A change is on the horizon...

With less than one month left in Dijon, I can feel that time here is getting short. Particularly with other assistants leaving Dijon for "good," it's starting to not quite feel the same here as it did a month ago. Many of those who are still here are thinking of packing and bank accounts and last trips to the cookie store. Some days I even have to remind myself I'm in France! I'm not speaking French as frequently as before, since I'm now legitimately teaching only in English and Erica and I often revert to English. Fortunately I at least have some obligatory French interactions in the household.


I'm preparing myself step-by-step, as it were, to return to the US, and certain things recently have made it easier for me to accept. In my opinion I've done a thorough job of visiting the Côte-d'Or (Dijon's department) and a decent job of visiting Burgundy (Dijon's region), and these three-or-so weeks I have left here will give me enough time to round out a few other objectives. I've done enough things that I can accept my nine months here as nearly 'complete' and well spent.

In particular, some subconscious "goals" I hoped to achieve have been met recently. Why the quotation marks? They're not goals, exactly, in that I can't necessarily affect whether or not they will happen. But their completion makes my trip well well-rounded.

I have:

1. Been asked for and given directions (multiple times!) in Dijon, in French. And I was useful! Not only because I carry a plan de ville in my bag, but because I know the city.
2. Bought a fresh, super-hot baguette from the boulangerie and eaten it for lunch (oh my goodness, deliciousness). This was in Paris last weekend.
3. Talked to random VT students on the bus.

... wait a minute, what?

Yup, today on the way back from teaching in Daix I was on the #5 bus and three VT students got on the bus. I did a double take when I first saw them, particularly because one of the girls was wearing a sweatshirt almost identical to one Elaine has. They were eating MacDo (lol, nice guys), and I was easily able to strike up a short conversation by saying I was a fellow Hokie. They were on a summer exchange program, and I recommended that they taste the mustards in the Maille store before they left town because mustard actually is a significant part of the Dijonnais culinary tradition. I know the town name kind of implies its importance, but I didn't believe it at first.

Is it odd that since last fall I've hoped to randomly see people from VT in Dijon? I'm super glad this "goal" was achieved, as implausible as it was. Somehow I had a feeling that I'd see someone wearing a Hokies sweatshirt before I left France, and I did.

Winning.

Day trip to Paris

Every Saturday, there is a round-trip train ticket available that goes from Dijon to Paris for only 18€. Even though it used to be 15€, it's still fantastic to be able to say that you've been to Paris "just for the day." After all these months in Dijon, I still hadn't made this aller-retour journey. So today, exactly one month before I move back to the US, I finally visited Paris for a day trip. Erica was our (Salvatore's and mine) unofficial guide, and I was also able to meet up with Aliette and Tanguy in the morning.


The catch? The required train departs at 5:45AM, and it's a TER (Transport Express Régional) so the journey takes 3 hours. If you're at all familiar with the French train system, you've probably heard of TGV's, which are the trains that go up to 320 km/hr and complete the Dijon-Paris trip in just over 1:30. What I'm trying to say is, the cheap aller-retour ain't one of these fast trains. But it was a double decker train, woo!


My day trip to Paris was a definite success, but, as I just described, also very long. I had one of the best - if shortest - trips to Paris I've experienced. I spent time with friends, I ate good food, and I saw some really interesting things. And I expect to sleep well tonight.


If you had ten hours in Paris, and had already visited most of the main sites, what would you do?


For me, the first order of business after a brief stop at the Gare de Lyon consignes (lockers), was the Catacombs. The Catacombs of Paris (Fr/E, and a historically in-depth E-language website here) were originally limestone mines, but in the late 18th century they were transformed into a giant ossuary because the city's cemeteries were filling up. They have been open to the public for visits since the early 19th century (the pamphlet proudly mentions that Francois I the emperor of Austria and Napoleon III visited this curiosity of an attraction) and are comprised of roughly 2 kilometers of paths, 20 meters below the surface. That's about 66 feet. Wow! Down inside the catacombs, it is cooler and more humid than the rest of Paris; we even got dripped on a few times due to water condensing on the low ceiling. 


Upon descending a lot of stairs, you wander along narrow, sloped pathways until you reach the untransformed limestone quarries. There were multiple small, 18th century gallery rooms in the quarries, where one of the workers (a M. Décure) carved buildings into the stone. Apparently he had plenty of time to memorize the architecture of the originals during his imprisonment in Majorca by the British. Next along the path, you arrive in the ossuary. It was Louis-Étienne Héricart de Thury who decided to make the quarry-turned-ossuary into a proper mausoleum by arranging the bones into sort of wall sculptures. Mostly craniums and femurs were used to make the walls, but I'm sure each person's other 204 bones are here too.

Gates have been put up and cement divider walls erected to make sure tourists don't get lost wandering among the bones. Thank goodness for that.

The view beyond one of the gates in the quarry area

SILENCE MORTAL BEINGS: one of the many inscriptions posted on the walls, doorframes and pillars

All-in-all the catacombs are quite interesting and worth visiting (get there early because lines form fast!), but being able to read the French and Latin inscriptions and quotes decorating the (bone free) walls makes it more of an immersive experience.


Emerging from underground after climbing an 83-step, clockwise stairwell, the next order of business was lunch. After saying goodbye to Aliette and Tanguy on the metro and walking to the Jardin du Luxembourg, Salvatore and I met up with Erica (who had previously visited the catacombs). We bought sandwich fillings at Monoprix and baguettes de tradition at a boulangerie: the makings for yummy picnic in the park! The baguettes were hot, fresh out of the oven, and they were absolutely delicious.

Part of our lunchtime view in the Jardin du Luxembourg

The metro is the most economical way to get around Paris, and quite easy to navigate. Multiple of the station entrances were designed by Hector Guimard; his art nouveau édicules/canopies are one of the many symbols of Paris.

After lunch, fighting the desire for a nap, we made our way to Montmartre. I have never been to Montmartre so close to high tourist season; I can only imagine how busy it must be in July! A tip for first-time visitors: don't let a vendor tie a bracelet on your wrist as you'r trying to walk up the steps. I'm told that the bracelet is tied in such a way that it can only be cut off, and of course once you are wearing the bracelet you are obligated to pay for it. Also, the shady, prettier stairs up to the Sacré Coeur smell of urine. Ah, Paris.

After a brief visit of La Basilique du Sacré Coeur and the hilltop district of Montmartre, we headed back down toward the center of Paris. I split off from Salvatore and Erica in order to see Musee d'Orsay, because I had not been in the last decade and I'd heard the Manet exhibit was pretty cool.


There was only one hour left before it closed, and the Manet exhibit was not free (unlike general admission with my Pass Education), so I restricted myself to the first floor and tried to see as much as possible in that hour. I spent the most time looking at the impressionist paintings, wandering around and trying to solidify in my mind the traits of a work that indicated its author. I focused on the works of Renoir, Degas, Manet and Monet because I have studied their work before, and their paintings are the most numerous in these galleries, allowing for a broader comparison. I don't claim to be an art history buff, but it was an interesting way to approach an exhibit, and the most fun I've had in an art museum in a while. I definitely want to head back to Musée d'Orsay after it finishes its renovations this year! 


As the museum closed and guests were finally forbidden from entering new galleries (a full 45 minutes after the first "The museum will be closing soon..." loudspeaker announcement) , I took the Passerelle Léopold-Sédar-Senghor over the Seine and passed through the Jardin des Tuileries in order to meet up with Salvatore and Erica at the Café Angelina. 

Until next time, Musée d'Orsay!

At 226 Rue de Rivoli, in the heart of the 1st Arrondissement, the prices are expected to be high. But Erica kept on telling me that Angelina's hot chocolate was life-changing, so I was willing and prepared to spend 4,70E on a to-go cup of hot chocolate (getting it there costs more, but you also get whipped cream. We were short on time, so the decision was made for us). Erica did not lie. A cup of hot chocolate from Café Angelina is indeed life-changing in its deliciousness. Words cannot fully describe this beverage, but try to imagine the best European bittersweet chocolate bar melted, mixed with cream, and served to you in a smooth liquid form. It was so rich I could barely finish it, but there was no way I was going to waste any.


I finally finished the last drops of my hot chocolate in the Gare de Bercy while waiting for our TER home, and the three of us agreed that it had been a day well spent. 


After being in Paris all day, walking home from the Gare de Dijon on a Saturday night was really quiet. I know Dijon isn't large, but I'd never before though of it as a small, sleepy town. A question popped into my mind on the way home from the train station, as I compared Dijon to Paris and its 15th place on the list of France's biggest cities had never been so obvious. And so I offer this question do you, readers. How did you know when you find your ideal place to live?