Day 19 (Paris)

Today we got to visit Notre Dame Cathedral. The ride/walk to the cathedral was interesting to say the least. We picked up a creep on the metro who stalked us all the way to the cathedral, but we finally managed to ditch him. The Cathedral was nice but truth be told, I like the one in Marseille better; there's more color and life in it. There was a service going on while we were visiting; the choir music was beautiful and soothing. It really is a beautifully constructed structure. And so grand! No wonder there are so many pickpocket there; you can't help but to stare up in awe at the intricate portals and H-shaped entrance. After Notre Dame, Miles took me and Felicia to a quaint little book store called Shakespeare. It was filled floor to ceiling with fantastic finds. The second floor in particular was devoted to old books which were brilliant. I found a particularly beautiful copy of the Bhagavad-Gita, unfortunately it wasn't for sale. After getting lunch at this very touristy place near Notre Dame, we went on a bus tour of the city to see all the major Paris landmarks. I didn't really get to take any good pictures, but that's ok because we have plans to visit most of the places we saw anyway. I wrapped up the night at a near by cafe eating crepes and coffee with Lauren and Dr. Mehta.

Day 18 (Paris)

We had to wake up bright and early today in order to head back to Paris (yay!). We woke up at 6:30 (after being up till 3 in the morning packing) so that we could catch an 8:04 train to Avignon then hop on the TGV back to Paris. We got to Paris with no problems though fitting the ten of us with all of our luggage into Taxis was quite a feat. The hotel we're staying at, L'Hotel Virginia, is really nice. Our room is beautiful and we have a decent view from our balcony. Also it's nice to have a little more privacy. I'm so glad to be back in Paris, Isle sur la Sorgue was just a little too small for me, so being back to the hustle and bustle is a nice change. After we settled in, we went out for lunch and went over some of the ground rules and things to think about while in Paris like pickpockets. After lunch we were given some free time. Most of the girls wanted to rest after the long ride here but I was rearing to go, finally having something to do. Jessica and I decided to head to the Latin Quarter to see the Pantheon. I just love the metro here, it's easy and convenient. I wish we had something like that in the states. Unfortunately, by the time we got to the Pantheon, the upper level was closed so we decided not to go in. Why pay for it if you can't see the whole thing? But I'm definitely going to go back. However, all was not lost. On the way there, we ran into a Gay and Lesbian parade. It was amazing thousands of people gathering to celebrate diversity and acceptance. We had so much fun just watching all the floats (trucks) and the people that were dressed up for the occasion. Some of the stuff was a bit shocking...it's amazing what's acceptable in France. The other thing that thrilled me was the fact there was not a single protestor there. If this would have taken place in the State, there would have been protestors everywhere. Instead, here, everyone was just out to have a good time which is so refreshing. We watched the parade for a bit then headed back to the hotel to meet up with the group and head to the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower is inspiring, though slightly overrated I think. Being that I'm afraid of height (and the fact that the structure is almost entirely open-air), I decided not to go up, though many in the group tried to change my mind. I know myself well enough to know that there was a strong possibility that I would panic on the way up there and I didn't want to risk it. Miles stayed with me while the group went up. We explored the beautiful greens in front of the Tower as we talked about movies and literature which was lots of fun. We also discovered a little monument that was absolutely fascinating. I think it was dedication to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and was full of intricate designs. It was so much fun to look for different thing that we recognized on the metal work some of which included a depiction of Galileo, an amphitheater, mathematical equations, and a pyramid with the names of famous french philosophers. As we were leaving the Eiffel Tower, it was just getting dark, so we got to catch a glimpse of it lit up, which was pretty. The Metro ride home was a bit of a fiasco: everyone is trying to crowd on and get home before the trains stop running for the night.

Day 14 (Marseille)

We really got out today! Waking up very sleepy-eyed, we headed to the train station at 7:00 AM to take a train to Marseille. It was a 1 1/2 train ride, I spent most of it listening to my audiobook and laughing at Dr. Mehta as he took funny pictures of all the girls sleeping in their seats. When we got to Marseille there was a bit of confusion as we tried to make it out of the train station simply because the place is huge. When we finally made it out, the view was absolutely amazing. If the station is huge, it's nothing compared to the city. Looking out over it reminded me of some of the breath taking veiws I saw when I went to Athens. We made our way down to the old port, which was filled with fishing and sail boats. They were selling fresh fish out on the sidewalk, some of them I had no idea what they were!! From there we hopped onto a ferry to go visit the dreaded Chateau d'If (made famous by Alexander Dumas' Count of Monte Cristo). The prison was very impressive and well preserved but I was a little disappointed. There wasn't that much information available about the castle not even the more famous cells such as the one Abbe Faria or Edmond Dantes stayed in. I felt like the site relied a little too much on the book and movies for it's fame, in several of the cells various versions of the movies were playing. Additionally, I'm getting a little frustrated about the way the French present information: everything is writen in French!!! Though I have a decent grasp of the French language, I can't really pick up on the sutle nuances and vocabularly that is history, so half the time I feel like I walk into a room and say "well isn't this pretty/interesting/spooky" and walk out without really taking anything away from it. That being said the prison was still impressive and the view of the coast was fantastic. After getting back on shore, we stopped for a quick 30 minute lunch and then headed out for a petit train (a mini train ride around the city). Now we get to another one of my frustrations about France: misinformation. We had tickets bought through the tourism office for the mini train that would take us up to Notre Dame du Gard. There were two train curcuits, one which would take us around Old Marseille and the other to Notre Dame, so I asked the lady (in French) which train we should get on for our ticket. She responded that it didn't matter, so we jumped on the train that was more empty so that we could all sit together. About 3 minutes after the train left, I realized that we were on the wrong one. It was terribly frustrating. But it ended up being not so bad, the trip through Old Marseille was nice. We got to see the Cathedral (some times known as the Pajama Cathedral because of it's design) and the Viellle Charite (which was build in the 17th century to house the homeless, ill, and orpanded. Inside the Vielle Charite, was a beautiful piece of art. It was so simple: two dresses hanging on a wire with four fans at their base which made them appear to be dancing. It was absolutely ingenious. Afterwards, our group split up. Tia, Felicia, and Lauren went to the Fashion Museum while me, Mollie, and Miles took the (correct!) train to go see Notre Dame. The Cathedral was unbelievable. You could see it from the coast ontop of the mountrain and it looked so small but when you got up close, it was actually pretty big. The outside was aweinspiring and the inside was so intricate and delicate. The mosaics were down right stunning. And the view! From the Cathedral you could see the whole city, it was quite spectacular. The ride back down was a little scary. This little train was zipping down these steep narrow roads. I unintentionally slept most of the ride back to Isle sur la Sorge, Lyle woke me up just before we got to our stop. We ended the day with a group of us heading to Isabella's, which is a fantastic little icecream shop that sells the most amazingly displayed icecreams. I got a scoop of coffee icecream topped off with white chocolate syrup, it was delicious. Today was one of the best days we've had so far.

Day 13 (Avignon)

Today we headed back to Avignon. The other girls were to participate in a scavenger hunt around the city, taking pictures of various locations such as the McDonalds and the bank. Since I'm not in the French class, I was given a day to myself and I had a few museums that I wanted to visit. Unfortunately, most of the really cool museums, such as the Calvert Museum and the Archeological Museum, were closed on Tuesdays (though I haven't the faintest idea why). However, there were a couple of sweet spots that I managed to find. First, I went to the Louis Voulond Museum, which has a collection of decorative arts from the 17th and 18th centuries. My favorite was the clockwork, absolutely gorgeous and intricately designed. It also had a neat collection of china from around France that was categorized according to region. Next, I went to the Angladon Museum, which houses pieces from the 19th and 20th centuries. The museum was pretty small. The main portion of the museum was devoted to a special exibit on (photographic) portriats of artists. This was interesting but not terribly exciting, probably the best ones were of Picasso. There were a couple of "masterpiece" painting including a couple of small works by Picasso, Degas, and Manet. However, none of them were well known or terribly impressive. After the scavenger hunt was over I joined up with Dr. Mehta and Mollie and walked around Avignon for a bit. We stopped at a street vendor and introduced Mollie to crepes...she's been raving about them ever since. Heading back to Isle sur la Sorge, the three of us got so ingrossed in our conversation that we missed our stop and had to get off at Cavillion and turn back. We wrapped up the night by going to this little hole in the wall pizza place. I didn't like it that much, the pizza was way too greasy for me but I was so hungry by that point that I still ended up wolfing down quite a few pieces.

Day 6

Woke up this morning two hours early on accident and went back to sleep. Miles and I ventured to the pastry shop to buy chocolate croissants for breakfast. Class consisted of learning the "ER" verbs, months, days, and congregations. Fountaine de Vaucluse was a no go. We apparently missed out bus and was turned around repeatedly by the bus drivers saying "the bus will come." We had lunch in the park in Isle sur la Sorgue and went our separate ways to work on visiting the different businesses in Isle sur la Sorgue. That night we had cooking class with Vincent. He taught us the proper way to wield a knife and how to cute in various styles. The end result was amazing and beautifully plated by the chief. After dinner we chatted with Jillian and walked around Isle sur la Sorgue enjoying the fresh air.

Day 5

The morning started at 7:25 a.m. as we got ready to head to Orange to visit the Theatre Antique and le Musee Municipale d'Orange. I slept on the train ride over and decide to get a snack at the Pain Soleil in the train station. Miles came up with idea to compare the French bestsellers to the US bestseller book, so we looked in the book store windows to see what the popular titles were. True to the teen craze, there was a Twilight book in almost every window. At the Theatre Antique we had to draw the theatre as we listened to the audio history of the theatre. I had never heard of a theatre in such good condition outside of the few in Rome, so the Theatre Antique was a great surprise. Afterwards, we headed to le Musee Municipale d'Orange where some of us noticed that the artists tend to paint more pictures of women than men as well as the setup of the museum was directed more to tourists than locals. Lunch was had at a small restaurant were everyone ordered in French and took notes on the differences in wait services between France and America. Our next task was to venture out and take a look at banks, boutiques,pharmacies, and etc. Miles and I went into a store called Sports Adventure and questioned the manager on the ins and outs of his business. He was very helpful and willing to supply the information we asked as long as it was reasonable. We went to the bank and another shoe store to compare the information.

The day ended with a train ride to back to Avignon, but the train from Avignon to Isle sur la Sorgue was cancelled so we had to wait and come back later. We ate dinner and later Miles and I went for a walk and picked up a cappuccino, chocolat, and a cafe leigore. The night ended with sitting by the river with Tia and Mollie as we looked at the scenery.

DAY 4

We went to Avignon to visit the Temple Saint Martial, the University of Avignon, the Office of Tourism, the Palais des Papes, and the Pont des Papes. Le Palais des Papes was my favorite to visit out of the other attractions. It was filled with the history of nine Popes and the treasures they left behind. I was disappointed that some of the most artist and beautiful in nature were off limits to cameras. I went all the way to the top of the palace and forgot I had my camera in my pocket. I missed out on some amazing and breathtaking pictures, but Tia and Lauren were with me and took pictures too so major faux-pas avoided. The University of Avignon was an enlightment all of itself. I learned that the education is France is completely paid for by the state adn that even foreigners can attend the institute at a lower rate than any private or public college/univeristy in the U.S. Granted the students in France have to take the BAC before they are even recognized by a college/university is a major stress but they pull through.

Day 11 (Luberon)

I forgot to mention how cold it is here now. Right now we are experiencing the Minstral winds which blow down from the north through the Rhone valley. Even though the days are amazingly clear and sunny, the wind brings a chill to your bones. It's like the winds we had while hiking above the tree-line when we did the AT. I didn't really pack for weather like this so I've been wearing my jeans and jacket for the last two days. I wish I had something thicker, because at times when the wind blows particularly hard I'm freezing. Today was our second optional excursion. Gill took us on a tour of Massif du Luberon. We got to see a bunch of old villages high in the mountains, it was very pretty (though it felt a little repetitive). While traveling around we got to see Marquis du Sade's castle, which is awesome. Probably my favorite place that we stopped at today was Roussillon. It has these breathtaking cliffs that are made of ochre deposites, the colors are amazing. I couldn't resist the temptation and I bought a couple of little jars of ochre for painting. I'll probably never use them, but I thought they'd be a nice unique thing to bring home from France. We finished off the night eating out at the organic restaurant in Isle Sur la Sorgue. The food was really good (though kind of expensive). Also the sous chef ended up being from California so Dr. Mehta talked with her a bit and set up a meeting for us to go learn about the restaurant business in France which should be fun.

Day 10 (Isle Sur la Sorgue)

Today we had our first weekend excursion. Gill (who's house we're staying at) took us around in the van. The fist thing that we did was stopped off at some old castle ruins that were the "vacation" residence for the popes. Only two of the walls of the castle were still standing but it was still an interesting site. We got to take some cool pictures there. After, we went to a chocolatier (chocolate factory) where we learned about the process of making chocolates and got to participate in a wine tasting as well. I bought a small bag of chocolate covered almond which were very delicious. Mom asked me to bring home some chocolates for her, but they were very expensive. I think I'm going to try to find some cheaper elsewhere. For lunch, we had a picnic at the Pont du Gard which is an ancient roman aqueduct. I didn't go on the bridge (it was really high up!) but it was a great view.

Day 8 (Avignon)

Today we took the train out to Avignon. In the morning we had a meeting with some people from the University of Avignon. Their campus was really pretty and their cafeteria food was really good. It was a shame that we didn't get to see much because there are no classes due it being the summer. In the afternoon we went to see the Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes) which was really neat. It was an amazing structure, some of the rooms/halls were absolutely huge. The only unfortunate thing was that there wasn't really that much to see inside the castle, it was pretty bare, but none the less it was pretty impressive. Afterwards Lauren went with me on the Pont de St Benezet (which we all know from that song: "Sur le pont d'Avignon, on y danse, on y danse...). Lauren got to make fun of me for my fear of heights because I would only walk in the middle of the bridge. Also I'm pretty sure I managed to flash quite a few people, I was wearing one of my flowy skirts and the wind keep blowing it up. It was quite an effort to manage.

The Wall around Avignon

Palais des Papes

Some of the big halls

Day 7 (Isle sur la Sorgue)

The biggest event today was our trip a little further up the Sorgue to have a picnic on the bank. The river was terribly pretty and the walk was nice. We put our feet in for a little bit but the water was freezing. I sat by the bank a finished reading the Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier (the same woman who wrote Girl with a Pearl Earring). It was a great read.

Day 6 (Isle sur la Sorgue)

Today was the big market day in Isle sur la Sorgue. It quite the event thousands of people amble through the street to touch, taste, and purchase the gorgeous wares on sale. The little stalls crowded almost every street selling everything from clothing to food to home goods. There was a fantastic stall selling beautiful woodwork: absolutely breathtaking ladles and bowels. There was even a gentleman selling intricate pocket knives delicately carved. I wanted to buy one for my brother but I wasn't sure about how to best get it home, maybe I can mail it. I didn't buy anything today, instead just letting my eyes take in the spectacle. Lauren and I skipped lunch with the group to go eat at a river side cafe. This time we ended up at La Bellevue which was located in this wonderful spot next to the river basin: beautiful! I had a Nordique salad which came with smoked salmon, pickled herring, shrimp, onions, olives, tomatoes, and lettuce. There was a little too much fish for the amount of lettuce, but other then that it was pretty good. On the way back to the house we stopped for some French ice cream. I got cappuccino, it was delicious! In the afternoon we relaxed while studying our French culture lessons. Dinner was just a few finger foods including olives, cheese, and French bread filled with olives. I was relatively bored so I snuck out to fix myself a cup of Chai. After dinner we walked around the town again enjoying the cool night air. Night ended well into the morning as me, Lauren, Tia, and Holly gossiped away. Classes start tomorrow which is really exciting.

DAY 1 and DAY 2

I forgot to mention that we saw a Catholic wedding take place and saw the end of another wedding. The dressses here are so intricate and come in a variety of designs and colors.

DAY 1 and Day 2 Combined

La Sorgue


Delicious pasteries

I ate one of these...

Waiting to depart at the airport

Day 1 - I had a blast the first day here after a hot shower and a two hour nap. It felt so good to go explore afterwards in the streets of Isle sur la Sorgue. We stopped at a tasty pastery shop where we sampled the cuisine and bought of course some Coca-Cola. We wondered around going into antique shops and souvenir shops. Then we Miles and me traveled the village for two hours randomly following the river until we turned around and headed back to our lovely home. Of course, dinner followed.

Day 2 - Woke up at 11:15am and headed to the Sunday market with Miles. There was tones of stuff to buy from clothes, shoes, fruits/vegtables, handmade jewlry, purses, and anything you would want to buy. Miles had to reel me in a few times because I was on a buying spree. Everything was so vibrant and placed at a good price. I managed to buy two dresses, matching earrings and necklace, a coca cola, and still only spent 36 euros. I am quite proud of myself and glad I had Miles with me. After that we fell asleep and caught up on some much neededsleep.Then I had kitchen duty and we had rotisserie chicken with potatos, salade, and more. Now just cathcing up the blog.

Day 5 (Isle sur la Sorgue)

Today we woke up early (a relative term) to repack our stuff and head over to Gill's house, where we will be staying for the rest of the trip. Gill is a native New Zealander who now lives in France. She's a lot of fun and has the most fantastic accent. After settling down at Gills, the rest of the troops arrived looking a lot worse for wear. Lauren and I headed out for lunch while the rest napped. Lunch was fantastic. We pick one of the many little cafes that line the river. I had the Salade provencal (the waitress said it was the best), which came with lettuce, tomatoes, feta cheese, chicken, and pickled red pepper, and a glass of apricot juice. I'm having a little difficulty with a game I like to call "Catching the waiter's eye". In the US, the wait staff is crawling all over you desperate to earn a good tip and more importantly get you in and out. Here, apart from taking your order and delivering your food, the waiters almost completely ignore you. It's a difficult adjustment and I'm not sure the best way to deal with it. After lunch we walked back to the house to relax a little before we had dinner duties with Lee. I love that we walk everywhere; I wish we could do that in the states. We helped get dinner ready by cutting potatoes and onions and fixing the salad. Lee made a Spanish tamale (which means omelet) with a fresh salad. Ugh! We found out that classes will start at 9AM...and what with 4 of us sharing a bathroom we'll probably have to get up around 7 to make sure everyone will be ready in time. Dinner was a little overwhelming for me...after days of it just being me and Lauren...all those people in one place! I don't know, I felt very suffocated. After diner, a couple of us girls headed to the Red Unicorn, which is the only pub in town. It was fun, I helped the girls order around of drinks then me and Lauren went to go listen to the band. Part way through the night we met a couple of locals and decided to join them. Though my french is far from perfect, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I could manage a decent conversation with relative ease. Poor Lauren though, the guys in our group kept saying that she was shy. I explained that that wasn't true but that it was difficult for her not knowing the language. At one point we got invited to go to the disco-tech (the club) for dancing. I politely declined, I don't think I'm quite ready for that yet, but who knows maybe I'll feel a little more comfortable with my french to go a little later in our trip. Tomorrow's a slow day to let everyone adjust, which is nice for us too.

Eating at a river-side cafe

My Provencal Salad

New York Times: Bicycling Through Provence

France Travelers! You may enjoy reading this article in the Sunday New York Times:  Seeing Provence From the Slow Lane.

Day 4 (Isle sur la Sorgue)

Today started off a little late…actually a lot late. We didn’t wake up this morning (afternoon?) until 2PM. I’m not quite sure how we pulled off that accomplishment, but it is impressive nonetheless. As such, it was a relatively uneventful day. After having some lunch we headed out to check out the town and find an ATM. This place is amazing: small, cozy, and full of life. There’s a narrow avenue that contains the shopping district. There are shops selling a wide assortment of beautifully designed items from purses to shoes to jewelry. I found one store that had the most amazing collect on amber jewelry. It was so hard to resist the temptation to buy the place out. Lee told us that the river winds around the city in a circle so we decided to follow it. We passed numerous cafes with their tables nuzzled right up to the river; it was so picturesque. Probably the most enticing were the various shop selling homemade ice cream. I can’t wait to have some; I bet it’s absolutely delicious. All along the river are these fantastic wild fig trees. Hopefully they’ll come into season while we’re here so I can snag a few. After our walk we came back to the house. Lee cooked this incredible dinner of salad, gnocchi, and mushrooms with fresh strawberries for dessert. We stayed up late into the night drinking wine and chatting about anything and everything. I’m so impressed that Lee’s a Kevin Smith fan. The others arrive tomorrow, which is very exciting; I know everyone’s going to have a great trip.

More Water wheels...fun!

Le Sorgue

Duckies!

Gorgeous little flowers on the side of the river

Cozy cafes line the river

Day 3 (Paris, Avignon, Isle sur la Sorgue)

The day started off surprisingly well (not getting a wink of sleep!!!). I think I finally nodded off around 7AM and with breakfast at 8:30, let’s just say I knew the day would be interesting. Waking up, breakfast was just as divine as yesterday. Then with lots of scrambling and quite a few curses, we managed to pack up our stuff. We had decided earlier that we would simplify things and just take a taxi to la Gare de Lyon (the train station). This guaranteed that we didn't have to deal with our luggage on the Metro or get lost and miss our train. I'll say this, at least my French has improved enough to direct the cab driver (who thought I was English rather then America...score one for me). The drive to Gare de Lyon was....well...scary as hell. We came absurdly close to getting into an accident and I thought for a minute that our cab driver was actually going to get out of the car and start a fight. However, after a bit of screaming and a demonstration of all those "fun" French words we secretly learned in high school, we were on our way. We finally got to the train station, finally catching a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower on the way (something Lauren had been aching to do). All in all, the ride was worth exorbitant amount of money we had to pay for it. Entering Gare de Lyon you encounter on thing: chaos. There were people everywhere; it took me a while to get our bearings. Finally, I headed to the ticket counter to purchase our tickets. After waiting in a huge line for an eternity, I was nearly frantic that we were going to miss our train but, rushing back to Lauren (who was guarding the luggage) then getting laughed at by a couple of railway employees because we had no idea where we were going, we finally managed to get into the right car. Dealing with our luggage was another story. However, after some help from a very nice French woman, I managed to heave them onto the luggage racks and we took our seats. Train ride down was not bad: we got some lunch from the dining car, (due to my motion sickness) I spent most of the trip with my head buried in a book, and I fell asleep for about an hour. I'm completely impressed with the TGV, it turned a 9 hour drive into a mere 3 hour train ride, very remarkable. After taking the bus into Avignon, Lee came to pick us up to take us the rest of the way to Isle sur la Sorgue. After a couple of wet, cold days in Paris, arriving in the south was a dream: sunny, warm, and slightly breezy. The drive to the house was amazing, I felt like I was back in Greece. Isle sur la Sorgue has a beautiful little river and along the way we passed the most fantastic water wheels, they were truly stunning and inspiring. Arriving at Lee's house (which is gorgeous), we quickly changed out of our Paris clothes which were now suffocating us. After, Lee took us to a little market outside of town to buy some fruits and vegetables for us for the next few days. It was fantastic: the smells and colors were something to die for. We picked up some bright red cherries, huge strawberries, and some delicate little apricots. Getting back to the house we fixed dinner: cheese ravioli, salad, cherries for dessert, with heaps of wine. We stayed up late into the night, talking and enjoying the outdoor place.

All in all, I must say that I'm impressed with Lauren and myself. We came to a foreign country that we'd never been to and managed to navigate it (with all that luggage!) on our own. I'd say the fact that we got through it with no major catastrophes is a major accomplishment in and of itself! I know that the rest of the trip will be a breeze because we've more than proved ourselves.

Lee's House

Water wheels

The Sorgue River

The Market

Bon Voyage

I'm really excited about going to Marseille, France. I hope this experience will be as fun as I'm expecting it to be. I love you all and I will try to update and post a status everyday and add pictures.

Day 2 (Paris)

Today was not quite as interesting as yesterday. I got to bed around 10PM last night and woke up around 4AM unable to get back to sleep. I watched a couple of movies and listen to my french tapes until breakfast was served at 8:30. Breakfast was well worth the 7 Euros we paid: delicious cafe au lait, orange juice, croissants, and french baguettes with cheese. It was wonderful. After breakfast, Lauren suggested that we should sleep in a little before we headed out for the day and I agreed. We woke up SIX HOURS later to a cold, rainy day. We had planned on walking to the Latin Quarter to see the Pantheon but that was out of the question. After debating what our plans should be we finally decided to head out for dinner. It was wet, freezing, and miserable as we walked around the area. We passed gorgeous little french cafes and even more gorgeous Parisians. We finally settled on a little placed called Cafe D'Orleans. I ordered the Salade du Sud Oest which was a fantastic salad with duck, potatoes, bacon, tomatoes, and eggs. We just got back to the hotel and are going to settle in for the night to finish off the bottle of wine from last night. Hopefully I'll be able to get a decent sleep tonight, though for some reason that seems unlikely. Today was a slow uneventful day, with luck things will perk up tomorrow when we take the TGV to Avignon.

Day 1 (Paris)

So day 1 in Paris was interesting to say the least. Due to some complications with our previous hotel reservations, we arrived in the city of love with no where to stay. After some mad scrambling with Lyle at what must have been 3AM back home (thanks for all your help) we finally managed to make reservations at a little hotel in southern Paris, Beaunier. Next we had to get there. From the airport we managed to get to the train station with relative ease, from there on things got a little hectic. For some reason, maybe due to the jet lag or the fact that my french felt painfully inadequate, taking the Metro into Paris seemed a daunting and complicated task. After much confusion and frustration we finally got on the right route. Hauling around our luggage was a huge hassle and took a ridiculous amount of effort which caused us to miss our stop while trying to navigate our way off the train. Finally getting off at the right stop, we started the long walk to our hotel with our massive suitcases in tow. We managed to navigate the streets well enough until, due to a confusion about the name of the street that our hotel was located on, we ended up on the side of the road map spread out over our suitcases looking like total tourists. Finally, after considerable help from Lauren's dad, we managed to find our way. All in all, it took us four hours to get from the airport to our hotel: What a nightmare!!! But I will say this, regardless of what people say, the French people are so unbelievable helpful. We had so many people stop to ask us if we needed help or directions, or help us get our horrible suitcase up massive staircases, or offered us umbrellas. Everyone was so nice, it helped take the edge off my frustrations. I wrapped up my day with a delicious meal from a little corner cafe (vegetable quiche) and a short nap followed by a bottle of wine and a late night chat with Lauren. The day was long and hectic but quite an adventure. I wonder what tomorrow will hold.