ok so what else did i see? i absolutely love David and to see all his many works in one room was just amazing!! oh yeah, i also saw Psyche and Cupid which is extremely complicated and beautiful, the Crowning of Napoleon; we tried to find Napoleon’s crown of diamonds (which by the way is in the most magnificant room in the entire museum with gold just beaming from every wall), but it wasn’t in the case…it was being cleaned or something like that. the christian artwork was amazing too! all of the tempera paintings were beautiful!! tempera can be layered to create illusions with colors like no other medium, and the gold accents made your eye go right to them. oh yeah, and i saw Crouching Aphrodite (partial figure), and she was very pretty as well (as pretty as a figure can be without a head)! oh, and the sarcophages were very intricate as well!! the craft work that went into those is astonishing! the figures are so tiny and they manage to fit so many with a ton of details! oh goodness, i could go on for days! anyway, i won’t bore you anymore, and i know my words don’t even give these works of art justice so you will just have to see the pictures when i get back. i am hoping to go to d’orsay and rodin this weekend. i cant wait because i love impressionism and rodin!!!! so excited!!
le louvre Wednesday, Jun 18 2008
Uncategorized 7:23 pm
oh wow! the louvre…incredible!! the building itself is a sight to behold, but the artwork inside made me melt!!! it was a castle but then later transformed into a museum so the architecture is amazing!!! i saw the pyramids out front and it was so cool because you take 2 escalators doewn to actually get inside and it takes you inside the large pyramid! there are also pretty pools of water in the shape of triangles (deltas if you will) with people just admiring the view all around them. anyway, so you go down into the museum and i didnt have a map at first (and i somehow managed to lose the group…) so i was on my own. that was totally ok with me though considering i was just marveling at everything in sight.
so i went into the wing with ancient craters and found a crater that looked very similar to the Euphroneus crater that is in the MET right now…red with black figures. very cool. then i got into Greek sculpture and i was just amazed!! i have always loved how realistic and smooth those carvings are, and they are even better in person!! there were so many heads, partial figures, friezes, ect, and they all were so very intricate!! then i turned a corner and set my eye on the prize (rfr reference, rance)…there, in its OWN ROOM was Venus de Milo- amazing! i expected her face to be a bit more pretty, but nonetheless, it was freakin Venus! awesome!! ok so then i am strolling along and i come to a set of stairs and in the middle of this intersection is Nike!!! The Winged Victory!!! omg so great!!
so then i was just wandering the the many many halls of the Louvre and i came across a little (very little) something called the Mona Lisa…oh yes, there were a great many people surrounding the little lady, but it was pretty surreal to stand right in front of her!! she was the only picture behind a huge glass wall in the middle of the room, and was right across from the giant Wedding Feast at Cana (which also emphasized how small the painting was). anyway, she looks just like she does in any picture you have ever seen, although i must admit that smile is captivating! i tried to take about 20 pictures and finally got maybe 1 or 2 good ones (once again, my pictures are never very good). i tried though. 
so then i saw The Oath of Horatti (spelling). more later. gotta go.
after disney days Wednesday, Jun 18 2008
Uncategorized 11:55 am
well, not too much has happened after disney. we went to class the next day (very tired i might add) and then went to the eiffel tower for a few hours and just chilled with some friends. then today we had class again (shoot me) and we are about to go to the louvre. i will let you know how that goes later. as for disney, rance, yes i did have some deja vu moments (which by the way in french means to see again) and i was sad you were not there to make more memories and make fun of me for laying on a random park bench. mom, i looked but i did not see a piglet with a green tummy…bummer i know. ginny, i am so excited about the ballet!! i can’t wait to get back just so i can see it with you!! oh ps we are going to try to see a paris ballet this weekend, so i will let you know if we do and how it compares to american ballets. alright i am hungry so i am going to get something to eat. more to come i promise!
Euro Disney 2008! Tuesday, Jun 17 2008
Uncategorized 2:43 pm
ok so here is the whole disneyland paris adventure:
we traveled to the nearest metro station after class yesturday and hooked up at the RER station to take line A to get to the park. Disney Paris is on the outter edge of town so it was about a 30 min ride. well, we thought our carte orange metro pass would work but it didnt so we had to buy a ticket for 6 something euros. so we buy our ticket, go down to the loading dock place and await our train. little did we know we would be riding on the sketch-tastic rail…oh yeah, i felt like i was in victoria again it was so ghetto. anyway, i couldn’t really appreciate how funny it was because i felt like i was going to die! my stomach was absolutely killing me! and my stomach never hurts, so it was a big deal. i was really trying to not let it affect me though.
anyway, we got to the park and i couldn’t even walk down Main Street USA my tummy hurt so bad. we saw Goofy or someone and i told ashely to just go ahead and i was just going to sit down for a few mins and pray that the pain would go away. so i did…well…i kind of took over a whole park bench and just layed there for like 30 mins. yeah, i was that girl. it wasn’t so bad though- i got to see a character parade out of it with Tigger, Eyore, Pinnochio, some other characters i didn’t know, and it was really cute! so after that i decided i was ok (i really was feeling much better- i have no idea what was wrong with me) and i set off to Adventure Land. i met up with ashley and we decided to ride Indiana Jones (oh ps i have yet to see the movie- is it any good?), which is a pretty smooth, yet fast, coaster with loops and such. now i know what you’re thinking, but as strange as it sounds, my stomach actually felt better after the ride. really. anyway, the ride was so fun!! since it was a random monday hardly anyone was there and the lines were very short! only like a 10 min wait for most of them! there wasnt really anything else we wanted to do in that section so we went back out to find Future Land or whatever it is…you know, the one with Space Mountain.
this is my favorite part of the day: after we left the Indiana Jones ride, there was another character parade and Ashley wanted to see it. so the characters are going by and it gets to Tigger. get this. Tigger does a little shimmy thing and it was so cute so i yelled. then, he saw me yelling and pointing at him so he shimmied again, RIGHT AT ME, and them blew me a kiss!!! precious!! made my day!! ok, so after that we went to ride space mountain (i was really looking forward to this). so we get on the ride and it shoots off really fast, and while i am on the ride i dont even have time to think about what my stomach is doing because my head jerking so much i think i am getting a concussion! really! we got off feeling like we had just been in a fight and not looking much better…haha!! but it was still really fun!!
so then we went to ride the Star Wars ride, which i really like a lot because it is one of those simulation rides where you feel like you are in outer space. so cool! that was a lot of fun too! then we went shopping for a bit (i got a mug- very exciting) and waited for the parade to start. i probably got more pictures of the parade than i did at versailles…haha…just kidding, but i did get a lot! oh and ps, they said everything in like 3 or 4 languages getting ready for the parade to start (french, english, spanish, and maybe german too). so we got a seat and had a blast looking at the wonderful parade! so cute! so then at then end, they put all the princesses on the same float! why would they do that? i got a terrible picture of Cinderella because it went by too fast with all of them on it. so pretty though! it really is the happiest place on earth! and it was so great because everything was in english!! all the signs, rides, everything! it was practically the same as in the states except it was sleeping beauty’s pretty castle which looked like an idealized french chateau. very cool.
so then we headed over to the Walt Disney Studios (lucky for us our day pass included entry into both parks) and headed right for the Rockin’ Roller Coaster…omg def my favorite by far! not only do they play great music, but it is in the dark and sooo much fun!!! i wanted to ride it several more times, but it was after 6 and the park closed at 7 (gay, i know considering they stay open way later in the states). then we rode a magic carpet ride thing and tried to take a bunch of pictures while in the air, but ashley’s ears kept blocking the view…haha! we really wanted to ride Crush’s Coaster (from finding nemo) but the wait was 45 mins and we wanted to make it home in time for dinner. so we took some more pictures and then headed home.
all in all, besides coming close to death, it was a great day!!!! i had sooo much fun and disneyland just makes you happy!!! i had a ton of homework when i got back, but it was totally worth it!!! i saw all my favorite princesses, Minnie, Mickey, Piglet, and got to go on some sweet rides! one of the best days in paris yet!!
oh, and to answer your question dad, yes they do have french fries here although they are called “frites” which is just translated to “fries” i have no idea why we call them french fries…probably just to have a clever alliteration or something.
the place where dreams really do come true Monday, Jun 16 2008
Uncategorized 8:29 pm
disney paris was awesome!!! i would love to write more right now, but i have a TON of homework and i am really tired…plus, if you know me, my stories are not complete unless i tell a lot of useless info that may or may not be relevant to my overall story…and without those random interjections it is not a proper gracie story. so, later, i promise!
sunday the 15…half way there Sunday, Jun 15 2008
Uncategorized 3:16 pm
well like every sunday, the city pretty much shuts down, but we somehow managed to have a full day. oh ps- last night, we were supposed to meet our friends to just chill at a cafe, so we met them at the metro station FDR…well, come to find out they weren’t at that metro stop. they decided to go to the cafe by tracadéro…which is OUR metro stop RIGHT BY our house!! yeah, rode the metro for no reason…oh well. anyway, we just chilled with some baylor people and had a good night.
so today- today we went to see napoleon’s tomb which is waaaay too big for one person…seriously. i mean it is pretty and whatnot, but a little excessive. it is in this place that used to be a hospital called Invalides and it has a very pretty church which holds all of France’s army prizes or something like that. it took us forever to find the freaking tomb because we had to go around the the back of the enormous (again, excessive) building, but we finally found it. took a few pics, saw the tomb of josephine, and walked back out. it looked like it was going to pour, but we went ahead and looked at a museum while we were there. there were about 3 museums in the building, but both ashley and i wanted to see the World War museum. most of the information was about France’s participation, but there were a ton of old soldier suits, weapons, and footage of both wars. it was pretty interesting. they had a few things about america, like pearl harbor, but that’s about it. oh yeah, and there was this picture of hitler with the eiffel tower behind him at the exact spot that we took pictures by the eiffel tower…creepy. i got a picture.
then we headed over to the other side of town to see a church that was in the da vinci code…the one with the line of the rose…St. Sulpice i think is the name of it. it was no notre dame, but still very beautiful! i just can not get over how wonderful the architecture is!! oh yeah, and there was this great little antique market outside the church with fantastic vintage clothing!! i loved it!! of course it was way expensive, but i tried just taking a picture of this gorgeous dress and some guy wouldn’t let me…bummer. anyway, it was a nice relaxing day. i have a bunch of homework, though, so i better go work on it. tomorrow is disneyland paris!!! i am so excited!! remind me to tell you about the dogs in paris later…it is pretty funny.
HAPPY FATHER’S DAY DAD!! I LOVE YOU!!!
samedi le 14 juin Saturday, Jun 14 2008
Uncategorized ahi 6:00 pm
so today we saw Notre Dame…omg i can not say enough about this church. we took a sketch metro to get there, but it is gorgeous. and it was one of my fav places because everyone around us spoke english! most were american tourists, but oh well…haha! oh yeah and this kid (he was like our age) came up to us and asked if we spoke english (he had some kind of european accent), and we said yes. then he said he was a student and needed to get pictures with people from different countries in front of the church for an assignment. well, we know how much it sucks to get people to help with homework so we gladly wrote on a peice of paper “american” and took a picture…haha! we saw that other people had written on other sheets so we thought it was legit. he didn’t look like a creeper.
anyway, the church is absolutely gorgeous. there was no construction out front which automatically made it beat Chartres, but ironically enough there was a crane inside…don’t ask me why or how it got there. i have a picture of it though. but seriously, breathtaking. the flying butresses and the windows and the artwork and the whole atmosphere is all just amazing. i think we are going to try to go to mass there either this week or next. the nave was so long and there was this freize that wrapped all around the back of the apse inside the church, which was so detailed it was insane. my pictures are pretty good i think. the line was really long to get in, but totally worth it.
then we went to monteparnasse to look at les galleries lafeyette, a department store here in paris. another one of our homework assignments…but we just had to go, that’s all (our next video project is already assigned to us though- ps i have no idea what i have made on the first 2). i spent the majority of the time looking at the price tags (way out of my tiny student budget) and also for the restroom (which by the way there are hardly ANY in public, and even if there is, there is no guarantee that it is free). i never found one. then we went to this cute little sandwhich place (i think it is a chain) and had some lunch (good ‘ole ham and butter on a french bread). after that we went to see sex and the city (in english) and for a while, i forgot i was in paris. i miss english…haha!! it was a good movie though! oh by the way, the ticket was 10 euros….yeah…my food for the flick was less than that (i think it was only 7)…and i thought $7.50 was expensive for a movie back home. i still have yet to buy anything good, but hopefully i will find something i can’t live without. i have noticed french women wear these bracelets that are just one stone on a string and they are very pretty. there is a jewerly store close to wear we live and i pass by it every time we go to the merto station (which is anytime we go anywhere), and they have some in the window. maybe before i leave i will pick one up for 35 euros. we’ll see.
ah life in paris! Friday, Jun 13 2008
Uncategorized 4:26 pm
well to answer some of your many questions (all 2 of them), here are some of the things i have noticed about life in paris
1. i can count on 1 hand the number of overweight people in paris…it makes me sick. but everyone walks everywhere..i mean i probably walk at least an hour every day on average and that doesn’t even count doing touristy stuff.
2. yes, things are very very expensive… especially when you consider that the exchange rate is almost 2 dollars for every euro…again, it makes me sick. but, we do get money for lunch, and breakfast and dinner is provided. for lunch they have little deals at some places where you can get a sandwhich or whatever, a drink, and a dessert for about 5 euros, so it’s not a bad deal. there are things that are less expensive, it is just a matter of finding them. we are saving our shopping for the last week we are here. we are going to Disneyland though, for only about 36 euros which isn’t too bad because we got a deal.
3. yes, molly, the poodle rat is same rat from high school i am referring to…haha…i still can’t believe you carried that thing in a box without knowing it. it was seriously the size of a small dog.
4. the cars are sooo tiny and no one has a perfect bumper because they park literally right up on the car in front of and behind them…the roads are very tiny too.
5. i have pictures on the way hopefully…we will see…we all know how well i do with computers…
6. kristy is here and living in montmarte which is completely on the opposite side of town, but we will make it work (little project runway reference for those tim gunn fans).
7. i miss home, but i love it here!!! let me know if there is anything else you are wondering about!!
recap of week Friday, Jun 13 2008
Uncategorized 4:16 pm
well, not a lot happened this week, but that is ok. tuesday bright and early we had class (ugh) and then went to this place called FNAC to buy some tickets for Disneyland Paris!! Yay! we go on monday!! then we had to do this group project video thing (we have to ask people on the streets or where ever random things about whatever topic she gives us…random and awkward at times). so we went to the travel section of FNAC (which by the way is like a giant Best Buy type place) and asked this guy who worked there if we could ask him some questions. he obliged, but only because we were little american girls i think. he was weird about being filmed though (as is almost everyone in paris we have discovered), but nevertheless was very nice and we got that half of the project out of the way pretty fast (because asking one person random things isnt awkward and time consuming enough already). then later that night i had to meet some people at a random metro stop and asked a guy who worked there some questions (the assignment was to compare 2 methods of travel in paris and we chose to do the train and the metro). he was weird about being filmed too, but whatever (we did find out that he rides a bike to work which we thought was funny since he works for the metro). thats pretty much what happened tuesday.
wednesday was pretty uneventful as well. well, kind of i guess. we had class once again and we had to finish another video project for the other class i am taking. that didnt take too terribly long and then i got a nice panini and some of the best ice cream i have every had in my life. if you get a cone at the place i went to, they make your ice cream look like a rose…its pretty cool! then i came back home and ashley and i tried to figure out where to go for our long weekend. i think that time was wasted because we might just try to save money and stay in paris…which i am cool with because to go where we wanted would cost at least 200 € for 3 days of vacation. not cool. then this is where it gets interested. we went to the comedie francaise…this theatre place in the 1st arrondisement right by the Louvre…and the play we saw lasted not one boring hour in french, not two that i couldnt understand, but THREE!! three hours of not knowing the plot, dialogue, nothing. but from what i gathered, it wasnt very good even if i could have understood what they were saying…haha! it was definately an experience though! it was in this cute little theatre about the size of the welder center in victoria, but with 4 levels of balcony and a beautiful fresco on the ceiling! it was a very nice little place!! then we went to a discoteque (club) and had a pretty good time!! they played a ton of american music (which is everywhere by the way…it is all they play in cafes and boutiques and stuff), and it was really cool! it was pretty hard to find a cab home, but we had some boys with us so it was fine. then we went strait to bed…we were exhausted.
omg 4 hours later we got up again. not by choice i might add. we had to get ready to go to this cathedral in Chartres, and we were to meet at the train station at 8ish which meant we had to get up around 7 or so. good times. we made it there alright and after an hour long train ride we went to the church. it was gorgeous!!! the stain glass windows are incredible!! they went all around the church and were paid for by the people, not the church. and ironically enough, we found out that churches are the state’s property…so they are responsible for the upkeep and repair, which i thought was very interesting considering less than 20 percet of french people go to church. we got a private tour with a guide and it was funny because they gave us these headphone things to put on for the duration of the tour. our guide had a mic and so he just spoke softly into it and we could adjust the volume on our personal headset…haha! they do that with all their tours so as not to disturb those in the church. we learned about the church’s history, and it is a gothic cathedral dedicated to Mary. they even have a relic of the clothes she wore in the manger…which we would have gotten to see had they not put up a scaffolding last week to repair the crpyt or something like that. but, we did learned about a few of the windows (one of them tells the story of Jesus’s life and shows Mary going to the temple to get purified after having a baby. she has with her 2 turtle doves which according to Jewish law are to be sacrificed when someone first taken to the temple…this is why we sing “2 turtle doves” in the 12 days of Christmas.) and they are all very elaborate!! one combines the story of the good samaritan and adam eve, which you wouldn’t think are related, but he described another way of looking at the good samaritan story. the road on which the man traveled is our road of choice we travel in life (the entrance to the garden and the choice of eating the fruit), the robbers that attacked the man are the evil that prey upon us, the samaritan is Jesus coming to save us from the sins and the evil of this world, and coming back to the inn to pay the debt is judgement day for us. anyway, that’s not all of it, but it was really interesting. we also saw some of the architecture and everything has meaning!! absolutely everything! ask me about the statues outside later. after a very lovely tour, we had lunch. we found this cute little place and had the absolute best pizza i have ever had in my life! the crust was perfection and it was cooked with the most wonderful sauce, cheese and canadian bacon ever! seriously, soooo good!! it was great! that is pretty much all for now. sorry it’s so long!!
trois chateaux dans deux jours Wednesday, Jun 11 2008
Uncategorized 1:39 pm
well we were running late as usual monday morning. our monsieur offered to drive us to school which was vert kind of him so we didnt have to wake up at 5am. and while it was very nice to offer, i hope i never have to ride in a car in paris again. we almost died several times. and we got lost. and then we couldnt get a hold of anyone to tell them we were lost. so we’re randomly driving somewhere near the school and asking random people how to get there. it was weird because there are a bunch of one way streets. anyway, i seriously thought we were not going to make it! but, God was looking out for us and just as we were turning around to go another direction, we saw the bus and everyone on it!! yay!! so we got on, luckily, just in time!
then we traveled for about an hour and got to our first chateau, Cheverny, which is privately owned. it has been in the same family since the 17th cen and looks more like a southern mansion than a french chateau. it was very pretty, though, and we even got a boat tour of the gardens! talk about relaxing! it was wonderful! and the weather was perfect!! they said the family goes hunting every tuesday and saturday and they have about 30 hounds they take with them. thats not really important but oh well. oh yeah, and the tour took so long because the guide would speak in english and then repeat everything in french. it was very interesting though! the family still lives on the property too.
then we had lunch at this place that served us a 3 course meal…it was interesting. the appetizer looked like some sketch cold meatloaf thing and it tasted about as good as it sounds. but the main dish was good- it was beef with some kind of gravy sauce and potatoes. the dessert was ice cream, but (this shouldn’t surprise those who know me well) i didn’t like the texture. like i said, it was an interesting meal.
our next chateau, Chambord, was picture perfect on the outside! on the inside, not so much…haha! it had no furniture!! it had over 300 bedrooms, 5 watchtowers, a moat, and was hardly used by the king at all! it was mainly used as a hunting lodge, and it was so cold that no one wanted to stay there. the staircase was shaped like a double helix and being a science nerd, i thought that was genius! they think part of the castle might have been designed by di vinci, which i thought was interesting. we ended up staying the night at the little hotel right across the way from the chateau. it was so cute!! dinner was another 3 course meal and it was better than lunch. we had some sort of salmon spread thing first, then duck and potatoes for dinner, and dessert was a lemon something or another that kind of looked like creme brulè (or however you spell it). it was good!!
the next day we had breakfast (which for the most part consisted of pastries) and then went strait to a bread shop where we tasted different kind of bread (did you miss that breakfast consisted of only bread…yeah…i love carbs, but that was even too much for me). we also got to see how bread was made which was interesting. after that, we toured a tiny little town called Blois and went in a few little shops. ashley bought some shoes (she is better by the way- i am sure the drugs they gave her here in paris are not approved by the fda and would sell for a lot on the streets in america), but i didnt get anything. i am saving up for something good.
then we went on to our last chateau called Chenonceau, which was, i think, the prettiest! it was gorgeous on the outside and the interior was just as pleasing! we were pretty tired by the end of it though, so we were ready to head back. it took about 3 hours to get back to paris, and the traffic was pretty bad. but, we made it and went strait to bed! oh yeah, we saw rat-like things in the little river by the last chateau…it was gross…kind of reminded me of the poodle rat as i call it (funny story- ask any one of my friends). but other than that, it was gorgeous!
