My favorite place in Paris was Versailles. I could live there, and it's so big that I probably could actually hide somewhere and attempt to go unnoticed! Versailles is slightly out of Paris and has the Versailles palace, ponds, acres (or hecters) upon acres of gardens, different amazing buildings and apartments, Marie Antoinette's house, "mini Venice" with running gondolas and all! There is still more than this too. Addy (my friend from back home) and I spent over five hours there and I could have stayed for days to really see it all. In an attemp to be able to narrow down the hundreds (literally) of pictures I took there here is a montage:
Friday, July 9, 2010
BBQ and Petanque
A few days before I left for Paris Kim and I were invited over to some friends of hers for a lovely BBQ. I ate pate for the first time, had some Peche (peach) apertif that I have been craving ever since, sausage, a spicy mustard that I'm going to have to find in the states, and ate so much I was nearly sick and couldn't even eat dinner that night! I honestly had never seen so many courses. (This is their dog "Rock" as in "and Roll", fabulous.)
I also got to play a popular French game called Petanque (I don't know how, nor do I care enough to look up how, but there should be accents on most of these French words. So, sorry.) for the first time. You have
teams and each round the two members of the teams each try to throw metal balls (you each get two) as close as possible to a small wooden ball. Whoever at the end of the game (which seemed to be whenever you felt like stopping) gets the most balls over all the rounds the closest to the small wooden ball wins!
The team with the ten-year-old clinched it at the end and won, he was amazing and for whatever reason he loved to say my name over and over again, but because it's kind-of hard to pronounce for him he kept saying, "Webekah, Wabekah, Webekah!" and whenever anyone else said it he would correct them, "Webekah! Wabekah!" I loved it and I'm already trying to scheme how I can somehow raise our children to have French accents...
Thursday, July 8, 2010
I made it! (Paris)
(Partially written while in Paris three weeks ago)
I was slightly terrified about taking my three trains from my beloved Brantome out to big city Paris! After having a little potty folly (I still think I might have done it wrong! I went to a pay bathroom at the train station and when I went in there was no toilet...just a hole...and a wet metal ring suspended from the wall that you had to lower...it was very weird and I basically just ended up standing. Okay, enough about toilets!) I thought that might be a sign of things to come. However, after Kim so patiently waited for my first train to take off safely, and with me on it, I got to the airport (not the best way to get to Paris, however that was where I was meeting Alex in a week, so had to make sure my departure was from there) bought my RER ticket, met an American who had no idea where to go (I could relate), helped him find the correct RER, then metro train (thank Kim for the fact that she gave me a really good metro map, and it was in French so I looked less like a tourist which got extra points for me!) and the direction of his hostel. I then miraculously was able to find my own flat where I was staying and later on meeting my friend from Oregon.
After I met with my AirBnB host and checked in, I walked up to Sacre Coeur, which was just a few blocks away and explored the Montmartre area a bit and spent some time people watching (which could be done endlessly most anywhere in Paris!) and got my first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower!
My friend arrived that evening and we went to a cute pizza bistro and enjoyed the scenes of joy for the Cup fans who were watching the French play that night. Perfect timing and something not to be missed.
Caves et Musee de Brantome...
Many apologies for not blogging for so long, but Paris, Nice, Italy and my love were all worth a little more focus. I am back in Brantome and Alex is back in Berkeley now, so I will be a better blogger again. I've got lots of catch up to do, but thankfully I had a few drafts so I won't have to start totally from scratch...Before I left for Paris, Kim and I took a rainy day as an opportunity to explore the caves and abbey of Brantome that are just down the street from her house. The church that is attached to the abbey is one of old stone with stained glass
windows and benches that have been prayed on for hundreds of years. One of
the most interesting facts about the church is that there is a holy relic with a piece of bone said to be from a child slain by Harrod's hand! The abbey is now used mostly for the city offices. There is also a library, and a belltower that we really wanted to see, but of course they are open every day except for Tuesday!
The caves, like all caves in my opinion, were very interesting. What I feel makes them even more so is the fact that they aren't just caves in some remote location used only for tours. These caves can be seen from most anywhere in Brantome and there are shops, restaurants and even homes that have been built into parts of them.
My favorite part of the day however was not the caves, it was in the art gallery where bizarrely enough there is an animatronic replica of a local artist from the late 1800's I believe. When the "attraction" would buzz on the artist's hand would fly rapidly across the page he's drawing on whilst he whispered in French, "Oui"..."Non"...It was the best kind-of tacky there is! The story behind the artist was that later in his career he began to have an interest in the occult and
participated in seances where he met several spirits who would tell him what to draw when he was in one of his trances. I feel like I could believe it too, the before work of the artist were mostly basic landscapes and scenery whereas the "possesed" ones were these beautiful etheral people, women with yellowish glows and flowers in their hair. They didn't have postcards of those paintings, but I did sneak a picture of the animatronic artist himself! (Sorry it's so dark.)
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Sorry, But I'm off to Paris!
I have a few blog entries to catch up on, but I have to leave to Paris in the morning! So, not sure that I'll be able to blog for the week I'm there, but I will catch up when I get back. AND I'm coming back with
my baby! I'm so excited, I miss my love and I can't wait to show him all of the amazing sights, and discover new ones, together!! Woo-hoo! I am so thankful for all that I am able to do right now, and my incredible host Kim, her fantastic daughter Johnelle, and the big guy ;) THANK YOU WORLD FOR THIS!!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
