Three beaches in one day

Yesterday, we spent the majority of our time in a few different spots along the Atlantic coast. And no more rain! Beautiful, sunny skies and warm temperatures all the better to enjoy our day in a few beach towns. First, we crossed the border into Spain to visit the town of San Sebastian, which is surrounded by beautiful views of the ocean, a few nice beaches to visit and picturesque, little streets to stroll through. A lot of us were surprised by what a difference a few miles and a border could make because of the change in languages. In fact, Mario explained to us that because this region was never conquered by the Romans, there was never any Roman influence on their regional language so it is quite different from any Romance languages - lots of random x's, t's, k's, etc. Anyways, Maddie was quite happy to practice her Spanish and the rest of us mumbled through a few "por favor"s and "graçias"s . After a few hours, we hopped back into France to visit Saint-Jean-de-Luz, a little town whose big claim to fame is that it is where Louis XIV married Marie-Thérèse in a (more or less) politically-motivated move in 1660. We took a quick walking tour that included the church where the wedding took place. Afterwards, we headed to Biarritz, the only place in France where you can surf, for a few more hours of exploration, sun and sand. And kind of like we finished our time in Paris watching the Eiffel Tower sparkle, we finished our time in this area by watching the sun set on the Atlantic with our toes in the sand of the beach by our hotel. 

Now, as I write this, we're on the bus almost to our next hotel in Orange. This afternoon, we've gone from the Atlantic coast to catching glimpses of the Mediterranean in the distance. We made a half-way stop in the medieval walled-in city of Carcassonne. I've always wanted to visit there and now I have! Beautiful little place to spend a few hours. And now, onto the rest of the south of France - Provence, here we come! 

(there will be a time lapse in me writing this and me posting it because I can't post till I get wi-fi at the hotel tonight.)

Life after Paris

If our day could be summed up in two words, it would be rain and bus. As I said yesterday, there was a train strike today so we had to take a bus from Paris to Bordeaux and then switch to another to make it the rest of the way to Biarritz. Meanwhile, we did enjoy a rainy walk around Bordeaux and we all decided that we would love to spend more time there, either to visit or to live, but with less rain. 

After dinner, we checked into our lodgings for the night, which reminds us more of summer camp. Once we got settled, Mario walked us down to see the ocean. So now some of us can say that we've been in both sides of the Atlantic!

What we've learned so far:

What we've learned so far:

1. Going to the bathroom is always a unique adventure for Jimmy.

2. Jared needs help keeping track of his belongings, including his shoes on the métro.

3. Cats are the best way to attract small children. 

4. Jared sleepwalks... Out of his hotel room. 

5. Maddie loves little children dressed as non-humans.

6. Evan likes stairs way too much.

7. Miss Schilling bears a striking resemblance to Lady Gaga.

8. Anna can get ready in ten minutes flat, including washing her hair.

9. Jared's freckles are made of chocolate. 

10. Mrs. Six is really good at taking pictures for other tourists and buying Eiffel Tower keychains for cheap. 

11. Jimmy can't take photos with the Eiffel Tower in the background. 

12. Mario knows what he's doing.

 

Well, we've said au revoir to Paris and will be headed to Bordeaux and Biarritz tomorrow morning. There's a train strike so we won't get the opportunity to ride the TGV but will be taking a tour bus all the way. 

Day 3: Paris

Tuesday wasn't quite as jam-packed as the previous day but we were on our feet, pounding the pavement (i.e. cobblestones) nonetheless. We started our day with stopping in Galeries Lafayette to see their gorgeous domed, kaleidoscope-like ceiling. Since we were surrounded with brands such as Chanel, Fendi, Armani, Yves Saint Laurent and the like, we realized that, alas, we couldn't afford anything and left to go over to the Palais/Opéra Garnier to see their beautiful marble staircases, sumptuous red velvet chairs and exquisite ballet costumes on display. Gorgeous!

Trekking down Avenue de l'Opéra, we ended up at the Palais Royal to have a mini-photo-shoot with its black and white striped columns (photos to come later) and jumped across the street to the Louvre to see the exterior. Then we crossed across the street to see the Pont des Arts, a footbridge covered in padlocks with couples' names. The story says that you're supposed to write your names on a lock, lock it on the bridge and throw the key in the river to ensure your everlasting love. No word on what happens if you break up.., but hey, we're in Paris, the city of love, let's not ruin it! 

Then we went back to Notre-Dame to hike up 200 spiral stairs to the top, and just a few more to the top of one of the bell towers. We were up there as Quasimodo was ringing the bells for 1:30  but no sightings of him as far as I know. By the way, this year marks Notre-Dame's 850th birthday so they just got beautiful, new, shiny bells earlier this year. To celebrate our conquering the steps of Notre-Dame, we treated ourselves to Berthillon ice cream, the best in the city. Some of us were as adventurous to try rose-raspberry ice cream... Definitely a bit perfume-y...

Next stop was Montmartre and Sacré-Coeur, which stands at the pinnacle of the city to the north. We toured the church and went souvenir shopping in Place du Tertre. Then dinner then a bit of free time in the Latin Quarter then to the hotel to recover from all those steps (Notre-Dame and Montmartre). Today was the day that the rest of the groups that we will be touring with arrived, so from here on out, we will be with three other groups from Missouri and North Carolina. 

More adventures to be had! À bientôt!

Day 2: Paris

First day in Paris complete!

Well, our first day is in the books! After a not-so-luxurious night of sleeping on the plane, we hit the ground running after arriving in Paris this morning. After dropping off our stuff at the hotel, we trekked to the catacombs (underground tunnels lined with bones... Creepy!) and got to admire beautiful Impressionist paintings and sculptures by Renoir, Degas, VanGogh and Monet in Musée d'Orsay. Oh, and of course, no visit to Orsay is complete without a admiring of my favorite polar bear sculpture, Pompon's Ours blanc (see photo in previous post) Afterwards, we strolled through the picturesque Parisian streets to dinner, passing two of the most famous cafés in Paris. Dinner was super tasty and we decided to come back to the hotel early to crash and try to recuperate some of those hours of sleep we lost on the plane last night.

Hourah! Nous sommes enfin arrivés à Paris! (By the way, this is the famous clock in Musée d'Orsay.)

T minus five days...

Well, we've got five more days to get our last-minute shopping done and pack our suitcases. And then we will be on our way to Paris!  All day yesterday, most if my thoughts started with, "in a week from today, I'll be [fill in the blank with seeing a site in Paris.]" 

By this time next week, we will have already arrived, visited the catacombs, Musée d'Orsay and Sainte-Chapelle. Wow... I can't wait! (And I'll get to visit my favorite polar bear!)