Spring Break, part 2

So we arrived in Vienna Friday (April 15) morning. Austria was just as I imagined from watching Sound of Music, except we didn’t get out to any hills to run around and sing on. The city was beautiful though with all the old Viennese architecture. We visited the Hofburg Palace, where the Hapsburg royal family lived for over 600 years. It was obviously gorgeous, a lot like Versailles except it felt a little more intimate (at least for a palace). We went to some very traditional Viennese coffee houses and rode the tram around the Ring (the border around the city center).

We started to experience the difficulties of language barriers in Austria. Spring break was the first time I’d left France, so I hadn’t been anyplace yet where it was a truly “foreign” language. While most people spoke English everywhere we visited, we didn’t always get menus in English so that was an adventure. In Italy I could figure things out thanks to my Food Network education of Italian cuisine. But in Vienna, it was definitely a game of guess and prey. The one thing we could recognize was bratwurst, but that obviously didn’t help me! We had dinner at a restaurant called Centimeter where they served bread and bratwurst by the centimeter. Kelsey and Jennifer shared the specialty: a 2 meter bratwurst, it was pretty disgusting. Luckily I found something on the menu called a vegetable strudel, and it turned out to be surprisingly yummy, kind of like vegetable potpie.

We only had one day in Vienna because of the way our train to Berlin worked out. I could see how it would be fun to spend more time there, but we saw everything we wanted to so it was fine. We were in Berlin over Easter weekend, so that was a little odd since a lot of businesses were closed except for the museums and touristy things.

In front of the Berliner Dom, a very extravagant Protestant Cathedral

The first day we went on a really interesting walking tour of the city that included all the major landmarks from World War II and the Cold War, like Hitler’s bunker, Checkpoint Charlie, and the Holocaust memorial. One of my favorite things was the East Side Gallery, which is the longest remaining portion of the Berlin wall (1.3 km) and it’s entirely covered in artwork. I also went to an amazing art museum, the Berlinische Gallery, which had a wide range of work from Germans, including some of my favorite Dada artists.

Berlin wall: East Side Gallery

Of all the cities we visited, Berlin was probably the only one I could actually see myself living in (after Paris of course) because it was very modern and cosmopolitan. We also had amazing meals in Berlin because it’s actually difficult to find authentic German food there, instead there’s a lot of fusion and ethnic food. We ate at two vegetarian restaurants which were super delicious and the non-vegetarians agreed, and the third night we ate a restaurant called Jules Verne where the menu was a global mélange inspired by “Around the World in 80 days.” Very clever and fun.

From Berlin, we went to our last stop: Amsterdam. I’m still not sure how I feel about Amsterdam. Let’s just say it’s an odd mixture of history and debauchery because on the one hand it’s a beautiful city with quintessential canals and Dutch architecture, but then every other building is a coffee shop (i.e. weed shop) or a sex shop. I guess I’m just too prudish, but I think if it weren’t for the museums I wouldn’t have enjoyed the city. The Van Gogh museum was definitely the highlight of the entire vacation, as I expected it to be since I had been dying to see it ever since I found out it existed years ago. Van Gogh is probably my favorite artist not only because his work is so beautiful, but because he had such a short and tortured life but with a fascinating and prolific career. We also saw the Anne Frank house, which was also obviously very moving.

Amsterdam

By the end of the two weeks I was definitely exhausted and even a little homesick (for real home) and I wasn’t sure how I was going to fill about returning to Paris. But the first day back was a beautifully sunny day; I think it got as warm as 70 degrees! The flowers started to bloom while we were gone, and all the cafes have opened their outdoor patios. The whole city feels a lot more happy and alive… so now I finally understand the meaning of springtime in Paris!

Spring Break, part 1

Spring break was incredible. I can’t believe how much of Europe we saw in two weeks and how much time I spent on trains! It would take me forever to recap everything, so I’ll try my best to summarize.

Kelsey and I started in the south of France, Nice mostly and one day in Cannes. It was really beautiful and sunny, but it’s an obvious “beach town” atmosphere and I think Kelsey enjoyed lounging around on the shore a little more than I did. But there was a really great modern art museum in Nice with works by Warhol, Lichtenstein, Rauschenberg and Yves Klein. The annual Nice artisan expo was also going on that weekend so we went to it and there were a lot of interesting food and craft vendors.

The beautiful Mediterranean sea in Nice

From Nice we took the train to Florence, Italy, where we met up with Jennifer. Here I had my first hostel experience (we had a budget hotel in Nice). It was actually better than I had expected. We were in a nine-girl room with a bath inside. It was a really popular hostel, and the very first night we met a group of people in the lobby that invited us to go out with them. Most of the people were college grads who were taking several months off to travel. They thought we were crazy to be doing all our traveling in two weeks. But for me I would much rather spend a long time in one place, like I am in Paris, and really get to know it, than to be constantly traveling to lots of different places. These past two weeks were exhausting enough for me; I can’t imagine traveling for 5 months!

It seemed like most of Florence was spent waiting in a lot of lines: 3 hours to get into the Uffizi gallery (where all the famous Renaissance paintings are held) and 4.5 hours (!!!) to get into the Academia to see Michelangelo’s David. I guess when you go to Italy you have to see these things, but never have I ever waited that long for anything in my life!

Florence, on top of the Duomo

Of course we ate really well in Florence: Italian wine, cheese, bread, pizza, gelato… all sinfully wonderful. One thing Italian does better than France (in my opinion) is cheese. I don’t really like the soft, stinky French cheeses but I LOVE all Italian cheeses.

After three nights in Florence we went to Venice for the day. A guy from Australia named Matt who we had met at the hostel in Florence was also going to Venice so we all took the same train. We basically just spent the day wandering around the canals, getting lost and finding ourselves again. Venice is so surreal, very fairytale-like. We kept saying how the canals and gondolas looked like Disneyland rides. It was definitely a tourist-dominated city though so we were all fine with only spending one day there.

Quintessential Venetian gondolas in the Canal San Marco

That night we took a sleeper train from Venice to Vienna, Austria. I was so surprised at how nice the train was! We had our own private 3-person compartment, and the beds were actually really comfortable (at least in comparison to our hostel beds) and I didn’t have a hard time sleeping. We even got breakfast of coffee and Viennese bread in the morning!

Ok well I’ll save the second half of trip for the next entry…

Maison en chocolat

Today Allison and I visited a house made of chocolate. Talk about sublime! As part of a promotional campaign for a new product, Nestle constructed a chocolate house in Parc de la Villette (a park in north-east Paris) and it only exists for five days. The house was actually made of wood and then painted in chocolate (which they have to recoat everyday), but you can definitely smell the chocolate the second you approach.

We were probably the oldest people there who weren’t parents, and one worker who was giving a demonstration of how to make chocolate jokingly asked how old we were and Allison responded by saying “Nous sommes etudiantes americaines” (We are American students) and he laughed and said something like OK then it makes sense and gave us samples of the chocolate.

We also got free samples of chocolate mousse, there was a station where we could make little mice with chocolate mousse bodies, M&M eyes, almond ears and a chocolate bar tail. We definitely felt silly and childish, but it was lots of fun and a great escape, as well as another reason to gorge ourselves in sweets like every day. But talk about random experiences… a chocolate house in Paris!

The chocolate workshed attached to the chocolate house!

Overdue ocean view

I can’t believe it’s already April. March was honestly a blur. It went by so much faster than February and it was longer! I can’t believe Mommy and Julianne have already come and left. I had an amazing time with them but it was too short. It was really difficult to see them leave, and it made me realize even more that even though I love Paris, it would be so much better if I wasn’t experiencing everything alone. Yes I’ve made new friends here so I have people to do things with, but it’s not the same as it would be with my friends back home or my family because we don’t have as many similar interests or even just that deeper emotional connection.

It was really fortunate though that we had our weekend trip to Brittany (Bretagne) and Normandy right after Mommy and Julianne left, otherwise I think I would have spent the weekend depressed and homesick in Paris. The first day we visited the World War II memorial and peace museum in Caen and the American military cemetery at Omaha beach. It was very moving to learn that the French gave us the land to bury and remember our soldiers (proof that at least at one time the French actually liked America!). We were also all very excited to see the ocean for the first time in two months… even if it was the English Channel and not the Pacific.

Next we went to St. Malo in Bretagne where we spent both Friday and Saturday night. St. Malo made me even more nostalgic for home because not only was it on the water but it’s a small harbor town that kind of reminded me of Dana Point, expected probably a little more like East Coast port towns. St. Malo is an old Celtic and Medieval town, enclosed in ramparts. It’s amazing because the tide on the English Channel coast changes over 300m between low and high tide, so there are a lot of little islands that you can walk out to during low tide and then during high tide the beach completely disappears.

Saint Malo, Bretagne

Of course we ate well and abundantly the entire weekend. Bretagne is known for its seafood and the first night we went to a restaurant and splurged on three course menus. For the appetizer we had langoustines which I guess are a cross between a shrimp and a lobster, and similar to crawfish. They definitely came in their shells with the heads on. It was entertaining because we all could joke together about pulling the heads off, but I don’t think it’s an experience I will choose to repeat. If I have to shell my dinner, I’ll stick to crabs. Without eyes.

Saturday we went to Dinan, another coastal town, where we had a little walking tour and then of course ate. Lunch was galettes (savory crepes), another Bretagne specialty. The region is also known for its caramels and shortbread cookies, so I had to buy both to take back to Paris with me. I’m not usually crazy about caramels because there so chewy, but Bretagne caramel is so buttery and delicious it just melts in your mouth.

On the beach at Saint Malo, in my winter coat.

That afternoon when we returned to St. Malo it was low tide so we were able to walk out to the Grand-Bé, one of the islands that you can only get to during low tide. It was such a beautifully sunny day that Allison and I actually lay on the grass for a while… and she imagined she was lying on the quad at USC, but I didn’t since not surprisingly I never do that. That night we had our group dinner at another wonderful restaurant. I have to love USC because unlike the other schools, we always get these fabulous dinners, paid-in-full (or at least deducted from our tuition).

Sunday we visited Mont St. Michel, a grand abbey on another island just off the Normandy coast. The architecture was amazing, but the whole place itself was pretty touristy. But we had yet again another great meal, and I finally had moules (i.e. mussels, another specialty of Northern France). The only time I’ve had mussels before is a few tastes in Paella, and I’d wanted to try French moules forever but hadn’t gotten around to it. They were so absolutely delicious, just cooked in parsley and white wine.

Overall, I really enjoyed the trip. I think I might have even liked it more than our weekend in Provence. That could be because it was still winter when we went to Provence, but I also just really liked being in a coastal town. Even though I’m not into beach activities (i.e. laying out and swimming), I do like seeing the ocean and I love the quaintness of harbor towns, which have a distinctly different atmosphere than “beach towns.” I’ve always had nostalgic memories of our brief trip to Rhode Island, and Bretagne reminded me a lot of that, or even the beaches in Northern California.

Bretagne coast

Mom and I at the Opera Palais Garnier before the ballet performance.

Julianne and I in our box to watch the ballet at the Opera