The Rooneys take Europe by storm: Loire Valley edition

Bonjour et bienvenue dans la Vallée de la Loire!

Our journey began on Monday morning when we got to navigate morning rush-hour on the metro with all our luggage! After we survived that endeavor, we found our train at Gare d'Austerlitz and headed out to Amboise. When we got off at the train station in Amboise, we gathered round the map for a family meeting. Mom was in favor of calling a cab, but Dad and Shannon determined it "didn't look that far" and they were sure we could walk it.

We all survived the trek, but the second bridge took some of us by surprise! We eventually found our hotel, Le Blason, and settled into our adorable (though slightly miniature) room complete with wooden beams coming out of the stucco walls in a very traditional style. Our first task after unpacking was lunch, and we headed to a cute café just at the base of the castle (Château d'Amboise) walls where we planned out our next day and a half. After sorting through our numerous brochures and several phone calls to different mini-bus tour companies, our schedule was determined. Monday night, we explored the town and the Château d'Amboise, before having dinner nearby at a delicious Italian restaurant.

Day two in Amboise was our "Chateaux tour" day - and on the docket? Count them, FOUR different chateaux. Due to the whirlwind nature of the tour, our stops at each castle were limited to around an hour each. Even so, we saw a  lot and took A LOT of pictures! Our first stop was Villandry and its exquisite gardens with our tour guide Aline driving. Even better, we lucked out and the other four people in our tour group were two older British couples with outrageous accents who were altogether adorable. The Villandry chateau itself wasn't much to look at, but the gardens were incredible! There were several different themes, including the sun gardens, the mirror lake, the vegetable and fruit gardens, and several others. I think Dad had the most fun, stopping to identify all of the different plants as we passed by.

Our second stop with Aline was the Chateau Azay-le-Rideau. Out of all of the castles we saw, it was probably one of the smallest. The most interesting part, for me, was the outside of the castle. It was surrounded by a moat...well not in the typical sense of the word. It was purely decorative, and served more as a reflection pool than as a real moat. While the castle looks as if it were built in the middle of a pond, it's actually an illusion. The nearby river (not the Loire, but a smaller tributary) was diverted after construction of the castle was completed to flow around it. What a beautiful view!

After a brief, hastily consumed lunch of sandwiches and Orangina, we found our second tour bus driven by Valentin and started our afternoon castle tours. Our first castle of the afternoon (third that day, and and fourth overall), was the Chateau Chambord. Chambord was one of the favorite hunting estates of Francois I, and since he usually came there in winter, the castle had to be equipped with many fireplaces. One for every day of the year, in fact! And with 365 fireplaces, there naturally have to be 365 chimneys! As a result, the view of the roof was mostly obscured by chimneys in several different styles all stacked practically on top of each other. The other main "claim to fame" of this castle is it's central staircase. It was designed by Leonardo da Vinci and is actually two staircases wound together in a double helix, such that the person going up the stairs can't see the person going down the other stairs! We had a lot of fun going up and down and looking across the center at each other through little windows. Even Mom, who always told us "not to play on the stairs!" participated.

Our fourth and final castle of the day was by far my favorite, the Chateau Chenonceau. This castle, which is actually both a castle and a bridge as it spans the Cher River, is known as the Ladies' castle because all of it's design, decoration, and the majority of it's owners were women. The two most famous women associated with it are Diane de Poitou, the favorite mistress of King Henry II (she was 20 years his senior), and Catherine de Medicis, his wife. Diane was responsible for most of its construction, as well as a good portion of the gardens, since the castle was built as a gift to her from the king. When Henry died in a jousting accident, his wife Catherine finally got her revenge on her rival Diane, and she banished her to a different, much darker and gloomier castle. As soon as Diane left, Catherine set about changing a lot of what she (Diane) had constructed to erase the memory of her from the chateau. Between the efforts of these two strong women, the combination is absolutely breathtaking. In addition, it is also well known for its enormous kitchen, which included special windows and a winch to bring up food deliveries brought in by boat on the river!

After a long day of a lot of walking and a lot of castles, we headed back to Amboise for dinner (topped off with an amazingly delicious banana split!) and early bed before packing for Vienna in the morning. As I write this (I'm a bit behind) we've already arrived safely in Austria and are enjoying our time with Mom's relatives in Steyr. I'll try to update soon with an Austrian edition! A la prochain - tchus!

The Rooneys take Europe by storm: Paris edition

Bonjour tout le monde!

On Thursday morning, my family arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport with lots of luggage, very few hours of sleep, and enormous smiles to greet me! I, in turn, ditched my last two classes of the semester (if you warn your teachers in advance that you're not going to be there does it count as ditching?) and took an early RER train out to the airport with a sign (pretty much just 'Rooney' written on a sheet of paper in sharpie marker) to meet them. I don't know who was more excited to see who! I do know there was a lot of hugging all around before we schlepped their stuff down to the train to get to the metro to get to the apartment we rented from a nice man named Stephane for the weekend.

After a prolonged struggle and a lot of sweating on all of our parts, we successfully navigated from one side of the Montparnasse Bienvenue metro station to the other and located our new home for the weekend. After unpacking and using the bathroom, we stopped for their first real French meal - delicious crêpes and cidre! We spent the rest of Thursday exploring the 6th arrondissement from the Fontaine St. Michel all the way to the Jardin de Luxembourg. I was also able to show them my school buildings where I've been spending so much of my time while in Paris. For dinner, we stopped at a nearby cafe and enjoyed some more delicious French cuisine. After a long day (for me) and a very long day (for them), we made our way back to the apartment for an early night.

On Friday, we left early to head to the train station and meet up with my Australian friend Steph and her mom Marina (who was also visiting her) for a day trip out to Giverny - Monet's estate. It had been recommended by a friend, and knowing my father's predilection for all things pond I thought it would be a great place to take them! Unfortunately, the weather was less than cooperative and it drizzled or rained most of the day. Despite the weather, we had a lovely lunch with Steph and her mom in the town of Giverny and were completely blown away by the beauty of the gardens (even in the drizzle!). Monet himself designed the gardens, and the estate stayed in his family until the mid 20th century when it started falling to ruin before being restored more recently. After so many years of capturing beauty in nature, Monet decided to design the gardens as he wished to paint them, rather than painting what he saw. Startlingly beautiful!

Saturday, we slept in and got a bit of a late start, but also some much needed rest. We started by going to my neighborhood, where I showed them the very eccentric Centre Pompidou and we ate some delcious (and beautiful!) Amorino's gelato.

Next, we wandered through the quaint medieval streets of the Marais and took shelter from the persistent drizzle in the Musee Carnavalet - the museum about the history of Paris. Shannon loved the Revolution exhibit and kept exclaiming "I know him - I read about this!" as we walked through it. The rest of us were done and ready to go long before she was - as neither parent understood since all the plaques were in French and I had already seen it! But she got her picture by the painting of Danton and Robespierre, so she was happy. After that, we found lunch at a cafe near the Place des Vosges - which they agreed was as beautiful "live" as the pictures I had taken and shown them. Then after a quick glance at the Place de la Bastille (essentially a roundabout with a statue in the middle...) we headed over to the Jardin des Plantes where we enjoyed the fauna (especially dad...typical Dr. Rooney nature spotting hike) and climbed up the "Labrynthe" to a gazebo overlooking the rest of the park. From there, we took the metro up to Montmartre where we ogled the Sacre Coeur (they were less impressed than I was the first time I saw it) and then walked over to the Moulin Rouge. The building itself was a little anti-climactic, but definitely something you have to check off the list! We were more than a little shocked and appalled by some of the nearby "shops." Shannon was the only one who felt the need to photo-document the products...

Sunday, we started the day off right with worship at Hillsong. The sermon was themed around Father's Day - the grace and favor of the father's blessing. Dad (and all the men in the congregation) got a Twix bar just for showing up - and since he loves us he decided to share. After church, we had lunch with Steph and her mom at a cute little crêpe place near church before heading back to the apartment to reconnoiteur. We changed, grabbed sweaters and rain gear (this weather, honestly!) and headed to Ile de la Cite. My plan was take them to see Notre Dame first, but there was some kind of protest going on and with the large police presence we opted to just walk around the outside of the cathedral. Next, we crossed over to the Ile Saint Louis and had some of the famous Berthillon ice cream. After some more walking and exploring, we took the metro to the Trocadero for their initial encounter with the Tour Eiffel! Many pictures later, we took a break for dinner and ate at a nearby Italian place with delicious food and a surprisingly Jewish wait staff. After dinner, we headed back to the Trocadero to gaze, ogle, and take more pictures, before returning to the apartment to pack and prepare for our trip to Amboise and our explorations of the Loire Valley chateaux.

Our first stage now complete, we're off by train to Amboise to explore, walk, and eat some more! A la prochain!

My Paris List - Part 2

Bonjour tous!

I have been very busy since I last wrote - trying to squeeze in everything I can into my remaining time here in Paris. In addition to my usual activities, I've also been working my way through the items left on my Paris list I wrote about before...so here's the updated version!

Le Panthéon
My first stop was to visit the Panthéon - named for and designed after the Pantheon in Rome. It is an absolutely beautiful building containing paintings documenting the lives of Clovis (the first king of the Francs), Jeanne d'Arc, St. Louis (aka King Louis IX), St. Genevieve (patron saint of Paris), and others, the famous Foucault's pendulum, and a memorial for all of the writers who died fighting in the World Wars. What it's most known for, however, is the crypt underneath the building. Some of the most famous men and women of France are buried there including philosophers Voltaire and Rousseau, Louis Braille, Pierre & Marie Curie, and authors Emile Zola, Alexandre Dumas, and Victor Hugo.

l'Opéra Garnier
Stop number two was the Garnier Opera house - an incredibly beautiful building both inside and outside! The rich decorations rivaled (and I though surpassed) the glamour and beauty of the Chateau de Versailles, and I could easily imagine sweeping up it's grand staircases in a fancy gown on my way to see an opera! The building is an architectural marvel with seemingly unending mechanisms beneath (and above) the stage used to change the levels and move the floor of the stage around. It was also the opera house that inspired the famous Phantom of the Opera which was supposed to take place there. I would have loved to see an opera there, but unfortunately they don't have student pricing!

Chateau de Vincennes
My next stop was the Château de Vincennes - just outside the main borders of the city. Not only did I get in for free as a student, but I arrived just in time to catch a free walking tour! Quel chance! Although I didn't understand all of the medieaval vocabulary, our guide was very knowledgeable and I was able to follow most of his talk. It's a beautiful fortress with a very long and rich history. I especially enjoyed being able to walk the battlements of the dungeon or castle keep and our tour of the Sainte Chapelle - modeled after the Sainte Chapelle of the Conciergerie in Paris. It was really interesting to follow how the castle had changed and modified during each of the periods of history and by each separate owner. My all-time favorite part of the tour, however, was when we learned that the outer fortress had a separate drawbridge for foot traffic and one for larger carts and people on horseback, both working on a revolutionary (for the time period) counterweight system. Definitely a trip back to the middle ages!

Musée de Cluny
Speaking of the Middle Ages...on Friday (since it was raining) I decided to do my own museum tour. My first museum of the day was the Musée de Cluny de Moyen-Age - or the museum of the Middle Ages. The museum itself spans two buildings - one constructed in the ruins of an ancient Roman bath-house, and the other a hotel constructed in a truly Gothic style. The museum had a special exhibit on the sword - everything from the history of it, the art of making swords, education in swordplay, and even current cultural representations. Seeing swords from all over the world and from different time periods was very interesting, especially some of the more famous swords like Joyeuse the sword of Charlemagne and the famous sword of Roland from the ballad. My favorite part of the exhibit, however, was the ancient books with beautiful illustrations used to teach the young nobles how to use a sword. Oh, and the translated clip from Monty Python of the sword fight between King Arthur and the Black Knight. The rest of the museum was equally interesting, with beautifully preserved and restored stained glass, some of the original statues from the facade of Notre Dame de Paris, and a set of exquisite tapestries called La Dame à la Licorne - The woman and the unicorn.

Musée du Louvre
My second stop on my museum day was the famous Louvre museum - formerly the Royal Palace. I had been putting off my visit because I was so intimidated by the sheer scope of the place...I heard on a tour that if you were to spend only 3 seconds in front of each piece of art, it would take you a full 3 weeks of doing nothing else to see the whole museum! Finally, however, I gave in. I knew there was no way I could live in Paris for 5 months and never go into the Louvre! So there I went. I saw most of the "main" œuvres that it's known for, as well as the furnished Napoleonic apartments and part of the gallery of Italian painters. It was an enjoyable (but exhausting!) trip, but definitely not my favorite museum that I've seen here in Paris.

Palais Royal & Jardin
Today, I decided to use my jour fériée (country-wide day off for Pentecost) to hit up a few of the other items on my list. My first stop was the Palais Royal - just across from the Louvre - and it's beautiful garden. The main courtyard houses the famous (and controversial) artwork of Daniel Buren - originally detested by the French people. The gardens are much more traditional, but still completely gorgeous. After visiting a little, I came back to eat my lunch in one of the shady tree-lined passages.

l'Eglise Américaine
Next, I went over to the American Church in Paris - a lovely and well-known building that's easy to find with it's green steeple. The church is the first officially American church constructed outside the states and has played host to many famous American visitors who worshiped there during their stay in Paris, including President Woodrow Wilson and Martin Luther King Jr. It's a non-denominational protestant church, and sadly was not open because of the holiday of Pentecost that was yesterday. So while I was able to take pictures of the outside, I was unable to go in. We'll call this one half checked-off. Hopefully I can go back sometime this week and see the interior!

Parc de la Vilette
My final stop of my adventures today was to the Parc de la Vilette. Despite some off-putting construction and a sad lack of fountain activity, it was a lovely park and I really enjoyed it. In addition to rich lawns (that you can actually sit and walk on!), it also has the Cité de Science et de l'Industrie museum building, la Géode (a beautiful round sculpture with an I-MAX theater on the inside), some strange modern sculpture, and the very futuristic-looking Grande Halle and Cité de la Musique. After an afternoon of touristing, it was nice to sit down in a chair and enjoy the view, relax, and read a book.

That concludes this second edition of my Paris List adventures...from now until Thursday my time will be spent doing laundry, packing, planning, and just generally preparing for the imminent arrival of my family! Then, who knows what adventures we'll have together! I promise to keep everyone updated as well as I can as we go along! A plus!

My time as an unofficial tour guide...

Bonjour mes amis!

Since I last posted, I've been very busy. For one thing, the end of the semester (much like at home) also means final exams and projects. As of today, I have completed three exams, one group exposé, and a dissertation...and I only have one more group exposé to go! I have to say, I'm a lot sadder than I usually am at the end of the semester. I expected to learn a lot in my classes at I.C. Paris, but I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I have. I was really blessed in terms of teachers, and learned as much (or more) from my interactions with them and with the other international students in my classes as I did from the actual academic work. It's been an amazing growth and learning experience, and I'll be sad to leave ICP with it's beautiful old buildings.

In addition, there has been a lot of coming and going of friends - both sad and happy. Starting with the sad...I've already had several friends leave Paris to return home. My friends Becca, Jessica, and Susanna from Hillsong have all headed back to their respective cities, as has my friend Kaellen from Marquette, and, most recently, my friend Kimmie from home with whom I traveled to Italy. With Kaellen, I was able to go with her to the airport to help her with her luggage and to see her off - since she was so much help for me when I first arrived. Even though I know I'm going to see her when I get back to Milwaukee, it was still very strange and sad to see her go when I've gotten so used to seeing her around! Kimmie was my most recent departure - I met her at the train station this morning to help her make her way from train to metro to the RER that would take her to the airport. Despite her excitement to see her family and to sleep in her own bed, Kimmie was as sad to go as I was sad to see her go! Talking to her about how's she's going to miss France, her friends, and her host family was very surreal for me because that's where I'm going to be in just a few short weeks. I can't believe it!

Now for the happy! These last two weekends I've been able to welcome friends from Marquette who are also studying abroad and who wanted to come visit Paris. (Who wouldn't?) Two weekends ago, my friend Sarah who's studying in Spain and her friend Kasey who was visiting her came to Paris for the weekend. I met them at the bus station, found them delcious French breakfast (consisting, of course, of pastries and yogurt), and gave them tips for navigating the city that have really helped me. After finding their hostel, we went to St. Michel via the scenic route along the Seine where we had delicious lunch crêpes before they went on the guided tour they had checked out. I wasn't able to see them after that - but Sarah told me they loved their time here in Paris and were able to check out some of the sites I had recommended.

This past weekend, my friend Will from Marquette who is studying in Munich came in for the weekend. Despite some hiccups trying to find his hostel - which turned out to be two rented rooms filled with bunkbeds in a house owned by a lovely Korean family that wasn't actually inside the city limits of Paris - we had a lovely time. To conserve metro tickets, and because the weather was so lovely, we did a lot of walking...so by Monday I was exhausted! We packed a lot of sight-seeing into a very short amount of time, working our way through all of the main sights and through some typical French experiences I have enjoyed and wanted to share with him. We gawked at the Eiffel Tower, climbed up the Arc de Triomphe, walked the Champs-Elysees, walked along a good amount of the Seine, took pictures of the Louvre pyramids, ate a picnic in the Jardin de Luxembourg, and checked out the Musée Rodin and the Musée d'Orsay, among other things. We were also able to take a night-time boat cruise on the Seine like I had just done with my host family - and we both agreed that was one of the best parts of the trip. Paris is so beautiful at night - truly the city of lights! It was also nice to enjoy the sights while seated!

After 4 months and at least 3 lengthy, individual tours of Paris...I think I'm finally ready to show my family around! I hope they're ready for my Paris Tour 2.0 - it's new and improved! I also hope I'm ready...I can't believe that they'll be here exactly two weeks from today...and then my trip will be over! I'm definitely not ready to leave yet, even though I miss my family and friends from back home. Well, I have at least two weeks and then travel time on the Rooney Family European Tour to prepare myself...we'll see how that goes! In the meantime, I'm off to see some more sights and cross them off my list since it's the Ascension - a Catholic (and apparently French?) holiday where no one has to work or go to school. Time to go enjoy and make the most of my day off! Much love and à plus! Just so eveyone is jealous of me (if you're not already...) I'll leave you with a picture of the sun setting over the Seine.