Luxembourg Gardens/Palace
Luxembourg Palace
Montparnasse Tower (tallest skyscraper in France)
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Paris is Burning!!
OMG...so I'm sitting in bed surfing the web my laptop, relaxing, about to go to sleep. Then, BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!!! Fire alarm, fire alarm!! I'm first thought was "probably a false alarm," but then I heard all kinds of commotion in the halls and my next thought was "holy crap!" So I'm trying to get dressed because I only had on shorts and a t-shirt and it's freezing outside. So, I throw on some "work pants" that I had laying out to wear the next morning, a sweat shirt, and my running shoes (untied)/no socks! Classy! After that, I'm thinking, where is my passport?!, where is my cell phone?, wallet?, credit cards?, computer?...NO TIME!! So, I go into the hall, and people are booking it for the exits. What was weird was all these people kept asking me (why me?) questions IN FRENCH...! I don't know, I DON'T KNOW...RUN! Maybe they were asking me why the heck I was dressed like that!?! So there we all are, standing in the cold...waiting to be told someone accidentally bumped the alarm w/their elbow. Um, excuse me? Yeah...false alarm! Quick recap of last weekend: not too exciting, just mostly walked around Luxembourg Gardens, Latin Quarter, and St Germain.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Having Fun in Al's Ass!
Okay, okay I'll explain! Last weekend I went to visit Florian's (my best French friend ;-) family in Fontenay, France! When Florian suggested this might be something fun to do while I'm in France, he explained to me that they would take me to Alsace, a nice area in the countryside of Eastern France. Well, Alsace sounds exactly like "Al's ass." So, the first time we spoke about the possibility of me visiting his parents, I couldn't figure out why he kept saying "Al's ass." So, there you have it.
Anyways...my weekend was so much fun!! I took the TGV train to Nancy where Florian's parents picked me up. Then we drove another hour or so to Fontenay, a tiny, little village where they live. It is so nice there! It is the complete opposite of the crazy city life, and it was so relaxing! On Saturday morning, after a GOOD breakfast, we headed off to Alsace. We first went to Strasborg, on the France/Germany border, which is a town with a definite German-touch. We had lunch at Maison Kammerzell, the oldest house in Strasborg. Afterwards, we drove to some smaller villages in the Vosges mountains. I totally felt like I was in a Disney movie! Everything was so quaint and had so much character!
Bastien & Me
Strasborg, France
House (left) where we had lunch
Village in Alsace
Village in Alsace
Francoise & Me
Village in Alsace
On Sunday, after another GOOD breakfast, we took a walk around the village of Fontenay. It was so peaceful, and best of all...the sun came out to play! Later, after a GOOD lunch...WAIT! Did I mention Florian's brother, Bastien, is a pastry chef!? Oh yeah...he made some seriously good desserts! Okay, focus. After lunch (including a fantastic cake from Bastien) we drove up into the Vosges mountains! WOW!! It was so beautiful! All of the trees were changing colors, and there were houses built right into the side of the mountain.
Francoise & Patrice
Yummy!!
Francoise & Patrice
Francoise & Me
Vosges Mountains
Vosges Mountains
All in all, it was a perfect weekend! Thank you to Florian and his family (Patrice, Francoise, and Bastien) for arranging this time for me to visit the French countryside!!
P.S.
***I'M SICK!!!*** That's why this blog is a week late, and why I'm in bed with a pile of disgusting tissues next to me. So, unless you want pictures of that (anyone?) then I probably won't have anything good to share for this weekend. :(
Anyways...my weekend was so much fun!! I took the TGV train to Nancy where Florian's parents picked me up. Then we drove another hour or so to Fontenay, a tiny, little village where they live. It is so nice there! It is the complete opposite of the crazy city life, and it was so relaxing! On Saturday morning, after a GOOD breakfast, we headed off to Alsace. We first went to Strasborg, on the France/Germany border, which is a town with a definite German-touch. We had lunch at Maison Kammerzell, the oldest house in Strasborg. Afterwards, we drove to some smaller villages in the Vosges mountains. I totally felt like I was in a Disney movie! Everything was so quaint and had so much character!
Bastien & Me
Strasborg, France
House (left) where we had lunch
Village in Alsace
Village in Alsace
Francoise & Me
Village in Alsace
On Sunday, after another GOOD breakfast, we took a walk around the village of Fontenay. It was so peaceful, and best of all...the sun came out to play! Later, after a GOOD lunch...WAIT! Did I mention Florian's brother, Bastien, is a pastry chef!? Oh yeah...he made some seriously good desserts! Okay, focus. After lunch (including a fantastic cake from Bastien) we drove up into the Vosges mountains! WOW!! It was so beautiful! All of the trees were changing colors, and there were houses built right into the side of the mountain.
Francoise & Patrice
Yummy!!
Francoise & Patrice
Francoise & Me
Vosges Mountains
Vosges Mountains
All in all, it was a perfect weekend! Thank you to Florian and his family (Patrice, Francoise, and Bastien) for arranging this time for me to visit the French countryside!!
P.S.
***I'M SICK!!!*** That's why this blog is a week late, and why I'm in bed with a pile of disgusting tissues next to me. So, unless you want pictures of that (anyone?) then I probably won't have anything good to share for this weekend. :(
Thursday, November 1, 2007
My dogs are barking!
Whew, it was a long and random day. It started out not so fabulous...at the laundry mat. Yes, I 
said laundry mat. My hotel does have a laundry service, but it is SO EXPENSIVE! I'm not exaggerating at all when I tell you this...not to get all X-rated, but one pair of underwear is 4.30 Euros!! That's like $5.00 and some change! So, instead of paying what would've been over 100 Euros for the hotel service, I went next door to a laundry mat where I paid 9.50 Euros! Essilor can thank me later! ANYWAYS...I guess I should've mentioned that I didn't go to work today because it's a public holiday here in France - All Saint's Day. After clothes were done, I went to the Père-Lachaise Cemetery. It's were Jim Morrison of The Doors is buried. To be honest, I couldn't name one of his songs if my life depended on it, but I went to see it nonetheless. I'm glad I did, because the cemetery was so "cool." I know that's an odd way to describe it, but it wasn't just a bunch of square tombstones with fake flowers. I walked around for hours, and it went on and on with so many interesting things to see. Some other notable people who are buried there are Oscar Wilde and Frederic Chopin. From there, I went to the greatest place I've been to since I got here: McDonald's!! You know I'm keeping it real! Then I headed off without really knowing what I was going to do. I ended up going by the Centre George Pompidou, which is a huge modern/pop art museum. I thought about going in, but the line was sooooooo long it was just crazy.
Fountain at Centre George Pompidou
Centre George Pompidou
So, I kept on going, and I ended up at the Eiffel Tower. The lines there were actually not too bad, so I decided I'd go to the top! OUCH! I walked up the stairs to the 2nd story, which was a long way! From there, you have to take the elevator to the top. I tried to take some pictures of the city, but they didn't turn out too great. I also tried to take some pictures of myself, but I had "crazy eyes" in all of them. Then, someone offered to take my picture, and it looks like something is exploding out of my head, and the other looks like I'm being attacked by a lightsaber.
Okay, I've gotta wrap this up because I'm so tired! I'll leave you with one last picture. I see this ad in the metro every morning on my way to work, and it makes me laugh...I don't know why!
said laundry mat. My hotel does have a laundry service, but it is SO EXPENSIVE! I'm not exaggerating at all when I tell you this...not to get all X-rated, but one pair of underwear is 4.30 Euros!! That's like $5.00 and some change! So, instead of paying what would've been over 100 Euros for the hotel service, I went next door to a laundry mat where I paid 9.50 Euros! Essilor can thank me later! ANYWAYS...I guess I should've mentioned that I didn't go to work today because it's a public holiday here in France - All Saint's Day. After clothes were done, I went to the Père-Lachaise Cemetery. It's were Jim Morrison of The Doors is buried. To be honest, I couldn't name one of his songs if my life depended on it, but I went to see it nonetheless. I'm glad I did, because the cemetery was so "cool." I know that's an odd way to describe it, but it wasn't just a bunch of square tombstones with fake flowers. I walked around for hours, and it went on and on with so many interesting things to see. Some other notable people who are buried there are Oscar Wilde and Frederic Chopin. From there, I went to the greatest place I've been to since I got here: McDonald's!! You know I'm keeping it real! Then I headed off without really knowing what I was going to do. I ended up going by the Centre George Pompidou, which is a huge modern/pop art museum. I thought about going in, but the line was sooooooo long it was just crazy.
Fountain at Centre George Pompidou
Centre George Pompidou
So, I kept on going, and I ended up at the Eiffel Tower. The lines there were actually not too bad, so I decided I'd go to the top! OUCH! I walked up the stairs to the 2nd story, which was a long way! From there, you have to take the elevator to the top. I tried to take some pictures of the city, but they didn't turn out too great. I also tried to take some pictures of myself, but I had "crazy eyes" in all of them. Then, someone offered to take my picture, and it looks like something is exploding out of my head, and the other looks like I'm being attacked by a lightsaber.
Okay, I've gotta wrap this up because I'm so tired! I'll leave you with one last picture. I see this ad in the metro every morning on my way to work, and it makes me laugh...I don't know why!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)