en bourgogne

i'm taking a class on medieval art and architecture, with one of the greatest professors on earth, in a country replete with examples in situ. last weekend, we took a field trip to bourgogne, a rural region a few hours south of paris, to visit some beautiful romanesque churches (and eat some beautiful food)...

first we stopped at the abbey of fontenay, an 11th-century cistercian monastery. the cistercians rejected all graven images, so there is no sculptural decor on the site. but it's gorgeous in its architecture: the stones change color with the sunlight, and the simplicity of the design is very peaceful. this is inside the church:



you see how there are no sculptures on the capitals of the columns? and how the arches line up perfectly... the entire abbey is constructed along right angles and rectangles to show the order of god's creation.



my class and my professor in the cloisters - yes, it's only four students!

next we visited vezelay, a church which holds the relics of mary magdelene. we stayed in a bed-and-breakfast in the charming little village that night. here is the mist rolling over the hills in the morning:



and a cat in a flower box!



and, of course, the portal to the church, showing christ in majesty.



(i took lots of pictures inside but they didn't turn out so well...)

saturday afternoon we headed to autun, which holds the remains of saint lazarus. i think this church was my favorite.



these arches were built later; they are probably from the fifteenth century (the church itself is twelfth-century).



our trip back to paris was far too long and we got stuck in traffic, but i have to say the sunset was worth it... this photograph doesn't capture its beauty.



i have so many more pictures that it was hard to decide what to post here! visiting the provinces makes me love france even more. this country is basically one giant farm, which is easy to forget when you're living in a city as cosmopolitan as paris. we ate amazing food and drank incredible wine as well, all straight from the nearby farms. to finish, i'll leave you with a picture of a soufflé - amazing amazing amazing!!

merde

so since i don't know who actually reads this blog, i'd sort of like some comments... if you see something that sparks an interest... just a friendly reminder!

also, here is a picture of the reid hall cat. he is my new best friend.

dublin, eire

two weeks ago, i spent a weekend in dublin by myself. ireland is amazing: i have never seen so many shades of green as i did while flying over the island. irish history is fascinating and i wonder why more people don't study it... i don't think columbia has a single course on ireland. and it was nice to be in an english-speaking country for a couple days! (still, i think i prefer the francophone world...)



st stephen's green is REALLY GREEN.



in the national history museum they have an exhibit on bog bodies. these are mummified
prehistorical remains found in peat bogs. amazing! also sort of disgusting. when i was in the museum, a group of schoolboys was visiting and, as little boys are apt to be, they were simultaneously fascinated and repulsed...



"shop while the dollar drops," ie, come visit new york while you can afford it, europe!! these ads were everywhere.

the national gallery has my two favorite paintings ever:



The Taking of Christ by Caravaggio



and Woman Writing A Letter by Vermeer.

both have incredible histories: check out The Lost Painting by Jonathan Harr and The Irish Game by Matthew Hart to read about them.




this is the interior of christ church cathedral. as my guidebook said, it's sort of strange that such a catholic country would have two protestant cathedrals in its capital city. unfortunately the church is now more of a tourist attraction than a functioning place of worship; it cost me 2E to enter and it didn't seem like there's a real congregation. (in contrast, notre-dame de paris, despite its touristic attractions, is a functioning cathedral with a devoted congregation. i went to mass there a few weeks ago, took communion, heard some archbishop give a sermon... it felt much more authentic.)



then i headed over to st patrick's cathedral, which is near the spring where the said saint baptized many irish pagans. jonathan swift is buried here. this church was even more touristy; 4E to enter and it's basically set up like a museum...



but it's still beautiful!!



fish and chips for lunch: delicious but so heavy, i could not finish it.



the natural history museum smells like old books. a lot of the animals are from the early 20th century (or late 19th century), so it's like walking into the minds of the early naturalists.



a skeleton of a dodo bird!



so why don't we have sex education like this in the states? you tell me. this billboard is brilliant (bonus points to anyone who knows which artist's work it's based on).



the liffey at night: it looks like a river of guinness.



the irish coast from my airplane...



and then back to paris.

amsterdam

a few weeks ago, i took a brief trip to amsterdam. by brief, i mean: we took an all-night bus ride to arrive at 8 AM on saturday, and left for another all-night bus ride back to paris at 11 PM on sunday. intense. and oh-so-worth it.



canals and bicycles everywhere...



and houseboats!



in fact, our hostel was a boat.



a fountain filled with bubbles...



i love street art.



it's possible that, due to the combination of water and light, amsterdam may beat paris in terms of nighttime beauty... but i'm not placing any bets...



heineken everywhere!



and a sad goodbye.

soon to come: dublin and thoughts on french higher education.

la grosse pomme vs. the city of love

as much as i love love love paris, i'm really suffering new york withdrawl. here are some of the many things i miss:

- 24-hour subway
- 24-hour supermarkets
- 24-hour EVERYTHING
- falafel carts everywhere
- hearing spanish, mandarin, arabic, hebrew, french, english, and a dozen other languages i don't recognize within fifteen minutes of each other - and not even taking note of it
- MEXICAN FOOD. and mexican people. and mexican beer.
- columbus circle/battery park/the village/fifth avenue/fourteenth street/soho
- the flatiron building
- central park. parisian parks are beautiful but they're rather sterile... (an example of french design in new york is bryant park behind NYPL, which i actually love.) i can't wait for spring!!
- efficiency/doing things in a rational manner/generally making sense

but then, there are so many things you can't find in new york, like...

- true café culture
- comté, the most amazing cheese ever
- so many varieties of wine, and people who appreciate them
- pain à tradition. the french have laws regarding how to make "traditional french bread." that is how important bread is in this country.
- a sense of history that extends backs centuries (as opposed to weeks)
- beautiful churches, beautiful buildings, beautiful everything!
- being multilingual is sort of expected
- universal health care (haven't taken advantage of this yet though)
- vespas
- EVERYONE HERE IS SO BEAUTIFUL.



my newest career aspiration is to go into (eco-)tourism, because i love to travel and to help people. i used to want to work in a museum, but in tourism i could basically do the same thing in terms of "guest services" except ALL AROUND THE WORLD. maybe then, i can jet-set between paris and new york and not have to pick one to live in for the rest of my life.