Well, everyone now that I've recovered sufficiantly from my jet-lag, I thought I would delight you all with the accounts of my exploits in France. Aren't you excited? I bet you are!
On the first day of my trip, I spent my time in various airports and planes. Oh, what absolute bliss! After spending a few hours in TIA, our flight arrived...and left late. Does it matter why? Oh, well. My friend Wilson had never flown in a plane before. That sure was a fun experience...I've never seen someone's face get so many shasdes of....well, pale. No, he was fine after a while. The taxi we took to our hotel was fun, too! ;)
On the scond day we went to the Louvre, and saw the Mona Lisa. That was cool, even though it's actually a small painting. And she has no eyebrows. I thougt that was noteworthy. The Venus de Milo is pretty cool, too but my favorite sculpture is Nike, or Winged Vitory. Woo Hoo...girl Power! We also walked around the city and looked at some other famous places.
On the third day, we visited Notre Dame de Paris. It's so beautiful inside. You feel dwarfed because there's so much space...and the Rose Window looks like a kalidescope when the light shines through it. It's really awesome. We were also supposed to go to Versailles, Louis XIV's home, but we didn't. Instead, we went on one of the Bateaux Mouche, a river cruise. We got to see Paris from the water. It was cool.
On the fourth day in France, we drove to Chartes. It was a long bus ride, becuase I had to fight my primal urges to kill. Oh, well...at least the scenery was nice. There's a lot of sunflowers in France, and that kind of made up for certain ....annoyances I had to endure for 11 more days to come. Kind of. Anyways, we saw Notre Dame de Chartes...another Gothic cathedral dedicated to Our Lady. This one has blue windows. It was pretty, but it would have been better if the sun had been shining. Later, we went to Chambord, a big Chateau where they make some really good rasberry liqour. Nobody asked my age when I bought it, either.
By this time, my friends and I had come to the conclusion that shower curtains had been banished from the fair land of France. Not a single hotel we stayed at had a shower curtain. This might not seem like a big deal, but when the bathroom ends up looking like a scene from Singing in the Rain, you start to get a little worried. I mean, they can't cost that much to install, right? But, anyway....
On the fith day, we went to see more Chateaux. We saw Chenonceau and Azay-le-Rideau. I remember the first one because it was built across a bridge, and I thought that was pretty cool. I remeber that Azay-le-Rideau was big....and that's about it. I'm sure it was beautiful, though. Later we went on a wine tasting tour, and Wilson and I bought some, even though he doesn't like wine. Odd child...he likes beer. Oh, well...gotta love him anyways. ;) That was a pretty fun day, and not just because of the wine.
On day six,we rode to the Dpartement of Dodogne, where my penpal Emelie lives. Our hotel was so beautiful..and it had an actual bed! Not just a bunch of cots pushed together in the middle of the floor. Not much happened that day; just another long bus ride... only by now I was begining to lose my pateince wih everyone. I behaved myself, though, I swear! The most exciting thing happned that evening, when I called Emelie up on the phone. After trying several wrong numbers, I got a hold of her. She was really nice, but she couldn't come that evening, which kind of bummed me out. But it was really cool to talk to her on the phone. I'm glad my frinds talked me into taking he risk.
We went to the caves of Lascaux II on day seven. These are the replicas of some ancient caves with famous paintings in them. It was pretty cool, especially when our guide tuned out all the lights in the cave. That was neat, even though most of the other girls on the tour started sreaming. I hate it when people do that. But, oh well..it was pretty awesome to see those huge cave paintings. Other than that, my friends and I hung out on this dam next to an abandoned Chateau. It was really the quintessential French setting. I really liked that place more than Paris. Shhhh...
On day eight we took the bus to atown called Rocamadour. It's a place where the homes are carved right out of the cliff. That was cool, but no room for a pool or sauna, eh? ;) Inside joke, sorry. Ayways, later we went to Carcassonne, named after a lady who rang bells and saved her town with a pig. It's a long story. That's were we spent the night.
During this, I would like to say that I was happy with room mates.I was very happy that I didn't stay with evryone's favorite girl, Double B. Rae was cool, though. She likes Gershwin. That makes he alright in my book. I'm also glad that didn't have to room with a masochistic little boy and his Bevis-talking, sandwich-making friend. Well, actually, they were pretty cool....most of the time. Especially the second guy. He was funny.
Anyways, back to my misadventures.
Day nine saw us takig a walking tour of Carcassonne. That was really cool, because this is a city that still has it's ancient wall around the town, like it did back in Roman times. It's also where Robin Hood was filmed. They also sell swords and various othe blades there. That was cool.
On day ten we visited my favorite part of France: Provence. It's in the south, where the lavender grows. They have good food there, too. Nimes is a neat place..it's where they ivented denim. A little history lesson I thought slip in there. Sorry if I've traumatized anyone out there. ;)There's also a huge Roman Aqueduct called Pont au Gard. It's really high, and it was windy that day. There's no fence or anythng, so one could walk right off of it. I settled for sitting on the edge above the river. Maybe next time, eh? ;) Just kiding.
Also on day ten, we went to Avignon. That's the place with the famous bridge. At least, it famous in France....anyway...There was a huge Street Theatre Festival going on there. That was a lot of Bohemian fun, but let me state once and for all, I hate clowns! Don't ask me why, I just do. And the streets of Avignon were just crawling with them. Oh, well. Besides that, the Festival was really cool. Gotta love that French sense of humor. Or maybe that was day nine, our first day in Provence. It doesn't really matter. It happened.
OK, now that I'm once again chronalogically correct, I continue to day eleven. This day was spent on the French Rivera. That's right. The French Rivera. I get chills just thinking about it. We went to Monaco and bought the World's Most Expensive Coke.... $7.00. For a glass of Coke. That must have been the best dang Coke in the world! Oh, we also saw the Changing of the Gaurds in Monte Carlo. That was cool; the pealing of the bells in the Palace sounds beautiful as it echos off the cliffs and goes out to sea. How poetic. We also went to Eze, and toured a perfumary. I got a few bottles for myself.
Later on day eleven, we went to the town of Nice, where a lot of famous people stay. It's one awesome party town. They sing Pink Floyd there a lot, which made Ms. L happy. My Dad would have liked it, too. We took a carriage ride by the sea. That was very scenic. Then we went to this little cafe and bar where they charge you 58 FF for a milkshake. I had a Tahiti, which was good. They served it to me in a huge cup that looked like a bundle of dynamite. That was a pretty memorble night.
On day twelve we were still in Nice, and I went swimming in the Mediterranean Sea. Those of you who have never been in it, it's a shade of blue American waters could never hope to achieve. You feel like you're floating in the sky because it's all the same color of blue. Very peaceful. There's no sand on the beaches, though. Only rocks...lots and lots of rocks. At least they're smooth. After that all I had to look forward to was a seven hour bus ride to the Alps. I sang a lot to keep myself sane. Later that night, we said goodbye to Nellie, our bus driver. She was extremely nice to all of us tourists. We had a little concert, too, in a room our guide rented for our group. It was a lot of fun, and I sang three songs. How cool is that?
On the thirteenth day, we wnet for a visit to Geneva, Switzerland. It was very clean. We also sat on the Longest Bench in the World (!), and looked at some statues of Prodestant Reformers. One of them was Calvin, I know that much. We also visied the UN. The gaurds there are very nice. They'll let you take pictures with them and their automatic weapons. I thought that was cool. The UN was educational; I learned about Castro's 4 hour speech and Switzerland's neutrality. Later we saw the Jet d'Eau, the world's tallest fountain. We also ate lunch at a Swiss Subway, and bought a lot of chocolate. Mmmmm...
Later that day we took the TGV back to Paris. In French, TGV means "very fast train". It goes 180 mph, the book said; the fastest in the world. It really seemed like we were going about 50 mph., but what can you do?
Day fourteen was also the 14th of July. And we all know what the 14th of July is, don't we? Oh, come now! It's Bastille Day...French Independence Day. It was odd, because, instead of having the fireworks the night following the big parade, they had them on midnight the evening before the parade, if that makes any sense. The fireworks were still cool,though. We also went to the top of the Eifel Tower and saw the Bastille Day Air Show. That was cool, in more ways than one. It was so cold up there, but the veiw was great. We saw the parade, and then had to meet our group for lunch... on the other side of the Champs Elysees. Instead of being allowed to cross the street, we were forced to walk all the way around the Arc de Triomphe, over all 12 streets. We were tired when we got to Planet Hollywood, but it was still crazy fun.
We also walked to the few remaining monuments we hadn't seen, including Sacre Couer, the big Greek-style church. That was so awesome! And then we wnet to the Red Light District of Paris, near the Moulin Rouge, and had some Guiness. Almost everyone in our group got ripped off, but I was busy buying some souvenirs, so I was spared. Oh, well, what a shame, huh? It happens to the best of us, though.
Day 15 was our last day, and we spent it with Frederic, our guide, at the mall. A huge mall, people. A three story mall. Almost nobody had any money left, but I had some, and I bought myself a CD that I am madly in love with. :) But so did Kim.... ;) It was pretty cool, and I managed to overcome my food poisoning enough to sample French fast food. Wow!
We had our last taste of Orangina then. It's a French drink, like carbonated orange juice, but infintely more. We are all hopelessly addicted to it. Sigh.. Later we flew home, on an 8 hour flight. Then after customs, another, 2 hour flight from Dulles. Uggg... and then, home.
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