Julie at Notre Dame Cathedral
Notre Dame and the Latin Quarter were the first places the Miner crew visited. They are in an older section of town and if you look down the streets you can see how narrow they are, with the cobblestones still in place. This is a chance to truly get the feeling of what medieval Paris felt like because many of these types of neighborhoods were torn down to make room for wider boulevards, especially during the nineteenth century. The streets are very beautiful and are lined with many cafés serving a variety of food. Flowers can be seen hanging off of some balconies and there seem to be flower stores on every corner. The French have an appreciation for fresh flowers and a love for fresh pastries. Israeli, Japanese, Parisian, and Italian are just a few of the types of delicious cuisine that you can find in Paris, which illustrates how diverse the city is. The Latin Quarter in Paris got its name because of the nearby university (the Sorbonne)—in the past, the students who attended spoke Latin.
Notre Dame is a beautiful Catholic cathedral that has Gothic attributes. Many beautiful stained-glass windows and arches are apparent throughout the building. Unique architecture with buttresses allows for the cathedral to have very high walls. Many people might be familiar with this cathedral because of Victor Hugo’s novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Julie gives a presentation on the Luxembourg Gardens.
Today, we also took a walk through the Luxembourg Gardens in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, which were commissioned by Queen Marie de Medici in 1612. We had a magical experience of enjoying the well-manicured gardens, observing the site of the queen’s palace, and watching the local French children play with sailboats in the fountain. We strolled among a variety of statues, many of them of prominent women. There are 106 statues in total. Throughout Paris most of the statues are of prominent men that had an effect on Parisian history, thus it was a unique attribute of this particular garden to have so many women.
As the Missouri S & T Miners strolled along the romantic park we came upon the Orangerie du Sénat, a large building situated next to the Queen’s palace. We entered an inspiring photography exhibition produced by photographer Marie-Hélène Le Ny. It was called Infinités plurielles and included portraits of 145 diverse women scientists whose specialties include chemistry, history, astrophysics, philosophy, and biology, for example. These researchers or engineers are described in detail with the important work or research they have conducted. Le Ny’s goal is to inspire other women to reach for the stars and try to make a difference in this world, too. The France 2015 Miners Abroad group is a diverse group of women and we all connected with several of the stories the Le Ny’s portraits told.
Our group got to meet artist Marie-Hélène Le Ny.
As we were walking through the exhibit the artist of the exhibit came and chatted with us. We were able to practice a little French and connect deeply with a woman on the other side of the world. She may speak a different language than we do but the message and struggle is the same. It can be a tough world out there but it is important to hold your head up high and push through tough struggles to reach important milestones. Our troupe of Miner women took silly pictures with her and declared that we would carry on the message to be strong and become leaders in the world by pursuing our interests with passion. Here is a link for the artist where you can read more about her: http://www.mariehelene-leny.fr
À tout à l’heure!
]]>The most important thing that I learned from my trip from Paris is the amount of history still embedded in the city its self. It was amazing to see all of the buildings from World War I and II still in commercial use today. The buildings were used for everything from furniture factories to holding places for Jews. This trip has personally affected me in a positive way. I love traveling abroad and learning about new cultures and this trip has made me more curious than ever. I loved my adventures in Paris and it was an experience I won’t soon forget. ]]>
The eternal flame at Mt. Valérien
At the beginning of the trip to Mont-Valérien we traveled to an area just outside of the city of Paris. We walked up a hill towards the fort, and at the entrance we saw a giant wall and an open area in front. The area in front was symbolic of France in the fact that it was made to represent the French flag. The steps were blue, the middle was beige to represent white, and the path around the middle was red. The flame in front was called the “eternal flame” which burns in memory of the Resistance. [The Resistance leader Charles DeGaulle dedicated the memorial site on 18 June 1960, the anniversary of his call for Resistance from London.]
Memorial bell
The beginning of our exploration of Mont-Valérien began with the tour guide telling us a brief history of the fort. It was built in 1841 when King Louis Phillipe was ordering forts to be built around Paris in order to have a better defense system. 16 forts were built (Mont–Valérien is built on the highest ground) in the shape of a star for strategic purposes, making them almost impenetrable. The points made it easier to not only defend Paris from enemies but also spot them as they approach. Mont-Valérien has 2 ½ km of walls and during the 4 year Nazi Occupation the fort was used as an execution site. [The victims executed were resisters and hostages taken in reprisal for Resistance activities, mainly Communists and Jews.] I found all of this information very enlightening considering the very few things I knew about the fort before the tour. Next, we went inside the memorial and up the stairs. Our first stop was at a tunnel where they used to keep the animals that helped build and run the fort. On the other side of that tunnel was where the actual executions took place. Afterwards we went up the stairs until we reached the top of the hill. The area was very peaceful and heavily forested. The top was cleared and there stood a museum, a church, and a bell-shaped monument.
Inside the museum you can learn about victims and the history of the Resistance
The museum held a lot of interesting information such as about how the Germans put a V for victory on the Eiffel Tower to try to deter the Resistance. The one thing in there that made this fort very eerie to be in was the last letters the victims sent to their families. Out of the 1,009 people executed there, they have 19 of these letters on display. As one of the letters was read you could hear the emotion behind the words, and I couldn’t even imagine how hard it would be to have to write something like that. The next thing was the church right by the museum that was called the “antechamber of death.” It used to be used for mass but during the Occupation they used it to hold the prisoners for up to eight hours before their execution. On the walls are still traces of the messages some of the prisoners left before their execution. It was fascinating but at the same time surreal to see something like that.
Inside the chapel where prisoners were held in the moments and hours before their executions
Our tour guide told us that not many Americans go to see Mont-Valérien because the U.S wasn’t involved in the executions that occurred and the memory of it. Everything there was in French because mostly Frenchmen were executed there and French go there to honor the fallen. [Foreigners were also executed.] I felt like we were trespassing a little since it was so heavily in a French point of view, but at the same time I was honored that I had the opportunity to see something like this that many don’t get to see. My time at Mont-Valérien was both a humbling and great experience that I won’t forget.
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