Corkscrewed's France Study Abroad Photo TR Thread

Corkscrewed · September 7, 2006

I'm spending the semester studying abroad in France (and we'll be vising Berlin, the Netherlands, and Spain as well), so I thought I'd share some of my excursions with you. I know this is technically for theme parks and roller coasters and donkeys, but I'll be going to Disneyland Paris in about 10 days, so this thread will be technically on topic soon enough.

Anyway, here are the first two installments so far:

VOLUME 1: ARRIVAL

Hello everyone!

As hopefully most of you know (but maybe not), I am studying in France this semester, doing a study abroad for about 16 weeks. We are situated in a small little town called Saintes, which is about 280 miles (451 km) southwest of Paris, in the west of France, on the southern half. We're relatively close to the coast, and the nearest major city is Bordeaux.

This map might help you identify where we are. Despite the relative proximity of Bordeaux, we chose to fly into Paris first and spend a day there before meeting up with our professor and taking a train down to Saintes.

There were eight of us USC architecture students on the same flight. My flight left LAX at 12:30 PM, Thursday, August 31. 11 hours later, we landed on Charles de Gaulle airport. The local time: 8:30 AM. I did not get much sleep on the plane, nor did most of the others. Nevertheless, we trekked on through baggage claim and found a shuttle that would take us to Paris. Two and a half hours later, we were on our way to the City of Lights. We got to the city itself around 11:00 AM, stopping at Montparnasse, a major train terminal. After depositing large luggage in a locker for overnight storage, we took the metro train through one transfer and arrived at our hotel, The Hotel Royal Bastille, at around 1:00 in the afternoon.

Paris is utterly amazing. Having been born and raised in Southern California, and having not really travelled much, I've never really been to a city with such rich history and character. The streets and buildings and space are all utterly awesome. The shops on the ground level, the housing on top of that, the trees, the pedestrian friendly spaces, and the bustling, lively vitality of the city were simply entrancing. I loved how everything was so vibrant and just a joy to experience on foot. And that's only after one day! I'll be there again in one week for a ten day excursion. I can't wait!

My friends and I were able to explore a small part of the city during the afternoon and evening. We are in the 11th district and only 1 km (about a 10 minute walk) north of the Seine River. We met up with our two professors that evening and had dinner at a nearby French restaurant, where unfortunately, I had a really bad steak. It wasn't that they cooked it badly; it was just a bad cut of meat. Oh well. The panini I'd had earlier in the day wasn't bad. And while we're on the topic of food, the croissants and baguettes are indeed quite good.

The next day (Saturday) was a travel day. We had a bit of time in the morning to explore the city a little more, and then it was back to Montparnasse to catch a 2:10 PM train ride on board a TGV (Train a Grande Vitesse), one of France's high speed bullet trains that can go up to something like 200 mph (320 kph). We switched to a regular train at Angouleme after two hours and arrived in Saintes at 5:45 PM local time.

So I've gotten settled in at my apartment now. It's really more like a dorm, with shared bathrooms. There's a kitchen downstairs and studio on the second floor. We will be living and dining and cooking and working together. Saintes is much more quiet than Paris and is very charming. It's a town founded by Romans, and it has a rich medieval and Romanesque character as well. The city is situated on the Charente River, and seems to be a fantastic place so far.

So that's that. We have classes for a week before we take our first field trip to Paris, which will last 10 days. The next report will probably come after that, unless I somehow manage to get internet access during the stay in Paris. We should be staying in the same hotel, and I couldn't get my wireless to work there at all.

Pictures:

Here's a shot of our plane after we landed in Charles de Gaulle airport. We flew Air Tahiti Nui.

A shot I took on board the airport bus shuttle that took us to the city.

Here's the hotel we stayed in for a night in Paris. It's the Hotel Royal Bastille, a charming little boutique hotel. It's not fancy, but it'll do.

When I look outside my hotel room, I see this: a plaza surrounding the Place Bastille, with cafes and shops along the street.

Walking south from the hotel, we traced a waterway that led to the Seine River. It was pretty nice.

We didn't venture toward the original center of the city, but along the Seine, we could see a glimpse of the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

Walking back up, the waterway has a waterfront level people can use to take a nice stroll. This shot was some nice gardens alongside.

I love the streets and how the buildings form a tight, urban space. The Haussman architecture looks great too.

Another photo of the ambiance in the city.

Here's the same view from my hotel, only at night. It's extremely vibrant and a very popular place for people to hang out at night.

The above shot looked to the left. This is looking to the right.

Proof that I exist: we went to some garden on Saturday morning, and I had someone take a picture of me because apparently, I take too many non-people pics.

In Saintes, a view out the back of our apartment shows the rooftops of neighborning houses.

Here's a view of the town.

This is the street where our apartment is located.

Another view of the town.

Here's the kitchen. The stove is nice. Cooking should be fun.

Here's a picture of my room. Or my half of the room.

And should I look out my window, I see this. The building that looks like a church on the cliff in the "background" is actually part of our design site for this semester. Pretty darn cool!

Corkscrewed · September 7, 2006

VOLUME 2: AROUND SAINTES

Okay, I lied.

Last time, I said I wouldn't post another report until after the Paris/Netherlands trip, which starts next Monday. Well, I've had a few days to explore Saintes, and frankly, I am falling in love with this beautiful, charming town. Saintes was originally founded as a Roman settlement in I believe the 4th century B.C. During the Middle Ages, it took on a distinct medieval character that still exists today, and the small town charm has continued through the present time. Saintes is, quite simply, rich and alive with a tremendous sense of history. It's evident in the two iconic cathedrals of the city, St. Pierre and St. Eutrope. It's evident in the city's arch de triumphe, the Arch of Germanicus (which was rebuilt from the original stones after it was torn down in the late 19th century, during the French Revolution, when they tore down anything old). It's evident in the Roman amphitheater west of where I live. It's evident in the random ruins I might come across along the banks of the Charente River. It's evident from the tight, cozy houses packed tightly along narrow, winding roads paved in cobblestone and old gravel.

There's a different culture here too. People walk. A lot. Cars make do with the narrow spaces. There are lots of dogs, and what's better, they're quite well behaved. There aren't as many ammenities as in the U.S., but people make do. In some ways, we're rather spoiled. Here, they have an ingenious (well, sort of; it'd be ingenious to us, but it's rather logical) system at supermarkets where you put a coin into a cart to take it out, then get the 1 euro piece back when you return the carts. You buy plastic bags, then reuse them when you go to the supermarket next time. You work to live, not the other way around, so it's no hassle that all the shops close at lunchtime, after 7:00 PM, and on Sundays. That American culture where everything is there to serve the consumer? Not here. Here, you work a little more. You give and take.

Rather than blabber on, here are more pics:

There's a history museum in Saintes that's been getting limited funding for the past six years, but they did open specially for us to allow us to learn the history of the town. Here's the garden courtyard in the back, which is simply lovely.

From the top of the garden area, you can glimpse various rooftops in the town. The rooftop texture in Saintes is like something out of a storybook.

A nice, huge [chestnut?] tree I saw and liked.

Another view shows a fountain in the foreground.

This is a view from our project site. The site is a hospital complex that will move in the near future. It is situated on a nice plateau that yields some breathtaking views of the town. The tall building is St. Pierre.

Here's another view. St. Eutrope can be seen here. It's pretty cool that you can see the two town icons from the same spot.

A closer view fo St. Eutrope.

Some more neighborhood ambiance shots. I love the winding streets. They encourage exploration and have a sense of mystery. What's behind the corner?

Another shot. Frankly, I could take a million of these and still not adequately document 1% of the city. I'm honest.

The Arch of Germanicus, built in 20 A.D. There used to be a Roman bridge that crossed the river, but it was torn down in the 19th century to allow maritime traffic.

Here are two pictures of the Charente River. I messed up the file naming system.

Here's me by the Charente again! Isn't it lovely?

A closer look at the triumphal arch.

This is an example of how prominent the town churches are. St. Pierre rises up above the buildings even on the other side of the river. It has a very dominant presense on the town.

Saintes isn't all medieval architecture. There are several commercial corridors, such as Cours Reverseaux, shown here.

I liked this shot. It shows the terrain around our site, which rises dramatically on the east side.

A courtyard in the municipal library... there are lots of little courtyard gardens in Saintes, although most of them are private residential ones.

There's also a pretty big supermarket called E LeClerc (don't say the first 'E') that's basically like a Super Walmart, but with more emphasis on groceries. It has pretty much anything I'd need, though, so that's pretty awesome.

Also, cooking for 16 people is really hard. Two other friends and I did that tonight. It took us an hour 45 minutes, and that's turned out to be the best time anyone's done this week.

This semester promises to be a very intense one, with lots of work crammed into little time. I'll do my best to send more of these, since I think it's kind of nice to visit places vicariously. I'm definitely having a blast, however, and I definitely love France.

Lagauloise · September 8, 2006

Awesome! I don't post very much here but I love reading everyone's TRs and things - and this caught my attention because guess what, I'm studying abroad right now in France, too! I'm in Rennes (northwest - Bretagne) studying political science this semester. You're right about how beautiful everything is, and the city... it is so hard to express that in just a few pictures! Great photos though, they really capture Saintes!

I would love to visit Disneyland Paris or Parc Asterix while I am here too! I don't have plans to do that yet though. Maybe some weekend I will take the TGV if others are going though! You'll have to let me know.

A bientot!

Amanda

Corkscrewed · September 28, 2006

Hello, everyone!

Well, I'm back from a 13 day trip to Paris and the Netherlands. And that was certainly something. A whirlwind of walking, sketching, photographing, filming, analyzing, presenting, touring, travelling, and more made this quite an exhausting, but extremely fun trip. I feel like my worldview has been drastically enlarged in only a couple of short weeks. In short, Europe is still amazing.

I will be posting this Paris report in segments. It spans five days and an absurd number of photographs and will be about 13.4 megs of photos when all is said and done, and that'll only be half of my trip! Yes, I do indeed take way too many photos, but that's what makes me... me!

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2006

We boarded a TGV train to Paris midmorning and arrived at the capital of France around 2:00 in the afternoon. After checking into our hotel (the Hotel Royal Bastille again), we set out on our way for our first [half] day of field exercises.

We got off the metro stop at Hotel de Ville and emerged to a spectacularly massive stone building towering over a plaza. This used to be an aristocratic estate, but now I'm told it's a museum that isn't always open. We didn't actually visit Hotel de Ville, so unfortunately I don't know much about it.

However, we continued on our way to our first stop: the museum of archeology, which was supposed to show us the Roman origins of Paris and explain the historic growth of the city. Imagine our professor's dismay when we walk to the plaza at Notre Dame and descend the stairs to the museum entrance (the museum is actually located under the plaza and extends slightly under the cathedral), only to find that the museum is closed on Mondays. Our professor's face went from exhuberant anticipation to squashed disappointment in an instant. The look of dispair on his face was comically agonizing, like the look of a child who opens up his Christmas present only to find a pair of socks, or perhaps the look of George W. Bush when he's trying to do a Sudoku. In any case, he claimed that the web site and his tour book had said the museum was supposed to be closed on Tuesdays, not Mondays.

Not to fear. We did have arguably the world's most famous cathedral a hundred yards next to us.

Here is the Cathedral of Notre Dame. In all her majestic glory.

And here is a closer look using my patented "diagonally framed photo shot." Okay, not really "my patented" shot. But it looks nice, eh?

Inside, a long central nave is filled with ethereal light. The cathedral was crowded with tourists, but it still commanded the silencing awe that all such buildings do. And so, even though were were mobs of people sightseeing, the volume level was still relatively low.

Here's a look at the nave wall, which emphasizes the verticality found in cathedrals of this time.

The quality of light here is exquisite. The stainted glass windows playing on the rib vaulting and arching show just how beautifully immaculate the Gothic Style could be.

Outside, there is a little park behind Notre Dame with gardens and a fountain. You can see the flying buttresses projecting out from this side.

Our second and final stop of the day was the Pompidou Center, a very controversial building (when it opened in 1977) that has become Paris' most popular tourist destination and a jewel of the city, even to the Parisians! (The French, it seems, have a long and repeated history of despising anything new, modern, and drastically different that is built, then warming up to it over time, and then eventually loving it so much that they could not imagine the city without it.) The Pomidou Center features a completely open interior plan on five levels, each supported by 14 ong trusses that rest on columns on either side. Architects Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano also turned the building inside out, placing all the electrical, plumbing, mechanical, circulation, and ventilation systems on the outside. They even color coded them to communicate the systems to the public, although most people simply felt that the building had "vomited its innards." This is all to reinforce the idea of a totally free plan, meaning everything inside the building could be rearranged in any manner. Walls could be moved, removed, or added in any way, without worring about structure and loads.

There's also the exterior planning. This design was one of the few submitted entries to the contest that did not use the entire site. Instead, Rogers and Piano crafted large, public squares that encouraged people to congregate and infuse the surrounding area with life. The Center is located in The Halles, and area that had been derilect after World War II. So this project certainly revitalized things, and we saw firsthand how popular it was. Children frolicked around (and sometimes in) the fountains, sat on the hardscape, chatted, and just generally hung out. It was quite wonderful to see such liveliness in the city, especially since I'm from Los Angeles, and our Downtown absolutely sucks.

From atop the Pompidou Center, guests could see great views of the Paris skyline. This view shows La Defense in the distance. La Defense was planned as a new business/commercial downtown, only it was placed at the edge of the city. In a way, it began life like what L.A.'s downtown is today: people went to work there in the day, and at night it was deserted. But then they got smart and added residential areas, retail, and honed the plan, so that now, it's a pretty nice (and ultra-modern-looking) place. Notice what looks like part of a cube with a hole in it in the center of that cluster of buildings. That's the Grand Arch, which is meant to call back to the Arc de Triumphe. La Defense lies on a perfect axis off the Champs Elysses, so if you draw a line extending that boulevard outward, it goes right through the Arc de Triumphe and later, right through the Grand Arch.

And, um, you can see the Eiffel Tower too. Like I said, magnificent views.

One note about the Paris Metro system: it is WONDERFUL! The Metro system is basically light rail, mostly underground (ala a subway) but sometimes above ground as well. It is incredibly efficient (you're never supposed to be more than 500 meters from a station) and pretty fast (I've never seen trains more than 7 minutes apart, and they're usually more like 2-4 minutes apart). And they take you everywhere in the city. I asked a bit about the history, and apparently, the Metro system was began at the beginning of the 20th century. Paris had the foresight to build mass transit for its citizens. I wish LA had kept with their's. *sigh*

Anyway, the Metro system is great, and I'm becoming more and more convinced that light rail is indeed the only possible way LA may ever have a successful mass transit system.

So that's Monday. We finished up around 7:00 after going into the Pompidou Center and looking at the modern art exhibits (perhaps I'll throw up photos of those later if anyone's interested) and had dinner. And then we might have gone out for drinks... I don't remember. The next reply will cover Tuesday, which was a day spent covering the "hotel" type. And back then, "hotel" did not mean what it does today... more on that later.

P.S. I mentioned in my first trip report that after three days, I had "only" taken like between 100 and 200 pictures, and how that was very efficient of me. Well, yeah, so much for that. A week in Saintes added to the pictures drastically, and the week in Paris, followed by a near-week in the Netherlands pretty much eliminated any hope that I might not take a bajillion pictures this semester. The current photo count stands at: 3388 photos, totalling 1.91 GB. That doesn't include the panoramas I've stitched together from series of regular photos. I anticipate a slowdown in the rate of picture taking for the next two weeks, since I'll be in Saintes and I've already photographed a lot, but it's still going to be tricky keeping the entire set under the size of a DVD. =D

Corkscrewed · September 28, 2006

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2006

This was a day spent studying the "hotel" building type in Paris... and a night spent exploring the city.

The hotel type, as our instructor explained to us, refers not to places where visitors now stay en masse, but rather the style that aristocratic homes used to be made. Often, these places were composed of the actual house surrounding multiple courtyards. One would serve as an entrance off the street and allow carriages to pull in and maneuver around before exitting. Others often became gardens or private gathering spaces.

Our first visit was to Hotel de Sully. A garden greeted us in the back.

Exiting through a door in the building shown above took us to Place de Vosges, a square park surrounded by buildings following the same layout all around (with subtle differences). This park was built for Louis XVI, I believe. Famous people like Victor Hugo have also lived in the houses around. I think.

Our last stop of the day was at the Musee Carnavalet, which featured a wealth of historical art depicting France from medieval times through post-Revolution and even to the 20th century. The building's courtyards, however, were lovely.

Yup, lovely.

I also love the stone and detail used on the building articulation.

Later that night, I decided to take a little expedition of my own and visit the Arc de Triumphe. I didn't feel I was getting the most out of my week-long Metro pass. We'd been walking more than taking the subway! In any case, I made my way to the Charles de Gaulle / Etoile stop and emerged at Napoleon's greatest monument (I mean that in a literal size sense).

The Arc de Triumphe was big, all right, and the roundabout that surrounded it was massive, but after a while, it was simply an arch. I guess I say that because I didn't have a chance to go up to the top, so there's only so much one can do standing around it.

Definitely big though.

Then I walked down the Champs Elysses. Here, for the first time, I saw real traffic in Paris. This thing's as clogged as the Las Vegas Strip! Cars everywhere despite the wide boulevard, and plenty of life on the sides.

The Metro closes at 12 nightly (meaning the last train leaves its first stop at 12), and though it was nearing midnight, I decided to get off and make a detour at nearby Notre Dame and see it at night, then walk back to the hotel. After getting off at the Hotel de Ville stop, I promptly got myself lost for five minutes until I found a well lit, relatively populated spot and whipped out my map. After figuring out where I was, it was time to visit Notre Dame... after dark!

I think it was worth it. The cathedral is gorgeous at night.

This picture shows the east side of the building. I did a longer exposure, and though the full sized version is a little blurred (you can probably tell here as well), I thought the lighting that came out looked very ethereal. The building positively glowed, almost in a heavenly way.

Much clearer this time, here's a zoomed out view of the cathedral, with the moon to the right.

And here's a really nice shot (one of my personal favorites) of the cathdral across the Seine River.

Finally, as I was walking home, I noticed some police boats searching for something or someone in the Seine. There were ambulances on the bridge over the water, and while I'm not sure what really happened, I can only guess they were looking for some bloke who fell or jumped in.

That covers Tuesday. A very fun night, personally. And I walked a LOT!

Corkscrewed · September 28, 2006

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2006

This was a museum day. We went around to various museums and institutes to study things.

This is the Pavilion d'Arsenal, a museum devoted to the architectural and urban development of Paris. The main lobby has a nice arched truss space and is pretty neat.

There's a giant model of Paris featured front and center. Projections shine on it showing development of the city through the centuries, green space, places, and other city icons.

This is La Defense, the "business downtown" located on the outskirts of town, on its northwest edge. Its style is totally different from that of Paris proper, and many people decried it as a Los Angelesfication of the city. However, they seem to have straightened things out by adding residential towers and retail to keep the district active at day and night. Keeping the main plinth of the development pedestrian (all streets pass underneath) helps too.

This is the Institute of the Arab World, by Jean Nouvel. It's best known for its light-controlling irises that open and close to control the amount of light that enters this center.

Another view. You get screened when you go in. My [Jewish] friend Jason joked, "What are they checking US for? We're not the ones blowing things up!" Yeah... terrible. lol

On the roof deck, you get a really nice view of the city. Here's Notre Dame.

And here's me in front of Notre Dame. Sort of.

Here's an example of the irises that I mentioned earlier. They open and close to allow more or less light into the interior of the building and form the building skin for the entire south facade, creating an abstract pattern not unlike that of Islamic art.

And the interior light is pretty nice as a result. The panels were also a lot bigger than I expected. They're basically taller than a person!

Walking to our next destination, we passed by the Cathedral of Notre Dame. Again. I keep on taking pictures of it because it keeps on being gorgeous.

This is the Musee Quai Branly (literally, the Branly Street Museum, I guess). It opened only a few months ago and is also designed by Jean Nouvel. The museum is devoted to primitive art and features exhibits on art and crafts of old civilizations around the world. We were here, however, to study how the architect engaged the site. We were encouraged to think about our own site, which is similar in size and scale.

I found a lot of great architectural "moments" while strolling around. In addition to lifting up the building so that the landscape flows underneath, Nouvel also utilized a lot of sun shading devices, cutting into the space around the buildings.

Did I mention it's like right next to the Eiffel Tower?

I like the louvers. And the garden that flows underneath. Now, normally, when you put a building above something, the space below it seems dead and dark. Not so here. The roof above you when you're underneath is undulated and sculpted to look like a different facade. The building is also at least 20 feet up, so there's plenty of light to come through, since the only support structures in the way are a group of pretty sturdy columns spaced 60 or more feet apart (I'm estimating based on visual memory).

So after we were let out, my friend KT (short for Katie, short for Kathleen) and I decided to go to the Eiffel Tower and take pictures.

Here's me acting like an idiot.

The whole group (well, nearly) went back later that night to take pictures and go up the tower. This shot shows the tower during its light show, which occurs once every half hour. As I discovered after uploading the pics to my computer, these pictures were harder to take, because the rapidly blinking white lights made it hard to focus on anything. Quirk of the camera, basically.

Here's the tower again, looking normal.

Going up the tower provides some nice aerial views of the city.

The Arc de Triomphe from the top of the tower.

And here's the Musee Quai Branly from the air. It glows. Quite pretty. I liked it alot.

I heard this from a person we chatted with briefly that day: In a country whose history is dominated by short men with massive (overcompensating) egos (Napoleon comes to mind), it's appropriate that Paris' crowning icon is a 1000 foot phallus."

niiicolaaah · September 28, 2006

Nice pics!

Oh my God, what a beautiful place!

Notre Dame is gorgeous!

Paris is definitely on my "Must Visit Before I Die" list.

Corkscrewed · September 28, 2006

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2006

This would be a day devoted to places (plazas). To get a sense of the urban network of the city, we'd visit several places to study the manner in which they brought people and cars together, and how buildings and programs were organized around them. But first, we had to pay a visit to the Archeology Museum that we missed on Monday.

Here's a shot inside the museum. Basically, some number of years ago, they wanted to build a parking lot under the plaza in front of the Notre Dame cathedral. And then they found Roman ruins dating back to the origins of the city. Well, this being France and not the U.S., they simply moved the parking structure deeper into the ground and make a museum around the ruins. Problem solved! The result was the Archeology museum, which has Roman ruins on display in an underground building.

Next was Place de Vendome, featuring Napoleon's big column tribute to... himself. Yeah, I don't think it's a mystery that he was a very insecure man.

We arrived at Place de Marché around lunchtime. This was a different style, organized more like a street than a central plaza. The middle is a pedestrian route, and cars navigate around the perimeter. There are a host of nice restaurants with outdoor dining spots as well. It's quite nice, really, although I'm not too much of a fan of the all glass building.

Sketching "inside" the central path. That's my friend, Yusheen.

Did I mention I *love* the streets of Paris? So full of historic character. You don't find this in LA. Or if you do, it's deserted.

At the Palais Royal, there is a sculpture exhibit with a bunch of highly reflective chrome spheres.

Beyond that is a courtyard with a bunch of columns. Oddly enough, despite initial criticism, it's proven very popular. Probably because it invokes people's natural desire to climb things.

Example: Greg, who scaled this taller column.

He's so high up!!!

Eventually, all of us got on a row of columns, and our instructor took a photo. This was before I got up.

And finally, our day ended at the world-famous Louvre Museum. Here's the trademark glass pyramid that marks the entrance. Designed by I.M. Pei, it ingeniously reconciles the old palace with the need for something that looked modern. Like all new things Parisian, it caused an outcry at the time ("It doesn't look like the palace! It clashes! It's hideous!") but has become accepted over time.

Lets not forget that the Louvre used to be a royal palace. As such, it's sprawling and exquisite.

Close up of the pyramid juxtaposed in front of the Richileiu Wing of the museum (I believe).

And there's me.

And there's me recognizing there's a glass pyramid.

We didn't go into the exhibits on this evening, since we got to the museum with only a hour to spare, and 11 euros for an hour at the Louvre really doesn't seem worth it--especially since it's free on Friday nights after 6. So we went through the free parts of the Louvre instead...

Here's the pyramid inversee, an inverted glass pyramid on the west end of the complex. Could I really be standing on the final resting place of Mary Magdeline??? (Da Vinci Code allusion).

It's crazy how I can hold the whole pyramid up, eh?

Once we emerged outside, we decided to take a stroll through the Tuileries Gardens, a sprawling park that connects the Louvre to the Champs Elysses.

Here's a view back toward the museum at the Arc de Carrousel. Small tidbit: a carousel used to be a place where horses were parked after being unhitched from carriages during parties and such. They circled around the carousel until the party was over and were then rehitched to their carriage to be driven to the main entrance to pick up their passengers. Later on, makers of amusement park rides used the same term for what is now commonly referred to as a merry-go-round. Well, it's still a carousel, but only when it has horses and no other animals, of course.

The Tuileries Gardens. Very, very beautiful.

Ducks at a fountain. Cuz ducks are awesome.

Place de Concorde, at the other end of the park. You can see the Eiffel Tower from here, obviously...

As well as the start of the Champs Elysses.

Paris rules.

Corkscrewed · September 28, 2006

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2006

Our last field study day in Paris. Talk about a lot of sketching! Saturday would be a free day off, and Sunday would be a travel day to the Netherlands. So this was the end of the first spurt.

It was also our first bad-weather day in France. But you can't have everything, I suppose.

Most of day was spent on a new development by the 13th Arrondisement (district) of the city, "ZAC River Seine," located on a long trapezoidal patch of land by Gare Austerlitz. Home to the Bibliotheque National (National Library), this area was divided into three zones and meant as a large scale residential, retail, and office development meant to link two sides of the city that had been split by the rail lines running from the Austerlitz station. They basically buried the rails and built on top of it. I wish we could do cool stuff like that in the U.S.

So here's the first parcel of ZAC on a gloomy day. Not as vibrant as the other areas of Paris, but then again, it's still under development technically.

The national library. There's a foresty courtyard below that you can't actually enter, and the four trademark towers of the library store a kabazillion books.

A nice thing about the ZAC project is that they have different areas, each with their own rules for design, that set a guideline on general features buildings should have but still allow for variety. Another nice thing is that many of the buildings try to be sustainable or keep landscaping into mind. Like this pleasant little private courtyard with a playground and park.

The newest bridge to cross the Seine is this sexy footbridge. It's got sexy curves.

Indeed, my USC structures professor Goetz Schierle would love this (he says "sexy curves" a lot).

On the other side was Parc de Bercy, which features a really cool cascading fountain water feature thing (how eloquent was that jarble?) leading down to the entrance of the park.

At the far end is the relatively new Cinematheque Francaise, which reminds me of what Frank Gehry originally wanted to do with the Disney Concert Hall (back in the late 1980s): create crazy shapes like the one that was built, except wrap it in stone.

Later that day, we went to the Pantheon. No, not the one in Rome, the one in Paris. Which is giant and classical and similarly shaped (thought a lot bigger). This is where some of France's greatest figures are buried in crypts underground.

Inside, they had some massive art exhibit with lots of hanging orbs. Insert your own testicles joke here.

Great Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire is buried here. So's Rousseau.

Here's a set of tombs in the crypt. Other famous bodies here include Marie and Pierre Curie, Victor Hugo, and Alexander Dumas.

Balls. Or as the British would say... bollucks.

We took a tour to the top of the Pantheon, which offers great views of the city. Too bad it was gray and drizzling.

And here's me. I look like I'm 12 in this pic, geez...

At the end of the day, we decided to visit the Louvre Museum. As I mentioned in the last email, it's free on Fridays after 6 (until 9, when the museum closes). So there's no way we were going to pass this up! Our main goal was to hit the big three exhibits (Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory of Samothrace), then see what other exhibits we could stroll through. Yup, three weeks worth of artwork in three hours. Or as much as we could do.

Here's the Venus de Milo.

An interior shot of the museum. We weren't allowed to take pictures of the Mona Lisa, so the four of us used a group effort to sneak a pic (I distracted, two others blocked, one took the photo).

When we emerged from the Louvre just before 9, it was dark.

But still beautiful.

Lastly, a picture of me with Sarah and KT (left and right respectively).

Tomorrow... Disneyland Paris! Yup. No way would I miss a perfect chance to visit one of my favorite parks of all time--favorite even though I'd never been there before.

bgwfreak · September 28, 2006

Wow! Awesome pics! France looks gorgeous.

msep003 · September 29, 2006

did you went to Disneyland Paris during your trip to France ?

mcjaco · September 29, 2006

Awesome TR. I love a good flying buttress!

The architecture is certainly impressive, what a once in a life time chance to do something like this.

I'm partial to the architecture in the bottom middle of this picture. Grrrrr!

Jimemo · September 29, 2006

I'm so jealous, Corky. I love looking at your pictures.

Eventually I'll go to Paris.

Ed · September 29, 2006

I'm so jealous.

I LOVE PARIS. It's my favourite city in the world atm that i've been too. So much culture and beauty.

Corkscrewed · September 29, 2006

did you went to Disneyland Paris during your trip to France ?

This might answer your question:

Tomorrow... Disneyland Paris! Yup. No way would I miss a perfect chance to visit one of my favorite parks of all time--favorite even though I'd never been there before.

Just haven't gotten around to organizing my photos for a TR for that yet. I've got a ton of work to do this weekend for our field study assignments, which are due on Monday.

I'm so jealous, Corky. I love looking at your pictures.
Eventually I'll go to Paris.

JIMMY!!! Long time no chat. If it helps, I'm jealous you're going to HHN. I can't go to Haunt this year (yeah I know it's not HHN, but close enough). Will have to satisfy my Haunt/Halloween fix in other ways. Hehe.

USCoaster · September 30, 2006

All those pictures of Saintes make me sad. I miss that town so much. I'm glad you are enjoying your trip. It was probably the most fun semester I had during my stay at USC.

Corkscrewed · September 30, 2006

Hehe, did you have Gerald when you were there? Because that man is hilariously AWESOME. Definitely everyone's best friend.

USCoaster · October 2, 2006

Gerald was awesome. He's a very cool person and great to have involved in the program. He was always the person who held the program together with all of the visiting professors we had over the semester. Every time someone new would come, we would start over with site analysis because they thought we hadn't done it right. Gerald would just sit back and shake his head.

I would tell you to tell him I said hi, but I haven't talked to him since I was there in 2001 so I feel like a bit of an .

Corkscrewed · October 3, 2006

I can say hi to him for you and pass along some tidbit of information that might remind him of you. LOL

Corkscrewed · October 3, 2006

DISNEYLAND PARIS

If you know me well, you know I couldn't possibly pass up a chance to visit one of the most beautiful Disney (or theme) parks in the world. So when I first heard that we would have a free Saturday in Paris, I immediately began making plans and researching how to get from our hotel to Marne-la-Vallee, etc... etc...

I embarked in the morning with my friend KT (i.e. Katie, i.e. Kathleen). We got on the Metro around 8:45 in the morning and transferred over to the RER route A at the Nation station about ten minutes later. Since our week passes didn't cover the zone we were going to, we'd need tickets ( 6.25 euros apiece). Fortunately, I'd bought a pair the night before to save time. Forty five minutes later, we were at Disneyland Paris!

Too bad the weather wasn't as cooperative as I'd hoped. Rather than bright, blazing, blue sky sunshine (as my last... oh... twelve theme park visits--in California--have gone), it was foggy. REALLY FOGGY. Like "can't see more than 20 meters ahead of you" foggy. I was a bit bummed. Having been spoiled by California, I'd expected and wanted it to be a beautiful day, so I could take pictures, of course. Disappointment #2: Big Thunder Mountain, one of my highly anticipated rides, was closed for rehab. Big Thunder closed AND not so cool weather? Well, that was enough to put a damper in my day. One I could take, but both? Darn.

There'd be a silver lining later though.

Nonetheless, after buying tickets (43 euros for one park, which converts to being cheaper than Disneyland!), we headed up Main Street right as the park opened. It was 10:00. Since it was so foggy, I suggested turning a negative into a positive and heading toward Phantom Manor, which I knew would look amazingly sinister and creepy in the gloomy fog. Sure enough, Disneyland Paris's (DLP) version of the Haunted Mansion did not disappoint. We waited a mere ten minutes before riding.

What a unique ride! The first half is pretty similar to the Anaheim version, with scenes through the house, Madame Leota's parlor, and the ballroom. But then you go outside into what looks like a cave, complete with gory looking skeletons lunging toward you. Riders are then dumped into a ghost town (no, literally). Several times, you see the scary (to kids) laughing figure of The Phantom. There's a graveyard scene too, and the Phantom pops up in a hologram behind the car near the exit, but the tone overall was a lot more sinister and spooky than the Anaheim Haunted Mansion. Needless to say, I loved it. The darker feel was utterly delicious!

Following Phantom Manor, we headed up Frontierland and into Adventureland, which formed the northern half of the western side of the park. Located to the left of Adventure Isle (a big play area), DLP's Indiana Jones was an actual roller coaster, not a dark ride like at Disneyland. The wait time said five minutes, but it was more like 15. Still, the ride itself was actually quite fun! I was surprised to see it running forwards (I guess I forgot that they changed it; it used to run backwards). And while there was some head banging, it wasn't that bad at all. Nothing like the nightmare reports I'd heard in the past that compared Indy to Six Flags Magic Mountain's Flashback. It's a fun little compact ride, sort of like a looping wild mouse coaster, and KT and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

We wanted to reride, but the line had gotten pretty large when we got off. Instead, we went by Peter Pan to get a Fastpass for a ride I knew would be packed. Sure enough, despite it not being noon yet, the line was already a full 60 minute wait. Yeah, FastPass definitely.

We explored Fantasyland and the castle, then paid a visit to the underground "dungeon" to visit the dragon. At DLP, underneath Sleeping Beauty's Castle, there's a walkthrough attraction that features an animatronic dragon that wakes up from its sleep every few minutes to snarl and breathe smoke. Very cool little exhibit.

Pirates of the Caribbean was next. Located in Adventureland, it proved to be a nice ride, although strange, at least to a person used to the Disneyland California version. After a 45 minute wait (this day was proving to be much busier than I expected), we got on the boat. The ride basically is the same as Disneyland's... except backwards, with some of the slower sections in the first half of Disneyland's version cut off. So you go up the waterfall, sail around the burning village, see jailed pirates trying to get the key from the dog, immediately go down a waterfall (great trick; the animatronic distraction made the drop a surprise to me), see the pirate ship battle, and end with the gold room. The order might not be exact, but basically, the town and battle scenes were first, while the cave scenes were last. Fun ride, though. They cut enough excess out to make the ride not drag, but it's still long enough to be a great people eater (lots of people can ride per hour).

We headed over to Discoveryland (what they call Tomorrowland), which was as gorgeous as advertised (even with a gray sky as a backdrop). This area was retro-futuristic. That is, they looked to how past visionaries like Jules Vernes, H.G. Wells, and Leonardo DaVinci pictured the future and drew off of that. A smart move, since a future based on fantasy can never become outdated. We got a FastPass for Space Mountain: Mission 2 (sporting a nice 100 minute wait) then decided to do lunch.

Here's where my first major complaint occurs. We went into the Cafe Hyperion, waited 15 minutes, and DID NOT MOVE ONE BIT. I was appalled at how slow a fast food place serving burgers and fries could be. Literally. We didn't even take a step. Frustrated, I decided to hit another restaurant in Frontierland, figuring that side might be less busy because Big Thunder was closed. Well, first try was Last Chance Cafe. Not even open. Why would you not open a restaurant on a busy Saturday? We found a concession stand selling hot dogs, so I ordered one. They were out. Argh. Passed by a Mexican looking restaurant. Also closed (this one seemed to be on long term rehab or something; there's no reference of it in the map). Finally, I found food at the Cowboy Cookout BBQ. That was way too much trouble.

Anyway, we grabbed lunch and ate on the run. Autopia was next, since our Peter Pan Fastpasses wouldn't be ready till after 2:00. The line was an hour, but we were making good time anyway. It's a fun ride that I seem to enjoy more than most other people. Nostalgia, I guess.

Peter Pan was next. Even with the FastPass, the line was still 20 minutes. C'est la vie, I suppose. Peter Pan is absurdly popular, but putting a FastPass on a short ride like this DOES extend the regular line a lot. But the regular line is always full, so it's a ride that would warrant a FastPass. Catch-22 at its finest, I guess. At least they learned on this ride and made each boat two rows, rather than one at Disneyland. Still, the crowds were huge for this ride, which turned out to be the exact same thing as the Disneyland Version.

So did Pinnocchio and Snow White, which provided much better waits of 20-30 minutes.

It was now time to use our FastPasses for Space Mountain. After grabbing more FastPasses for Star Tours, we got in line and waited a mere 20 minutes. And after getting off the ride, the verditct was in: THIS COASTER IS AWESOME! Apparently, the Mission 2 storyline takes riders further than ever before, "to the edge of the universe." The original had simply taken them to the moon, if I'm not mistaken. Anyway, like Disneyland California's Space, this had recently been redone. But that's where the similarities end, because this remodel was MUCH better. Now I have nothing against Disneyland's version. Actually, I think it's quite fun and a nice remodel. But compared to Mission 2, Disneyland's Space is a carnival ride. The effects at DLP are crisp and BRIGHT. Stars, light tubes, comets.. they all come off very clean and clear. Light is focused where it needs to be, so that while the effects are bright, the ride remains dark. And the launch into the three inversions was very fun. Overall, a very fun ride with fantastic special effects. It's hard for me to describe it... you have to ride it for yourself.

We headed back to Fantasyland to ride more rides. We did their version of the Storybook Canals, and wouldn't you know, FINALLY, at 4:30 in the afternoon, the sun came out!!

My spirits raised considerably.

We had a lot of fun through Alice's Labyrinth. Then I promptly dragged KT around the park again getting pictures I'd already taken before... only this time in the sun, with a blue sky as a backdrop. We did ride Phantom Manor again, though, because it was so fun the first time.

Towards the end of this jaunt, we found ourselves at Adventure Isle again. We had fun jumping on the rope bridge and exploring the area, then went up the Swiss Family Treehouse, which was pretty neat. Indy was bypassed due to an hour-long line and no FastPasses. It was time to ride Star Tours... in French!

Now, my French isn't really that good. I took a semester of it because we had to, but that was hardly enough to even begin to be fluent. That said, being able to know what goes on on Star Tours and then hearing it in French made my day. Most of the dialogue is dubbed in French, except for random Rebel transmissions. But hearing our pilot droid say "SCHUETTE" (sorry, drawing a mind blank on how to spell the French word used to say "SUPER!!") just before diving into the trenches of the Death Star (in English, it's the part where he goes "Alright! I've always wanted to do this!") was icing on the cake. KT and I could not stop laughing. Anyway, I'd highly recommened Star Tours in French to any person familiar with the ride who's not too familiar with the French language, because you can figure out what they're saying.

It was well into the evening, around sunset, when we got out. I had initially thought the park was closing at 8 (according to the web site), but it turns out it was 9. And there was a fireworks show! What a pleasant surprise! We were going to get some food and wander aroudn when we passed Space Mountain--and noticed it had a mere 35 minute way. No way could we pass this up! And sure enough, we got on about 35 minutes later. And this time, we even got a train with the soundtrack on! Mission 2 was fantastic again, and the music was a nice touch. It's drastically different from the orchestral first version. It's more of a techno beat, similar in rhythm to Disneyland Space Mountain's new soundtrack, but it fit very well. I have no idea where to find it, but I'd like a copy of that track if possible.

It was really too late to get a quick dinner, so we settled down and camped for fireworks at around 8:50. The show turned out to be at 9:15, rather than 9, but it was still wildly enjoyable. In fact, had it been longer, I might have a tough decision on whether I enjoyed it or Remember... better. Fortunately, it was only five minutes long--but those five minutes were one big fat orgy of firework finale pyros! Basically, the music started, and about a dozen shells exploded. Cue the spraying "sprinkler" fireworks that basically never turned off, and a whole bunch of shells going off (multiple shells per shot, at a good shot per one or two seconds). It was a grand finale for five straight minutes. Very cool. Everyone loves to see things blow up.

Upon the conclusion of the show, Mr. Announcer Guy said the park was closed. Everyone started going toward the exit. I fought my way in the opposite direction and got some night shots of the castle and Discoveryland, then did some shopping (souvenirs for friends). The Main Street shops are open at least an hour past closing time here too, which was cool. We got out of the park a little bit after 10.

We headed over to the Disney Village complex to grab a quick bite. Unfortunately, the restaurant we chose (Annette's Diner, a Johnny Rockets type restaurant), had a super understaffed take out line, so a line of ten people turned into one hour for food. Yikes.

Finally, we took the RER A back to Paris proper, arriving back at the hotel around midnight. All in all, it had been a fantastic day, although I definitely want to go back before my study abroad ends to ride Big Thunder Mountain. It might be in December, just before Christmas. That should be fun.

Photos

How thick was the fog? Well, there's supposed to be a castle back there. You can't see it. It's like you're in Anaheim or something... (joking)

Here I am in Frontierland in the morning, by the Mark Twain (funny, I thought DLP had the Molly Brown,

but oh well).

Heartbroken that Big Thunder was closed.

Here's me by the castle. I seem to do a lot of things with my hands in photos.

In Discoveryland. So beautiful, even when the sky doesn't cooperate.

In Alice's Curious Labyrinth. That's the closest I'll ever come to smoking hookah.

Finally, here's me on a high point somehwere on Adventure Isle.

I said Phantom Manor is amazing in the fog. Look at the picture. Told ya.

The castle with a beautiful blue sky behind it.

Nice underground dragon...

The Plaza Gardens Restaurant. I thought this was a nice photo, with the fountain in the foreground.

Space Mountain Mission 2!

Main Street is gorgeous. It's similar to Disneyland's Main Street, but a little taller and a lot more detailed.

The Disneyland Hotel, with views into the park.

Main Street moneyshot... the castle is visible now that there's no fog!

Thunder Mesa Landing. I love the composition of this photo.

Phantom Manor is gorgeous in the sun too.

Looking back at the themed land from the entrance of Phantom Manor.

I love this silhouette shot of Indiana Jones. There's this cool elegance to it. And the picture almost happened by accident. I just took it without really thinking, then realized it was nice later.

Space Mountain at night.

And we end with a parting shot of arguably the most beautiful Magic Kingdom of the five.

Corkscrewed · October 3, 2006

VOLUME 4: DISNEYLAND PARIS