Study Abroad Week 3: Lyon!

Fontaine Bartholdi in the Place des Terreaux.

Last week I went on a weekend trip to Lyon, France with the Interculture club at SKEMA business school.  We left from campus Friday afternoon and returned from Lyon Sunday afternoon to arrive back in Antibes at about 8 or 9pm.  The trip was fun and picturesque, especially since Lyon is a city and not a town like Antibes.  The trip went well overall despite some minor hitches, and the hostel was much nicer than anyone expected.

"Spicy" sausage in red wine sauce.  Not spicy, but quite good, although my veggies were rather overcooked.  Overall delicious though!

Friday night we had some traditional Lyonnais cuisine at a traditional French restaurant (included in the trip cost).  Some people did not like their food, some hated it, some loved it.  I loved mine, although my dessert- cervelle de canuts- seemed more of a snack or appetizer to me.  It was a dip with onion, garlic, and vinegar.  It was good, but not what I expected for dessert.  Luckily one of the girls heading the trip wanted that but not her own dessert, which was a fruit tart, so we traded.  Delicious! 

From left to right: A church in Lyon, the basilica from the front, and a miniature layout of old city.

From left to right again: A mighty manticore at the front center of the basilica, the interior of the basilica, and the ruins of the amphitheatre.

Saturday we went to see the amphitheatre ruins of Lyon (still used today), a basilica, then had a few hours of freetime during which we went to a cafe, went to the Museum of Miniatures and Cinema, and browsed around before dinner.  The museum was wonderful and much bigger than it looked, and had lots of interesting displays. 

Left to right: One of Harry Potter's prop wands, a Godzilla egg from the American film, and a Compy from Jurassic Park: The Lost World. 

From left to right: A miniature, zoomed in, then the same miniature a step back.  The black surrounding is the wall.  Last is a miniature natural history museum display, with all the dinosaurs just a bit smaller than a Barbie doll.

Finally we explore the plaza, where the fountain you see at the opening of the post was.  The moment I saw it I recognized it and rather stupidly said, "OH.  So THAT'S where we are!"

Left to right:  Approaching the fountain, a view of La Fresque des Lyonnais, and the sign for the fresco.

We intended to go to the art museum, but it was closing in 5 minutes so we just walked along some shops.  Around the plaza our friend, who has studied abroad in Lyon, showed us La Fresque des Lyonnais, a fresco of famous people who were from or lived in Lyon.  During shopping I finally found my hobby shop though- I spotted some fabrics in a window and once I registered what they were, I asked my friends to please stop so I could dart in and grab some yarn for a scarf and headwrap or hat to keep my ears and neck warm.  The next day, Sunday, we went to the zoo in Lyon's park, but my camera batteries had decided to die taking the photo of the fountain.  It was a lovely park though!

Good-bye to Lyon.

Au revoir!

Study Abroad Week 4: Wine Tasting!

My favourite wine-tasting locale: the typical French cafe or brasserie.  Because why not?

 

CEA held an Introduction to Cheese and Wine Tasting session on Tuesday. About half the program as there, because due to the size of the program they broke it up into two sessions of about 15 people each.  It was interesting.  We got a little booklet explaining the principles of wine tasting, the regions of France and their respective wines, wine-making and bottling practices in France, and a little bit of information on how to distinguish the origin of a wine by the shape of its bottle.  Our region of France is apparently known for its rosés, and even with the few wines I've tasted thus far into the semester, I can understand why.  Rosés just have so much more distinction than I can detect in either red or white.  True, reds have far more character and whites are more subtle and elegant (disclaimer: not a wine taster.  Take my opinion on wines with many grains of salt), but the varieties and subtleties of rosés amazes me.  We also had a little introduction to the cheeses of France, and how to pair and balance them with wines. 

In cheeses, we had:

1. Fromage de chèvre (goat cheese); served spread on bread
2. Chausée des Moines
3. Brie
4. Cousteron
5. Compté
6. Emmental
7. Roquefort; served spread on bread
8. Saint-Félicien; served spread on bread

 So today I had a randomly selected rosé and the three B's: baguette, brie, and basil

In wines, we had a very "basic" red and rosé, and Monbazillac, a white dessert wine.  I fell in LOVE with the Monbazillac, to the point I know that is one bottle I am bringing back to the States in May. 

In the instructions for tasting wine:

• Sniff the wine, whole nose in the glass, and swirl it around the glass
• Look at the "legs" of the wine- the wine that remains on the glass after you stop swirling
• Sniff the wine and sip, swirling it in your mouth and chewing it
• Spit or swallow

The red wine I found incredibly spicy after tasting it by chewing, though simply fragrant and woody when I tasted it normally just before.  The rosé deepened its fruity flavour when I chewed it, and the Monbazillac had a very delicate taste after chewing, in contrast to its vry sweet taste before that.  With the other wines I've had this week, I've noticed that reds tend to be quite spicy.  I'm no sommalier, but I do find that these little wine tasting tips have added interest to tasting wine for me, beyond "I liked it" or "This is good but that was bad."  And I have 3 months in wine country left to develop this with local but fine and rather cheap fare!

One other thing that astounded me was how different the cheeses tasted before and after tasting the different wines. I never have liked Roquefort, but it tasted decent and even delicious after the rosé and the red, and the emmental, which I loved, tasted AWFUL after I sipped some red. Brie, my favourite cheese ever, tasted lackluster and even meh after the red wine, but okay after the rose, and delicious as ever after the Monbazillac.  The other cheeses tasted great throughout, although how they tasted to me changed throughout.  I wasn't the only one, either, and the wine tasting pamphlet did have a brief mention on how different wines affect the palate. All in all, it was a wonderful experience and very good introduction to getting familiar with why I liked this wine and didn't like this one, or what it was in this wine that made it taste different from that one.  It was great!

Au revoir!

Study Abroad Week 2: Chapelle de la Garoupe & Day Trip to Italy!

Left: A view of the old Roman wall and part of the Grimaldi castle the Musée de Picasso is housed in (way in the back.)  Right: Works by Germaine Richier in the plaza of the musée.

Last Sunday, January 12, the day after the French Riviera tour I posted about, CEA had an optional excursion to the Musée de Picasso and then to a lighthouse on a hill.  The museum is one of only a few museums in the world devoted to Picasso's works, because Picasso worked in Antibes and donated his works to the museum provided it became a museum devoted to him.  The museum was interesting- built in an in old Grimaldi castle- and after getting a little bit of history on the tour it seems Picasso was a despicable man.

Left:  La Vierge folle by Germaine Richier (1946).  Middle:  Sculpture by Arman, I believe it's Composition à base octogonale en tour montée (1982).  Right: Regrettably, I cannot seem to find the artist or name of this work.

There were some works other than Picasso's in the museum, which were simply stunning.  My favourites were some statuettes whose backs look over the museum onto the street below.  Their twisted bodies are visible from the street below, and just a week prior we had been wondering what they were, and now we got to see them- bronze and brown patina sculptures by Germaine Richier.

Left: That tiny little lighthouse is where the church we walked and hiked to is at.  Yes, this photo is taken at the starting point.  Middle: A portion of the Roman road that leads from the foot of the hill to the church.  Right:  A portal into the faery world.  No, really.  It's an arch in the Roman wall leading to a small park.

After the museum we walked along the beachfront to a lighthouse on a hill.  A distant lighthouse on a hill.  I still can't believe we walked all that way.  And to make it even better, to get to the lighthouse we had to hike up a Roman road.  The road was beautiful and well-preserved, along with large portions of its wall.  But man, was it STEEP!  Once we got to the top, though, there was an old church built in the dark ages that made it all worth it.

Left: Approaching the church from the Roman road.  Another fey view, from an archway of the church entrance.  Right: A postcard of the church I made for my grandma.

After the walk to the top we had a brief lunch there, and then headed down the same road- much easier this time around!  We found a cheap little bistro by the beachfront as well, and sat down to a real meal on the French Riviera.

Left:  Crêpe creme marron (crêpe with chestnut cream) and cafe au lait.   Right:  First bite!  Yummy!

Well, that was last Sunday.  Saturday and yesterday I had more adventures, but a bit more quiet!  It's been raining all week on the Riviera, and Saturday I went to Ventimiglia, Italy with three friends: two guys in our program and my roommate.  We nearly missed the invitation due to me wking up late , but we met up with them on time...then we missed our train.  But it was okay, because we caught the next one.  

That beautiful Italian river after the rain.  Gorgeous swimming ahoy!

It was also raining in Italy, which unfortunately dampened our exploring a bit, but we did get to explore the marketplace and the portion of Ventimiglia immediately surrounding the train station.  We had an authentic Italian dinner, which was what we were all excited for, with a red wine a friend treated the rest of us to.  I bought pesto to bring back with me, as it was MUCH cheaper in Italy than in Antibes.  My friend and I were able communicate rather well with Italian speakers using our Spanish, and vice-versa.  We were also all VERY happy to note that in Italy, they were playing Italian music, as opposed to the American and Spanish-language (mostly Caribbean) music played in France.  In two weeks I've old heard French music twice.  I cannot for the life of me understand why, it's beautiful...and we're in FRANCE.  Well, mini-rant over.  

One of my little hobbies is to occasionally look up Disney songs in other languages, particularly Japanese, Italian, Spanish, and French.  I went crazy on that with Frozen when I saw it right after The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug last month.  I totally fell in love with Frozen.  And yesterday I went to see it in French.  Now I don't speak French at all, but I most definitely do not have the bulk of Frozen memorized, especially "Let It Go" in 5 languages.  NOPE.  

Au revoir!~

P.S. Psst.  I have been doing some cooking here, mostly improvisation of recipes.  I try to have my camera around it as often as possible and take notes, so if you're into cooking check out my crafting blog as well.  Thanks!

Study Abroad Week 1- The French Riviera at a Glance

The whole group for the day one CEA program orientation.  Photo courtesy of the CEA Study Abroad- French Riviera Facebook page.

Here is the first of my posts regarding my study abroad experience.  Last Sunday, January 5th, I arrived at the Nice airport in France and was picked up by the program staff and driven to my housing in Antibes, France in the French Riviera.  The CEA staff, Kristin and Syvlie, are extremely nice- not only did they drop us off and give us keys, but they also showed us how to open our gate, walked us to our exact residence, and gave us orientation packets with a map of Antibes, bus routes, train routes, travel information, and everything you can possibly think of.  Monday we had the program orientation at a cafe they reserved for us, and we got the French take on the rosca de reyes for the Epiphany.  Kristin and Silvija then took us around the beachfront of Antibes, which is largely spanned by the remains of a beautiful Roman wall that surrounded the whole town until the 19th century.

Left: The gallete de rois for the Epiphany.  Right: The view of our street from the town square.

Tuesday was our school orientation at SKEMA Business School, and the rest of the week was spent on school until Saturday.  That was the best day of the week.  We toured the French Riviera by bus, first by a drive through Nice and a walk through the market place and the town square, followed by a stop at the Fragonard perfume factory in Grasse, which was, according to the tour guide, the perfume capital of the world.   I purchased a souvenir for one of my sisters there, as she is very much into perfume, while I am not.

Soap stall in the Nice marketplace.

After the perfume factory we went to the hilltop village of Éze, originally built as a fortified structure to protect against various invaders, such as the Romans and the Vikings.

A walkway in Éze and me posing with a statue outside the chapel.

After that, CEA took us into Monaco, where we had lunch, saw the Palais des Princes de Monaco and the changing of the guards there, and then toured the Cathedrale de Monaco.  Then came what we had all been waiting for: the visit to Monte Carlo.  That proved to be more disappointing than anything, as while I had indeed been expecting it to be classy, the casino was so quiet and so high class that it just felt stuffy and uncomfortable.  There are no cameras allowed in there, but the place was gorgeous and ornately decorated.  Most of us only remained for 5-7 minutes, although a pair did gamble before they lost approximately 50€ in 2 minutes.  I would have liked to have a drink in the Monte Carlo so that I could truly say I'd been there, but those were too pricey as well.  Taking pictures outside the Monte Carlo and the shopping square was an entirely different experience, though, and I had a lot of fun posing for these photos!

Top left: The changing of the guards at Monaco.  Top left: The Chapel of Monaco. Bottom left: Monte Carlo from the fountain.  Bottom right: The view to the left of Monte Carlo.

Au revoir!

Just a block or so off the Monte Carlo.