A Tale of Three Cities

Hey gang!  Sorry for yet another irregular pause.  It's mid-term time here in Paris, but I've been voyaging quite a bit as well.  Check out photos from:

Lyon

Chartres (starts on page 7 of this Daytrips album - remember this from last semester?)

Chantilly (back by popular demand...Daytrips album numéro deux !)

-tidbits -
I went to Lyon with my friend Pauline who did an exchange in Austin last year and lived with me at Halstead.  We stayed with her family, who actually live in Irigny, just outside Lyon.  She has a big family - 2 brothers and 2 sisters, and like many French young adults, they all live at home (except Pauline of course, who lives in Paris with her boyfriend Mamadou).  I would say the frenchiest thing about them was the way breakfast was conducted.  Each night just before bed, Pauline's mom sets up the long kitchen table with several jars of jam, as well as different breads, pastries, cookies, and chocolate in at least two forms: Nutella and various powdered chocolates to which they add heated milk (made, I'm guessing, by the earliest riser and kept warm in a thermos as the rest of *us* straggle into the cuisine).  Don't worry, there's coffee too.  I also experienced for the second time recently the French tradition of not using plates at breakfast.  But croissants make crumbs!  Simple solution = shake out the table cloth after everyone has eaten.  Laurence doesn't do this in Paris, for a few reasons I suppose, one being that she and Camille usually eat breakfast in the salon while watching the news, the second being the fear of shaking your breakfast crumbs onto some poor passerby's unsuspecting head.  I don't have any memories of Parisians shaking tablecloths at their windows in the morning, but from now on I'll pay closer attention.
Pauline's mom prepared a few lyonnais dishes, such as the blanquette de veau (which is also what Maurice prepared for Laurence's birthday last fall) and canelles.  As Julien, Pauline's youngest brother explained to me, at least half of all French dishes are actually Lyonnais.  It is supposed to be the gastronomy capital of France!! :)
We ventured into the city twice during our weekend trip, once to hit all the main sights and again the next day for lunch with some of Pauline's friends.  The main sites:
-the pedestrian rue Victor Hugo, which leads to the
-Place Bellecour, the largest pedestrian "place" in Europe, connected also to the
-Avenue de la République, which took us to the
-Opéra and also to the famous
-Hôtel de Ville (mayor's place) of Lyon.
There's a fountain made by Bartoldi (which was originally destined for Bordeaux, but that's another story...).  Lyon also has a replica of the third floor of the Eiffel Tower.  Mamadou, a native Parisian, enjoyed chastising Pauline about this.
We also saw the vieux quartier of Lyon and took the furnicular up to the sommet of hill, where we saw the Basilique de Nôtre-Dame de Fourvière, dedicated to the Virgin Mary.  There's been a monument to the Virgin there since the 12th century, but the church which stands there now was mostly constructed in the 19th century after she (according to the catholic faith) saved Lyon from the plague.  I have to say that this was one of my favorite churches yet.  Being more modern than most famous cathedrals, the style is very different, (but not "modern", more like baroque/classical, which is chronologically more modern than Gothic...) and I really liked the colors and the (very) fanciful decoration of the sanctuary.  When upon returning I told Maurice that I had seen the Fourvière, he had a somewhat different reaction: "Qu'est-ce que c'est moche !!" (It's so ugly!).  I will admit that it's a pretty girly structure.  I find that fitting, however, since it was constructed to honor one very worshipped woman...
Merci beaucoup, Pauline et Mamadou, de m'avoir invitée ! Je me suis très bien amusée :)

Chartres - After a long hiatus, I decided to take advantage of this long Easter weekend to continue my daytrips.  Yesterday (Friday) my friend Zina and I ventured out to Chartres, which is about an hour (by train) south/west of Paris.  Though the weather was fickle (normale), I really enjoyed this trip.  Chartres' main draw is it's cathedral, which dates to the  12th century and is considered the best-preserved medieval church in Europe, having miraculously escaped major damage during the Revolution and WWII.  It's mix of Romanesque and Gothic is quite easily observable thanks to the two towers (looking at the cathedral, the one on the left is Gothic, and the one on the right is Romanesque).  Chartres became a celebrity of the religious world when Charlemagne's grandson gave the town the Sancta Camisia, the cloth believed to have been worn by the Virgin Mary when she gave birth to Christ.  The Cathedral is also known for it's remarkable stained glass, which are characterized by the color now known as "Chartres blue" - it hasn't been reproduced in modern times.  Finally, the last highlight is the labyrinth which is carved into the floor in the nave of the church.  The labyrinth was designed - in the 13th century - as a substitute for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.  Those wishing to make a symbolic journey there could go through the maze on their hands and knees.  I couldn't get a good picture, but you can look for photos of the labyrinth (and the cathedral in general) online - I recommend it.  Don't forget to check out my photos, too (see the link at the beginning of this post).

Today, sadly another day of moche weather, I made the short journey to Chantilly, located about 30 minutes North of Paris, with 4 other american students.  Chantilly is the French word for whipped cream, and this is the town where it was supposedly invented.  But Chantilly (the town) is mainly known for its fabulous chateau, which houses the Musée Condé, and it's passion for all things equestrian.  Next to the chateau is a huge stable-house, built by Louis Henri Bourbon who hoped to live there after he was reincarnated as a horse. Uh huh.  The stables are as fabulous as you would imagine them to be based on this fact.  We concluded the day with some chantilly in Chantilly!

Time continues to fly and we'll see if I get another post in before my parents come in two weeks (and before I go to Italy at the end of April).  Let's hope there will be enough exciting things going on to merit one.  In the meantime I'd like to thank everyone for the continued readership, support, and feedback.  Don't forget to shoot me a message about any thoughts you've got goin' on grace à (thanks to) my blogging.  You can reach me on here, on facebook, or at alinaslavik@mail.utexas.edu

And if you don't send me a message, at least send some of that sunshine and heat my way!

Happy Easter everyone,

Alina :)