Cote D'Azur

I'm rounding out my epic Eurotrip 2011 by spending 4 days in Nice (and the surrounding cote d'azur). First of all, Nice is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. The Mediterranean is gorgeous, the architecture of the old city is great too. Also, the mountains in the distance make the whole place look like paradise.

The food is also great. It's an awesome mix of Italian and Provencal, with like, a billion different flavors of gelato. (I may actually be the only person in Nice eating my personal favorite, avocado, but that's okay. All the more for me.)

On my first day, I took the train outside of Nice to a small town called Eze-sur-Mer (where Bono has a villa), and hiked about 8 KM from the small town to Monaco.

Monaco itself wasn't that exciting, but the hike itself was great.

Here's the Monaco yacht harbor...

The next day, I decided to take it easy and spend the day on one of Nice's beaches. I rented a chair for 10 euro and people-watched.

Afterwards, I walked around Vieux Nice some more. I'm totally fascinated by the buildings there, when the sun is out, they sort of glow.

Tomorrow, I'm heading back to Paris before flying out on Wednesday. Overall, it's been an amazing trip, and I've had a phenomenal time, but I can't wait to get back to see my friends and family.

Au Revoir from the French Riviera!

Loire Valley Castles and Le Mont-Saint-Michel

To round out my day-tripping from Paris, I took tours of 4 castles in the Loire Valley, and went to Mont-Saint-Michel, an abbey from the middle ages in Normandy.

For the Loire Valley tour, I started at Azay-le-Rideau, said to be "the most graceful" castle of them all.

Later that morning, we drove to Villandry, the castle that has the best gardens of them all. My personal favorite part was the garden that is associated with different types of love: tender, passionate, fickle, and tragic.

After lunch in Tours, we went to Chambord, the castle built as a hunting lodge by Francois the first.

We ended the day with Chenonceau, which is laid out over a tributary of the Loire River.

It was a really long day, but I'm glad that I got to see some of them before leaving Paris.

On Thursday, I took the train to Mont-Saint-Michel to see the abbey from the middle ages. It was really interesting, but the weather was terrible- and I was totally unprepared, due to nice days in the Loire and Reims the previous days.

The abbey was really beautiful, but the weather made it an exhausting day. I was glad to come back to Paris later that evening.

From Paris I took the train to Nice, where I'll spend the rest of my time here. It's absolutely beautiful, but I'll post more about Nice/Monaco later.

Day Tripping II: Reims

On Tuesday, I set out for my second round of day-tripping from Paris. This time I decided to go to Reims, a town in the Champagne region, for the day. (Reims is actually pronounced like "rance" but with a gutteral "r", FYI) In the morning, I hung around the Cathédrale de Reims, which for centuries served as the coronation location for French Kings. The weather was absolutely beautiful all day, which also made the experience all the more pleasant.

The cathedral itself is very beautiful, with intricate stone statues and good natural light. (At least this is the conclusion that I've come to because my pictures of the inside turned out relatively well.)

After looking around the Cathedral for a bit, I decided to go to the Palais du Tau to look at some of the remains of the cathedral. (It was heavily damaged in both WWI and WWII). Here are some of the old stone angels from the church.

Then, after lunch, I went to the House of Mumm (a champagne house located in central Reims), for a tour of the cellars and tasting. We also learned a bit about how champagne is made.

I tried the traditional Mumm champagne, as well as the 2002 vintage, and both were great! It was interesting how you can taste the difference between the two. Overall, another excellent day trip...I'm looking forward to more in the coming week (and of course, Nice/Monaco on Friday!)

Bonne soirée!

Day Tripping I: Chartres

Since our program ended on Thursday, I have about two weeks in France until I head home to Chicago. I decided to do some day trips from Paris, along with a 4-day break in Nice/Monaco, to round out my France study abroad experience. I'm glad I decided not to make it a totally insane Eurotrip with 10 countries in 10 days or something. I wanted time to be able to actually visit some places in France that are (somewhat) off the beaten tourist path- and this may be my best chance for a while.

So Friday, I went to Chartres, a town about 80KM outside of Paris. Chartres is mainly known for its Cathedral, which was built in 876.

Much of the cathedral burned down in 1194. However, the cathedral's most prized relic, the veil that the Virgin Mary supposedly wore when giving birth to Christ, somehow survived the fire, and is still on display inside.

The other interesting thing about the Chartres Cathedral is the stained glass. Most was completed by the 13th century (and some in the mid-12th), which apparently makes the Cathedral one of the best examples of medieval stained glass in the world.

There are 4 main stained glass windows in the Church, each of which tells a different biblical story.

Other than visiting the Cathedral, Chartres is a really well maintained medieval town, and it was fun to just walk around the old part of the city.

The Eure river runs through the city, which gives it an almost Amsterdam-lite feeling.

The town was a nice break from staying in Paris, where it's a little tough to get away from the people and the noise.

Overall, I had a great time, and I can't wait for next week, when I take more trips a little further outside Ile de France.

Photo Recap

There's a study abroad photo contest at the U of C that allows students to submit up to 4 of their best travel photos from their study abroad experience. That got me thinking...what were my best photos from this trip? I have a few candidates, let me know what you think...

The Camel Racetrack in Al Ain (Exercising the Camels)



The Water Lily Room at the musée L'Orangerie



Paris: View from the Sacre Cœur



Milan: Spires from the Duomo



Sheikh Zayed Mosque, Abu Dhabi



Here are some more from the UAE that aren't eligiable because I didn't take them, but I think they're still worth looking at. :)










Cool, right?

Normandy

On Friday, our program took a day trip to Caen, France in Normandy to visit the D-Day beaches, American cemetery, Pointe du Hoc, and the peace memorial. Normandy is absolutely beautiful, and this time of year everything is really green.





Our first stop was the memorial in the city of Caen, which recounts the events leading up to WWII. The memorial is made in a downward spiral, to show that it really was the end of WWI that contributed to the events of WWII.

Then, we went to Pointe du Hoc, the cliff that the American soldiers had to climb to reach the Norman mainland. Pointe du Hoc has been left in pretty much the same condition as it was in in 1944.



Here is the memorial at the top of the cliff...





As a final stop on our trip, we went to the American cemetery in Normandy, overlooking Omaha beach. The cemetery is impressive, with the graves of about 10,000 soldiers that lost their lives because of D-Day.





I found myself surprisingly moved by our visit in Normandy, I suppose it was because I realized that these events weren't really all that long ago, and seeing the land where it all took place made it all the more real.

I'm going into my last weeks here in Paris, with finals next week and 10 days of travel afterward. I decided to stay in France rather than trying to do a whirlwind tour of Europe, so I'm going to Chartres, Reims (Champagne), Tours (Chateaux of the Loire Valley), Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy, and Nice/Monaco in Cote d'Azure. This trip so far has been absolutely amazing, and I'm looking forward to the next couple of weeks even more.

A la Prochaine!