Wow! This past week has been so crazy and filled with
new adventures! On Monday, we went as a class to see Shakespeare’s Measure for
Measure in the Globe Theatre. It’s a raunchy and risqué play to begin with, and
the actors managed to fully bring out those aspects in their performance of the
play. I was prepared for it, but at the same time I was nowhere near prepared
for it. Luckily those parts were not too drawn out on stage! However, the play
was really well done, and I enjoyed it! It was neat to see the play performed, and
get a better sense of the characters and their roles in the performance. We
were groundlings during the play as well, meaning we got to stand right in
front of the stage the whole time, and get a more authentic play experience. A very
neat experience, though I can say I prefer to sit during plays.
Tuesday we left at four in the morning to catch a bus
that would take us to St. Pancras Station for our Eurostar train to Paris!
Paris! We arrived in Paris around 9:30 in the morning, and went to our hotel to
drop off our luggage. From there we took off running! I went with a friend by
Metro (their Tube) to the Louvre, and once we managed to find our way out of
the mall that we had exited into, we saw the pyramid outside the Louvre! So
neat. From there we could see the Eiffel Tower, which we decided to walk to.
Some advice: do not try walking to the Eiffel Tower from the Louvre, unless you
plan to do a lot of walking… so it took us quite a bit of time to get to the
Tower. Once there, it was so neat to see in person! I had dreamed of seeing it
for ages, and it finally became real! It was narrower than I thought it would
be, but still impressive! We then decided to climb the stairs of the Eiffel
Tower, which was not the best idea. We got some neat views, but there were so
many stairs! Afterwards, we went in search of food and found some crepes. Very
yummy! We then went to Sacre Coeur, a cathedral on the top of a hill that
overlooks the city. It was a neat building, and very pretty! There were also
many stairs to get to it though, but we found a nice garden on the way! Once we
found a metro stop, we headed to Luxembourg Gardens and explored those a bit,
before finding one more metro to take us back to the hotel. It was a very fun
filled but exhausting day!
On Wednesday, my friends and I headed for the Louvre
first thing! We saw the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, and so
many other famous works of art. I loved it! It was such a neat experience, and
there is so much art there! Afterwards, we went to Notre Dame, and climbed the
towers to get a really neat view of the gargoyles, as well as the city! We were
then able to tour inside the church. It is beautiful inside! It was interesting
to see the church as well, with the differences between it and the churches
here, so that was neat! After Notre Dame, we went to the Musée d'Orsay, which
contains a lot of impressionist works of art. We saw works by Manet, Monet,
Cezanne, Seurat, Degas, and Renoir, famous works that I had studied in my art
history class last semester! Needless to say, I was freaking out the entire time!
It was such a neat and different experience to see the works in person, to be
able to study them and see the actual thing versus a picture of it. I loved it!
After the museum, we went back towards the main area of town, the Champs-Élysées,
and walked up it towards the Arc de Triomphe. We were able to see the lights
turn on as we went, and climb to the top of the Arc! We could see the lights
around Paris, and see the Eiffel Tower lit up! Incredible!! We saw the Tomb of
the Unknown Soldier on the way down, and then managed to get back to our hotel
after some metro closures.
Thursday we went to the Musée de Rodin, and saw his
statues and work, like the Thinker. Very neat and very lifelike! We then
visited Napoleon’s Tomb. It is insanely huge and ornate, and there is essentially
a giant building to hold mainly his tomb and a few memorials. It is crazy! We then
went to the Musée de l'Orangerie, and saw more impressionist artwork. Afterwards
we went to the Musee National des Arts Asiatiques – Guimet, and saw Asian art
from many centuries, which was actually really pretty. I enjoyed that museum
more than I thought I would! Our last museum was the Musee de la Musique. I loved
it! We learned about the history of instruments and their sounds. And they had
saxophones made by Adolphe Sax, the inventor of the saxophone! I was so excited
and it was so incredible! After the museums, we went and waited at the hotel
until we left to go back to the station to take the train back to London. We got
to see the Chunnel, and got back to London late that night. It was a long and
busy few days in Paris, but it was a lot of fun to see the city! I have
decided, though, that I prefer London. It is safer, cleaner, neater, and more organized.
So while I enjoyed Paris, I almost felt a little disappointed that it did not
necessarily live up to my expectations. But London certainly does!
Friday and Saturday were mainly spent recovering from
Paris. I was able to sleep in, get homework finished, and just relax. I was
also able to Skype my friend, which was extremely nice! And I went to a church cultural
activity last night. It was fun to try the different foods and experience the different
cultures! Overall my week was amazing, if not a little sleep deprived and
exhausting. I had neat experiences that I will remember for a long time, and I am
so grateful for this opportunity!
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