Visit from the Broski

My brother William visited for the weekend. His arrival was a bit difficult however. He was suppose to take a plane from Philly to Dulles Airport, then fly to France. However, the plane from Philly to Dulles was canceled b/c its landing gear was messed up. Then William's only option was to fly to Chicago of all places, sit in the airport from 11 am to 5 pm, and THEN fly to Paris. That made him be a day later, but he extended his stay a day. He finally got here Thursday morning, but the shuttle company he signed up for was pretty lame. They didn't leave to pick him up until he called them from the airport, and it took about TWO HOURS for them to get to the airport, and he had to sit there and wait. Finally they got there, and then it took about an hour for him to get to my apartment. Needless to say he was pretty exhausted by the time he got here.

Right after he got here we went to an architecture museum and saw the Eiffel tower. Then we came back and William passed out for awhile. Clarice and I cooked Thanksgiving dinner, and it turned out really well! We made mashed potatoes from real potatoes, and we had the cranberry sauce and stuffing that William brought. We had a rotissery chicken and pretended it was turkey. I was a bit homesick, but William being there helped quell the feeling.

The rest of the weekend I took to William to as much sites as possible. He joked about being dragged to so many museums, but I wanted to make his visit worth it! I had another Louvre talk on Friday, and it went well again. William wondered around the museum while I stood in front of my painting. It's so much fun talking to people from around the world! I met several groups of Americans traveling for Thanksgiving. Several French people did rebuke me for only giving my talk to English, lol. Oh well. William and I also went to the Pompidou center (which William liked b/c he thought it looked spacey) Notre Dame, We went up in the Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysee, and Monmartre (the artists' hangout, with Sacre Coeur). Monmartre is up on a hill, and has a gorgeous view of Paris. Even though I had been I still liked seeing the view again. We just got back from going out to dinner. I got some delicious duck. Yum. I have fallen in love with French duck, I order it all the time.

Visiting Romans

This weekend Anna and Janine visited. We’re had so much fun showing them around! They got in Thursday night, very late, so they just settled in. Friday morning I had class, so Clarice took the girls to a little market by our apartment for breakfast. Unfortunately the metro is down for a strike, so we have been doing looooots of walking. Luckily we live near within somewhat reasonable walking distance of all the big stuff, so it is not fatal for our guests. So after the market Clarice, Janine and Anna walked to Musee D’Orsay. I had class at Louvre for my Renaissance art class, which is across the river from the Musee D’Orsay, so I met the group at the D’Orsay. Clarice and I did tag team, because she had to go to her class for the afternoon. I walked with Anna and Janine to Notre Dame. On the way we stopped for lunch and I had an omelet. It was a bit overpriced because it we were in a tourist section, but it was good. Then we continued on to the Notre Dame. Anna and Janine were wowed by the cathedral. Its fun taking visitors to sites, even ones I’ve already been to, because I can relive discovering them through my friends. We went up in the towers of the cathedral, which was the first time for me. We had to walk up a huge spiral staircase, it took forever and I got out of breath. However it was really cool when we made it to the top. We got to see the gargoyles up close and the view was beautiful. After climbing back down the very long spiral staircase we did a bit of shopping. We hit up the touristy shops around the cathedral, and Janine fulfilled her dream of buying a Parisian scarf! She bought a very pretty pale one that matches her coat very well. I finally bought a pair of gloves, as my hands have been freezing for the past two weeks. They are pink and fuzzy, and go with my purple and pink scarf. Then we tried to go to the Cluny museum. However, when we got there we found that it was closing already. The atmosphere was very odd; we saw a demonstration approaching from far away down the street. We were near the Sorbonne, so it was probably a student demonstration. We also saw lots of police vans and police men running around. I was afraid there was going to be some kind of riot or something, with all the metro issues going on. However, I couldn’t see any problems happening, and I didn’t read anything in the news about a massive riot or anything. I guess I’ll never know what was going on. Then we shopped a bit around the Latin Quarter and found some small funky shops. That evening I had my program called Les Jeunes ont La Parole. That’s this cool program AUP has with the Louvre, where on student night at the Louvre, which is Friday from 6 to 9 where students get in free, art history students stand in front of paintings and give little speeches to visitors. It was by far the coolest thing I’ve done yet in Paris. I got to talk to people from all over the world- I talked to a Japanese lady, a Russian couple, Americans, Spanish people, and of course lots of French people. I did my talk on St. Michael Trampling the Devil, by Raphael, 1518. After the Louvre we walked back to our neighborhood and went out to dinner at Clarice and mine’s haunt the restaurant down the street from us. We had a great time catching up. Then we went home and collapsed in bed, exhausted from a long day!

On Saturday we had another busy day. We first went up to Montmartre to get some fondue. Unfortunately metro strikes caused problems again. It took a long time to get there b/c only a couple lines were even barely functioning and we had to go a circuitous route. Then when we found the restaurant we wanted to go to it was closed! I’m guessing b/c the workers couldn’t get there. We went to another restaurant, but they only had meat fondue which was disappointing. Oh well. Then we rushed over to our Riverdance show which was at 3:00. Yes, we saw Riverdance! I’m not a huge Irish dance fan or expert, but I enjoyed it! What surprised me was that the whole show wasn’t just Irish dance; there was also Spanish, Russian, and tap. I knew there were other dances, but it seemed like Irish played a smaller role than I was expecting. But we all really enjoyed the show, it was awesome!! Next we went up the Eiffel Tower! I had been up halfway, because the top was closed. However this time we went all the way up. Clarice once again conquered her fear of heights and went up! We were so happy that she came with us. The view from the top was beautiful; it was cool seeing everything from far away and being to point out everything I’ve been to. The lights were so pretty. Then we made our way home, and Janine cooked us a yummy dinner. I’ve missed Janine’s cooking!

Sunday we fulfilled Anna’s dream of going to the Champs-Elysees. Sadly, all the big name stores were closed! It was weird, the American stores like the Virgin Megastore and the Disney store were open, but none of the super dooper brand names. Well except for Louis Vuitton. I was sorry to disappoint Anna, but it was still fun to window shop and look at clothes that I will never ever be able to afford. And as always I had a great time hanging out with my friends.

That afternoon and evening we were so tired, after a busy weekend, not to mention it was freezing cold. However we did drag ourselves to the Eiffel Tower for a photo shoot, I can’t wait to see Anna’s pictures! We went back to the same restaurant for dinner. Then we turned in early because Anna and Janine had to leave at 5 am!! We all woke up then and Clarice and I made sure Anna and Janine got a taxi to the airport. Then they left L I miss them already!!

London Calling

Two weekends ago Clarice and I went to London on Saturday and Sunday. It was really fun! It was great being in a place where English is spoken, but it made Clarice and I both really homesick! At one point we both turned to each other and were like "uhhhhh I wanna go home!!" But dramatics aside, it was a great time. We saw the British Museum (Rosetta Stone), the National Gallery (Van Eyck's Arnolfini Marriage), the Tower of London (Queen's jewels) the Tate Britain , and the Westminster Abbey. We also saw the Parliament buildings and Big Ben from the outside, and we rode The London Eye. Yes I got Clarice to go up high, I was so proud of her!! And I almost forgot- We went to platform 9 3/4s!! Yes the one from Harry Potter! It was Clarice's idea, and I'm so glad she thought of it. We rode the tube to King's Cross station and found the spot. They have sign in between the two platforms with a shopping cart stuck in the wall, how hilarious is that?? Of course we took many pictures, which I'm sure Clarice will put up soon. So yeah we did all that in two days, it was pretty insane and hectic and we were so dead when we got back. However, I am glad that we saw alot. Despite all that I still feel like we only scratched the surface, there is so much to do in London! It was a cool city and I'd love to go back some day. And P.S. the accents are glorious and I need to marry a British man.

I was so excited because at the Tate Britain there was a big show of Millais, a Pre-Raphaelite artist who is one of my favorites. I have a book of his art that I've read a couple of times, and it was so exciting seeing his work in person! I got a book of postcards from the gift store, one of my favorite souvenirs yet.

Venezia

So I’ve finally gotten around to writing up a summary of my Venice trip. First off, I had an amazing time. I definitely can’t stress that enough. Venice is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. I went for my fall break, which is called Toussaint (All Saints' Day) in Europe. I went on a study trip with AUP, for my history of Venice class. The trip was from Wednesday to Sunday. I traveled all day Wednesday and got in during the evening. As soon as I arrived I knew I would love Venice. We took a boat down the Grand Canal to get to our hotel, and I was immediately struck by the beauty of the city. Out hotel was fine, though there were bugs. But it was a step up from a hostel. We saw so much on the trip, we did sightseeing from 8 am to 6 every day! It was tiring, but I know I saw everything. I can’t remember everything we saw, but some of the main sites were:

1. .Doge’s Palace (Doge means Duke)

2. Piazza San Marco, which is the main square in Venice.

3. Church of San Marco- It has many Byzantine mosaics, reflecting the strong Eastern influence in Venice as a result of all the trade Venice did with the East.

4. Jewish Ghetto- The word ghetto was coined in Venice, and is named such because on the site of the ghetto was a foundry. Ghetto comes from the Venetian word to throw metal. We went in three different synagogues. Today only about two Jewish families remain in the Ghetto. Jews came from all over Europe and Middle East to live in Venice, in the 16^th Century, because of the relatively tolerant laws regarding them. Venetians saw Jewish money lenders and merchants and valuable contributors to trade, so they allowed them to live in the city. However, they were only allowed to live in the Ghetto. The buildings were very cramped, because the Jewish people were densely packed in a small area.

5. St. Giorgione- This is a church designed by Palladio. It is Classical in style. Instead of being ornately decorated like Gothic churches, it has only white and gray stone with lots of light. Usually I find Classical architect somewhat boring, but this church was beautiful. It has a large dome over the crossing of the church. We went up in the bell tower, and were able to see a beautiful view of Venice. I got lots of cool aerial shots.

6. We saw several Scuole, which were guilds of Venice. They had their own buildings for which they commissioned art work.

We saw art work by Giorgione, Bellini, and Tintoretti, the most famous artists of Venice.

I also had some interesting Venetian food. Venetian food features lots of seafood since the city is right on the Adriatic. I had cuttlefish, which is a kind of squid, and pasta. The sauce was made using the black ink of the fish! It sounds weird but it was good. I also had lots of pizza and a cone of gelato.

Venice is famous for masks and glass, and of course the tourist shops are packed with them. I bought two necklaces with glass pendants and some postcards as souvenirs.

Venice is gorgeous. I’ve wanted to go for a long time, I’m so glad I was able to.