Nine Days In France
- Brittany Kessler
- Jun 25, 2017
- 6 min read
Since nine days in a foreign country is a lot of pictures for anyone to view at once, I'm going to break it up by each place I went to while I was in France.
The trip was with my school so it was a guided tour of (primarily) the chateaus of France. Our tour guide's name was Alain and our bus driver's name was Joseph!
(Speaking of which...)
Le Arc de Triomphe
One of the first places I visited was the Champs d'Elysées. It's the street where the Arc de Triomphe is located. The officers there preform a special ceremony everyday (Didn't get to see it and I can't remember what time.) for the Soldier buried in the tomb. The Arc was commissioned by Napoelon to be built in 1811. He never got to see it completed and the Arc was finally completed in 1836.
Le Louvre
Here's the first thing you should know about the Louvre: the little glass pyramid thing you see in the pictures isn't really the Louvre. In fact, it's really only the tip of the iceberg. You could spend an entire week exploring the whole thing and you could still find something new every time. I had a mere two and a half hours (give or take) to explore the Louvre and there is still more for me to see.
(Please, don't be mad at me for what I'm about to say)
La Jaconde, or the Mona Lisa, isn't as great of a painting as everyone has hyped it up to be. To be honest, I was kind of disappointed. Yes, it's an amazing work of art. Is it impressive? No, it is not. With the frame, La Jaconde is no larger that a standard band poster. Maybe smaller.
Despite that, my favorite part was all of the Greek, Egyptian, and Roman sculptures and artifacts.
(Shout out to all the Percy Jackson Fans! Woot, Woot!)
Le Tour Eiffel
(I know this might sound like I've gone crazy, but just bear with me.) I went to the top of the Eiffel Tower. I must say that it was the biggest waste of time, really. It's just a metal tower people! The view from the top isn't even that great either! From the first floor, all the buildings are too small to take any pictures. On the second floor, there's a metal fence blocking the view and it prevents you from taking a good aerial photo. Then there's the fact that all the buildings are the same freaking color!
(Can't you tell how much I really do not like the Eiffel Tower?I know right!?)
And at the bottom of the tower it almost feels like you moved to New York City and then got pickpocketed.
Visiting the Eiffel Tower had to be one of, if not thee, worst part of my entire visit in Paris, France.
Chartres Cathederal
The Chartres Cathederal, located in the Chartres district of France, (clever name, I know) may look very similar to the Notre Dame but it is not the same church. Both are, however, built in the French Gothic style that was very popular between 1140 and 1500. I also got to see just a little bit of the surrounding town before I was off to go see another part of France.
(Everything in France is quite adorable, really)
Mont Saint-Michel
I arrived at Mont Saint-Michel at low tide, which is probably why it doesn't look very impressive in the photos, but it is. Mont Saint-Michel, located in Normandy, France, used to be a monastery built on an island. Then it was used as a prison by King Louis XI. Now, it's just a tourist destination. (The shops are absolutely adorable!) At high tide, however, crossing the water is extremely dangerous (you have to watch out at low tide too, for quicksand) because of the undercurrent. The interior of the monastery is quite impressive. For being made out of granite, the detail of the carvings are very impressive.
The Church of the Invalids
(I know there isn't a lot of pictures for this one, mainly because it was a picture stop and also cause there's only so much you can see from the outside.)
The Church of the Invalids was actually the idea of Napoleon Bonaparte. (I know, right?) Built for disabled war veterans, it's located in the 7th arrondisment of Paris, France.
Point du Hoc and Normandie Beaches
(Point do Hoc is actually part of the Normandy beaches but, whatever.) Technically, Point du Hoc is in America. (Yeah, that's what I said. ) In a show of solidarity, France 'gave' America Point du Hoc since the American Rangers died there.
You can still see the indentations in the ground where the shellfire hit. The simplicity of it makes you speechless.
Normandie Cemetery and Museum
This could have been loped into the little blurb that I wrote with Point du Hoc but I felt that it would be easier to talk about it in its own special section.
(Side Note: I didn't spell Normandy wrong, that's how the French spell it. Educate yourself.)
Before I talk about how I felt about the Normandie Cemetery, I want to briefly mention my time spent inside the museum.
The museum was set up incredibly well, doing a good job of putting it into perspective of how life was back then. They had an actual set of the 'striped pajamas' that were used in the German concentration camps, which was kinda cool.
(For anyone who has either watched or read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas...)
France kinda played down their whole role within WWII. (C'mon France, I know what you did...)
About the Normandie Cemetery.... (If I offend anyone for any reason, I'm going to apologize now for whatever offensive thing I said.) it's like Point du Hoc in that it is also technically a part of America.That means America also designed and built the Normandie Cemetery.
And, to be honest, I felt a little angry.
(Somewhere between angry, disappointed, sad, and something close to annoyed is a little more accurate.)
The headstones were simple, which is to be expected since there were just... so many bodies. Each headstone was either a cross or a star of David made out of white marble. (That was the overwhelmingly sad part.)
What really got me was the small "Chapel" towards the middle of the Cemetery. (This is where all the emotions come into play)
It was so disgustingly ugly, it made me nauseous. Here I was, surrounded by, what seemed to be, an endless sea of the decomposing dead bodies of those who were either drafted (serving and fighting against their will) or who served willingly in WWII. These were young men, probably between 21 and 45, and hundreds of thousands of them (In the US alone) died.
Some among the dead were from the Red Cross and saved lives.
And here I was, standing in front of something that was supposed to commemorate their sacrifice. It was a chapel that, when you walked in, you couldn't even sit down in a pew and offer prayer for their souls. Maybe it was because I had just seen so much beautiful French architecture and now I had to look at something that was eloquent or detailed. Maybe it wasn't.
But it is a testament to the way we, as Americans, build things today. We create buildings, not to have them serve as both art and space-- but to just serve as a space. Isn't that sad?
Trying Escargot (And Loving It!)
(Heads up for those of you who don't know. Escargot are snails in Butter and Garlic.)
Trying escargot was definitely the high point of all of my adventurous French food escapades.
Seriously, this stuff is seriously good.
They taste like octopus or squid, but less chewy. It's really good. They gave me a small basket of bread to dip into the left over butter and garlic. Delicious!
Le Château de Chenonceau
(Really, once you've seen one Château, you've seen them all. That's just me.)
The Château de Chenonceau is the most interesting of all the Châteaus I visited while in France. In short, it was where a two jealous women had a tug of war over a property. It was between Queen Catherine and Diane who was the lover of King Louis (Insert number here). Queen Catherine was his wife. (Obviously.)
Now, they have ten full-time gardeners working on the Château grounds, maintaining both the Garden of Catherine and the Garden of Diane all year. That and they put these wonderful flower arrangements throughout the Château during the spring and summer, which was quite lovely.
The Château itself is built over the River Cher, first by Diane and then was continued by Queen Catherine. Compared to other Châteaus at the time, Chenonceau was very small.
Well, I guess that about does it for all of my time in France. I know, it's a lot to get through- trust me it wasn't any easier on my end to get this up in a timely manner, but I managed to do it. Until next time...!
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