Grace the tired.

It's been two days since I've gotten back from our Paris I and Netherlands Tour and I'm still tired. I have to say...walking around has never been so much work. Mom, I think you doctor would be proud if you came on this trip with me...we walk at least 5 hours a day non-stop. I think I'm well protected from osteoporosis. :-) Not to mention, my calves are even MORE manly than they were before.

This is another really long picture post, so my advice to you...read with patience. I was in Paris for 6 days and in the Netherlands for another 5. I took a total of 888 pictures, but this post is specifically for the Paris tour. Only my best. :-)

While we were in Paris, there was a rugby tournament and there were swarms of Irish men in kilts (more on this later...). For the occasion, the Parisians decided to put up big screens everywhere (on the Eiffel Tower, on monuments...) so that people could congregate and watch together.


It took us three hours by train to get from Saintes to Paris and our instructor didn't even hesitate to start the tour. We dropped off our bags and we set off for the Notre Dame. Quazimodo says, 'Bonjour'.


These pictures don't do justice. There is SO much detail on this building, I wanted to cry when I attempted to sketch it's facade. I resorted to scribbles and lots of shading. LOL. Here's the south facade...aka, the Rose Window.


The interior is beautiful. You can feel God in this place...


Next, was the Pompidou Center by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers. You can see all of France from the top. Can you spot Le Tour Eiffel?


At the top of the Pompidou.


We went into the art exhibits at the Pompidou. Awesome stuff...






This guy (forgot the artist's name...I tend to do that...) used short brush strokes of acrylic in different shades of color to create this painting. It's AMAZING.




I like being part of the art. :-)


The sunset was so beautiful at the Pompidou...once again, architecture prevails.


At night, as we were leaving. Ladies and gentlemen, the Pompidou.


I'm leaving out a day of pictures...I'll post them sometime, but day 2, we went to different hotels and sketched some more. BUT THEN, at night, we made a spontaneous trip to Le Tour Eiffel! When we got there, it had just turned dusk and the tower was lit green and yellow for the rugby tournaments. For the amount of steel on it, it looks quite delicate. I couldn't get over how elegant it looked. And suddenly, it began so sparkle! My camera battery died that day, so this picture is courtesy of my friend, Amy, who accidentally left her exposure on too long. Looks like the Eiffel Tower is falling away and leaving a trail of stars! Trés romantique!


So, the Irish men...they were EVERYWHERE. There were a reported 15,000 of them ALL IN KILTS at one point. It was drunken madness. And they're really loud...and proud...they came up to us and wanted a picture, so viola!


On day 3, we went to the Insitute du Monde Arabe by Jean Nouvel. Beautiful...


From the top, you can see the Notre Dame as well as other national monuments. Since I couldn't draw the Notre Dame, I attempted to at least grasp it in my hands...again, unsuccessful.


We also went to Musee Quai Branly, another Jean Nouvel project. It was right by the Eiffel Tower! So here's a day shot!


The museum complex is built behind a glass shield that blocks out all street noise. It's quite amazing how separate yet integrated the whole museum is. In those protruding boxes are galleries. Didn't get to go in, though, because it costs MONEY!


Like I said, the Eiffel Tower was right near the museum, so we couldn't resist, yet again. My instructors...Selwyn and Gerald.


Et moi avec Le Tour Eiffel! Je suis trés petite que le tour!


We were supposed to end the day...and then our professor mentioned an architecture exhibition, so I had to go!!! It was an exhibit of work by Christian de Portzamparc. If you don't know him, look him up. Interesting stuff.


Then there was an exhibit on a Spanish architect...once again, don't remember his name. But, there were hanging panoramas, which we couldn't resist.


After the museum, we stopped by Rugby Town. There were news casters, souvenirs, people cheering and watching the games...not my scene...lol.


Day 4, was La Madeline Cathedral.


As an example of the French boulevards, here's a datum that shoots clear across to the next monument. You can see it from La Madeline.


The inside of La Madeline is just as aged and beautiful. I've decided that age on anything makes it beautiful. :-)


Here's Place de la Victories by...Napoleon Bonaparte...I dunno if he should be given all the credit. The verticality of the place was so boring, I took the risk of getting arrested and took a pose. Ballet in Paris!


We then walked to Palais Royal, where the gardens are so well manicured, that the line of trees are shaped into an arch. If you cross your eyes and stick your tongue out, you can just make out the arch.
-just kidding-

There's an art installation at Palais Royal. They're black and white columns in a grid at different heights. Don't ask me what it's supposed to do, but it's cool. The guy eating the sandwich thought we were all weird when all 14 of us jumped onto the columns and took pictures. Silly man...


I was on a tall one...almost broke my arms hoisting myself up.


After that, we entered the plaza to the Louvre!!! I.M. Pei's glass pyramids are cool!


Especially the inverted one. Do you remember what's hidden here in the Da Vinci Code?


Next stop, Cité de la Musique by Christian de Portzamparc. On our way, we saw Bernard Tschumi's Parc de la Villette. It was aiight.


The park was definitely vast and green...and red. The park was well used. I can't say the same for the follies. LOL. Nice try, Bernie.


I don't have pictures of the Music Hall and I'm gonna skip day 5 because it was relatively uneventful. Day 6 was a free day! While everyone else went to the Catacombs, a couple of my friends and I enjoyed our day of Patrimony and lounged. We went back to the Pantheon, where we climbed 200 odd steps to the top of the dome the previous day and felt the pain as we gazed from afar.


We visited the Bibliotheque Sainte Genviève across the street from the Pantheon. I've never seen so many people in a library studying! They found it amusing that we were taking pictures inside. Gotta love them Parisians!


After that, we walked to the Luxembourg Gardens. Trés beau. Another one of them manicured gardens with miles of trees and flowers.


At the central fountain, we saw hundreds of little French kids playing with toy sail boats. It was quite the French experience.


I'd like to say that's all I did in Paris, but I left out a lot of stuff. So, when I get back, PICTURE GALORE!

Hopefully my next post will be soon so that I don't forget everything in the meanwhile. Horrible memory...right Daniel? Next up...the NETHERLANDS! Now, back to work.

HI DAD! HI MOM! <3

Grace the Glutton

I still find it funny that food can bring people together...especially when it's really really really good food.

Anyways, this is the first free Saturday that we've had in Saintes where everyone is able to just relax and enjoy the day. It's actually perfect weather for the outdoors and for that occasion, our resident instructor, Gerald, decided to have a BBQ outside in our quaint little backyard. We started grilling at 12:00 and continuously ate for three hours. Gerald told us we had to learn "the way of the French" and most of it is just relaxing, eating, and enjoying the day. Seems pretty nice, huh? People in Saintes take their lunch breaks seriously and close their shops for 2-3 hours everyday. And everything is closed on Sunday. It's a lax lifestyle and if I were to live this way, I can't imagine how much weight I would gain.

Gerald has a very extensive collection of wine. Rumor has it, that he has 650 bottles of wine ranging from white to cabernet savingnon. And he only drinks the best. These are two from his collection that he brought over for the BBQ and by the looks of it, they're well aged.


FISH! MMMMMM.


This morning, our instructor went to the open market and purchased some seafood for all of us to try. Here are some sea snails...forgot what they were called in French...


Here's Gerald. Big, black, and from the Bahamas, this man knows how to cook.


Along with the sea snails, we also had oysters. They're soooooo fresh and juicy.


I had more than a few of them.


Here's our abroad instructor, Selwyn. He graciously opened all our oysters and then shared his black turnip with us.


And this is basically what our meals look like...meat, fresh veggies, cheese, bread, and wine...sun not always included.


If I come back larger and more French, this is fair warning to you all. You'd sympathize if you were in my shoes...eating baguettes by the dozen...

I'll be in Paris for a week starting Monday and then heading out for the Netherlands on Saturday. Don't know if I'll have internet, but I'll definitely post pictures when I get back!

À bientôt!

Grace the Walking Germ

Bonjour mes amis!!!

Since I've gotten to Saintes, I've gotten sick and been doing work for studio...kind of. Actually, I've also been enjoying the open-air markets and the endless supply of freshly baked baguettes. I'm in this strange daze right now...for all you who've endured all-nighters actually doing work. But, today's entry shall be short.

So, Saintes is actually a city that has strong Roman roots. Most of the historic artifacts date back to the Roman times, but much of it was destroyed during the War of Religions. There's a lot of old Medieval architecture and many traces of Christianity, and even though the city is growing and slowly changing with contemporary times, the people of Saintes are very persistent in preserving and using the historic architecture of the city. The population is about 27,000 and everyone speaks French...of course there are a few people who are from Scotland and other parts of Europe who were swooned by a hot French homme or femme and were displaced through marriage. It's a quaint little town, and for future reference, if there are those who would like to visit France, I would recommend you skip Paris and venture out into the small regions like La Rochelle, Nice, Bordeaux, and of course, Saintes!

This is the street I live on with 13 of my peers and two instructors. We live in a row house-like building/school/home which has 5 floors including a basement. It's a really old house...and quite quite lovely. I shall post pictures of the interior later....


Here's our front door. And my friends.


Here's my room. The lighting is terrible because we don't get direct sunlight into the east side of our building because of the closeness of adjacent buildings, but we do get a brilliant reflection of light that comes from the limestone on neighboring buildings as well as the mayor's mansion on top of the hill right above us. I share a room with Gabi. :-)


Here's the Cathedral in our neighborhood. I'm not sure how old it dates, but its bells still strike on the hour. The day we arrived, there was a small wedding and watching the exit of the newly weds while colored confetti floated skyward, made the attraction of Saintes all the more romantic.


Saintes is divided by the Charente River. It supplies richness to the city, which is why Cognac is infamous here.


Old people fish here...DAILY. And surprisingly, there are good-sized fish swimming in that water.


Here's Rue Arc de Triumph.


It leads to the triumphant arch that's been preserved since the early ADs. Very Roman.


There's also an Ampitheater east of Saintes. Also a Roman contribution.


Here's the St. Eutrope. Among the many cathedrals in Saintes.


Aside from architecture and historic artifacts, Saintes is also known for it's open air markets. They're open every day of the week except Mondays and each day, the market moves around Saintes, offering local goods and produce...like OYSTERS! Saintes is close to the Atlantic coast and so many local merchants buy fresh seafood early in the morning and sell it fresh at the markets.


Here's some rotisserie poulets.


And the tomatoes...I've never seen such a variety! I never believed it when people said that tomato was a fruit...but after having some pineapple tomatoes and rose tomatoes, I believe.


Here's some more produce. I can live just on veggies...and lucky me, they're so good here!!! Mom, you would LOOOOOVE cooking with these....


And of course, of the meatlovers, here is the meat counter.


Look at the greens! Gabi and I bought those yellow sunflowers to brighten up our room. Only 5 euros for a bouquet! With flowers that cheap, it makes sense that the French are considered romantics. They can afford to buy flowers for their loved ones!


And les pains....crunchy on the outside, soft and moist on the inside. Très bon...


And for our studio project, we've been given the opportunity to design a music center for the city of Saintes. The city actually loves USC school of architecture and supports the program tremendously. There's even a city-wide gallery at the end of the semester to display student work.

So, our site is actually next to the Abbey Aux Dames, which is an old cathedral that's located on the other side of the Charente from where we're staying. It's a beautiful building with intricate stone relief.


The Abbey Aux Dames has so many great places to enjoy the view of the city.


And up in the bell tower, the views reach all the way to the other end of Saintes. Surreal as ever.


So, welcome to Saintes! Please pray for me and my friends...we're all catching each other's cold. A lot of us weren't able to pack warm clothes because of baggage weight limits! So, we've been doing some major layering...LOL. We're off to Paris on Monday, but a chill weekend to come!! YAY!