Joyeux Thanksgiving!!!

Well I have certainly neglected to update recently. So, last weekend, here we go…

Friday was the IES trip to Versailles. Versailles was home to the French monarchy from Louis XIV until the French revolution in 1789. For American’s it is most widely recognized as the home of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. The gardens are immense and include the Hamlet Marie-Antoinette had built so she could go and pretend she was a shepherdess and heard sheep (which, according to legend, were pink and perfumed). We started off taking a tour of some of the areas that the general public isn’t allowed to tour, or at least wasn’t allowed to see that day (unfortunately we did not get to see the opera because we were late getting there). Our tour-guide was rather snobby, kept treating us like we were uneducated Americans and kept implying that we didn’t have a high enough understanding of French for him to do the tour in French, even though we understood just about everything he said except for the name of the illness one of the kings died from (small-pox – if you are curious). We were all quite happy when the tour was over and we spent the next hour walking around the rest of the chateaux on our own (without feeling belittled) before lunch. There is currently a modern art display happening at Versailles. It is all the work of an artist by the name of Jeff Koons. It is quite strange to be walking through all of these Rococo rooms and then all of a sudden come across a “piece of art” made of Vacuums or a large metal heart. I did not find the contrast appealing and felt that there are more appropriate places to display modern art, but I’m sure there are others who would disagree and say that the contrast was the whole point of the display.

Lunch was at one of the restaurants in the gardens so we got to see some of them as we walked down to the restaurant. Due to the weather being cold and windy, and that I’d already been to Versailles in the spring two years ago I did not feel like spending the hour and half we had left after lunch outside exploring the gardens. Instead I headed back to the castle and explored the gift shops and then just sat in one of the rooms enjoying the decoration until it was time to meet up at the bus.

Saturday was a day of recuperation from the week and was also spent getting a little bit of homework done. Sunday I headed to the Louvre in order to tackler the rest of the 2nd floor. This half of the floor didn’t interest me as much as the paintings on the other side, but none the less I got to see some interesting “objets d’art” including lots of Sevres porcelain which I now feel like I can recognize from a distance – at least the most common design. By far the highlight of the trip was getting to see Napoleon’s apartments, although I might have appreciated them a little more had it not been the same weekend as Versailles. The rooms were all grandiose, ornate and huge, especially the living and dining rooms!!! Hopefully the pictures will speak for themselves.

This week has been classes and another trip back to the American grocery store for more pumpkin and gravy mix. Tonight IES has coordinated a Thanksgiving dinner for the students, so that should be an interesting experience. I’m interested to see what the French catering company makes for a Thanksgiving meal (or more so, how it tastes!).