#finalexam

All the Best to the Students of B.Tech and MBA for final Exams.

I’ve just completed perhaps the most blissful final exam of my life so far: a scavenger hunt around Paris! My professors split our class into pairs and handed us a list of places to find. The main rule: absolutely no phones! We had six hours to complete our hunt. Here are a few little blurbs about some of the places we visited (already I want to go back to all of them!). If any of you happen to visit Paris in the near future, I highly recommend these destinations, as many are off the beaten path and are not super “touristy” (hallelujah!).

Place Edith Piaf, 20th arr. 

Situated in the 20th arrondissement, this place is named after the French singer Edith Giovanna Gassion, famously known as Edith Piaf, or “The Little Sparrow”. Fifteen years after Piaf’s death, the place was created as a site of remembrance and memory. In the middle of the place, a statue depicting Piaf singing with her arms outstretched overhead can be seen. Sculpted by Lisbeth Delisle, the statue was inaugurated in 2003 as a tribute to Piaf. Through the emotion and energy conveyed through the sculpture, one can almost hear Piaf singing her famous “Non je ne Regrette Rien”. 

(Sources: “Follow the Footsteps of Edith Piaf in Paris”  & “Les rues des Paris: la statue hommage a Edith Piaf”)

Rue Jean Jacques Rousseau, 1st arr. 

Jean Jacques Rousseau, a Genevan philosopher, writer, and political theorist, heavily inspired leaders of the French Revolution and the Romantic generation. During his lifetime, he is considered one of the most if not the most influential philosopher, as his thought drew the Age of Reason to a close. Importantly, Rousseau highlighted “liberty as an object of almost universal aspiration”. At the age of 30, Rousseau moved to Paris. From 1774-1778, Rousseau lived on rue Plâtrière, his last home in Paris. In 1886, rue Plâtrière was renamed to rue Jean Jacques Rousseau to commemorate this truly influential thinker and philosopher. Also worthy of mention on this street is a cookery shop named E. Dehillerin, where famous American cook Julia Child would go to buy all of her cookware when she lived in France. 

(Sources: “Les rues des Paris: la rue Jean Jacques Rousseau” & Jean-Jacques Rousseau Britannica entry)       

Place des Vosges, 3rd & 4th arr. 

The Place des Vosges exists as Paris’ oldest square. Once the site of the Hotel des Tournelles and acquired by the Crown in 1407, Catherine de’ Medici pulled down the residence following the death of Henri II. Later, in 1605, Henri IV transformed Place des Vosges to what it now appears as today. Upon our entrance, we were surrounded by elegant, symmetrical buildings that bordered a beautiful park dappled in morning sunshine. In the middle of the green space, a statue of Louis XIII stands. Fountains trickle nearby. The buildings bordering the park, which were once houses, contain a variety of shops and cafes on the bottom level, easily accessible from inside the place.  Also of note are particular plaques of commemoration around the buildings that tell of former residents, like Victor Hugo at no. 6.   

(Source: Michelin Guide, pp. 165-166) 

Gare St. Lazare, 8th arr. 

Located near rue Haussmann and the famous Printemps department store, Gare St. Lazare presents itself both as a large train-station and a modern shopping center. We were both surprised to find that the quintessentially Haussmannian-style facade of this building held such a sleek, modern interior, with a plethora of high-end shops to boot! The shopping center is a fairly new addition to the space, as major renovations have taken place over the past few years. With the addition of the shopping center, Gare St. Lazare pairs the old with the new and represents much of the character of Paris today-- both historical and increasingly modern. I especially enjoyed visiting this site because it was one of Monet’s favorite muses before he decided to focus solely on nature and the natural environment. He painted a variety of paintings inside Gare St. Lazare, focused on light, steam, and of course- the trains. I find it extremely interesting that during Monet’s life, Gare St. Lazare was a modern subject for him. In a new way, this place has taken on a new modernity, reiterating the idea that what is modern is always changing. 

(Sources: “Monet, The Gare Saint-Lazare”,  “St. Lazare train station- Paris” & “Gare Saint-Lazare - Paris tourist office”) 

Buttes-Chaumont Park, 19th arr. 

By far my favorite destination on our list, this glorious park is known for its sprawling greenery, steep cliffs, and rolling hills. An island is located in the middle of the park, where the Temple of Sibyl rests. This Corinthian-style temple was created after a Roman temple bearing the same name in Tivoli, Italy. The Roman temple was built around the second century BC. Despite the intense climb, the view from the top of the Temple is absolutely wonderful. One can see over Paris, all the way across to Montmartre and over St. Denis. We couldn’t help but take the time to appreciate the view, even amidst our crazy time-crunched scavenger hunt across Paris! 

(Sources: Michelin Green Guide, pp. 318-319 & “The Temple of the Sybil- Visit Tivoli”)   

For reference, here was our complete list of places to visit: 

1. In front of a street sign on rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau 

2. On the steps of the La Madeleine, Place de la Madeleine

3. In the Place des Vosges

4. In the center of the Arenas de Lutuce, 49 rue Monge

5. The exterior facade of St. Etienne du Mont church, Place Sainte-Genevieve

6. Galerie Vivienne (covered passage), 4 rue des Petits-Champs

7. Inside the Gare Saint-Lazare SNCF

8. Place Edith Piaf

9. Temple of Sibyl, Parc des Buttes Chaumont

We finished around four hours in, with enough time to snag lunch at the original Cosi. Yum! 

Today we did our final exam for this May Term, and I have to say: BEST. EXAM. EVER. Exploring new places in Paris? Yes please! We were given some expectations and then a list of sites to visit with a partner, and then left to figure out which route we would like to go! I’m glad I like directions and navigating because today was a whole lot of that.

(Note: I posted the pictures with the locations tagged on my Instagram, @kyliegtravels, if you would like to see exact locations. They are all under my “final exam” highlight.)

Picture from Paris Stories at Hope College Facebook

The following is the expectations/rules we were given this morning (bright and early at 8am) for the day.

Objective:

Demonstrate proficiency in Pairs by:

1.     Ability to successfully navigate mass transit. You must use the metro and/or the buses to get around. NO UBER.NO TAXI.

2.     Referencing only your Paris Pratique and Michelin Guide for directions—not cell phones. Should it be revealed that you used your cell phone for navigational purposes, you and your partner will receive an automatic failing grade on the exam.

3.     Find historically/culturally significant locations per the list provided, and experience them.

4.     Do so in an efficient way (within the 6 hour limit).

5.     We encourage you to take a break for lunch, snacks, etc.

Mechanics:

·     8 am start time from the Citadines Place d’Italie

·     You may NOT use computers and phones to plan the best route. Your sites are not listed in any geographical “order.”

·     2pm arrival (not earlier) at the professors’ apartment: rue Watteau

o  Please bring your laptops and your Michelin Green Guide to rue Watteau. (Pick these at the Citadines before arriving at rue Watteau)

·     YOU MUST VISIT EACH SITE WITH YOUR PARTNER

·     Each group must take a photo at each site, and slow down a bit, and think about the space.

·     Back at the professors’ apartment (or if you finish early, please feel free to begin working), make Tumblr posts documenting your groups journey—including each site visited.

o  Divide the blog posts between partners/group members.

o  If you reference a source, please be sure to include the citation. Your Michelin Guide is a great reference.

After reviewing these expectations, we were given our partners and the list of our sites.

Group 1: Rousseau (Emily and Kylie)

1.     In front of a street sign on rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1er)

2.     On the steps of the La Madeleine (8e), Place de la Madeleine

3.     In the Place des Vosges (3e)

4.     In the center of the Arenes de Lutece (5e), 49 rue Monge

5.     The exterior façade of St-Etienne-du-Mont church (5e), Place Sainte-Genevieve

6.     Galerie Vivienne (covered passage, 2e), 4 rue des Petits-Champs

7.     Inside the Gare Saint-Lazare SNCF (big trains) train station, the one painted often by Monet (8e), 13 rue d’Amsterdam

8.     Place Edith Piaf (20e)

9.     Temple of Sibyl, Parc des Buttes Chaumont (19e)

Emily and I went to work to figure out what the best way to find each of these places would be. We used our Michelin Green Guides and our Paris Pratique to craft our path. The following is the path we followed to complete our final exam. We started out by taking line 7 (La Courneve) to Place Monge to our first site.

Arenes de Lutece:

We decided to go here first because it was the closest to our hotel, and we had seen signs for it in the line 7 Metro. It was pretty easy to find when we came up out of the metro because there were signs for it, so I expected more people to be there. We were the only people there. I’m not sure if that’s because we were there at 8:15am. The Arenes De Lutece and is located in the Latin Quarter. It is an amphitheater and could originally hold 15,000 people. It is one of the only surviving evidence of the Roman period in Paris. It was interesting to see that apartment buildings have been built over part of the amphitheater. We enjoyed appreciating the calm arena before we set off on the rest of our day. We decided earlier to walk to the next site because it was in the same arrondisement and it didn’t make sense to take a Metro.

Source: https://www.parisinfo.com/musee-monument-paris/71451/Arenes-de-Lutece-et-square-Capitan

St-Etienne-du-Mont Church and Place Sainte Genevieve:

We walked down some winding streets, which is the character of the Latin Quarter to find St-Etienne-du-Mont Church. I’m not going to lie, this was pretty easy to find because it is so distinguishable. It was cool to see the Pantheon next to it too. In fact, in 1744 King Louis XV replaced the Saint Genevieve Abbey with the Pantheon. The abbey was looted and burned in the Revolution. It was attached to what is now called St-Etienne-du-Mont Church. This is why the place near the church is called the Place Sainte Genevieve. I had never heard of this church before and] the façade of it is quite grandiose, Renaissance style. It was restored after the revolution and actually slants left due to the shape of the ground. According to the churches website, it is a product of a transition period between gothic and Renaissance styles. I think this is for sure true because of what we have learned about the two styles in class. Another interesting thing about this area is that the original wall fortification is still present in some areas and we just happened to walk by, how cool! We then continued our walk to the Cardinal Lemoine station and took line 10 (Gare d’Austerlitz) to Gare d’Austerlitz and transferred to line 5 (Bobigny), exiting at Bastille.

Source: https://www.saintetiennedumont.fr/en

Place de Vosges:

Check out Emily’s blog for this entry at. https://thepariscollective.tumblr.com/tagged/scavengerhunt!

After exploring Place de Vosges, we walked to the Chemin Vert Station and took line 8 (Balard) to Republique and transferred to line 3 (Galleieni) and got off at Porte de Bagnolet.

Place Edith Piaf:

I was surprised because we popped out of the underground Metro station into a market and the statue of Edith Piaf was on our right. Emily has the entry for this site too! We enjoyed a walk through the market before embarking to our next site, which was the one we knew the least about. We went to the Gambetta station and took line 3 (Levallois) to Pere Lachaise, then transferred to line 2 (Porte Dauphine) and got off at Belleville.

Temple of Sibyl, Parc des Buttes Chaumont:

We found the Parc des Buttes Chaumont easily In our Paris Pratique, but the Temple of Sibyl wasn’t labeled so we ended up looking it up in our Michelin guide while on the Metro and finding a map of the entire Parc. It was quite a hike to find this site (which makes sense because the 19this near Montmatre) and it was definitely not a tourist area so it wasn’t labeled from the streets. I think this may have been my favorite site we visited. In 1860, Napoleon III integrated the areas surrounding the park into the city, creating a need to make these areas “Parisian.” Haussmann played a role in the installation of this park, a large English-style park, along with the Bois de Boulogne and the Bois de Vincenne. Adolphe Alphand created this park by buying 25 hectagres of the Buttes Chaumont. Originally this had been quarries, but they were abandoned in the mid 1800s. It was a three year process to form the park from construction of artificial cliffs (the one in the lake where the temple is located is the most prominent) to digging trails both steep and flat to planting new species. The lake was created by using a local water tank. The park was inaugurated with the Universal Exhibition of 1867, when Napoleon III wanted to show off his newly Haussmannized capital. I would love to go back and explore this park when I have more time because it looked like there was lots of trails and different paths to explore. Emily has a little more about the Temple of Sibyl on her blog if you would like to read more about that. We hopped on the 7b (Pre-St.-Gervais) and got off at Place des Fetes, then got on line 11 (Chatlet) to Arts et Metiers, and then line 3 (Levallois) to Bourse.

Source: https://www.histoires-de-paris.fr/parc-buttes-chaumont/

Galerie Vivienne:

I knew from our assignment sheet that this was a covered passage, but as we stepped into it, it was much more extravagant than I expected. It felt like I was in a department store because the ornamentation of the ceiling or the glass roof and the detailed floor felt too special to just be a street passage. It was built in 1823 and now houses a cute bookstore, boutiques of various kinds, food shops, and probably more that we didn’t see because the spectacle of the passage itself was so beautiful. We walked through it and on to Rue Etienne Marcel to find our next site.

Source: https://en.parisinfo.com/paris-museum-monument/100272/Galerie-Vivienne

Rue Jean-Jacques-Rousseau:

This is the street our group was named after! Check our Emily’s blog to understand it’s importance. We walked from here to the nearby Etienne Marcel Metro stop. We got on line 4 (Cligancourt) to Strasbourg-St. Denis and transferred to line 8 (Balard) for the Madeleine stop.

On the steps of the La Madeleine, Place de la Madeleine:

You would think finding the front of the church would be easy, but it turns out we got turned around. We got out of the Metro and went towards the back of the church, and got super confused because it was locked. Not to mention, it was under construction, so that might also have added to the confusion of where the front was and it also doesn’t look like other churches in Paris, so we were a little shocked by that. Don’t worry though, we wandered around the place and found the front steps of the church. After looking into this place later, it is now well known for the little cookie/cakes that Marcel Proust made famous, but there is a deep history of the church. The church is situated between Place de la Concorde and the Palais Garnier. It is different than a religious building because Napoleon wanted it to be a pantheon to honor his armies. The iconic Corinthian colomns were under construction, but we still got to see some of them. We also saw many signs for concerts, which the church hosts regularly. From here we walked to our last location. We followed Rue Torchet towards Printemps and then Rue de Havre straight to the station.

Sources: https://en.parisinfo.com/transport/73127/Place-de-la-Madeleine,https://en.parisinfo.com/paris-museum-monument/71158/Eglise-de-la-Madeleine

Gare St. Lazare:

Emily wrote about this site too, but I want to mention how modernized this building was. I expected it to be more like what Monet painted, yet instead, it felt more like a mall. We had a hard time getting a picture inside of ourselves without it looking like a mall, so we took a few pictures inside and headed outside to get our selfie with the iconic sign.