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We have been home for a little while now, and there are already several things I miss about Paris. Since waking up at home on the first morning back, I have desperately missed baked goods and pastries, and the easy access to them that we had in France. I also miss the food and the wide variety of options and cuisines that were available in Paris; however, the fact that I’ve had Mexican food multiple times since coming back suggests that Paris does not have everything. 

While in Paris, I developed a slight addiction to Orangina and have also greatly missed this amazing soda since returning to the United States, so much so that I looked into buying it in America. On my next Europe trip (fingers crossed), I will definitely be coming back with a big bottle of Orangina. 

Speaking of sodas and bottles, I also find myself missing the caps that stay on the bottle when you open it. I thought this was a smart idea when we first encountered them, and after returning to the States and dropping multiple caps when opening a bottle, I still think we should implement this technology. 

My Apple Watch and I both miss the walking in Paris. Not only did I appreciate the amount of walking in Paris and reliance on public transit rather than cars (even though my feet hurt sometimes), I also really enjoyed walking somewhere that was surrounded by amazing architecture, the Seine, art, and great restaurants. It is almost impossible to be bored when walking around Paris, even in places we visited often, because there always seemed to be something else to see. 

Although the lack of AC was tragic on the first few days during the heat wave, I found it to be much more bearable throughout most of the rest of the trip. I even somewhat miss the lack of AC and have found myself complaining about how cold some buildings are in the US. Although I am certainly grateful to have AC in the humidity of Virginia’s August, I do miss having my window open to the mostly moderate temperatures of Paris in July.

There are many more things that I miss about life in France, but also many reasons I am grateful to be home in the United States. My first experience out of the country was an amazing one, and I am already looking forward to another trip at some point in the future.

This weekend, I had the opportunity to visit PSG’s stadium, the Parc des Princes. The tour cost €25 a person, so I wouldn’t really recommend a visit unless you like PSG or at least watch the occasional football match. That being said, I really enjoyed the visit and even found some fun architecture things during the tour.

The stadium originally dates to the 1890s for use in cycling races, however, the current Parc dates to 1972 and was designed by architect Roger Tallibert. Facts like these were included in a quiz accessed by a QR code near the entrance, which both of my brothers found to be extremely enjoyable as they competed to answer the most questions correctly throughout the tour.

One of my favorite things about the stadium design is that the formwork is still visible on all of the concrete. It is so detailed that you can see the grain texture of the individual pieces of wood that were used to shape each section.

The exterior is not particularly amazing in my opinion, but does retain the brut concrete seen on the interior.

It was also cool to see many of the old trophies and vintage jerseys that belong to the club. Additionally, the tour took us to many locations throughout the stadium including the locker room, press room, and players’ benches on the field.

Following the tour, my brother forced us to spend an hour in the gift shop looking at each jersey before finally choosing one to purchase. It was way too expensive if you ask me, but at least he’s happy.

I know I already talked about parts of my Normandie trip in my last blog post about transportation, but I also wanted to discuss some of my other favorite parts of the trip.

First off, the absolute highlight of the weekend for me was our visit to Étretat. Specifically, I loved the hike along the cliffs with my family, getting to see beautiful views of the Channel on one side and farms of cows on the other side. The road trip to the city was also fun as we drove through the countryside and made a boulangerie pit-stop in Yvetot. The rest of the visit was kind of crazy, as Étretat is quite a small town and it was absolutely overrun by tourists on the holiday weekend, so it was nearly impossible to get out of town.

I also loved getting to see the changes in architecture and materials as our location changed. Being a beach town, Étretat had many buildings constructed of tabby and coquina, which I found to be really cool and a nice change after a couple weeks in Paris.

Similarly, Rouen seems to retain a large portion of its medieval layout, and features many half-timber buildings, as well as a substantial use of slate tiling. There are also many brick buildings compared to the prolific use of sandstone within Paris.

Honfleur was almost a combination of the styles within Étretat and Rouen. Its location along the Seine and close to the coast meant that there were some tabby buildings, however, there were also many brick and half-timber buildings, most of which were colorful and beachy-looking.

Aside from the fun architecture, I also had my favorite pain au chocolat of the trip (so far) from Valentin Boulangerie in Rouen. It was also probably the prettiest one so far.

Rouen’s Notre Dame is beautiful and it was interesting to be able to compare the cathedral to Paris’. I also highly recommend visiting the Aître Saint Maclou, which has served many purposes throughout its long life, but retains skeletal carvings from its use as an ossuary during the Plague (which were super cool!). They also had a cute ceramics shop with an exhibit on the history of pottery.

My favorite museum in Rouen was the Musée Le Secq des Tournelles, which is a museum dedicated to iron pieces. Most of the object labels were in French and there was little interpretation of the objects, but it was really cool to see all the different types of things made of iron and the artistry that went into making them. Also, the museum is located within a former church and was free to visit.

We also visited one of my favorite parks so far, the Jardin des Plantes in Rouen. As it is dedicated to plants, there are a lot more varieties of flowers and plantings throughout the garden than many of the ones we have visited in Paris. I also liked that it included a balance of formal garden space with heavily shaded, forest-like spaces, as well as playground and sports areas, all of which were being used while we were there but did not feel overcrowded like parts of Luxembourg or Tuileries. 

Our very last stop of the trip was the Abbaye de Jumièges, the ruins of a monastery outside of Rouen. Although the visit was not free, it was definitely worth the fee to see the sprawling ruins and gardens, and read the history of how the building was added on to and modified over time.

Sorry for the long post, but we packed a lot into our short trip and most of it was pretty fun. Despite the crowds of tourists, I really enjoyed my weekend visit to Normandie and would love to go back and see other towns in the future!

Since arriving in Paris, we have experienced several different modes of transportation, including the initial plane into the city, the metro, the RER, and walking. This weekend, I was able to experience some new types of travel within France on a trip to Normandie with my family. 

To get to Rouen where our Airbnb was located, my mom and I took a SNCF train from Paris’ Saint-Lazare station. Finding the correct track number and getting on the train was slightly confusing, as they do not give you the number until about 15 minutes before the train is set to depart which creates an added layer of stress. We were on a very long train, likely because it was a Friday afternoon on a holiday weekend, which meant that it was a long walk from the front of the train to our seats in coach 15. However, once we found our seats and the train took off, the ride was quite pleasant and included some good views of the French countryside.

Upon our arrival at the Rouen train station, we were met by my brothers and dad, who had picked up a rental car for us to use over the next few days. While having a car to drive to places that were less accessible by train or other public transportation was really nice, it did create a new challenge- requiring us to find parking in crowded towns. This taught me several things about French culture regarding parking, at least outside of Paris. One, parking spots are apparently a suggestion and people will just park on the sidewalk so that there’s no room for pedestrians. Two, paid street parking seems to be a joke that only applies to tourists and most French people will park there without paying.

Having a car also allowed me to see some of what roads in France are like outside of Paris. We spent a little bit of time on highways, and for the most part they seem pretty similar to those in America, except that the speed limit signs are in kilometers. Our main drive outside of the city of Rouen took us to Étretat, then Honfleur, then back to Rouen, which was quite a scenic drive through the French countryside (with lots of cows). One interesting thing I noticed during this drive is that there are no stoplights outside of towns. Rather, they use traffic circles for each intersection, which wasn’t great for my motion sickness, but I think is a really good idea for road design as it allows you to keep moving if no other traffic is coming.

During this drive, we paid one toll (in coins) to cross the Pont de Normandie from Le Havre to Honfleur. This was a somewhat chaotic experience as many of the cars were weaving back and forth to find the fastest lane, while we were trying to interpret what the various pictures on the toll signs meant. Thankfully, Google was able to tell us the price of the toll so we were prepared with the proper coins when we finally made it to the tollbooth. 

It was really fun to experience some new kinds of travel in France this past weekend. The train system and available public transportation even outside of Paris continues to put America to shame. It will definitely be hard to go back to taking the Amtrak after this!

Tour Montparnasse vs. Tour Eiffel

On Thursday, we visited both Tour Montparnasse and Tour Eiffel, which provided a good opportunity to compare and contrast the visits to each tower. We visited Tour Montparnasse in the morning, while we visited the Eiffel Tower in the evening, which may have given Tour Montparnasse a slight advantage, as it was easier to see certain buildings and the layout of the city during daylight. However, we were able to watch the sunset from the Eiffel Tower, which was also an amazing experience. Another great thing about the view from Tour Montparnasse is that you can see the Eiffel Tower, a beautiful and iconic part of the Paris skyline, while the rather ugly Tour Montparnasse is not part of the skyline since you are standing on it.

The opposite is true of the view from the Eiffel Tower. You are not able to see the Eiffel Tower in the skyline, while the Tour Montparnasse significantly stands out from the other buildings around it, being much taller and made of darker materials than all of the surrounding buildings. Due to this, I think that the view from Tour Montparnasse may be slightly better than the view from the Eiffel Tower.

While the Tour Montparnasse may have a better view, I think the Eiffel Tower certainly wins in terms of the experience. Tour Montparnasse has a simple elevator ride to the fifty-sixth floor, with an option to go up to the glass-enclosed roof. The entry to the Eiffel Tower helps to build drama and show off the incredible engineering by taking you up diagonal-moving, glass-walled lifts that stop at the first and second floors. This really allows you to see how the methods of transporting people to the top were specifically designed to fit the structure, something that is missing from the simple up-and-down elevators of Tour Montparnasse. While the Eiffel Tower was certainly more crowded and is much more of a tourist trap, I think it lived up to the hype and was definitely worth visiting. 

Another factor I think is important in the evaluation of the two towers is the fear factor in terms of the heights of the structures. I’m not particularly scared of heights and did not find either tower to be very scary, however, I think Tour Montparnasse would definitely be a better option for those scared of heights. Tour Montparnasse seems much more secure as you are inside an actual building, rather than on a platform of a metal tower, and cannot feel the wind or the sway of the tower. For the most part, the Eiffel Tower felt pretty secure, and the option of three separate floors to view from means that those who are afraid of heights still have access to a great view of the city. The only time I felt a little scared was on the funicular rides, as the walls are predominantly glass and the car shakes a bit as it goes up and down. However, the cars are very large, so you are able to stand in the middle far from the glass if you choose.

In conclusion, I do not think that one tower is definitely worth visiting over the other. Visiting the Eiffel Tower is a really cool experience, but if you are more interested in the view, Tour Montparnasse may be a better option as you can see many of Paris’ iconic landmarks from its decks. The Eiffel Tower may be a better choice if you are interested in engineering, World’s Fair history, or simply want that perfect photo to post on Instagram.

A recounting of the last few days through photos of faces. 

On Wednesday, we visited the Louvre Museum. While visiting the largest museum in the world has been on my bucket list for years and we were able to see many different artworks (many of which had faces), the highlight was certainly this:

No, not the Mona Lisa. The guy in the middle, staring at the camera… that I didn’t even notice until I sent the photo to my family and a random person’s face was all they could see. Rather than one of the world’s most famous paintings, they all chose to focus on a random person that my dad said looked like Adam Savage from MythBusters.

We spent Thursday in the Latin Quarter, the historic student center within the city due to the location of the Sorbonne, one of the world’s oldest universities. During our trip through the Latin Quarter, we focused on the Roman and Medieval history of Paris, which was highlighted by our trip to the Musée Cluny. One of my favorite parts of this museum was the room of heads and beheaded bodies. These statues have quite an interesting story, as they were once part of Notre Dame and represent the Kings of Judah. During the French Revolution, these statues were apparently mistaken for statues of French kings, and anti-royalist sentiment led to their decapitation and removal from Notre Dame. 

Friday was July 4 and we celebrated by getting the best ice cream ever from Berthillon. We visited Sainte-Chapelle and Notre Dame, as well as Île de la Cité and Île Saint-Louis, which are located within the Seine. My favorite Friday faces are from the Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris. The bridge is decorated with hundreds of sculpted faces known as mascarons, all of which are different and have unique facial expressions.

On Saturday, we visited Versailles with MICEFA. Like the Louvre, there were many statues, paintings, and other decor that had faces. One of my favorite things was the Baths of Apollo. The original statues from the baths were moved inside the palace in order to better protect them, which allowed us to get an up close view of the scenes portrayed in the statues. However, we did not quite understand the story that was being told through the three statues until we visited the gardens and were able to view replicas of the statues within the setting of the Baths of Apollo. It was also really interesting to learn that the rock formation and caves of the Baths were entirely man-made.

My favorite faces from the last few days were at the Carnavalet Museum, which I visited on Sunday with my mom. This was a really interesting and fun museum to visit, and it had the added benefit of being a free place to go on a rainy day. The Carnavalet Museum tells the history of Paris through its four stories of exhibition space. They had many caricatures of popular writers, political figures, actors, etc. My favorite caricature was a pear-shaped and pear-themed vase meant to represent Louis Philippe I, the penultimate monarch of France.

The last few days have been really fun and filled with new experiences. Visiting the Louvre and Versailles knocked two things off my bucket list that I have been looking forward to seeing for a long time. Sainte-Chapelle was one of the most amazing buildings and interiors that I have ever seen and I would love to go back if the line wasn’t notoriously long. Let me know which face is your favorite!

We arrived in Paris during a heatwave and have been sweating it out since we left the airport. My name is Kynzie Johnson and I will be writing this blog to document my experiences throughout this month in Paris.

I already feel like I’ve been through several stages on the rollercoaster of culture shock. The first has been the excitement of finally making it to Paris after so much anticipation and planning for the trip. 

 

Then there was total exhaustion coupled with annoyance that there is no air conditioning (even though it was over a hundred degrees!). Our first night at dinner, we barely spoke as we waited for our food, trying not to fall asleep or pass out from heat exhaustion.

The heat finally subsided last night as we rounded off our first full day in Paris. The day started with me being annoyed at the lack of AC (still) and missing my family a bit, included a great chocolate mousse from Café du Rendez-Vous and a trip to the Louvre, as well as several failed missions to located and buy a fan, and ended with a dinner of fruit and cheese from Franprix on the balcony. Looking forward to the exciting things we could see today!