THE BEACH

It is a sin and a shame to not go to the beach when visiting Barcelona.

Our last two days in Spain are scheduled free days, so today we went to the beach. For 5 hours. Surprisingly, I’m a good shade darker but I didn’t really burn. Hooray for sunscreen!

We went out for dinner at an American 50’s style diner. Hamburgers and milkshakes- I think I’ve been missing my American culture.

And we topped it all off tonight with Christmas in Barcelona. It’s Maddi’s last night in Spain because she’s leaving with a group to Italy tomorrow, so we opened presents! The hotel bathroom had complimentary packages of random things. I got the package of tissues because I’ve had a bit of a cold for a couple days. Maddi got the razor and aftershave- she used the aftershave to put a white beard on her face to look like Santa. Stacy got a shower cap.  We decided to give the comb to Stephanie, because according to Maddi, she’s “combless”.

Tomorrow is my last day in Spain. Crazy!!

June 26: Barcelona Architecture Walking Tour O' Fury

We were supposed to meet in the lobby.

We woke up 10 minutes after we were supposed to meet in the lobby.

Since our alarm didn’t go off this morning, we woke up 10 minutes after we were supposed to meet in the lobby.

We didn’t get breakfast, since our alarm didn’t go off this morning and we woke up 10 minutes after we were supposed to meet in the lobby.

Ah well. Ce’st La Vie!

The most iconic building we saw today, and one of Barcelona’s main tourist attractions, is Gaudi’s Basilica De la Sacrada Familia- or Basicilica of the Sacred Family. Construction of the building began in the 1820s, and it’s STILL under construction today. In fact, it isn’t likely to be finished for another 20, maybe up to 40 years.  The basilica is very unique for its parabolic structure- a new invention in architecture at the time. I don’t understand it well enough to explain it, but essentially, Goudi discovered a way to use straight lines to build curved lines.

We also spent some time looking several at other works by Goudi. Goudi once said, “The straight line belongs to man; the curved line belongs to God.” What a perfect way to explain his style of architecture! Goudi’s designs are chock-full of curved lines. They have so many curved lines that the buildings look like they belong on a different planet. But there’s also a lot of symbolism behind his designs, which makes his work easier to appreciate.

We also walked through the business area in the city and saw a lot of really contemporary architecture. We saw way too many buildings to mention them all, plus most of them I can't remember their names, but these are pictures of some of my favorite buildings we saw:

June 25: Un Dia Bonita En Espania!

We have arrived in Barcelona! And we hit the ground running- our tour guide met us at the airport and we spent the rest of the day touring the streets of Barcelona.

Observations: it is SUNNY :D and humid. and there is a serious lack of space. (over 6 million people in about 3 square miles). There is design EVERYWHERE. There are hundreds of shoebox-sized shops and they all have interesting space design.

I finally feel like it's summer!

June 24th- Ou Voir, Paris!

I feel like we just got to Paris, and we're leaving tomorrow!

Today we went to the Pere- Lachaise cemetery to look at patterns. The place reminded me of the song "Wishing You Were Somehow Hear Again" from Phantom of the Opera . I saw James Morrison's grave, and apparently Oscar Wilde and Chopin are also buried there. A lot of the graves looked like small houses, and the cobbled paths throughout the cemetery had street names and signs... It was like a neighborhood for the dead. Kind of an eerie thought. It was a really interesting place and I actually enjoyed it.

On the way back to the Hotel we stopped at the Louxembourg gardens and sketched. When we got back and packed our things for the flight to Spain. Most everyone had to buy boxes at the post office and send stuff home because of the weight limit for our flight. Good news- I didn't have to because my stuff was just under the weight limit! :D

We did a little bit of shopping and had dinner at a local sandwich shop. Then to commemorate our last night in Paris, we ate pastries at the Eiffel tower and sketched. It was wonderful.

 

Our trip is nearing its end. Tomorrow morning, we're off to Barcelona!

Versailles

We finally got to Versailles today!

Versailles was the Palace of King Louis XIV (also self-proclaimed as the Sun King). Versailles was actually a hunting lodge before it became the king's palace. 

Then Mary Antoinette married the king and moved in, but she was more of a country girl and hated the attention of being queen. So she had the Grand Trianon built behind Versailles for her living quarters. But she still didn’t like how big that was, so she had the Trianon built. And then the Petite Trianon. And then she had a cottage. 

Personally, the cottages were my favorite. We didn’t get to go inside but the outside was just adorable. Very charming. We took a half hour to sketch the light-house looking thing across the pond from the cottages. As people passed us by they would peer over our shoulders to see our sketches. I felt so professional, getting all this attention and continuing like I didn’t even notice, like I’m used to it or too focused to care. I wish, haha!

We toured the gardens first. It took SIX HOURS to go through the gardens. And we didn’t even go through the whole thing! Needless to say, the gardens at Versailles are GIGANTUAN. 

Believe it or not, I wasn’t too impressed by the first gardens we went through. They were formal and weren't at all extravagant like I expected them to be. The gardens by Marie Antoinette’s village were much more country-esque, I guess you could say; the formality was gone, and they just seemed to have more life in them. 

I really liked walking through the Petite Trianon. I liked the way its style simplified the lavish rococo style of the times. 

Sketching the Petite Trianon in the rain

Le Petite Trianon

We didn’t tour the Grand Trianon or the cottages, but we walked around them and took pictures. I decided that I want to live in a cute little cottage when I grow up.

Last but not least, we walked through the actual palace at Versailles. Out of all the houses I've seen on this trip, this has got to be the most extravagant. It was insane. Various colored marble, at least one chandelier in every room, ceilings and sculptures plaited with gold, an enormous amount of detailing.... it was crazy. All of the rooms started to look the same after a while, but I did love seeing the Hall of Mirrors and Marie Antoinette's chambers.

June 22nd: Le Sacre Coeur

We were going to go to Versailles today. But the weather had a different idea. Since it was raining, and most of our time at Versailles would be in the gardens, we switched the schedule around a little bit.

Instead, we spent the morning working on patterns. One of our assignments on this trip is to design patterns inspired by each country we've been to. Then we all displayed our pattens and had a critique.
I'm pretty new to making patterns. We'll just leave it at that.

Next we went to Sacre Coeur, which means "Sacred Heart". It's a Roman Catholic basilica built on top of a hill. Sacre Coeur is relatively new- it was completed in 1914- but you wouldn't guess that by looking at its Roman- Byzantine architecture.

After walking through the church we looked around at the shops nearby. There were a bunch of artists selling their paintings and drawing people's portraits. I was amazed at how quickly they could whip out a portrait! I would say it probably took 20 to 30 minutes tops.

We bought dinner while we were still in Montramarte. And it was delicious, of course. Stacy and I bought crepes with ham, cheese, and egg, and then we got ice cream cones for dessert.

My highlight of the day was when we went to the Eiffel Tower tonight. We went to the very top! We took the stairs to the second level, then we had to take the elevator the rest of the way. There are 668 steps to the second level! And when we got to the very top, the view took my breath away. By then it was dark and the city lights were winking far below us. It was one of the most beautiful scenes I have ever known. It's too bad that photographs are never quite the same as the real thing.

The elevator: this is how the wimps do it.

The stairs: this is how the ladies do it. ;)

The Paris Opera House

Today was our last free day in France. I thoroughly enjoyed a nice, easy morning- I slept in, did laundry, grocery shopping, had lunch, and took a nap. It was bliss.

In the afternoon a group of us went to the Paris Opera House. It was built by the architect Charles Garnier in the Art Deco style. I have seen a lot of elaborate buildings in the past few weeks, but this was astounding. Unlike the other buildings I've seen, I actually liked its excessiveness. And of course I have to mention the fact that this opera house inspired Gaston Leroux to write his book The Phantom of the Opera.

Afterwards we walked back to Arc de Triomphe, then walked back to the hotel for dinner. We were planning on eating pastries under the lights of the Eiffel Tower, but today is Summer Solstice in France. Which means there is music playing on every corner, and all of the shops close early. We were actually exhausted anyway, so we came back to the hotel and watched Clue.

It was nice to take it easy for a day., and now I'm ready to get back into routine tomorrow! I can't wait for Versailles!

Haggling at the Flea Market

Today was another free day, so we went to the flea market. It's supposed to be the biggest flea market in the world, and maybe it is, but I have to say I wasn't that impressed. But it was still a great time. I am proud to announce that today I dipped my toes into the art of haggling.

And for my very first shot at haggling, I have to say I was pretty bad. Luckily, the vendor I was talking to didn't need much persuasion. Here's the story: I was looking at this booth with purses and wallets. The vendor was pointing different things out to me, and I found a couple wallets that I really liked. They were 8 euros, which isn't bad but not good enough for my budget. So I started walking away. "Wait, wait, wait!" the vendor said. "Listen. What will you give? I give you for 5 Euro. Is very good price. 5 Euro." It was reeealy tempting. I slowly turned and walked back to the vendor. "5 Euro. Very good price. Which one you want?" Hmm. I picked up the one I'd been eying earlier. I sucked up all of my courage and said, "Four euros!" ok it sounded more like this: "... four euros?" "No," he said. "five is final discount." I said, "four fifty." He paused for a moment. "Okay!" And the two fools parted ways with their new treasures.

As we kept walking through the market things got more and more sketchy, so we decided to head out. We took the Metro to the Zaha Hadid exhibit. Zaha Hadid is an Iraqi Architect with a very contemporary style. Unfortunately, the exhibit was closed because it's Monday. Blast.

So instead we went to Arc De Triomphe. A few little facts about Arc De Triomphe: it was started in 1806 by Napoleon to commemorate his victories. But it wasn't actually finished until 30 years later. Now it honors those who fought for France, and includes the tomb of the unknown soldier. The different sculptures on the Arch depict different battle scenes from Napoleon's victories.

By then, we had been walking all day, and we were exhausted, so we walked back to our hotel. Then we were reeeally exhausted, and we were hungry, so we walked to a nearby restaurant for kebab sandwiches. We were practically dead by the time we finally walked back to the hotel and ate dinner. But my, it was soo good. I got a giant sandwich with fries and a drink; I downed the whole thing in 10 minutes. And after all that walking I don't even feel guilty.

Now I'm not quite sure how we came to this, but while we ate dinner we watched Wild Hearts Can't be Broken on YouTube. Random, I know. I haven't seen it in years and it brings back fond memories of visiting my grandma. I guess we were all just feeling movie deprived?

Looking back, it's funny to think that it took all day to do what seems to be so little. But hey, we adventured around France for an entire day all by ourselves. No adult supervision included. And we didn't get arrested, robbed, or hospitalized. I would say that's an accomplishment.

June 19th- Church Hopping

Maybe it's just our luck, but I have found that it is much more difficult to (a) find a Mormon church, and (b) get transportation to Church in a foreign country.

On Sunday morning, after much Google mapping, a group of us trekked to Church. We took the Metro a good part of the way, and went the rest of the way on foot. We got onto the street the church was supposed to be on and had a Harry Potter experience: the church was supposed to be building number 64. We found number 62 and 66 but no 64... We wandered up and down the street for a few minutes, and then luckily these two men walked by and pointed out number 64 for us. It was a garage door. "You Mormons?" one of the men asked. "My cousin Mormon. He goes here," he said, pointing to the metal entry. "It's closed." Closed?! Did we get the meeting time wrong or what?

Shocked and slightly embarrassed at the sight of Larry in a towel, we turned around and headed for the other church near Centre Pompidou. We found it- just as the service had ended. Just our luck. But we looked inside this cute little LDS visitors center there, and we got to talk to the sister missionaries. All in all, I still felt good for making the effort.

We decided that visiting Notre Dame was a Sunday appropriate activity, so we walked there from Centre Pompidou. We got there just as a session ended, and the next one didn't start till 4:30. But we figured, what else do we have to do today? So we decided to wait. We sat there. For two and a half hours. Two and a half looong hours. Luckily Leslie brought her scriptures, and she let me read them while we were waiting. I took a moment to enjoy the irony of my predicament- reading the Book of Mormon in a Catholic Church, as it were.

The session finally started, but as it turns out, it was an organ concert. The organist was talented, I suppose, but I don't like the organ. After waiting for two and a half hours, we left 20 minutes into the concert.

We got back to the hotel around dinner time. I Skyped my family and wished my Dad Happy Father's Day. We're pretty new to Skype so we struggled with getting it to work at first, but it all worked out.  It was so great to hear from my family!

Day 26: Fontainbleu and Vaux Le Vicomte

In my life, I can't say I ever expected to stay out till one in the morning with my professors watching fireworks.

Yesterday went like this: we didn't have any official plans in the morning, so a group of us went to Musee du quai Branly. We had no idea what to expect but it was included on our museum pass, and you can't go wrong when you can go for free.

I recognized the outside of the museum for its living wall. The term 'living wall' refers to the fact that it looks like there's a jungle growing on it. Anyway, the subject of display at this museum was totally different from anything we've seen on this trip. We got to see collections of ancient Oceanic, African, American and Asian tribes. The masks were my absolute favorites. They were so crazy!

In the afternoon we rode the bus for an hour to Fontainbleu. Fontainbleu was a sort of pleasure palace used by several different monarchs, like the Salamander King and Napoleon. Ergo, the period style would change as we walked through the rooms. It was fairly easy to pick out which room was which style, because King Francis put his symbol, the salamander, all over his rooms, and likewise Napoleon's Bee showed up all over his rooms as well as the letter 'N'.

For dinner we had a picnic. :) We went to the grocery store and had a 20 minute mad dash, then we ate in the park across the street from Voux Le Vicomte.
Before touring inside Voux Le Vicomte we went through the garden, while it was still light outside. It was absolutely beautiful. We were in such a romantic setting and had no men to share it with, so we made up romance stories for each other about meeting the perfect man in Voux. What can I say, this is what happens when you spend a month in a ratio of six girls to every boy.

 

Next we toured inside the house and learned more about its history. Voux Le Vicomte was built for Nicholas Foquet- King Louis XIV's finance minister. The king realized, however, that Foquet's home was grander than his own, and so Foquet was thrown into prison until he died 20 years later. Louis XIV then hired the same architects and landscape architects to design his own palace in Versailles.

After the inside tour, we went back outside and sketched until dark. The gardens were lit by candlelight and it was soo beautiful. And then we got to see a fireworks show! I think they do fireworks frequently at Voux, it's a tradition.

We didn't get back to the hotel till about 1 AM but it was so worth it!

Musee d'Orsay and Villa Savoye

Le Musee d'Orsay is an art museum filled with mostly paintings and sculptures. The building used to be a railway station before it was turned into a museum. The collections date from the late 1800s to early 1900s, so many of the pieces were in the impressionistic style. We saw famous pieces from artists such as Seurat, Van Gogh and Monet, and I also enjoyed seeing the gallery for Art Nouveau style furniture and art. I recognized some of the names in the Art Nouveau gallery, like Galle, Guimard, and Lalique.

This afternoon we walked through Villa Savoy. It was designed by Corbusier in 1928, but you wouldn't guess it was that old by looking at it; Corbusier was a visionary for modern architecture. I loved all the windows and the rooftop access. I got to sit in some of Corbusier's famous furniture, and I report that they were quite comfortable!

We sketched at Villa Savoy and then headed back to the hotel around 6:30. It was nice to be done at dinner time for a change! Haha.