Jenny in France: Toussaint Holiday and Beyond!

Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay in getting this posted. It has been busy holiday/post holiday!! So here is basically the past three weeks of my life. Have fun ready this long story!

The first week of the holiday was relatively laid back, because I was still sick. I spent most of the week just relaxing, which was so nice! However, I find that if I don’t have something planned it is very hard to want to go out and do a whole lot. I did venture out around my neighborhood for some walking. I love les Jardins des Plantes that I live near. The gardens have lots of plants and beautiful buildings. I will go into the museums there someday!

Les Jardins des Plantes

Kitty book!

Les Jardins des Plantes

On Thursday 22 October (I need to work on writing dates like the French) I went on an adventure with some other assistants. We met near Notre Dame to begin our adventure. We started by going to Shakespeare and Company (a bookstore). Now if we were paying attention we would have found it right away, but we were too busy chatting. So we ended up exploring the block around the store; we even found a Star Wars themed Café! When we finally got to the bookstore we spent a good hour looking at all the books! I wanted to buy so many of them! They had really cool editions of books. I resisted the urge to buy books; I already know I won’t have room for them when I go back to the U.S! After exploring the bookstore we ate lunch at their café. I got a salad and a hot chocolate. Then we headed across the river to Notre Dame, where I finally went inside! We went on a tour of the Cathedral. The person giving the tour was so passionate about the building, and kept saying we needed to thank all the people who put any effort into the building. It truly is an amazing structure and has survived so much over the years. I was really grateful to be able to enjoy the interior and learn more about the meaning of the building. After the tour, which was about 2 hours, we were hungry again. So we stopped at a café for a snack of French fries and hot chocolate (hot wine for others). It was such a nice day!

Hot Cocoa from Shakespeare and Company

Notre Dame

Notre Dame - the markings on the stone are from the stone masons who helped build the pillars

Notre Dame

On Friday 23 October I joined a few other assistants for dinner. We decided we wanted pizza. So we went and got pizza at a place in the 10th arrondissement called the Pink Flamingo. We met up at the metro stop and made our way over and ordered our pizzas. I got a pizza called l’Obama. It had cheese, bacon (I know what everyone is thinking, Jenny hates bacon. Well bacon here tastes better) and a pineapple chutney (it was delicious). Now the Pink Flamingo doesn’t have much seating, it is literally a hole in the wall. So we took our pizzas, stopped in a market to get some drinks, and headed to the canal to eat. It was fun eating along the canal at night. It was surprisingly peaceful and we enjoyed our delicious pizzas!

The rest of my weekend passed pretty quietly. I just enjoyed my time off from working. On Sunday evening I did pack for my trip to Switzerland for the second half of my holiday.

Monday 26 October was a very long day! My bus from Paris was departing at 7:45am. So I left my apartment at 7am to start my trip. The bus stop was on the other side of the city, so I had to take the metro over there. I got to the bus stop at about 7:30 and the bus wasn’t there yet! So I (and about 25 or 30 others) waited and waited. The bus finally arrived at 8:00. Getting everyone on the bus and settled went super fast and we were on the road by 8:10. From there the bus ride was pretty long a boring. We stopped for about 15 min in Dijon, in another town we stopped for a bus wash (like a car wash, but for the bus) and gas. The French countryside and mountains are beautiful (sorry no pictures). Finally, we were close to the border. At the toll stop before the border the bus was stopped and the border control got on and they checked everyone’s passports. That took forever; they even interrogated one guy and checked his backpack. They finally let us go and we headed to the border where we were stopped again. Border control got on again to check passports. This time they took a few people’s passports (including the previously interrogated person’s) off the bus and did something with them…I can only assume that they were searching for someone. Why else would they stop the bus twice? Anyway, after probably about 20 minutes or so they finally let us head into Switzerland. 20 minutes later we arrived in Geneva. There my friend Sharice and her family picked me up! It was so great to see a familiar face! We got in the car and started the two hour drive back to their village (Lengnau). We were all hungry and Sharice and I had to use the bathroom. So we stopped at a little freeway oasis thing to use the bathroom and get dinner. Dinner was…wait for it…Burger King! Haha. I still think it’s funny that I had Burger King as my first meal there. Now in my mind Burger King is a pretty cheap place to eat…not in Switzerland. For 5 whooper jr. a thing of fries, a thing of onion rings, and 3 drinks the total came out to 60 Swiss Franks which is $60.59 (at least according to the current exchange rate). I about died. So expensive! After we ate our dinner we head back on the road. It was dark out now, so I couldn’t see anything, which was kind of sad, but that is life I guess. When we got to their apartment we just relaxed and chatted and finally went to bed…it was a long day about 10 hours of traveling I was ready for that bed!

Tuesday 27 October. The first full day in Switzerland. It was not a very busy day (actually most of my times spent there was not very busy. We decided to go to the store with Sharice’s mom to buy some chocolate. On the way to the store we stopped at Sharice’s brother’s apartment to drop off some pants for her nephew. Her niece and nephew immediately loved me! They were all over me. I was loved so much that her nephew desperately wanted me to: kiss his bum better (I faked kissed that), kiss his toe better (I refused, I don’t do feet, meltdown followed), and change his diaper (I refused again and another meltdown followed). Don’t worry he still loved me at the end. I also got to hold the calmest kitten, GiGi. She was adorable and I wanted to keep her, but gave her back to her family in the end. After hanging out with them for awhile we headed to the store, Migros. This is one of the big supermarkets in Switzerland. The company is everywhere; they have banks, gas stations, a hand in the schools… literally everywhere. Sharice compared it to Target in the U.S. because it has better quality. The store was probably as big as a Target in the U.S. too…I can’t remember though. Here we got some groceries for the week and a huge pile of chocolate. They got me four bars of chocolate just for me plus a ton more for everyone. The ones I got were; plain dark chocolate, dark chocolate with nuts and raisins, dark chocolate with chocolate mousse, and a milk chocolate with caramel (sorry now pictures). All were delicious and am now sad I ate them up. After the grocery store we headed back home so her mom could start dinner. While dinner was being made Sharice and I went for a walk around the city. We decided to walk to the train station to see ticket prices to Bern (where the Temple is) and if it would be worth it to spend the day exploring that city (it wasn’t). We returned home and had dinner; kepab and Thai noodles. Following dinner we watched the movie Hot Fuzz, started the new movie Goosebumps decided it wasn’t good quality and switched to the movie Pixels (I enjoyed that one). Side note: in Switzerland it is not illegal to stream pirated movies. After the movies we headed to bed.

Me and GiGi...I miss this kitty!!!

Wednesday 28 October: We slept in and it was wonderful. Since we decided not to visit the city of Bern we had the time to relax and hangout before heading to the city to attend the Temple, Sharice’s mom was driving us. We left for the Temple around 2 and it was a beautiful drive. In Switzerland, none of the freeways are actually connected, so you have to drive through little cities and country roads to get from one freeway to the other. Fall is a beautiful time of year in the mountains of Switzerland. Once we got to the temple and went inside we discovered it was a French day! So I got to use as much French as I could to ask where to go. I’m glad the workers understood my mix of French and English. The Temple itself was beautiful. I loved being in there. I miss being able to go to the Temple often, like I could in Utah. France will be blessed once the Paris Temple opens. After the Temple we headed back home for dinner. Along the way Sharice and I discussed how we used to go out for dinner after attending the Temple. It made us miss some American restaurants. Dinner that night was a bacon that was cooked on top of sauerkraut (I tried some, thinking my tastes may have changed, they haven’t), ham, potatoes, and green beans. I enjoyed the meal and relaxed the rest of the evening.

Bern Switzerland Temple pre-session

Bern Switzerland Temple - post session

Thursday 29 October: Today we went to Solothurn. It is city that has a portion of town with preserved medieval walls as well as a beautiful gorge/canyon/valley/hike thing up to a small hermitage (a secluded city were a small group of people will live and worship separate from the main city). We did the hike, at Vernaschlut first with Sharice’s mom. It was so beautiful. It is considered a holy area. There are lots of memorials for different priests or influential people in the area. In the canyon walls there were places where people can place candles to burn; I can only imagine how beautiful that would be. At the top of the hike there is the hermitage. There was a chapel, a little house, and another chapel that was built into the side of the canyon wall. It was seriously so beautiful and peaceful up there. We even found a lantern that reminded us of the Narnia lantern!

Vernaschlut

Vernaschlut, Narnia Lamp!

Vernaschlut

After the hike Sharice’s mom dropped us off at the medieval walled are of Solothurn. We took our time walking around and enjoying the buildings and architecture. While enjoying the buildings we noticed a bunch of people who were stopped and looking at something; so we went to see what everyone was enthralled with…it was a crane (like for construction). The people were so amazed by this crane that was going up; don’t worry, I don’t get it either. I should have taken a picture of all the people that were watching/taking pictures of the crane. Then we explored St. Urs cathedral and ate some yummy pizza before taking the train back to Lengnau. Once home we had some dinner (leftovers) and relaxed the rest of the evening.

Solothurn -Medieval part of town

Solothurn - see those people on the bottom, they are looking at the crane.

Solothurn

The mooning gnome by Sharice's

Sharice and I got cheesecake and this yummy chocolate milk from the store - both were delish

Friday October 30: Today we headed up into the Alps for the afternoon. We went to a city up near Interlaken, Switzerland as well as Interlaken. It was such a beautiful drive up the mountains. It was finally sunny out and the views were spectacular! I loved it so much. It was so nice to see mountains; I miss them. It was nice to walk around outside in the mountains. Plus I saw an old church, I love old churches. We also walked around Interlaken. It is a very touristy town but it was fun to walk around and see some cuckoo clocks, wood working, and window shopping in general. We then headed home. It took a long time, because we ran into traffic near Bern…maybe there was another crane going up somewhere. Haha. Once we finally made it home we made French toast for dinner and then watched “Thor 2.” After Thor we made some popcorn and watched the second “Avengers” movie. I’m glad I got to finally see those movies.

The Alps - seriously look at those mountains!!

The Alps

Interlaken - Swan

Interlaken - the water was so clear and blue

Interlaken

Saturday 31 October: My last day in Switzerland. We slept in a little then headed back to Geneva. Once we arrived we walked around the city to find something to eat for lunch, we settled on Chinese food. After lunch we headed towards the bus depot to see if my bus had arrived, it hadn’t. So we walked a little more. Finally my bus arrived; I got on and was headed back to Paris. This bus ride was long, but not as bad as on my way to Switzerland; they did not stop us at the boarder this time. I was so grateful to get home to my bed after sitting in a car/bus for most of the day.
I was so grateful to spend part of my holiday in Switzerland and that Sharice’s family opened their home to me. I cannot wait to go back for Christmas!

Geneva - church by the bus stop

Geneva - and the Deathly Hallows

Geneva

Post Toussaint Holiday

I didn’t do too much the first days after I got home from Switzerland. It was kind of like a vacation from my vacation! Then it was back to my normal schedule.

Monday 2 November: I met my friend Amanda for lunch. We went to this delicious falafel place, L’As du Fallafel in the Marais, if you are ever in Paris, you should go! Then we went and got éclairs from L’éclair de Génie. They have a ton of different flavors of éclair! I got a chocolate crunch one, and a salted caramel one. They were so good. Then Amanda helped me in my first experience at the post office. That was overwhelming. But I got all my mail sent off and in the right direction. Always having new adventures here.
Tuesday 3 November I had my normal classes and tutored Maxime (he was excited to see me). Then went and got Pizza Hut with my friend Kayla. We took our pizza to some park in Neuilly and ate on a bench in the dark. Kayla and I are pizza buddies.
Wednesday 4 November: I had my normal classes then went out of the city to look at a possible apartment to move to in Montgeron. The apartment is really nice and I decided to move out there (happening this weekend)! It is on a lycée campus. They have apartments for their teachers and I will be living with another assistant. I will post pictures once I am moved and settled.

Church in Montgeron

Thursday 5 November: The day Rachel arrived!! Today my big sister arrived in Paris. It was tough to get through my classes knowing that she was here. Finally I got to leave school, and went to meet Rachel and her mother-in-law, Mary, at l’Arc de Triumph. We walked down the Champs Elysees, had lunch at Quick (French fast food burger place), got macarons at Laduree, and walked back to the Arc. I left Rachel and Mary there, I didn’t want to spend the money to climb up! I then met back up with them at the Notre Dame and we went to dinner on Isle Saint-Louis. There we ate at a restaurant called St. Regis, then we got ice cream at a little place. It was a good night.

L'Arc de Triumph

Laduree - Best macarons in Paris

Laduree macarons

Notre Dame by night

If you type Paris into google maps and ask for directions, this is where those directions will lead you to, right outside of Notre Dame.

Rachel loves me and brought me a nice stash of goodies from America. I still have some of it.

Friday 6 November: After classes today I met with Rachel and Mary at Notre Dame, again. Rachel wanted to find a souvenir shop she had a coupon for that is near the Louvre. So we took the metro to the Louvre. She thought it was along the river so we started walking…and walking…and walking…we never saw it. Turns out it is on the other side of the Louvre. So we decided to wait to go there. So we got dinner at a café and continued to walk back to their hotel. Once there we ate this cheesecake Rachel got from Berko, it was so good! Then I headed home.

Eiffel Tower by night

Saturday 7 November aka the day I did a bunch of touristy things. I met Rachel and Mary at Musée l’Orangerie to see the Water Lilies, then we went to Place de la Concord (where the guillotine was), then headed to the souvenir shop. Rachel got a bunch of stuff, including a magnet for me, so nice. Then we headed towards Hotel des Invalides (where Napoleon’s tomb is) and got lunch at rue Cler, we ate at a Chinese place. Then went to Hotel des Invalides and saw Napoleon’s tomb, and looked at an exhibit on World Wars 1 and 2. After that we went to Musée Rodin (The Thinking Man). We then headed to Musée d’Orsay and saw all of the impressionist paintings and saw some great views of Paris from windows and through a clock! After Musée d’Orsay we walked back towards their hotel and stopped at an Italian place for dinner. Then headed to their hotel and had some macarons. It was a long but rewarding day.

Eiffel Tower from Musee de l'Orangerie

Musee de l'Orangerie

Place de la Concord

L'Arc de Triumph from Place de la Concord

Place de la Concord

Hotel des Invalides

Hotel des Invalides - the entrance doors

Hotel des Invalides - Napoleon's Tomb

Hotel des Invalides - Napoleon II

Eiffel Tower from Hotel des Invalides

Musee Rodin - The Thinking Man

Musee Rodin

Eiffel Tower from Musee Rodin - yes those are flowers in November

Musee d'Orsay - Statue of Liberty

Musee d'Orsay

Vincent Van Gogh - Musee d'Orsay

View of Sacre-Coeur from Musee d'Orsay

Degas - Musee d'Orsay

Renoir - Musee d'Orsay

The Louvre through the clock at Musee d'Orsay

Musee d'Orsay

Sunday 8 November: This morning Rachel and Mary did some things on their own then I met up with them at Le Jardin de Luxembourg. We walked around and enjoyed the beautiful weather watched some kids sailing boats then headed to the Panthéon. Rachel wanted to see Marie and Pierre Curie tombs. After the Panthéon we headed to rue Moufftard for dinner. We found a crêperie that serves crêpes from the Brittany region of France. It is called La Petite Bretonne; I totally recommend it if you are ever in Paris and want some good crêpes and good service. I then showed them my current apartment then walked them to the river; said goodnight and came home to finally finish this blog post. Rachel and Mary will be here until Wednesday morning. So I still have two more days with them. I’m so grateful for family and friends who are willing to come and see me here in France!! It is nice to see familiar faces.

Palais de Luxembourg

Rachel and Mary at le Palais de Luxembourg

Rachel and me at le Palais de Luxembourg

Palais de Luxembourg - Seriously flowers in November...so weird.

Pantheon

Once I get my new address I will let everyone know what it is. I can’t update my address in France until after my immigration doctor’s appointment. Also if you are planning on sending something for Christmas, I’m going to have you send it to Switzerland. I will get that address to you if you ask.

Until next week...hopefully! :P

Jenny in France

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Toussaint Holiday and Beyond!

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