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| Mom's visit |
On February 22 I met my mom in Paris and we started our 2 week vacation. We came straight to Orléans, which was a bit of a pain considering how the Paris metro does not cater to handicap people or people with large pieces of luggage, but we made it. That evening we had raclette with the other Americans in Orleans, and then called it a night.
February 23
We went to Chenonceaux, a beautiful Loire valley chateaux, with Julien and Charlotte. Known as the Chateaux des dames (the women's castle), it was first a home for a mistress of Henri, then his crazy wife got upset about that and took it away from her, and then it passed through various royal hands. Part of the castle stretches into the river, which is interesting, and boats used to pull up underneath and, using pulleys, deliver goods to the castle. The castle was also important during war time as it served as a hospital in WWI and as a secret passageway between Nazi occupied France and Free France during WWII.
After the Chateaux we headed back to Orléans for dinner/wine tasting at Sandrine's house. It was really fun, and I think mom really got to experience a French dinner party in all its glory (laughter, lots of wine, good food, good conversation, etc).
February 24 - 27
Headed to dreary Paris. I developed some sort of sketchy cold/cough, so it made the "City of Love" even more exciting. We visited the Rodin museum, Musée d'Orsay with its impressionist art, the Louvre on the only sunny day we had in Paris, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur (mom threatened me with death for forcing her to climb to the top of the hill), and Versailles. We found cute restaurants and did a little shopping. But with the crummy weather, we were very excited to leave Paris and head to Sunny Nice.
February 27- March 4
NICE! (pronounced like Niece) Southern France, Cote d'azur, right on the Mediterrean, you can't get much better. We rented an apartment for the week, which was cute and well situated, except it was on the fourth floor (read 5th floor by us Americans) and there was no elevator (I now have beasty thighs, haha). It was right above a bakery, so every morning I would run down and get us some fresh bread. My friend Kether came to stay with us for a few days and the three of us had a blast. We came right at the end of the Carnival, so we got to see some parades, dance groups, a Native American group (bizarre) and drumming crews. On the last day of Carnival, it's tradition to burn the king float, so we donned ourself with cans of silly string, and headed to the beach to watch the burning. I couldn't see very much but the atmosphere was lively and fun (everyone was spraying random strangers with silly string, and mom frightened a child half to death by spraying him, and a little boy dressed as superman chased us down with the silly string, it was hilarious). There was even a fantastic fireworks show at the end, arguably the best one I have seen in a really long time.
Nice is a gorgeous city. The port, shaped like a horshoe, has a lovely view and road called the promenade des anglais. The beaches are mostly pebbles and the water was calm and turquoise. We walked a lot around the town, because there was so much to see and because the weather, in the 60s and sunny, was fantastic. Nice has an awesome market, so we bought fresh produce, fish, olive products (I have never seen so many different varieties of olives in the same place), and cooked up two dinners in the apartment. We also did lots of shopping. We visited the museum of fine arts, the Matisse museum , and the modern art museum, because they were all free. Mom and I headed to Monaco on our second to last day. It's probably best known for its casinos and Grand Prix race, but it wasn't really that exciting. Lots of espensive stores, high rise buildings, but at least the trip there, along the corniches that follow the Mediterrean, was gorgeous.
March 4 -March 7
Flew from Nice to Paris, jumped a train to Orléans and had a late dinner with Julien. The next day we spent the afternoon at the hair dresser (oh the joys of black hair) and had dinner with the Mellah's, a lovely Moroccan family that I tutor. It was an interesting dinner, because there were a lot of attempts to speak English and a lot of translation done by me and Khadija, the German assistant who speaks French and English (and Arab and Berber, she's amazing). Nevertheless, it was really enjoyable and I liked that mom got to meet the people I spent time with here in France. The last days in Orléans we spent shopping and relaxing. Mom finally headed out on the 7th of March. I was really excited to see her and I am happy she got to have her first trip to Europe to come visit me. I think she had a really great time, too.
Since it is now half-way through March, I must admit that I am a little freaked out by the fact that only 5 weeks are left on my contract. Where did the time go? I have already been here for 6 months! whoa. Don't ask me what the next step is 'cause I have no idea. :)
