I'd like to preface this with saying I take full responsibility for any spelling or grammatical errors in this entry. I'm waaaay too lazy to read the whole thing over. Not now at least. It's 3am. Also, if you want to see all the pictures from my trip, here are the links to my albums:
My goal of updating once a week has been broken. It's been almost three, but I have good reason. It was Christmas vacation! You're in for a long read.
December 16th was my last day of work before Christmas break. I worked all day, although it wasn't actually a whole lot of work. I read The Night Before Christmas with some of my classes, something the teacher I was working with had never heard before but loved. In other classes, I didn't do anything at all because the students had some films to finish. In one class, we finished watching Supersize Me, and in another, the Leonardo version of Romeo and Juliet. It was rather enjoyable for me, I must say. Anyway, after work I had very ltitle time before I headed to the train station to pick up Sal. I got there just as his train was pulling in. For once a train was on time!! It was so good to see him because 1) I barely ever see him in the first place, and 2) it was a little piece of home coming to my corner of France. Makes me way happy. That night we ate Rachel Taran's famous chicken and wild rice soup, without the wild rice, and with extra chicken. It's something she made for me in Eau Claire during our [first] senior year. I fell in love with it, and it's my favorite thing now. (If you don't know Rachel, she was my roommate at UWEC every semester after Pau.) In fact, I love it so much that I made it for Christophe and his wife. More on that later. THANKS RACHEL!!! The first few nights of Sal being here was super exciting. Slumber party in my room! Sal's bed seriously took up the entire floor.
Friday we went to the Christmas market in Montbéliard, where I had originally planned to go the week before but didn't because I was sick. It was super cute, but freezing cold. Little did we know, it was only the beginning of the freezing. I had the most delicious nutella crepe there and probably some other delicious things. It was my first Christmas market in France, and it was definitely worth going to. We didn't do a whole lot else there besides just walk around and look at things. We headed back to Lure around 4 or so to finish our soup leftovers.
Saturday morning, bright and early as usual, we took a train to Strasbourg, supposedly the best place to be at Christmas time. I beg to differ. It was definitely Christmas time there, but there were way too many people, and it was waaaay colder than I'd like for a Christmas vacation. I'm glad we went, but once was enough. Our first stop in Strasbourg was a nice little café, where we sat for probably over an hour just to warm up. And this was only after we'd been there for less than an hour! We headed out to find some Christmas markets, eat some yummy food from them, watch people ice skating, and walk around freezing with nowhere in particular to go. You can probably tell how cold it was just by looking at the expressions on these people's faces.
I was surprised actually at how commercial it felt. It was Christmas market after Christmas market, but it felt artificial, like they were trying too hard to throw Christmas in our face. We ended up just constantly looking for places to go inside and drink coffee or eat because it was just too cold out to enjoy it. We stopped in bookstores whenever we could. As much as I hate reading, I LOVE looking at books in bookstores, and I usually end up spending way too much money. Some day I will read every book I own. (In fact, that was my resolution for 2010, which I broke when I came to France because I wasn't about to bring every book with me! I'll pick up this summer where I left off.)
When it was finally time to leave (I say that as if we were miserable, but we kind of were), we waited and waited and waited at the platform for our train. We were about 15 minutes early, and the train was about 30 minutes late. There were a TON of people standing out there in the freezing cold, just waiting and waiting and waiting, and the train people kept making announcements every five minutes telling us the train was delayed even more. Surely it was because of the weather. Once we got on the train, it was super crowded and uncomfortable, but luckily our ride was short. We got off in Sarrebourg, where Laurence lives. Laurence is someone Sal worked with in Las Vegas a few years ago, but she grew up in France and moved back earlier this year temporarily. She and he dogs picked up up at the train station, and we walked back to her apartment for some cozy conversation and a great dinner. We had raclette, which is basically melted cheese on top of whatever you put it on. We had it with potatoes and ham and chicken (like sandwich ham and chicken, except it's way better in France than in the US). It was etremely good. We spent the rest of the night just chatting about everything. It was a great relaxing way to spend such a cold and annoying day.
The next day, Laurence took us around her city, which isn't extraordinarily big by any means, but it's bigger, although comparable, to Lure. She took us to a museum that had a bunch of stuff from the region from a long long time ago. (Sorry, I'm bad with knowing things about history or what things are, so you'll have to settle for that explanation.) We also saw quite a bit of work by Marc Chagall. It was pretty cool. 
The next morning Laurence left for work before we even left, so Sal and I let ourselves out and walked to the train station to go to Nancy. I loved Nancy. We had no clue what there would be to do there, but we ended up finiding quite a busy day ahead of us. It was funny... The day before, Laurence had told us she doesn't recommend Nancy because it's just all shops you can find anywhere. She said this no knowing we were headed there next, but I actually enjoyed it very much and really want to go back when the weather is nicer. We spent a large portion of the day shopping. We bought posters for our classrooms (I'm constantly looking out for classroom supplies), but then spent a ton more time trying to find tubes to mail them home in. We wanted to just mail them from Nancy, but we needed proper packing tape and everything. So we continued the rest of our day carrying our long and heavy tubes around. By the end of the day, my arms wanted to fall off from all the stuff I was carrying. We'd also bought a bunch of other things each. We just go crazy in French toy stores.The train ride home was one of the worst I've ever had. Our car was SOOOO cold. The heat didn't work in it. Finally though after two long miserable hours, we made it back to Lure, where we went to get Chinese food for dinner. Mmmm. :)
The next day in Lure, we didn't do a whole lot. We slept in, and it was great. We needed all the rest we could get because ahead of us were a lot of early mornings. We did laundry, went to the post office, went to buy breakfast for the morning at a bakery nearby. That night was full of packing and preparing tickets and papers for the trip. We tried to finish the perishables in the fridge for dinner, and we opened the Jurançon wine that we were both rather excited about.
The next morning we headed straight to the train station. The train was a bit late I believe, although I don't know by how much because we were too far down the platform to have the luxury of a screen to look at. It felt like a forever train ride even though it was probably shorter than some others we ended up taking later. There was a cute family with two young boys sitting across from us, and the entire time I hade the pleasure of listening to them laugh, fight, cry, etc. One boy dropped his hard boiled egg on the ground and had a little fit because of it. He got over it pretty fast though, luckily. But since seeing that egg, I started craving hard boiled eggs. No clue why! I don't normally eat them. So the other night I made some. :)
When we got to Paris and exited the metro, I stood in happiness looking at the world up above the street. It felt like Paris. It felt great. I was back. It was exciting. I had no clue what I was in for, however. This excitement would soon turn to pure misery. We came up at a roundabout, not sure which street to turn down. So we walked around the entire thing, checked all 9 (?) streets, and none of them seemed right. Sal had said something like, "Well as long as we don't make a complete circle, we know we're okay." Soon after, he corrected himself, saying, "Actually, as long as we don't make TWO circles, we're okay." We made almost two full circles before we stopped at a map and double checked the stop. Oh well! We found our hotel shortly after with no problem. Dropped our stuff off without having much of an idea of what we wanted to do in Paris. We pretty much went with no plans. We decided the Champs-Elysées sounded like a good idea. SOUNDED like a good idea. Really, it wasn't.
Once we left the Louvre, I decided it was worth having the umbrella out, even though it wouldn't do justice for my wet feet. But trying to walk with the two of us both under the small umbrella, all while dodging puddles and slush, proved to be too difficult. We walked all the way back to the Champs-Elysées and practically had the entire "gardens" to ourselves. No other idiots would dare walk through them that far in those conditions! We continued back all the way to the Arc and finally after what felt like hours made it back to our room.
We took the metro to the Arc. Started walking along, and everything was fine. Found a place to eat lunch/dinner, and everything was still fine. Walked back outside, and it was beginning to rain. Rain, no big deal, right? Wrong! It got worse, and worse, and worse. And we just kept walking and walking and walking. We walked past a ginormous Christmas market, where I of course had to buy a nutella crêpe. The freezing cold and pouring rain won't stop me from eating my nutella crêpe, even if it means having to take my gloves off and freezing my fingers to eat it. It was delicious. After stopping for my treat, we continued. And continued. And continued. In the summer, there is this beautiful garden between the Champs-Elysées and the Louvre. Well, apparently in the winter when it's raining, it's disgustingly wet and sloppy. Dirt sidewalks don't go well with rain. Well, Sal remembered that there is a Starbucks in the Louvre, so we decided to walk it out until we reached the Louvre. There, we got our Starbucks. Sal didn't know what to get, so I ordered him the best of the best, and I got myself something I'd never had. Don't even remember what anymore. It didn't take long before our coffee was gone. His was gone before we even got back outside, but mine lasted a little longer.
Once we left the Louvre, I decided it was worth having the umbrella out, even though it wouldn't do justice for my wet feet. But trying to walk with the two of us both under the small umbrella, all while dodging puddles and slush, proved to be too difficult. We walked all the way back to the Champs-Elysées and practically had the entire "gardens" to ourselves. No other idiots would dare walk through them that far in those conditions! We continued back all the way to the Arc and finally after what felt like hours made it back to our room.
Before this trip, I went out and bought some SUPER warm winter boots, mostly with this trip in mind. I knew It would be cold and I'd need to be comfotable. Well, by super warm boots were no longer super warm. They were soaking wet, inside and out, and I was sure I wouldn't be able to wear them for the rest of the trip, and this was only day 1 of 14. Great. I tried blow drying them, but it took too long. All I could do was leave them out in the room overnight and just hope that they would dry. I got into bed that night not wanting to go anywhere the next day. Honestly, walking around in cold wet feet makes for a really bad day. But it felt so good to go to sleep that night after a nice warm shower.And I thought that would be the worst of it.
Good thing I brought another pair of boots with. They weren't warm by any means, but they were dry. So we started the next day on a good note. We went up to Montmartre, where in the summer there are tons of street artists out painting and drawing in this little square. Not quite as much in the winter, but it was almost better that way. We had a cute little lunch in the square. I ate a delicious omlette, which I've grown to love, with fries. I never would have thought to put the two together, but I've done it quite a bit here, and it's so good.
We took the nice warm metro to the Centre Pompidou, a modern art museum I've wanted to see for a while. I'm making it a goal to do something new every time I go to Paris. There are never-ending activities, but I don't want to go all the way there just to see the same things over and over again. So anyway, We made it to the museum and spent hours and hours inside. It was warm, but also really interesting. There was so much art we didn't even get to. We were just museumed out by the end. They had a whole bunch of stuff about females in art, whether they be the artist or the subject or whatever. It was quite the experience.
At the beginning, I really had no idea what kind of art to expect. So I just ended up looking around and taking it as it came. And I came across a treasure that made me super happy. My freshman year of college, I took a course called Introduction to the Visual Arts. I took it as a general, just to fill space in my schedule. I ended up LOVING the class, and since taking it, I feel like I have a much greater appreciation for art, and I'm able to recognize many famous works. Anyway, for the class, we had to memorize about 50 works of art, the artist's name, and what type of art it was. I had a sort of goal to see all 50 of these (the professor chose important/worthy works for the 50) some day in real life, although I don't really go out of my way to do it. If I have the opportunity to see one though, I take it! (And this is the only reason I want to go to Madrid some day... to see Picasso's Guernica.) Well, I stumbled, rather unexpectedly, upon one of these 50 works of art at the Pompidou. The Fountain by Marcel Duchamp. Made the whole trip there worth it! Leaving the Pompidou was the turning point of the day. My boots, which don't have much grip on the bottom, made it difficult to even leave the inclined space in front of the museum, so I had to walk slowly and hold onto Sal. He kindly reminded me how it should have been giving me flashbacks to January 2005, when I couldn't get up the hill at school and had to ask a complete stranger to help me up. Haha! That's a good story. Ask me about it sometimeover coffee.
It was beginning to get dark. We had no other major plans for the day, but I wanted to see Notre Dame at Christmas time. We slushed our way there, cold and miserable. (Well, I can only speak for myself. Not sure how Sal's feet felt.) It was really pretty to see Notre Dame at night, but I wish there's been snow instead of rain and slush. My "Paris at Christmas time" dream wasn't being fulfilled.
Last stop: Eiffel Tower. Oh, the Eiffel Tower. I will never think of it the same again. Can I please ask why there isn't a metro stop directly in front of the tower? Clearly this is a big important tourist destination. So why no metro stop? We got off at the stop that seemed most reasonable. On the street was a sign pointing in some direction to get to the Eiffel Tower, but it was rather hard to tell which street it told us to take. So we chose one and went with it. We kept walking and couldn't see any hint of the tower, until finally I spotted the top of it over a building. We just followed the lights and eventually got there. But all I could think was, "Okay, let's just make this quick." We went under the tower to a little stand selling treats. Sal got his warm whatever beverage (vin chaud, I think), and ALL I wanted that would make me happy was a nutella crêpe. And guess what? They were out of crêpes. Great. Just great! Nothing even fun to do at the tower. And the thought of going up it was not appealing because I knew it would just be colder at the top. So I started walking away, thinking Sal was right behind me. As I was walking, I was nearly in tears over how gross this city was and how badly I just wanted to be in bed and warm.
I stopped finally, turned around to take a couple picutres, and then discovered Sal was not with me. Now, there weren't many people there, so it's not like I was lost. It just topped off the whole situation. Not only was I cold and wet and sad, I had this other problem now of trying to find Sal before I could leave. Normally on the trip, if I lost him, I stood in one place and he eventually came to me. It was way too hard to find him with his gray coat (whereas mine was red, so I was easier to find.) So I stood there, looking around, not going anywhere. He didn't show up. I walked back and forth, and all these vendors were in my face trying to get me to buy a light-up Eiffel Tower. NO! Can't you see I'm not enjoying this place? Why would I want something to remember this by? I finally found Sal, standing right where we'd started, by the out-of-crêpes stand. And at that moment I just burst into tears. Sal, I'm sorry I blamed you for a second for not having followed me. It was just awful. I had no clue how to get back to the metro, and all I could imagine was wandering around this slushy city for hours more trying to find it. We followed Sal's instincts and finally did find the stop. Sitting miserably on the long metro ride, all I could think about was how awful this was and how it wasn't what I imagined Christmas in Paris to be like. I wanted to be home, curled up on my couch, looking forward to going to Dan and Dawn's the next night and trading stockings with Katie. And those chocolate chip pancakes on Christmas morning were not about to happen this year, either. Instead, I was sitting soaked in the Paris metro.
Unfortunately, we got off at the wrong stop. We didn't realize it right away though, so we continued on our way forever and ever in the slush until we realized we should have passed our hotel a long time ago. We bought dinner to bring back to the room, and eventually managed to metro it back. Taking my boots (which were now 100% soaked... and leather) and socks off was the best feeling ever. I felt 80% better after that. :)
And so was the Paris 2010 trip. Horrible and not really worth it, but I've learned my lesson. Stay in Minnesota for Christmas from now on (unless I'm going south).
The next day was Christmas Eve. We had a fabulous little trip there, checked in at the hotel, and headed straight to the park. I was just as magical as I'd expected! It was so perfect! I don't even know where to begin. I'd never been to Disney in the US before, so this was extra important for me. We chose Disneyland for Christmas itself because we figured everything else in France would be shut down. Not much to do on Sundays, let alone on holidays when everyone's with their families. I might get crap for going to an American resort for Christmas in Europe, but I don't care. I loved it, and it was a rather good cultural experience anyway. I'll explain in a minute.
We ate another expensive fast-food dinner. Disney's great and everything, but they really need to treat their guests to better food. Especially at Christmas. We watched the parade that night, which was fantastic. Don't know what else to say about it. It was just so fun to see everyone. It really inspired me to go home and watch every Disney movie out there, because to be honest, I can't even tell you the stories of most of them. Even the ones I watched as a kid. Even today when I watch films, I see it, but I don't comprehend it. As a child apparently I didn't notice or even care. But it made me a little sad not to know the story of Peter Pan or even Sleeping Beauty.
After the parade and dinner, I called Katie (you know, my bff) to see if there was any news on the baby front! Her sister Jen had her baby that day, and it was perfect! Calling Katie from Disneyland, the place that reminds me most of her, and learning that baby Oliver was born. LOVED IT! It made for an extra-exciting Disney experience. And yes, when I get home, Katie and I WILL watch all of her Disney movies.
After all the baby excitement, we headed to my favorite ride. The Buzz Lightyear ride, where you shoot at all the Z's and win points. I was a huge fan, and definitely beat Sal by a lot. (However, the next day when we went again, he beat me by way more.) I must admit, I was more thrilled with the spinning than the shooting. Sal came to the conclusion that I love things that you sit in and spin. At one point he used the word "sit and spin," and I exclamed that I used to own one! He had no clue what it was, but yes, I do in fact love to sit and spin, apparently.
It was time to call it a night after that, but the next day was equally exciting. Christmas morning we made it to the park just after opening. We went to the Walt Disney Studios park first since we'd skipped it the day before. (This turned out to be a mistake because I later found out I missed the princesses by only a couple hours!) We went to this awesome interactive thing with Stitch. I didn't know what it was, so we did it in French. Normally I would be okay with that. A fun and exciting way to practice my French. But since it turned out to be interactive, I got nervous. People were chosen to stand up and say things, and I didn't want to be chosen, especially in French. But it turned out to be fine, and it was WAY cute! Maybe now would be a good time to mention this, since I'm thinking about it...
It was super interesting to be at Disneyland in Europe because so many things were repeated in lots of different languages. Most things were in either French, English, or both, but the announcements were always also in Spanish, German, and Italian, and maybe some others? It was just cool, and everyone walking around spoke this or that language. It was interesting! So althought it was "American," it was still a different experience from either of the parks in the US, I'm sure.
We went to this show called Animagique, not really knowing what it was, but intrigued since it was inside a warm building. It was a spectacular little show hosted by Donald Duck, with lots of our favorite songs from Disney... in French! And later Sal got me to go on Chrush's coaster. I was scared. I don't like roller coasters, but I know I can handle them if I really want. I really have no clue if the same ride exists in the US, but anyway it was this little coaster for four people, two facing forward and two facing backward. We were forward. The whole ride was dark inside, so all you could see were the lights sort of indicating the direction of the upcoming tracks. Not my favorite thing! After a while we started going way uphill, and I was getting nervous and ready for a huge drop! Right when the huge drop should have happened, the car spun completely around, so we were now going backwards, and went down a huge hill and around curves and up and down and around again. I think it was the most Sal laughed the whole trip. He wanted to go again, but we weren't about to stand in line for another hour. It was a pretty awesome ride, probably the best we went on the whole time.
Later that day I went on the tea cups! I went alone becauuse Sal refused to go on them. But I didn't mind! I wasn't going to let him stop me from having my fun on Christmas day. I sat with a French woman and her two kids, and the four of us helped spin our cup. According to Sal, these cups are wimpy compared to CA's and FL's, but I wouldn't know any better. I finally got around to meeting some of the characters, but only a few. It was so darn cold out, that I'm sure that's why we barely saw anyone walking around. So I met Peter Pan, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, and Piglet (who I've learned in French is called Porcinet). They signed my autograph book, which I'll bring to Disney from now on until I fill all the pages.
Through
out the day, we saw a few random characters, but not many. I was really disappointed when I realized I wasn't going to meet Belle, but I guess seeing her in the parades is better than not seeing her at all!We had dinner at a buffet that night. It was expensive, and I was expecting amazing food. Not so much. I mean, it wasn't bad by any means, but it wasn't anything special. And if you know me well enough, you'll be impressed by this. I ate fish, and I liked it, and I went back and got more. It was good! I surprised myself. I'd had fish once or twice before, but only tastes of it. I guess I like fish?? For dessert I filled a plate with everything that looked good (okay who am I kidding? It all looked good) for us to share. And I'll just say we were plenty full when we left that place.
After dinner we intended to go on our favorite rides again. And by "our," I really mean "my." I think Sal was just along for the ride... pun intended. But before we could make it too far, people were lining up already for another parade, one we hadn't seen yet! I had no clue there were different parades going on. So we stayed and watched it, and it was just as magical as I expected. Tons of lights, lots of happiness. Just great! Afterwards, we did It's a Small World and Buzz Lightyear again, at my request. And it was too late to catch the next bus, so we waited it out until the last bus came for us, which meant we were there until closing. What a great way to spend Christmas night!
I would love to go back to this place when it's warm out. It was just so cold, but definitely not miserable like Paris because... well, how can you be miserable in Disneyland?! It was funny... At one point, I said to Sal, "I am just so happy here." He burst out laughing because the moment I said that, a woman walked by dragging along her two kids who were crying their eyes out. Anyway, I'm glad we went at Christmas time, even if it was cold. Christmas at this Disneyland is, I'm sure, a totally different experience from Christmas at the Florida or California Disney. And who else goes to a theme park in the middle of December? At least I can say I did!
We left the next morning at 6:45. Wow! Got to Rennes around 10 and had the whole day to do whatever. It was Sunday, so everything was pretty much closed. We walked around, disvocered what there might be to see. We had lunch at a delicious kebab place and then found a huge park to walk around. I wish there were a park that big and cool in Lure! It was a nice little stroll. Once we got too cold, we headed back to our hotel and had a snack at the crêperie across the street. I had a chocolate and coconut crêpe, which was mmmm mmmm good, just like Campbell's chicken noodle soup. We again wandered back to the center of town, further this time, and came across a Christmas market once it got dark-ish out. Close to the market was this awesome light show that was projected onto the side of a building. It aligned perfectly with the structures of the building, and had music and everything. If I understood correctly, it's the continuation of the show they did last year. (It's only about 15 minutes long.) So we watched that and then headed to the Christmas market to get some food. Took it over to the show and watched it again! And that's all I'll say about that. Okay fine... One of the two of us became seriously sick from the food purchased for dinner that night. It was a long night, and you guess the rest.
Luckily the next day, all was [mostly] better with the food situation, so we stuck to our plans and went to Mont St. Michel. I'm too uninterested to learn the entire history of it, but in general it's just a huge tourist trap. The streets are tiny and crowded, and every shop is a gift shop. It's cool to see Mont St. Michel, but it seems like there's more to buy than there is to see there! After going up to the top and all that, we found a place to sit and have a snack, and we made friends with a couple birds who kept flying in to eat our crumbs on our plates.
That night we went to the crêperie again for dinner. It was just that good. Overall, Rennes didn't have a TON to offer, but since it was Sunday, I assume there's more going on during the week. It was a nice little relaxing place though, and I renjoyed it. The city itself wasn't too big, but wasn't too small. Just the right size.At 6:26, we were on our train the next morning headed to La Rochelle. We had a connection in some small (?) sity called Redon, where we sat in the train station for two hours. Sal had quite an experience on the train before getting off. You see, he had this ginormous backpack/suitcase thing that was really really heavy. He was wearing it when our train stopped, and I tried to press the button to open the door. It wouldn't open. Well, turns out we weren't stopped in the right spot yet, because a few seconds later the train moved about an inch and then stopped again. With the abrupt start and stop of the train and with the weight of his suitcase weighing him down, Sal seriously went flying. He may or may not hate me for putting this in here, but I must say, looking back it was quite humorous. He never really landed on the ground. Grabbed a pole in time to stop himself, but definitely swung around it quite a bit before stabilizing himself. And if you saw where he started compared to where he ended, it was rather a far distance. When we got into the train station, he sat on a bench. It was metal, and kind of slanted forwards. Hard to explain, but as soon as he sat down he nearly fell off. Oh it just made my morning. He wasn't too thrilled when I couldn't stop laughing (as right now, while I write this), but I couldn't help it.
We had some awesome paninis for lunch. It was quite possibly the most delicious sandwich I've had in France. Well I don't really know, but it was delicious. After our fuel, we walked to the aquiarium in La Rochelle, where there was every type of fish imaginable. It was super cool, but I didn't take any pictures. Sorry! We walked to the three towers in La Rochelle, but didn't go up any of them. We walked all around the city, through the Christmas market, past the millions of shops, and finally parked it in a restaurant by the port. We were just so exhausted from going going going, that after dinner we went back to the hotel and were in bed by like 8:00. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the new one) was on tv, so we purposely came back early to have a relaxing night at "home" and to just sit back and enjoy the film. We both fell asleep before the film got very far. Violet was just turning violet when I left off. But it was quite the way to end a super busy beginning to our trip. The next day, everything would wind down.I woke up at 3 the next morning to shower. Yes, 3. Our train left at 6, and with two showers and to include walking time to the train station, I got up that early. So it was a good thing we'd gone to bed early the night before. I slept almost the entire train ride to Bordeaux, which was like 3 or so hours long. From Bordeaux we did a bunch of transferring, and we finally arrived in Pau around 1:00pm. I was so excited to be back there. And after having been to all these other places in France, I realize now how much I LOVE Pau. It's really an awesome city. It felt tropical. I wanted around all day with no hat, no gloves, and no coat. It was bautiful!!!
After dropping our stuff off at the hotel, we walked to the university and the residence we lived in in 2007. It was so great. We didn't need a map or anything. We just knew where we were going. It really felt like I was going home. Was kind of weird to be walking all around and NOT going to stay where I stayed before. "Home" this time was a hotel downtown, not the room I used to call home. Everything was just how we left it. Some things changedm but not a lot. We headed to Quick for lunch. It's a fast food restaurant we used to eat at on occasion. But I do believe that Quick has THE best dessert in all of France. It's a fondant chocolat... a little chocolate cake thing with melted chocolate inside. It's more delicious than anything I've ever eaten, I swear. So we fully enjoyed our lunch there, talking about things we remembered from our semester in Pau. We made it a point to eat there since it holds fond memories for us. I'd always wondered if I'd ever want to go back to Pau again because I knew it wouldn't be the same without my Pau friends. Well, I got lucky, because one of my Pau friends came with me! I'm so glad we went.
We walked back downtown, did some shopping, played around. The biggest thing that's different about the city now is that this huge fountain is finally complete. They were just building it in 2007, and I didn't know what it was meant to look like when it was done. I'd always wanted to go back and see the final product, and now I have!
We continued to walk around the town as it got dark. Went for a walk in the park, had great conversation, and I wished I could stay the entire time. We had dinner at the crêperie across from the castle, and life was perfect. It was so fantastic to be back in Pau, and especially fantastic to be back in the warm weather. Pau is definitely the city to see. [Shout out to Corinne and Kaitlin!] But soon, the night came to an end, and we went back to the hotel. I was still pretty psyched for what was to come.Thursday we made it to Mont de Marsan. When we arrived via bus at the train station, we walked to "our" house. Sal worked as an English assistant in Mont de Marsan last year, which is why we went back. We stayed at the principal of his school's house for three nights. His name is Christophe, and he and his wife were still out of town the first two nights we stayed there. When we arrived via bus at the train station, we walked all the way across the city to get to the house. It took a good hour, and I was hot and tired by the time we got there. We dropped off our things, then headed out to see the town. Sal showed me the center of town, which took forever to get to. This city felt different from other French cities I've been in. It felt more like home. The houses were more spread apart, the roads felt bigger, and it just felt like there were fewer people out and about. It honestly felt like it was pulled right out of the Twin Cities and plopped into France. And goodness, it's a heck of a lot larger than Lure! Sal's experience in Mont de Marsan was definitely a lot different from mine in good ol' Lure (which I actually do love).
Downtown, we sat in a square and had some Cokes. I was craving an ice cold Coke. Don't know why, but I got one. And I got a crêpe at the permanent crêpe stand. Nutella of course, my all-time fave. Any chance I get, I buy one! We searched and searched for something good to eat for dinner, and we settled for kebabs. I forgot to ask for mine without tomatoes, so I whined and complained the whole time while I was picking them out. After our looooong walk home, we watched Mozart, a new-ish French musical, on DVD. And, as usual, I fell asleep before it finished. I have a problem with doing that.
The next day we walked forever. We walked past Sal's school he worked at and the grocery store he went to not so often. We stocked up on food for the rest of our stay and came home and made some croque madames. (That would be a fried ham and cheese sandwich with an egg on top. We decided everything's better when it's madamed.) After lunch, we walked through this park. It was like a mix between a zoo and a park. They had all these animals, but they were really free to roam wherever they wanted, even though they were sort of a little bit fenced in. It was bizarre! And so were some of the animals. Couldn't even tell you what they all were, but they definitely had goats, llamas, and peacocks. Then we proceeded to Sal's residence where he lived last year. It was quite exciting for me to see, as unexciting as it was. It's cool to see where other assistants get placed.Here are some pictures of where we were staying. It was sooooo nice to come home to a real home. Watch real tv, cook in a real kitchen, sleep in a real bed, etc. We made raclette for dinner that night, just like we'd had at Laurence's house. It was quite scrumptious.
That night was new year's eve, and we basically just sat on the couch and watched tv until midnight. Did nothing special, and it was GREAT! I fell asleep at about 12:10, and couldn't even finish my gladd of wine. That's how tired I was.
The next day we slept in a bit, which also was relaxing. After eating lunch, Françoise, one of the teachers Sal worked with, came to pick us up and brought us to her house. We were there for a good few hours talking with her and her husband. I have to admit though, it made me really question my ability to speak and understand French. I understood oh, maybe 40-50% of what was going on the whole time. Maybe more, but definitely not 90% or anything. But in any case, they were super nice. I can see why Sal loved being in Mont de Marsan so much. The teachers in Lure are definitely nice... just not on a "friend" level with me like his seemed to be with him. But later when Françoise took us to the school (to pick up stuff Sal left behind), I realized why. His school was tiny compared to mine. He also taught the little kids, so maybe that had something to do with it.
When we got home, I whipped up Rachel's famous soup again. Christophe and his wife got home around 7:45, and we had dinner almost all ready for them, to their surprise. They offered us some champagne first though, along with foie gras and some other snacks, which turned my simple soup meal into a full-length French dinner. I absolutely LOVED Christophe and his wife. They were adorable, and I wasn't lost even once in the conversation. It felt good to understand everything and not feel like I was lagging behind everyone else. I don't know what was different. Sal was surprised when I told him they were so much easier to understand than Françoise and her husband. Anyway, they loved the soup. And when we got out the cheese, Christophe complimented me on it (even though I didn't make it). And when we got out the half-eaten gâteau basque that we'd clearly bought at the store, Christophe complimented me on it. He was so funny and cute. I loved him, and I'd be willing to say that was the best night of the trip for me. Yes, maybe even better than being in Disneyland. :)
The next day we were off to Bordeaux, where we met up with Suzanna, one of the assistants Sal met last year working in Mont de Marsan. She's from England and is working as an assistant again in Bordeaux this year. We stayed with her and her roommate Chloé for two nights. That afternoon, we went out for lunch in the center of Bordeaux, which was quite possibly one of the best meals I've had in France this time around. I had a chevre salad, confit de canard (duck... my favorite from Pau!), and some floating island merangue (sp?) thing for dessert. It was all so good. Then Suzanna and Sal showed me (I say they showed me because they were both here lots last year) the reflective water whatever mirror. It was awesome and fascinating. I don't know what it was about the water or the ground that made it do this, but just look...
We basically hung out at Suzanna's place for the rest of the afternoon and evening. It was Sunday, so we relaxed a bit and had pasta for dinner, which I somehow managed to screw up horribly.
The next day Suzanna had to work, so Sal and I left when she did and just walked all over the place. We ended up spending all our time in stores and spending way too much money. I'll just say if I never end up being a teacher, I'll have wasted a lot of money during my time here. I swear, everything I see is a classroom activity of some sort, and I just have to have it! For dinner back at Suzanna's Chloé made us some sort of pie-ish-looking thing with onions inside. I don't know what to call it, but it was pretty much amazing. Basically just a ton of onions, but so good. And for dessert, a galette du roi. Supposedly, the youngest person (Suzanna) is supposed to hide under the table and designate who gets which piece of the cake as someone else (Sal) cuts it, and then whoever has the piece with the thing in it (haha okay sorry, I don't know what it's called, but it's a little figurine) is the queen or king. (Right?) So Chloé forced Suzanna under the table, but none of us ended up with the thing. We left half the cake, and I'm sure the girls found it after we left. After dinner, the three of us went out again jsut to wander around Bordeaux at night. And finally, since it was the last night of the trip, I forced Sal to be in a picture. Or two.
The next day was the last big travel day. Well actually, the biggest travel day would be coming home. But anyway, we went from Bordeaux to Paris the next morning. What a joy it was to lug all of our extra heavy luggage on the train, on the metro, and on the RER. Not. Somehoe our bags ended up way heavier than when we sarted. Hm, imagine that. I swear though, Paris transportation was out of order that day. First of all, I got stuck, literally, trying to get into the metro. The little dors that open when you put your ticket in closed on me once I was through but before my backpack was. So a woman behind me put her ticket through, which freed me but then got her stuck. I tried and tried with all my might to pull those things open, and some man next to us had to help to get her all the way through. Those things are dangerous! Getting into the RER, we didn't even use our ticket. Then the first train we got on, somone had thrown up in it, so it smelled extremely awful inside. Then there was an announcement saying that for whatever reason that train wouldn't be stopping at the airport, so we got off. Waiting for the next one to come by, we learned that there was some kind of accident along the way which was why some things were lagging. And THEN when we finally got on, we couldn't get off! We go to our stop, and everyone in our car pressed the buttons millions of times, and our doors just wouldn't open! I would have been freaking out if I'd been alone. Luckily someone's opened, so we all exited from that door.
We stayed in a hotel very close to the airport because Sal's flight left the next morning. The room was awesome. It was a suite, and it was such a luxurious way to end the trip. It was like our own little apartment, really.
The night was filled with packing and relaxing, packing and relaxing. The morning was filled with going going going. I went with Sal to the airport, where we said goodbye, not having a clue when we'll meet again. (If you don't know, he lives in Las Vegas, not Minneapolis!) I made my way on my own to the train station in Paris, where I had a few hours to wait for my train. I decided to go over to Quick to get myself one last fondant chocolat, since I don't know where the closest Quick is to Lure. It was a long ride back home, but I made it back to Lycée Georges Colomb all in one piece.
Being back is so strange. I had been looking forward to having company for so long, and now it's over. Done. Never again. Makes me sad because now I'm back to being bored all the time. I really have no life here. Lure has no life in it, either, so I blame it on that. Oh well, it's a heck of a lot better than being in a place with too much life, if you ask me. It's not very cold here anymore, and there's absolutely no snow! I only have twelve weeks of class left, then I'm done. Scary! This is going by so fast, although I have a feeling January will be long. I've even started thinking about buying my return flight to the US! Not sure if I'm excited about that or not. It will be exciting to be home, but to know I'm not coming back makes me way sad. I've been here now for maybe a week or two short of how long I was in Pau. Weird, because I don't feel ready to go home yet. I feel like I have a ton more time ahead of me. And I kind of do. We'll see what the rest holds. I probably won't travel as much as I just did; my bank account is looking pretty sad because of it.
My conclusion of this trip is that France is a lot smaller than it seems on a map. I've been all around it. Not everywhere by any means, but almost all the little corners. I sometimes as myself what mroe there is to see. I know there's a ton more to see, but as Sal and I pointed out to each other, the more French cities I visit, the more they start to all look the same. You've seen one French city, you've seen them all.
5 comments:
Bets-
Best blog post ever! I was so excited to hear all about your trip. A few things (these are out of order):
-stop whining about the cold. it's currently NEGATIVE 4 degrees in Minneapolis.
-for the Eifel Tower, get off at the Trocadero metro stop, turn left, go up the stairs, and you're there.
- the dessert you speak of is ile flottante!!! i can't believe you'd never had that!!! that was my fave dessert in paris (other than nutella crepes, which i think of more as a snack than dessert). ironically i had the ile flottante at an american-themed bar. i think it was in Chartres. i've made it before- it's easy.
-the pic of you with piglet is the cutest thing i've ever seen. it looks as if piglet is saying, "Betsy! I'm so happy to see you!" i love it. i have to get to disneyland.
- miss you / love you ! i'll see you in ITALY in 135 days!!!!!
@Erin: Just because we're far away doesn't mean we can't still fight. I'd like to point out a few things...
-I realize it's colder in MN than it is here. However, in MN, pretty sure you have a car to get around and don't spend time walking all over Minneapolis just to see it. In Strasbourg/Nancy/Paris, we were forced to walk everywhere (by choice, I realize) because we were tourists. It's different when you LIVE somewhere versus traveling there.
-I knew what the dessert was called. I just figured if I wrote "île flottante," people wouldn't know what I was talking about (except you because you're the cooking queen). And once I ate it, I realized I had actually had it before. I recognized that taste immediately! MMMMMM! It's a lot better than it sounds.
-Yeah Piglet pretty much loves me. :)
@Betsy:
-I do NOT have a car. I DO walk around. I live in the city.
-you are a poop.
Fine, you're right. Ya poop.
Your pictures are amazing!!! :)
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