Porcetta and an Afternoon Walk through Rome

I ended up waking really early and no one was awake to join me. I decided to run a few laps around the campus grounds and found myself taking pictures again of this lovely campus. I have shared many emotions and discoveries on this campus. I have discovered a love of heritage on this campus. I decided to take a leap from everything I knew and understood to examine my life in another country.

 We are in Castel Gandolfo in late May with Walsh University. When my last program ended for the Spring of 2009, none of the olive trees were blooming, none of the kiwi plants were sprouting and the campus barely had a heart beat of spring. My first program ended late April. What a difference one month can make on the growth of life on this campus this May of 2010. I walk around and reintroduce myself to the campus. I love this little private moment I had this morning.


I came back into the lounge area and loaded my pictures up online for my family to view of my experience so far. By this time it was 11 am. I was joined by Dr. Fountain and we chatted about the past few days and what was planned for the day. Since it was the weekend, the Brothers were not supplying any breakfast, lunch or dinner. I asked the others in my group if we could walk up into town and have a Porcetta sandwich for lunch and then go into Rome to walk around. Everyone was up for it.


For anyone that is unsure of what Porcetta is: Porcetta is baby suckling pig roasted to amazing perfection, sliced up and enjoyed on a hard roll bun. This with a bottle of orange Fanta makes for an excellent lunch in my opinion. For lunch the group marched up that god awfully steep hill from campus to the summit of Castel Gandolfo to enjoy lunch. By the time we made it to the square, we were covered in sweat. No need to work out today, we just had our cardio work out walking up that hill.

The group of us with Lago Albano in the background

We all headed into Rome and walked the traditional walk through Rome that everyone from Walsh University does. The walk starts at the Spanish Steps and ends in Vatican Square. Mike, Steve and I pointed out different things to the others about Rome that we loved. We even stopped at the pizza shop just off of Via Octaviano near Vatican Square called Alice to have a piece of potato pizza. I would recommend this to anyone. It was like Rome had never changed and for Mike, Steve and I it was like we never left. The summer group was coming back tonight from their weekend trip in Venice. Our group would finally meet Danilo and for Mike, Steve and I it would be like old times here in Castel Gandolfo.

All Roads Lead to Rome or at least train tracks.

Duomo di Milano

    We checked out of the hotel early to head into the city to see the famed Cathedral of Milan. We ascended the stairs of the subway and just like the Arc di Triumph in Paris or the Coliseum stop in Rome, the church took our breath away. This is the high class neighborhood of famous shopping. Designer labels strut the sidewalks all awhile screaming sophistication at those unable to afford their name. I have to say that this is one of the most exciting piazzas I have walked through. The grande scale of everything is similar to Piazza San Marco in Venice.

The galleries

    The basilica was gorgeous . One of the more interesting things about the church is that St. Bartholomew, the man that was skinned alive is buried in this church. His tomb is below the main alter. There is even a statue of him on the wall near his tomb. It is a great statue to study anatomy from. I walked around and spotted this father lighting candles with his young son. All along the candle area, devoted Catholics or "check the box here" tourists light candles for purposes only in the silence of their own hearts. I call them "check the box here" tourists  because they are the type of tourist that only does certain things to say that they have done them. Doing or taking part in certain things in a city or church without a purpose is something that I do not support or recommend for travelers. Travel and experience with purpose. Do not just check a box and move on. Challenge yourself in new and exciting ways so that when you leave from abroad to come back to what is familiar, you know who you are and what you are all about.

      I lite a few candles for family members and for the dead and walked out. In the piazza a band walked by in full regalia. We wanted to follow after them to see what they were playing for. Instead, we headed back to the hotel gathered our suit cases and headed to the train station. We were taking the fast train to Rome. Termini train station in Rome has nothing on Milan's train station. It is huge. We ended up on the fast train into Rome. I remember when I first boarded one of these trains. I thought that it would go so fast that we would just float into our arrival city. What the imagination can do to virgin experiences such as riding the fast train?! ahahah. The boys were sitting in a car down from us while all the girls were in my car. I was sitting across from Jenn. The two seats next to us were empty. Sara and Laura decided to join us and we had a rousing game of eucre going. The train was making stops in Bologna, Florence and finally Rome. We had enough time to have several rounds going. Now, I just learned how to play at the beginning of this trip. Sara kept calling me out on renigs. That happens when you do not lay down the right card. The game is similar to spades or hearts. We played until Florence when someone came to take Sara and Laura's seats next to us. Laura went to sit out in the connector section because she was not feeling well much to do with the deep conversation last night.
      When we arrived in Rome the familiar hussel and buzzle greated me like it was just yesterday that I left. We had to change to the local train into Castel Gandolfo. It has been a year since I have rode the train into the all too familiar stop of Castel Gandolfo. "Prossima Fermata Castel Gandolfo" the train would announce. I noticed something different from the last time I was here. Conductors were walking through the train checking tickets. Never once was I ever stopped when I was here the previous year to have my ticket checked. I wonder if policy has changed or there are too many people jumping on the train without a ticket. Steve, Mike and I have studied in Castel Gandolfo before. Steve and Mike were part of the 2008 spring group. I was part of the 2009 spring group. On the train into town we were telling the girls how beautiful the area was but the girls could not see it through the rain. We assured them that they would not disappointed when the rain did finally stop. When we arrived to our stop we had to run down to campus in the rain with our suit cases. We had the campus to ourselves for the weekend because the summer group was off on a weekend excursion. It was so nice to be back somewhere that feels safe and welcoming.

Mike playing the guitar

    We decided to head next door to Casale degli Archi for dinner. http://www.casaledegliarchi.it/. The nuns down the road usually make dinner for the Walsh Campus. Since we had arrived on a Friday evening, we would not be having dinner on campus.The Nuns do not make dinner friday-sunday for Walsh. Fortunately, it was nice to head next door for dinner. Mike shared some incriminating stories about Steve. After such a rousing story, rounds were made of the table telling different stories of each other. 
       It was a lovely evening. After dinner, a few of us headed up into town to stop in at Cafe Baruffa or Andre's Bar to grab a drink. http://www.baruffacafe.it/. I had forgotten how crazy it is to walk up this hill. It is barely a quarter of a mile up into town but it take 30 minutes to walk it because it is pretty much at a 90 degree climb up the hill. This place has become the watering hole for Walsh University and for the town's people to gather. This night however, he was not open. We caught a restaurant open and bought a few beers and headed back to campus to play cards and a round of catch phrase. It was nice to be back here.

IL Triennale: Arte Italiana Contemporanea e Design

Today we are headed to walk through the Triennale di Milano contempary Italian design, urban planning, architecture, music, and media arts. It is located in the Palace of Arts building part of the Parco Sempione. We were getting the chance to see how art intermingles with industry and design. Before walking through this museum, I hated contempary art and design. I had a difficult time understanding how art can threaten its boundaries and still be art. This museum gave me the chance to understand the concept of play. Here is a link to the museum: http://www.triennale.org/it/ This is another website describing the museum: http://www.charmingitaly.com/article/triennale-of-milan By far one of the most interesting museums I have walked through. The sad thing about the museum is that we were not allowed to take any photos.
        Many of the exhibits were outrageous. It was like staring into the eyes of a horse only to realize that it was a statue. Lamps were made out of pens and the skeletons hanging in the closets had abnormally long legs. David even made an appearance not in Italian marble but in a miniature plasterer cast. One of the more interesting items on exhibit was a lion made out of wood. Now, that is rather ordinary. However, his hind legs were completely mechanized along with a beating heart and various other organs. There was one item that I could not grasp the concept of at all. It was a plaster oval with the center cut out. In the center hung a piece of medal. When I got closer to the piece, the medal was a punched piece of metal fashioned to look like the country of Italy but hung upside down. I wonder if there was some sort of message behind the piece or just left open for interpretation. One of my favorite rooms housed retro lamps made out of plastic. When we first entered the room the lamps were dimmed to create a certain environment. Half way round the room the lamps were light which created a whole new experience. The lamps were interesting when you first look at them. When they were lite, the appreciation of the lamps created something completely different. They created a different mood and lighting of the room. This is true design.

The Lamborghini models on the track 

   For lunch, we decided to have lunch in the very posh restaurant housed within the museum. I decided to have gnocci with lemon sauce. The restaurant had these cute little stools that you may only find in a high class  Asian restaurant. Piercing white walls decorated with white cutlery and dishes greeted us while we ate.
     After lunch we headed back to the hotel for a change because we were visiting the industrial design section of the Scuola Politecnica di Design http://www.scuoladesign.com/gallery/industrial-design-master/2010/?lang=it. The design school has designed for Lamborghini. The design school is located in one of the most up coming

neighborhoods of Milan. The walls of the design school are painted white so that the projects can stand out. The students have recently developed a project for 3M recycling their cleaning products to create new uses for the recycled remains. They have also developed a plastic couch out of old plastic. At first glance, it did not look like a couch. However, with a flick of a switch an outline of a Victorian couch appeared on the plastic. They showed us a design for a hotel that appears to be a tree overtaking the surrounding buildings. The idea of this project is to overtake run down buildings and re-develop these buildings into new and exciting sites. This way the buildings will not be torn down. The director of the school showed us his award that looked like a protractor. He had to cut his visit with us short. He had his assistant show us around the complex. We were taken to the rooftop terrace to have an espresso. He then pointed out buildings on the campus. One building housed Radio 101 Italy, another was where the most prominent design magazines in Italy and Europe was printed, another building was where the furniture designs were displayed. This area is so intriguing. I love the idea of design that these students are having the chance to tackle while they are pursuing their education at this school. They are involved in many of the most interesting and refreshing ideas. The threatening nature of these new designs to the solid boundaries of what we are comfortable with is what is so intriguing. These new projects create an unfamiliar environment that force our interactions with the project to be more complex.

Milan Trolley cars

    So we headed back to the hotel to have a period to ourselves before dinner. I headed downstairs to use the hotel wifi. I loaded a few picture online and reflected on the day. We leave tomorrow for Castel Gandolfo. I am happy to be returning home to a place that I loved so much but I am sad to leave Milan. I feel that this is the first time that I have been able to experience the region that my grandfather was from. I have this odd feeling that I am being torn away from him. I have never even met him. I bet he would have been a wonderful grandfather. If I am having this bold of emotion over a man I have never met, that backs up my claim.

Bri and I in the club

        For dinner, we settled on a restaurant around the corner of the hotel. The hotel recommended it. I ended up having Spaghetti al'vongule. Jenn and Sara decided to split a plate of octopus before they ordered their pizza. Jenn was funny about her octopus. She said it was too squishy but ate it anyways. By the time Jenn and Sara's pizza came, they were full. Dr. Fountain started telling stories of yester year and how he made his millions in finance. Behind us was this table of happy drunk Germans. We thought that we were loud in the restaurant. They were so much more. The "son" was rather on the drunk side and knocked over their bottle of wine. They laughed it off and continued on with their merriment. The waiter came back and asked us all if we would like a digestivo. I was all over that. One limoncello for me per favore. The girls were not taken by the limoncello and gave me theirs. After dinner we headed to the club/bar that we had a late dinner at. I love this little side street because people gather in the street with their glasses of wine and have the chat outside as well as inside. There is no dancing but the music still plays. The dance is through conversation. This is the root of Italian conversation. The entertainment came when someone got very heated and did the backward hand waving gesture that all Italians are all too familiar with. Capiroskas were ordered in the round and an exercise routine of conversation was laid out by Dr. Fountain. We then developed the conversation into memories. When we decided to go back to the hotel for the night a bill of 34 euros each came to our table. Hmmm, the conversation must have been too deep. But, I would pay it anytime to share memories with the people in my group. On the way back to the hotel, some lovely Italian men stopped me, Bri, Mer and Jenn. They started to speak Italian. I stopped to talk. They didn't want me but my blonde friend. What is with Italian men and American blondes? I asked them why not me? I am Italian? They said they see women like me everyday. Blondes are exotic. Blah!!!

Tuo Vuo' Fa' L'Americano

      I love the song titled Tuo Vuo Fa' L'Americano: translated to So you want to be American. I am American but I love being of Italian decent. My mother is the full blooded Italian. My father is Irish. I have two of the best cultures in my blood. You want to know what you get when an Italian woman and an Irish Man get married and have children? You get gnocci: potato pasta. hahah. Or you get a McWhopper. Now, that is more derogative  I like the first joke. My older brother came up with the second joke one time.
       My grandfather died in July of 1974 of a massive heart attack. My mother was 17 when he passed. His name was Enrico Bardelli or Henry Bardelli jr. His father, Enrico Bardelli Sr.,  was born and lived in Sesto Calende, Italy in the Lombardy regione. His wife, Maria Varalli, was born in Mercallo, just outside of Sesto Calende. The family history/story is that the Bardelli family owned a tree farm on the current Milan Malpensa Airport land. Enrico Sr. was said to have been friends with iL Dulce himself Benito Mussolini. He left the land to his mother and left for America with his wife. His mother gave the land to iL Dulce to use for military land during World War Two. Now, you ask yourself why I am putting this into this blog. Well, my group will be landing at the Milan Malpensa airport from Paris. I will be landing on my ancestors land. This is a surreal moment! I do have a lot of information to back this claim up. I want to visit Sesto Calende to learn more about them. I never knew my grandfather nor did my mother well enough in the 17 years she knew him. One of the reasons why I chose to come on this trip especially is because of the trip to Milan. I wanted to understand the regione of my grandfather and great-grandparents. I feel that traveling to this area will give me the chance to understand the man I was never given the chance to know.

I altered this photo. When I first took this photo I was so taken by the little boy's face focusing on the candle flame. I wish that it was just the boy and his father since of the people in the background. This photo looks like an old advertisement add. The photo was taken in the famous Cathedral. 

      We landed in the middle of a thunderstorm. When the plane wheels touched down the plane skidded to one side. A panicked grasp for the nearest arm rests was triggered. We had to run off the plane and onto a bus to be shuttled to the main terminal. We were meeting Sara, Danilo's new assistant for the Castel Gandolfo Walsh Campus. She was going to be our guide for Milan. We walked through customs and no one stopped us. I wanted a stamp in my passport. I felt like a child when first told that Santa really isn't real. I mopped up my tears and continued on to meet with Sara. Sara told us that we had an hour ride on a bus into the city. I didn't realize that this airport was so far away from the city of Milan. I asked Sara if it were closer to Lago Maggiore and she said yes, about 5 miles away. Holy Crap, I am walking on my family's land. Sorry, it just hit me that I had finally come to my grandfather's land.
     While on the bus I told Sara the story of my great-grandfather as a little boy would sneak onto the trains and travel into Milan to see the Operas with his friend. When he left for American he received a pair of opera glasses from his friend as a memorial to the trips to the Opera. My mother still has these opera glasses. The story behind these glasses is that Mussolini gave him these glasses. They do date from around the turn of the 20th century. My great-grandfather came to America in the early 1900's. We do not have any time to see any opera but I am fascinated with the thought that I am taking the same path into Milan as my great-grandfather did as a little boy.
    We arrived to the hotel and Ron asked if anyone was hungry or wanted a drink. The hotel recommended a small cute little restaurant/ club where we could grab sandwiches and a drink. We sat down around a round table and started chatting about the day. It has been exactly 1 year since I have stepped foot in Italy. It has been one year since I have heard the passionate language swirl around in my ears. And I am loving every minute of it.

1 Titty to Show the World.

Paris Opera House

     For our morning visit, we headed out to Galeries Lafeyette mall. Lafeyette is a six floor competitor of Harrods in London or Macy's in New York. (I have read that it is actually 10 floors. I must have missed some.) On our way to the mall, we passed by the Paris Opera House. This is where the Phantom of the Opera is set. I could almost hear his voice singing to Christine begging her for her love. I would have died if we could have had a tour of the place instead of walk through the mall. Instead, I gave in and decided to see the Paris fashion.
      Lafeyette is directly behind the opera house. Our main purpose of our visit was the atrium design of the building. On our way over I deposited a post card to my Great-Aunt Mary (she was 95 in 2010 when I traveled to Paris). She the only living sister of my deceased Italian Grandmother. Every city I travel to, I always send her a post card. I could never forget Great-Aunt Mary. Out of no where this man dressed in a chicken suit came running up to us and started clucking. Dr. Fountain loved this because it is a good example of entrepreneurship. Honestly,. if you are going to sell yourself like this good for you. Mer became his target. After getting a picture with the chicken, he demanded money. hahah We ran so fast out of there. So funny. A buck can be made doing anything.

The Atrium Glass Ceiling

Below the Artium: the different floors

     Galeries Lafeyette is at least 2 block long as far as I could see. It could have been more. I don't know if I saw it all to tell you the truth. I know that one building is strictly dedicated to men's apparel. The Galeries were finished in 1912 caped by the stunning Art Nouveau steel dome. The stair wells were designed specifically for this location. The Galeries originated as a small fashion haberdasher shop on this very location. The owners bought up the other shops along these block and developed the Galeries Lafeyette.
     To accomplish the overwhelming feat of Galeries Lafeyette, I focused mainly on buying one bottle of Chanel Number 5. If I found anything else, I would think on buying it. Other wise, just like the Louvre, one can get overwhelmed in all of the options of apparel and trinkets. The guys separated from us girls and we set out on finding something of our liking.  We looked at everything imaginable ranging from lingerie to wedding dresses. I ended up buying my parents a typical Eiffel Tour statue and something else. I did find my bottle of Chanel. The other girls bought various bottles of perfume too. 
   We had seen just about every fashion line for this summer's fashion and started to get hungry. We debated where to have lunch then settled to have lunch outside the Galeries. We found this lovely small place that only had 8 tables. We squeezed into the last table next to a book case all the way in the back. The walls were stained with age. The tables have had countless meals shared on their surfaces. The waiter started yelling at a gypsy boy trying to beg for money outside of the restaurant. I love that we were sitting all in way in the back. We had the best view of everything. We all ordered the croque monsieur and drank copious amounts of water to stave off the dehydration from our eucre game and wine last night. Our little story has now added character to the walls of this little place. I love little random places like this. After lunch we headed back to the Galeries to meet up with the boys to head back to the Hotel and head to the airport.

The Sacre' Coeur in the background from Galeries

 
      On the subway back to the hotel the gypsies were at large again. This time it was a trumpet player and most likely his wife. He wasn't that bad of a player. After he finished the usual extension of the cup was held out to everyone on the train. I always put my hand on my bag when they come by on the trains just so I know they haven't taken it. Some of them are real crafty in stealing your items. The wife was the one heading around to everyone. When she walked over to me I got a glimpse that she had a baby in a little carrier in front of her. I never really realize how tall I am until these moments. I peered down at her. She barely was 4' 5". Immediately, I regretted looking down because the baby she was carrying was attached to her breast. She had her breast out to show the world. The baby pulled away for a brief moment from the breast and started to cry. The mother forced the baby onto the breast. Vomit!!!! At this point everyone in our group noticed. Jenn started to gag. Now, don't get me wrong. I support breast feeding and all but I also would rather not have a show in public. No wonder most tourists are turned off by begging. The bad thing about this is that many tourist make bad judgments about the city. This is how many people get turned off by traveling. There are good things about a city. One just has to be brave enough to look beyond the bad judgments.
       We caught the RER back to the airport. We kind of just jumped on the train because we couldn't find a ticket booth that sold the RER tickets. If we didn't jump on the train we would have missed out flight to Milan. So, we are about 5 minutes away from the airport when the porter comes by asking for tickets. We show him our tickets and they were not the correct ones for the RER train. Needless to say we were fined 100 euros and had to buy new tickets. It was such a funny scene because we are all trying to argue with this man that only speaks French. I come over and try my luck at him (Get this: I don't speak French only Spanish and Italian). He grabbed a student's ticket from a guy sitting next to me and showed me RER compared to mine that didn't have the RER. Bloody ticket porter. Needless to say we all were not happy when we arrived to Charles deGuille airport.
       We were flying to Easyjet to Milan Malpensa Airport. Just like Ryanair, Easyjet is mas chaos and does not have assigned seating. It is like a mad dash to the plane. While we were standing in line to board, Dr. Fountain made his way to the front of the line and motioned us all up to join him. As the plane was going down the runway it started to make this awful noise. Jenn, Steve and I looked at each other and crossed ourselves. We thought we wouldn't make it to Italy. We did make it into the air with no problem. As I was sitting
   

The Louvre Experience

       

     I honestly think that one could get lost in the Louvre museum. There are so many wings of collections that any average person could be overwhelmed. I honestly don't know whether Dr. Fountain had our tickets or not. He let us be for a moment and then came back with our tickets. The amount of people in this museum is amazing. It has such a different feel than the Vatican Museum in Rome. If you try to see the whole Louve in a day it will not happen. That is how large this museum is. I had recently watched the episode of Who Do You Think You Are? with Brooke Shields. The show traced her roots back to the Louvre Palace and a blood line to King Louis. To have the opportunity to walk through such a magnificent palace first and then a world renowned museum is an honor. 

    We headed into the wing that houses the famous Mona Lisa. I love this era of art: romantic romanesque with a twist of gothic on side. This era is the time period when history put the famous painters on the pedal stole. This era made the Gods of art that we study today. We were first greeted by the famous statue of Winged Victory aka Nike Samothrace. Nike is Greek for Victory. I wonder if the Nike shoe company took the name from this statue?! It was thought that this statue occupied a niche of sorts in an ancient theater. Since she has no head, I wonder what her head looked like. She is a Hellenistic creature. She could have had a head similar to Madusa. Makes you wonder none the less.

     We headed around the bend and down a long hallway so grande that one could fit two of the widest cars side by side and still have room to walk near the walls to enjoy a fine race. A lover of any era of paintings to come to the this museum and be entertained by the brush strokes of the various paint brushes. The farther we walked down this hallway the louder the noise erupted from a room off to the right. This room, we found, housed the Mona Lisa. Meeting Mona Lisa was like running into a famous actor or athlete. Everyone crowds around and tries to get the best view. In the end, when you finally work your way to the front of the group, everything you expected ended up to be almost a disappointment. I never realized that the painting was so small. As I was forcing my way to the front of the group I threw my hand in the air with camera in tow. I was trying to get a glimpse of her. When I finally made it to the front, she was more a man than a women. The funny thing about this painting is that the French claim her to be French but she was actually painted by Davinci, an Italian man. She is hidden behind bullet proof glass and has a wooden barrier to keep her admirers at bay. I am happy I met her but I won't ask her for her autograph.

Louvre: She Wolf

      We turned the corner and descended a set of stairs and I was struck by a similar statue I saw in Rome. It was the She Wolf. She seems fiercer than in Rome. The Rome statue seemed like she could have been a happy house dog rather than suckling she wolf. The way the Louvre She Wolf rares back on her hind legs makes me fear for my life.

Rome: She Wolf

    We walked through this wing and saw many different paintings and sculptures. At one point, everything seemed to blend in together. This is how the Louvre can overwhelm your experience. There is so much to see at one moment that you really can't take much in. We decided to break for lunch and then we were going to head over to the Egyptian Wing. This is the only museum outside of Egypt that houses as many mummies. As an American child, I was so fascinated with Mummies. I think every American child at one point or another is fascinated with Egyptian Mummies.
    I have to say that after walking through the Egyptian wing, I am rather disappointed. All I really saw were a bunch of mummified cats, alligators, and various other animals. I saw my fair share of sarcophagi but no mummies. Jipped, that is what the Louvre did. I was jipped of my experience of mummies. Later, I found out that Egypt has and is demanding all mummies to be returned to Egypt. Now, we are not all able to travel to Egypt to satisfy a childhood fascination. Come on Egypt, we can do better than that.

Easter Isle Head

The Aphrodite Statue 

       My recommendation for anyone wishing to visit the Louvre is to have a plan. Only plan to see certain things. Do not plan to see the whole Louvre in one day. The Louvre experience is too overwhelming and can burn one out. If you choose to visit one area, you will have a desire to come back to Paris and visit the Louvre again. If you do as what my group did, you may never want to beckon the glass pyramid again.
     
     At one point I just started to take pictures because there was so much that we saw. I think in total we spent 6 hours in the Louvre. All that I really remember is the beginning and the end. The experience was bookend by the Mona Lisa and was ended by the Napoleon apartments. His apartments were moved to the museum and displayed after his death. Seeing these were a breath of fresh air. You can only see so many statues and so many paintings for one day. After that, your mind shuts down. The apartments were fitting to Napoleon's character and liking. Everything was in large scale for such a small man. Small men must carry a big ego. The dinning table must seat somewhere near 40 people it seemed to stretch on for as far as the eye could see. My picture is rather blurry but you can see the enormous table.   We headed outside and across the river into a cafe to grab a beer and talk about the enormous feet we just accomplished. We just tackled the Louvre museum and won or at least we survived. hahah. We sat down and discussed the reason why their is a pyramid in the main courtyard of the palace.

Mummified Cat

                                           







 
          It is the element of play that is behind the reason why the pyramids were chosen to create a new entrance for the museum. First of all, such an entrance is needed to help direct the many visitors to the museum each day. Designing the new entrance required an element of play in order to create and accommodate to this new adaptation. I think this is why the pyramids were designed for the new entrance area. Another thought on this is that the pyramids in Egypt were meant to draw you to the sky and to the center of life.
     We wondered around for a while to decided on where we should have dinner for this evening. We finally settled on a restaurant down a side street. The best places to eat and have a good time are down a side street. This was going to be our last night in Paris, I decided to order duck with potatoes. Duck takes a well developed pallet. For me, it was rather heavy or for lack of better words greasy. This is common with duck. Sitting at a table next to our group were these two older ladies most likely in their later 70's. They seemed to me to be sisters. One of the ladies looked like my Grandmother Frances. Her hair reminded me of my Grandmother, curly up due but the blonde die job struggled to survive. She was eating French Onion soup. It looked so good. Maybe I made a mistake choosing the duck. These two ladies continued on with their conversation as I turned back to our table to join my group. For dessert I decided to order the Creme Brule just so that I could crack the sugar top. For our after dinner enjoyment we decided to buy a few bottles of wine and come back to my room to play cards. Mike wasn't feeling well and decided to stay in his room. A few rounds later we heard a knock at the door and a French voice. We all turned to each other and thought oh shit, clean up fast. we opened the door and there was Mike. What a fitting end to the night.      

Requirements of Education in Paris.

Well, Good Morning most famous street in Paris: Champs Elysees! We headed out for an early walk of the main business area in Paris, the famous district. I prefer this time of day because it allows for one to introduce their self to the city before the hussle and buzzle of the city starts It was interesting to see the famous stores just waking up and preparing for the influx of tourists for the day. Many of the jaw dropping things I saw this morning were the store fronts and entrances. The Swarovski  store had stairs made out of the famous crystals. The Louis Vittone store is two floors, way bigger than the store in Rome. The roundabout around the Arc de Triomphe even seemed to be barely awake. A funny fact about this round about is that cars are not insured to drive this area because of how dangerous the roundabout is. Holy Crap. I am glad I don't drive in this city. I loved the subway stop for the Arc. It reminds me a lot of the subway stop for the Coliseum in Rome. Immediately when you come up from below, your breath is taken away by the sheer presence of the arc. Back in the states I had just started working as a pharmacy technician and I had to stop and take a picture in front of the Champs Elysees Pharmacy. I would love to work there. Working in that pharmacy would make up for all of the bad patients that make your day worse.

   
     We then headed over to the Arc La Defense. This arc lies at the opposite end of the Champ. It is an industrial arc commissioned in the 1985 as a modern image of the Arc de Triomphe. This arc lies in the business district of Paris where the sky scrappers help one reach open air to escape the labyrinth of streets down below. This area is so different compared to the grande boulevard of the lower Champs. The power of the "sky scrappers" gives the city a different feel. The arc has this way of standing out like a loud color or similar to forcing a square peg into a round hole. Below the arc is the IESEG International School of Business (as of 2010). (2013 the school moved to a larger building next to the arc). Dr. Fountain never spoke of a stop here to walk through the school but we all followed in his foot steps. I love how he walks into a place like he owns it. Everyone in the school treated us like royalty. The students here take 18 credits each semester. Their first semester consists of creativity courses in painting, drawing and music. These courses connect with the business courses. The main goal is to work within the business world but think more in a creative manner. We walked into the library and there were just a few books on the shelves. All of the rest are e-books. The students do not have to pay for books. Darn, my first semester at Walsh I spent $800 dollars on books. However, I am also a Biology Pre-med major. That kind of bill comes with the territory. I have wised up since then and no longer spend that much on books.

     Every year these students are to go abroad to gain internships. What if this happened in America? We should all be forced to go abroad to better develop our education. Here is the kicker: the cost of school is 2,000 euros. That is what you get when you live in a socialistic country, discounted education. France pays for the rest of the tuition. 2,000 is a student's out of pocket cost. Honestly, if one expects American students to interact internationally, we need to be educated internationally. I also like the fact that these students are required to take "creative courses. I think my views are influenced by my liberal arts education. We are required as students to have many courses outside our main area of study. I also wish university only cost 2,000 dollars. I would not have to worry about working my life away. I love who gave our tour. When Dr. Fountain first went in, he caught this student's mother whom only speaks French. She went a grabbed her daughter to give us a tour. They were both just as much interested in us as we were them. I travel to meet people like this. This is why I travel.
     We headed out and across the river for lunch. I ordered the famous sandwich croque monsuir. This is a sandwich that is technically a grilled ham and cheese sandwich but with amazing cheese on top. There is a madame version that has a fried egg on top. I love this sandwich. We then walked over to the famous cathedral La Notre Dame. All I could picture is the Hunchback of Notre Dame yell "sanctuary" for his beloved Esmeralda. Pardon me, but I grew up a Disney Princess. The funny thing about this all is that I have never been to Disney World. The closest I have been is the Disney Store at the mall. hahah. I have to say that experiencing the church in person takes your breath away. The church is an amazing example of Gothic Architecture. This is probably one of the most beautiful churches I have ever been in. Being Catholic, this is a church that I have wanted to visit. It is the church of the French Catholics. Understanding the church allows one to understand the people. Being Catholic just gave me the advantage to knowing a little bit more about the Catholic Church in general and the building. There was just so much to see in the church.
      I had my parents video camera with me so I filmed the church to view it later. We continued on to San Sulpice. This is the famous church in the book The Davinci Code. The church has been under construction now for three years. From the pictures, it looks badly damaged similar to what it may have sustained during World War 2. The inside looks as if it were neglected and the art never cleaned. Steven pointed out to me that the front altar space was of the same design as Notre Dame. LESSON NUMBER 1: Design is modification of previous successful models. Architecture is consistent and also altered to fit the environment. Alterations are where creativity lies. Creativity defines a culture.

San Sulpice

     
                                                                    I think that I am slowly coming to understand the French. Last time I was abroad I did not appreciate the French. They are starting to rub off on me. My big question is why have I not found any outstandingly handsome men? I think this is because it goes back to the weathered look that seems to be influenced by the current fashion season. I have yet to find a reason why they look this way.
    Dr. Fountain decided to have dinner tonight with his family. The group decided to walk up near the Tour and check out the restaurants. Now, warning: the closer you get to the Tour, the more money your meal will be. We found a restaurant that had a package deal of an appetizer, main meal and dessert. We all decided to split the wine bill and just have a nice time. The best thing about the restaurant was water was free and we could eat all the bread we wanted. The small things in life are always appreciated the most. The restaurant we chose was Le Pierrot. It was really good and had a great atmosphere. I ordered the Pate', had the skirt steak for the main meal and the chocolate moose for dessert. We decided that after dinner we moved to the front of the restaurant under the terrace near the entrance to enjoy the heat lamps, a shot of espresso and more wine. Steve and Mike bought a Cuban cigar and decided to teach us girls how to smoke a cigar. Here I am in Paris, smoking a Cuban, drinking espresso and sharing conversation with six amazing people a block away from the Eiffel Tour. I am a spoiled traveler. We ended up staying at the restaurant until 1:30am and then headed back to the hotel. A round of Eucre started in my room since it was the largest. What a way to end the night.

Steve teaching Bri how to smoke the Cuban

Paris: The Land of the Bagget and the Weathered Faces

Playing Eucre in the Airport

        I have been dieing to travel abroad again ever since I have set foot on American soil when I returned home from Rome. It is now May 2010 and I am traveling with Dr. Fountain, the head of the business school at Walsh University. He had designed a course abroad to focus on Management as Design or M.A.D Our next stop would be going mad in Europe. Dr. Fountain has planed a stop in Paris, France; Milan, Italy; Rome and back to Castel Gandolfo, Italy; Bilbao, Spain and Madrid, Spain. Our flight is being detoured because of the volcano eruptions in Greenland. The ash cloud is causing flights to either fly north to the arctic circle or south over Africa. We are flying from Charlotte, North Carolina into Paris, France. Our flight has been detoured to the arctic circle. While we were waiting for our flight from Akron/Canton to Charlotte, a game of Eucre broke out. I have never played the game nor do I know the rules. It is mainly a midwestern card game.

Bri stuck by the door

     Upon arrival to the Charles de Guelle airport, survival skills started to set in. One if always watching people so that your stuff is not taken. The airport is so interesting. These floating walk way cris cross back and forth from one side of the cylinder building to the other. We were taking the R.E.M train into the city. The train ride was around 50 minutes long into the city. When we got on the train we did it the good old fashion American way and block all of the doorways with our suitcases. We were getting the oddest looks. Once we arrived in the city we then had to navigate the immense Paris subway system. I think that we let the Parisians know that we were coming. We were dragging our suit cases up one set of stairs and down the next. Dr. Fountain is very familiar with the city of Paris because his daughter lives here with her husband and sons. She works for Chanel. We are to have dinner tonight in the Latin Quarter at an excellent restaurant with them. Maybe I could ask her for a discount. We finally made it to the subway stop nearest our hotel. We are staying in the same arrondissement as the Eiffel Tour practically down the street. We are staying at the Hotel Villa Girabaldi. It is an okay hotel. I have stayed in some nicer hotels but I won't complain. The university chose this hotel. We got settled in and unpacked. Dr. Fountain set a time to meet in around 30 minutes to walk up towards the Tour to have lunch.

The Typical food picture

        I am in love with the way that Parisians dine out. There are two separate parts of the restaurant. There is a lovely outdoor terrace part with heating lamps. Inside is where those whom are the none people watchers sit to huddle together at their private table. We decided to sit inside but were the loudest of them all. The waitress walked over to take our order. The first thing that I noticed is that she was dressed to the nine but had the oldest face I have ever seen. Many of the Parisian faces I have seen are weathered. She fits this description well. She was probably no older than 35. She was so elegant about the way she did her job. She danced around the table with ease but I could see her curious eye scan us all up and down. I think maybe she was expecting us to all order hamburgers and french fries. Much to her surprise, each of us ordered. I ordered herring, Laura ordered pate and many of the others ordered similar plates. She took our back and went back to her cigarette and bagget. Dr. Fountain told us that after lunch he would walk us up near to the Eiffel Tour but then would leave us to go meet with his wife, daughter and family. His daughter just had a baby and this is the first that he will get to meet the new child.
      After lunch we walked up the Seine river towards the Eiffel Tour. This is a moment that I have been waiting for. I have been dieing to see the Tour. I have to admit. My first response was that I thought someone pulled a blind down with the Tour painted on it. It looked so fake.

The Girls in the Group

 I love the area around the Eiffel Tour. It is such a lovely park. This is why I like larger cities. There seems to be something to do for everyone. We happened to walk past a heated match of basketball. I was almost tempted to jump in and shoot a few. I just let one of my secrets go. I use to play basketball before I fell in love with soccer. I was a very good player too. I gave up on basketball because of a coach I had in high school. He made basketball feel like a job instead of a passion. I went to work every day after school on the basketball court in the winter. One day he threw a fit and slammed the basketball into the wood and started screaming at my teammates and I. He went on about all the greats whom have played on my high school basketball court. I made a decision that night so solely focus on soccer and never return to basketball again. Since then, I have never played in a game since.
      It amazes me that these people can live in a city that they have such a background in life to live their lives in. I am extremely thankful for for where I live in the states but I feel almost jipped because young children get to grow up in such an environment. We walked all around the area. I loved that there is a Merry-Go-Round right under the Tour. I think that I romanticize a lot of my experiences but that is how I fall in love with each place I travel to. I have never traveled from from a trip not loving one experience or another. I think that it is important to travel this way so that you come away a different person. Travel is meant to make you a different person. I like to examine my life in a different culture. That is how I travel. 

The cutest place we ate with Dr. Fountain's Daughter and family

          We all met in the lobby of the hotel and headed over to the Latin Quarter to meet Dr. Fountain's daughter, husband grandson Oscar and new baby grandson. This restaurant is a hole in the wall but has the best character I have ever seen. It is an Italian restaurant run by Albanians that speak Italian to add ambiance. hahah. As a tourist, one would walk right past this place thinking that it would not be a good experience. This restaurant is by far one of the best place for ambiance and the meal wasn't bad either. One of the waiters started flirting with Bri. We sat at the table rooting her on but she gave in and decided to be shy. Oscar was the star of the night. We were all curious to now what it is like to grow up in Paris. Dr. Fountain's daughter decided to head to Paris one summer to work in a pastry shop to learn French better. Years on, she now works for Chanel. I am amazed by students whom drop everything and move to another country and end up staying. her story was intriguing to listen to. Oscar was unstoppable. He broke out his French flair and had all of us girls falling for this 8 year old little boy. I decided to share a larger pasta plate with him because he wanted to show us girls what he could manage to eat. If I didn't know better, he was wearing a Rolex look-a-like and had black framed glasses. He popped his collar and had the French flair for good looks. hahah. 8 year old boys should take a leaf out of Oscar's book and learn how to dress and handle themselves. He acted like a 40 year old man. We had a wonderful time at dinner. As we headed back to the Hotel, Dr. Fountain parted from the group for the night and we wanted to head out and experience the Parisian night life. And what a night life it is. I will leave it at that.