this post is dedicated to chandler goeckeritz who, when i announced my discovery that my 13th great-grandfather was the king of norway, told me that there's no such thing as princesses. and that in fact, they were just something disney made up to suck in little girls.


false, elder goeckeritz. very false indeed cause I FINALLY SAW SOME CASTLES THAT LOOKED LIKE A PRINCESS COULD LIVE THERE. after fortress upon fortress i saw some real pretty, once in a lifetime stuff. so here are my brief thoughts on each.

mont saint michel: everyone in the world is about to tell me REAGAN this is not a castle it's a monastery you are a mess. and to this i say TRUE but it also looks like a castle. as in tangled. as in it's on a mini island in the middle of the ocean and looks fake and i love it. and there are a lot of stairs.

angers: highlight was the tour guide explaining that you could tell which armies were of the devil in the tapestry because their uniforms resembled that of england. i thought of tyler dodd. also we barely got to see that actual fortress so, tears.

ussé: TEN FOR TEN WOULD RECOMMEND. full blow sleeping beauty manequins set up, bit creepy, but the castle itself is charming and tucked away in the forest and i can 100% picture a slightly bewildered prince wandering through those woods and coming across a beauty fast asleep, locked in that tower. so so so pretty.

me not waiting for prince charming cause mission

azay le rideau: cute and little and if you stuck your head out the window over the river it smelled really good. ask micah. also very intrigued that it is a renaissance castle built on top of the remnants of a medieval castle. history upon history, literally.

chambord: J'AIME. J'AIME THE MOST. ask me if i was already emotionally compromised after finishing les mis for the first time ever, because i was. and then i played the beauty and the beast soundtrack instead of listening to our guide who actually spoke full blown franglish, and then went back to the les mis soundtrack because EMOTIONALLY COMPROMISED. also this chateau had the most beautiful out of all beautiful photographs showcased here of the woods surrounding the castle. like, breathtaking. ah. dead.

amboise: ALL I WANTED WAS TO SEE SISTER ABIGAIL NEWELL AGAIN IN TOURS. but alas, it was not to be. but i did see leonardo de vinci's grave so you win some you lose some i guess.


blois: let's just take a moment to appreciate that this town/castle is literally pronounced "blah". or close enough. interesting. i ran past this castle in the morning and then liked it. and then went inside in the afternoon and really just wanted to get back to my sweet lil bus so wasn't overly pleased BUT more fun love triangles with Henry + Catherine +Diane. a baby girl with a disease that gave her hair all over her body. very fun, very fun.

chenonceau: i genuinely think i already wrote about this but because i LIVE TO BLOG and BLOG TO LIVE i'll hit it again real quick. (zero to a hunna real quick). cute castle. on the river. world war 1 soliders fishing out of the windows. kennan dodging pigeons. madeline and anneka assigning everyone their respective residences on the grounds. fresh flowers everywhere. more love triangle. YAY. seriously loved this one.





okay and NOW I AM HERE IN NICE! ALIVE AND WELL IN THIS CUTE BEACH TOWN! thank you for your time. also if you note the extreme lack of photos it's cause i LOST my camera memory card so there were some tears.

last week i lived on a bus, a bus that i willingly would call home. and i miss my bus. not only because within my little row of seats i had a functional pantry, a theatre, a bed, and a bookshelf, but because that bus took me all over france and to literal FAIRYTALE places. castles upon castles. i cannot even tell you all the crazy things i saw.


BUT I SHALL TRY


okay the photos that follow hail from the first two days (I think). Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery in Normandy was truly, truly incredible. sacred ground. on the anniversary of D-Day, no less. I've been studying these things my entire life, from history classes in elementary school to my political science major at BYU, I have always been fascinated by this period in history. I think that more than any other time in history, this second world war was more good versus evil. light and dark. I think that this war was fought on both sides of the veil, at one time or another, and that for once good guys and bad guys were not simply defined politically, but by hate. this, this is why walking between those crosses. those stars of david, the crescents of ramadan. those are boys and girls, lying beneath your feet, who gave it all so that one more beach, one more mile, one more day could be free.

here we go here we go it's three am and my cute host mom is wondering why on earth I'm still up and actually same but last three walks and then never again will I speak of these lol

WALK SEPT: Marais 1: Places des Vosges and Musée Carnavalet

well when I did this there was slight chaos considering the fact that a solid portion of paris is UNDERWATER (don't worry mom I'm taking a bus out of this city first thing in the morning) butttttt I do still love the Marais area in general. couldn't quite picture it as a swamp. but I did seriously love seeing the historical buildings, cause for the ninth time #polisci. lovvved victor hugo's house as well. beautiful and inspiring. and how cool to stand where all these influential people have stood/lived/slept/wrote world changing books? very good, very good.

ps if you want the photos from this (@ professor lebras) feel free to let me know, just having techincal difficulties getting them from my phone to the laptop :(

WALK QUINZE: Saint-Ouen's Labyrinth: Navigating the World's Largest Flea Market

look I'm all for shopping and digging about and finding treasures in flea markets but this was un PEU sketch. very happy that madeline got her leather bag, and that we got to witness dina bartering in arabic to do so but after the 23rd scary man tried to sell me a selfie stick for ten euros i was dooooonnne. still a good experience though. a learning experience. walk fast, do not pause if you have no desire to be swarmed. always keep at least one arabic speaking friend around when navigating flea-market type situations.

WALK VINGt-ET-UN: Get Lost! The Anti-Walk Walk

for sure completed this like 500 times. do not even know where to begin describing this. but probably our most successful "pick a random stop and get off" experience led to the discover of KOI!!!! just a happy japanese restaurant with a really good three-for-eleven-euros menu which insured our return. multiples returns, actually. also found the canadian embassy so #missionbound! (ps found it in belgium this weekend too so yeah).


go team, goodnight. <3

good news I actually may enjoy writing this blog post cause it's about CULTURAL ACTIVITIES! as in the three times I said "hey I'm in France so now I'm going to participate in this distinctly French things" and it went real well, except for a few shambles situations but we would expect nothing less.

1: LES CATACOMBES

roughly 900 people told me I had to check this out so when the homies had time to kill in Paris after their meetings we said "lessgo", and then we did. considering the fact that it was me and a group of seven boys I probably enjoyed it the least out of everyone but STILL was a huuuuge fan. learned so much about the city. wanted nothing more than to know the stories of all the people whose bones rest there. and also, the idea that only a teeny portion of the catacombes are open, let alone explored? k seriously field trip or something???/ would die to see the rest of those. what a strange idea, we're wandering around on top of another reality. or at least, the reality of a few centuries ago.


2: MONET'S HOUSE @ GIVERNY

rain upon rain upon rain but WHO CARES WE ARE IN THE PRESENCE OF GENIUS! also the umbrellas were 30 euros so that was a downside but we good everyone. we good. spent an afternoon wandering monet's gardens, transfixed by the water lilies, both painted and literal. people cross oceans to see those works, it was incredible to be there.


3: FRENCH OPEN @ ROLAND-GARROS

okay people here is where my dreams come true. here is where the fourteen-year-old reagan on a tennis court somewhere in montana, playing a tournament amidst heat stroke wanted to be. I was on the same court as serena williams people. the bryan brother walked past me. we accidentally bought premium tickets and they fed us salmon and steak and green-tea ice cream for freeeeeeee (which resulted in a not-so-brief infirmary visit for anneka LITERALLY SADDEST THING EVER micah and i were very nearly having sympathy allergic reactions). but it's okay, it's okay everyone. i actually can't talk about this anymore because the remaining events of the day were beyond tragic BUT still worth it. still just so beyond thrilled to have seen those clay courts. magic, again.

thirteen and fourteen here we gooooooooo and for you french speakers:

WALK TREIZE et QUATORZE!

Seizième Arrondissement: Guimard and Monet:

dina-rina and I hit this one hard. very good power walking through the neighborhoods of Paris' high and mighty. some highlights? okay it wasn't chronologically first but I ADORED the Marmatton Museum. even though I had to pay to get in. which is for real saying something. dina and I made friends with the kindest security guard, then escaped our never-ending conversation and happily sat in silence, surrounded by monet's and all other kinds of magic. also the political science nerd in me loved the note about the "CD" on license plates indicating a representative of a foreign government????? cool stuff friends.

Eighteenth-Century Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous: Musée Jacquemart-André, Musée Nissim de Camondo Museums, Parc Monceau:

NEW FAVE PARK. to the point that i got to meet up with miss sara joy davis here later last week, and then returned again to kill some time with dina, and another time purely to eat ice cream. honestly overall I liked the huitième better than the seizième. so take notes future husband s'il vous plaît. both hôtels particuliers were loooooovely. empty, luckily. so us girls were free to wander and picture ourselves in the nineteenth century. long live the eighth arrondissement.

WALK DEUX: Discover the Metro

maybe possibly did this walk too thoroughly, as in i have spent wayyyyy more time than recommended all alone wandering the french metro system the past two months. my assessment? big fan of the Franklin D Roosevelt station cause it is pretty and warmly lit and i like the way the french say "roosevelt". line 12 has super modern looking quais, concorde looks like a word search, chatelet is organized chaos except not that well organized, and line 1 has nicer trains than the rest of them. rer A never really shuts down cause a lot of rich people live out on the end of it, rer C is currently under water (interessing), and Motte-Picquet-Granelle is my favorite above-ground station. there are roughly a billion other mental notes i have about discovering the metro system, so if anyone has further questions please direct them to my ask.fm account. thank you for your time.


WALK DOUZE: Time Travel, Tricks, and Treats Around Saint-Sulpice

first of all, shout out to lexi friend i just saw the first art-deco hotel in paris YOU ARE WELCOME. second of all, lots of yummy things such as macaroons that were very nearly to pretty to eat, old churches (shocker), Poilâne bakery with my favorite food in all of ever BREAD!!! and a really lovely centaur statue. jk, out of all the statues i've seen in this city it was not my favorite. 5/10 would recommend. but you don't have to take my word for it. oh, and i've never seen the Da Vinci Code so Saint Sulpice was intriguing at best BUT i'm sure I will appreciate it far more once i do my research. all in all, good walk, twas pretty weather, good friends, and ps WHY would you name a cafe les deux magots??? just out of curiosity.

it me, again. with more walk updates for you friends.

WALK ONZE: Lutetia Pulchra Est: Musée National du Moyen Âge, Sorbonne, Pantheon, Saint-Etienne-du-Mont, Arènes du Lutèce

okay yeah that was a mouthful. all kinds of very old, very neat things here. especially cool to have the Roman Baths on this walk, I visited them in England with my family two summers ago and making that connection in another country was cool for suuuuure. also the middle ages museum? not a huge fan to be honest. but I was happy to traipse about in there and see the stained glass and the tombstones and such.

sorbonne!! I WANNA GO TO SCHOOL THERE. okay to be honest I just love the idea of how in history the students at that school have been a part of BIG things. revolutionary things. philosophically revolutionary things. and philosophical revolutions are a hobby of mine.

speaking of sciences and studies and such: pantheon was cool in every sense of the word. like, foucalt's pendulum was super intriguing and also it was just super chilly in there guys. ha, puns. physics!!! history! france! all in one!


peace and blessings, goodnight world
reagan

okay somehow missed the memo that I need to blog about each of these things so here we go team:

1. Cathédrale de Chartres: hit this one already actually

2. Château de Versailles: LOVE LOVE LOVE. everything I expected it to be. highlight was renting a canoe, casually cruising out on king louis' lake, then realizing we had five minutes to haul ourselves gracefully back across the lake before getting charged more and let me tell you friends, I was grateful for every basket of balls georgy made me serve in the past because at this exact moment I had to use my entire reserve of shoulder strength and paddle ourselves to financial safety. very good times everyone. to be honest, I could have stayed in those gardens all day. it was the best weather I've seen on this side of the atlantic ocean and we were happy girls. touring the château itself was dreamy of course, gold everything. never have i ever seen such a display of extravagance.

"gold all in my chain, gold all in my ring, gold all in my watch, don't believe me just watch"
-trinidad james

okay now we finna hit this real hard and I am going to outline beaucoup BEAUCOUP de walks cause come next week I will be living on a bus roaming around Northern France. so here we go friends.

WALK HUIT: The Jewish Quarter and Musée Picasso

wow love, seriously. being in Paris and all we've spent far more time than the average American citizens in museums of just about every nature, but I adored Picasso. his work was anything but conventional, and personally I found it enchanting. not all of it was necessarily beautiful to me, but intriguing and easy to appreciate for sure. the rotating statues showcasing the genius behind every angle, the geometric style, the massive disproportional head statues seemed almost to be of a different reality. close enough, but like we were looking through a layer of water, warping all the perspectives.

mid-walk break was the magnum store with dina-rina where they make the most magnificent ice cream bars of your choice right in front of you. we're talking coated in golden flakes ice cream bars. 10 for 10 would recommend.

as for the rest of the Jewish Quarter, big fan.

also Musée Cognacq-Jay was cool. not my favorite, but housed in a darling old-fashioned (zero percent surprised, this is Paris we're talking about) home where every wall is painted to enhance the art it holds and boards squeak under your feet and you can actually picture people living there. also, for future notice, nothing is for sale there are madeline and anneka discovered after inquiring after the price of like, everything.

more sidenotes: dina did not approve of what was supposedly the world's best falafel, also I BROKE MY PHONE (hence the shambles) so a whole bunch of my photos are no more, life is hard.


WALK NEUF: Follow the Money: Palais Royal, Bourse, Covered Passages

here I found what is undoubtedly in my top three savory food items in this entire country thus far. piadinas... aka Italian street food. significantly better than any of the food I purchased on the streets in Rome, for the record. oh, also that was in the covered passages which is why it's relevant. LOVE THE COVERED PASSAGES. google maps will have you wandering some street, telling you to turn where there is nothingggg and then LO AND BEHOLD you duck through some inconspicuous doorway and there is an entire shopping center hidden. complete with fantastic Italian street food restaurants. yay for the passage des Panoramas.

okay to prior to the dinner break we hid up the antique shops by the Louvre, of course. felt very underdressed and very out of our league but it was magnificent. there was a lot of very old, very delicate, very beautiful things far out of my price range but HEY that's okay! it's all part of the experience!! nothing new here.

what else what else... ah yes. how could I forget. Palais Royal. this is why I love these walks (sometimes). never would I ever have stumbled across the black and white checkerboard statues, bizarre but lovely. the mirrored balls in fountains, slowly turning and waltzing around each other,

la Bourse was impressive (houses the French Stock Market). not really my thing, but I appreciated the fact that I was standing in front of the building in which gears were turning that would touch the entire globe directly or indirectly.


okay that's all for now. more coming, don't fret.

hey world!! long time no see. getting really behind on my blogging because i spend the majority of my time conjugating verbs/power walking/faithfully searching for under 10 euro meals. sorry fans. at this rate probably won't even have sponsors for this blog til I'm, like, back from my mission :/
that's ok tho cause you win some you lose some AMIRIGHT.

okay so i learned very many a lot of things this week including but not limited to:
-the latin quarter has ZERO burritos (but they do have gluten free crepes) and is apparently named after a dead language and not for the land of salsa. which was probably good for us considering the fact that we have bought mexican food so many times in the past little bit that our waiter literally said SEE U NEXT TIME as we walked out the door. don't worry dad, still immersing myself really well cause we did order our fajitas in french. which for sure cancels out the fact that in addition to the little mexican cafe, yesterday was my third time at chipotle in paris. no comment.

-also a fun fact: i got to see the cafe where rousseau would work and write and philosophize???? as in rousseau who was basically an honorary founding father for the united states of america?! please someone take a moment to appreciate this with me. sam frazier where u at. (#polibye @madelinemcewan)

the first half of this week has been madness with balancing three hours of French class everyday with covering enough ground each day and having the homies from BYU in town for their internship. but somehow within the space of three days i've been to the eiffel tower twice, la louvre also twice, la musée d'orsay, l'arc de triomphe twice, the champs-élysée three times, nine hours of class, notre dame, the catacombs, luxembourg gardens twice, and spent wayyy too much on food. like i went to the grocery store twice today and bought ZERO things because i got anxiety everytime i though about pulling out my wallet :'( but yeah for sure all worth it though (lol guys arc de triomphe is for sure lit btw).

specifically we did walks 3 and 17 which were quite, quite opposite but very interesting.

walk 3: Montparnasse and the Jardin du Luxembourg, we found our dear very American friends laying out on the grass shirtless so there's that. they're a work in progress. um also this place is ENCHANTING. veryyyy different from parks back home in the sense that you are only allowed to step foot on designated grass??? and everyone lounges about and eats Angiono's (or something along those lines) gelato?? which is shaped like roses because of course France wouldn't have normal gelato scoops like the rest of this world? yeah for sure gonna be doing my homework there in the future. it smelled like spring. and lilacs, which madeline is allergic to (fun fact!). ALSO along the way saw the café where Hemmingway would write so that also was quite lit (in only the most literary sense) and also the second lebanese restaurant that dina had dragged us to that day. holla at my favorite palestinian. also her blog is super rad check out http://parisislit.blogspot.fr/ for more perspectives on all the good times here in the city of light!!!!!!!!!

walk 17: okay so La Défense is for sure the French equivalent of TomorrowLand i kid you not. pure madness. we're talking the world's (debatably) largest mosaic which is basically this multicolored cylinders in the middle of an office building which periodically flood with water. also it's like silent cause no streets.... you just metro in. eerie for sure. rainbow fountains, massive malls, a marvel's avengers exposition, the dream business trip destination without a doubt. oh, also micah and i both ripped our pants also on accident so that was a plus for sure. all kinds of hidden treasures on this walk like thumbs and such.

other highlights:
-anneka locking herself in the opera house bathroom
-anneka then buying prada sunglasses to console herself
-anneka having an allergic reaction to france in general while walking the streets


GO TEAM

vendredi (friday) 22 avril: i flew to france and also talked to Elder Bednar in the airport so that rocked. also coughed on micah the entire length of the atlantic ocean so that was a bummer. but we made it!!!!!! and our taxi driver played johnny cash and we were bewildered but it's all good.

lundi (monday) 24 avril: met my cutest host family, madame et monsieur boissy who live in the suburbs (le vésinet) and love michael jackson and feed us ridiculous amount of baguettes and also i think he used to be a concert pianist because he plays the piano for hours every night and it is magnificent.

the rest of the week: we literally just wander around paris and it is magical. so far this week we climbed roughly 3,000 stairs to the top of notre dame up a teeny tiny tower, sprayed ourselves with perfume in chanel, found the US embassy and consulate (my future place of employment), saw the eiffel tower, arc de triomphe, and about 400 other wonderful things.


we have french class (at our school for immigrants) from 9 to noon everyday, which for me consists of two other english speakers (one british and one american), three japanese girls, one from colombia, one from vietnam, one from tonga, one from india, and one from venezuela. and i adore them. and three of them are nuns-in-training and they occasionally bring clementines for everyone for snacks.

after class micah and anneka and i generally find some of the other BYU homies and choose an area of the city to explore that day which has led to discoveries ranging from hidden holocaust memorials (so somber but so, so beautiful) to the only chipotle in france to monet's water lilies to free dance classes to the most charming chapels. also, we saw the lumineers in concert and in the words of both anneka cusick/joe watanabe it was actually LIT. also it resulted in a slightly (actually very) terrifying metro experience but we learned valuable lessons like how to avoid gypsies and to only speak french in public late at night but yeah we can all navigate the parisian metro system far better than the average american teenaged girl now!!! so who needs the patriarchy!!!

basically, the next two months are so will be an absolute dream. i keep finding myself in little sidewalk cafes wondering "how on earth did i go from the BYU testing center to the city of light", and to be perfectly honest i don't believe i'll get over it until i'm on a plane back home.

à bientôt,
reags

ps doctor erickson this includes walks 1 and 5 just to clarify