Villa Savoye, Vaux-le-Vicomte, Chartres, Reims ... Oh my!

What a whirlwind! These past few days have been jam-packed with travel as I try to absorb as much of the Île-de-France and its surroundings before I quitter the country in just over two weeks.

Saturday: On Friday night, I took a sleeping pill in hopes of replacing my melatonin which had run out a few days before. Consequently, I woke up at noon on Saturday. Given the short day I was faced with, I decided that it would be the best day for a trip to the Villa Savoye.

The Villa Savoye is a leisure home for the Savoye family designed by Le Corbusier about 45 minutes west of Paris. I had studied this "manifeste de la modernité" a few years ago, and was anxious to see it up close. Needless to say, I was blown away! It is so much cooler than I ever anticipated! I would take it as my summer house...

Afterwards, I wandered around Poissy for a bit, ended up at a café, where I got a croque-monsieur or a slate slab, and the caught the train back to Paris. The RER (Réseau Express Régional) is a series of trains that extend the Paris subway network way out into the suburbs. The closest RER stop to Neuilly is in La Défense, the economic center of the Île-de-France, thus, this is where I disembarked.

I decided to take advantage of the gorgeous weather and walked down the esplanade at La Défense which was full of people: tourists, parents and children, old women admiring the flowering trees.

Between Neuilly and La Défense, there are two islands: l'île de la Grande Jatte and l'île de Puteaux. My favorite artistic movement is pointillism, and my favorite painting is Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte (Sunday afternoon on the Island of the Grande Jatte). So, being so close, I decided to hit up la Grande Jatte. The island was beautiful and had gorgeous panoramic views of Puteaux and Neuilly. Advice if you are visiting islands in the Seine: make sure you are looking at a map. I didn't realize until I reached the end of the island that I had gone to the wrong island... oh well!

My meandering led me to the Bois de Bologne, an absolutely massive park that marks the southern edge of Neuilly and the western edge of Paris. It was really quite peaceful and relaxing. After about an hour of wandering, I decided to call it a day, and retired for the evening.

Sunday: Because of the volcano in Iceland and the strike of the French train workers, the majority of NYU students had to abandon the beginning of their Spring Break plans. So on Sunday, I was accompanied to Vaux-le-Vicomte by Grace, Michel, and Cáit.

Vaux-le-Vicomte lies about 45 minutes south-east of Paris outside the town of Melun. Upon arriving in Melun, we were faced with a tricky decision: walk 1 hour and 45 minutes to the château, or take a hack (a taxi that is not affiliated with any cab company). We decided to take the faster route after reasoning that the four of us could take on one sketchy cab driver ... if it came to that!

The château itself was phenomenal. Quick history lesson: Vaux-le-Vicomte was built by Nicolas Fouquet, Louis XIV's first Financial Minister. There must have been something in the water at that time, because Fouquet had grand ideas about what he would become and felt that his château needed to match his ambition. So he assembled André Le Notre, Charles Le Brun, and Louis Le Vau to design and execute the greatest château to date. Working under the "Sun King," Fouquet intended the château to flatter Louis XIV, and thus, during the inauguration party in 1661, Fouquet spared no expense! I mean, he really pimped that party out! Jean-Baptiste Colbert, a junior minister close to the king, convinced Louis XIV that 1) Vaux threatened his new found authority and 2) could not have been paid for unless Fouquet had been stealing funds from the crown to finance the project. Soon afterwards, Fouquet was arrested, his wife exiled, and Colbert made Finance Minister. The king then took Le Notre, Le Brun, and Le Vau to create Versailles. Thus, Vaux-le-Vicomte functions as the pre-cursor to Versailles.

After a very interesting tour, my compadres headed out to the gardens to enjoy the sun while I headed to the private apartments and, eventually, the dome. If I had to buy another summer house to supplement the Villa Savoye, it would be Vaux.

Afterwards, I met up with the three amigos and we wandered around the gardens together. We caught the château-bus back to the train station, took the RER back to Paris, and went to McDonald's. Yum!

Monday: The next day, I headed to Chartres, a town about 60 miles south-west of Paris. Gorgeous. No if's, and's or but's about it! It was absolutely picturesque! The medieval part of the city is center around the cathedral (naturally) which is a spectacular example of the French Gothic. It may be my favorite church that I have ever visited!

Words really can't summarize how beautiful the town was, so I recommend traveling over to Facebook and taking a look at my photos there!

On the way back to Paris, I struggled to stay awake. Hardcore, New-York-speed, walking for three days can really tire someone out!

Tuesday: Yesterday, I headed to Reims, a city about 80 miles east of Paris. Upon the trains arrival at the station, I stood up and say three girls from the NYU program on my car! Not only were we on the same train, but we were in the same car! Very strange.

After heading to the tourism office, we headed in the direction of the Tattinger champagne cellars. We got lunch outside of the old Jesuit University and then parted ways: I wanted to explore the city. To make a long story short, I got stuck walking along the river for about an hour and got sunburt! However, I must say that the Rémois really know how to grow a good flower! All the parks were just jam-packed with flowers!

My final stop was the cathedral, which I had written a paper on back in my Medieval Architecture class. The stain glass was just stunning. I sat in the north arm of the transept for about 45 minutes and stared at the windows on of the south arm of the transept. Never have I seen windows so beautiful as these!

Ok, enough writing. To sum, I went home, went to dinner with Patrick, spent yesterday getting ready for Luke to come, and now I'm writing. Phew. I'm tired!

-Dave

Wolfgang Amedeus Guetta

I am super ready for Spring Break. Yes, I will have a lot of work to do, but I am excited to get out and explore. I just haven't had the time to do what I want to do recently. Plus, the Cathedral at Châtres called and asked when I was coming to visit.

I'm not sure why I started this blog post. I'm too tired to continue.

The only thing I want to point out is that I found some awesome techno remixes of baroque music, hence the title of this way faible entry.

-Dave

Cheese Curlz

This weekend has been one of my favorite in Paris. After my cheese overload .... no, cheeseextravaganza (overload implies that it was bad) on thursday night with Christine and Jean-Charles, I spent friday morning in bed with a tummy ache. After my miraculous recovery, I went over to the east side and met Taylor at the Promenade Plantée, the Parisian version of the Highline.

After a lovely stroll, we decided to knock another item off my "Things to see in Paris before I leave on May 9th" list. So we headed up to Saint-Denis, which is the birthplace of the French Gothic, and also the French royal necropolis. It was a really pretty church: the stained-glass, the gisants, the architecture - plus the burial site for Clovis I, Carloman, Henry IV, Louis XIV, Louis XVI, and Marie-Antoinette.

After leaving, Taylor and I felt a bit famished. So we went to a little patisserie/boulanger by the metro stop and got a donut each. While we were waiting in-line, a young banlieue resident came up and grabbed a box of Kinder Bars from the counter. Why? Because that's how to be cool! What a grown man would want with an entire box of Kinder Bars is beyond me.

Later that night, Taylor and I joined up again and watched Clueless, which he had never seen before. Simply shocking, I know. Anywho, it was fun and I think Taylor really enjoyed the movie, which is great!

On Saturday, just after lunch, I met up with Taylor again, but this time at the Musée Carnavalet, which we needed to visit for a class. It is a great museum, and I want to go back and explore the rest of the beautiful rooms. After that, we just kind of wandered around the Marais trying to find a street fair that Taylor had seen a sign for.

We eventually found the fair - it was a vintage clothing/furniture expo held in the strangest space I had ever been in. There was no flow, no natural path. The rooms were just sort of randomly stacked one on top of eachother, which resulted in a Hogwarts-esque result.

Continuing on, we eventually ended up at the Centre Pompidou. Taylor wanted to go to the top of the escalator to see the view, and I had never done it myself, so we got our tickets and headed up the tube. It really is a spectacular view! We then decided to see what the museum had to offer, as neither one of us had ever been. Strange.

I really do not appreciate the turn that art has taken in the post-WWII society. In order to view most contemporary art pieces, the onlooker needs to be wealthy, well-educated in art history, and have lots of time to spend in front of an œuvre. That is ridiculous. Art should not be alienating the public, but rather embracing the public. But enough of that rant!

After Pompidou, Taylor and I decided to head to our respective apartments to eat dinner before Meredith's birthday party. However, on the way to the Metro, we came across KFC, and decided to get dinner there instead. Yum. We got a true dinner and show: we sat at the counter that overlooks Boulevard de Sébastopol, and saw a fight between to banlieue-iens. It was pretty violent - one of the guys had an eyebrow ring which resulted in a lot of blood shed. Then a few minutes later, we saw a group of tourist girls (they were all blond and wearing hoodies that said "I *heart* Paris") who came up the window and took pictures of themselves in front of Taylor and myself. Very peculiar.

Meredith's party was a lot of fun. However, I did not get in bed until 6:20 this morning. So I am dragging a bit.

Recently, I've started compiling a list of all the things I want to eat when I get back to America. This is what it includes at the moment:

- Goldfish

- Cooler Ranch Doritos

- Napoléon from Cosette

- Grilled chicken sandwich from BK

- NY pizza

- White American Cheese

- UTZ Cheese Curlz

- 28th Street Noodle from ThaiNY

- Fried Chicken and biscuits

Ok, that's it.

-Dave

Warning -> Avertissement

I am currently looking at a bag from the wine store, Nicolas, where I bought a nice Bordeaux for my dinner tonight with Christine & Jean-Charles (my landlords). Anywho, on the side of the bag, there is a warning that says: "L'abus d'alcool est dangereux pour la santé, sachez apprécier avec modération" (Alcohol is detrimental to your health; drink in moderation). Ok, it makes sense on the side of bag from a nice wine store. However, the first place I saw this warning was on a poster advertising a series of strong beers called Explorator, Navigator, and Maximator (go here to see a picture). These beers were created for one reason, and one reason only: to get drunk. Now, I am not a fan of beer, so I have never tasted them. But I hear they are pretty nasty.

It's similar to the French warning on cigarette cartons: "Fumer tue" (Smoking kills). Upon seeing one of these warnings, I have a feeling of "yuh-duh!"

In other news, I have had a nice week. Despite the fact that I can't seem to sleep past 5:30 AM, I enjoyed most of the week. Tuesday was an absolutely gorgeous day. I mean, it was absolutely perfect! I couldn't enjoy it like I wanted to - I had to finish a long homework assignment - but I was able to sit out in the garden to work!

-Dave

I love Paris in the Springtime

It has been too long, thus, here are quelques petits mots:

I love springtime. I really do. It is by far the best season of the year. Last evening, I went to dinner with Lindsay and her mom at Les Deux Magots, a café famous for its popularity with figures such as Sartre, Hemingway, Camus, and Picasso. It was great! The food was good, the company was fun, and the conversation was interesting. Lindsay even tried escargot for the first time! YUM!

Prior to meeting them, however, I decided to enjoy sunset in the Tuileries Gardens. It was just lovely! It was a pretty mild afternoon/evening, so the park was just full of people. The strong april sunlight really made some dramtic shadows on the Louvre. Just as I was about to go into the Cour Carré, I turned around and saw the sun setting through Pei's Pyramide. It really was a special stroll.

Since they say that a picture is worth 1000 words, here are pictures:

Well, that's all for now!

-Dave

Day Light Savings Time

I have had quite a "I love the world" day!

Although I did not get the best night sleep last night, I woke up excited for the morning. While on my way to school, I saw some water trickling down the edge of the street, and I realized then and there how fascinating water is! I'm not going to get into all that right now, but let me tell you that one of my fondest memories of being a kid was playing out on the sidewalk in front of the house during a rain storm and making dams with bricks.

Second realization today came with my flowers that I bought on sunday. I have absolutely no idea what they are called, but they are beautiful. So full, so colorful, so fun.

Third realization came while I was eating dinner. It was 8:30 and it was still light outside! Spring + Day Light Savings Time + Western edge of the time zone means that the sky doesn't start to get really dark until around 9:15. Super!

Fourth realization was just about how much I love spring. It's such a happy time of year. And it makes me feel so alive. This is one of the few times that I wish I lived out in the country so I could really see the season change. One of the two trees in the courtyard outside my window has turned completely green, while the other remains completely dormant. It's intersting to compare the two; you usually don't get two trees like that side by side.

Ok, enough Rousseau-ing for one night.

-Dave

Dreams, who needs em?

It's too early. I should not be up. I'm still sleepy.

Why am I up?

I had a dream that there was a bat in my room, and it was squeaking. Now, normally I could will myself back to sleep after this. But here's the kicker: I keep my windows open for a little while before going to bed so it will be nice and cool in my room. I am always worried that a pigeon or a bat will fly in and I won't know what to do!

So, a dream with a bat in my room held some water, somewhere deep inside my self-conscious. I could not quell my fears, and instead just got myself more worked up, and consequently, more awake too!

Oh well! It's not all bad. I need to study a bit before class anyways!

-Dave