Champagne, Lorna, Waterlilies, and Mimes

This past Tuesday, Andrea, a friend Kitsy from wine class, and I all took a visit to Epernay and Reims, in the famous Champagne region in France. For those of you who don’t know, to officially receive an appellation of controlled origin as a “Champagne”, your sparkling wine must be made in a very particular manner, and all of the grapes must come from this region. So as good as that Italian Prosecco is from Trader Joe’s, technically speaking, it’s only a “sparkling wine”.

So, we woke up early and met at the train station in the wee hours of the morning (though there are worse things I’ve gotten up at 7:15 AM for), and headed off, first to Epernay and then to Reims. Epernay is a charming town with a town square, lovely park, and is the spot where the pope Dom Perignon discovered “stars in his wine”. It is also the town which houses Moet et Chandon, where the three of us took an exciting tour. We got to go to through the cellars and look at some fine sparkling champagnes mid-production, after which we tasted two AMAZING glasses of fine Champagne. Thanks to wine class, the three of us were able to articulate what was so great about them too; they were very crisp (which we could see in the precise vertical movements of the bubbles), not too sweet, and had a good combination of grapes.

Next: wonderful lunch with of course more Champagne! Then we were off to Reims to visit the house of Mumm. Along the way, we got a little lost, but the Provincials (people from the provinces of France) were so charming and helpful.

Finally, we arrived at Mumms and joined a tour group of about 30-40 people (as opposed to our group of 7 total at Moet) who were mostly American (as opposed to Australian and Dutch). The Mumms tour was a lot more fabricated; there were little story books in the cellars, display bottles, etc. along the way—suggesting these cellars were set up for viewing as much as they were for production—not the case at Moet. Finally, we tasted our two glasses, a vintage and the “red ribbon” Mumms, and decided that we all preferred the Moet Champagnes.

We were glad to have visited the Mumm house though because firstly it made our experience at Moet seem more authentic by contrast, secondly, the Champagne we had was still VERY GOOD, and lastly, Reims is an ADORABLE little town that we got to walk around in after.

All in all, it was an incredibly FABULOUS day—a once in a lifetime experience!

The next day, I met up with Lorna Khoo—the president of Chi O when I joined and a really cool, down to earth, and intelligent Berkeley grad. Lorna and I began our day picnicking at Monceau, then took a visit to Sacre Coeur and Monmartre, after which we ended up at an exhibit called Dali at Work. It was a nice follow-up to the Dali exhibit I saw in Prague, and included some of his pieces that were more “project”-y, and sculptures based on his paintings. Dali had a twisted mind and it was interesting to get a bit of a peek into it.

Next, we grabbed some gelato outside of the Pompidou museum, and headed off to St. Chappelle—the chapel from the 13th century (!!!) with some of the world’s most stunning stained glass. I had visited this chapel when I came to Paris before, and it was WONDERFUL to see again; the stained glass was seriously beautiful. Finally, we saw some relics in Notre Dam, and ended up at Shakespeare and Company—a REALLY cool independent bookstore/historical site, a favorite of many in Paris.

We then parted ways until the next day, when we met up closer to Lorna’s residence and headed off to Pere Lachaise cemetery. I had been to this cemetery once before, but it was a totally different experience this time, owing first to the bad weather, and second to the fact that we took a totally different route than I had the last time. We did hit up the favorite graves (i.e. Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison), but we also saw Chopin, and many sad and haunting memorials for those who passed away at concentration camps. These were beautiful sculptures with poetic inscriptions, reminding us: “N’oublions jamais!”—or never forget.

Next, Lorna and I headed over to L’as du falafel in the Marais (really a Paris MUST I think), which we ate in Place de Voges—the oldest park in Paris. We then had a lot of laughter and some TERRIBLE service at a café along place de Voges, and Lorna told me a highly entertaining story about a family vacation being ruined by airplane seat-induced static-y hair.

Finally, we went to l’Orangerie—the museum that houses les nymphéas, Monet’s room-sized Water Lilies. Now’s the time to fess up; Monet’s Water Lilies were probably one of the first pieces of art I ever truly appreciated when I saw them the first time at the Museum of Modern Art in New York when I was ten. To me, the point of viewing art is to experience an emotion, either the one intentionally evoked by the artist, or even an independent feeling representing your own reaction to the experience. And whether it be due to their sheer size, the vibrancy of their colors, or the beauty of the scenes depicted in them, I can vividly recall the overwhelming feeling of serenity and awe as I stood there in the presence of les nymphéas for the first time. Seeing them again, that feeling was renewed. And what was more, this time, the gratitude for the beauty of nature and simplicity of life that I feel Monet must have been exhibiting in creating les nymphéas resonated with me incredibly strongly. How much I have to appreciate!

If that had already merited the entrance fee I somehow did not have to pay, L’Orangerie also housed an amazing collection of works by Picasso, Rousseau, and many others, including Chaïm Soutine—a VERY French artist with a beautifully sarcastic style—whom I’d never heard of before but whom I now adore. There was also a lovely exhibit on artist Didier Paquignon—a contemporary artist who uses a multitude of bright and lovely colors to portray dingy urban environments. I was very impressed by the effect of this technique and told him so in the guest book I signed upon exiting the exhibit.

Lorna and I capped off our day with some hot chocolate and macarons from Angelina before meeting up with her couch-surfing host in the tenth. “Couchsurfing host?” you say... “really…?” Yes, for those of you who know what that is, Lorna has been couchsurfing here in Paris to experience the city from an insider’s perspective and to save money. For those of you who don’t know, couchsurfing is a program where you can go online, check the profile of local residents who have chosen to host people in their homes for a weekend or a night, email them, and crash on their couch. Sound sketchy? That’s what I thought. As my World of Wine professor so eloquently put it: “As a mother, a teacher, and a former hippie, I have conflicting views about the whole ting…” But, as Lorna explained to me, the people who host surfers go through a verification process, have references from surfers who have stayed with them, and get “vouched for” by users of the system. And, Lorna’s host, Bruce, turned out to be really really cool, so I’m thinking, the program is a winner!

So, we met up with Bruce and some of his friends in a bar in the tenth, and headed across the street to Bruce’s school to watch a piece of performance art. Bruce is in an elite miming school in Paris, so the piece we saw was a very abstract theatrical work about the relationship of space and props to the actor, and was based on Le Ventre de Paris—a French book about the city that I have actually read! The piece was a bit abstract, particularly to Lorna and I who did not know the theory behind it, but very cool nonetheless. After watching, we chatted with some of the performers over wine, and saw art pieces they created with Le Ventre as their inspiration. We then headed back to the bar and hung out with the troop of mimes, until Baggy joined us and we all headed off to Pont des Art together. What an interesting, fun, and random night! I absolutely LOVED it.

Last night (Saturday), a group of us met on Champs de Mars for a goodbye party slash Swedish holiday party. Another lovely evening with lovely people.

Now, I’ve been at l’imprevu for a few hours and have gone through a Chai Tea and a café and have yet to even begin on studying for my TWO finals on Wednesday. So, I better get to it I guess….

post Barca

Thanks to papers and school work galore, my post-Barca week totally flew by! That Tuesday, though, I did have the distinct pleasure of welcoming Erin and Allie, two of my friends since freshmen year, as well as two of their sorority sisters, to Paris. Their group of four has been traveling for nearly a month and spent 3 weeks in Europe, and they are now in China! I took them to my favorite, moderately-priced French restaurant—Café Etienne, in the Marais, where the food is great but the service is crap. Very French all in all. Two papers and three days later, I met up with three of them between my afternoon classes, and they treated me to a picnic on the Champs de Mars—the grassy area in front of the Eiffel Tour. It was lovely seeing Erin and Allie and nice to meet their lovely friends.

Last Thursday night was the eve of the birthday of my good friend Andrea, and in celebration, we popped some bubbly in some benches by the Tracedero—an area right across the Seine from the Eiffel Tour with picturesque views of it. The tower sparkles every hour on the hour, which at midnight was a great marker of Andrea’s 21^st. I don’t think life gets any better than Champagne in front of the Tour Eiffel.

The next night, some of my Aussie friends hosted a Great Gatsby party along the Seine, which was a great opportunity for me to bust out some sparkly headbands. Have I properly mentioned my love for the Seine?

Finally, Saturday we continued Andrea’s birthday celebration with a game of beer pong in a park, which later turned into King’s cup in an apartment after we were informed their was no alcohol allowed (I guess there is an open container law in this country…?), after which Andrea and I grabbed some snacks, cider, and then watched a movie at her place. Sunday, Miss Allison Bagg and I met up and picnicked at Monceau, and then watched Good Morning, England (Boat of Rock or something like that in the States…?), which was FANTASTIC. Think: About a Boy + Love, Actually + The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou + Across the Universe + a bit of vulgarity and male bonding + Phillip Seymour Hoffman. If that sounds like your type of movie, GO FOR IT.

Now, I am in total and complete shock as to how little time I have left here, when there is absolutely so much to do and see. My only comfort is knowing that I can always come back.

Barcelona at Chez Coward

Unfortunately, I didn’t keep very well track of the weeks leading up to or after my weekend in Barcelona, which was the first week in June, mostly because these two weeks were filled with work, work, and more work, thanks to the numerous papers I had! However, Barcelona remains firmly ingrained into my mind as another FABULOUS week-end.

Friday June 5^th:

Thanks to an accident on the Metro, I arrived at the airport 40 minutes before my flight, and was treated very unkindly by one particular French woman who single-handedly decided that I was too late for my flight and that I had to check my bag (Mom: it was your tiny lark week-ender!!!). She doesn’t merit going into detail about, but I will say that I’m glad that I’ve met a million other French people, including one of her co-workers, who have been nothing but nice to me.

Finally, at around 11:30 PM I arrived in Barcelona and saw Ms. Laura Chandler (2 visits in one European adventure: lucky me!!) and Mr. Corwin Coward approaching me. Corwin’s wife Arline has known my mother since they were eleven years old, and saved me from drowning in a swimming pool when I was three years old, prompting her to be my Godmother. Corwin and Arline have lived in Spain for 35 years.

So after our quick hellos, the three of us headed to our fantastic lodging at Chez Coward, where my godmother and some fabulous tortilla, courtesy of Emy—their fantastic chef and helper, awaited us. Laura and I caught up until the wee hours in the morning, and woke up late the next day.

Saturday, June 6^th:

We explored, explored, explored and saw such great sights as as La Boqueria, a huge market with 1 euro fresh juice, the “Old Port”, and Las Ramblas, a long street with a lively character. We even ran into Brett Henderson, my grand-big sister in Chi O who just graduated from Berkeley!

That night, Arline, Corwin, Laura, and I met up with Alex (Arline and Corwin’s son) and his girlfriend. I had some DELICIOUS paella and it was nice to catch up and converse! The “kids” then took us to two bars—one that was pirate-themed and one called L’acensor, where we enjoyed really good cocktails called Capriovskas and talked politics and music—two of my favorite subjects. Finally, around 3:30 AM, Laura and I said goodbye and caught a cab to Razzmatazz—the biggest nightclub I have EVER seen in my life. It was AWESOME and we stayed there just long enough to catch the first metro home, at around 6:30 AM!!!

Sunday, June 7^th:

I coerced Laura into waking up at around noon (after going to bed at 7AM) so that we could make the Picasso museum before our guide said it closed at 3PM. We DID make it, but it did in fact close at 8 PM, rendering our lack of sleep totally unnecessary! It was worth it though; it’s no secret I’m a huge Picasso fan, and the museum focused on his early and late works, allowing the museum go-er to peek into a part of Picasso’s life we rarely get to view elsewhere. My favorite painting was of a woman from his Blue Period that was done in Paris.

Next, Laura and I said a quick “hello” to Cristina, another Chi O who was in Barcelona at the same time, and then headed down to Corwin’s sailboat, where we enjoyed some Cava and snacks, with Corwin and his sailing partner Joh.

Finally, after a necessary siesta, Corwin took us for some AMAZING tapas at a wonderful and crowded tapas bar.

Monday, June 8^th:

Laura and I slept in a bit, and then headed off for a day of Gaudi. First, we went to the Cathedral la Sagrada Famillia, which is still a work in progress. After properly examining both facades of the cathedral (the nativity and the passion) Laura and I went inside, and got to see the modern stained glass. I can see why the cathedral is considered a modern architectural masterpiece; it was stunningly beautiful and intricate and seemed as if it were coming from nature.

Next, after successfully finding some great and well-priced tapas, we headed over to the Park Guell, the whimsical area that Gaudi and Guell had originally intended to be a high-end neighborhood. What surprised me most about Gaudi’s architecture was how far ahead of his time he was; a lot of the fluid motifs and bright colors were stylistic features that I typically associate with the mid-nineteenth century at the earliest.

Finally, we retraced some of our steps from earlier in the week and headed back to Chez Corward, and then off to dinner around the corner with the whole Coward crew.

Tuesday, June 9^th, we woke up around 8:30 and I headed home to Paris and Laura was off to London!

It was an absolutely AMAZING week-end, and I was so glad to share it with the wonderful, easy-going, fun, and Spanish-speaking Miss Laura Chandler, as well as with my hospitable, interesting, and intelligent god-family (is that the proper term….?) Barcelona is on my list of places I MUST go back to, especially after the world-class treatment I received at Chez Coward!

Ce Soir...

Tonight was VERY amazing and so French. I had a diner de conf (or dinner for my class) for my World of Wine Class. We decided to have a picnic in lieu of going to a restaurant, due to budget constraints. We began at Place de Voges and then moved to the Seine when the police approached us and told us that the plethora of wine we had was "interdit". After moving to the Seine, we fully enjoyed our wine (I brought REAL Champagne) and sang Edith Piaf as the sun went down. Yes it was a cliche and YES I LOVED it. We ended up at a bar near our school, singing to more Edith Piaf songs and enjoying more wine. I learned that at Sciences Po, there are the "cool kids"--whom I got to hang out with tonight and who are actually totally normal and fun, and the more "traditional students"--who I seem to be encountering in the majority of my classes, and who aren't quite as social. In any event, I am glad to hang with Frenchies, and feel like it's "better late than never" to explore nightlife with them.

More updates later, but I was too excited about tonight to not let this one pass...

It's Nights Like These...

It’s nights like these that I’m going to remember most fondly: hanging out with amazing people and enjoying the simpler pleasures of life (good conversation, cheap wine, laughter, and friendship…) in the middle of the Seine…

I left off on Friday, after completing my last 2 exposés ever! That night, as celebration, I returned to chez moi, watched the Movie Choke (which I highly recommend, although it was oddly much more heart warming than I thought it would be, considering the subject matter), and caught up on some sleep. The next day, I woke up late, and then took advantage of the stunningly beautiful weather via a walk along the Seine. I ended up at L’imprevu, where I enjoyed two chai teas, and some free wireless which I used to work on a paper and skype Serena. I stayed at l’imprevu for quite a while, but finally worked up the willpower to leave—which was really hard, considering the atmosphere and music selection (we’re talking Oasis, Air, Beck, Radiohead, Bjork—all in a row)—and headed home.

That night, my friend Annie threw a going away party at her house, as she’s unfortunately leaving the country a bit early, thanks to a job. Annie’s parties are always a BLAST, and this one included a dance party, funny French people, and some good friends (such as Rafaella, her friend Stacey who is visiting, Neema, and Annie). A few of Rafaella’s French friends joined us and they were charming and hilarious.

Next day, I signed online to find Ms. Allison Bagg on, one of my best friends from University who came to Paris on Saturday. Baggy is going to be here for three weeks doing a French immersion program and I’m so happy about that!!!! Right as I was starting to get a bit homesick (I’ve been here for 4 months, can you blame me…?, she came…PARFAIT!)

So, Baggy and I met up, caught up, and had a picnic by the park outside of the École Militaire. I pass by this park everyday, but seeing it with Baggy allowed me to see it with fresh eyes. Having her around is also going to ensure I don’t become jaded.

Then, Baggy and I went to see David LaChappelle exhibit. You may know some of LaChappelle’s commercial works, such as the photo he took of Kanye West as Jesus for Rolling Stone magazines. His less commercial and more artist works, center around themes of anti-consumerism, apocalyptic, pro-human relationships, anti-holy war, etc. … a bit cliché but wonderful execution, so the clichés were forgivable. Next, we headed over to the gift shop, so Baggy could pick up some postcards. When we got inside, it was very crowded and people were scrambling to get their perfect posters, books, etc, without regards for their fellow patrons. I noticed this and the irony was just too much, not only were these patrons living proof of LaChappelle’s message: we are a consumer society that can only be aided by helping each other, but they had JUST seen the exhibit where he tells us this. I had to tell Baggy, and she whole-heartedly agreed, and subsequently gave up on buying a postcard (Sorry, Baggy). She understood the hilariousness of the situation and put it even more eloquently than me: “We were all snorting our diamonds in there” (referring to a photo where the subject is snorting diamonds as if they were cocaine: http://arts.guardian.co.uk/pictures/image/0,,-1060329464954,00.html). Baggy and I finished with a stroll along the Seine, with more discussing and catching up. I’m seriously SO SO happy she’s here; she is a wonderful and dear friend.

Finally, last night was aforementioned picnic along the Seine (the one that I meant when I said “nights like these”), highlights of which included talking to good friends I have made and feeling totally at ease, sending off a message in a wine bottle containing a note in 5 different languages (mine portion said: “J’habite dans un rêve. Ne me levez pas s’il vous plait), hippie dancing, enjoying the company of a very diverse group, and going on another Berkeley liberal hippie rant, this time about climate change. We soaked up all of the Parisian air we could, knowing our time here is coming to a close.

Today, I met up with Raf and her friend Stacey for a walk along the Champs-Elysées, around to the Eiffel Tour, and then for some gelato at Amarino—the best gelato place ever!!! Now, I’m getting ready to meet Baggy and the CA party posse at Piano Vache.

So, apparently I’m blogging way more frequently now. I think that this is because I’m realizing that I have not a whole lot of time left here, and thus am trying to capture every precious moment I can. I’m already getting sad to leave, even with a month in front of me. I guess I just have to STOP thinking about it. So I will.