By Julie Glenn
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!
