Such Great Heights

     Looking at a hand-sized portion of wall sculpture (Is that even the right term?), an intricate web of carved stone depicting some sort of religious scene. I turned to Amelia and joked, "That'd take my whole life to do." It makes me think, can you imagine if LinkedIn were around in the Middle Ages? You'd have to write something like, Title: Construction Worker, Location: Chartres Cathedral, Time Period: My entire life, Description: Eternally working my ass off. When you think about it, none of us has done anything so amazing and we wouldn't stand a chance in the applicant pool.

     We were standing in the Basilique Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres in--you guessed it--Chartres, France, around an hour southwest of Paris by train. March 16 was a beautiful Sunday with warm weather and not a cloud in the sky, which was shocking to both Amelia (a friend from Central College Abroad who's in Paris for the TAPIF program) and I as now-seasoned faux Parisians. The unseasonable weather had caused an outbreak of extreme air pollution caused by sudden temperature spikes, a lack of wind and cool nights. I'd never seen smog like that before in my entire life and the conditions were likened to Beijing, which is really unnerving. As a result, Paris offered several days of free transportation in Ile-de-France, so Amelia and I were quick to plan a day trip to Chartres.

     We took the free train (I have serious doubts that it was, in fact, free that day. I think we were just lucky we never got caught.) from the Gare du Montparnasse and spent the day at our leisure, eating baguettes and croissants, sipping coffee on a terrace, walking, talking and in general awe of what's considered to be France's best Gothic cathedral. Last summer, my dad and I watched an episode of Nova called "Building the Great Cathedrals" (You can watch it here), which included the Chartres Cathedral and the difficulties it faces as stress continues to build on the arches and vaulted ceiling. I can't even understand how arches hold themselves up. I'll just add them to my list of things I don't understand, in good company with electricity, the Internet, outer space and French cheeses.

     We climbed to the top of the north tower and had the most spectacular view of the town and the surrounding countryside. I heard you can even see the Eiffel Tower on a clear day, but you know, Paris was being all Beijing that day so we couldn't. Drinking an espresso on a sunny terrace without a coat on and reminiscing about our old adventures in Paris, it felt so great to feel the sun and bask in the quietness and serenity of life outside the capital. And to breathe oxygen instead of smog. 

Chartres, je t'aime bien. 

Love,

Rachel

Midnight in Paris

    My last week in Paris has arrived. Thinking back to the terrified version of me who arrived at the foyer with two heavy suitcases, panting and lost, I really had no idea then how much I would love the next four months. This has been my dream for as long as I can remember and it's saddening beyond words that it's ending so soon. I'm so thankful for every street, every friend, every croissant and every perfect Parisian night I've been lucky enough to experience.

Montmartre,  5:45 am

     This weekend, we had dinner at our French friend's apartment out in one of the rich western suburbs. It was  fun having lively discussions, laughing and eating a wonderful dinner. The next night, we decided to stay up all night and watch the sunrise from Montmartre. It was not as wonderful as you'd expect, considering the 18th arrondissement is full of sketchy people at night, but it's a special memory I'll always have, watching the dark, pink sky fade to blue over all of Paris.

Versailles, the first time when we were happier!

     A few hours later, we went to Versailles for the second time this week to see the inside of the palace. It was a terrible decision. There were so many people that we couldn't move and I wasn't rested enough to be patient with people literally shoving me to get pictures of the rooms they probably knew nothing about. It's so frustrating when you care about something, have studied it for years, and hoards of people don't let you enjoy it! Stephanie and I rode the RER back home shaking our heads at each other.

I love my friends (This is Stephanie)

    I've also visited the top of Notre-Dame (my favorite view of Paris), enjoyed ice cream from Berthillon on the Ile-St-Louis (Their pineapple sorbet is to die for.) and walked all around the city, visiting beautiful centuries-old churches, like St. Etienne-du-Mont and Saint Severin.
     It's hard to wrap my head around the fact that in about two weeks I'll be using dollars instead of euros to buy Kemps ice cream instead of Amorino gelato, enjoying my coffee at Starbucks instead of a café, choosing from a limited selection of Yellow Tail wine instead of the never-ending aisle of cheap and wonderful French wines at Franprix, shopping at the Mall of America instead of the Champs-Elysées and... croissants. Oh, the croissants. I'll be pretending the grocery-store-hot- dog-bun-croissants are flaky and full of French butter (They're not.). I've been saying that at first I'll be really excited to be home and then about two days later I'll be laying in bed with my Paris sweatshirt on, crying onto a box of macarons while watching Midnight in Paris. This city really gets to you and I'm a prime example.

Rachel