Happy Hippie Easter

Friday, April 6th
6:30 am, Quinn and I got on the train heading to Lyon where we would make the transfer to our train to Geneva. We got into Geneva at around 10:30, and the city was DEAD. Nobody was on the streets, none of the stores were open - it was like we had walked into a ghost town. We asked the man at the hotel what the deal was, and he explained that since it was Easter weekend, not much was going to be open - great. 
Fact: Switzerland is one of the most expensive countries in Europe, so our most expensive weekend was going to be filled with wandering the streets looking for things to do. 


So. 


We meandered towards Old Town when we got our first glance of Lake Geneva and the Jet d'Eau that Geneva's famous for. 


Here are some fun facts about the Jet d'Eau:

1. 140 meters high
2. 500 litres (132 gallons) of water from Lake Geneva are jetted into the air per second
3. water leaves the nozzle at a speed of 200 km/h (124 mph)
4. at any given moment, there are about 7,000 litres (1,849 gallons) of water in the air

Walking along the water, we stopped at the English Gardens, took a picture with the Flower Clock before heading up into the hills of Old Town.

Meandering aimlessly through the streets of Old Town, Geneva, we stumbled upon St. Pierre's Cathedral. Luckily, right behind the historical St. Pierre's Church, there was a Crêpe Restaurant, so we stopped and had a nice, long lunch before heading into the church.

Fun Fact about St. Pierre's Church:

Back in the 1500's, when the Protestants took over the church, they whitewashed all the walls, removed all the murals and left nothing but the original architecture of the Cathedral and the Stained Glass windows. That's the state that it's currently in today. 

Q and I decided to take in as much of the cathedral as possible and head up to the Towers of the Cathedral where we saw one of the most beautiful views I've seen yet in Europe. Thousands of hundred-year-old building scattered the hills around Lake Geneva and continued right up until the foot of the mountains that enveloped the city. It was breathtaking.

After coming down, we meandered around Old Town - up and down winding cobblestone streets until we fell upon a park where dozens of middle-aged men (cigars in mouths, of course) were playing giant-sized chess. The silence around the chess boards made it obvious how seriously these men took their game.

Staircase in the streets of Old Town, Geneva 

Men getting serious about their Chess and Checkers

After watching for a little while, Q and I found a beautiful Cherry tree and planted ourselves under it for a well-deserved nap in the sun.

When I woke up, covered in Cherry tree blossoms, this is what I saw:

We went back to the lake for a bit and split some ice cream and took a trip out on the very narrow stone pathway to the Jet d'Eau where I saw (yet another) beautiful view of the city.

We headed back to Old Town for dinner: split Fondue, Vegetarian Lasagna and a bottle of Cab.

Then we decided, since everything was closed and we had made a pretty big dent in the list of things to see in Geneva, we would have a girls night at the movie theater – Titanic in 3D :)

Saturday, April 7th

Slept in before going to a Chocolatier for breakfast. Ordered some of the most FANTASTIC Hot Chocolate I've ever had, and we spent a nice relaxing 2 hours or so there (Eat, drink, sit...seeing a pattern yet?)

Then we took the bus up to the United Nations Building and – while trying to find our way in – stumbled upon a Glass and Ceramic Museum (Ariana Museum). We missed the last tour by 10 minutes (too much time in the museum haha), so we stopped and took a picture:

before walking around the Estate to the Botanical Gardens which were absolutely beautiful. They had small gardens dedicated to plants from specific regions of the world (Provence, Africa, South America, etc.), and they were all scattered among little streams and water falls. The entire place smelled AMAZING. They also had a little zoo filled with Peacocks, some sort of Mountain Goat, FLAMINGOS, and the largest variety of duck I've ever seen.

Botanical Gardens

Then we meandered a little more and headed back to Old Town for a couple of coffees to burn the couple of hours before meeting up with one of my friends from high school for more Fondue and wine!

Sunday, April 8

Easter morning! Q and I took a nice stroll along the un-explored side of the lake before going to an Easter Buffet - complete with Drip Coffee and real Champagne (Check “Drink Real Champagne” off the list of things to do before I die!) - where we stayed for 2.5 hours! We got really good at making the most of our expensive meals haha.

Lake Geneva

Breakfast Buffet

Then we took a boat ride across the lake and worked our way back before catching our train back to Aix!

Overall, a very fantastic and relaxing weekend! However, I would suggest to anyone planning on going there, that unless you're very good at doing nothing (or if you have means to go into the countryside), you really don't need more than one or two days to explore and get a good vibe of the place. Especially since everything is so expensive. Prime example that everything is super expensive in Switzerland:

Quinn and I went to McDonald's (because we decided we wanted to try it in every country we visit), and Quinn ordered a Cheeseburger meal with Medium fries, a Medium pop, and a small Magnum McFlurry. It was 16.10 CHF (a Swiss Franc is worth a little bit more than an American Dollar), so Quinn spent almost 20 dollars on a McDonald's meal. Talk about "Ouch".

Country Hopping

Alright. Time to fill y'all in on what I've been doing with my free time the past couple weekends. After I come home from my Winter Break vacation to the UK and Ireland, I had kind of caught the travel bug, and I decided to stop wasting time in Aix and explore as much as I could on my weekends where I wasn't traveling. So I decided to take advantage of the first weekend back in Provence and explore the beautiful town of Cassis with a couple of my friends.

CASSIS

Cassis is a little town right on the coast of the Mediterranean. It's probably the most beautiful place I've seen on my trip so far. The U-shaped port is surrounded by colorful buildings of red, yellow, blue, and orange, and at the base of every building is a restaurant packed with people eating all sorts of fresh seafood. 

As we were walking down the port to the Office of Tourism - where we were planning on asking for fun things to do - we came upon a little stand selling boat tours of the Calanques. The next tour was leaving in 5 minutes, so we thought "hell, why not" and hopped on the boat. Calanques are cliffs jutting out from the edge of the sea - you could think of them as Mediterranean fjords, and they're almost always on the list of things to see if you come to Provence, so we HAD to do it.

Here are a couple pictures of the boat tour:

Needless to say, it was absolutely breathtaking. It was one of the best days I've had this semester so far :)

When we got back on land, we noticed that there was a man selling sea urchins to all of the restaurants around the port and decided that while we were on our Cassis-high, we should treat ourselves to a feast of fresh seafood, so we ordered a bottle of Cassis Chardonney and my friend and I split a dish of Oysters, Muscles, Clams, Escargot, Crab, and Six Sea Urchins. It was one of the greatest food experiences of my entire life. It took us 2 hours to eat it all, and we probably burnt more calories figuring out how to get the meat out of the shells than we consumed actually eating it.

Check out the pictures! :)

Me taking a shot of an Oyster :)

Unfortunately, the day after, I ended up feeling the full effects of the fact that my body is not at all used to consuming that much raw seafood and suffered from some pretty brutal Food Poisoning. But, I'm gonna say that it was pretty worth it. I don't regret a single bite :)

MADRID

The following weekend, I was back out in Europe visiting a good friend of mine in Madrid! My tour of Spain's capitol happened in the span of about 6 hours – Megan literally brought me to something important, told me the name, took a picture of me in front of it and then moved on. It was my kind of tour :) Then, that night we went out on the town Spain style. In the big cities in Spain, the metro closes from about 1:30 am until 6:00 am, so when people go out, they stay out until the metro re-opens. So yes. I stayed out dancing until 6:00 am! Check and check :)

Here are a couple pictures of my first day in Madrid:

Since I was there for St. Patrick's Day, we HAD to have Green Eggs and Ham and Green Beer for breakfast!!!

Some important government building - I really shouldn't be trusted to remember important information

Madrid's Cathedral (not necessarily known for it's beauty)

Us in the park - me rockin' my Guinness shirt on St. Patrick's Day :)

 On our hardcore night out until 6 am!!!

Then on the next day, we decided to get outside of the city and go hiking – which I had NOT planned for, so (as you'll see in the pictures), my attire is not the most suitable for hiking straight up a mountain. But it was definitely worth the pain in my lungs for this view:

Terrifying.

 The view when we were midway up the mountain

Check out that incline...

And finally!

So happy I survived the climb 

My hostess :) 

LONDON

The weekend after that, I went to a completely different setting a flew North to visit my other friend in London. I know I've already been to the UK, but staying with a friend is a completely different experience, and one I thought would be well worth it :) And it was! She lives right by Hyde Park (when she tells people where she lives, people don't believe her because it's such a ritzy part of London). One huge thing I learned from being in London is how thankful I am for not being dependent on public transportation for my everyday life. The Tube (metro) in London costs roughly 2.5 pounds (which is over 3 dollars) PER TRIP. So in a day, you could spend around 15 dollars just using the tube. And it takes a lot more time than you would think because you have to go out of your way to get to the tube station and then go down, wait for the train (transfer if you need to transfer), get out, and then get back on track from the tube station. So I'm happy that I live in a place where you can walk everywhere. Because although it might take more energy, it's nice to be able to actually experience your city.

Ok rant's over. Now's time for pictures from my weekend in London!

 Lake in Hyde Park

Kensington Palace

Off to Hogwarts!!!

Tribute to Amy Winehouse in Camden (a "city" in London)

Buckingham Palace!

I found out that the Queen owns some of the geese in the ponds in London, and you can tell which ones because they have to wear collars around their necks.

AIX

Since the weather's gotten nicer, and the clock is winding down on my study abroad experience, I've been itching to take advantage of every hour of the day. A lot of my days are spent in Parc Jourdan. There's a beautiful park right on the outside of centreville that I've kind of made my home. A lot of picnics and a lot of laying out. It's heavenly :)

I've also been spending days off going to Marseille. There's a bus that goes straight from Aix to Marseille, and with my special card, it only costs me 2 euros to get there and back! I've been to the beach twice now – it's crazy to think that it only takes me an hour to get to the Mediterranean Sea, and I can just spend a couple hours there before coming HOME to Aix. Life.

Well, there's a brief summary of the past three weeks worth of travel!

À Bientôt!

The UK and Ireland

I will officially accept the title of worst blogger ever.


I have so much to catch all your readers up on, so bear with me while I try to organize and then regurgitate everything that's happened to me in the past 3 weeks.


Let's start with Winter Break.


The amazing thing about France is that they are not at all opposed to vacation. I will actually have 3 weeks of vacation by the end of this semester (whereas in the US, I would've only had 1). So, in good Study Abroad practice, I decided to make the most of my week off and do a tour of the UK and Ireland with 4 of my good friends from the program. 


Friday the 24th: We left for London. And in good French tradition, the plane took off 40 minutes late. Which meant we got into London 40 minutes late. Which meant we were too late to take a train into London (none of the airports are actually IN London - so you typically have to take a train or a bus to get downtown). Which meant we had to take a bus. So, we got tickets for the bus and headed to the convenience store to load up on snacks for the 1 hour bus ride into London. By the time we got into London it was around 1 in the morning and we still had to make it to the apartment we were staying in. Hailed a cab, and got to the apartment building. This is where the confusion began. 


Side note #1: My friend (who was with us) has a friend living in London for the year who was gone for the weekend but left his keys at the front desk for us.  
Side note #2: The guy working the front desk was a temp who had not heard anything about said keys needing to be given to said girls.
Side note #3: Seeing as it was now 2 o'clock in the morning, and the apartment owner was on a plane to the US, it was impossible for us to reach him to assure the man at the front desk that we were - in fact - being honest.


Eventually, things worked out and we got up to the apartment for the quickest night's sleep I've ever had.


Saturday the 25th: Took a quick tour of the city - saw Big Ben and St. James' park. When we were in St. James park, we watched a man feed some squirrels nuts with his bare hands, so we asked him if he could teach us how, and he did! So I got to feed a squirrel! With my bare hands!!!

See??? I told you!!! SO COOL!!!

We went to dinner in China Town and then went to a typical English pub in Soho. One funny thing I noticed at the pub was that eye contact is everything. If you look around the room (as a girl), you'll see about 5 or 6 people staring right at you. And if you make eye contact with any of them, they'll be at your side in about T minus 2 seconds. I got hit on my the most RANDOM people. One (fat and pretty sweaty) Irish man who's line was "So d'ya watch the Rugby game, then?" (I had to ask him to repeat himself a couple times because I couldn't understand his accent), a Black man who just came up to me and started dancing with me, and an Italian looking man who just gave me half-smile and nod combo (for those How I Met Your Mother fans out there, imagine an Italian Barney Stinson). Weird crowd. But unbelievably entertaining.


Sunday the 26th: Went to Notting Hill - where I have officially decided I could see myself living sometime in my life. Especially in this apartment:

Home Sweet Home :)

Then it was off to meet up with Ninie!!! Had an emotional rendez-vous and then it was off into the English countryside. We took a nice stroll along the river behind her house and then went out for Curry (The Indian Food in England is literally the best Indian food you'll ever have). And I got to spend all night catching up with Ninie, getting to know Chris, and playing with Maeva!!! The CUTEST girl I've ever seen in my entire life - she even gives Baby Elie a run for her money. Yeah. She's THAT cute.

Monday the 27th: Spent the day in Cambridge. I hadn't realized that Cambridge is an actual city - it's not just a college. It's also WAY older than I thought! Cambridge's first college was founded in 1209! The building's are unbelievably beautiful, and I felt like I was getting smarter and stuffier just walking around. Here are a couple pictures:

Then I had my first Fish & Chips experience! Note: no English person, when they say "chips" is ever talking about the Pringles or Lays type of chips. Ever. Those are "crisps." So don't even ask.

Tuesday the 28th: Maeva got sick the night before, so we ended up spending a nice, relaxing day at home tending to the very sad baby :( However, I DID get to cross one thing off my list, and I GOT A NEW PIERCING!!! Something to help me remember London (as if I could forget it :) ). 

Later that night was when the fun began. Sarcasm. I think my friends have been in France too long, because they have this problem with being on time. It's like they're allergic to it. Our bus to Edinburgh was going to leave at 11:00 pm. So we decided (to be very very safe), we would meet at the bus station at 10:00. By 10:40, there were only 2 of the 5 of us present, and the other 3 were not responding to our very expensive phone calls. The two of us who were present decided to politely explain to the bus driver our situation; including the fact that Lauren (the girl who was waiting with me) couldn't even get onto the bus because the other girls had her Reservation Number. So I was the only person who would be allowed to get on the bus, and there was no way I was about to board a 9-hour bus to Edinburgh alone. The bus driver was not as sympathetic as we would have hoped and explained very simply that the bus was leaving at 11:00. On the dot. So. We prayed.

Finally, at 10:58, the girls were spotted running down the hallway of the bus station. At 10:59, the girls gave the bus driver their Reservation Number. And at 11:00, the first of the 3 girls boarded the bus. 

So, after two heart attacks, a lot of pleading, and even more swearing, our 9-hour journey to Edinburgh finally began. On the bus, I made friends with an English boy who turned 20 on the bus! So I shared my traditional English sweets with him, and he shared his Cider with me. His name is Sebastian :) He was nice.

Wednesday the 29th: Edinburgh!!! The coolest place in the world! I had absolutely no expectations for Edinburgh, and it blew. My. Mind. All of the architecture is still entirely Medieval, and right on the hill in the middle of the city sits the Edinburgh Castle. 

Pictures:

We took a 3-hour tour of the city where we learned the history of the phrase "shit faced."

STORY TIME!

So. Back in the 17th century, in Edinburgh, they were still using bed pans (naturally, since they didn't have a sewage system). And they used to open their windows and empty out their bedpans at any time during the day, yelling the phrase "Gardyloo" before doing it (apparently, it comes from the French phrase "gardez l'eau"which is an awful translation of "look out for the water!"). However, the government decided that this just wasn't civilized. So they decided on a specific time when people were allowed to empty their bed pans. So at 10 o'clock at night, when the churchbell would ring, everyone would open their window, scream "gardyloo" and dump the contents of their bed pan into the streets of Edinburgh. Well. Coincidentally, 10 o'clock was also the time when the pubs closed in Edinburgh. So then men who had been drinking all day, stumbling drunk through the streets of Edinburgh would hear broken French being screamed at them from above and - naturally - would look up to see what all the fuss was about. And in doing so, would receive: a face full of shit.

Shit Faced. 

That was one of the wonderful little tid-bits I learned in Edinburgh :) 

That night, we went on a Ghost Tour of the city where we learned all about Edinburgh's dark, torturous and haunted past, and I learned about some of the most inhumane ways to torture someone (I'll spare you the details).

Thursday the 1st: Second and last day in Edinburgh :( We started the day off right with a bottle of IRN BRU. IRN BRU is the Scottish soda that everyone drinks. And I mean everyone. Scotland is 1 of 2 places in the world where Coke or Pepsi isn't the top selling soft-drink (Peru being the other one). In Scotland, more IRN BRU is bought and consumed than both Coke and Pepsi combined. Which makes sense considering that it essentially has poison in it (it wouldn't be legal to sell it in the states), and it's got addictive properties. Here's a picture of the ingredients:

It might be kind of hard to read, but it says: "may have an adverse 

effect on activity and attention in children"

............

So after roaming around the city and the castle a little bit, we were off the airport to board a plane to Dublin!

When we got to Dublin, we went to our hostel, dropped off our stuff and grabbed a Cider in the legendary Temple Bar (it's an area in Dublin where all the pubs and bars are) before calling it a night and going to bed in our creepy-ass hostel. It literally was like the house from The Shining. Normally, there are constantly people roaming the hallways of hostels and people talking to each other, but in this hostel, it was almost as if it was deserted. It was beyond creepy. I was afraid to go the bathroom alone, and when I finally worked up the courage to do it, I was constantly imagining opening a door to a creepy young girl staring at me. 

Friday the 2nd: We went on half a tour of Dublin where we learned that the Irish are some of the most self-deprecating people I've ever experienced in my entire life. The tour guide constantly made fun of the Irish people and the city of Dublin. I couldn't decide if she was just using it as a defense mechanism because the city of Dublin is the most confused city I've ever been in (between the beautiful historical landmarks and the cement blocks they call buildings, I couldn't tell what century I was in), or because she just really didn't like Dublin. Either way, we left the tour early and went to...THE GUINNESS FACTORY!!!

Fun facts: 

1. A pint of Guinness only has 190 calories in it (it's about half as much as in a pint of Cider).

2. It takes 119.5 seconds to pour the perfect pint of Guinness

3. Arthur Guinness signed a 900 year lease for St. James' Gate (he obviously had a lot of faith in his beer)

Then we went on a Pub Crawl through Temple Bar before returning to our very creepy hostel.

Saturday the 3rd: We decided that since we weren't huge fans of Dublin, we would take the day and go to Cork, Ireland. Our bus left at 6:30 in the morning (meaning we had to wake up at 5:30 - after having gone to bed at 2:30). We got to go to Cobh (pronounce Cove) which is where the Titanic set sail after picking people up from England. And then we headed to Cork where I got to see the Blarney Castle and kiss the Blarney Stone!

Story behind "Blarney" : Apparently there was some guy who was really good at sweet-talking people, and the Queen (or some important woman) said that due to the fact that he was such a sweet-talker, he spoke "Blarney." Or something...I wasn't really paying attention. But anyway! After kissing the Blarney Stone, you're supposed to be granted the "Gift of Gab" for 7 years. Meaning you'll be able to sweet-talk for 7 years. AKA watch out, because I gave that stone a big, juicy smooch :)

Then we roamed around the gardens - which literally felt like they were inhabited by faeries. Everything shined in this misty, green glow. It was kind of like there was magic or something in the air. And no picture I took quite captured it.

Here are some pictures from my adventure to Cobh, Cork, and Blarney:

 Cobh

 The Blarney Castle

 *SMOOCH*

Can you see the faeries???

So when we got back to Dublin after our lovely day in faery-world, we went on a pub-crawl and ended our time in Dublin in true Irish tradition - with a stomach full of Guinness, Jameson, and Cider.

Sunday the 4th: While the other girls boarded their plane back to Marseille, I boarded a 3-hour bus to Galway to meet up with a friend of mine from high school! Galway, unlike Dublin, is what I imagined Ireland to look like - it's green and intimate, and there are street performers in front of the stores on Shop Street. It's absolutely beautiful :)

 Shop Street

Galway Bay

Monday the 5th: My friend had to go to lab, so I got to visit the National University of Ireland - Galway. With a couple hours to kill, I grabbed a Cider and took advantage of the free WiFi in the College Bar.

Things I learned whilst in Ireland:

1. "Shift" means to make out with someone (ex: if someone says "did you get the shift last night" or "did you shift anyone?" they're asking if you kissed anyone while you were out)

2. They really don't drink as much beer as you'd think. Forewarning: My new Irish friends told me this, so I'm allowed to say it without being judged. Because the Irish are so poor, they buy the cheapest bottle of vodka (11€ a bottle) and drink it before going out (they tend to binge drink quite a bit). And boy can the Irish drink...I'm getting nauseous just thinking about it.

3. People will end sentences with "like," so you'll be waiting for them to continue their sentence and you'll realize that they've said all they were planning on saying (ex: while talking about how hot someone's soup was, they'll say "it was all hot like, and it burnt my mouth like")

4. Irish is a language that used to be (and sometimes is still spoken) in Ireland. It's different than Gaelic, and Irish kids actually learn it in school! I met a girl who used to be fluent in it, and her name is actually an Irish name: Caoimhe (it's pronounce Kwee-vah - Irish isn't the most phonetic language...)

5. They actually eat potatoes as much as I thought! They have an entire aisle in the grocery store dedicated to potatoes! 

Tuesday the 6th: Time for me to start my venture back to Aix. I took the 3-hour bus back to Dublin and got on my plane to London where I stayed overnight in preparation for my flight home the following day.

Wednesday the 7th: Got to the airport super super early (8:30 for an 11:25 flight), so I treated myself to a fantastic French Toast breakfast and did a little window shopping in Gatwick airport. 

That was when my trip ended, and I had to go back to the (not so real) reality of the South of France. 

One big thing I realized when I was in the UK was how similar it was to the States (especially in comparison to France). I was gone from Aix for a total of 13 days, and upon my return, I was actually kind of nervous to go back. After speaking English for almost 2 weeks straight, I felt a lot less at ease speaking French and I had to re-accustom myself to the culture all over again. I haven't decided if the familiarity means that I like the UK and Ireland more or if it means that they just felt more comfortable because they were so similar. Either way I had an absolutely blast, and I can't wait to go back to London in 2 weeks :)

À bientôt!

Naiveté

So it's been a while since I've posted. And as much as I'd love to say that it's because I've been too busy galavanting around France to sit down at my computer (which is kind of true), it's actually a much sadder reason.

A couple weekends ago, when I was on the train to Paris for the weekend (like how nonchalantly I say that? Haha), my computer was stolen out of my suitcase. My poor computer :( In the hands of someone who doesn't even appreciate it. But! I've had time to digest the information, and I've even had time to get a brand new computer shipped to me (Thanks Mom!!! You're the best!!!), so I'm BAAAAACK!

Now let's talk about Paris!

So. Game plan was as follows: Spend Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday in Paris. Tuesday, take the train to Lyon, France to see Ben Howard in concert and then come back to Aix Wednesday in time for out 17:15 class.

And we did just that!

Our sight-seeing included:

Louvre: as always, the Mona Lisa was wayyy smaller than you're expecting. I was planning on renting the headphones so I could get the royal tour, but that will have to happen another time, so stay tuned. I DID, however, manage to make friends with the girl who worked at Fossil (There are a bunch of stores in the Louvre, and I HAD to stop in and say hello to the beautiful watches)

Breakfast in America: If you're ever in Paris, GO HERE! There are 2 locations, and I'm sure they're equally fabulous! It'll give you the taste of being home, because it's American breakfast food. Cooked by Americans. On a typical weekend morning, you'll wait in line for 1-2 hours, so go with the smallest number of people possible (AKA 2, since you don't want to be that loser eating alone). When we were there, we waited in line for 1.5 hours. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon on a Saturday. Oh. ORDER THE OBAMA MILKSHAKE! It tastes like Reese's Puffs cereal! When I was there, I ordered the Lumberjack Special (consisting of a blueberry pancake, 2 sausage links, 2 strips of bacon, and 2 eggs cooked how you like them). I'm salivating at the very thought of it. A definite must-see.

Eiffel Tower: We were in Paris on an unusually cold weekend, so we didn't get to go to the very top of the Eiffel Tower, but I did get to cross off one item from my bucket list. I climbed EVERY SINGLE STAIR from the ground floor to the 2nd level (which would be the 3rd level in American standards). Now, you might think that that's not that big of a deal, but considering that from the 2nd level to the top, you HAVE to take an elevator, I actually DID climb every single stair of the Eiffel Tower. Winner.

Champs Elysées (A & F): Of course, you can't go to Paris without taking a stroll down the Champs Elysées. And when you're there, GO TO ABERCROMBIE & FITCH. You might think I'm crazy because they're all over the place in America, but this is definitely one of a kind. There's only one A & F in France, and it's on the Champs Elysées in Paris. The store is a converted mansion, complete with a rod-iron gate and hedges that fence in the estate. At every entrance, a beautifully sculpted man stands shirtless asking you (in English!) "How is it going?" and telling you to "Come inside and flirt." The inside of the store is literally a museum. 4 or 5 stories (I lost count), and the wallpaper looks like an A & F version of Michelangelo's the Sistine Chapel. And girls and guys are littered around the store, being paid to dance and look beautiful. It's unreal.

Classic French Meal: One of the girls with us was DETERMINED to try Frog Legs (Cuisses de Grenouille, in French), so we hunted for the most classic French restaurant. We each ordered something different and then nibbled at each others dishes. We got Escargot, Frog Legs, and Coq au Vin (Rooster in a Wine Sauce). And of course, LOTS of bread. Not a single bite went untasted. It was marvelous.

(Frog Legs)

(Escargot)

Vintage Store Shopping: Since some of the girls headed back to Aix on Sunday night, 3 of us (Quinn, Megan, and I) had Monday to do WHATEVER we pleased. So NATURALLY, we decided to do what every girl wishes she could do in Paris: Shop. Quinn looked up a list of Vintage Shops in Paris that you HAVE to hit, and boy did we hit 'em. I got 2 blazers, a pair of heels, and a sweater. The only thing I was missing was some jewelry, so that'll be the goal on the next trip!

Fondu: We celebrated our last night in Paris by going out to the most classic of Fondu restaurants; where our wine was served in baby bottles! And I don't mean little wine bottles. I mean a bottle than you would use to feed a baby. Combined with the wine, the mean, and the bottomless basket of French bread (essentially used as a vessel for the cheese), the 3 of us left the Fondu restaurant about 10 pounds heavier. But oh so happy :)

Lyon (Brewery, Meal, Concert): When we got to Lyon, we figured we'd make the most of our one night there, so we did what any sane traveler would; we asked the front desk to plan out our evening. We told them where our concert venue was, and then gave them the ropes. They told us we HAD to try Andouillette, and we HAD to get beer. Now who in their right mind would object to that??? So they gave us a few restaurant names that were near our concert venue and sent us on our way. Getting off the metro, one of the restaurants they had named was literally RIGHT at the metro exit, so we figured why the hell not. The restaurant doubled as a Brewery and it had a little stage, so it felt a lot like something you'd find back home in the States (AKA we were right at home). Quinn and Megan decided to split the sampler (8 4oz glasses) to taste every single type. I stuck to the Lager (called the "Blonde"), and OH MY GOD. I can't tell you how good it tasted. It had been so long since I had had good beer, I almost died. Then! As we were enjoying our beer, Quinn noticed a sign that said "Ben Howard." After verifying with someone who worked there, we found out that the concert was actually being held IN THE BAR WE WERE IN! How PERFECT was THAT??? So. After beer, the dinner that we were told we NEEDED to have (the BIGGEST sausage link that essentially looked like rolled-up intestine...), we got to see Ben Howard in concert!!! I almost died!!! He was so fantastic!!! I'm definitely going to be seeing him as SOON as he steps foot into the States.

Anyway, overall AMAZING weekend in Paris. I can't WAIT to go back!

À bientôt!