Okay, so here are my pictures from my trip. I warn you, there are quite a few of them, and I even cut down most of them. But here ya go.
Paris! We were in Paris the evening we got in (June 11th) through the morning of June 14th and it was great. There is such a rhythm to the city. But it was really quite exhausting. There were so many people in such a hurry that you feel like you had to be in a hurry with them. But I loved the architecture of the city and the sense of history that is there. Actually, that's probably one of the things I loved most about France and Europe in general. There is a great history there that the US just doesn't have. I found the Parisians to be a lot nicer than I'd heard. Everyonespoke French to me back when I spoke to them and most people told me that if an American (which I obviously was) tried to speak their language, they would speak English back as a pride thing (i.e. "You can't speak my language so don't try.") But most people were pretty nice. Paris is full of things to do and there's always something going on, which I liked. Here's just a few of the pictures.
After staying in Paris for 2 full days, we picked up our car at the airport on the morning of the Saturday the 14th and headed South. Our first stop was an old pilgrimage town called Vezelay in Burgundy. It was a great small town and I swear we (my sister, brother-in-law, and myself) were the only people under the age of 65. Apparently retired French and Germans like to just drive around in their spare time... but the church there was great. We went to mass there on Sunday which was also pretty cool. I understood most of it, which was nice, and the organist played Bach, which doesn't happen in our church meetings. It was a great place.
After we left Vezelay on Sunday, we continued to drive south through some pretty amazing landscapes to Autun and Cluny. Autun had a yup, you guessed it, church and Cluny had a great abbey from the 10th century. In Cluny I decided to just wander though the town by myself and it was great. I saw a boy playing soccer in the street with his dad and walked through all the little shops. I think that's how you should visit a place: just walk through and try to get a sense of the people and their lives. After Cluny, we continued to head south and I think we must have hit the edge of the Alps because there was some serious mountain roads. I will be honest, though. The jet lag didn't treat me very well so I kind of slept a lot while we were driving... I just couldn't seem to stay awake! That night we slept in the car on a pull-out on some mountain side and I now know that I really don't like sleeping in cars.
We got up the next morning and headed to Puy en Velay and some more churches. I didn't sleep very well and I was probably a little bit cranky, but that's what happens when I don't get enough sleep! However, the churches we saw certainly put me in a better mood. Puy en Velay, along with Vezelay, was a big pilgrimage town during the Middle Ages as people made their way down to Compostella, Spain. It was pretty incredible where they built this church. Just take a look:
After Puy en Velay and such, we headed to a town of Carpentras in Provence. This city is kind of the whole reason for the trip as my sister had to look at a medieval manuscript in the Carpentras library on Tuesday morning. To be honest, Carpentras was kind of a dump of a town, but in general, I liked the South. The weather was certainly warmer and I loved all the vineyards. After she looked at the manuscript (which took all of 1 1/2 hours) we went to the Senanque Abbey. This is probably close to my favorite place we saw the whole time. It's a Cistercian Abbey founded in the 12th century that is still running today. It's in the middle of no where in the mountains and for their livelihood, the monks grow beautiful rows of lavender. Confession: I picked some lavender to put in our car in an attempt to make the smell of cheese go away. Sorry monks. After Senanque we went to Montmajour Abbey, which was a Benadictine Monastery built between the 10th and 13th centuries. Very cool. I think the scenery from this day was probably my favorite. It was incredible green with vineyards and farms and small towns along the way. We were pretty close to the Mediterranean Sea but didn't get to see it :(. That's okay, I'll just have to see it next time I go.
That night we slept in the car again and was a lot better but still not my favorite. After we woke up, we headed to Carcassone, the biggest Medieval fortress in Europe. When you think of Medieval castle, this is definitely it-- moat, drawbridge, and all. Maybe it's not quite worth the 7.50 Euro entrance fee, but it was still really cool. After Carcassone we drove to Toulouse by way of a few detours to see castle ruins. Before we left we promised my dad we would get a picture of the grave of St. Thomas Aquinas which was in a church in Toulouse. Toulouse was a pretty cool town. It's a big city, but there are a lot of students there so the people are a lot younger. Think Provo but in France and 10 times bigger. Fo was a such a sport driving through the crazy town. That night we stayed in a dump of a hotel, but it just wouldn't be a European experience if you didn't have a hotel where the shower didn't have a curtain, the shower didn't really work, and the carpet was gross.
After our night in Toulouse, we rose very early to make our way from the South up to Paris so we could stay close to the airport the night before we left. After spending most of our trip on the back roads, we decided to take the freeways up to Paris so we could just get there faster. In France, the major freeways are toll roads so in one day, we spent around 40 Euros, which is like 60 bucks, just in tolls. Kind of ridiculous. But, we did get to stop at Chartres Cathedral on the way up. Chartres is famous for its stained glass windows and it was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. I wish the pictures could capture what it was like, but they don't. You'll just have to go there for yourself.
We headed back to the US of A the next morning and while it was nice to go home, I missed France once we left. So there you have it! I hope you made it through this enormous post. My first trip to Europe was all-in-all fantastic. I gained a greater appreciation for French culture, the language, French/European history, and America, specifically American bathrooms. But despite the differences in bathroom accommodations, I will certainly be going back, hopefully sooner rather than later.
