the new york times had an interesting article on tourism today. specifically, on europeans coming to america and pissing people off. as an adopted new yorker (and before that, briefly, a resident of washington DC), i have had my fair share of uncomfortable encounters with tourists: italians failing to tip me, spaniards pushing me to the ground in front of notre dame (no joke), japanese students asking for directions. in paris, it's mostly the americans who make asses of themselves. the other day, i saw some older americans walk by a gelato stand and point out that "the ice cream is all melted!" (they failed to realise that it wasn't ice cream, it was GELATO, which is softer and wetter and certaintly more delicious than ice cream). in DC, we would make fun of tourists who didn't understand the metro systems and who failed to realize that you STAND ON THE RIGHT and WALK ON THE LEFT up the escalators because WASHINGTONIANS ARE RIDICULOUSLY BUSY. in new york, it's mostly high schoolers with their parents who can't believe that times square actually exists - and that there's an applebees AND a red lobster in such close proximity!
of course, i am a bitter, cynical city dweller who sometimes forgets that life is different in the rest of the world. but seriously, people seem to feel bolder when they're in a new big city or a country whose language they don't understand. maybe this is because we know that we might be embarassed anyways, so we're more likely to do embarassing things in the first place. or maybe it's just the thrill of something new. of course i fall victim to this (you should have seen us in barcelona...) en tout cas, i try to be a good tourist, and i can't withhold my frustration with those who aren't.
yet for some bizarre reason i cannot explain, the tourism industry appeals to me. eco-tourism, specifically, because traditional tourism is so destructive and ignorant that i'd probably quit out of guilt. i guess i like the idea of introducing people to new things and showing them sights beyond their cultural borders. it's long-established that americans in particular are uninformed about the rest of the world, which is a sad sad thing i want to change. on the other hand, if i have to spend my life explaining that not every country watches american idol or that many languages besides english are spoken across the globe, i'd probably quit out of frustration and move to iceland.
one of the best quotes from the above article is this:
EVERY summer, people all over the world become acquainted again with a deep truth spoken by the philosopher-tourist Steve Martin.
He was speaking for tourists everywhere, not just to France, when he said: “Boy, those French, they have a different word for everything!”...
To be an ugly tourist is to miss the fundamental truth in Mr. Martin’s statement. “It is to have an overall lack of understanding that there is such a thing as cultural difference,” wrote Prof. Inga Treitler, the secretary for the National Association for the Practice of Anthropology, in an e-mail message.
this brings me to another phenomenon i first heard about in turkey, from an american who'd taught english in japan for several years. every year, about a dozen japanese tourists have to be emergency evacuated from paris due to "paris syndrome." since japanese culture is much more reserved and polite, particularly in comparison to the oh-so-rude french, some tourists - particularly young women on their first trip abroad - simply can't handle it. they go into shock after too many rebuffings by rude waiters, ticket vendors and normal parisians. the japanese embassy has a twenty-four hour hotline to help their nationals who just want to get the hell out of france. the BBC has a quick article on this here.
(i must also mention that i've found japanese tourists to be the worst in terms of pushing, shoving, and blocking my way through the louvre; they typically come in large groups and can't stop taking pictures of each other looking miserable with great works of art... i think the fact that they often travel with such enormous tour groups insulates them from the fact that there are other people around who are not japanese, many of whom actually live in paris!)
but seriously, isn't the whole point of tourism to see something new and different? who wants to go to the other side of the earth and encounter the same kind of people?
i guess that's why i think i'd be good in the tourism industry. i want to see new things and i want to tell people about them. aristocrats used to send their children on the "grand tour" of the mediterranean; i feel like we all need to take a grand tour of the rest of the world. and do it in a way that helps humanity instead of making us hate each other even more. (as a side note, the french really don't hate americans... they just hate george w. bush.)
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Monday, May 28, 2007
Thursday, April 26, 2007
travelling + international events
bonjour cheries! i haven't written in a while due to school, travel, and sitting in too many cafés. here's what's been going on lately:
- french university vacation was april 8-22, possibly the best two weeks of my short life. i went to istanbul, turkey, and barcelona, spain. amazing! there is so much to recount that i don't feel i can really do justice to these trips; instead i'll share some nice photographs and encourage you to visit for yourselves.
ISTANBUL
inside the aya sofia, built as a christian basilica in 530 AD, then transformed into a mosque, now simply an amazing museum.
whirling dervishes!
emily, julia, and myself: we are standing in europe, but across the bosphorus behind us is asia.
BARCEOLNA
the sagrada familia, antonin gaudí's unfinished masterpiece.
me high in the towers of the sagrada familia. my beautiful scarf is from turkey (although apparently the design is uzbek).
standing in the cold, cold mediterranean sea!
- the first round of the french presidential election was on sunday. (in france, the election has two rounds, possibly because there are so many candidates. the second round is in a few weeks.) nicolas sarkozy (of the current governing party, the UMP; center-right) and ségolène royal (of the socialist party, which i guess is sort of center-left in france) will advance to the next round. i'm sort of disappointed; i don't really think royal can win and i would have preferred françois bayrou to advance, but hey, it's not my country. sarkozy is liberal by american standards, but some of his rhetoric is slightly disturbing (in terms of immigration and "cracking down" on crime especially, i feel he's especially harsh) - and he's friendly with bush. sarkozy wants to liberalize the french economy (which is good! thirty-five hour work weeks are not the way to increase productivity); royal's program is sort of ambiguous. since politics is sort of deathly boring to me, i will direct you to wikipedia for a better explanation of the election than i can provide: French Presidential Election 2007
- across the pond, my home state of new hampshire has taken a step towards extending equal rights to homosexuals by approving civil unions in the senate. from the new york times:
"To me this legislation is a credit to our state. We're making this move not because some court some place is telling us that we must," said Democratic Sen. Joe Foster of Nashua. "We do so today because it is the right thing to do."
- in washington, both the house and the senate have approved a bill that sets a deadline for troop withdrawls from iraq. bush is set to veto it, of course; still, the bill shows that congress has regained some sense and is trying to fix what we've screwed up beyond belief. also from the times:
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, said the measure is “the only way to make Iraqis take responsibility” for their own destiny. Mr. Kennedy said the president has been wrong all along on Iraq. “Now, he is wrong to threaten to veto this bill,” the senator said. “We cannot repeat the mistake of Vietnam.”
Another Democratic supporter, Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, said the conflict is “a war that never should have started, and on this president’s watch may never end” without a timetable for American withdrawal.
- and in my adopted home of new york, new york, our mayor bloomberg is working to green up the city by charging vehicules for driving below 86th street. i really believe nyc is a walking city and a subway city. and as the greatest city in the world, it is wonderful that new york is among the first places in the US to actually deal with its transportation problems. i love love love new york, but i don't love that it has the worst air quality in the country. the only part of the plan that makes me worry (and this is something the city will address) is the effect on people in the outer boroughs who have to drive into manhattan. perhaps the tax will be lower for registered new york workers? even better, the subway system and the eco-friendly bus fleet will be expanded to give those people better, easier, cheaper commutes? (there is progress on the second avenue subway, but that's in manhattan. another interesting article: this guy is working on his own easier-to-read version of the subway map; i had to have the system explained to me multiple times before i finally got in. now i mostly have it memorized.)
i'm sorry for the length of this post! but sometimes recounting my travels becomes a bit tiresome... plus, assuming anyone actually reads this anymore, hopefully some of you will check out those stories and think about what's going on.
à bientot!
- french university vacation was april 8-22, possibly the best two weeks of my short life. i went to istanbul, turkey, and barcelona, spain. amazing! there is so much to recount that i don't feel i can really do justice to these trips; instead i'll share some nice photographs and encourage you to visit for yourselves.
ISTANBUL
inside the aya sofia, built as a christian basilica in 530 AD, then transformed into a mosque, now simply an amazing museum.
whirling dervishes!
emily, julia, and myself: we are standing in europe, but across the bosphorus behind us is asia.
BARCEOLNA
the sagrada familia, antonin gaudí's unfinished masterpiece.
me high in the towers of the sagrada familia. my beautiful scarf is from turkey (although apparently the design is uzbek).
standing in the cold, cold mediterranean sea!
- the first round of the french presidential election was on sunday. (in france, the election has two rounds, possibly because there are so many candidates. the second round is in a few weeks.) nicolas sarkozy (of the current governing party, the UMP; center-right) and ségolène royal (of the socialist party, which i guess is sort of center-left in france) will advance to the next round. i'm sort of disappointed; i don't really think royal can win and i would have preferred françois bayrou to advance, but hey, it's not my country. sarkozy is liberal by american standards, but some of his rhetoric is slightly disturbing (in terms of immigration and "cracking down" on crime especially, i feel he's especially harsh) - and he's friendly with bush. sarkozy wants to liberalize the french economy (which is good! thirty-five hour work weeks are not the way to increase productivity); royal's program is sort of ambiguous. since politics is sort of deathly boring to me, i will direct you to wikipedia for a better explanation of the election than i can provide: French Presidential Election 2007
- across the pond, my home state of new hampshire has taken a step towards extending equal rights to homosexuals by approving civil unions in the senate. from the new york times:
"To me this legislation is a credit to our state. We're making this move not because some court some place is telling us that we must," said Democratic Sen. Joe Foster of Nashua. "We do so today because it is the right thing to do."
- in washington, both the house and the senate have approved a bill that sets a deadline for troop withdrawls from iraq. bush is set to veto it, of course; still, the bill shows that congress has regained some sense and is trying to fix what we've screwed up beyond belief. also from the times:
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, said the measure is “the only way to make Iraqis take responsibility” for their own destiny. Mr. Kennedy said the president has been wrong all along on Iraq. “Now, he is wrong to threaten to veto this bill,” the senator said. “We cannot repeat the mistake of Vietnam.”
Another Democratic supporter, Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, said the conflict is “a war that never should have started, and on this president’s watch may never end” without a timetable for American withdrawal.
- and in my adopted home of new york, new york, our mayor bloomberg is working to green up the city by charging vehicules for driving below 86th street. i really believe nyc is a walking city and a subway city. and as the greatest city in the world, it is wonderful that new york is among the first places in the US to actually deal with its transportation problems. i love love love new york, but i don't love that it has the worst air quality in the country. the only part of the plan that makes me worry (and this is something the city will address) is the effect on people in the outer boroughs who have to drive into manhattan. perhaps the tax will be lower for registered new york workers? even better, the subway system and the eco-friendly bus fleet will be expanded to give those people better, easier, cheaper commutes? (there is progress on the second avenue subway, but that's in manhattan. another interesting article: this guy is working on his own easier-to-read version of the subway map; i had to have the system explained to me multiple times before i finally got in. now i mostly have it memorized.)
i'm sorry for the length of this post! but sometimes recounting my travels becomes a bit tiresome... plus, assuming anyone actually reads this anymore, hopefully some of you will check out those stories and think about what's going on.
à bientot!
Sunday, April 1, 2007
une visite à Chartres
on friday, we went to chartres for my medieval art class. chartres is the best-preserved gothic cathedral in france, about an hour south of paris by train. unfortunately, the day was rainy and dreary, so the cathedral was extra-dark and the stained-glass windows didn't have the effect they were intended too. (this also means most of my pictures turned out poorly.) but that just means i'll be returning during the summer!!
so here is the front of the church. at first it looks symmetrical, but if you look closer, you'll see that the north and south towers are uneven - the north tower was built first and the current cathedral was rebuilt after a fire in the 12th century.
we spent a long time examining the west portals, the details of which i will spare you... but this photo is from a depiction of the nativity: there are two (and a half) shepards and some little sheep!
the west windows above the portals. the shade of blue is only found in 12th-century glass; the technique has been lost and no one has been able to recreate it.
the labyrinth is in the center of the central nave and is closed most of the year. we were lucky enough to come when it was open, so of course we walked the maze. it's a meditative, spiritual experience: many of the people visiting chartres that day were not tourists but pilgrims.
one of the rose windows, on the north side of the transept. it depicts the "good kings" and "evil kings" of the old testament.
after lunch we walked around to the north side of the church and found some posters advertising playmobile models. clearly we got pretty excited.
these are statues on the columns of the north facade. it's crazy how detailed everything is; i love how the saints stand on top of these amusing little figures.
the shrine of the black madonna. the cathedral also houses a relic of mary, a blue cloth that was supposedly her tunic or robe... didn't get a photo of that though.
then we went down into the crypt, which dates from carolingian times. although most of the walls were re-painted in the nineteenth century, this fresco is about a thousand years old. awesome.
there's also a well in the crypt (which indicates that the site was in use long before the christian era). apparently i almost fell in...
in other news, spring has sort of arrived in paris - when it's not raining, that is. my two-week spring break is coming up in a week. i'm going to istanbul, turkey and barcelona, spain. i'm super excited because while i've been lucky to travel around france and parts of northern europe, i'm definitely ready for something different. i've never been inside a mosque, i haven't been to the beach in years, and i miss trying to speak spanish with my latin friends in nyc. plus, before i leave, i'll have a few days to bum around paris, hopefully in beautiful weather, reading and drinking coffee and generally living la vie en rose.
keep in touch!
so here is the front of the church. at first it looks symmetrical, but if you look closer, you'll see that the north and south towers are uneven - the north tower was built first and the current cathedral was rebuilt after a fire in the 12th century.
we spent a long time examining the west portals, the details of which i will spare you... but this photo is from a depiction of the nativity: there are two (and a half) shepards and some little sheep!
the west windows above the portals. the shade of blue is only found in 12th-century glass; the technique has been lost and no one has been able to recreate it.
the labyrinth is in the center of the central nave and is closed most of the year. we were lucky enough to come when it was open, so of course we walked the maze. it's a meditative, spiritual experience: many of the people visiting chartres that day were not tourists but pilgrims.
one of the rose windows, on the north side of the transept. it depicts the "good kings" and "evil kings" of the old testament.
after lunch we walked around to the north side of the church and found some posters advertising playmobile models. clearly we got pretty excited.
these are statues on the columns of the north facade. it's crazy how detailed everything is; i love how the saints stand on top of these amusing little figures.
the shrine of the black madonna. the cathedral also houses a relic of mary, a blue cloth that was supposedly her tunic or robe... didn't get a photo of that though.
then we went down into the crypt, which dates from carolingian times. although most of the walls were re-painted in the nineteenth century, this fresco is about a thousand years old. awesome.
there's also a well in the crypt (which indicates that the site was in use long before the christian era). apparently i almost fell in...
in other news, spring has sort of arrived in paris - when it's not raining, that is. my two-week spring break is coming up in a week. i'm going to istanbul, turkey and barcelona, spain. i'm super excited because while i've been lucky to travel around france and parts of northern europe, i'm definitely ready for something different. i've never been inside a mosque, i haven't been to the beach in years, and i miss trying to speak spanish with my latin friends in nyc. plus, before i leave, i'll have a few days to bum around paris, hopefully in beautiful weather, reading and drinking coffee and generally living la vie en rose.
keep in touch!
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
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!!
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!!
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
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.
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.
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
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.
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.
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