval French than anything. I'm not sure about the rest of the class, but I spent all 3 hours on the edge of my seat as we talked about all the Romance languages including Occitan (Provencal) and Catalan, and deciphered a 13th century French poem word by word. I have a feeling I'll be enjoying that class very much... My teacher tends to go off on tangents, but since they are all linguistics related I'm quite content.

Our program has organized 3 day trips throughout the semester, and on Friday we had our first one, to the Chartes Cathedral. I had been there once before, but I had forgotten how

breathtaking and majestic it was. We got a fantastic tour from Malcolm Miller, a famous scholar of the cathedral who knows absolutely EVERYTHING about it! His specialty is the 13th century stained glass windows, which are absolutely beautiful and very complex. He explained two of them to us as if they were a book, as well as telling us the

history of the cathedral. It is the oldest surviving Gothic cathedral in Europe, which is pretty amazing considering the fires and wars it has been through. They are currently restoring it quite extensively, so there was a bunch of scaffolding and 3 of the windows were out. This made the cathedral quite chilly...no central heating on one of the coldest days since I've been here. We followed the tour up with very warming lunch however... crepes! They were delicious again, and following my random tradition of accidentally getting rum for dessert, I ordered a banana chocolate rum raisin crepe for dessert. The waiter brought it to me, then proceeded to completely douse itin rum and light

it on fire! Unfortunately, he didn't quite get it the first time, so he soaked it even more and tried it again. It was...quite potent...but delicious.

Friday night we attempted another night out on the town, this time with much greater success. (We did our homework this time...) My friend Elyse found this really cool-looking bar in her guidebook called Le Violin Dingue (the crazy violin) in the Latin Quarter. It was everything the book promised it to be! The ground floor was a very chill bar atmosphere with tons of students and relatively cheap drinks, and after midnight the downstairs opened. We walked down a low-ceilinged set of stairs into this very hip cave-like club, with a great DJ playing old favorites as well as the new hits just now coming to France, lots of unrestrained European dancing, and many men trying to dance with us... Luckily we had one male with us who was able to fend off the worst of the attention. We met a few interesting French guys upstairs who danced with us a bit, and in general the evening was a blast! I would definitely recommend this place and am planning on going back there again.

One amazing thing about being a student in Paris is that we get a student ID card that gets us into many museums free, and the rest are we get into at a very discounted rate. On Saturday we were able to "profiter-en" as our teachers always tell us to do, and we

took a trip to the famous Pompidou Museum of modern art. It is a huge museum with both permanent and temporary exhibits, and we only saw 2 of the 6 floors of it before we were too pooped to continue. It has some really amazing artwork, even if you aren't really into modern art, so I was most definitely satisfied. I was even more satisfied when we availed ourselves of some delicious pittas at a cheap falafel cafe nearby! They were sooooo good. French food (and even Lebanese French food) is definitely all its cracked up to be.

I saw my first movie in Paris last night, "Sex Friends" as its called here, or "No Strings Attached" in the US. It was a delightful rom-com, and I even tried to follow along with the subtitles, so I don't feel too bad about seeing an American movie here.

Today our French classes started, and mine so far seems really easy, so I'm going to try to move up a level and get the most out of my classes while I'm here.

Whew! These posts get way too long when I don't write for 2 weeks! I will definitely try to update this a little more often...

To those living vicariously through me, I hope you are having a superb time, as I am. Paris is fantastic.