EPISODE IV

FEUILLES FRANÇAISES EPISODE IV ~ November 9, 2009

Dear Friends,

Sorry for the extra week's delay, I forgot to mention in the last issue that I would be on vacation on the next publication date, sorry. But I'm back now with three weeks worth of adventures to share!

School is going well, though I was not there much in the past three weeks, with vacation taking a big chunk out of school time. Though I have stumbled across a major (in my opinion) flaw in the French school system. At Jean Renoir, I have my own classroom, and so the kids go to the regular teacher for attendance, and then come to me for the class period (teachers have to take formal attendance every period to make sure no one goes missing, so here's a tip, if you ever are a student in middle school in France, don't try to skip Biology, they will find you). One day I waited for 20 minutes and the kids did not show up. So I walked down to the regular teachers classroom to find the door locked, and no noise coming from inside, so I headed over to “Vie Scolaire” (more about that in a moment) and asked where my class was. It turns out that the teacher was absent and so the students were sent to “permanence” which is study hall. France does not do substitute teachers, except in cases of long illness or maternity leave. Granted, as a student, being subjected to a sub was usually a day of busy-work and misbehaving, but at least you were doing some work in the necessary subject area, in France, no such luck.

I do find, however, that “Vie Scolaire” is a very useful aspect of the French school system. It roughly translates to Student Life. This is an arm of the school administration dedicated to the students. There is an office, staffed mostly by teaching aids, who help students out. Vie Scolaire is where students with learning difficulties can get assistance, where students have to check in and check out for leaving school for a dentist appointment, go to talk to someone if then need to, it is the first level of student discipline, it manages scheduling, and makes all announcements and organizes school activities. Basically it is much more like an American University, where there is the administration (President, Chancellor, Deans, etc) and then a completely different arm for student life (Dean of Students, Res Life, Campus Activities). I suppose in American middle/high school terms, it is combination Guidance office, Athletic Director, and Student Advisors.

Every kind of cheese you could ever want, except cheddar.

Spices from every corner of the globe!

Marie-Paule, my host, and of course, me.

I actually finally spent a weekend in Bourges with Marie-Paule, our schedules never seem to align on weekends. But the weekend before I headed off on my Toussaint holiday adventure, we spent a weekend together. Saturday was, of course, market day. Markets are a huge part of French culture. Much more so than in the US, where there is the odd Farmer's market in the summer and fall, but its much more of a novelty in the US, I think. In France, on Saturdays and Sunday mornings, every city and town has a huge market offering local produce, meat, and cheese, and everything from fresh fruits, to fresh eggs, to fresh lingerie. Shopping at the market is much more time consuming than going to the grocery store, but it is cool to watch people haggle prices, and argue with vendors over the size and quality of this batch of pears, or that hunk of meat. Also on Saturdays, Marie-Paule and I have accidentally started a tradition of wine tasting. She has her preferred boulangerie (bakery) for bread, and it happens to be right next to a wine shop owned by a friend. So after we buy bread, we pop in to say hello to her friend, and he typically thrusts a glass of some very delicious very expensive wine into our hands. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday morning.

View of the vineyards of Sancerre

Picking cosmos outside of Bourges

Fall in the Loire Valley

And I have figured out why everything (mostly) is closed on Sundays, first off, it is actually a LAW. Only restaurants can CHOOSE to be open on Sundays, but all other businesses are legally forced to close, except in highly touristy areas, where loads of business from tourists would be lost. Sunday is meant to be a day of rest, a family day, and though it is commercially inconvenient (too bad if you need more eggs for your soufflé) but if people are working, that is time they cannot spend with their families. Sundays are a day for big meals, and family time. At the start of the Toussaint holidays, Marie-Paul's older daughter Chloë came home from college (she goes to school in Lyon), and we had a big Sunday dinner, and Marie-Paul's boyfriend took us for a ride out to Sancerre, a town about 30 km away known for its sweet white wines. We spent the afternoon walking around the town looking out over the vinyards. After we passed through another tiny town (the name of which completely escapes me) known for its artisan pottery. On the way home, we passed a huge field filled with wild cosmos, and stopped to gather a huge mound of them to decorate the house.

Starting on Monday, October 26, I was on vacation for a week an a half for All Saint's Day (Toussaint). On Monday I headed up to Paris to stay with Anne and Julien again to be able to collect a visitor at the Airport very early on Tuesday morning. Maria Cole, one of my coworkers for the last five years decided to cross the pond and check out la vie française. I spent much of Monday wandering around Paris visiting a number of my old haunts, just for fun.

Sainte Chappelle from the outside, as seen from the top of Notre Dame.

Sainte Chappelle... imagine this ALL around you!

On Tuesday morning I collected Maria from Charles de Gaulle, and we headed to our hotel to drop off our luggage and begin to explore Paris. Of course, top of the list, was French pastry for breakfast, and then we headed to Sainte Chappelle (those of you who followed PP should know this one very well). We headed there first in an attempt to beat the line, an attempt which was moderately successful. Sainte Chappelle is one of my favorite spots in Paris, it is well-known to tourists, but with good reason. The Chapel was built to house relics of Christ brought back to France during the crusades (a fragment of the crown of thorns, and a piece of THE cross). But whether your Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddist, Hindi, or Atheist, you need to check this spot out. It is home to some of the most impressive stained glass windows in the world. Sainte Chappelle is known as the “jewel box.” The inside is pretty much nothing but stained glass on three sides from eye-level to the ceiling probably 40 feet up.

The Lady of Paris



Has there ever been an issue of my blog without a photo of a stained glass window? This is my favorite window in Notre Dame.


Another rose at Notre Dame.

From there, we skipped across the street, already being on Isle de la Cité (the larger of the two islands in the Seine River) we paid a visit to The Lady of Paris, Notre Dame. She, again, is undergoing restoration, but she is as lovely as ever. Interestingly enough, I have been to France three different times in the past eight years, and there has always been scaffolding somewhere on Notre Dame. Oh well. Going for the trifecta of Parisian churches (moving coincidentally in my personal order of preference) we headed up Mont Martre to Sacre Coeur to see the white basilica and the impressive mosaic inside (of which photos are forbidden). We lunched at my favorite spot in all of Paris, Place du Tetre, where the artists hang out (PP followers should recognize this one too). I broke tradition and did NOT buy a painting this time.

The tower as it appears every night, for comparison...

In 2006, I saw this from afar, at 1 AM, the turn off the gold flood lights, and just let the tower sparkle, I thought it was incredible then, it was even cooler up close as part of the light show.

Many years ago, I think it was in a French text book, I saw a photo of the Eiffel Tower lit up just like this, and I have always wanted to see it illuminated like the French flag... one more item off the Bucket List!

This is just a sample of the technicolor light show we were treated to!

More colors!

All colors! This was really fantastic to see!

L'Arc de Triumphe in my old neighborhood.

I managed to have Maria in Paris for almost an entire day without going to the Eiffel Tower, but that most certainly would not do. At nightfall, we made our way to the Tower, and were treated to a light show. I was unable to discover the reason for the illumination extravaganza, maybe for the holiday, but it was very cool. We got to see the Tour Eiffel turn all sorts of beautiful colors. It was very impressive, and something I had never seen before. While we were out, we took a stroll up the well-lit Champs Elysses to check out l'Arch du Triumphe. Not a bad first day.

Quasi? Is that you?

UGLY! And yet cute at the same time, and irreverent! It is funny to think of a Medieval sculptor thinking to have a gargoyle sticking his tongue out, I guess that some gestures and facial expressions never change.

I love the details, especially the goofy face front and center.


Up close and personal with Notre Dame

On Wednesday morning, Maria and I launched ourselves out of bed early to head to Notre Dame to beat the crowds to climb the towers to see the gargoyles. Notre Dame is impressive and beautiful from afar, but getting up close and personal is even better, by climbing the towers, you can appreciate the details of the architecture from the filigree to the “uglies.” So we spent a good part of the morning hanging out with Quasimodo's pals atop the towers of Notre Dame.

Are you pondering what I'm pondering? Because I have been pondering the same thing for the better part of a century... and my head hurts.

The Kiss by Rodin

We had lunch at one of my favorite restaurants on the planet, l'As du Felafel, in the Maurais (Jewish Quarter), they have incredibly felafel. And we headed to the Rodin Museum. There, I think we spent some time contemplating a well-known work. :o) We also saw “The Kiss” which is probably the hottest piece of marble on the planet. Some of Rodin's work I love, such as The Kiss, how he brought such passion and emotion out of a block of stone I will never understand, the only word to accurately describe it is sexy. But I find that some of his other work is, lumpy, it looks like it is partially melted, but on the whole, I enjoy his work, and the Rodin Museum is always a treat. We met some of Maria's friends for dinner, the Woolsey family. James is a former Park Ranger now working for the American Battle Monuments Commission (they help manage important battlefields of WWII in Europe) and living with his wife, Liz, and two kids, Hannah and Teddy in Paris. The kids attend an international school, and of course, they speak lovely French.

As it always is, our visit to Paris was too short, but the south of France awaited our arrival. On Thursday we took the train to Avignon (Ave-in-yawn). Avignon is probably best known for its part in the Great Schism from 1378 to 1417. Did you know that the Catholic Church once had three Popes at the same time? History lesson time! From 1305 until 1378, the seat of the papacy switched from Rome to Avignon, France in what was known as the Babylonian Captivity. Political tensions forced the papacy out of Rome, and to Avignon, where the French pope was more comfortable. However, seven successive popes were Frenchmen, and so the papacy rested in Avignon, where much of the rest of medieval Europe felt that the French kings held too much power over the church, and the church was viewed as being very corrupt. The papacy returned to Rome in 1378, and a new non-French pope was selected (Pope Urban VI), but he proved to be more corrupt and tyrannical than any of the popes of the Avignon papacy, and thus, a second pope (Pope Clement VII) was elected, and took up residence in Avignon. And thus the battle of the popes began, where even a council of Cardinals in Pisa claiming to attempt to resolve the issue, elected a third Pope. This issue divided Europe and the Catholic church. The issue was finally resolved in 1414, and the whole issue basically amounts to a Catholic Civil War.

Papal Palace

Frescoes in the Papal Palace.

So the Palais des Papes has been home to seven legitimate, and a few not-so-legitimate popes during the Middle Ages. It is a neat place to visit. You know how much I love my historical places. Some rooms are very lavishly decorated with frescoes and beautiful tile, but unfortunately, as is the case with much of France, the Papal Palace was ravaged during the revolution, and so no original furnishings remain.

Le Pont d'Avignon, which partially collapsed in a flood

Me and Maria hanging out on the Bridge

Avignon is also known for the Pont d'Avignon (the Bridge of Avignon), originally named Pont Saint-Bénezet. It is a partial medieval bridge over the Rhône River. The bridge has partially collapsed, but it is very well known mostly due to a French folk song:

Sur le pont d'Avignon

(On the bridge of Avignon)

L'on y danse, l'on y danse

(There we dance, there we dance)

Sur le pont d'Avignon

(On the bridge of Avignon)

L'on y danse tous en rond

(There we dance all around)

Sunset from the Pont d'Avignon


Sunset behind the ramparts of Avignon

So of course, there was singing and dancing on Avignon bridge, incidentally, it is also a beautiful place to watch the sunset. Avignon is also surrounded by medieval ramparts that encircle the main part of the city, it really gives you the impression of how a medieval town would have looked.

Marseille, with the orange rooftops, just like my French text books described.


Fishermen in yellow waders, just like back home...


Eeew... I loved this guy, he looked like something out of a magazine with his little striped cap, very French.



The imposing fortress of Chateau d'If



When you are a prisoner on Chateau d'If, you need something to keep busy...

From Avignon, we headed west to the coastal city of Marseille (Mar-say). Marseille is the third largest city in France (behind Paris and Lyon), and it has been a sea port since the Greeks arrived in 600 BC. Naturally, mornings in Marseille feature a fish market where all the local fishermen sell off their mornings' work. I held my breath as we passed the fish mongering. Our first stop in Marseille was Chateau d'If, the prison on the island of If (eef) in the bay of Marseille. Chateau d'If is known mostly because of Alexandre Dumas' book “The Count of Monte Cristo,” the protagonist, Edmond Dantès is held there and makes a dramatic escape. The Chateau was originally built under the command of King Francois I in 1524 as a way to protect the important port of Marseille, but it was converted into a state prison in 1580 when political prisoners and French Huguenots (Protestants) were held there. Chateau d'If is essentially the French version of Alcatraz, if you escape, you have to swim all the way back to the mainland, which is roughly a mile.

Unfortunately, this is the best photo I have of Notre Dame de la Garde in daylight, it was fairly hazy most of the time we were in Marseille, which made photography a little rough.


I'll just let this speak for itself...


Inside Notre Dame de la Garde, it kind of takes your breath away.



Notre Dame de la Garde at night, hopefully makes up for the abysmal daylight shot.

After our tour of If, we headed to the highest point in Marseille, Notre Dame de la Garde, the cathedral atop the hill overlooking the Mediteranean. It is a nineteenth century church dedicated to seafarers. It has a very Byzantine style, like that of Sacre Coeur in Paris, but inside it is incredible. Mosaics, wall to wall, floor to ceiling, everywhere. Extremely ornate, but somehow not gaudy. It is very impressive, and there are model ships hanging all around. I think I will let the pictures speak for themselves and save myself a few words.

Les Stantons of Provence

Cathedrale de la Major, impressive on the outside, less so on the inside.

On our way back to sea level we visited the Abbey of Saint Victor, and the Stanton Museum. Provence (the southern Mediteranean region of France) is well known for small painted terracotta figurines called stantons, the began as nativity sets, and now there are thousands of different varieties. They are collectables, and some family's works are more prestigious and expensive than others. It is quite fascinating. They can sell from anywhere from 5 Euros a piece to 20, depending on which artisan or which family made them, and of course, the quality varies. We also visited another church, La Cathedrale de la Major, which also was a 19^th century Byzantine style church, but not nearly as impressive inside as Notre Dame de la Garde.

Palais Longchamp


Hanging out on the beach in Marseille, playing with the little pebbles.

On Sunday, Toussaint, there was not much to do in town because everything was doubly closed with the combination of the National Holiday, and it being a Sunday. We visited the Palais Longchamp, which is not a palace at all. It began as a monument to commemorate the construction of the main canal in Marseille, and is now flanked by the Museum of Natural History and the Art Museum (both closed for Toussaint). It was a beautiful fountain, though. Having exhausted our touristy options, Maria and I headed to the beach to dip our toes in the Mediteranean, which was not terribly cold. We passed the afternoon sitting on the beach.

El Dia de los Muertos


Massive paper mache sugar skull



Day of the Dead at Hotel de Ville in Marseille, talk about a clash of cultures!

Sunday evening, upon returning from the beach, we ran into a bit of a road block. There was an ongoing parade, but not for Toussaint, it was a group of displaced Mexicans celebrating El Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). It was really neat, they had a Mariachi band, a huge tractor-trailer done up as an altar, and huge 15-foot high skeletons. There was music and dancing, and it was really neat to watch a Mexican festival going on right in front of the Town Hall of the third largest city in France. I found it particularly amusing because for the last two years working for the Hudson Museum at UMaine, I was in charge of organizing and hosting Day of the Dead for local school groups, and I never pulled off anything even remotely close to that cool.

Marseille was nice, but I found it to be very dirty, but I did find out subsequently that there was an ongoing garbage workers strike in Marseille, and a national Postal Carriers strike in France during my holiday, what can I say, the French love to strike.

Welcome to the Riviera


That my friends, is the color Azure.


Not only is the intensity of the blue incredible, but the variety of hues in one body of water...

On Monday we left Marseille for Nice (niece) (our day trip to Aix-en-Provence did not work out, I think we were trying to cram too much into too little time, and a national holiday in the middle did not help). Marseille was rainy and chilly, so it was not difficult to leave, particularly when we reached Nice, which was sunny and 70. After a quick lunch of paninis, we made a beeline for the shore. Nice is located in the south west of France, and the region is called Côte d'Azur (Azure Coast). Now, I had seen postcards, and pictures in text and guidebooks, and even cruise commercials, but to discover that in reality, the ocean can be THAT blue, was incredible. It was positively mesmerizing. The ocean in Maine often looks green close to the shoreline, this was crystal-clear azure. It was beyond belief. A couple of my photos almost capture it, and they have not been retouched. It was astonishing. It took my breath away. (I was so distracted that I forgot to be vigilant about the doggy poop you find everywhere in France, and trod in some while I was gawking at the ocean). I was surprised to find, however, that Nice's beaches are pebbled rather than white sand. So we began our visit with a leisurely stroll along the Riviera.

Inside Saint Rita, very baroque style. I think those same columns flank the alter at Napoleon's tomb.

From there we headed up Castle Hill (which has no Castle anymore) to take in the view. And as it turns out, there were some ruins of a Renaissance-era fortress up there. But it was a fantastic place to take in the expanse of blue. We wound our way down the hill and through old Nice, with its tiny streets and baroque churches on every corner. We visited Sainte Reparte and Sainte Rita, and they were nice inside, but baroque is just not my favorite style, most of that period remind me of Napoleon's tomb, Invalides, in Paris.

Roman Bath Ruins

Maria was interested in the archeology museum, and so we went, and I was very glad we did. Did you know the Romans settled in Nice between the first and third centuries AD? They did, and we saw the ruins of the plumbing and the baths and the arena. Very cool. My favorite Roman architecture fact: The Greeks built everything in solid marble, which is difficult and time consuming. The Romans wanted to be a good as the Greeks, but did one better, they built in brick and/or a sort of concrete and then marble-plated everything. You know me, anytime there are Greco-Roman antiquities around, I just get all tingly and giddy. We had a fantastic guide, who was originally from Italy, and he was very kind and knowledgeable. After drooling over the antiquities, we called it a night.

Tuesday started early, just a regular day. We left our hotel, strolled down to the water, and went swimming in the Mediterranean. Just your average everyday... :o) It was fantastic, well, or would have been. The water was very warm, there was no debris, like seaweed, but I am unaccustomed to rocky beaches. The thing is, whenever a wave comes in, it kicks around the rocks, and those hurt, and then when you are trying to walk out of the surf, there is no sand to dig your toes into, just painful slippery rocks that jump up and batter your ankles. But still, I can say I took a swim in the ocean in the south of France.

Moscow or Nice? :o)

After our swim, we had some breakfast and headed off to the Russian Orthodox church. I had never seen one. I love the tower tops, and all the colors. The interior was very ornate (no photos allowed again, sorry). It was kind of neat, but I would imagine that the ones in Moscow are much prettier. It is amazing how the more I travel, the more traveling I want to do. You would think it would lessen, but it just gets worse. We wandered the stalls of the open air market place before sitting on the beach for the better part of the afternoon. In the evening, we headed by train to Lyon.

I wish we had a train system this awesome in the US.

Can I just say how much I love trains over here? Maria said a friend of hers made a good point, when you are taking the train, your vacation starts the moment you sit down. You don't have to worry about getting there, because you just sit down, and in an hour or two you're where you want to be. Unlike driving, because driving, for most, is not part of the vacation fun, its time-consuming, stressful, and boring. I love taking the train, I can read, sleep, walk around, write in my journal, anything. I wish we had a better, less expensive system in the US. I know it is not practical to take a train from Boston to San Francisco, but Boston to Philly would be nice, it is possible, but it is expensive. The trains here are fast, affordable, and frequent. I am a big fan of the TGV/SNCF/TER systems here in France.

Roman theatre



Stage fright?

We spent our last day, Wednesday, in Lyon, the second largest city in France, and it was where movies were invented. In continuing with our accidental ancient history, Lyon was settled by the Romans in 43 BC by Plancus, one of Julius Caesar's buddies. Of course, the Gauls were already living in the region, but Lyon became an important commercial hub for the northern part of the Roman Empire. So, naturally, in Lyon, Maria and I, being historians, just happened to stumble across some Roman ruins, an amphitheater, to exact, in great shape, which seats 10,000 people, and is still used for theatrical performances. We also visited the Gallo-Roman museum, which was incredible, they had such a deep, rich collection of artifacts, it was quite overwhelming (no cameras allowed there either). Very worth a visit, if you are ever in Lyon.

Inside Notre-Dame de Fourvière, very elaborate... sculped marble columns, and mosaics, very typical of the ninteenth century.


Of course the floor is pretty too...



And so are the walls,



And ceiling, literally wall-to-wall floor-to-ceiling mosaics.

From there, being already atop the hill, we visited Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière which is the main cathedral in Lyon, it was built in the late nineteenth century. It was very elaborate inside, mosaics, and some stained glass. But in visiting all these ornately decorated churches, I definitely prefer the Gothic-style ones. I like the vitreaux, and the dark arches. Having gold leaf everywhere is just not as appealing to me.

Saint Jean from the front.



The rose windows of Saint Jean 1...



2...



3.


Double dose of churches, on top Notre-Dame de Fourvière, and below, Saint Jean.



I loved this piece of modern art, I am usually not a fan, but this was lovely. I imagine it will be a bright spot during the grey winter in Lyon, a reminder that spring will eventually come and that there will be flowers again.

We took a stroll in Place Bellacour, which is the third largest town square in all of Europe. We also visited the Cathedral of Saint Jean. It is built on the site of the oldest catholic church outside of Rome, some of the sixth century ruins could still be seen. Saint Jean was built between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries. It has a very different structure from other churches from the period. It has a more square, fortress-like structure rather than the usual cross. It has four towers, rather than the typical two, but it also had unmistakable rose windows, which were absolutely incredible. Like I said, I am a Gothic girl I guess. We also took a stroll along the banks of the Rhône and stumbled across a very pretty sculpture.

Unfortunately, Maria and I parted in Lyon, she returned to Paris to stay with the Woolseys and I had to return to Bourges to work on Thursday. Overall, it was a fantastic vacation. Maria has a pedometer, and on our excursion, we walked just shy of 80 miles in our nine days touring France. It was really fantastic to see the Riviera, I have always wanted to see it. That was my favorite part I think. But we say many fantastic things, and ate many more fantastic things: stuffed mussels with garlic and parmesan, pork filet mignon with mushroom cream sauce, chocolate cake with crème anglaise, and innumerable pastries.

But as always, after an adventure, filled with many strange beds, and strange city sounds, it was nice to return to Bourges, to the bed I know, and to no longer live out of a suitcase. This week I returned to work on Thursday, which was odd, I wonder why the government doesn't just give us the whole two weeks. The students did not appear overly interested in being back at school either.

It doesn't get more to the point than that.

Only one bit of cultural commentary this time, as you all received an extra dose of history this issue. The French generally, I find are more frank than Americans. We often have a tendency to tip toe around things, the French are more direct, and do not play the same subtlety games we do. I find this to be particularly evident in their cigarette cartons, and I do not mean to offend any smokers, but they get right to the point: “Fumer tue.” Smoking kills. And yet, it seems that more people smoke here than anywhere else in the world. Nothing angers me more than watching my middle schoolers light up in broad daylight. I want to yank the cigarette out of their mouths and tell them to go play dodge ball, or the French equivalent thereof.

Ok, th-th-th- th-th-th- that's all folks! See you in two weeks (no vacations planned for the next cycle, but you never know). Until next time, I remain, you France frolicking blogger,

~Monica

How Monica spends 97.6% of her vacations.
A prize to whoever can guess how many photos Monica took on this trip (Maria, you can't play)

Editors note: there are some formatting issues in this post, blogger is being annoying at the moment, and I had not the patience nor the time to fix them all manually this evening, I have to catch a train tomorrow at 6AM to Orleans for an immigration thing... will work on debugging when I can.