Today was the big CEA trip to Vienne, France! Despite having
to wake up at 5 in the morning to get ready, pack up some stuff, meander to the
tram stop, and taking the tram to the train station to catch a 7 o’clock train,
I was really excited for this trip! We ended up arriving in Vienne in less than
two hours by train, and the city was really pretty! I only wish it wasn’t so
overcast – I can’t imagine how gorgeous the city would be bathed in sunshine!
We started our Vienne adventure by visiting the sidewalk sale / flea market
they were having in the middle of town. I love this flea markets, or brocantes, because they have so many
different things for sale, and for decent prices: clothes, jewelry, shoes,
scarves, makeup, food, ornaments, trinkets, and basically anything you’d think
of buying, you can find it at one of these flea markets! Me, I bought I nice
silver necklace that I added to my souvenir list (I won’t mention names –
souvenirs are a dish best served secret!). They had some really nice scarves too,
but I didn't buy any. I've found maybe 200 scarves here in France I’d like to
buy…it’s going to be quite some time before I finally settle on buying one!
After scouring the flea market, we all gathered back up and visited the St. Maurice Cathedral, a gorgeous chapel that stretched out for what seemed like forever. I didn't dare speak inside – I felt like my echoing footsteps were disturbing the peace enough! It was really amazing to see such an impressive cathedral and imagine the masses they hold. On the outside of the cathedral, I noticed something else interesting: Missing and /or damaged statues fixed on the walls of the cathedral, and they were removed or damaged during the French Revolution when the citizens of France rebelled against the Clergy and defaced their churches. It seems like everywhere I go in France, there is a touch of history – I love it!
After exploring through the cathedral, our group went to a very quaint restaurant to sit down for lunch. I fancied myself to a delicious salad with St. Marcellin cheese and chicken on top of a creamy lemon sauce, with a glass of white wine. Even our little American student tour group spent two hours around this delicious lunch… it’s as if we’re becoming French!
After our delicious lunch, we walked to the other side of town to visit the Gallo-Roman museum, where there was a site of an ancient roman city. This place was just too cool! It’s so hard to believe that Romans actually lived here at some point long ago, just living their everyday lives, going shopping, doing laundry, visiting saunas… aside from having public bathrooms with no privacy, they were sort of just like us! (Sort of.) The site also had the remains of one of the larger Roman houses that would have belonged to someone very important, and this house looked absolutely gorgeous, even if it hasn’t been in its prime in quite some time! It had stone benches in huge gardens, small fountains, small wooden terraces, it was fantastic! After visiting the site outside, we went back inside the museum to view the mosaics, statues, and other Roman artifacts that were on display. I was really impressed by the mosaics. I can’t imagine how much time and patience must have been put into making these works of art. Little itty-bitty tiles all coming together, hundreds of them, to make one large work of arts, as if it were painted on stone…it is truly remarkable! Speaking of remarkable, the museum also had a lot of fantastic statues, one of them being a statue of Aphrodite! Even if the statue of her does not have any arms, it is still a pretty remarkable work of art.
After visiting the museum, we travelled back across the river again and back into town where we visited an ancient Roman outdoor theatre that has been kept pretty well intact. Granted the stone stairways and seats used to be coated in marble way back in the day, it was still a fascinating structure. I climbed all of the steep stairs all the way to the top of the theatre (these Romans must have had fantastic legs), and I was welcomed by a beautiful view of the entire city of Vienne. Sort of like the view I get of Grenoble from the Bastille, only this time I was on top of a mountain of stairs! It really was such an incredible day. I learned a lot, got to saw a lot of amazing things, and best of all, I really got to take a moment and realize that humanity has been around for a very, very long time, and even in the times of the Romans they just lived their lives, day to day, much like we do nowadays: No big deal, just going to wake up, go shopping, make dinner, do some laundry…yet I wonder if one thousand years from now, people will look at my dinner table, look at my washing machine, or look at a coffee shop just down the street from my house and think “Wow, INCREDIBLE!” like I did today.
After scouring the flea market, we all gathered back up and visited the St. Maurice Cathedral, a gorgeous chapel that stretched out for what seemed like forever. I didn't dare speak inside – I felt like my echoing footsteps were disturbing the peace enough! It was really amazing to see such an impressive cathedral and imagine the masses they hold. On the outside of the cathedral, I noticed something else interesting: Missing and /or damaged statues fixed on the walls of the cathedral, and they were removed or damaged during the French Revolution when the citizens of France rebelled against the Clergy and defaced their churches. It seems like everywhere I go in France, there is a touch of history – I love it!
After exploring through the cathedral, our group went to a very quaint restaurant to sit down for lunch. I fancied myself to a delicious salad with St. Marcellin cheese and chicken on top of a creamy lemon sauce, with a glass of white wine. Even our little American student tour group spent two hours around this delicious lunch… it’s as if we’re becoming French!
After our delicious lunch, we walked to the other side of town to visit the Gallo-Roman museum, where there was a site of an ancient roman city. This place was just too cool! It’s so hard to believe that Romans actually lived here at some point long ago, just living their everyday lives, going shopping, doing laundry, visiting saunas… aside from having public bathrooms with no privacy, they were sort of just like us! (Sort of.) The site also had the remains of one of the larger Roman houses that would have belonged to someone very important, and this house looked absolutely gorgeous, even if it hasn’t been in its prime in quite some time! It had stone benches in huge gardens, small fountains, small wooden terraces, it was fantastic! After visiting the site outside, we went back inside the museum to view the mosaics, statues, and other Roman artifacts that were on display. I was really impressed by the mosaics. I can’t imagine how much time and patience must have been put into making these works of art. Little itty-bitty tiles all coming together, hundreds of them, to make one large work of arts, as if it were painted on stone…it is truly remarkable! Speaking of remarkable, the museum also had a lot of fantastic statues, one of them being a statue of Aphrodite! Even if the statue of her does not have any arms, it is still a pretty remarkable work of art.
After visiting the museum, we travelled back across the river again and back into town where we visited an ancient Roman outdoor theatre that has been kept pretty well intact. Granted the stone stairways and seats used to be coated in marble way back in the day, it was still a fascinating structure. I climbed all of the steep stairs all the way to the top of the theatre (these Romans must have had fantastic legs), and I was welcomed by a beautiful view of the entire city of Vienne. Sort of like the view I get of Grenoble from the Bastille, only this time I was on top of a mountain of stairs! It really was such an incredible day. I learned a lot, got to saw a lot of amazing things, and best of all, I really got to take a moment and realize that humanity has been around for a very, very long time, and even in the times of the Romans they just lived their lives, day to day, much like we do nowadays: No big deal, just going to wake up, go shopping, make dinner, do some laundry…yet I wonder if one thousand years from now, people will look at my dinner table, look at my washing machine, or look at a coffee shop just down the street from my house and think “Wow, INCREDIBLE!” like I did today.
 |
| Just a nature harp in a garden, no big deal. |
 |
| You can see the indents made in the cobblestone from the wheels of Roman carriages! |
No comments:
Post a Comment