Freakin’ Maison Blanche: Voyage à Champagne

Katie encore, essaying (teehee, Franglish) to play catch up with the past events before they become too overwhelming to recount.

Epernay and Reims:

This was an interesting voyage in that we had quite a bit of resting time, some of it intentional and some of it not. We had a bit of confusion with our tickets, because the SNCF site, the major train system in France doesn’t really have a grand format for describing their gares (stations) as opposed to their stops. The first set of tickets I bought had the destination of Champagne, which turned out to be the name of a teeny tiny stop in the middle of absolute nowhere land. So our lovely Director’s Assistant, Dabia called SNCF for us and was able to switch out our tickets. That was during the week prior to the weekend voyage. Our hotel was in Reims, and Dabia managed to work in a stop at Epernay, a nearby village that is instrumental in the champagne making industry. We three boarded the train Friday morning (Oct. 11) and arrived in Epernay around 9am. We wandered a bit to find the Tourist office and they were able to inform us of our options for Champagne tastings and tours. It was actually pretty amazing because almost as soon as we walked out of the train station, especially as we got closer to the caves, we could smell the champagne in the air.

We selected one, the Georges Cartier Caves, and made our way over. The lady allowed us to store our bags behind the counter and said that we were good-humoured ladies. I think we were all charmed by her as well. It was a little while yet before the tour so we returned to the town and went into a shop or two. When we returned, we went on the tour and learned about the process of making Champagne. Sections of the caves were dedicated to the maturation of the champagne but they also had a section where the walls were completely covered in murals and another with a lineup of old machines that they used to use for bottling and corking. At the end of the tour we got to taste some Traditional champagne, and when I say taste, I mean thoroughly: we all got a full glass, and by the time we finished it, we were feeling a bit rosy and more optimistic about the world. We made some purchases and said goodbye to the nice lady. It felt like we almost made a friend (which reminds me, I need to go on and like their Facebook page so I can drop them a line about how much we enjoyed it!). We got lunch and caught the train afterward. That part of the journey worked out perfectly, and it was so nice again to get out of the city into a cleaner area with a slower pace. We could all just take a moment to breathe. 

 

Our Tour Guide Lady who was super nice

 

 



 

Caves holding the Champagne while it ages.

 

 

Wall murals in the cave passages.



 

As we got closer to Reims, we checked our tickets for the name of the arrêt (stop) that we would need—they said Reims: Maison Blanche. We were a little confused because Dabia told us our stop would be the last one on the line, but when we got off there were still people on the train and tracks left ahead of us. Unfortunately, no sooner had we gotten off then the train had shut its doors and sped off into the distance. We took a moment to look around us. We had landed in nowhere land suburbia. There was a little windblock shelter for people waiting to board the trains that stopped, and that was it. It was literally a stop, with a weathered information board that gave the train times for the week. And then houses. That was it.

So we huddled together around the board with our bags and determined that the next train would not be stopping for another two and a half hours. And I mean huddled, because it was frigid and the wind was blowing. There was a couple occupying that shelter and they seemed firmly cocooned in lovey-dovey time so we just stayed by the sign, a bit of a ways away and cursed Maison Blanche. Eventually they wandered somewhere else. They’d just been hanging out at the train stop. Who does that? Especially when it’s that cold. I’ve got ten bucks saying they weren’t supposed to be together. Anyway, after they vacated we went over to the seats and sort of sat on each other to keep warm.

After a bit of munching time, some laughter, more cursing (this would be where the title came from), Rachael and Katie started to read together and I pulled out my book. The train came and we boarded as people popsickles. Really fun stuff there. And a glorious 7 minutes later we arrived at the real train station from which we were supposed to disembark. SNCF people…I just don’t understand them sometimes. But we’d made it in one piece. We found our way to our hotel, which was thankfully only a fifteen minute walk. We checked in with the lady who maintains the hotel. She noticed we were English-speaking of course, but when we told her we could speak a bit of French, she visibly relaxed and started chattering away at us, so that was amusing. We got our key and she told us about breakfast. We had to give her a time to bring the tray up because they didn’t have an actual dining room. And as soon as we got to the room, we all flopped and didn’t move for a while. Later we went out to get picnic food from the grocery store right around the corner and went back to the room. Ate. Read and cuddled some more. And then slept. So a really accomplished Friday afternoon/evening for us. In actuality though, I think the downtime did us good. The pace living here and studying here in Paris is brutal and we’ve all been feeling the strain.

Are you all ready for oversharing time!? :D So I had been neglecting the whole shaving regime for the legsies for a while now. I wear jeans or leggings all the time and the showerhead that I have here in my homestay is one of which I have to hold above my head to actually use because the mount is at the level of my waist. So I was not going to try to fight with that just to have smooth legs. But it got to the point where I was going mad with not being able to shave. So the trip held even more excitement for me because I thought I would get to use a normal shower for once, which would enable me to invoke a happy shaving experience.

That was not to be. The happy part anyway. First of all, we got a partition in our room that contained our shower and a sink. The bathroom was a shared toilet room in the hallway that liked to get plugged up if anyone even sneezed at it. But that’s a different part of the adventure. The shower was amusing because we could continue conversations while one of us was bathing and frequently we just threw our clothes over the top of the wall. The problem was that the shower set up was the same as the one I have here. Waist high and everything! Gah! Katie showered first and then when I expressed frustration after seeing it, she said in a quiet voice “yeah I noticed that. I didn’t want to tell you…” Rachael and Katie both offered me condolences throughout the weekend for my situation. I think they were both relieved to return to their abodes for that reason alone. It’s just so inconvenient and unwieldy!

Anywho, long distraction there. Despite the deterrence, I had made a vow that my legs would be shaved that weekend, so shaved they became! It just took me close to five hours.

I’m kidding that would be horrendous time, even for me. But it did take me a good chunk of time. The infinite irritation with the manner in which I had to achieve that goal only slightly marred the absolute delight with smooth legs. I pet them for a while after I got out, and then made Rachael pet them some. It was an exciting time for me.  

Saturday was a slow start. The breakfast tray came up at 7:40 am which violently awakened all of us. Katie was alright, because she normally gets up at that time, but after Rachael and I drank our tea and hot chocolate, we fell back asleep. And as if to boycott the morning for its rude interruption, we slept until about 10. By the time we were dressed and in people form, it was close to 11:30. The breakfast was really tasty and satisfying which is another thing we all appreciate when we go on trips. They literally brought us a pile of baguette pieces and croissants, yogurt, juice, and our choice of a hot drink.

Notable occurrences on Saturday: We visited the Cathédrale de Reims, which as I have mentioned before, is where Clovis, the first King of France was baptized, and where many of the subsequent kings were crowned. It’s a huge cathédrale with rose and stained glass windows, columns leading up to a vaulted ceiling (voute d’ogives—literally translates to vaulted ribs, which refers to the intersecting suspended stonework, almost like beams, that serve as a support system for the ceiling common in Gothic Architecture), and a decorous alter complete with radiating chapels all around. I’m surprised we didn’t get a crick in our necks from looking at everything so high up. That’s another architectural decision common to the Gothic style—they favored verticalité over horizontalité, which was a theme of the preceding architectural fashion. Like most large religious structures built in this time period, construction began in one century (XIII siècle) and finished in another (XIV) so it possesses characteristics from different phases of Gothic architectural theory. It’s also been reconstructed and restored several times since then, suffering from the effects of time and war, specifically WWI. Shortly thereafter though, the lovely Rockefeller family donated a crapton of money, something like 500,000 francs. I could be wrong about that number though.

Here’s a link to learn more or just look at pretty pictures à http://www.cathedrale-reims.culture.fr/

You can click on the little British flag in the top right corner and it will translate everything to English for you fine folks who aren’t savvy en Français.   

But here are some of my pictures that I took. :D

 

 

Exterior of the Cathedral

 

 

Newer additions to the Cathedral



 

Later that evening, we found an early dinner at an awesome place called “Chez Ali Baba” with delicious chicken sandwiches. Our stomachs were thrilled to eat something it recognized. Later Katie and I went out to do some shopping while Rachael rested in the room. Unfortunately none of us were really feeling that well, but Katie and I had need of some warm clothes and we’d seen a variety of shops in the town centre. We actually both found different sweaters for 12 euros without too much difficulty or frustration. In an out, just how I like my shopping. Then we returned to the Rachael-kins bearing gifts of chocolate. We munched a bit on that and apricots and then all turned inwards to read.

It was kind of funny because when Katie and I got back into the hotel, the man at the desk asked if we would be going out again and suggested that we find a bar or something. I think he was confused by the fact that we didn’t seem to be very active lol.

Sunday morning, we returned to the area of the Cathédrale to go to the museum next door, Le Palais Tau, which we got into for free because we’re students under 26 years. It’s awesome…

Most of the items were dated from the Moyen age (middle ages) and up a couple centuries. We’re so pokey in museums, the three of us, because we end up lingering. The museum consumed our morning, and after we left, we didn’t have much time to get pulled into anything else, so we collected our bags and walked to the train station. Munched on snack food to tide us over and took the train directly back to Paris, where we split up to our respective homestays to complete homework or other errands.

As a general side note: Its freaking cold here. Yesterday during our architecture class (at noon), I could see my breath while we were walking around. Also it decides to rain at the most random of times, which does not make the cold any more enjoyable. I know, I was shocked too! But so far we remain in relatively good health. Rachael’s been having difficulties with the whole nation-wide obsession with all things bread, and honestly I think I have been too. That gluten gets to you when you eat it all the time. But we’re striving to find alternative options, particularly for lunch, where the cost is a bit higher for everything that is not a sandwich.

This weekend, Rachael and I are going to visit Chartres, another cathedral outside of Paris, for a day trip, and we are all going on a school trip to the Loire Valley to visit the chateaux. So that should be a lot of fun. Nous sommes toujours occupées!  

Wish everyone well back home <3 

L’Aventures de la Campagne

C’est moi, le Katie!

So we’ve got a lot to catch on.

Fountainebleu:

We had a lovely day trip/excursion with Rachael’s lady to the countryside that left me with Black Beauty flashbacks, as those that saw my Facebook may have noticed. I have since watched the movie and sated that craving. Anywho. Fountainebleu was gorgeous and the skies decided to grace us with sunshine, although it was a bit chilly for my liking. If only I had known what was to come…We made quite a few stops throughout the day, including the Chateau de Fountainbleu, a nearby village that hosts an old boarding house for the Barbizon school of artists which is now a museum, the gardens of Fountainebleu, the Chapel for Jean Cocteau, and then the Cyclops structure dans le bois de Fountainebleu (the woods).

I have pictures of Jeremy passed out in the front seat on our way back to Paris. I would have been the same had I not been consumed in a book. I love that it doesn’t matter where we are, Rachael and I can always make time to read. It ties us to our sanity and makes sure we don’t drift too far.

We ate sandwiches in front of the reflecting pool in the gardens and some swans (cygnes) decided to keep us company. They made lots of fun noises that one would typically not associate with the grace of the animal. We had fun feeding them scraps of our lunch and they seemed to appreciate it.

There was a smaller house (and I mean small in a relative fashion to the huge mansion right next door) off to the side of the garden. We didn’t get that close to the building, but I decided that it would be awesome to live there. Well in that kind of setting in America. Not that I would be opposed to owning a little secondary residence here in France, provided I had the finances for that. Actually, a second house is typical for French families here. They might have their apartment in the city, with a vacation home in another location, usually near typical vacation spots, like the Alps or by the ocean. But that makes sense, since they have vacations in August or fall that last a month.

The Chapel was a quick pop-in and pop-out but I loved the art work. It was almost childish in formation but undeniably adorable and alluring. Jean Cocteau is one of the big names in French Cinema culture, his big work being a version of La Belle et La Bête in 1946. Speaking of which, please forgive me for a minor flashback. Earlier that week, before the voyage, Rachael and I went to the MK2 theatre to see the film.

France has a branch of government dedicated to preserving and supporting French culture, so it’s not uncommon for the theatres to play classic films, sponsored by the government. The style of acting was all sorts of special, the costumes were over the top (but perhaps more accurate than I’d like to admit), and there were no subtitles. But we had a great time and our pre-knowledge (because Rachael and I are both obsessed with all things BatB) in the story line helped us fill in the gaps. Belle was definitely a sassy character and the beast sort of stole the face/body of the arrogant wannabe suitor of Belle’s in the end, who’s name in this version is Avignon, not Gaston. Although ironically, the name Avignon translates to Prince Charming. But it’s okay because that happened at the same time that Avignon decided to jump into the Beast’s treasure room through the glass ceiling and subsequently died. What added to our delight of this overall experience is that there was this one guy in the theatre who was really amused by certain events. And certainly they were funny, but it sounded like he was dying of laughter. But it was nice, because his obvious enjoyment sort of created this group appreciation, instead of all of us individually appreciated the movie. I don’t know if that makes sense…Anyway… Back to the moment at hand!

So Jean Cocteau was buried in this Chapel that he had the opportunity to paint at some point…I think that’s what was going on there. They were his drawings in any case. Inside the little tourist shop nearby there were reproductions of his artwork on a variety of things, and I was tempted to buy something with his cat drawing, which I am henceforth referring to as Jean Cocteau kitties.

The Barbizon school is a collection of artists preceding the Impressionist movement. They were inspired by the movements before them of Romanticism and Realism, technically contrasting themes. There technique, in my opinion (because I’m an art guru now guys) is more realistic than the impressionists but their subject matter is more Romantic and closer to the Impressionists. They started to paint paysages or countryside scenes instead of portraits. But that’s an interesting development in and of itself, because the invention and spread of photography as an art form actually freed up the artists to paint things other than people. So in this little village near Fontainebleau there is this old house where a few of them lived, modified and restored as a museum. It was really cool, very intimate and the paintings throughout the upper floors were amazing. The Barbizon painters I think remained fairly exclusively in the area, and quite a few of them used the surrounding forests and gardens of Fountainebleu for inspiration. So it was pretty cool to look at these paintings and then look directly (well almost directly, there is the blur of time to account for) at their subject matter.

The Cyclops…it is definitely one of the stranger things I’ve seen in my life, but there is something so alluring about it. When I was looking at it, my brain kept saying, this doesn’t belong here at all in the middle of the woods—it’s completely out of place! But there was something so right about it, like the foret de Milly had claimed it. It’s a giant construction/statue/museum that from the outside, looks like the head of a Cyclops. But there are floors within that display various kinds of artwork, based around a theme of modernity or recycled products. It took years and a crapton of money to build, and all of the work put into it and displayed within was the brain child of Jean Tinguely during the 20^th century. Eventually though he turned it over to the government and they were able to finance and protect the work of art until its completion. See how they like to support their artists…? Anyhow to see more information this site has all the goodies à  http://www.lecyclop.com/ Or you can google it. It’s pretty cool.

After Le Cyclop, we piled back in the car to venture back to Paris. This day was a special day because it helped remind me/give me more reasons to love France. Yes there are many things that frustrate me about living in this country, but I think a good portion of that is related to the program of Hollins (so nothing new there—they are wonderful people for being able to send us here but they could use just a smidge of an overhaul to increase efficiency) and living in a city. I’m just not a city person. This is my kind of happiness…

 

After that adventure, Rachael, Jeremy, and I met up with a few others from the program to go to dinner. We had some wine and good food, and by the end of the night, we were all feeling pretty warm. I had to skip out a little early on everyone because I had a Skype date with my family. Which meant I had to find my way back to the metro by myself. And it wasn’t a disaster! I only ended up one street over from where I was supposed to be, finding my way fast enough so that I didn’t even have time to reach any sort of panic-lost mode! I’m pretty proud of myself.

After all of this excitement, we had the voyage to Champagne the following weekend, but I think Rachael or I will have to cover that in another post because this one turned into a monster.  Classes are going decently I think. We have good days and bad days, as far as speaking French successfully goes. When I’m in Architecture and Impressionism, I feel like they’re trying to instill information into a block of wood that is my head, but some of it must be sinking in because I can recall certain parts of it when I’m out and about. You, dear readers, have received a bit of Impressionism learning. And I’m sure you’ll get some Architecture in the next post on Reims because there’s a Cathedral there that’s kind of majorly important to French history. First French king was baptized there. But I’m not saying anything more, you’ll just have to wait for the next entry! I know you’re all dying to know about the historical background and architectural significance of this piece of our visit.

A demain et avec l’amour!

Katie

"Taken" and then normal Paris life

It's Rachael again. So life has been pretty hectic. The pace here in the big city is much different than what I am used to in Frankfort. Katie already covered the first day of our weekend in Rennes so guess I should update you all on the second. Well it was a lot of walking, and then some more walking, and guess what… more walking. My legs should be AWESOME by the time I get home. We saw a wonderful market and heard some good music from a little group there and ate more food and mostly just had a day of wandering which was all good. Only questionable part of the day was when we were heading back to the hotel. It was definitely a “Taken” moment. Except we were smarter than the girls in the movie and less naïve, except for the beautiful Katie writing this blog with me. We were walking and I saw these two or three guys being creeps in and by their car, whatever perfectly normal. Then as we walk closer the one not in the car kind of walks towards us from the side and is talking in French, also not too bad sometimes strangers talk at you. The moment the adrenaline kicks in is when he is half circled behind us and the other guy opens the car door all the way and leans out blocking most of the sidewalk. The other Katie and I book it past and stay pretty much in the road ignoring them since they can’t do anything if we don’t give them a chance. What does my beautiful best friend Katie (the one writing on here, just reiterating) do? She slows down and kinda laughs because she hadn’t seen it all play out and thought they were just sharing a joke and the one guy was helping the other park the car. Well as you can imagine we are worried by this behavior and slow down and yell at her and when she gets to us and we get on another street we have some wisdom to share with her. I was so afraid of what would happen if she wasn’t aware like that and I wasn’t with her that I know I sounded angry and had to explain that I was just worried and upset. Because lets guess what these dudes were saying. You ready? “Hey you should get in our car. We can drive you to a party. Come on. Etc. etc.” Apparently neither of the Katies knew what they were saying but I definitely heard them and was thinking “you wouldn’t take us to a party… what do you think because we speak English we are that stupid?” It was a moment that would have been bad for girls that decide trusting strangers is a good thing but thankfully it was nothing big for us. Mostly it was just an opportunity for me to remind Katie that one should, normally, just ignore strangers talking to you and smiling (because apparently here smiling and meeting eyes is a come on).

Other than that fun stuff Rennes was mostly relaxed. Then got back to Paris and had to continue with classes. It’s getting a little easier to understand the professors for the most part but still sometimes if they talk to fast I have problems. We had a small quiz for architecture and I think we all missed at least one or two of twelve questions. It wasn’t a good moment for any of us. Otherwise classes went as they do and I just took lots of notes and had lots of vocabulary questions. And the wonderful Jeremy is now in our French language courses. He is so much fun and I love that we got to meet him. Talking about him I went with him and Katie for thai food tonight and he loves it just as much as me so it was a wonderful experience. Today we had grand plans for doing stuff but mostly just wandered, as usual. I slept at Katie’s last night and this morning we came by my house to drop things off then went out so she could go to the phone store and figure out the problem with texting with her hostess. Then we planned to just grab mcdonald’s. I know. Horrible idea while in Paris but we just didn’t feel like French food. Well it was too expensive and busy so we decided to do a picnic. Three grocery stores and two arrondisements later we had some food and got to the Eiffel tower to meet the other Katie, Jeremy, and Diala and ate our food like we had never seen any before in our lives. Then this lady walks up asking if we speak English (homeless people ask this so they know what language to beg in) and a couple of the others just said no and turned away from her and towards me and Katie with our food spread out on the bench. Then she looks at me and Katie and in French says something along the lines of “Give me some bread to eat with this (she was holding a half eaten tomato) for my meal” or something like that. She didn’t ask it as a question but I took it as if she had and just tore off a hunk of the large loaf we didn’t need to eat all of and gave it to her. She bobbed her head and walked away looking much happier than when she walked up. The others started talking about how rude and demanding she was but all I could think was well she is probably really hungry to walk up and ask for some bread and what does it matter if I give her some and make her day better. She might have come off as rude because she is tired and hungry. I’m not going to get angry with someone for not groveling enough for my food. If I can help and it won’t hurt anyone why wouldn’t I just help a fellow human being. Just because she didn’t prostrate herself at my feet doesn’t mean she wasn’t thankful or that she didn’t really need it.

Anyway… after that we just hung out and talked and then went for aperitifs eventually. Not a bad day but still tired for not having done much. Tomorrow Jeremy, Katie, and I are going with my hostess (Genevieve) to Fontainebleau and to see Cyclops. Should be a fun day of exploring and being a tourist. Then after we get back to Paris having dinner with other Katie and Diala at this Portuguese place my hostess took me to once. Then lots of studying and maybe a movie for Sunday (for me at least). I’m always tired but I’m always moving so it makes sense. Lots of love to my people at home. Hoping the weekend goes well and I will have photos to post.