tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29451459946432005232024-03-13T16:37:50.950-07:00Francophile At LargeA travelogue of my adventures in Paris teaching in the University System of Georgia's European Council study abroad program.Dr. Thomasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12511455174930906709noreply@blogger.comBlogger105125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2945145994643200523.post-56801794180870042042016-02-26T08:58:00.001-08:002016-02-26T08:58:49.080-08:00The Francophile is moving to lauraethomason.comNow that international education work is my main job, I've decided to consolidate my travel blog onto my main professional website and have imported the entries from "here" to "there." "There" being <a href="http://lauraethomason.com/">lauraethomason.com</a>. I won't remove this blog right away, if ever, but future adventures will be chronicled on my main site. Thanks for reading!Dr. Thomasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12511455174930906709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2945145994643200523.post-31826202253725061872016-02-26T08:28:00.002-08:002016-02-26T08:28:42.311-08:00Travel tips #2: the return flight from Europe<div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: none; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px;">
<span>[written on board DL0029 LHR --> ATL, 18 Feb. 2016]</span></div>
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<span>The best and worst thing about the flight back from Europe is that it takes place in a permanent afternoon. You take off in the afternoon and somehow (i.e., flying west) it is still afternoon when you land. And yet, the return flight takes at least an hour longer because it goes against the jet stream. So the length of the flight is tiresome: I can't deny it. It's also not as neatly timed as the "overnight" flight to Europe that proceeds through departure, dinner, bedtime, and breakfast. Today I left Heathrow at 12:30 p.m. and will land in Atlanta at about 5:30 p.m. having flown for about 9 hours. If you think that's weird, on some Asian routes that cross the date line, it's possible to arrive before you left!</span></div>
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<span>I don't have such a good system for managing the return flight but here are my best tips so far:</span></div>
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<span>-- Some people will tell you to try not to sleep at all. I'd say don't sleep through the whole flight, but don't worry about passing the time by taking a couple of naps, especially at the beginning of the flight when it's early morning at your destination. I'm planning to stay awake through the last couple hours of this flight and the shuttle ride home, then go to bed at my usual time.</span></div>
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<span>-- 9 hours is 4 movies plus your naps, or 2 movies, naps, and a book. Bring a book. (I'm an English professor; did you think I wasn't going to say "Bring a book"?) Get a non-U.S. newspaper from your departure point or from the flight attendant. It also makes a good souvenir.</span></div>
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<span>-- Don't drink alcohol; do drink water. Some airlines offer it around regularly. Drink all they give you. Some will leave the water & soft drinks out for passengers to help themselves. Help yourself. I also drink a lot of coffee on these flights. The dry air gives me a slight headache but water, coffee, and Tylenol keep it at bay. </span></div>
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<span>-- Eastbound beauty tips continue to apply. Moisturizer & lip balm till about an hour before landing, then clean face & do makeup. Brush your teeth whenever they start to feel unsavory. It's refreshing and gives you something to do.</span></div>
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<span>-- Been thinking about this one since I wrote my last post, and I've decided: on long flights in general, wear comfortable shoes and then don't take them off. Your feet will swell so it's good to have shoes you can loosen, but I have had it happen that I've taken off my shoes & barely gotten them back on! </span></div>
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<span>All in all, the return flight is a tougher flying experience but an easier arrival experience. You're coming home to a familiar environment and hopefully you can ease back into your regular life rather than hitting the ground running as we do on trips. </span></div>
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<span>Finally, to all you Fitbit wearers out there, sorry. You're not getting your 10,000 steps today.</span></div>
Dr. Thomasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12511455174930906709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2945145994643200523.post-60583373547407907942016-02-14T06:19:00.003-08:002016-02-14T06:19:23.841-08:00Francophile Turns Anglophile: Rage, Rage Against the Transatlantic FlightThe Francophile writes today from the opposite side of the Channel: Northampton University in the UK. I am here in my capacity as Director of International Programs to start the process of building study abroad, student exchange, and faculty exchange opportunities between NU students and MGA students. After leaving Atlanta at 8:00 EST last night, I arrived at Heathrow at 9:00 GMT this morning. Obviously I'm a little jet-lagged but trying to follow my own best advice: coffee up, power through, no naps! This trip is special for me as it's the first time I've traveled on university business rather than leading students or going to a conference. I'm on my own--which is fine, solo travel doesn't bother me*--and since I didn't know exactly what awaited me at the destination, I wanted to arrive looking and feeling a little better than I sometimes do after crossing the Atlantic. During the last hour of the flight (which seems to last a week) I started thinking about making a list of tips & tricks for flying to Europe and avoiding the sensation of having crawled there on one's face. Students sometimes ask me about the flight--how to avoid being scared/nervous/crippled by jet lag--so here are my best ideas based on <em>very</em> recent experience (i.e., I got off the plane only about 5 hours ago).<br />
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<ul>
<li>A 7- to 8-hour transatlantic flight has a rhythm to it almost like the flight attendants are following a script. You'll be more comfortable if you know what's coming:</li>
<ol>
<li>Boarding: take your seat, stow your carry-on(s), get out things you're going to use so that you're not constantly rooting around in your bag. If your flight isn't full, claim two or three seats (if you can) to stretch out and sleep or at least avoid "manspreading" by your seatmates.**</li>
<li>Snacks & drinks: as soon as the flight crosses the 10,000 foot threshhold, the flight attendants will give everybody hot towels to wipe their hands with (even though these are paper towels, not real ones, it's pleasant), then serve a drink and a snack such as pretzels or peanuts. Alcoholic drinks are usually free of charge on international flights but I hew to the wisdom of avoiding alcohol when flying. It's too dehydrating and the altitude may cause the alcohol to affect you differently.</li>
<li>Meal service: This item is part 3 of the script but it actually requires you to take action before the day of your flight. Here goes: Order a specialty meal. I became a vegetarian in October so I ordered a vegetarian meal. The conventional wisdom seems to be true: the specialized meals are better than the standard ones. Equally important, they distribute the specialized meals first, so you never have to be the last person waiting to be served dinner as the meal cart starts waaaaaay at the other end of the plane. (If you've changed seats per #1 above, just make sure the flight attendant can find you to give you your meal.)</li>
<li>Sleepy time: After dinner is cleared away, the flight attendants will turn down the cabin lights and everyone will (hopefully) settle in for a few hours' sleep. Resist the urge to watch 3 movies in a row. If you can manage to sleep from the moment the lights go down to the moment they're turned back on again for the morning snack, you'll get 4-5 hours of rest and feel, frankly, a LOT sharper than I do right now. (I slept about 2.5 hours and I feel pleasant but not very smart.)</li>
<li>Morning snack: About 90 minutes before landing, the lights come on and the attendants serve a snack/light breakfast along with coffee/tea/juice. You're almost there!</li>
</ol>
<li>To make the most of the experience outlined above:</li>
<ul>
<li>Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. If you're awake, you should be drinking some water. 8 ounces per hour is a good guideline that I've heard.</li>
<li>Use the earplugs and eye mask the airline (hopefully) provides, or bring your own. The sensory deprivation aids sleep.</li>
<li>Women and other wearers of cosmetics, watch some YouTube videos of "in-flight beauty routines" and create your own system. On this flight I took my make-up off once the plane was in the air, put on moisturizer, kept reapplying lip balm & hand cream, and then did fresh makeup before landing. (Michelle Phan does about 15 more steps than that.) The passport control staff can't possibly care but it at least makes me feel better to know I'm not entering a foreign country looking like a smudgy greaseball. </li>
<li>Forget what time it is at home. No need to think about that unless you're calling home. Reset your watch or phone to the time at your destination.</li>
<li>Corollary to the above: when the lights come on near the end of the flight, it's morning whether you like it or not. Get ready to tough it out and...</li>
<li>NO NAPS. This rule is my most powerful anti-jet-lag trick. I didn't sleep in the cab on the way here from Heathrow; I'm definitely not going to lie down this afternoon. If I go to bed around 8:00 tonight I will sleep like a rock and wake up on UK time tomorrow with very little trouble. </li>
</ul>
</ul>
So those are my best transatlantic flight survival tips. Tune in next time to learn more about Northampton U., my new friends/colleagues here, and maybe some Ways to Tell You're In England.<br />
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*Except that I miss Daniel!<br />
**If you are a man and you don't know what "manspreading" is, hie thee to the nearest Google. Women will thank you.Dr. Thomasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12511455174930906709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2945145994643200523.post-11312593036125628822015-08-05T11:53:00.000-07:002015-08-05T11:53:01.924-07:00Georgia on our mindsMonday night when we got home, I sat down and wrote out the day's itinerary. I keep staring at it and wondering how these times can possibly be accurate and correct. On the left is Paris time; on the right is Georgia time:<br />
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<b>04:00 on August 3 / 22:00 on August 2</b>: Buses roll out from Cité Universitaire after a brisk hour spent collecting room keys, banging on the doors of some really sound sleepers, and in one case seeing a student just returning to his dorm room from the night out, 10 minutes before we were supposed to leave.<br />
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<b>06:20 / 00:20</b>: Flight leaves CDG for Frankfurt with all students and faculty on board, even that guy. We enjoy a Nutella-filled croissant and some coffee and try not to think about leaving Paris behind.<br />
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<b>10:00 / 04:00</b>: Flight leaves Frankfurt for ATL. Settle in for some sleep, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390808/" target="_blank">watching</a> <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1661199/" target="_blank">lots</a> of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3539664/" target="_blank">movies</a>, or a combination of both. Daniel and I slept through our turn for the lunch service and had to ask for food after we woke up. Props to Lufthansa as always for very efficient and thorough service; God bless the flight attendant who was constantly circulating with cups of water and juice during the second half of the flight.<br />
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<b>20:00 / 14:00</b>: Arrive in ATL. Selected for a "random survey" by a customs officer to verify that we were not carrying any agricultural products. Fully a day later I'd realize we brought home 2 pounds of coffee that I forgot to declare on the form or mention to the officer. He did not see them in my suitcase, so I didn't have to be hauled off to immigration jail or anything.<br />
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We got to our house around 6 p.m. (midnight Paris time, but by then, who's counting?) and I managed to stay up till 8:30 and sleep till about 6 the next morning. My sleep cycle is not too messed up (I've been treating it with large quantities of espresso) but I can tell I'm jet-lagged because the mornings seem dark and the days seem long. That will pass and at least I don't feel as tired and foggy as I sometimes have after an overseas trip.<br />
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But I do miss Paris an awful lot.Dr. Thomasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12511455174930906709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2945145994643200523.post-83568926411364489972015-08-04T16:02:00.001-07:002015-08-04T16:08:26.732-07:00Last day in Paris for 2015After a hectic final week that sadly included my having to miss <a href="http://www.chateauversailles.fr/preparer-ma-visite/toutes-les-informations/billets-et-tarifs/billets-et-tarifs/les-grandes-eaux-1" target="_blank">this</a> on Saturday evening, it was suddenly Sunday morning: the free day before departure that marks the end of the program. I realized I hadn't been to Sacre-Coeur, my favorite place in Paris, the whole 5 weeks, so that was my destination. There's no quick way to get to Montmartre from the 14th but I enjoyed the métro ride knowing it would be one of the last ones of the year. I walked up from Abbesses station and rode the funicular up the Butte since it wasn't too crowded yet--when there are a lot of people in the funicular I tend to avoid it because it's like a gerbil cage for pickpockets. One of the backhanded advantages of having some experience in Paris is learning what to avoid. Sacre-Coeur is full of street vendors and street scammers; I've never actually seen pickpockets in action but I'm sure they are there as well.<br />
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On Sunday there were people soliciting petition signatures, whom I walked past while practicing my Parisian Murder Face(TM). The string-bracelet guys were out in such force that I hesitated to walk up the curved path that leads to the side of the church because they were almost elbow-to-elbow across the walkway. But as I dove behind a large man with a backpack for cover, the string-bracelet crew took flight, running down the sidewalks and vanishing behind the bushes. In seconds there was no trace of them, just as two police officers came walking down from the opposite side. It was so creepy it was almost impressive. Later in the day I saw the same thing happen with some ball-and-cup players down the street: one minute they're drawing a crowd, the next minute they're invisible, and the minute after that the foot patrol turns up. Some people think travelers get too paranoid about pickpockets and street scammers; it's definitely possible to make yourself crazy worrying about it but it's also a real concern--and not too hard or inconvenient to avoid by being smart.<br />
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I was rewarded for my vigilance by not being pickpocketed, string-braceleted, or fleeced by the ball-and-cup guys, AND by getting to see the "8eme Traversée de Paris Estivale" (8th Summer Crossing of Paris) put on by a car club called "<a href="http://www.vincennesenanciennes.com/" target="_blank">Vincennes en Anciennes</a>." I found out from one of the members (white Mercedes convertible) that during this event, they drive through Paris from Vincennes to Meudon. Normally they don't make any stops, he said, but everyone decided they wanted to stop for pictures. So I obligingly took pictures. (Hee.) Click through!<br />
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The cars' sign for the event</div>
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A Shelby Cobra!</div>
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A Fiat Carry-On (I don't know what this car is called, </div>
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but it looks like it would fit in a carry-on suitcase)</div>
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AN ACTUAL VINTAGE CADILLAC.</div>
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Citroën 2CV</div>
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Lord Grantham's car, probably</div>
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And a Mustang!</div>
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Sacre-Coeur was looking beautiful as always. I heard a French woman tell an Aussie tourist that Sacre-Coeur is "unrefined," and maybe it is, but I love it.</div>
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The Tour Montparnasse (over on "our" side of town) from the Butte</div>
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The Traversée Estivale moving out</div>
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While at Sacre-Coeur I also saw the French-est of all French things I saw this summer. The union that represents the attendants that maintain these pay toilets at Sacre-Coeur is on strike, and they had a picket line set up in front of the toilets, whose door they blocked by pasting it over with flyers. There's just something about a unionized pay-toilet-workers strike protest that reaches levels of Epic Frenchness for me. And I say that with genuine and deep love for France, the French, unions, and public protest (and grudging acceptance of pay toilets).</div>
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The good thing about a toilet strike is that it doesn't take many people to make up a picket line.</div>
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In the afternoon I met up with Daniel for lunch. We idly wondered whether it's possible to eat poutine in Paris, and Google led us to <a href="http://www.mooseparis.com/" target="_blank">The Moose</a>. It's a dark, windowless, well air-conditioned sports bar of a kind I did not think existed in Paris. That atmosphere is not my favorite (not when there are café terraces to sit on!) but the staff were friendly and the food was good. Daniel approved of the poutine and I had a really good veggie burger. Major brownie points for making their own veggie burgers instead of buying the frozen ones. </div>
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After lunch we moseyed down Boulevard St. Germain past some sort of summer market/festival celebrating France's offshore territories, over to Chez Clement to drink coffee since Clement is the name of one of Daniel's uncles: </div>
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Then past the St. Michel fountain where we saw tap dancers under the awning at Gibert Jeune:</div>
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I was on a mission to get Daniel to at least see Notre Dame from the outside. He doesn't care for cathedrals but I think a person should see Notre Dame while in Paris. So from Place St. Michel I tempted him toward the Amorino gelateria that is almost right across the quai (with apologies to Berthillon, we both love Amorino) and then we crossed over to Notre Dame: </div>
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Finally we decided to head back to Cité U. I wanted a nap and Daniel was thinking about going to play poker at Le Cercle Clichy-Montmartre. He lost some money but at least got to do it in a beautiful atmosphere. I had <i>un verre</i> with Dr. Kirk to toast the end of a truly fantastic summer, then got a takeout pizza and ate it while packing my suitcase. Then off to bed for a few hours, falling asleep to the sound of the tram on Boulevard Jourdan one last time.</div>
Dr. Thomasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12511455174930906709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2945145994643200523.post-51785142246117781912015-07-29T02:55:00.002-07:002015-07-29T02:55:29.405-07:00Last field trip of 2015: Musée du Quai BranlyFor our final field trip of 2015 I took my class to the Musée du Quai Branly, "where cultures dialogue." After a month of Renaissance art, Gothic architecture, white marble statues, and Le Nôtre gardens, it is good to be reminded that the rest of the world makes art too. We had a great discussion about this museum in class today; my students are getting really smart about noticing curatorial choices and how objects are presented. The Quai Branly does a good job contextualizing objects that are bound to be unfamiliar to most of its visitors. Along the way it also shows how universal certain objects and practices are. It's a great museum.<br />
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A "soul boat" from a coming-of-age ritual practiced in Indonesia</div>
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Masks are everywhere in the Quai Branly.</div>
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This shield is from Papua New Guinea but looks like Beowulf could have carried it.</div>
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One of the figures in the "soul boat"</div>
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Wolf-headed figures representing an Aztec god</div>
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Aztec goddesses</div>
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Mexican folk art</div>
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An ancestral pole from British Columbia</div>
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Some of the figures on the pole</div>
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A protective statue from Gabon</div>
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The Quai Branly's holdings that are not formally on display are shelved behind glass in the middle of the museum.</div>
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My standard joke is that these are my students--actually they are slit gongs from somewhere in Africa (I don't remember which country).</div>
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These are actually my students. I'm going to miss them.</div>
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From the museum we walked to Rue Cler, which is a well-known market street that also contains several cafés and restaurants. Our original plan was to pick up food for a picnic and take it to the Eiffel Tower, but yesterday was chilly and windy and the museum was oddly cold. So we opted to eat indoors instead and wound up in a casual but well-decorated Italian restaurant where everyone inhaled large quantities of pizza and pasta. It was just the right thing after a long-ish walk on a windy day.</div>
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I walked back to the métro the long way after lunch: from Ecole Militaire métro stop where I dropped off my students, back past the Eiffel Tower, all the way to Alma-Marceau métro stop. It was a roundabout route but I got a few good photos out of it:</div>
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We finished up the day with a very convivial faculty dinner. After running out of wine at our last dinner, we may have overcompensated slightly & ended up with about 4 unopened bottles. But I merely wanted to make sure my colleagues drank my bottle of Vouvray Petillant, which they did very cheerfully. Success! It's great to work with people that you actually want to have dinner with.<br />
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5 more sleeps till home. Some students have asked me if I'm eager to get back and I say I'm 50% eager, 50% sad to leave.<br />
<br />Dr. Thomasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12511455174930906709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2945145994643200523.post-45108633433738945582015-07-26T06:46:00.002-07:002015-07-26T06:59:38.133-07:00Mini blog: Weekend "de garde"In the category of useful French vocabulary is the phrase "de garde" which means "on call." So the <i>pharmacie de garde</i> is the one that's open 24 hours. The <i>maison medicale de garde</i> is the after-hours clinic. And this weekend I am the assistant director <i>de garde</i>. I am free to flâner (that's "roam around without a plan") in Paris but I am checking messages and responding to student emergencies. Here's what I've been up to this weekend other than work:<br />
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On Friday morning I came back over to Les Halles to pick up tickets for the Louvre for that night.<br />
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The crowded-Metro struggle is real.</div>
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<span style="text-align: start;">At the Les Halles observation deck where you can see the construction project.</span></div>
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I checked out the Louvre courtyard to see where we'd need to enter with our prepaid tickets, because Vicki and Robert and the kids were coming and I didn't want to make them wait and wander around aimlessly. From the courtyard I walked down through the Tuileries with, apparently, every tourist in Paris:</div>
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Someone told me once that when it's hot in Paris, you go to a park and put your feet in a basin. I didn't see anyone with their feet actually in the water, but many did have their shoes off.</div>
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Looking back toward the Louvre</div>
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The green chairs in parks are one of the things I get nostalgic for when I'm not here.</div>
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Sometimes it really does seem like translation is unnecessary. </div>
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"Gee, Mildred, what do you think <i>salade de fruits</i> could possibly be?" </div>
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"I dunno, Harold, we'd better skip it. It could be snails or something!"</div>
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At the Louvre with Daniel and Vicki's clan I decided not to take pictures but just walk around and look. I did take one pic of the newly restored Winged Victory:</div>
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I love the placement of this statue at the top of the staircase so you can see it from far away. It's an arresting focal point. A+ curatorial work, Musée du Louvre.</div>
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Daniel took a pic of us in front of the Mona Lisa, but if you want to see it, you'll have to read his blog.</div>
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Oh, wait . . . </div>
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The major weekend highlight was seeing the Alvin Ailey dance company at Théatre du Châtelet. They were incredible and the French audience LOVED them. Also, the theatre is gorgeous:</div>
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I had this hilarious folding seat on the end of a row. It was pretty comfortable but every time I stood up/sat down I had to do origami.</div>
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I am not Alice Jane Knight, obviously. She is my colleague who sold me her ticket.</div>
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Anna Pavlova appeared for the first time in Paris at Théatre du Châtelet in 1909. Diaghilev's Ballets Russes also premiered there.</div>
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This morning (late) we went to the OTHER Breakfast in America (original/Left Bank version) for brunch and ended up next to a French couple with whom we (Daniel) struck up a conversation. I had to laugh because he grew up in Madagascar and she is Polish and yet like everyone in Paris they grumbled about the problems caused by immigration. In any case it was fun to meet some new people and have a traditional French arm-waving exchange about social issues. Americans are routinely taught not to discuss politics, religion, etc. with foreigners but we (Daniel) have jumped right in on many occasions and never been badly received. Honestly, it's pleasant when compared to the placid "Where are you from? What do you do for a living? Nice weather we're having" of American-style small talk!</div>
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This afternoon, the final stage of the Tour de France rides into Paris, so I am going with Vicki's fam and possibly some students. Our heat wave from a few weeks ago has been replaced by fall-like weather: chilly and persistent drizzle. It should be an interesting afternoon--gotta admit it is nice to be wearing long sleeves and socks at the end of July.</div>
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<br />Dr. Thomasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12511455174930906709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2945145994643200523.post-45224620845296284502015-07-23T11:48:00.000-07:002015-07-23T11:48:19.970-07:00Mini Blog: A day to flânerDaniel and I took advantage of a day on call with no calls to flâner in the Marais and go shopping at Les Halles today. He is looking for some specific things (a suit; shorts with zipper pockets). I am looking for things that are nice to wear and <i>bien soldé</i>. He was also looking for a cooked breakfast so we went, inevitably, to Breakfast in America. I was not in a hurry to go back--as I've said, I do not go to Paris to eat American food. But he was THRILLED.<br />
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(Granted, in this pic he looks more demented than thrilled.)</div>
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I've realized that BIA makes me very depaysée. Look around the restaurant, I'm in the U.S. Look out at the street, I'm in Paris. And I cannot figure out what language to speak. </div>
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But the coffee was really good.</div>
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On our shopping round we discovered <a href="http://www.uniqlo.com/fr/" target="_blank">Uniqlo</a>, a store I'd have been better off not knowing about. Something about Uniqlo ticks all my boxes. We also went into the Swatch store where they polished the crystal of his watch to take a scratch out for the princely sum of 0€. We went by the Musée Carnavalet and peeped into the garden; we passed by L'As du Fallafel before the line had started to form. (Unfortunately that was right after BIA, so no falafel for me today.) We tried on clothes and heard many iterations of "So, you are from Québec, right?"<br />
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More of the same at Les Halles, a mall that is very comprehensive but also kind of stuffy and airless because it's underground. By midafternoon it was time to take a break for a drink and a snack so we passed through a small pedestrian market and fetched up at a café called Etienne Marcel. Outside it looks like a traditional café but the inside looks like late-series <i>Mad Men</i> with primary colors and molded plastic furniture. It was nice to relax in a quiet place with comfortable seats for a while!<br />
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Finally on our way out, I talked Daniel into stopping into <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Eustache,_Paris" target="_blank">St. Eustache</a>, built in the 16th and 17th centuries and then restored in the early 19th after the Revolution:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlDXKIwG4Azv5PDCiPfkBkaKyplnWz0yEI2yRnBiRLwqKmdY9zyAHNiPxdvEd_WTTgCBljWscrzD9XspcPDBhl1ZsDMZgQGjOoHlCvd187Icf7vS5qfQiI8oc0XTquAyt3JZpNMvpiOvw/s1600/IMG_3740.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlDXKIwG4Azv5PDCiPfkBkaKyplnWz0yEI2yRnBiRLwqKmdY9zyAHNiPxdvEd_WTTgCBljWscrzD9XspcPDBhl1ZsDMZgQGjOoHlCvd187Icf7vS5qfQiI8oc0XTquAyt3JZpNMvpiOvw/s320/IMG_3740.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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Chapel of the Virgin</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj78BNaTTwgFnkkrGN1aq0soeNtaBtZ9v-ycFuIpSOQKhWg-1TSxpA4AmobGFSAwxbiYq5FuxMb7tvp5YPNAuWx930FF9N3VZxuXmqK2iBs3BAs0Y1v1NxnUl9zvD91puUMM1ketbESsqM/s1600/IMG_3741.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj78BNaTTwgFnkkrGN1aq0soeNtaBtZ9v-ycFuIpSOQKhWg-1TSxpA4AmobGFSAwxbiYq5FuxMb7tvp5YPNAuWx930FF9N3VZxuXmqK2iBs3BAs0Y1v1NxnUl9zvD91puUMM1ketbESsqM/s320/IMG_3741.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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The altar</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3URF-oqlg3pM-33H2PksIAOm54QsWc4ZXZye1eJHxfZgR4iqXRvYUs2IVjVAnQy9SYGyoUsjh1nn5euCv2Z63TdpzGWeGL3ol96k91TRGauIU7IpScm0y2o-sGmzxegvqTR1bQhJ-Zao/s1600/IMG_3745.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3URF-oqlg3pM-33H2PksIAOm54QsWc4ZXZye1eJHxfZgR4iqXRvYUs2IVjVAnQy9SYGyoUsjh1nn5euCv2Z63TdpzGWeGL3ol96k91TRGauIU7IpScm0y2o-sGmzxegvqTR1bQhJ-Zao/s320/IMG_3745.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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The organ has 8,000 pipes and is supposed to be the largest in France!</div>
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8R_ZYHgq2s" target="_blank">Here</a> is what it sounds like.</div>
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The organ keyboard is right out where you can see it.</div>
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To cap off this excellent day we had dinner with Dr. Kirk and his wife Betsy at Rouge Pomme, which is becoming our go-to place for dinner/dessert/coffee/a drink. I always get a galette du sarrasin for dinner there but the Kirks both had tartines that looked amazing. Then we bought chocolates at Leonidas for dessert. Say what you want to about Paris but the food is hard to beat. So are the cathedrals and the shopping.</div>
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Tomorrow, Vicki and Robert and their kids come over from London. We are going to the Louvre tomorrow night. And on Saturday I am going to see Alvin Ailey at Théatre du Châtelet. It's gonna be an excellent weekend!</div>
<br />Dr. Thomasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12511455174930906709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2945145994643200523.post-35326323382346436742015-07-21T07:25:00.001-07:002015-07-21T07:50:56.741-07:00Un regard ouvert sur la Grande MosquéeOn my first trip to France in 2004 (when I was a student rather than a professor on Study Abroad), we had a little cultural orientation at the beginning of our stay and we learned that Americans have <i>un regard ouvert</i>, which means "an open look." Compared to other cultures we look other people in the eye more readily and we are quicker to presume or create relationships with others whereas the French are more private. We were told about this idea in the context of a warning: be careful about looking people in the eye on the street (it's not done) and be ready for more formality and social distance than you are used to. So over lunch today I told my students about this idea. They readily understood and agreed that it was correct, but also said that they think <i>un regard ouvert </i>is good because it means you're open to new people and situations, and you are willing to take an interest in others. From their perspective, I can't disagree, and they carry their open eyes into our class and our field trips in a very positive way.<br />
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So today we took our American openness to the Grande Mosquée and then to its attached café for lunch. Dr. Yahgoobi brought her class to the mosque with us as well. Click through for the details and pictures, s'il vous plaît?<br />
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We had the same tour guide, Yemina, as last year. She is very friendly, obviously loves her faith and is a great ambassador for a religion that is not always regarded positively. She's also patient with my imperfect skills as a translator, so I was happy to see her again!<br />
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The mosque was constructed between 1922 and 1926 from stone, marble, plaster, ceramic, and wood, with decorations in mosaic tile, stucco, and cedar of Lebanon. Most of the woodwork, several chandeliers, and some of the wall hangings were donated by imams and kings from other countries.<br />
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The horseshoe-shaped arches are typical of the "hispano-mauresque" style.</div>
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Stucco decorations--made of marble dust mixed with plaster. See the calligraphy inset?</div>
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Mosaic decoration--the dark brown tile above the mosaic has calligraphy that tells the story of the mosque in verse as well as representing some Koranic verses.</div>
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Yemina explained that helping construct a mosque is thought of as something like a donation and that it makes you a part of the mosque's history. Since Islam does not practice iconography at all (no images of people or animals) the whole mosque is decorated only with geometric patterns and calligraphy. The garden contains beautiful rose bushes (still in bloom--I told Yemina that roses in Georgia finished blooming weeks ago), citrus trees, and fig trees as well as fountains and little basins.<br />
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The crescent represents the Muslim lunar calendar. The star represents the 5 pillars of Islam: the shahadah, prayer 5 times a day, giving to the poor, observing Ramadan, and the hajj.</div>
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A square minaret, typical of North African mosques.</div>
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The students were very attentive through the tour and asked some good questions. I got a little tangled up in what I thought I remembered about Islam (from my high school World Religions class in 1990, cough cough) and Yemina had to set me straight but it all worked out. I learned from Dr. Yaghoobi that "shahadah," the name of the Muslim profession of faith ("There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet, may peace be upon him") means "testimony." When Yemina recited it in French she said "Je temoigne que . . . " at the beginning: "I testify that . . . " Somehow the whole thing made a lot more sense to me after that.<br />
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We took pictures together:<br />
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Then we ate in the café. For unfamiliar food it's good to have <i>un regard ouvert</i>. If we learned nothing else today we learned what couscous is, what a tagine is, and why mint tea is a good idea. One student ordered "pastilla" and was surprised, although not displeased, to receive a meat pie. This is what I love about study abroad: you learn something everywhere you go!</div>
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Mint tea, y'all.</div>
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From "What's couscous?" to "Can we get more couscous?" in 1 hour or less.</div>
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Dr. Thomasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12511455174930906709noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2945145994643200523.post-35443853860141844122015-07-20T03:55:00.000-07:002015-07-20T03:55:23.470-07:00Chow Italia, Part 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
It was late by the time we returned from Alberobello on Friday night, so Saturday we blew off a trip to the beach (probably a bad decision, in retrospect) in favor of relaxing, watching Italian TV (i.e. American TV dubbed in Italian, plus some baffling infomercials), and spending time with Karine and Antonio's kittens. In Italian, "kittens" is "gattini." Easy to remember because kittens are teeny!</div>
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This is Maurice Ravel.</div>
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This is Coco Chanel.</div>
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(also pictured: the nifty tile floors in the apartment)</div>
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In the afternoon I went with Karine to buy cheese and vegetables at some of the small shops in Corato. The whole weekend was a linguistic and cultural adventure and this may have been the highlight. The man who runs the cheese shop loves Karine so he dished out some fresh mozzarella knots for us to try as soon as we came in the door. Then he chatted with her while taking her order even though there was a line and some people were griping at him to hurry it along. Karine says she is not always accepted everywhere in Corato but obviously she is well beloved at the cheese shop and at the fruit-and-vegetable shop where she got guidance about her lemon trees. It was fun just to tag along even though I couldn't understand everything or contribute much. Karine would just point at me and say "Famiglia!"</div>
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That night after serving as Antonio's roadies (broken elevator, music gear up 6 flights of stairs: let's try to forget that this ever happened) we went and got takeout pizza from a place called Pizza Teatro. It was jam-packed and boiling hot with a disorderly queue and one beleaguered waiter rushing back and forth with pizzas for the people eating at the tables outside the restaurant. Naturally, the pizza was delicious. I had a "Caprese" which was black olives, fresh tomatoes, and onion on a thin crust cooked in a brick oven. Worth the wait and the strange drama of ordering and paying there. Afterward I told Karine that it's called Pizza Teatro because they could film a reality show in the restaurant.</div>
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It was very interesting being a native English speaker/second-language French speaker on this trip. Daniel and Karine have French as their first language and English as their second. Antonio is a native Italian speaker (of course) with English as his second language and no French. And Karine has learned to speak Italian incredibly well in only a year and a half. So when Daniel, Karine, and I or just Karine and I were together we would speak French because she doesn't get to speak French very often. When the 4 of us were together we would speak English, and I would be the only one without (to my own ears) a melodious accent. But I learned a few words in Italian, such as "Molto bene!" which means "Very good." Lots of things in Italy are molto bene.</div>
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Yesterday morning we went to the Adriatic coast for a photo op before heading to the airport. It was very crowded but so pretty!</div>
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Cousin love!</div>
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Look, I was there!</div>
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Soon it was time to take our flight back and our Italian adventure was over. Karine says we need to come for 2 weeks next time so we can travel around. Good idea or GREAT idea? In any case I am so grateful for the warm welcome we received there and the fun and relaxing time we had. Hooray, Italy! </div>
<br />Dr. Thomasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12511455174930906709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2945145994643200523.post-62925968732991669632015-07-19T12:48:00.000-07:002015-07-20T03:55:42.845-07:00Chow Italia, Part 1Daniel and I are back in Paris after a fantastic weekend in Italy with his cousin Karine and her boyfriend Antonio. It was terribly hot the whole time we were there, and neither of us speaks any Italian, and we flew Ryanair, and the whole thing could have been disaster, but instead we had a great time. Karine and Antonio are excellent hosts! Let's click through, shall we?<br />
<a name='more'></a>Thursday afternoon we took the Paris Beauvais Airport shuttle from Porte Maillot to the Beauvais airport. It calls itself "Paris Beauvais" but is actually an hour and fifteen minutes away. On that logic I am going to start calling our house Paris Lizella. However, the shuttle is pretty convenient and quite cheap: 32€ per person round-trip if you book online, which is less expensive than the Groome shuttle and it's a much nicer bus! Ryanair was a better experience than I expected as well. They do charge for EVERYTHING (drinks, snacks, newspapers, checked bags, printing your boarding pass) but the flights ran right on time and the planes seemed decently maintained (albeit not pristinely tidy because their turnaround times are very short). I would definitely do Ryanair or another low-cost carrier again if I travel within Europe for a weekend. As long as you travel light it's an excellent deal.<br />
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We landed in Bari, which is about 35 minutes from Corato, the city where Karine and Antonio live, and they picked us up at the airport. Let me just say right now that everything you have heard about Italian driving is true. Antonio is an excellent "Italian style" driver; I am both terrified by and jealous of his skills. He says he does not drive fast compared to his fellow citizens, which is probably true. "What if I had an Audi?" he speculated.<br />
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After a stop at their apartment to drop off bags and freshen up, we headed out to dinner and that's when the real fun began. They are regulars at a local restaurant called Le Stagioni di Puglia that does typical cuisine from the Puglia region (which grows a lot of olives and other vegetables as as making some unbeatable cheeses). First we got a crash course in Italian dining, which goes like this:<br />
1. Start late. 8:30 is about the earliest you can eat dinner.<br />
2. Antipasti: small dishes of preserved meats, cheese, or cooked vegetables<br />
3. Primi: pasta<br />
4. Secondi: meat or fish dishes<br />
5. Dessert<br />
6. Depart restaurant in a wheelbarrow, probably.<br />
We gave Aldo, the owner, free rein to choose antipasti for us, and they just did not stop coming. Moreover, everything Francesco, the waiter, brought out was delicious: ham, salami, pecorino, parmesan, stuffed mushrooms, grilled zucchini, bruschetta, fresh olives, cooked zucchini leaves (who knew?), grilled string beans . . . It was all so good but we were expecting 2-3 more courses. Finally we had to ask them to stop bringing out antipasti!<br />
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This was AFTER we'd already eaten so much we thought we might die.</div>
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We had pasta (I had orecchietti with I forget what but it was yummy), canceled our secondi, and went straight to dessert. Karine was not feeling well but she did perk up after a chocolate mousse. I tried limoncello for the first time. It was good but I'm not sure I will order it again. Liqueurs are just not my thing, maybe. Meanwhile I'm still wondering if we should have canceled our pastas as well and just eaten antipasti all night. </div>
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After traveling and a late dinner we simply did not get a jump on the day Friday but sat on the terrace at the apartment most of the morning:</div>
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Views from the 6th floor!</div>
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Corner apartment = Lots of skyline</div>
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At right, one of Karine's lemon trees. </div>
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Karine & Antonio's apartment is big and very pretty; the only drawback is that it's on the 6th floor and the elevator is not 100% reliable (as we learned!). We did eventually get dressed and venture out for lunch at a small café called Cofy Cloud (panini: average, gelato pops: A++++). </div>
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Daniel wanted to rest but Karine and I decided to take the train to visit <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberobello" target="_blank">Alberobello</a>, Alberobello is known for its domed houses called <i>trulli,</i> for which it is designated a <a href="http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/787" target="_blank">UNESCO World Heritage Site</a>. The train journey was a little grueling and we thought we would not have much time to visit before needing to catch the train back. But Karine had the excellent idea to call Antonio and invite him to come out with Daniel in the car and meet us for dinner. So we had time to take quite a few pictures, taste some locally made liqueurs, and sit down for a beer before the gentlemen arrived. Here are some of my pics. I'm so glad we went to Alberobello. I might never have known there was such a place and it is unique and beautiful.</div>
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Antonio and Karine</div>
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. . . and Daniel</div>
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Looking down on the beer festival in Alberobello just before we left</div>
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We ate another huge meal Friday night: I had bruschetta and orecchietti (again) plus part of a grilled cheese entrée that Antonio ordered. It was literally a thick slice of a gouda-like cheese, cooked on a grill. Unbelievably delicious and I want to try making something similar at home. By the time dinner was over we had to go straight back to Corato as Antonio, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/Molinilson" target="_blank">who is a musician</a>, had a gig the next day. Did I fall asleep on the <i>autostrada</i>? I'll never tell . . . </div>
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Tune in tomorrow for the rest of the Italy Report, featuring KITTENS!</div>
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<br />Dr. Thomasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12511455174930906709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2945145994643200523.post-726038608935300312015-07-15T12:09:00.001-07:002015-07-15T12:09:29.194-07:00How to Bastille DayYesterday was, of course, France's national holiday, which Americans call "Bastille Day" and the French just call "le 14 juillet."<br />
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Kind of scary that FB knows where I am and what I'm up to.</div>
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Last year I went big on Bastille Day morning: got out early and went to the parade. This year we kept it relaxed in the morning, but I still wanted to see the flyover, which is my favorite part of the day. We got over to the Louvre (the courtyard is a great place to see the planes) with about 5 minutes to spare before the first planes flew over with their bleu-blanc-rouge smoke trails. Hooray!<br />
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Did I take a picture? Never you mind. We did get these goofy shots of ourselves with the glass pyramid.<br />
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We stayed a while longer to watch some more planes go by, then made our way to Les Halles, the Pompidou Center, and the Niki de St. Phalle fountain--which Dr. Kirk says is properly called the Stravinsky fountain. Live and learn! A lot more shops and restaurants were open than usual so we checked out some stores; Daniel got some sunglasses and I bought a dress and a pair of jeans. It doesn't sound like much but with a sandwich at Pomme de Pain and some sitting around and general flânerie, we had a nice, relaxed afternoon and then went back to our room for some dinner and a disco nap.<br />
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That night I finally got to do something I have wanted to do for years: we went to a bal de pompiers. It's a tradition for fire stations (casernes de pompiers) to host public dances on Bastille Day--and sometimes the night before and the night after as well. I had never been to one because I'm always in Paris alone, and I didn't want to go alone.* Of course, this year I have Daniel and he LOVES a party, so off we went to the Caserne de Port-Royal in the 13th. It proved to be an excellent choice. Fun dance music, a good atmosphere, and the caserne itself was cool to see: 4-story buildings surrounding an open courtyard which was the dance floor. The pompiers had hired a good DJ with an extensive light show and built several bars with different names/themes around the dance floor--it was cute and just much more elaborate than I expected. There was also a food truck selling sausages and fries (or some such).<br />
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Banner outside the fire station</div>
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The dance floor and bar setup inside the caserne--</div>
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before it got so crowded that you could barely move around.</div>
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Daniel was pretty taken with these glowing tables.</div>
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Delirious/sweaty dancefloor selfie.</div>
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Shortly before we left--dance floor was getting packed. </div>
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Finally, I just need to say this for the record: French firefighters are astonishingly attractive. I don't know how they do it. Is there an audition? They all look ready for the cover of a fitness magazine.<br />
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Yep, that's me surrounded by the 13th Arrondissement's finest.</div>
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All the firefighters we talked to were very polite and friendly, which was nice. Daniel and I both noticed that it was a very welcoming atmosphere. We danced for close to 2 hours without very many breaks, and left around 11:15 when the dance floor was getting so packed that it was impossible to move. People were obviously having a great time and although there may have been some drunken shenanigans and bad behavior later in the night, we had an excellent experience. A+ work, 3eme Companie de Caserne Port-Royal. (<span style="font-size: xx-small;">call me!</span>)<br />
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And so to bed after watching the fireworks show on live stream from France 2. I have yet to decide whether it's worth going to the Champ de Mars to see the fireworks in person. Last night seemed perfect: go dancing early and don't stay too long, see fireworks on television, get to bed before 4 a.m.<br />
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Tomorrow: Italy! I don't think I will take my computer so expect radio silence till we get back Sunday afternoon. It will be my first time in Italy and I am so excited!<br />
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*N.B. I believe that Paris is a safe city, and during the day I go places alone all the time. But to go dancing alone at night on the night of a holiday when everyone is out and lots of people are drinking has never seemed like a smart idea to me. YMMV.Dr. Thomasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12511455174930906709noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2945145994643200523.post-28565067665281266292015-07-12T11:18:00.001-07:002015-07-12T11:18:40.561-07:00Epic Loire Valley Sightseeing WeekendThis year, the EC Paris program and other European Council programs decided to add a "bonus" to each program in some form, both to take advantage of this year's favorable exchange rates and to help attract students. The Paris program's "bonus" was a weekend trip to the Loire Valley to see some of the famous châteaux. It was an excellent trip and I am writing this post in the autocar on the way back. It will be light on narrative but heavy on pictures, so get comfortable and click through...<br />
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We set out Friday morning from Paris in 2 autocars. Ours was piloted by our trusty driver Guy and we were led by our old friend Tour Guide Josh. We arrived at our first destination, Amboise, before lunch and had plenty of time to visit the castle and enjoy a good meal in town. I had not been to Amboise before. It is very impressive and definitely shows the military and strategic roots of chateau architecture.<br />
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Amboise castle from below</div>
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Tour Guide Josh gives the history of the castle</div>
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Exterior views </div>
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For lunch, Daniel and I and Dr. Mann went to a charcuterie and got "ardoises" (slates) of mixed cheese, charcuterie, and cold salads. Everything was delicious! I can't remember what the cheeses were called but one was a goat cheese that's grey on the outside--we would see it again, twice, before the weekend was over. We had more than we could eat and yet we still managed to get ice cream afterward. How does that happen?<br />
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Getting lunch in Amboise</div>
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Our lunch!</div>
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The view from our table</div>
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From Amboise we continued into Tours, which would be our base for Friday and Saturday night. Because we are a large group (almost 100 people counting students, professors, bus drivers, and tour guides), we were split between 2 hotels. One hotel, St. Eloi, was closer to the center of Tours. Our hotel, La Terrasse, was outside of town but right on the tram line so we could easily go downtown. We had a very quick city tour from Josh including some cathedral ruins that are right in the town center. Standing in front of the two towers, which once made up the northwest and southeast corners of the transept, respectively, you suddenly have a new perspective on the size of a cathedral that comes from examining how many normal-sized houses and shops can fit into the space where the cathedral once was. It's amazing.<br />
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This is the southeast corner tower</div>
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Looking northwest to the other tower</div>
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This is the basilica that replaced the ruined cathedral but not until the 1800s.</div>
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Close-up of the northwest tower which is called the Charlemagne tower</div>
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View from where we ate dinner--a medieval half-timbered house.</div>
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We had a very traditional French dinner that night at a restaurant called Le Bouchon Tourangeau that is right off the main square, Place Plumereau, in Tours. For my entree I had chevre chaud (there's that goat cheese again) on a salad, followed by andouillette and frites, and a chocolate mousse for dessert. Let me explain about andouillette: it is delicious, but like a lot of delicious French food (especially cheese), it smells terrible. The most polite word I can find to describe the smell of andouillette is "Swiftian." Or maybe "earthy." And yet it is sooooo tasty. Again: how does that happen?<br />
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Saturday morning we had breakfast at the hotel and got a leisurely 10 a.m. start for our winery tour and tasting in Vouvray. We toured the "cave" (in this case a literal cave though sometimes it just means a cellar!) where Vouvray wines are aged for at least a year before they are sold. It was a fascinating enviroment and interesting to learn about. Then we went on to taste 3 different Vouvray wines plus some local snacks (GOAT CHEESE). Tasting wine at 11:30 a.m. was a little unusual but fun! I bought a bottle of my favorite of the wines we tasted, a "petillant," "demi-sec" Vouvray. In the wine world "petillant" means "half-fizzy" (all the way fizzy is "mousseux") and "demi-sec" is semi-dry. I am excited to open it next time the professors get together to raise a glass.<br />
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Daniel & Dr. Mann with Guy</div>
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Students walking into the <i>cave</i></div>
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Madeleine, our tour guide at the winery, in front of a rack of 15,000+ bottles.</div>
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Goat . . . (wait for it)</div>
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CHEESE!</div>
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The wines we tasted--the middle one is the one I bought.</div>
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From the winery we went on to Chenonceau, a short hop down the road. I had been to Chenonceau before but was more than happy to go again. It is so beautiful. I could probably have sat all day just looking at it!<br />
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Students listening to Josh's introduction</div>
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I was there! (And using my worst posture, apparently.)</div>
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After lunch in Chenonceau we returned to Tours and had time to catch a nap before heading back downtown in Tours for dinner and some fun. We ate pizza (don't worry; it was French: there was a fried egg on it) and walked down toward the riverfront where there is a little strip of bars and restaurants called La Guinguette. On the way, we stopped to ride the Ferris wheel that is in another square right next to the river. The views were breathtaking at sunset.<br />
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Down at the river Daniel managed to befriend some guys with guitars (OF COURSE HE DID) and they jammed around playing classic French music for a while as everyone relaxed and enjoyed the riverfront scene. But today was an earlier start--9 a.m. departure--so we did not stay out too late. Today we had a slightly packed agenda with a stop at Chambord for photos, followed by lunch in Chartres and a look at the cathedral, and then "home" to Paris. These were also the longest sections of the drive with a generous 90 minutes separating each stop, so we have been a bit rushed to get everything in. But it was worth the stop to see Chambord again (less worth it to pay 50 cents to use a porta-potty, merci beaucoup, domaine de Chambord):<br />
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And I am always thrilled to see Chartres again especially now that the restoration is really coming along. A large part of the nave is covered in scaffolding right now, but there is plenty left to see. And the restoration is extraordinary. The somber gloom that we associate with cathedrals is wonderful enough, but seeing the stone scrubbed white and the faux marble painted is thrilling. I can only wish we'd spent a bit less time eating cheeseburgers with our students and a bit more time in the cathedral. On the other hand, we are here for the students and lunch was good fun.<br />
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I love this plaque because it talks about students coming to Chartres on pilgrimages.</div>
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Notre Dame du Pilier</div>
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Left to right: completed restoration, non-restored, restoration in progress</div>
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The main altar: already fully restored</div>
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Arches & keystones above the main altar</div>
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Look, I was there too!</div>
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So now we are rolling back to Paris in our autocars and getting ready for next week. It's going to be a mad scramble for the washing machines but a good weekend trip is always worth the laundry you have to do afterward.<br />
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Update at time of posting: Going straight to the laundry room from the autocar is the secret to success. À bientôt!Dr. Thomasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12511455174930906709noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2945145994643200523.post-79940343551564568492015-07-09T13:22:00.000-07:002015-07-09T13:22:02.449-07:00Anatomy of a Steak TartareThis blog is teetering on the edge of total disarray because so much has been going on that I almost can't keep up with it. In addition to teaching, field trips, and a couple of other fun excursions, I've been to the doctor three times this week with sick or injured faculty or students. THREE TIMES. Today when I sat down in his office, "our" doctor looked at me across the desk and said "Vous savez, nous sommes fermé le dimanche."* Everybody wash your hands and be careful out there, okay?<br />
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So in between trips to the doctor's office I have managed to get in some top-quality cultural experiences. Last night with Dr. Kirk's class I saw <i><a href="https://youtu.be/QyJP2ZV_X2w" target="_blank">L'Anatomie de la sensation</a></i> by Wayne McGregor at the Paris Opera Ballet. It was an incredible experience. I have plenty of background with ballet but none with contemporary ballets such as this one, set to a piece of music titled "Blood on the Floor" and featuring a high-tech movable set. The dancing was simply extraordinary. Contemporary dance is fairly easy to do badly but incredibly evocative when done well. This ballet does not have a storyline but instead focuses on the quality of movement and the shifting relationships among the dancers, so it really shows off the artistry and the technical prowess of the company. I was thrilled at the opportunity to see it and disappointed when it was over--I probably won't get a chance but I was tempted to attend a second performance just to study the dancing again.<br />
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Today's highlight was a visit to <a href="http://www.restaurant-lestontons.fr/fr/" target="_blank">Les Tontons</a> with the 4 students who had signed up for my "Dinner Club." Dinner Club is one of the optional activities our program is offering; professors choose a restaurant for dinner and students sign up to go with them. I picked Les Tontons on my Parisian friend's recommendation because their specialty is beef tartare. Two years ago I discovered that I love tartare. Meanwhile, most Americans probably haven't tried it and/or are horrified by the idea of eating uncooked chopped beef. So I was surprised when I posted my Dinner Club on Facebook and 4 students immediately signed up. Three of them ordered tartare poêlé (seared), which I think is cheating, but you have to start somewhere, right? They were all very enthusiastic and everyone cleaned their plates, so I'm calling this Dinner Club a success. Les Tontons is relaxed and friendly, not at all <i>touristique</i>, and of course the food is excellent. Next time I might splurge and get the Tartare A.O.C.--see if my little American palate can tell the difference.<br />
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My choice: tartare traditionnel, frites, salade (not pictured: a 1664 en pression and a chocolate mousse for dessert).</div>
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The students with their meals.</div>
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Tomorrow we go to the Loire Valley to see the châteaux for the weekend. I am so excited. Get ready for LOTS of pictures.<br />
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*"You know, we are closed on Sundays." He was teasing me, and in fact I was amused and touched that he cracked a joke because he has seemed very deadpan and shy in the past.Dr. Thomasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12511455174930906709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2945145994643200523.post-90029342347480229322015-07-07T12:55:00.000-07:002015-07-07T12:55:09.472-07:00Breakfast in America and Dinner on a BoatField trip day #2 for my World Lit. class. I think this means half of our field trips are already done! Holy cow. That makes me feel like time is flying, but in fact we do not have a field trip next Tuesday because that's Bastille Day. So it doesn't really mean the program is half over. Whew.<br />
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We went to the Musée Carnavalet which is an eternal favorite of mine. It is the museum of the history of Paris and it illustrates the ways in which Paris has changed throughout its history. It's also a beautiful structure--2 <i>hôtels particuliers</i> put together--and worth going just to see the building:<br />
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This was my third time at the Carnavalet so I did not take very many pictures inside but I still love the shop signs:</div>
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18C cats: vaguely horrifying, at least when made of metal.</div>
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My first take was a barbershop but I'm sure these scissors probably represented a tailor.</div>
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Also found this great painting of Voltaire dictating to his secretary while getting dressed:</div>
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The audioguide said that the painter, Jean Huber, was a friend of Voltaire's and did a whole series of paintings of him in distinctly domestic/non-glamorous circumstances. Voltaire ultimately felt that Huber had imposed on their friendship, which is probably true, but I love the reminder that this great philosopher and writer was also a real person and didn't just look like this all the time:</div>
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This summer I've been requiring students to participate in field trip planning and execution, including input on where we eat lunch. Today they picked <a href="http://www.breakfast-in-america.com/main/" target="_blank">Breakfast in America</a>, a place I've known about for years but never visited. Although I am a "When in Rome..."person and don't choose to eat American food when overseas, I know how evocative and comforting food can be when one is homesick. And I have to admit that B.I.A. knows its way around a burger and fries. The class was pleased with their American-style lunch; the server was incredibly nice and obliging; and now we have a place to go when Daniel gets really desperate for eggs and bacon in the morning.</div>
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(But next time we're going to L'As du Fallafel. Because I'm the teacher and I said so.)</div>
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No sooner had we returned from the Marais than it was time to get ready for the dîner croisière a.k.a. Dinner on a Boat. This is the second year we have done a "formal" dinner on the Seine and it is a lot of fun. Everybody got there in good time and looked splendid. Luckily the few drops of rain that started to fall as we were waiting to board did not dampen us or our spirits too much as we boarded the boat. Daniel and I sat with Dr. Guglielmi and his wife and we did so much chatting during the meal that I did not take a single photo. This might mean we have to do another dinner cruise once our friends get here in a couple more weeks, right? Then, unfortunately, the sky opened as we were disembarking and we got pretty wet on the way back to the RER. But by then everyone was in the mood to have fun and took their best "soaking wet in Paris" selfies on the walk while laughing it off and huddling under umbrellas. </div>
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The company we use is <a href="http://www.bateauxparisiens.com/" target="_blank">Bateaux Parisiens</a>; while I have not tried any others and can't compare, I think the food is pretty good, the service is pleasant, and it's overall an enjoyable atmosphere. It's a relaxed and unique way to see the monuments of Paris. And the students really have an excellent time. After a few days in the routine of classes and field trips it is good to put on a nice dress and be served a nice meal. It's even better if you bring your dance partner and he gets you out on the floor as dessert is being served. I've heard there is video so I'll see if I can add a link to this post later on.</div>
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In the words of Samuel Pepys: And so to bed.</div>
Dr. Thomasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12511455174930906709noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2945145994643200523.post-17647861640581936582015-07-06T12:36:00.002-07:002015-07-07T12:58:17.575-07:00An Excellent SundayYesterday (Sunday) was a fantastic day! We had a relaxing morning (a nice change after the hectic week) followed by lunch with my Parisian friend. She is the provider of SIM cards, vocabulary clues, and transatlantic Viber chats complete with extensive photo exchanges of the "Here's my lunch" variety. A recent highlight was her photo of the selection of vinegar at a large grocery store. I responded with a photo of an American breakfast cereal aisle. Maybe it's not normal but I love that sort of thing. Because of our respective schedules, we rarely get to see each other even when I am here, so we jumped at the chance to get together and for Daniel to meet her for the first time. Even though we talk online multiple times a week it was wonderful to see her face in person. We had lunch at <a href="http://www.yelp.fr/biz/le-rostand-paris" target="_blank">Café Rostand</a>, across the street from the Jardin du Luxembourg, which was very nice. I had a salad of shrimp, avocado, tomato, and grapefruit. Perfect after several days of high temperatures. Then we went 2 doors down to <a href="http://www.dalloyau.com/" target="_blank">Dalloyau</a>, which is an upscale patisserie with a long history and a very good reputation. I ordered something fairly modest--café gourmand with 3 chocolates--and it was all delicious. I just wish I could have had some of everything!<br />
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Daniel's choices--a pain aux raisins and something with raspberries (I don't remember its name).</div>
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Friend's choice: un fraisier, which tasted like a strawberry shortcake.</div>
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Café gourmand aux 3 chocolats (and a bonus macaron, which was very tasty).</div>
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I hoped to take a walk in Luxembourg Gardens but it started raining right after we sat down at Dalloyau. We came back to Cité U. and both took a nap. By the time we woke up it was almost time to leave for our second outing of the day, a <a href="http://www.shakethatswing.com/bal-swing-5juillet/" target="_blank">"Bal de Swing" at Chalet du Lac</a>, a gorgeous Art Deco-style venue on the southeastern edge of Paris. We got there in time to catch most of the beginners' dance lesson offered at the beginning, and thank goodness for that. The style of swing they were dancing was Lindy Hop, which neither of us knew anything about beforehand. So we at least learned 2-3 good steps, which of course is enough to get you through a social dance and make you understand how the dance works. We also figured out that we could dance East Coast Swing to some of the Lindy music, although the style is different. </div>
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The floor was already crowded for the lesson, and by the time the evening really got under way, people were dancing on the "extra" dance floor off to the side as well as packing the main floor to dance to a live orchestra, which is always fun. It was an amazing night! So much energy and fun to watch as well as dance. Daniel even entered the Jack & Jill competition and had a great time. I was not quite brave enough. We also found out that Chalet du Lac hosts other weekly dance events so we will definitely go back. It's a fantastic venue that I wish I could pack up and bring back to Macon.</div>
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Here is Daniel lining up for the Jack & Jill under the HUGE disco ball.</div>
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We never ate dinner last night and it was almost midnight before we got back but it was worth it. What a great day. </div>
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<br />Dr. Thomasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12511455174930906709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2945145994643200523.post-81973150979015613662015-07-05T00:18:00.001-07:002015-07-05T00:18:27.206-07:002015's first field trip: Musée du Moyen-AgeThe program calendar turned out a little weird this year with our first classes happening on a Friday (yesterday) and the first round of morning class field trips today (Saturday). I was very happy with the weird calendar because it meant I could take my class to the Musée du Moyen-Age--that is its official name, Museum of the Middle Ages, but most people still call it the Cluny. It's a natural fit for my class (World Literature I) but it's closed on Tuesdays, which is my usual field trip day, so I've never been able to take a class there before.<br />
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The Cluny consists of 2 buildings that have been renovated and put together through the addition of some modern hallways and staircases. One building is the remains of an ancient Roman bath dating to the 2nd or 3rd century A.D., the Thermae. The other is the Hôtel des Abbés de Cluny, a 15th-century <i>hôtel particulier</i> (city mansion) that originally belonged to a monastic order and the abbot thereof. It houses a collection of medieval artifacts of which the best known is probably the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries. They are breathtaking!<br />
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We arrived at the museum in plenty of time to sign up for a guided tour in English at 11 a.m. and, in fact, to take pictures in the courtyard before the tour started. I saw a group of women--tourists from Beijing, as it turned out--photographing each other and decided to ask if they wanted a picture together. They very excitedly said yes so I took their picture and then they all wanted to take pictures with me! One of my students said that Chinese people are very grateful and excited when Westerners are nice to them. I don't know if that's true as a cultural value but it certainly was in this case and these ladies were very sweet.<br />
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After the photo op it was time for the tour to start. Our tour guide was a very knowledgeable woman named Florence who not only taught us all a lot about medieval European culture but also answered the students' questions in impressive depth. The guided tour was worth the extra 4€ we paid for it, I think. Sometimes I scorn guided tours but then they almost always turn out to be good. Let's click through for some photos, shall we?<br />
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Courtyard of the museum</div>
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Students waiting for the tour to start</div>
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Another view of the courtyard</div>
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The gate into the courtyard</div>
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The Hôtel du Cluny had its own well--a sign of the wealth and prestige of its owners.</div>
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Detail of a stained glass window. Florence explained that elements like eyes and hair were painted in even when they would be too far away for people to see: it was more important that they be there than that they be visible, which is a sort of allegory for Christian faith.</div>
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My students checking out the ancient Roman <i>frigidarium</i> (cold room). You can't underestimate the thrill, for an American, of just standing in a place that's 1800 years old.</div>
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Florence explains the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries.</div>
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Students listening with the "Mon Seul Desir" tapestry in the background.</div>
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Visigothic votive crowns from 700 CE, around the same time <i>Beowulf </i>was probably composed.</div>
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Infant Christ giving a blessing. I just realized that I love this statue because he looks like a baby version of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddy_Christ" target="_blank">Buddy Christ</a>.</div>
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The Pilierde Nautes is the single oldest surviving monument in Paris, dating from 17-34 CE. This side is a dedication to the gods, carved in Roman capitals.</div>
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Another part of the Pilier de Nautes</div>
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Detail from the Lady and the Unicorn</div>
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Flamboyant Gothic ceiling in the Cluny chapel</div>
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Original heads from Notre Dame cathedral's Portal of Kings</div>
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One of my students pointed out this face in the carving around a courtyard window.</div>
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This was a great first field trip. After the tour we went to lunch and all of the students agreed that they wanted to go back to the museum in the afternoon. I was not sure whether they would be interested in the Cluny at all so I was very pleased!</div>
<br />Dr. Thomasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12511455174930906709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2945145994643200523.post-18914985023394279482015-07-02T12:40:00.000-07:002015-07-02T12:40:00.422-07:00Paris HQ 2015Daniel and I arrived at CDG (I have learned that the French call it "Roissy") on Sunday morning, June 28, after a turbulent flight from Atlanta and some fun speaking German in the Frankfurt airport (Taschentücher = Kleenex). This year we were the advance team who came over early to set up the office and classrooms and make the last-minute arrangements before the students' arrival on July 1. We hit the ground running but we also hit the ground sweating, arriving in time for France's most severe heat wave in a dozen years. And I had to hit the ground speaking French, as we'd decided to be 100% Francophone once we arrived in Paris. For 3 days I spoke French almost exclusively; by the time the group arrived yesterday I actually felt a little strange speaking English. Not to say that my French is perfect but it's easier when you're surrounded by it. Immersion: it works!<br />
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This year is my third on the European Council Paris program and I am amazed by how my reactions to Paris have evolved. Last year I was surprised at how much I remembered from year one. This year, it feels a little like I never left. And people remember me, which is always a surprise. Mme. Gabrielle, who is the concierge at IPT (our classroom building), knew who I was, and even the front desk staff at Maison des Étudiants d'Asie du Sud-Est (where I stayed last year) remembered me. Probably because I went all Loud American in their lobby last year while checking students in. This year I am back in Maison des Provinces de France where I stayed in 2013. Daniel and I have a "Studio" room which has a double bed, a huge desk for the his-and-hers laptops, a kitchenette, and a decent-sized wardrobe. It is an improvement over the hotel room we used for our first 3 nights, which was as small as only a Parisian hotel room can be. On the other hand, the room was impeccably clean and the staff were very nice. In fact, we have dealt with so many friendly people on this trip so far. Perhaps the Parisians' reputation for coldness owes something to Americans being intimidated. <br />
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We spent Monday and most of Tuesday preparing for the students' arrival--interspersed with a few breaks on café terraces--and trying to beat jet lag while simultaneously learning to sleep through Paris street noise (I'm getting pretty good at it). On Wednesday, arrival day, we took the RER out to Roissy to meet the first group of students that landed at 10:45 a.m. Everyone stayed until the last group came in around 1:20; then, we loaded the buses and most of the students slept through the ride into Paris.<br />
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I almost did not get on the bus myself--a student lost an important item on her ATL-FRA flight and I went to the Lufthansa desk to pursue its retrieval. I was unsuccessful but I learned something: when you think someone might tell you "No," but he also hasn't really committed to saying "No" ("Eh ben, vous savez, c'est difficile parce que . . . Fin, peut-être si c'était . . . Mais ça c'est différent . . . Alors"), the trick is just to keep standing there till he decides to help you. ("Je peux téléphoner à quelqu'un.") I got the definitive "Ce n'est pas possible" just in time to get on the bus, and today we managed to replace the lost item.<br />
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Today was also a pretty good day for passing as French, as I had to take a student to the doctor and then to the pharmacy, and we were asked twice for our Social Security cards. The doctor said I spoke French very well (which I always like to hear). Then I wanted to tell the pharmacist that her English was very good but I was afraid it would be patronizing. I guess I think everyone but Americans knows a second language (most likely English).<br />
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The week has gone by in a flash so far. We had orientation today (presentations followed by a quiz game with prizes and then a scavenger hunt), tomorrow is the first day of classes, and Saturday is our first field trip day. Once we get into the routine I hope to post more regularly. Meanwhile here is a photo of me with some of the students from MGA. Arrival day was also our first official day as Middle Georgia State University so I wanted a photo to commemorate:<br />
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<br />Dr. Thomasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12511455174930906709noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2945145994643200523.post-29289211495950305092015-06-19T09:41:00.000-07:002015-06-19T09:41:00.108-07:00Ten Things I Miss/Look Forward To About Paris (Mostly Food & Drinks)<br />
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.paris.fr/accueil/paris-mag/ou-boire-un-cafe-pour-1-a-paris/rub_9683_actu_116311_port_23863" target="_blank">Un café</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://www.lecircafe.com/" target="_blank">L'Écir</a> (in my head this is "our" café as it's down the street from the classroom building)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.cartenoire.fr/les-cafes-carte-noire/index.php" target="_blank">Carte Noire</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://www.badoit.fr/#/la_gamme/badoit_intensement_petillante_/badoit_rouge_1l/" target="_blank">Badoit Rouge</a> (<i>intensément pétillant</i>, and isn't "pétillant" a nicer word than "fizzy"?)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/31/travel/31bite.html?_r=0" target="_blank">Falafel in the Marais</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.volvic.fr/la_gamme/volvic_au_jus_d_agrumes/" target="_blank">Volvic au Jus d'Agrumes</a> (and pretty much anything else <i>aux agrumes</i> including <a href="http://www.volvic.fr/la_gamme/volvic_citron/" target="_blank">Volvic Citron</a>)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.amorino.com/en/" target="_blank">Amorino</a> gelato </li>
<li><a href="http://www.restaurant-lestontons.fr/" target="_blank">Boeuf tartare</a> </li>
<li>The <a href="http://www.ratp.fr/" target="_blank">RATP</a></li>
<li><a href="http://goparis.about.com/od/shopping/a/Paris_sales.htm" target="_blank">Les soldes</a></li>
</ol>
Dr. Thomasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12511455174930906709noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2945145994643200523.post-58201111382781161642015-06-17T09:33:00.002-07:002015-06-17T09:33:18.535-07:00T minus 10!Daniel and I lift off in 10 days for this year's Paris trip. He is bringing his French skills and willingness to pick up sandwiches and joining me as program assistant. Both of us are very excited and I know the 88 students (!!!) going with us are too. It's not quite time to start packing, but almost! Stay tuned for updates again this year.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(screen shot from "Dreamdays" coutdown app; h/t to Paris 2015 student Kristen Flippo)</span></div>
<br />Dr. Thomasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12511455174930906709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2945145994643200523.post-69248193111246798332014-09-01T16:44:00.001-07:002014-09-01T17:24:11.848-07:00Vive le Québec libre!The Francophile is branching out. I returned this afternoon from spending Labor Day weekend in Wentworth-Nord, Québec at my beloved Daniel's son's lake house. Québec, of course, was originally part of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_France" target="_blank">New France</a> and remains a bastion of <i>francophonie</i>. Some people think that English is invading the province and French is losing ground, and there are a range of opinions about whether Québec would be Québec without the French language as its cultural backbone. I'm a <i>fière québecoise</i> (if only by marriage) and an optimist: I do think French is extremely important to the province's identity and I don't think it will die out. Everyone has something to say about the value of French and it's exciting to be in a place where people think critically about their language. Not to say that they are snobs--rather the opposite--but no one ever seems to say "Whatever!" about French the way we sometimes do on fine points of English usage. Saturday night we had a 30-minute conversation about the word <i>la relève </i>and whether an English equivalent exists (at length we decided on "successors"). That is this nerd's idea of fun! When I go to Québec I am very glad to be a French speaker not only to be able to communicate but also because, even more so than in France, it's a way of connecting with people. And of course that's especially important when the people in question are your in-laws!<br />
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So Daniel and I flew from Atlanta to Montréal on Friday morning, then picked up our rental car and drove to Dany and Nadine's chalet ("Chalet" sounds fancy but it is just a regular-but-great lake house) by way of St. Sauveur, a gorgeous little tourist town next to a ski area. I was a tiny bit disappointed not to spend any time in Montréal this time around but St. Sauveur and Wentworth-Nord are so pretty that I got over it quickly. Dany and Nadine have two girls, Marguerite (6) and Céleste (2 1/2). They live in Montréal but come to the chalet most weekends. We spent the weekend doing ordinary chalet things: sitting around the fire pit and talking, watching DVDs, taking pictures, entertaining the kids, swimming, NOT getting up early or hurrying to get lots of stuff done. It was a lot of fun, very relaxing, and also a great challenge for me: having to speak French the entire time. There were occasional moments of confusion: Marguerite said "Quoi?" almost every time I spoke to her and I don't think it's because she wasn't paying attention. And I still have not figured out the real word for the landing/storage area above the basement steps. It sounds like <i>concombre</i> ("cucumber"), so that's how I have remembered it, but I'm pretty sure it's not technically correct to say that the broom hangs on a hook in the cucumber. It's very good practice to speak French in a domestic (rather than professional or academic) situation--even if you find yourself getting corrections from a 6-year-old.<br />
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Photos after the jump! Click through . . .<br />
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La Crêperie Bretonne in St. Sauveur. We ate here with my parents almost 5 years ago. </div>
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It's still delicious!</div>
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Je_me_souviens" target="_blank">Québec's official motto</a> on the license plate of our car.</div>
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It's MILK in a BAG! (inside joke for my mother--</div>
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bagged milk is a Canada thing, not strictly Québecois)</div>
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At the chalet</div>
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Daniel relaxing in the back yard</div>
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Trying out the "vignette" setting on my camera</div>
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The church in St. Sauveur</div>
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Looking out from the church steps</div>
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A Cuban festival was in progress, so obviously we danced the mambo.</div>
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On the main street in St. Sauveur</div>
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Lake Wentworth</div>
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Lake Wentworth</div>
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Lake Wentworth</div>
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Dr. Thomasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12511455174930906709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2945145994643200523.post-67790365674681510832014-08-05T07:23:00.001-07:002014-08-05T07:23:20.721-07:00One of my favorite shows goes to one of my favorite placesI've been binge-watching the current season of <i>Covert Affairs</i> for the past two days and just watched the episodes that take place in . . . Paris! It is hard to concentrate on the plot when you are looking at the background of every shot to see if you can figure out where the scenes were filmed. Here is <a href="http://missiontravel.usanetwork.com/#paris_video" target="_blank">the behind-the-scenes video</a>. I recognized all the "big" locations (Hôtel de Ville, Conciergerie, Pont Alexandre III, etc.) easily but could not place that street market. Is it the one near Place de la Bastille? <a href="http://missiontravel.usanetwork.com/#paris_gorham" target="_blank">Chris Gorham's photographs</a> are very cool too.<br />
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This was just what I needed to ease my post-Paris withdrawal symptoms!Dr. Thomasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12511455174930906709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2945145994643200523.post-66995605201770529662014-08-04T04:48:00.000-07:002014-08-04T04:48:15.663-07:00Sunday, August 3: Bonjour la Georgie<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Morning came VERY early today. We had to meet at 02h45 </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">to get on the buses that would take us to CDG airport. As it happened, I never went to sleep last night but stayed up finishing <i>Travail Soigné</i>. Didn't plan it that way but it worked out all right. I had just enough residual energy/travel adrenaline to get me through loading the buses. Our students did great--everyone was on time with little or no last-minute pounding on doors required. The ride out to CDG went very quickly, partially because there was no traffic at that hour and partially because I fell sound asleep about 20 minutes in. We were so early that the Lufthansa desk wasn't even open yet, but we all got checked in by about 05h00,</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> got through security, and had time to spare for snack-buying and duty-free shopping (to the student who was getting perfume for his girlfriend: I hope you went with Hermès).</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I think most of us slept through the CDG-FRA hop. I actually missed the snack service--chocolate croissants--but they were giving out the extras as we disembarked and that was most welcome. In Frankfurt we had to go through passport control, which was pretty quick, and then walk a long way to our gate. On the way I stopped to get some juice and a package of crackers and was very excited to be able to use some of the German that I am learning from Duolingo. I picked up a package of what I was pretty sure were crackers but the picture on the packaging also looked a bit like butter cookies. So at the register I held up the package and asked the clerk "Ist das suß oder salzig?" (Is this sweet or salty?) "Salzig," he answered. "Das ist alles?" (Will this be all for you?) "Ja," I had the presence of mind to answer. HOLY COW. I CAN SPEAK GERMAN.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">As I write we are about 45 minutes from Atlanta. This flight has been long but I was so tired that I slept on and off through about the first half of it. In fact, I fell asleep while we were taxiing, woke up as we took off and realized that the sound of the plane taxiing had made my sleeping brain think I was on the metro! My only complaint about this flight is that it has been freezing cold the entire time. The baby sitting next to me (who has been an angel, by the way) has on footie pajamas and I am wishing for footie pajamas. Of course, after an hour in Georgia I'll be wishing I were freezing cold again.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">40 minutes to go. Then Baggage Claim and Customs (merde, where is my customs form?) and then hoooooooome!</span>Dr. Thomasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12511455174930906709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2945145994643200523.post-31510897419421799652014-08-04T04:46:00.000-07:002014-08-04T04:49:14.758-07:00Saturday, August 2: Last Parisian day of the year<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The last day before departure is a free day for students (and faculty) to do their last-minute sightseeing, souvenir shopping, and fun-having before we are all subjected to the rigors of departure day. I approached the day with a list of places in mind and I took some pictures along the way. Let's click through, shall we?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">First was Sacre-Coeur de Montmartre (still my favorite place in Paris) where I planned to attend Mass. Despite not being a Catholic, I love going to Mass in cathedrals because it just feels more involved and special than simply walking through the cathedral as a tourist. I was early getting to Montmartre so I stopped and had second breakfast at a café called Le Carrousel where, I realized, my students and I had had lunch on a field trip last year. It's not extra-special as cafés go, but it's on a charming little corner (of which Montmartre has a few) and the waitress is nice. I had a café crème--a little too milky for my liking--and a croissant that would be my last croissant in Paris. *snif*</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Made my way up to Sacre-Coeur slowly, which is the best way to do it because it's a steep climb. Tourists were just beginning to arrive but string-bracelet guys were out in force. Fortunately I seem to have developed a proper Parisian "don't mess with me" face (counterpart to Parisian public-places voice) and I did not get hassled. Got into the basilica with time to walk around and visit everything before the mass started. A nun with a beautiful singing voice led the congregation through the responses, accompanied by another nun playing a sort of flat wooden harp (must ask Dr. Muth what it could be). I enjoyed the service even though I couldn't follow along very well. There is never a printed order of service available and sung French is too hard for me to understand. Maybe next year!</span><br />
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Le Selfie de Sacre-Coeur</div>
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Such a breathtaking place</div>
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Panorama of the view from the Butte</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">After the Mass I walked to Place du Tertre and bought a little watercolor painting of Montmartre for my parents. It was fun picking it out from among all the different artists in that square. I asked the lady I bought it from if she likes her work. I think it would be tedious--constantly painting in public, in all kinds of weather (presumably), and doing the same subjects over and over. But she said she enjoys it. The painting is very cute and I hope Mom and Dad will like it.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">My next destination was the Musée de la Mode, so I took the metro southwest across the city to Alma-Marceau. It was lunch time and I had decided to be sure I had steak tartare before going home so this was the moment. Of the restaurants around the Pont de l'Alma I picked one called La Mascotte that had tartare on its lunch menu. It was delicious. Lots of capers and onion, and I love the way tartare seems light and rich at the same time. I drank an Affligem (Belgian, I think?) with my meal and then had crème brûlée for dessert. There are 2 kinds of crème brûlée in the world: the lazy kind that are made and the sugar caramelized all at once so they come cold from the fridge and with condensation on the sugar crust, and the good kind where the custard is just cool and the crust is still a bit warm from the torch. This was the good kind. I also had a coffee and got told by the waitress that my accent is "adorable." I'm hoping this is an evolution from "Oh, you speak French so well!" (Which is also nice to hear, don't get me wrong.)</span><br />
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A table at the edge of the <i>salle</i> is my favorite.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">While eating lunch and watching the goings-on on the terrasse (American family having tense words and teenage son storming off!) I decided I'd rather walk a while than go to a museum. So I set off heading east on the Rive Gauche and ultimately made my way all the way down to the Tuileries. It was a gorgeous day with lots of people out walking. The Seine was sparkling. The Tuileries was just plain crowded but there were still chairs in the shade to be had. I grabbed one and sat reading my latest <i>polar</i> (<i>Travail Soigné</i> by Pierre Lemaitre) for a while. That was almost unbelievably pleasant. Parisians are champions at hanging out in parks. Americans do not spend enough time hanging out in parks. But maybe our parks are not as nice or as numerous? Relative to its density I can't believe how many parks Paris has.</span><br />
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Finally saw the T-Rex statue in person. Like the Mona Lisa and the Mannikin Pis, </div>
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it's smaller than one would expect.</div>
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Looking toward the Eiffel Tower from the Pont Alexandre II</div>
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And looking toward Invalides from the same spot.</div>
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(the police vehicles were anticipating a pro-Palestinian protest, I later learned.)</div>
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In the Tuileries</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I still needed to find a couple more souvenirs and it was just too hot on Rue de Rivoli, so I made my way to Notre-Dame mostly to have a chance to sit down in the metro. Walked around for a little too long looking at this and that, until my luck with the weather ran out. It had been windy on and off and clouds had started to pile up; as I left my last souvenir-buying stop, big drops started to fall. Everyone was opening umbrellas and running for shelter. There was no shelter at the stealth entrance to St Michel-Notre Dame metro stop (stealth entrance is the elevator on Rue Xavier Privas) so I got a little moistened waiting. Then I got a LOT moistened getting out at Cité Universitaire and hustling to the tram. Who should I run into but Dr. Guglielmi, who was also coming back to change for our "directors' meeting" dinner. I looked a mess: hair flat and dripping, mascara all over my face, wet clothes.</span><br />
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Through the Louvre courtyard . . . </div>
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. . . past Samaritaine . . . </div>
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. . . through the Place St. Michel where Penelope Cruz </div>
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is advertising Schweppes Agrum' (delicious, unavailable in U.S.)</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">In my room I closed the curtains and ended up leaving them closed while I got ready for dinner and finished my last bit of packing. Imagine my surprise when opened them and discovered bright blue sky! We had a beautiful walk/ride over to this tiny Italian restaurant that Dr. G had discovered near the Eiffel Tower. Dr. G, although born and raised in Belgium, is from an Italian family, speaks Italian fluently, and knows his Italian food (actually knows food in general--I've never had a bad meal with him). So this place is actually a sort of deli/restaurant hybrid that sells a bunch of Italian food and wines as well as seating about 14 people and knocking their socks off with a delicious homemade menu. My starter was a salad consisting of wine-cured ham (something like "braescola"?), arugula, and shaved Parmesan with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Sooooo good. For the main course I had risotto with asparagus--also delicious and not so large that one feels like the Sta-Puft Risotto Man after eating it. Dr. G recommended the tiramisu for dessert. I will eat tiramisu at any time for any reason, so I had no trouble following his advice. This was definitely above average tiramisu. The whole meal was outstanding and the gentleman who owns the place is a great character, walking around shouting in a pastiche of Italian and French. Maybe I will have to learn Italian next? For a final souvenir I bought a package of coffee to use in my Moka pot back at home. Can't wait to try it and see if it beats my Café Bustelo.</span><br />
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Risotto with asparagus</div>
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Inside the restaurant. J'adore!</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">With the dinner meeting finished it was time to head back and catch a few--very few--hours of sleep. Official "Au Revoir, Paris" time was scheduled for 6:25 Sunday</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> morning.</span>Dr. Thomasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12511455174930906709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2945145994643200523.post-26746627216785307652014-08-01T13:40:00.001-07:002014-08-01T13:40:32.680-07:00Friday, August 1: Giverny & Val d'OiseTo round out the program we took the whole group to Giverny (Claude Monet's home and garden) this morning and to Auvers-sur-Oise (village where Vincent Van Gogh is buried) in the afternoon. It was a beautiful day; Giverny was miraculously not-horribly-crowded; Auvers is lovely and seemed like a real change from the city despite being part of the Île de France region (i.e. part of "greater Paris," sort of). As we drove into town I was entertaining myself by choosing the houses I'd like to live in. Unfortunately the one I liked best had an asking price over 500,000€ ! So I am not moving to Auvers-sur-Oise any time soon.<br />
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We did have an unexpected adventure when it was time to come home but even that turned out all right as I got to come back on train "H," which I think is one of the suburban lines that Annabel mentioned a while back. It was a really snazzy train! Now I am taking a break from packing. I decided to start tonight so I could have more of tomorrow free. So far, so good. I've stopped worrying that my suitcase will weigh 100kg and there are no longer clothes all over my bed. Tomorrow will be strange as I will feel like the clock is ticking--because it will be! So let's hold that at bay a while longer and look at some pictures instead. Fair warning: if you don't like flowers, you should NOT click through . . .<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjja2BmIMtACNkTeRb9Z5jaBdPdmmb7Vm4HD7iZymLtE3-5B5cJjGkDKXJeNMK1QcFlagA3v2kODjdeJenAAUY9evBIkMpgS4See4y1zVbw6RHkmbJvJd58BNgliJhkbgFxNESxo9Exolo/s1600/P8010480.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjja2BmIMtACNkTeRb9Z5jaBdPdmmb7Vm4HD7iZymLtE3-5B5cJjGkDKXJeNMK1QcFlagA3v2kODjdeJenAAUY9evBIkMpgS4See4y1zVbw6RHkmbJvJd58BNgliJhkbgFxNESxo9Exolo/s1600/P8010480.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Toward the entry to the Japanese garden at Giverny</div>
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The famous water lilies</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHVP8N_ydjXtaDs5EDE010EE_u1WLedd7zZ9BP3M9CtkElI8cL2FrIeRxLosTOt6jP6mlFXZsgjfNg0Ix7KG3rNcHgBNkz6q4G7cWp5zedaYqip8HnOZVco9gF6rWdX0Z_kRJwynQQBD8/s1600/P8010503.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHVP8N_ydjXtaDs5EDE010EE_u1WLedd7zZ9BP3M9CtkElI8cL2FrIeRxLosTOt6jP6mlFXZsgjfNg0Ix7KG3rNcHgBNkz6q4G7cWp5zedaYqip8HnOZVco9gF6rWdX0Z_kRJwynQQBD8/s1600/P8010503.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Maybe the best pic I took all day?</div>
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I love this flower.</div>
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A mum that has not even begun to think about blooming</div>
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They claim that this fluffnugget is a chicken. I'm skeptical.</div>
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"I'm not just a rooster; I'm a rooster that lives at Monet's house!"</div>
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Unfortunately you can't take photos inside the house.</div>
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Notre Dame d'Auvers-sur-Oise. Originally built in the 12th century.</div>
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WWI memorial in the church</div>
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Vincent and his brother Theo Van Gogh's grave</div>
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A statue of the other well-known painter from Auvers, Charles-François Daubigny</div>
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Main street in Auvers--</div>
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we had a cold drink under one of those red umbrellas and it was very pleasant!</div>
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Fair warning #2: Depending on how tomorrow goes, I may or may not have a chance to blog. Next entry may be datelined "Macon, Georgia." Stay tuned! </div>
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<br />Dr. Thomasonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12511455174930906709noreply@blogger.com6