Bike Riding at Versailles

Here is a fact for you: Did you know that tennis was invented in France? Yes, it was. The scoring is kind of funny, isn't it? Love, love means zero zero to start. Well, that originated because in France they began the game calling out "l'oeuf, l'oeuf" which sounds like love but means egg---an egg looks like a zero. So the tennis players were really calling out zero zero. Well, tennis then came to the USA, where we did not hear "egg egg" but heard "love love" with a thick accent and it stuck. Today even the French say "love love" to begin a tennis match. Interesting, eh?

So yesterday morning we took off on the Paris metro to the Marche aux Puces, which is the most famous flea market. The first things we saw were so beautiful and colorful--bags, skirts, souvenirs, etc. for not bad prices hanging up. All the guys, mostly Africans, welcomed us into their shops, promising amazing prices. We got all excited, but Dr. Erickson told us that we were in the tourist trap section of the Flea market and to wait a little bit longer for the good stuff. After walking about 10 more minutes, we came upon a bunch of junky shops with old tools and what looked like dirty clothes in piles on the ground. He told us that that was where we could find REAL treasures. We young teachers all thought it looked like a pile of garbage--sure it was all antiques, but we didn't really know how to appreciate them. These vendors were French people and not really concerned whether or not we came into their small junk shops. One guy was smoking a pipe and blew some right into my face. I am not one for stuff like that, so we left our professor and headed back for the tourist trap. On the way, we found a nice guy who sold Nutella crepes. They were delicious. He was so friendly. He guessed we were Germans, but when we said we were Americans, he gasped. "But you guys are not fat like most Americans." It was funny how they stereotype us that way. Yes, there are more overweight people in the USA, but it shouldn't be a shock to see some normal sized Americans. He talked with us for 20 minutes about politics (favorite subject here) and movies. When we got back to the tourist trap section, we found the nicest Algerian guys who sold the three of us girls really cute tops in pink and green for only 3 Euros each. What a steal! I also bought a cute red elephant bag, but the coloring bled the rest of the day onto my white shirt. Oh well. I decided that I prefer bartering for cheap, usable stuff than digging through garbage for a treasure.

We left on the bus to spend our afternoon in Versailles. I love that place! The gardens were so beautiful and there was a musical fountain show from 3:30-5:30. They played classical music all over the enormous, manicured gardens while we watched the fountains dance in different patterns. It was very relaxing and a perfect day. Ali and I decided to rent bikes for an hour. We took them to Marie Antoinette's little village. It was so quaint with cute little houses, donkeys and chickens running around. Super cute!

This morning, we took the metro downtown to go to church. Relief society was first and very interesting. The teacher could barely speak French or English. She was all over the place in trying to teach us something. There were two Elders trying to translate the French into Chinese for a lady behind us and one sister missionary translating the meeting into French and English while the teacher tried to teach. The Asian teacher would look at a sister in the group and say, "Give your testimony!" She said that to Agnes, who didn't want to say anything. Then the teacher said, "What? You don't have a testimony?" Agnes tried to get some words out. Very different meeting. The Sunday school and sacrament meetings were a lot better. They were amazing! There were some cool single adults that we met who invited us to some activities and institute. Could be fun! We came home and made some Italian lasagna--actually, Dan made it--he served in Italy and wanted to show off his cooking skills, which was to die for!

Now we are packing and getting ready for our trip to Alsace and Lorraine. We will be on the road in cars for the next five days. We will even get to go over the border into Germany. I don't think I have ever ridden in a small car in Paris. Should be fun!

French History mixed with Italian Gelato

Each day here has been quite the adventure! I love it! Yesterday, the seven of us (5 teachers, one husband of a teacher and our BYU professor] met in the hotel for an hour of class before we got started for the day. It was exciting to meet up with friends and we all greeted each other in our loud, teacher voices. The reception lady glared at us right away and we had to remind ourselves that the French love quiet settings...we were imposing on their peaceful setting. We quickly brought our voices down to just above a whisper as there were other people around us and tried not to let the others see how excited we were to begin our great trip.

After class, we took the metro downtown to the LDS Institute building, which is found right across from the George Pompidou Modern Art museum. It is also found in the Gay quarter of Paris. Everything is painted with rainbows and Happy Gai signs. After the second part of our French history class on the Franco Prussian War, WWI and WWII--we are studying this so when we visit Strasbourg next week, we will understand its significance and how it got its German influence--we had lunch at a Happy Gai patisserie. The two guys who owned it were really nice. I got a croque-monsieur--a ham and cheese sandwich, grilled with lots of cheese on top. Mmmmmm!!!

We then took off to see the Carnavalet museum on France's history and then the Centre Georges Pompidou. This Pompidou museum is really cool looking from the outside. It has lots of colorful pipes and clear tunnels with escalators. However, the exhibits inside were not my type of exhibit at all!!! There were some weird and sketchy pictures and video that I was scandalized by and I couldn't believe parents brought their kids to see. I guess I just have to remind myself that we let violence pass in the USA and the French see nudity as okay. Anyway, that was the first floor. The second floor rooms contained works of art that were nothing more than an orange canvas or blue canvas or colorful paint slapped all over. Not my definition of art.

After that tiring art museum, Ali, Dan and I decided to try some Italian Gelato. Can I say that this stuff was to die for?!! Best ice cream ever!!! I got this chocolate orange cinnamon flavor that I think I am going to have to have every day now. I am already addicted. There was a guy working there who was a super nice, cute guy. I asked if I could take his picture [I am taking all sorts of pictures of French people] and he got all smiley. He said, SURE, and then waznted to see it afterwards. He said that he gets off work every day at 11PM and asked the three of us if we'd like to get a cafe with him. This could be an adventure, I thought. I asked him his name and he said, Frédéric. I about died!! Ali said before coming here that she was going to meet a Frédéric in France...what are the chances? We couldn't believe it. I told her it was destiny. So one of these days we are going to come back to see Frederic at 11:00 and take him up on his offer.

The last thing we did last night was get tickets for Harry Potter. The movie theater was packed and they kept us out of the theater until 7, the exact time our movie started. It was hot and sweaty while we waited and people were pushing to try to get to the front of the line. Inside the theater, some workers walked up and down the aisles, selling popcorn and drinks as if we were at a baseball game. A bit different from movies at home.


Today was also a packed-full-of-fun day! Ali and I accidently slept in until 9:00. I felt a little bad for keeping the group waiting. We took the metro directly to the Basilique Sacre-Coeur, the heart of France. Do you know the difference between a Basilica and a Cathedral? I didn't either, so I asked a nice French guy. He explained that a Cathedral is for a section of the town and performs ordinaces such as marriages and baptisms while a Basilica is for everybody and performs no ordinances. We paid 5 Euros to walk a tiny, windy staircase all the way to the top of the Basilica. There were 300 steps. There was a great view from the top, though several of the steps had little puddles of urine midway up. We were kind of grossed out by that, but the view made it worth it.

After our visit of Sacre Coeur and Montmartre, an artist section next to the Basilica, we stopped for some chicken and cheese crepes in the Red Light district, right across from the Moulin Rouge. We got tons of interesting scenery during that lunch. We were ready to go after a few minutes and took the metro again--don't you love the metro system?-- to the Hotel des Invalides. This was built by Louis XIV to house hurt soldiers and has Napoleon's tomb today. I think it must be the largest tomb in the world, it is enormous! It is funny to think that Napoleon was such a little guy too.

We then went to see Notre-Dame de Paris--beautiful! Made me want to watch The Hunchback of Notre Dame. We stopped at a little cafe afterwards and enjoyed people watching as we ate potato tomato crepes and drank water from tiny glasses. I got some good pictures of the French people eating dinner. The others in my group think I am a bit weird for taking peoples' pictures without always asking--I do ask lots of times--but they will make great conversation pieces to use in French class!

Tomorrow we are going to a Flee market and then taking a train to see Versailles. They have a Saturday afternoon fountain show so we are going to have a picnic there.

Arrival in the City of Lights

I made it! Wow! I had forgotten how much I loved Paris! The weather is perfect! I love the way of life here! The people have been great!

I arrived in the Charles de Gaule airport at 9:00am this morning. The line to go through Customs actually wasn't too long. Two young guys called me over after 5 minutes of waiting. I was afraid they would be intimidating and cold, as they often are. Today, however, the first one smiled and asked me, "Vous parlez francais?" When I smiled and said, "Oui, bien sur!", he asked me in French if I was going to see Harry Potter. What kind of question is that for a customs officer to ask you?!! Nothing about how long I was staying or why I was coming into his country. No questions about what I was carrying in my suitcase or anything. We talked about Harry Potter and a few other movies before he waved me on. It was a great welcome!

I waited by the baggage claim for Ali Mills to arrive on the direct SLC Paris flight. It took about two hours till I saw her. Luckily, I had a good book to read. We decided to save 15 Euros and take the RER train to our hotel and then walk a mile with all our bags rather than paying for a direct shuttle (25 Euros for a shuttle; 10 Euros for the RER train). It was definitely an adventure. We were tired and weighed down with bags, but people were nice and gave all sorts of directions to help us out...some better than others. We finally got to our hotel and met our BYU professor and the other three teachers who we will be spending time with.

I am staying with two teachers, Ali from West High and Agnes Broberg from Timpanogos High (my drama teacher back in the day) in the same hotel room. We have a great apartment setting with a kitchen, living room and shutters that open up to see the Eiffel Tower!! Dusk is approaching and it is all lit up and sparkling now. You really can't get better than this.

We went out tonight to the grocery store around the corner, Monoprix. I started taking pictures of the attached shopping carts (something different from the USA), the food, etc. A guard came up and told me to stop taking pictures. I smiled and said, "Oh, we are French teachers and hoping to compare some pictures of your country with ours back in the USA. We don*t have to put a coin in our shopping carts to borrow them and then get the coin back." He warmed right up and said we should call the store director and get permission. We did this and when the store director heard our story, he gave permission, but not for "trop" (too many) pictures....whatever that means. I took it to mean a limit of 20 or so. The French really are nice if you treat them well first. They are private people, but open to talking and are amused by Americans who are friendly, I believe. We went throughout the store and took pictures of the aisles and ailes of cheeses and yogurts. We bought some fruit and cereal for breakfast. At the front of the grocery store was a bakery, where I bought a fresh hot baguette just pulled from the oven and finished half of it before we got up to our hotel. Mmmmm!! This was right before we went to dinner as a group, but they were irresistable.

Tommorrow, we have lots planned to see in downtown Paris including the Pompidou Museum, Eiffel Tower and Montmartre. Thanks for the suggestions, Emily, about the Rodin museum. I think I will go ahead and see that. The outside of the Louvre is nice and I will take pictures without having to go in. I forgot that you and Josh came here a while ago. Good ideas. Justin, thanks for seeing both sides....I will look for French people stuffing their faces just to see the exceptions to the rule, but I doubt that will happen. :) And yes, I am still blonde...trying not to be naive, though. I think it%s working. Angie, I am glad you learned a little about Bastille Day. Kind of a fun holiday. Thanks for your comments! I appreciate them. You are all awesome!!

Le Jour de la Bastille

Happy Bastille Day, everybody! This day is celebrated everywhere in France on July 14th. It is a holiday comparable to our Independence Day here in the USA with fireworks, food and parades. On the 14th, the French commemorate the storming of the Bastille (a prison in Paris) back in 1789 by the French middle class who, hungry and sick of the corrupt ruling by the aristocracy, decided to take matters into their own hands. This began the French revolution and the phrase "Liberté! Egalité! Franternité!" I will be spending this holiday on a plane to Paris, but definitely plan on reflecting on French history during my 12+ hour trip. I am even bringing some French historical fiction that I checked out from the library today to really get into the mood.

Being a teacher is so wonderful in the summer! I have really enjoyed my time off since early June! My next three and a half weeks will be spent in France. I hope to detail some of my adventures there and maybe include some pictures this time! I am going with a group of 5 other French teachers, and our BYU professor. We will have some assignments to complete while in France for our masters credits, but mostly get to choose what we do from day to day. One of our biggest projects is to document French culture. This includes taking pictures of the day to day life of Parisians. We had to anticipate this by taking some pictures of Americans in order to compare and contract them with the pictures we will take in France. I got a few pictures of Americans, stuffing their face with Big Macs and Big Gulps. Stereotypical, I know. But you never see such huge portion sizes in France. I plan on putting these pictures next to ones of elegant French meals with several plates and small portion sizes. I also plan on taking pictures of fashion, outdoor markets, schools and college (La Sorbonne) for comparison.

My plan is to walk all over the city and see some of the places that I have yet to visit or forgotten. I have seen the Mona Lisa at least three times. I have had enough of the crowds around that tiny frame of bulletproof glass and Japanese tourists jumping up and down, snapping endless photos while pushing you out of the way. She looks better on google image, in all honesty. I might just skip the Louvre this time. Is that crazy to go to Paris and skip the Louvre?? Some places I am looking forward to visiting are Giverny (Monet's home), the Musée Pompidou (a unique modern art museum) and Parc Astérix (a Frenchmade theme park). We will be in Strasbourg for a week, part of France I have never visited and am excited for, and will be welcoming the Tour de France into Paris sometime later this month. I hear there will be lots of pickpockets there. I have my money belt and two zipped purses that I will carry tight under my arm. I feel prepared, though I have been pickpocketed twice in Paris. Twice! Can you believe it? Our security guy who spoke at our class last week said they target naive blondes on the metro. Both times it was on the metro and I was blonde!!!--once with my mom and once with some BYU students. I just plan on wiping the naive look off my face and I should be fine. I will try to find time to stop by some internet cafés every day or two to update this blog and check my email. Send me a message from time to time and let me know how you're doing.

Vive la France! I hope you are all out creating your own adventures, wherever you may be!

Last Milk-Shake à la Pistache

Sad, but true. All good things have to come to an end. I am leaving this beautiful French Paradise and all my new friends to finally go home after a month of adventures. At least I will stop and get one last Pistachio Milkshake at the local Glacerie before I leave early tomorrow morning. See you all soon!!!

4th of July the French Way

Happy Fourth of July, America!!! I am honestly sad to be missing out, but I have had my own way of celebrating. The first Wednesday in July, the 4th this year, all the stores in Nice come out with huge sales. Last night, the stores all closed early to get ready for today. I had never seen anything like it. Actually, I guess it is a bit similar to our day-after-Thanksgiving sales. This morning it looked as if the whole city was out to go shopping. Everything was marked down from 30, 50 to 75%. The big fad right now is to get flip flops with a flag of Brazil on the strap. I am going to get some tomorrow because the crowds were just too much today. I also found the most amazing game store--I seriously thought I had found my French Paradise. They have Taboo, Guess Who, Monopoly, Life, Cranium, Clue and other games all in French. If I had 5 suitcases, I would take them all home. I have till Friday to decide on one or two to take home with me. I am thinking Taboo Junior and an easy French trivia game. Any suggestions from you, my readers?

Today we listened to some great pop and rap songs in my music class. When we had a lunch break, I realized that many of the French don't have lunch. This is the normal French meal schedule, according to many reliable French sources:

breakfast: coffee and cigarette
lunch: 2 coffees and a cigarette
after work: cigarette and a good discussion at a local café
dinner around 8PM: appetizer, main course, cheese, dessert, fruit, coffee, cigarette and a good discussion

How would you like to have that life? Anyway, I got a burned copy of these songs we listend to after lunch. Tomorrow we are all going to present a song that we heard. I am presenting one from the French Musical, Roi Soleil, about Louis XIV. I am at my host mom's house right now, reading the story so that I will have something to say.

So, this cute Romanian teacher with nice blue eyes joined my class yesterday. He promised to send me all the information I am missing from the other classes next week by email and regular mail. There was a teacher excursion planned for today. It was either going to be to Eze, St. Tropez, Antibes or Monaco. Just my luck, guess where we went.....MONACO!!! I know that place like the back of my hand now. Oh well. It was a fun ride over anyway and at least there was Alex (the teacher) to spice things up.

The True Identity of the Man in the Iron Mask

So....sorry to Mom and Ray, but I did not make it to Lyon this past weekend. The train station was packed and I didn't feel like traveling by myself for 5 hours there and 5 more hours back in two days for the high price. All this means is that I will have to come back to France. Instead of Lyon.....I went with the school to Cannes!! It was only 30 Euros for all Saturday in Cannes and it was amazing!!! We took the train and it was about a 45 minute ride. I went with my two cute friends: Tamara from Australia and Solveij from Norway. We had a great time comparing our different countries. Solveij tried to convince me how the metric system was superior and I kept telling her I agreed but that it just didn't make sense in my had as I wasn't used to it. Solveij has perfect English, but she laughs each time that Tamara and I can't understand each other. For example, Tamara asked me if I brought my swimmers in my backpack. I looked at her weird and it took me a while to realize she meant bathing suit. Her pronunciation of certain words confused me too like basil and garage. We all three had such a fun time on the trip over.

When we got there, we went to see some nice churches and museums. We walked up a hill to see the view and of course I took a picture. All the amazing views are starting to look the same, though, so one picture of yachts, sea and little cottages is becoming like the next. My favorite part was when we took a ferry over to the Marguerite Island. That is where the Man in the Iron Mask was emprisonned for over 11 years. Our guide told us the story of this mysterious figure as we rode over. We know that he existed, but his identity remains still a mystery. We know he had royal roots because he was allowed a violin in his cell and some other royal treatments, but he did have to wear this heavy iron mask. Many authors over the years have speculated that it was Louis XIV's twin brother or even his older brother and their mother hid him so that Louis XIV would rule without question. It was very sobering to enter into his little cell where he lived those long 11 years. Can you believe that there was a group of 15 high school students from Pennsylvania who were with us and all but one student wanted to sit on the beach instead of hike up to see the Prison? I can't believe how lazy some of these students are!! Their parents pay for the trip and all they want to do is relax all day on the beach!!! After the trip to the Island, we were on our own to explore the city of Cannes. I took some pictures of me on the body of Charlie's Angels and on the Red Carpet. We went into the little shops, but a pair of sandals was 300 Euros minimum--out of my price range.

When it was time to walk back to the Train Station to come back to Nice, we saw all these people running out, coughing. I got scared for a second....A guy had sprayed pepper spray for no reason. I drank some water and didn't feel much, but then it was time to get our train and the same guy ran by, spraying pepper spray again and laughing, covering his nose!! Can you believe it? The poor high school students were panicked. Luckily, the effects went away, but it was annoying and I thought he should have been arrested.

On Saturday night, the three of us girls decided to go out into the town. I didn't have much to wear, so Christine, the lady I am staying with, offered to lend me her nice necklace, bracelet and shoes. It was sweet--I felt like Cinderella. The shoes, however, were high heels and ended up killing my feet by the end of the night, walking all over. It was pretty fun, to see the people all out and about. They were asking for IDs to get into the Pubs and I didn't have mine. Solveij wasn't 18, so she didn't have one either. Can you believe they wouldn't let me in? As if I were younger than 18?!!! Tamara was the only one who could have gotten in, so she decided to go and buy some wine coolers (just for her) and we would walk down to the beach. Wow....down at the beach, I have never seen so much attention. Guys came by to pick up on us every 2 minutes. They knew we were foreigners. It was flattering, but in all honesty, I missed the boys from the USA. Most of these guys were old, ugly, weird or just too forward. One even asked me to marry him with a rose, but then wanted me to buy the rose!!! I decided not to stay out too late because my feet were hurting and the guys that came by wouldn't leave us alone. I went home by 1AM.

On Sunday, Tamara and I went early to Monaco. She wanted to see the place and I didn't mind going back. We went up to the Palace and went inside this time. We also saw a movie on the history of the country. It was very interesting. There are no taxes in Monaco. Wouldn't that be a great way to live? Also, at the casino at Monte-Carlo, I have really never seen so many luxury cars.

Last night night, Christine said that Sylvio wanted to make us dinner. He is from Italy and talked repeatedly before about what an amazing pizza he made. My mouth was watering and I was hoping that is what he would make us. When we got there, his sink was filled with these little fish and baskets of raw shrimp!!! I wanted to run outside for some fresh air. He said that he caught them all from his boat just for me. I smiled and tried to act happy. I was thinking, though, why he didn't make the pizza he had talked about. Also, I had told him at the Chinese restaurant that I hated seafood, but I guess he didn't listen. He put the fish and the shrimp right on his barbecue grill. He didn't even put any spices on top or anything--just a sprinkle of salt. I did get a picture, but I was not excited to eat at all. I saw that there was salad and bread on the table, but in France, those things are for the end of the meal. So....I picked at the fish, forcing myself to eat it, spitting out the bones and trying not to think about it. Then, I said I was full to eat the shrimp. I felt bad, but I knew I couldn't force it down. He ended up giving the rest my fish to the dog. I really felt bad, but what can you do? At least the salad, bread and cheese was good, but I feally wanted a pizza!!!

Today, I met the teachers for my class on French music. They were all so cute and nice!! The class was great and I actually learning something. I wish I could have taken these classes last week. It is our lunch break and I have written a ton. I am off to get a Greek Sandwich. Au revoir!!!