Pere Lachaise, au printemps

My French Cinema professor assured us this week that the happiest places in Paris right now are the cemetaries. Why? They're in bloom.

Today, we decided to see it for ourselves with a trip to Pere Lachaise, where many celebrities, from Edith Piaf to Delacroix to Jim Morrison, are buried.

the cemetary

George Seurat, the painter

Honore de Balzac, the writer

Delacroix, the artist

Edith Piaf, the singer

One of the best parts of this spring has been revisiting the places I went last fall. The last time I was in Pere Lachaise, it was a cold, cloudy September day. I was completely overwhelmed by the enormous cemetary and nervous about navigating the Metro to a class I had that afternoon. Now, six months later, returning to Pere Lachaise reminded me just how much I have changed and grown comfortable in this city.

Paris, Je T'Aime

I crossed one more off my list of resolutions with:

17. Visit the wall of “je t’aime”

It's a wall in Montmartre, a cute, quaint area in the North of Paris, that has "I love you" written in (almost) every language. A perfect event to share with my Spring abroad family.
 

(there's me! 2nd in from the right)

La Saint Chapelle

Our second stop on Monday was La Saint Chapelle and Le Conciergerie, which were important locations for the French monarchy centuries ago.

La Saint Chapelle (meaning Saint Chapel) is known for its stained-glass, which is truly breathtaking. Each window tells the story of a book of the Bible and the colors are incredible.

a statue of Mary

Our final stop for the day was the Conciergerie, which was most famously used as the prison where Marie Antoinette was held just before her beheading. The famous French revolutionary Robespierre was also held there.

One room contained the lists of everyone "guillotined" during the French Revolution. This is just one panel.

Marie Antoinette's cell

In the basement of the Conciergerie, this line marked the flood waters in 1910.

Pretty tall!

Just when you thought I'd forgotten...

my New Year's Resolution List is BACK! While I had planned (and hoped) to be spending this week showing my family around Paris, an Icelandic volcano had different ideas. So, my friends and I have found ourselves in an unexpected "staycation" in Paris (I know...poor us).

Instead of sulking in our respective homestays, we have decided to take advantage of this week and be the biggest tourists we can be for the sake of those who can't get here. We spent Saturday at the Eiffel Tower, Sunday at Parc Buttes Chaumont, and yesterday our first stop was La Notre Dame de Paris:

2. Climb to the top of the Notre Dame

I had been inside a few times before, this time we made a 400 step climb into "les tours" (the towers) of the cathedral.

If you're wondering, yes. Being stuck in Paris really is as hard as it looks.

A Chateau Saturday

A few friends and I took a daytrip to Chateau Fontainbleau, a castle outside of Paris, yesterday. It’s considered to be one of France’s most beautiful castles and lived up to its reputation. The castle was used as a home and hunting grounds to French kings and leaders from Francois I to Napoleon III. The castle was built over the course of 800 years and its exterior as well as its interior is intricately and elegantly designed. Despite the freezing, raining, awful weather, the trip was a lot of fun and I’m glad I got the chance to go! (Even better – the whole thing only cost me the 1 euro I paid for an audio guide. Hooray for student discounts!)

The tour started in a room decorated with plates that displayed locations all over the world.

This one shows Niagara Falls!

The King's Chapel

passageway between the chapel and king's 'apartment'

the walls of the passageway are covered in wood carvings and painted murals

a great room used for entertaining

the marble carvings in what used to be the queen's bedroom

a library

(Napoleon had the globe installed)

Napoleon's office

(a desk AND a bed!)

The castle grounds were just as beautiful as the interior:

(take careful note of this sculpture)

a view of the castle from the gardens