The walled city-Carcasonne


Hey everyone,

I don't like to blog unless I have something to say so here is an update on some of my latest travels: Montpellier

Last weekend, I was on one of the NYU-sponsored weekend trips. They organize 3 each semester for a Friday-Saturday overnight trip and this semester they were all to the south of France. I chose to go to the cities of Montpellier, Carcasonne, and Septe. Unfortunately, somehow all of my photos from this trip got lost in cyberspace :( but I will try to post others.


Montpellier and Carcasonne are some of the oldest cities in France. Montpellier is home to a small Arc of Triumph that we climbed up. It is so so tiny! Only 96 steps up! We got to see a good overview of the town. The town has a distinctly Mediterranean feel, with the typical architecture of the south of France, a beautiful opera house, and lots of palm trees. It is also a university town with tons of students, young people, and the oldest medical school in the Western world. We did a walking tour and got some free time to have lunch and explore.

Carcasonne

After that we hopped on the bus and went down to Carcasonne, a town known for its old town inside the medieval fortress. It used to be the seat of the local ruling nobles. We all decided it was actually the town they based Belle's town on in Beauty and the Beast. It was literally the same. A sing along of the opening song may or may not have happened. That night we went for a group dinner where we had cassoulet, the local regional dish that consists of sausage, white beans and duck confit. It smelled delicious but I stuck with the vegetarian fare which was very very good. The next day we took a walking tour of the old city and walked along the old ramparts.

Then we took a bus down to Sete, a harbor town right on the sea. We basically just got to do whatever we wanted. A group of us went to get some sandwiches and then we split in two: those who were going to die if they didn't sit on the rocky beach , or those of us who wanted to see the town. I obviously wanted to see the town. We walked along the canals, saw one of the fishing docks, and got some yummy ice cream. It was fun to see that town and apparently in France it is very well known for the fishing and gorgeous views of the Mediterranean. I got to see the beach anyway just before we left and it was great!


Sete

Today I decided to take a trip by myself. A while ago I was just getting tired of sitting around and waiting for other people to do things I wanted to do, so I just did some research and found something pretty great! I decided to go to Caen, which is located in Normandy in the north of France. I signed up for a full day group tour there. It is the home of the memorial and museum about World War Two and D-Day. There are many in France, but this one is in the actual region where the Allies came to liberate Europe. I learned little in the museum because I have studied it a lot, but the guide was great and we got to see a cool movie with footage of the invasion and saw some interesting artifacts, including newspapers published by the French Resistance and propaganda posters. We got some little books about D-Day included a cool comic book version I am sure Nate would love. Of course I am reading it too.


For the afternoon we had lunch at the museum, then went on a van ride through the area and out to the coast, seeing some of the major sights we talked about in the museum. We were able to walk around in abandoned German bunkers, see the British and American landing beaches and some ruins of the artificial harbors they built on the coast, and the American cemetary which was given to American by France to bury their dead soldiers. I saw quite a few Stars of David and even 4 women were allowed to be buried there which was interesting. They have a beautiful memorial there and seeing the beaches where the landings took place was pretty remarkable. You can definitely feel the spirits of the soldiers---no wonder nobody wanted to swim there again. I think if you are interested in modern history or have any connection to it, it will definitely interest you. Our guide was a local and she talked all about the history of the region as well. Normandy is very green and beautiful, mostly because it rains constantly. Even in the pouring rain our group had a very nice visit together and I would love to go back to the north again and see some of the famous cathedrals and such up there. Another time...I do have pictures from this however! They will be on Facebook soon.

Passover was also good here. I definitely missed being home, but it was an experience! The first night was wonderful thanks to my friend who got me a spot at his boss's Passover table, with a mix of French and Americans and everything else... delicious dinner! Second night I went to a community seder of the liberal synagogue I go to here. It was nice, but I was sitting at a table with lots of babies so I was very busy. I have learned that any seder that involves a microphone is not for me, but I definitely appreciated the kindness and generousity of the community. I left after dinner as most of the kids are falling apart and there was no Lori-friendly food option. Walking home in the warm spring night over the Seine with everything all lit up was definitely not a bad way to end my celebration of the holiday. Now I just have to avoid all the pastries and baguettes until Wednesday!

Spring Break is on. Paris then Rome for 5 days, Toulouse for 3. Write again soon.