First Louvre visit and Rambouillet

On Thursday, after I gave my very first presentation in French (or rather attempt at a presentation), my second class of the day met at the Louvre. It was sorta like those field trips we all took to the art museum in fifth grade....times a million. We heard a little random fact that I doubted but my professor insisted is true: there are so many works in the Louvre that if you spent only three seconds looking at each one it would still take you three weeks or something crazy like that to see them all. If that's only one museum in a city of many, not to mention all the other places I want to see and explore while I'm here, I don't know if just one year is going to cut it :)

Our 90 minute class only allowed us to focus on the Mesopotamian section that relates to the Epic of Gilgamesh, which we are currently reading, but Professor Osteshoevsky reassured us we will be back several times as we move through cultural development in Europe. If it were up to me I would just fast-forward to the Renaissance right now, but this period is actually quite interesting as well.

Unfortunately, our tight schedule also meant I didn't have a chance to take a lot of pictures...I barely even made it to my next class. I felt very dramatic running down the Boulevard Saint Germain, dodging pedestrians and their tiny dogs. Have you ever seen the movie Taken? That was my motivation to run faster. Anyways, here are a few of the pictures I did manage to take!

Apparently Gilgamesh was one scary looking guy with a vicious pet kitty

This one is for my brothers....I think I found manbearpig.

Dating back to the Persian Empire

This was not a column. This was merely the decorative topper of a column, and the Persians managed to construct things like this with none of our modern technology.

The oldest object in the Louvre, about 9,000 years old. I'd say he (or she) has aged pretty well.

Thursday night we went out to a bar/café close to our apartment. It turns out that our ill-fated attempts to speak French in public are nothing to be ashamed of. Parisians generally appreciate any effort foreigners put into learning their language, and American accents are "adorable." Plus, most of them are trying to learn English so they're eager to practice using it. A side note about accents: this is the first place I've been where I'm asked about mine. Evidently we mid-Westerners don't have such neutral speech after all. I gave it away when I called that round, red fruit you put in pies an "aaaapple" instead of an "ahhpple." Rookie mistake.

We didn't stay out too late, ending the night with crepes around 12 because we had to be downstairs with our bags packed at 7 am to leave for our retreat. The mystery destination was finally revealed to be Rambouillet, a town of 35,000 located about 30-40 minutes north of Paris. I don't think I was alone in falling asleep on the bus ride there.

The day went by quickly with various meetings/small group sessions to check in on how we were adjusting, help us get to know each other better, relate our summer reading to what we'll be studying etc. Pretty standard retreat fare. I think our numerous coffee/snack breaks helped the meetings fly by...it's much easier to discuss the medieval literature of François Rabelet when you know there's a warm espresso and mini pain au chocolat waiting to reward you at the end. We were served two traditional French meals. Salmon with a bulgar and vegetable salad and fruit tart for lunch, and chicken in a creamy mushroom sauce with vegetable gratin and butter herb noodles for dinner. The highlight was definitely dessert, though, a warm, molten chocolate raspberry cake. I'm not much of a food photographer, but it occurred to me too late to capture the beauty on the plate in front of me. And honestly posting a picture might just be cruel. 

After dinner, we wandered around the town of Rambouillet a bit. It's much quieter than Paris, but still lovely in its own way. With regards to nightlife, there were two bars, both on the main street, that closed at 11:30 pm on a Friday night. Nonetheless, it's a very sought-after place to live because of its proximity to Paris, great school system, and crown jewel of the chateau and the immense park surrounding it.

Sleepy streets of Rambouillet and a beautiful old church

We woke up Saturday morning to a traditional French breakfast, then headed across the street to the town square to explore the market that gets set up there every Saturday. We must have stood out pretty quickly as Americans, probably due to our less-than-perfect French and also the fact that most of the other shoppers seemed to be regulars, recognized by the vendors. However, they were thrilled to have newcomers, and we were offered various samples of cheeses, breads, tapenades, and even couscous, tagines, and mint tea from a Moroccan couple selling traditional dishes from their country.

Our hotel in Rambouillet. We ate all of our meals outside on this lovely patio.

I purchased a pretty hefty chunk of my favorite cheese, Brie du Saveur, a whole-grain baguette with ginger in it (sounds weird but it's actually fantastic), and some Pink Lady apples all for less than 10 euro. Incredible. While I waited for Annie to buy some fresh basil, a woman standing next to me struck up a conversation, asking us where we were from. She was delighted when Annie, Melanie and I named our respective cities, because we were "like stepping stones" from one end of the country to the other. She then called over her 10-year-old daughter who is learning English in school so we could talk to her and help her practice. I feel as if every person we meet continues to prove the rude French stereotype to be completely false. 

We then went for a tour of the chateau, which was absolutely breathtaking. The entire park takes up nearly 20,000 acres with various lakes, gardens and paths. The chateau itself dates all the way back to the mid 1300's when it was built as a manor house. Since then, it has been added onto, partly destroyed, abandoned, and re-inhabited by numerous French historical figures, notable Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette who used it as a hunting lodge. Well, Louis did. Marie preferred to play pauper in her "laiterie"...literally a fancy building for her to sit in her peasant couture clothing and drink milk fresh from the cow. Napoleon also graced the chateau with his residence for a period, and he made sure to leave his mark in la salle de bain. A tiny bathtub for a tiny man, and perhaps the world's first monogram.

 

 Beautiful woodwork. I always wonder how long it must have taken them to do all of that by hand.

Not a bad view at all. And gorgeous petunias!

Napoleon's study.

View of the grounds from the game room.

This is the game room. Not a place for playing pool or throwing darts, but rather for storing whatever game you had killed when you returned from hunting.

Famous tile from Delft in the Netherlands

I wonder if it's for sale. I think I'd like to put in an offer.

We are now back in Paris, and on Sunday a few of us plan to go to the Promenade Plantée, which is basically the equivalent of the High Line in New York. It's a former elevated metro line that has been converted into a walking path lined with flowers and other plants. It's supposed to be another gorgeous day, so I'm looking forward to getting out and enjoying it!