London yeah!

Hello mates
Writing from Merry Olde England - where it is unbelievably SUNNY at the moment! If only it would last :D
I'm slowly settling in at the moment. I'm going to do a grocery run in a bit; have already set up a bank account with HSBC (but am thinking of cancelling because of their monthly fee); and have found my way around campus to attend 2 days of pre sessional economics workshops.

I'm really happy with my residence location (at Butlers Wharf) and with my flat. I have 5 room-mates: one American from California, one Brit, one Chinese girl, one Lithuanian and one German (who speaks French, English and Spanish on top of her German). They are all "sympa" and we are planning a brunch together on Sunday. We also invited the next door neighbours since the more the merrier!

I should take more pictures but I'm just taking it all for the time being. London is a huge city so I'm going to buy an A-Z city map and try to explore a few things every week. For instance, the Sir John Soame museum and British museum are super close to campus so I will definitely check them out again (went in 2008 but now I have the luxury of going as much as I want).

Bisous tout le monde, I hope you are well.

xoxo Miss Engagée

L'Alsace, un vrai coup de coeur

Bonjour!
Je suis installée dans ma chambre à Londres, avec (presque) vue sur la Thamise! Avant de vous parler de mon nouveau chez-moi, voici une mise à jour de la dernière semaine...

l'Alsace

Maison de thé chez Christian, Strasbourg

Cathédrale Notre Dame de Strasbourg

Maisons typiquement alsatiennes avec colombages

La vallée, vue sur Thal Marmouthier

Un vrai coup de coeur!
I spent a very enjoyable 3 days in Alsace, France's smallest region which has flip flopped between Germany and France over the centuries. My lovely friend and pen pal picked me up in Saverne and showed me the sights including a stop in a centuries-old castle nestled on top of a hill overlooking Alsace on one side, and Lorraine on the other.
We then went to Strasbourg, famous for its Kugelhofp (a kind of upside down cake....perfect for fika!), its Cathedral and its lovely old houses with "colombages" (wood pannelling). My friend had to spend Friday at the university so I hopped on a train and explored the neighbouring city of Colmar (home of the Statue of Liberty creator). While in Colmar I enjoyed the Unterlinden Museum (which houses a truly spectacular collection of mediaval art) and walked around simply enjoying my pretzels and the lovely houses.

Saturday, my last day in France, I took the train back to Paris and strolled around the Jardin des Plantes for a while, before heading down la Rue Mouffetard for some window shopping. I met my friend and hostess for a late night (late to me!) supper, gossip and tarte tatin.

I'm now in London and had my first pint by the side of the Thames. Life is good, my room is lovely and my flatmates are quite nice (for now we are on our best behaviours haha).

Bisous, à tout le monde,
Miss Engagée

Aix en Provence et Grenoble

Bonjour!
Time for another update from beautiful France. I am sitting in the appartment of a lovely couple who i met through Couch Surfing: their place is right in downtown Grenoble and almost has a view of the mountains that surround the city. I was just up the Bastille mountain today; what an amazing view!!!

But, hold on, lets rewind a bit you may say: how was Provence ?
It was fantastic! I stayed with another lovely couple, one archeologist and one neuroscientist, who made me yummy chocolat au lait and let me laugh at French television ;) I saw Cezannes atelier and met up with my friend Emily for crepes au Speculoos.




Atelier de Cezanne. He liked to get here early to paint the morning light.




Aix en Provence





moi devant les Champs Elysees de Arles (Alyscamps en provençal)

 

 We went to Arles on Saturday: it,s a tiny little town with gorgeous Roman crypts, a Roman amphitheatre and Roman baths. My friend and I met some super nice people who speak with a charming provencal accent (they have their own dialect which few people speak these days, unfortunately). One gentleman was nice enough to fika with us for two hours; telling us stories of the place where he grew up ( he was born and raised in Arles, right beside the Roman theatre). His dog Puna was pretty cute and sat on my lap trying to drink my juice and gobble my chocolate.



Grenoble

Grenoble is a nice city; reminds me of Western Canadian ski cities. Not too much to see but the view is great! Their museum is well known for its superb modern art collection: it is closed on Tuesdays but luckily I went yesterday (and had the place nearly to myself, how cool is that).



 
Tomorrow I am heading to the Alsace region for three nights. Then Paris for one night and then....LONDON!  Hope you are all well.

xoxo Miss Engagée

Pompidou, Picasso et Place de Vosges

I slept in a bit today knowing that I had done my "must" tourist things in Paris and that today was going to be just a relaxed day au pays de l'Hexagone. Arrived at the Pompidou Centre around 11am (opening time) to discover a mega long queue, and a frazzled lady at the door saying they had a "major problem" and weren't opening until later. Luckily there is lots to see around the Pompidou (the neighbourhood is called Les Halles/Beaubourg and next to it is another interesting neighbourhood called le Marais/La Bastille), so off I went to explore. 

Fontaine Igor-Stravinsky

Centre culturel suédois, où mon amie a travaillé

Le quartier du Marais est rempli de petites ruelles et de charmants jardins. C'est là où se trouve le musée de Picasso, qui est malheureusement fermé pour rénovations jusqu'en 2013 (les oeuvres sont prêtées à d'autres musées pendant ce temps, il y en a même qui seront à Toronto en 2012). C'est également là où la prise de la Bastille a eu lieu, événement déclencheur de la Révolution française. Aujourd'hui c'est un quartier paisible où il fait bon flâner. J'ai notamment fait un sieste dans le parc de la Place de Vosges, qui vaut vraiment le détour (le musée Victor Hugo s'y trouve- l'auteur a écrit Les Misérables dans une chambre du deuxième étage d'un hôtel adjacent à la Place de Vosges, ancienne Place Royale). 

Place de Vosges

Ces jeunes lycéens jouent à un match de foot à côté de la muraille de Philippe Auguste, construite en l'an 1200!!

Centre Pompidou, a large arts centre which includes the Museum of Modern Art

Oeuvre de Larry Rivers, I like Olympia in Black Face, 1970 [d'après Olympia de Manet]

Rennes, ville d'art et d'histoire

Bonjour tout le monde,

Back in Paris rather unexpectedly, because I couldn't get a train ticket to Lyon! well Paris is not a bad place to stop en route to the South of France.

I stayed at the Auberge de Jeunesse de Rennes for two nights and visited this beautiful little medieval city in Brittany (Bretagne). I was visiting a friend and had delicious galettes at her house, une spécialité bretonne! I did my own little "walking tour" of the city and explored the small but lovely historical centre, the Jardins de Thabor and the Museum of Fine Arts, not to mention l'Université Rennes II. It's a very easy city to get around (there is only one metro line!), and although I didn't get to visit Saint Malo or Mont Saint Michel as I had thought I might, I was very glad to see a bit of la Bretagne. Rennes is a real university city and I met a few international students staying at the youth hostel while looking for accomodations. I'm so glad that won't be my case, as I already have lodgings set up in London.

Rennes est à la confluence de deux voies maritimes- le canal d'Ille et Rance, et la Vilaine.

Le Centre historique de Rennes

Day 3- Mia in Monet's Garden

Quand j'étais jeune, ma mère m'a acheté un livre intitulé Linnéa in Monet's Garden. J'ai également reçu la poupée Linnéa, et un costume d'Halloween (à ma demande exprès ma mère m'a cousu un petit tablier...avec beaucoup d'amour et quelques épingles de sureté.)

De là j'ai développé un grand attachement aux peintures de Monet et des autres impressionistes. À la vue des Nymphéas j'ai presque eu les larmes aux yeux! Ce qui m'amène à ma 3e journée de tourisme à Paris et aux environs- GIVERNY! c'est à dire la maison, les jardins, le pont japonais et le célèbre étang aux nénuphars que Monet a peint à plusieurs reprises au courant de sa vie (jusque dans ses années quatre-vingts et ce, malgré une double cataracte aux yeux qui l'ont rendu presque aveugle).

Quelques photos de ma journée:

Nymphéas de Monet- au Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris

Étang de Nymphéas, Giverny, France

La maison où Monet vécu avec sa femme et leurs 8 enfants

 A spectacular day...I finished it back in Paris, by climbing up the stairs to see the view from the Sacré-Coeur "butte de Montmartre". I walked the windy streets of Montmartre, stumbled upon the Moulin Rouge, and finally headed home after another long but amazing day!

Day 2 of non-stop marathon sight-seeing

a very quick message since I'm heading to bed: *EDIT: plus pictures!*

Whew what a day! 12 hours of sight seeing, I must be crazy or just one very determined tourist. Here's a summary of what I did today in Paris, France:

-J'ai visité le cimetière Père Lachaise
- J'ai vu le Jardin des Tuileries
- J'ai parcouru les expositions de l'Orangerie (y inclus les très célèbres Nymphéas de Monet)
- J'ai revu le Quartier St-Germain des Prés, Notre-Dame de Paris (de l'intérieur)
- J'ai adoré la Sainte-Chapelle! Que c'est beau

- J'ai repris une glace chez Berthillon!

Au caramel...miam! mais le Praliné aux Speculoos était meilleur.

- Puis une visite du Louvre, y inclus un petit coucou à La Joconde et La Vénus de Milo. C'est gratuit pour les moins de 25 ans, et en plus le Louvre est ouvert jusqu'à 21h30 les vendredis, donc j'en ai profité.

La nuit, le Louvre est spectaculaire!

Saviez-vous que la Vénus de Milo a été sculptée en deux blocs? une pour la tête et le torse, l'autre pour les hanches et  la partie inférieure. 

Enfin, un petit souper sur la Rue de la Seine et je suis rentrée, épuisée mais très contente de ma journée. 

Love love, A Very Lucky Tourist in Paris

PARIS!!

I'm keeping this URL for now...and updating with my current travels in France!

I arrived yesterday but it already feels like I've been here a while. Probably because I've seen so much!

-First Day:
Notre-Dame de Paris (from the outside since I couldn't go in with my huge luggage)
Jardins médievaux de Cluny
the bridge which is covered in locks put by romantic couples who then throw away the key (it's symbolic of everlasting love)
My first ice cream...Berthillon, praliné au speculoos, on Ile St-Louis
Champs d'Élysées and lots of perfume stores
Arche de Triomphe
Place de la Concorde

Day 2
Started with croissants under Eiffel Tower
then walked up the Tower (the equivalent of 42 floors to get to the Eiffel Towers' second level!)
Hotel des Invalides (and the Musée des Armes, not to mention Napoleon's grandiose tomb)
Baguette on the steps of the Musée d'Orsay
Some of my favourite Renoir paintings are in the Musée d'Orsay!! "Déjeuner sur l'Herbe", "La Balançoire" and "le bal du moulin de la galette".
Walked along the Quay D'Orsay and saw the Grand Palais and Hotel des Invalides from the front :)
Supper in the Quartier Chinois (the most delicious pho!)

Pictures may follow later. I hope you are all well!

Bisous, from A Very Lucky Girl in Paris