lyon

Everything has officially ended here; since I am staying until Tuesday morning I now have a bit of time with which I can write and things like that. Mostly everyone has left too, so I probably will not be going out every night like I had been. In fact, a Sunday would normally be slow, because most all the cafés and shops are closed, buses run less frequently, and people don’t really walk the streets.

Last Saturday I visited Lyon for a day. Such is the transportation system in France that one can do such things. Two friends and I hopped on a TGV from Dijon, arrived in Lyon about an hour and a half later, and did the same thing to return home. Lyon is one of the oldest cities in France; it was a Roman colony over 2000 years ago (and on the left bank of the river Saône one can still visit Roman ruins). It is the 3rd largest city, and the seat of the Roman Catholic church in France. Anyways, it is probably the coolest city in France - much better than Paris! Although there are close to 2 million inhabitants (and we were there on the first Saturday of the Soldes, the nationwide clothing sale month), the pace of city life seemed a fair bit less hectic and rushed. And Lyon is cleaner, with fresher air (probably because there are two rivers which run through the city rather than one). And Lyon is colorful!

The train station is in the far east of the city, in the business district known as Part-Dieu. The buildings there are kind of ugly and modern. So we got off the train and quickly walked west. Once we crossed the Rhône, things started to get much nicer. The part of the city between the two rivers is called Presqu’île because the run rivers run around it to create a peninsula of sorts. It is the heart of the city of Lyon, with the most stores, apartment buildings and parks. The streets are wide, to accomodate heavy pedestrian and automobile traffic. Similar to Paris, shops occupy the ground floor of apartment buildings, and streets lead from plaza to plaza.

After wandering a bit, we crossed the Saône to visit Vieux-Lyon, where there are many many churches, old things, and the ruins of the Roman city of Lugdunum. We had heard that Lyon is the food capital of France (something I had never heard about before) and that had been part of our motivation for going. So we had been keeping eyes out the whole time for a good-looking restaurant. We found one called La Gargouille (”the gargoyle”) by an old church, with, appropriately, lots of gargoyles on it. We ordered a menu, which for only 15,80 euros brought us an entree, a plat principal, and a dessert. And the food was absolutely phenomenal! Although not better than that one Lyonnais place that we visited in Blois (ironically enough).

Then we just walked around the city more and more. It was fantastic. From up on a hill in Vieux-Lyon, the city reminds me of Florence, with the skyline of red roofs and brick chimneys and church steeples. It is absolutely beautiful and everyone should go, given the chance!!

CLICK HERE to see my other photos from Lyon.

au bèze, baises

A week left and there remains plenty to do and see. Today though I managed to pack quite a bit in: I’m trying to work through a list before I have to leave. It seems to be always the same experience as the end of a stay approaches - that all the things one wants to do have yet to be done. And time runs out. As Baudelaire said, “le Temps mange la vie” (Time wastes life away).

Instead of our usual two-hour Friday class, our teacher took us to the Musée de la Vie Bourguignonne, where there are artifacts and exhibits showcasing daily life in 18th/19th century Dijon. There was even a model street with model shops dating from the turn of the century. We had a guided tour, which was surprisingly comprehensible. It might have been just because today is one of those days where one feels really comfortable with the language and conversation. When learning a language in situ, one always has ups and downs, days where one cannot express anything. But then there are days where one can go on and on, and it feels great. So today and yesterday have felt like that, and I am happy.

Then five of us from USC went with our professor to a town called Bèze about 30 kilometers outside of Dijon (so in the country). I am not sure exactly what is so special about the town, though. We had lunch in a nice restaurant (duck, wine, cheese, crème caramel) and then wandered a bit. We then got a tour of some caves, where there is an underground river (or source) which feeds the River Bèze. It was quite nice. The cool thing is what is called a formule. It is essentially a lunch menu, usually fairly cheap, that includes the main plate, sometimes an entrée, cheese, desert, and coffee. It arrives in courses, and all one has to do is order it (without specifying the dishes, because they are predetermined). Extremely efficient and extremely good - typically French, I might say.

A free weekend awaits. Tomorrow I am going to Lyon for the day, just to wander around with the other two guys from USC. Yes, we are outnumbered greatly by females…10 to 3 or something like that. Lyon is supposed to be the food capital of France, so I am looking forward to what I will find. And yesterday I saw the film Valse avec Bashir (Waltz with Bashir), a somewhat surreal, animated (in the A Scanner Darkly style) film about the 1982 Sidon massacre and an Israeli soldier’s recurring nightmares about it. I recommend it, although I am going to have to watch it again in English to make sure I understand everything.

CLICK THESE WORDS to view my latest photo album (pictures from Bèze and Dijon).

chateaux de Loire, 2e

Chambord, built by François I (but never lived in by him). It has 365 chimneys, one for each day of the year and immense grounds. It was built partially for the purpose of hosting hunting events for the king and his court.

François I himself. He possessed many many chateaux. He even built one for his mistress, Diane of Poitiers: Chenonceau.

Chenonceau straddles the Loire river. I suggested that it would have been neat to have trap floors, which could collapse at any time, sending whoever was standing on them tumbling into the rushing Loire below. It would be convenient if you wanted to get rid of a whole diplomatic group or something like that, yes?

chateaux de la loire, 1e

This weekend was a school trip to the Loire valley, for the purpose of visiting several famous chateaux and cathedrals in towns situated on the Loire (a long, winding, highly un-navigable, and very swift river, in France). All of the students from USC, along with a professor from the Université de Bourgogne, took a bus Saturday morning from Dijon and returned again Sunday night.

We first stopped at Orléans, an (obviously) famous city dating from before the Middle Ages. One of the most important cities during the “100 Years War” between ‘France’ and ‘England,’ Orléans was besieged by several thousand English soldiers (as well as many French mercenaries) for years. As is (or should be) familiar to everyone, a random shepherd girl came out of nowhere to convince the French leaders to try different tactics (i.e. counter-attack), directed the French army, and drove off the British. That was Jeanne d’Arc. Later, the Burgundians (i.e. the people of the region where Dijon is located) captured her and handed her over to the British for a large sum of money.

The cathedral of Orléans is magnificent. Many meters in height, it dwarfs the city. The stonework is so ornate and intricate that it is difficult to imagine it being built in less than several hundreds of years. It is covered with statues, windows, gargoyles, reliefs, flying buttresses, arches, vaults. It is such a feat of architecture that I can not even imagine anyone today commissioning such a place to be built, much less anyone capable of building such a place. Ah, for the days of kings, when one could just command the building of something cool and have it done….right?

For example, one of the chateaux that we visited, Chenonceau, was commissioned by king François I (who by the way lived in probably tens of different chateaux) for his mistress, Diane of Poitiers. His mistress! Not even his real wife. Although the latter eventually got jealous and kicked her out, taking Chenonceau for herself. That one is amazing, too: it is built right over (!) the Loire, in a manner that reminds one of London Bridge (a few ponts with buildings resting on top). Quite, quite cool. Plus there was a labyrinth in one part of its vast and well-manicured grounds. There was also a neat contraption attached to the spits in front of a huge fireplace. The contraption consisted of several gears connected to an iron counterweight which hung out the kitchen window. One would wind the gears, then release a pin, and the counterweight would slowly descend, turning the spits over the fire in the process. A medieval (in the sense of from that age, not in the sense of backward) piece of technology!

More later! For now, check out my latest photo album, here.

beaucoup de bruit…pour rien

[literal translation: a lot of noise for nothing. can you guess which play of shakespeare's that refers to?]

Last night I went to a play at a theater in Dijon. Formerly a very old cathedral, the building of Parvis Saint-Jean has been converted into the permanent home for theater in Dijon. The play was going to be “beacoup de bruit pour rien” put on by a very famous French theater troup called 26,000 Couverts, noted for their excellent interpretations and mise-en-scène.

At least I had thought I was going to go to a play. When I arrived at the cathedral, it’s fire alarm was going off and there was a mass of people waiting outside the building on the steps. After inquiring what exactly was going on and if one could buy tickets, I was told to wait for the alarm to stop and that the play would be started as soon as possible. But they had little success in shutting off the alarm. The waiting crowd began to get frustrated and shout out comments. A woman who was apparently a manager of some sort came out and tried to explain the situation, eventually saying that the director (!) had got fed up and left, and that the actors would try to put on the show without him. Meanwhile, the fire alarm continued to sound. Some actors came out to the top of the stairs, in full costume and make up, and tried to appease the crowd, even performing a short extract from the play. After about 40 minutes, the manager-woman (who was absolutely frazzled and freaking out) announced that the play would be cancelled. So sorry, it was the last night, so they could not re-do it tomorrow.

But since everyone was unsettled and a crazy homeless guy with a guitar was singing and shouting, the actors decided to move the whole crowd right around the corner into the middle of the street and perform another scene. The actors passed out felt pads to sit on, and formed the about hundred-strong audience into a circle. A stagehand then brought a metal pan into the middle of the circle and lit a fire in it. Meanwhile the manager-woman was screaming that they did not have authorization to perform in the street or light fires and that surely the police would come. Meanwhile the crazy homeless guy was playing his guitar and singing (annoying more than several people, including some of the actors). One of the female actors stalked away and disappeared. At last three male actors got a scene together and began reciting lines. But the crazy homeless guy would not stop interrupting with his guitar or his singing or both! Another actor got upset and stalked off.

Madness descended. A female member of the audience kept interrupting with snide comments. A professorial-looking man kept going on about it was “true shakespeare” because original shakespeare was performed in open air and in the streets. The manager-woman was freaking out and screaming at the homeless guy, who stuck his whole head in the fire to light his cigarette. But the audience was, for the most part, enjoying the whole scene. When the manager-woman tried to kick out the homeless guy for good, he asked her name. She responded “france.” He then ran around her in circles, yelling “I’m making the tour de france!!” Absolute confusion.

Then the female actor who had left came back and demanded that at least they perform some real shakespeare, so everyone could hear his poetic words. She began to recite lines from Romeo and Juliet. But there was no Romeo. A man in the audience stood up and began reciting! The enacted the dialogue for a bit before the man forgot the next line, apologizing, for it had been 30 years since he had acted the part of Romeo. But the little dialogue had really made her ecstatic. They left holding hands.

Then huge pink flares went off behind us and a 10 foot tall zombie appeared! He pointed at various actors and members of the audience, saying “You!” They all gathered around the fire in the center of the circle. Then they all held hands, sang a song in archaic English, and took bows. What?!?!

And then we understood….it had been much ado…..about nothing!

on commence à comprendre

First: a link (i.e. for clicking) to my photo album with pictures of Dijon.

The previous posts haven not really focused on my personal doings so much, it seems. I suppose that is because there is so much going on around me - politically, socially, and culturally - that I hardly have time to really think about what I myself am doing (outside of language class). After having written blog posts last summer also, I have more of a mind to write about those kinds of things - the state of such-and-such in France, the history of Dijon, the food - in a more personally detached manner. In any case, I will just write here a little bit about what I do.

I take language classes at the Université de Bourgogne, Dijon campus. It is a bit south of the city center, and has a pretty nice campus - lots of open space and cherry trees (with ripe cherries!) - but most of the buildings are old and in disrepair. And there is plenty of graffiti: on the desks, chairs, walls, windows, rocks. But most of it is interesting and not usually obscene. I shall post pictures later. We have about 4 hours of language class per day (I placed into the highest level, along with two other students from USC) and then 6 hours of lecture per week. The lectures change by week (last week was Surrealist literature, this week is French social protest songs of the 18th century - obscure, I know) and are delivered in French by French professors. They are sometimes difficult to follow, but not usually too bad. Then the group from USC has a weekly meeting with the instructor who came with us (USC has had a program in Dijon for more than 25 years), for which we usually prepare some short homework as well.

The classes so far are marvelous! We do not just sit around doing boring grammar exercises (though those comprise part of the homework), but we read different texts, have extensive class discussions, and do presentations. We have also had to write several redactions and had an examen today (which was, like, difficult). The students come from all over (Russia, Japan, USA, Ireland, Greece) and make up a really dynamic group, nearly all of whom have strong French skills and are motivated. We usually try to speak French amongst ourselves outside of class, too; and it is the only way of communicating with those who do not also speak English.

My days so far have consisted of class, 2-hour lunches (what would you expect in France?), lectures, and then wandering about the city center looking for interesting things to do with friends. Then I have dinner with my family (who is absolutely amazing!), do homework if I need to (while keeping the French news on in the background), and then head out to meet up with friends in town for dessert, drinks, more walking, and the like.

Speaking of walking, I do about several miles each day (and I have found time to go jogging, too). I live about 25 minutes walk from the campus - a great way to wake up and focus before class! - and about 20 minutes from the city center. Even though there is an amazing bus system, it does not run after about midnight, so I end up walking home if I stay out late. Which happens inevitably.

les grèves

Yesterday there was a grève (strike) in Dijon (and also I think in many other places in France). Workers from the various public transportation companies (SNCF, RATP, etc) did not go to work, marching instead through the streets and finally ending up in the Place de la Liberation - the city’s large main plaza, where trucks outfitted with speakers stopped and various people gave speeches.

Although I knew that there would be a strike (more about how I know that in a moment), I did not know when - but I fortunately had my camera with me when wandering the streets after classes!

Strikes and demonstrations work a little bit differently in France than in America. First of all, everyone in any régime (job sector) has the right to strike. Strikes must be announced ahead of time, though, and in most cases a “minimum service” must be kept. For example, though yesterday all the public transportation workers were striking, they still kept a minimum of one bus running an hour during the day (flyers had been posted on bus stops several days beforehand to warn people). So it was quite a bit exciting to be walking down the same street as a few hundred people with banners, speakers, crazy t-shirts, and the like. But what made it most interesting was the fact that it was not a “protest, per se. People were not protesting against whale-killing or wildlife extinction, etc. They were campaigning for better working conditions, in this case - I believe - a certain number of shifts per week and certain conditions about retirement.

After I arrived home, I showed my host family the pictures I had taken, but they were somewhat unimpressed, explaining that strikes happen all the time in France. Which, of course, is true (there’s been 3 or 4 in the past week for various reasons) but I have never really experienced something like that.

dijon, the beginnings

I’ve been in Dijon nearly a week now, and have several comments about the city. First, a little description: Dijon is a city of about 150,000 people, about an hour and a half south east of Paris by TGV. It’s in the region of Burgundy - the same Burgundy famous for wine and escargot. Of course, as everyone knows, Dijon itself is famous for its mustard (which alas is made these days with seeds which are imported from Canada - not to worry, my French teacher assured me, what matters most is the recipe with which the mustard is made) and for kir, an alcoholic beverage made from cream of cassis (blackcurrant liquor) and white wine.

The city itself is very old, having been founded way back in the Middle Ages. Many wealthy individuals built large houses (known as hotels particuliers) which have mostly been converted into apartments. The apartment building in which I live with my host family was built on a section of land which used to be part of the grounds surrounding a very large mansion just to the south of Dijon. After the original owner died in the 1800’s, the land was split up into a very large park (Parc de la Colombière) and other smaller parcels. The centre-ville of Dijon is beautiful, populated by many medieval churches, some cathedrals, the aforementioned hotels particuliers, old market spaces, and of course cafés and shops. There are also several Places - large plazas with fountains, arches, monuments, or all three. And, as one would expect from an old town, the streets are often narrow and winding. But none of that means that Dijon doesn’t have a modern transportation system. In fact, it had the first Metro bus network in all of France - one which is extremely easy to use. There is even a small mini-metro which goes only around downtown (not the outlying areas) and is completely free.

The weather is very temperamental, though. It has rained each day I’ve been here, for a few minutes or an hour; the rest of the day is usually sunny and relatively warm. Most people are in the habit of carrying umbrellas…and I don’t own one. So the other day I was walking around downtown when an evening hailstorm hit, and had to hide out in a storefront alcove for nearly an hour. Still don’t own an umbrella, though. But I’ve been walking everywhere because it is a nice walk both to the university where I take my intensive French course and to downtown (I live about a mile or a bit more south of the main downtown area). The convenient thing is that one can cross the street whenever one feels like it without having to worry about cops catching jaywalkers. That helps a bit with shortcuts, sometimes.

city of lights

After spending a few days in Paris, one can, I think, rather easily come away with two observations: every major American city pales in comparison to it, and nearly everyone is very good-looking and well put-together.

Let me elaborate some on the first (and actually as equally obvious as the second) observation. The Parisian public transportation system is admirable. In addition to street level buses (which run nearly around the clock), there are two types of subway/trains: the RER and the Metro. The RER lines are major lines that run across nearly the entire Ile-de-France, capable of transporting people throughout the banlieues and into the city. The Metro are shorter but more numerous lines, which crisscross the city underground and have numerous stops, allowing one to move from one major intersection, square, or plaza to another with minimal walking. Then there is the TGV (train à grande vitesse), which are high-speed (about 186 mph) trains networked throughout western Europe. I am writing this as I take the TGV from the Gare de Lyon in Paris to Dijon, where I’ll be staying for the next month.
It may seem like these various transportation systems are complicated, but that is most definitely not the case. The Metro in particular is extremely easy to use (especially if one purchases a weekly or monthly pass), and trains run every 5 or 6 minutes at the most. Imagine how public life could improve in many American cities if their backward and minimal public transportation systems were updated!

Another nice aspect of Parisian life which is more a personal opinion than realistic analysis is its pedestrian nature (pedestrian as in walking, walkable, etc, that is). See, there is no such thing as a storefront parking lot, nor are there neighborhoods (i.e. of houses only), nor are there for the most part houses. Like in Cairo (which is modeled nearly exactly on Paris - see above picture), most buildings comprise shops on the first floor (rez-de-chausée in French) and housing on the second and higher floors. The buildings open directly onto the street. This structure enables people to easily walk around when running errands, shopping, visiting someone, or just moving from one place to another. Thus, one sees hundreds of people walking throughout the city. People hang out in public spaces (which are far more numerous in Paris than in American cities), take walks together as a form of hanging out, and sit in streetside cafés (there is no such thing as a non-streetside café anyway). All this leads to a life in which it seems that Parisians are very in touch with their city and with one another, by nature of being so close to and sharing public space with so many people. Although people drive, the streets are typically one or two lanes and it seems that people just enjoy walking or making use of the incredible public transportation system to move around. It’s an aspect of city life which I, as someone who enjoys spending time outdoors in a city, envies.

In a word, one might describe Paris as branché (French slang for “with it”). Whatever you choose “it” to be, Paris is most certainly with it.

check out, by the way, my first photo album, “days in paris, nights in paris“.

Qaddafi’s state visit to France

I am a few days late with this news (due to final exams and such). The only media covering the Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi’s official visit to France (which if you look at the above image, shows the success of the visit) was Le Monde (for obvious reasons…but one would think that British or American papers would at least mention it). Anyways, here is my take.

In an article titled “Mouammar Kadhafi contredit le president français sur la question des droits de l’homme,” Le Monde quoted the Libyan dictator as expressing concern over racism against North African immigrants in France: “Nous sommes dans le pays qui parle des droits de l’homme. Y a-t-il certains de vos droits qui ne sont pas appliqués ?” A very diplomatic way to start off an official visit - of course, Qaddafi has not been known for his diplomacy, or sanity, in the past. He commented to the National Assembly “Avant de parler des droits de l’homme, il faut vérifier que les immigrés bénéficient chez vous de ces droits.”

Check out this slideshow of photos from around the world on December 11. The 2nd image is of Parisians protesting against Qaddafi’s visit - it is interesting to see that some French would take such a position. Maybe they do not want Sarkozy to be tempted by Qaddafi’s schemes of uniting with other countries.

Here’s an article quoting some of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s remarks to the media on Qaddafi’s visit. Sarkozy seemed quick to defend himself from any unsaid allegations, asking reporters to recall his previous involvements with human rights and in dealing with the 2005 riots, in case they had forgotten.

Qaddafi the next day went on to criticize international involvement in the Darfur crisis, claiming that if the world were to leave Darfurians alone, to cope with their own problems, then the crisis would end itself. What a dumb idea. I really hope that international leaders speak out against him on that count; it is one of the most inhumane solutions to any kind of crisis that one can come up with. It is obvious that Qaddafi does not himself want to be involved in Darfur, but that certainly does not mean that others should feel the same way.

You can see in the above image the Libyan dictator’s green pin of the continent of Africa. Remember back a few months ago, when he visited West Africa, he called for a ” United States of Africa?” He has apparently still been going on with that idea. Although every time he has tried to create a United Arab state with another country, it has ended in either a border war, or absolutely terrible diplomatic relations with that country. He also praised the Euro for ending the “hegemony of the dollar,” and talked about the “collapse of the United States’ empire.”

He did say one intelligent thing, however, when he talked about the rights of nations to develop and possess nuclear weapons. He said (here, in Le Monde) “Pourquoi certains pays auraient-ils le droit de posséder des armes de destruction massive ? Il faut qu’elles soient interdites à tous ou permises à tous.” I am sure that other leaders have made this point before, as well. It is something that Mahmoud Ahmedinejad would agree with. And why should Iran (and other nations - Pakistan, Libya, Mexico…) not be able to have nuclear power, at the very least?