of bookstores and artistic communities

I should start this by saying that at this very moment I am sitting very comfortably on the couch in our living room, looking out the window at our dog, Curly Joe, run around the hard like an idiot. So I will: I am home. However, since the time that I last wrote a blog entry about Versailles, I've done quite a lot and I still think that regardless of being once again in the United States, I ought to write it down. So what will follow are a series of entries written about the last week leading up to my parent's arrival in France, their arrival in France, our time in Dijon together, our cycling tour of Beaujolais and our three days in Paris.

La Rue da la Liberté in Dijon full of all sorts of unfurled flags. I never
understood the significance of them.

I, somewhat unfortunately, spent my last week or so in Dijon largely alone because all of the other exchange students had gone home. Amy left at the very end of May. Sean, Nick and Kayla left a few days into June. Michelle's sister came around the same time and the two of them set off traveling around France, and Kendra set off to England to visit a friend and is currently doing research in New Orleans.

So from the 5th to the 9th I was alone and also in a different room than the one I'd spent my entire semester in. My host parents had new students coming and so I was relocated to a small room above. Ironically enough I had a fridge and a microwave for the last week despite not really having one for the preceding four months. Not much went on in this period of days aside from an accident in the new shower (new room - new bathroom) where I sliced the top of my foot open.

The Sorbonne Square, the historical home to the University of Paris, one
of Europe's oldest Universities.

The shower itself was basically within a closet and the doors to the small shower swung inwards and when I was getting out of it my foot cut caught on the door swinging to close. To cut the entire ordeal short: I was very glad to have a first aid kit and only now - after my return to the US - am I able to walk around in sandals although my foot is still healing.

On the 9th I left for Paris where I stayed once again with Becky and her family. My parents didn't fly in until the 11th but I wanted a full day to see some things I hadn't had the chance to see previously and might not get to see with my parents.

I was particularly excited about visiting the bookstore Shapespeare & Company mostly because I'd seen some very lovely pictures of it and I very much love bookstores. Before going to Becky's house, I was shown where it was so that I could come back the following day, and on the 10th I took a bus that stopped several times in the Quartier Latin (Latin Quarter) and found it.

Unfortunately while it was full of things I loved - books - I found the selection to be disappointing and honestly below average as far as bookstores go. Perhaps I have the extreme luck to work in a bookstore with not only an incredible selection but also the friendliest booksellers. Upon buying a British edition of A. S. Byatt's The Children's Book I was handed back my book with the receipt tucked in with not a word from the person behind the counter. No smiles, no eye-contact and no "Have a good day" in English or French. I found the entire experience to be very bizarre and was even more astounded when I told the story to Becky and she said "That's the French".

Perhaps that's the Parisian French - in all the small shopping I've done throughout Dijon and in my visiting I've always been greeted with a smile - but to have little to no customer service in a bookstore? It felt very wrong. For all the history Shakespeare & Company has with great writers frequenting it to read and talk together, I left it nonplussed. I suppose the only good thing I've gotten out of it was the book which I'd long heard great things about and am only now enjoying.

After the bookstore I made my way towards food. The Quartier Latin is mostly known for its student life and is home to the Sorbonne and also has a large number of multi-cultural restaurants. I had a craving for falafels to which I blame Amsterdam for fostering a love of and luckily found a good place where I could grab some pita bread filled with hummus, falafel and all other sorts of delicious stuff.

Food eaten I decided to go to the opposite end of Paris (naturally) and go up to Montmartre. I'd been one before when I was 16 and visiting with a group and school but on the first trip to Paris this year hadn't made it with the others. If you recall there were some problems with meeting up and communication. I was very glad when this trip to Paris and the subsequent one with my parents went much more smoothly.

In Montmartre I mostly just walked around while avoiding people attempting to sell me crap. I didn't have anything specific to see, aside from Sacre Coeur. The Basilisque in question sits on top of the hill which is Montmartre and overlooks Paris. Construction of it began in 1875 and was finished in 1914 making it incredibly recent. I later found that it is actually a double monument: a national penance to the excess of the Second Empire and the Paris Commune of 1871 and an embodiment of conservative moral order. The irony that Montmartre is the home of the Moulin Rouge and has for a long time been a community of artists which once hosted Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet, Dali and others does not escape me.

Apart from Sacre Coeur, I mostly just wandered, looking at shops and people watching. When it got to be later in the afternoon I headed back towards Becky's house.

The next morning I woke up very early - 4:45 to be precise - and began making my way via bus and RER towards Charles de Gaulle airport and my parents.

Versailles: the center of absolute monarchy

This is somewhat belated but it needs to be recorded so you have my apologies. Last weekend, to celebrate the last weekend we would all be together (as of today I am the last UNH student in France), Kendra, Sean, Amy, Kevin and I took a trip to Versailles.

We had decided to do it the weekend before but with a round-trip ticket that only costs 18 EUR it was well worth it despite the fact that we had to take a train that left at quarter till 6 and didn't arrive at Paris Bercy until 9AM. In Paris we bought tickets for the RER which took us directly to Versailles. With some walking and puzzling out of the metro maps, we arrived at the Palace by about 11AM. Once there we found out that as students studying in the European Union (with visas and student cards to prove it) we were able to get into the Palace and the Gardens with only paying 8 EUR. This turned out to be an enormous deal as without this handy student discount we would have ended up paying around 25 EUR.

In the chamber of the king which seemed to be made entirely out of gold.

We waited in a very long but fast-moving line to get into the Palace and once inside the sheer excess and riches of Versailles was before our eyes. The Palace is less famous as a building and more as the symbol that it represented: absolute monarchy. Built by Louis XIV, it was the political capital of France from 1682 (when Louis XIV moved from Paris) to 1789 when the French Revolution broke out. The reasons for building Versailles were largely based off of Louis XIV's desire for more power. By shifting the center of government and requiring nobles to spend a certain amount of time at Versailles he effectively prohibited them from establishing regional control.

The hall of mirrors.

At the time of the visit I was mostly struck by the sheer wealth of the Palace, but in re-visiting it I'm reminded of Apollo's Angels (a book by Jennifer Homans that masterfully tells the history of ballet) and how ballet began with Louis XIV, in Versailles as court etiquette. Ballet's five positions are in fact derived from the movements courtiers could make without turning their back on the king.

Symbolically and historically I find Versailles to be very fascinating but the sheer wealth that wafts from the Palace isn't my cup of tea. It's a sight to behold for sure but I prefer things much more quieter, intimate and with a personality that isn't derived solely from wealth and status. That said Versailles was very cool to see but not somewhere I'd want to live and certainly not my favorite place visited in France (a question I also have no answer to).

Kevin taking a photo.

The Palace itself had an exhibit of various thrones of kings, courtiers, ambassadors from all around the world. The exhibit itself took time to explain the differences between "authority" and "power". While many (myself included) might think of these as being one in the same, there are notable differences.. Authority, for example, is traditionally shown seated while power is shown standing. The physical manifestation of authority is therefore that of a throne whereas power is shown through a crown and a sovereign should ideally have both objects and project both authority and power.

Versailles is, of course, more than just the palace. The gardens and their many fountains are an equal treat. The French garden style, it must be noted, is very different from the gardens I know best. The entire point of French Gardens is to impose order over nature and because of it they seem to be mostly made up of hedges with flowers growing in between them to create patterns. While there were flowers growing the main attraction of the gardens at this time of the year seemed to be the fountains which at certain times during the day went off in intricate patterns.

The Gallery of Battles where, among works depicting Jeanne d'Arc and the
siege of Orleans we also saw one with George Washington.

We wandered the gardens for more than an hour, partly because there was so much to see and partly because we were waiting for the water shows to begin. When they did we saw a few in action and then headed for the Grand Trianon, the retreat of the Royal Family. Given that the French monarchs saw fit to construct massive castles which functioned as hunting lodges it should not be surprising that they had to build a retreat from their massive castle.

The Grand Trianon itself sits right next to the Petit Trianon which is best known as the favored house of Marie Antoinette. We were unfortunately a bit pressed with time and didn't get the opportunity to visit the Petit Trianon and also the village Marie Antoinette had constructed but were able to get a glimpse of what "low-key" meant for French royalty.

The floor of the Grand Trianon.

From the Trianon we hiked our way back to the Palace, then to the metro stop and finally to the train station where we were able to grab sandwiches for our ride back and also catch the train with time to spare.