Top 5 Things I Learned About Mötley Crüe Fans

1) They lose their minds over fire.

2) They don't mind that their lead singer is a fat caricature of his former self.

3) Objectifying women is cool. You know their two "backup singers" perform only one function in the vertical position and the rest are, well, not.

4) They unironically throw up devil horns.

5) They smoke a lot of skunky pot.

August 15-17, Normandy Weekend

This past weekend a bunch of us spent the weekend in Caen, Normandy!  The beach day was great and the rented house was cozy and cute!  Here are some pics for you!

 

Now in just over an hour it's time to leave for the airport.  I'm ready to come home but Paris was lovely and I am so glad I was able to experience this with such great people.  I will write more when I'm not brain dead and exhausted (which at this rate may never happen)!  Au revoir, Simone!

Versailles: The Palace of Lines and Tourists

Set out for Versailles at 8am so we could get there by 9 to "beat the crowds."  This is what we were faced with:

All things considered, though, we didn't have to wait too long.  Once we were in there it was practically a madhouse.  Everything was beautiful but I honestly thought it would be bigger (I know, I know).

 

People everywhere

Then it's time to see the Gardens.  NO WAIT!  You need to buy a ticket for that!  Waiting again and then finally in.

What was truly beautiful (aside from the guy selling orange juice in the gardens) was the Queen's Hamlet which Marie Antoinette built as a pastoral retreat.  Since my phone died before I could take pictures of it, I will post ones I found online here:

 Couldn't you just die?!

So after walking around Versailles, the Gardens, and the outbuildings, we've been up and about for 12 hours.  It should be a nice little train ride back to SJU, right?  WRONG!  First, our Metro passes don't work outside of Paris so it's time to buy a ticket back.  Second, there were lines just to buy a ticket with people queued up behind THREE machines and one teller.  So we finally get to a machine--correction--I'm the first one to make it to the machine so I'm buying six return tickets--and IT ONLY TAKES CHANGE.  So everyone is throwing change at me so we can buy the tickets and move the line along.  After that it's relatively smooth sailing--except for two of my compatriots who couldn't make it off the train in time at our station.  All in all, Versailles was beautiful but if you are not into crowds I recommend going during the off season or just tour the Gardens.  Excuse me while I go move into Marie Antoinette's cottage.

Au revoir, Simone!

August 5 & 6, Paris Days 5 & 6

On Tuesday I went to the Montparnasse Cemetery, which was nice but not nearly as cool as Le Pere Lachaise. For the rest of the day I took it easy and did some school work (snooze).  Today our Vis Comm class went to Musée d'Orsay to view the Impressionists on the fifth floor in particular. The museum used to be a train station and houses "newer" art than the Louvre.  The art was, of course, beautiful and I discovered some artists I had never heard of before.  Some of the more notable paintings are shown below.  I then took the Metro to a record store and IT FLIPPING RAINED ON ME--not fun.  Feeling brain dead so not too much to share today.  Au revoir, Simone!

 

 

Self Portrait, Vincent Van Gogh

 

Bedroom in Arles, Vincent Van Gogh  (earlier version of the final, more famous painting)

Bal au moulin de la Galette, Pierre-Auguste Renoir

 

Ballet, Edgar Degas

Olympia, Édouard Manet

 

Luncheon on the Grass, Édouard Manet

August 4, Paris Day 4

First day of class today so spent the first half of the day doing that.  Then a walk and lunch and then to Notre Dame with my fellow students.  At the risk of sounding completely lame, it is in places like Notre Dame where I feel closest to heaven/God.  This feeling just comes over me and I can't describe it.  It's like overwhelming, awed, and peaceful all at the same time.  I happened to be there right before Vespers so I went to that--first time singing in French (or what I hope sounded like French)!  Then a dinner with a classmate and now back here to upload some of my Disneyland Paris pictures to Facebook.  The Disney Studios ones will have to wait until tomorrow because it's already past 11 and there are just too many to upload!  Here are some of my pics to and from Notre Dame--enjoy!  Au revoir, Simone!

 

 

 

 

There is this adorable stretch of sand along the Seine and I thought this little kids area was a great idea.

August 3, Paris Days 2 & 3

 August 2--Disneyland Paris
I went to Disneyland Paris on this day because we have a free weekend and I didn't want to go later when I should be studying!  The day was exhausted and I now have a blister the size of a quarter on the bottom of my feet, but it was worth it.  The park was smaller than I expected and had a lot less rides.  Disney Studios was even smaller but still had Rock 'n' Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror.  My favorite ride of all, though, was one that just opened last month--Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy.  It was similar to the Spider Man ride (also a favorite) at Universal Orlando in that you ride in a car (a mouse car!), wear 3D glasses, and roam through different scenes.  In this case, you were scurrying through Remy's kitchen and were shrunk to his size!  Plus the wait wasn't too long--go single rider lines!  All in all a nice day.  It can definitely be done in one day, though, even though I didn't get to go on everything I wanted to because of ride queue times.  That's it for today!  I need to relax tomorrow!   Au revoir, Simone!




Outside of Ratatouille ride (not my photo)
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August 3--Le Père Lachaise Cemetery


Today (August 3) I slept in a bit and took the Metro to Le Père Lachaise Cemetery.  I watched a documentary on this cemetery a few months ago and knew Jim Morrison was buried there. It was so beautiful there and the weather was perfect.  Seeing so many graves, tombs, and crypts above-ground like that is nothing like we have back home.  My favorite ones were those that looked like little mini chapels and many of them even had a stained glass window.  Sadly, though, most were in a state of sad disrepair.  Since my feet were killing me from Disneyland Paris yesterday, I took the metro back to the rue de Sevres and bought myself cheese, salami, and bread to eat for the remainder of my trip (am I my father's daughter or what?) and then relaxed until a lovely "Welcome" dinner for all of us GSLIS folks.  Class starts tomorrow and we are going to Notre Dame in the afternoon!  Au revoir, Simone!

 
 

 

August 1, Paris Day 1

I posted this before but it doesn't work now...to recap...I said I had been up for about 34 hours!  We went to a grocery store nearby and they had an entire area for foods from the USA!


After dinner we walked around the Luxembourg Gardens which were so beautiful!



They have this great exhibit called "Happy Art" in the Orangery, too!  There were a whole collection of statues around the main area of the park of famous women in French history.  It was nice to see so many statues dedicated to women--with clothes on!

Intro to Paris

Just landed and so far an airport is an airport! Only 64 degrees here, though (boo). Will post more when something actually happens.  P.s. This will be my Paris travel blog as long as I have wifi.