Friday April 2nd 2010 - France (Montmorillon and Limoges)
-Train: Montmorillon to Limoges
13h21-14h36
-Hostel: Etap Hotel
14 Rue de Chinchauvaud, Limoges
Tel: 33 892681118
Saturday April 3rd 2010 - England (Bristol)
-Flight: Limoges to Bristol
10h35-11h05
-Hostel: 007 Traveler's Hostel
150-152 West Street Bedminister, Bristol
Tel: 44 1179662936
Sunday April 4th 2010 - England (Bristol and Cardiff)
-Bus: Bristol to Cardiff (day-trip)
Depart: 10h10-11h20
Return: 17h15-18h35
-Hostel: 007 Traveler's Hostel
150-152 West Street Bedminister, Bristol
Tel: 44 1179662936
Monday April 5th 2010 - England (Bristol and Bath)
-Bus: Bristol to Bath (day-trip)
-Hostel: 007 Traveler's Hostel
150-152 West Street Bedminister, Bristol
Tel: 44 1179662936
Tuesday April 6th 2010 - England (Bristol) and Morocco (Marrakesh)
-Flight: Bristol to Marrakesh
15h55-18h30
-Hostel: Hostel Riad Marrakesh Rouge
Riad Zitoune Jdid, Derb Zenka Dika no. 40, Marrakesh
tel: 212 670 760 149
Wednesday April 7th 2010 - Morocco (Marrakesh and Casablanca)
-Train: Marrakesh to Casablanca
?5h00-8h10? ?7h00-10h10? ?9h00-12h10?
-Hostel: Hotel Central
20 Place Ahmad el Bidaoui, Ancienne Medina, Casablanca
tel: 212 661 162 826
Thursday April 8th 2010 - Morocco (Casablanca and Fez)
-Train: Casablanca to Fez (day-trip)
Depart: ?5h15-8h35? ?6h15-10h10? ?7h15-10h35? ?8h15-12h10?
Return: ?14h50-18h45? 15h50-19h10? 16h50-20h45? ?17h50-21h10?
-Hostel: Hotel Central
20 Place Ahmad el Bidaoui, Ancienne Medina, Casablanca
tel: 212 661 162 826
Friday April 9th 2010 - Morocco (Casablanca and Marrakesh)
-Train: Casablanca to Marrakesh
Depart: ?4h50-8h05? ?6h50-10h05? ?8h50-12h05? ?10h50-14h05? ?12h50-16h05?
-Hostel: Hostel Riad Marrakesh Rouge
Riad Zitoune Jdid, Derb Zenka Dika no. 40, Marrakesh
tel: 212 670 760 149
Saturday April 10th 2010 - Morocco (Marrakesh) and Italy (Pisa)
-Flight: Marrakesh to Pisa
17h55-22h45
-Hostel: First Night
Via F. De Pinedo 4D, Pisa
tel: 39 3470880244
Sunday April 11th 2010 - Italy (Pisa), Slovakia (Bratislava) and Hungary (Budapest)
-Flight: Pisa to Bratislava
7h00-8h35
-Train: Bratislava to Budapest
?9h51-12h32? ?11h51-14h32? ?15h51-18h32?
-Hostel: Casa Nostra Hostel
31/J Raday Street 2nd Floor, Budapest
tel: 36 204040222
Monday April 12th 2010 - Hungary (Budapest)
-Hostel: Casa Nostra Hostel
31/J Raday Street 2nd Floor, Budapest
tel: 36 204040222
Tuesday April 13th 2010 - Hungary (Budapest) and Slovakia (Bratislava)
-Train: Budapest to Bratislava
?9h28-12h05? ?13h28-16h05? ?15h28-18h05? ?19h58-22h34?
-Hostel: Hotel Possonium
Sancova 20, Bratislava
tel: 42 1220720007
Wednesday April 14th 2010 - Slovakia (Budapest)
-Hostel: Hotel Possonium
Sancova 20, Bratislava
tel: 42 1220720007
Thursday April 15th 2010 - Slovakia (Budapest) and Austria (Vienna)
-Hydrofoil Boat: Bratislava to Vienna (day-trip)
-Hostel: Hotel Possonium
Sancova 20, Bratislava
tel: 42 1220720007
Friday April 16th 2010 - Slovakia (Bratislava) and England (London)
-Flight: Bratislava to London
10h00-11h15
-Hostel: Smart Russel Square
71 Guilford Street, London
tel: 44 2078338818
Saturday April 17th 2010 - England (London) and France (Limoges and Montmorillon)
-Flight: London to Limoges
10h35-13h05
-Train: Limoges to Montmorillon
?13h42-15h03? ?17h25-18h42?
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
February Pics
"South American Invasion of Montmorillon" - Getting ready to leave Le Buvard
"South American Invasion of Montmorillon" - I have another 'Bonne Idea' and like usual it involves vodka ;P
"South American Invasion of Montmorillon" - Yupanqui and me at Le Buvard Saturday night
"South American Invasion of Montmorillon" - Group picture at Le Buvard bar Saturday night
"South American Invasion of Montmorillon" - Eating empanadas Saturday evening
"South American Invasion of Montmorillon" - Star gazing on the soccer field next to our apartment Friday night
Sugar cookies - my favorite one is the Jamaican looking one :)
Sugar cookies
Group photo at Kennedy's Pub
Pamela and me at dinner in La Cabana
Celine, Nalleli and me
Monday, March 22, 2010
February 2010
Monday February 1st - Sunday February 7th
Monday
I spent the day teaching in Chauvigny like usual. Teaching in another town is a bit of a bother sometimes. First off, I always arrive early at the school because I ride there with another professor who starts teaching earlier then me and then instead of being able to return when I'm finished teaching for the day I have to wait around for our driver to finish teaching too. So basically I spend an entire day from 10am (sometimes earlier) until 5pm at the school even though I'll only have two to four hours of teaching a day. Then sometimes (like today) the teacher has meetings after classes so we end up waiting around for an extra hour or two. Not worth it considering lots of times I only go there to work 2 hours. This evening during the extra two hour wait I did happen to learn a very valuable/embarrassing lesson. Apparently in French you can't say "I'm so excited" because its taken in a sexual context (i.e. that you're sexually aroused/excited). I've been saying this in french (Je suis trop excite) for two years and no one ever bothered to correct me before and explain why you shouldn't say it. Needless to say I said this in front of all my colleagues and afterward turned bright red and was extremely embarrassed after they explained to me the cultural differences with this expression.
Tuesday
I received a care package from dad packed full of goodies and Valentine Day gifts. I was signed up by Jean-Pierre (the CDI teacher) to help with an expo being put together to explain 'Development Durable' in March by a program called 'Lafi Bala' (I agreed to supervise a group of students, but refused to build and give a presentation in french on the topic).
Wednesday
All my classes were canceled for the day because the teachers were once again on strike about something. I gave my first tutoring lesson to Eric's 9 year old daughter Lisa in the afternoon(Eric is the teacher who drives me to and from Chauvigny every Monday). She already knew a lot more english then I had expected so I ended up 'winging' the lesson because the things I'd prepared for the lesson she already knew (good thing I've had a lot of practice at winging lessons). In the evening I made sugar cookies to take with me to Angouleme this weekend. By the time I was finished I was covered in flour. I didn't decorate them however because I wanted to get some decorating ideas off the internet first, but the internet hadn't been working all day. In the evening the internet still wasn't working so Leidy and me watched one of the movies dad had sent me for a Valentine's Day gift and played some card games afterwards (we get so bored when the internet doesn't work in the apartment, what did people do for fun before the age of internet and cellphones? I can't even remember anymore how to entertain myself). I fell asleep reading materials that make me contemplate what I'm going to do in the future for a career (a good read, but always a little stressful/worrying to think about the future).
Thursday
I had an extra class of BTS (post-graduation, similar to community college in the states). It was great to meet a few more people around my age. They invited me to go out with them in the evening to have a drink and play pool and I gratefully accepted. While waiting for the hour of rendez-vous with the BTS I decorated my sugar cookies I'd made the day before, some of them turned out pretty cool. I'll post pics. At the prearranged hour Leidy and me met the students outside the school and they drove us to the bar. Once at the bar I realized that 'billards' is different from pool in the states. The table is a little smaller and so are the balls. There are wierd lines drawn on the table and the balls are yellow and red (not stripes and solids and there are no numbers). I explained to them that I didn't know the 'rules' and they'd have to teach me, which they took to mean 'that I'm a silly american girl and I don't know how to play pool'. Big mistake. They quickly decided that I was a 'pool shark' pretending that I didn't know how to play and then cleaning the table better than the boys. But I explained to them that not knowing the rules and not knowing how to shoot are two totally different things ;) After playing a couple of rounds of billiards the students went home to have dinner and Leidy and me walked to the creperie in the medieval area of town to have a crepe for dinner (these aren't sweet dessert crepes, they are dinner crepes with cheese, egg, potato, meat, etc in them). After dinner we met back up with a couple of the students and we all went to Civaux to go bowling. Civaux is a town nearby where the nuclear power plants are located and the bowling alley is right next to the power plant, literally in the shadow of the two towering nuclear towers.
Friday
I went to my morning classes (extremely tired because we hadn't returned from bowling until around 2am) and then caught a train to Angouleme for the weekend to see Pamela and Celine. In the evening we had a huge slumber party at Misty's apartment with all the assistants from last year (well only the ones who had returned to France). We spent the evening gorging ourselves on food (Celine had brought a lot of Swiss chocolate with her, I'd brought my sugar cookies and Michaele brought a Galette de Roi and Misty made an awesome roasted veggie stew that put all my recent cooking adventures to shame), gossiping, telling each others 'love fortunes' by using playing cards and drinking. I couldn't have asked for a better evening in with the girls!!
Saturday
In the afternoon Nalleli and me did a little shopping and then we met up with Pammy and Celine for dinner at La Cabana mexican restaurant (mmmm, chicken fajitas). After dinner we met up with everyone (around 20 others) at "le Girafe" bar for drinks before going to L'Havana to dance (holy deja vu from last year, visiting all our old haunts). After Havana we headed to Kennedy's Pub, but it was closing for the night so we decided to take the party back to the boys' house where we stayed drinking and dancing until leaving at 4am to walk across town to Misty's apartment.
Sunday
Sundays in France are always lazy and uneventful. Celine had to leave early in the morning to catch a train back to Switzerland. Misty and Kena made us a lunch of tossed greens, garlic eggs and chicken salad accompanied by fresh bread from the boulangerie. We spent the day at Misty's being lazy and gossiping (there's nothing else to do on Sundays, especially when its cold outside). It was Superbowl in the USA, but it didn't come on until midnight in France because of the time difference. I stayed up watching it, but everyone else turned in for the night.
Monday February 8th - Thursday Februay 11th
Monday morning I caught an early train back to Montmorillon in order to see Leidy before she left for her vacation to Italy on Tuesday. I spent the evening with Leidy helping her plan out her itinerary for her vacation. Telling her the best routes to take to see all the sights of Rome and how long it would take, recommended hostels and things to see and do, etc. After she went to bed I stayed up job hunting on the internet trying to find something to do this summer. Leidy left early in the morning on Tuesday and I woke up sick, so the rest of the week was spent getting better before I had to leave on Friday for my vacation to Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland. Thankfully I recovered quickly and was even able to make some chocolate chip cookies for my vacation ;)
Monday February 22nd - Sunday February 28th
Lots of my classes were canceled for the week (I don't know why and I don't complain) so I only ended up working about 5 hours total. Thursday night there was a kick ass thunder and lightening storm that was awesome. In fact it was storming the entire weekend, which was cool to watch and listen to, but I later learned that it flooded a lot of areas in our region of France and had killed around 40 people and destroyed many houses. We had a 'South American Invasion of Montmorillon' during the weekend. Our friend Yupankie (Brazilian) and Caroline (Colombian) came to visit. We met them at the train station Friday evening and gave them I evening tour of Montmorillon before returning to the apartment for dinner and drinks. Saturday afternoon Liedy gave them a tour of Montmorillon while I stayed at the apartment to clean and take care of a few things. In the evening we made empanadas (a colombian specialty) for dinner and then headed to the bar. Sunday morning I woke up and made french toast and bacon for breakfast for everyone. We spent the afternoon chillin' in the apartment (there was a lot of spanish being spoken so I'd excuse myself occasionally in order to get some things done on the internet and work on planning my April vacation). In the evening Leidy made fried chicken and fries for dinner before our two guests had to leave to catch trains home.
Monday
I spent the day teaching in Chauvigny like usual. Teaching in another town is a bit of a bother sometimes. First off, I always arrive early at the school because I ride there with another professor who starts teaching earlier then me and then instead of being able to return when I'm finished teaching for the day I have to wait around for our driver to finish teaching too. So basically I spend an entire day from 10am (sometimes earlier) until 5pm at the school even though I'll only have two to four hours of teaching a day. Then sometimes (like today) the teacher has meetings after classes so we end up waiting around for an extra hour or two. Not worth it considering lots of times I only go there to work 2 hours. This evening during the extra two hour wait I did happen to learn a very valuable/embarrassing lesson. Apparently in French you can't say "I'm so excited" because its taken in a sexual context (i.e. that you're sexually aroused/excited). I've been saying this in french (Je suis trop excite) for two years and no one ever bothered to correct me before and explain why you shouldn't say it. Needless to say I said this in front of all my colleagues and afterward turned bright red and was extremely embarrassed after they explained to me the cultural differences with this expression.
Tuesday
I received a care package from dad packed full of goodies and Valentine Day gifts. I was signed up by Jean-Pierre (the CDI teacher) to help with an expo being put together to explain 'Development Durable' in March by a program called 'Lafi Bala' (I agreed to supervise a group of students, but refused to build and give a presentation in french on the topic).
Wednesday
All my classes were canceled for the day because the teachers were once again on strike about something. I gave my first tutoring lesson to Eric's 9 year old daughter Lisa in the afternoon(Eric is the teacher who drives me to and from Chauvigny every Monday). She already knew a lot more english then I had expected so I ended up 'winging' the lesson because the things I'd prepared for the lesson she already knew (good thing I've had a lot of practice at winging lessons). In the evening I made sugar cookies to take with me to Angouleme this weekend. By the time I was finished I was covered in flour. I didn't decorate them however because I wanted to get some decorating ideas off the internet first, but the internet hadn't been working all day. In the evening the internet still wasn't working so Leidy and me watched one of the movies dad had sent me for a Valentine's Day gift and played some card games afterwards (we get so bored when the internet doesn't work in the apartment, what did people do for fun before the age of internet and cellphones? I can't even remember anymore how to entertain myself). I fell asleep reading materials that make me contemplate what I'm going to do in the future for a career (a good read, but always a little stressful/worrying to think about the future).
Thursday
I had an extra class of BTS (post-graduation, similar to community college in the states). It was great to meet a few more people around my age. They invited me to go out with them in the evening to have a drink and play pool and I gratefully accepted. While waiting for the hour of rendez-vous with the BTS I decorated my sugar cookies I'd made the day before, some of them turned out pretty cool. I'll post pics. At the prearranged hour Leidy and me met the students outside the school and they drove us to the bar. Once at the bar I realized that 'billards' is different from pool in the states. The table is a little smaller and so are the balls. There are wierd lines drawn on the table and the balls are yellow and red (not stripes and solids and there are no numbers). I explained to them that I didn't know the 'rules' and they'd have to teach me, which they took to mean 'that I'm a silly american girl and I don't know how to play pool'. Big mistake. They quickly decided that I was a 'pool shark' pretending that I didn't know how to play and then cleaning the table better than the boys. But I explained to them that not knowing the rules and not knowing how to shoot are two totally different things ;) After playing a couple of rounds of billiards the students went home to have dinner and Leidy and me walked to the creperie in the medieval area of town to have a crepe for dinner (these aren't sweet dessert crepes, they are dinner crepes with cheese, egg, potato, meat, etc in them). After dinner we met back up with a couple of the students and we all went to Civaux to go bowling. Civaux is a town nearby where the nuclear power plants are located and the bowling alley is right next to the power plant, literally in the shadow of the two towering nuclear towers.
Friday
I went to my morning classes (extremely tired because we hadn't returned from bowling until around 2am) and then caught a train to Angouleme for the weekend to see Pamela and Celine. In the evening we had a huge slumber party at Misty's apartment with all the assistants from last year (well only the ones who had returned to France). We spent the evening gorging ourselves on food (Celine had brought a lot of Swiss chocolate with her, I'd brought my sugar cookies and Michaele brought a Galette de Roi and Misty made an awesome roasted veggie stew that put all my recent cooking adventures to shame), gossiping, telling each others 'love fortunes' by using playing cards and drinking. I couldn't have asked for a better evening in with the girls!!
Saturday
In the afternoon Nalleli and me did a little shopping and then we met up with Pammy and Celine for dinner at La Cabana mexican restaurant (mmmm, chicken fajitas). After dinner we met up with everyone (around 20 others) at "le Girafe" bar for drinks before going to L'Havana to dance (holy deja vu from last year, visiting all our old haunts). After Havana we headed to Kennedy's Pub, but it was closing for the night so we decided to take the party back to the boys' house where we stayed drinking and dancing until leaving at 4am to walk across town to Misty's apartment.
Sunday
Sundays in France are always lazy and uneventful. Celine had to leave early in the morning to catch a train back to Switzerland. Misty and Kena made us a lunch of tossed greens, garlic eggs and chicken salad accompanied by fresh bread from the boulangerie. We spent the day at Misty's being lazy and gossiping (there's nothing else to do on Sundays, especially when its cold outside). It was Superbowl in the USA, but it didn't come on until midnight in France because of the time difference. I stayed up watching it, but everyone else turned in for the night.
Monday February 8th - Thursday Februay 11th
Monday morning I caught an early train back to Montmorillon in order to see Leidy before she left for her vacation to Italy on Tuesday. I spent the evening with Leidy helping her plan out her itinerary for her vacation. Telling her the best routes to take to see all the sights of Rome and how long it would take, recommended hostels and things to see and do, etc. After she went to bed I stayed up job hunting on the internet trying to find something to do this summer. Leidy left early in the morning on Tuesday and I woke up sick, so the rest of the week was spent getting better before I had to leave on Friday for my vacation to Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland. Thankfully I recovered quickly and was even able to make some chocolate chip cookies for my vacation ;)
Monday February 22nd - Sunday February 28th
Lots of my classes were canceled for the week (I don't know why and I don't complain) so I only ended up working about 5 hours total. Thursday night there was a kick ass thunder and lightening storm that was awesome. In fact it was storming the entire weekend, which was cool to watch and listen to, but I later learned that it flooded a lot of areas in our region of France and had killed around 40 people and destroyed many houses. We had a 'South American Invasion of Montmorillon' during the weekend. Our friend Yupankie (Brazilian) and Caroline (Colombian) came to visit. We met them at the train station Friday evening and gave them I evening tour of Montmorillon before returning to the apartment for dinner and drinks. Saturday afternoon Liedy gave them a tour of Montmorillon while I stayed at the apartment to clean and take care of a few things. In the evening we made empanadas (a colombian specialty) for dinner and then headed to the bar. Sunday morning I woke up and made french toast and bacon for breakfast for everyone. We spent the afternoon chillin' in the apartment (there was a lot of spanish being spoken so I'd excuse myself occasionally in order to get some things done on the internet and work on planning my April vacation). In the evening Leidy made fried chicken and fries for dinner before our two guests had to leave to catch trains home.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Switzerland Photos
You can actually rent out these boats for dinner parties and they stop in the middle of the river for your dinner.
This boat is pulled along a rope that takes you back and forth across the water for a small fee.
River
River
River
River
Old Town
Old Town
At the Irish Pub
Hotel de Ville
Hotel de Ville
Hotel de Ville
Hotel de Ville
One of many fountains
One of many fountains
One of my favorite clubs ever. The colorful streamers going on are decorations for Carnival.
One of my favorite clubs ever
At the Club
Church
Church
Church - I really like the roof design of this church
A building decorated for the Carnival
You can't see it very well, but there is a little guy in there dressed up for Carnival, because the Carnival was two days after I left so the whole town was decorated for Carnival while I was there - This is a little monument of some sort on in the middle of a bridge
Billiards Hall
Billiards Hall
Basel, Switzerland
Wednesday February 17th
I arrived in Basel, Switzerland around 2:30 pm after a 3 1/2 hour train ride from Luxembourg. Celine was at the train station waiting for me with a big hug. We quickly grabbed a sandwich (I hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast at the hostel), an all-day transportation pass and some money since they use Swiss Francs here and not the Euro (the francs are about the same value as the American dollar right now). Then we jumped on a bus to take us to Celine's house to drop off my bags. We rested at Celine's for a bit in order to decide what we'd be doing for the day and so I could take a quick shower (I always feel so gross after riding on trains and traveling) and then we headed out to a restaurant on the top floor of a really nice department store to have some tea and cake and catch up with the latest gossip and news. After we finished our tea and cake we walked around the center of Basel for a bit, jumping in and out of shopping stores and running some errands before heading back to Celine's to rest before going out to dinner. Basel's center is covered in cobblestone roads, trolleys and fountains. There are tons of fountains in this town!! For dinner we'd planned on going to an Irish Pub that's known for its food, but it was full so we moved on to a different restaurant that was really chic. Celine and me both decide to have the 'menu' of the day. Our starting dish was a bowl of a soup made of finely chopped veggies in a chicken bouillon, then the second course was a white veggie cream wrapped in ham and a side of salad. The main course was chicken risotto (chicken on rice). All this was accompanied with wine, beer and an after dinner espresso. All of it was amazing tasting, so needless to say we gorged ourselves. After dinner we hit up a couple of bars (it was hard to drink the beers, because there was absolutely no room left in my stomach after our enormous dinner) and were later joined by Celine's boyfriend and some of his co-workers for a few drinks before calling it a night.
Thursday February 18th
Celine and me spent the morning sleeping in and watching the winter Olympics (they had the Olympics and other programs in almost every language in Basel except English. There was German, French, Spanish, Italian and some eastern European, but no English! WTF!!)When we finally got up and ready for the day we headed into town to do a little shopping (I bought a new gray peacoat) and do a little sightseeing, but our first stop of the day was at a food court in a shopping center. This wasn't like the food courts in the USA. There was no stereotypical Mcdonalds and chinese place that indicate an American food court. It was almost like a huge cafeteria and all handmade swiss specialties...ahhh bliss... So after once again gorging myself on Swiss food we hit up the old 'pedestrian only' area of town which is all cobblestone paths, the Cathedral, the frescoed Hotel de Ville and passed many, many fountains while sightseeing. Shopping was entertaining. I basically would find the most hideously atrocious clothes in the store and then try them on for giggles. When we finished sightseeing and shopping for the day Celine and me stopped in a grocery store to buy the ingredients to make some homemade pizza for dinner. Once back at the apartment I watched the Olympics some more, replied to some emails, had some pizza and then got ready to go out for the night. Nightlife in Basel is a little different. People dress down instead of up when they go out. So I would wear my nice fashionable french dresses and clothes during the day and then change into jeans and a t-shirt for my evening wear. Which if fine by me, because they still allow smoking cigarettes in all the establishments, so I'd come home from the bars smelling like stale smoke and I wouldn't want my nice clothes drenched in that smell. First stop of the night was at a billiards hall to shoot some pool and have a few drinks with some of Celine's friends, then her boyfriend dropped the two of us off at a club for the evening. This is definitely one of my favorite clubs I've been to in Europe. Its hard to describe the place but I'll try. It kind of reminded me of a pirate ship. It had wood carved statues of mermaid lining the walls of the second floor where there were balconies to watch the people dancing below. The tables that lined the walls were wood and shaped like barrels and there was rope hanging here and there. But best of all was the music. They had all the new hits that I love to dance to, but also all the classics and the DJ was great at remixing and spinning. Celine and me stayed there dancing and drinking until around 2am when we finally walked back to Celine's.
Friday February 19th
Celine and me slept in and watched the Olympics in the morning. In the afternoon we met up with her boyfriend in order to buy a Raclette Grill for the Raclette Dinner Party at Celine's in the evening. We also stopped by a grocery store and picked up all the supplies for the dinner and I bought swiss chocolate for all my friends who requested it. The rest of the evening was spent watching the Olympics and getting everything ready for the Raclette Dinner Party. Maybe I should first explain what is a 'Raclette Dinner Party'. Raclette is a type of cheese which you melt and place on or mix with a variety of things like potatoes, sausage, pickled veggies, eggs, etc. Its amazing. I've decided that when I return to the states I'm buying one of these machines in order to introduce this amazingly savoring chic 'meat and potato' meal to my fellow Americans. Hours later after we'd all finished gorging ourselves (no wonder why I gain so much weight when I'm in Europe) we hungout at the apartment drinking for a bit longer before making our way to an Irish Pub called Paddy Reilly's to drink and dance until the wee hours of the morning before taking a taxi home and calling it a night.
Saturday February 20th
I woke up and started arranging/packing all my things in order to be ready to catch my train that afternoon back to France. Celine and me hungout in the morning. We headed to the train station a little early in order for me to stop by the candy store that Celine works at in the train station to buy some specially requested chocolates for Nalleli. I still had a lot of Swiss francs so we ran around the train station finding things for me to eat for lunch on the train, then we said our goodbyes and I boarded my first of three trains. The journey back to France was long and obnoxious. I had to switch trains in Strasbourg and had a 45 minute wait. Then I had to not only switch trains in Paris, but also train stations so I had to take the metro across Paris. By the time I arrived in Poitiers the last train to Montmorillon had already departed so I made arrangements to stay at my friend Moona's place. A french friend met me at the train station and we dropped my bags off at his place since Moona wasn't home yet and we headed out to the bars. We ordered a bottle of 'punch' which is rum mixed with tropical fruit juices. Some of Cedric's friends met us there so we hungout for a while and then Moona called and we met up with her and I headed back to her house to crash for the night.
Sunday February 21st
I caught the first train from Poitiers to Montmorillon. I could have stayed and hungout with my friends longer in Poitiers, but I was exhausted from all my travels and ready to be home. I arrived back in Montmorillon at 12:30pm and spent the rest of the day resting and watching tv. And so ended my February vacation :)
I arrived in Basel, Switzerland around 2:30 pm after a 3 1/2 hour train ride from Luxembourg. Celine was at the train station waiting for me with a big hug. We quickly grabbed a sandwich (I hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast at the hostel), an all-day transportation pass and some money since they use Swiss Francs here and not the Euro (the francs are about the same value as the American dollar right now). Then we jumped on a bus to take us to Celine's house to drop off my bags. We rested at Celine's for a bit in order to decide what we'd be doing for the day and so I could take a quick shower (I always feel so gross after riding on trains and traveling) and then we headed out to a restaurant on the top floor of a really nice department store to have some tea and cake and catch up with the latest gossip and news. After we finished our tea and cake we walked around the center of Basel for a bit, jumping in and out of shopping stores and running some errands before heading back to Celine's to rest before going out to dinner. Basel's center is covered in cobblestone roads, trolleys and fountains. There are tons of fountains in this town!! For dinner we'd planned on going to an Irish Pub that's known for its food, but it was full so we moved on to a different restaurant that was really chic. Celine and me both decide to have the 'menu' of the day. Our starting dish was a bowl of a soup made of finely chopped veggies in a chicken bouillon, then the second course was a white veggie cream wrapped in ham and a side of salad. The main course was chicken risotto (chicken on rice). All this was accompanied with wine, beer and an after dinner espresso. All of it was amazing tasting, so needless to say we gorged ourselves. After dinner we hit up a couple of bars (it was hard to drink the beers, because there was absolutely no room left in my stomach after our enormous dinner) and were later joined by Celine's boyfriend and some of his co-workers for a few drinks before calling it a night.
Thursday February 18th
Celine and me spent the morning sleeping in and watching the winter Olympics (they had the Olympics and other programs in almost every language in Basel except English. There was German, French, Spanish, Italian and some eastern European, but no English! WTF!!)When we finally got up and ready for the day we headed into town to do a little shopping (I bought a new gray peacoat) and do a little sightseeing, but our first stop of the day was at a food court in a shopping center. This wasn't like the food courts in the USA. There was no stereotypical Mcdonalds and chinese place that indicate an American food court. It was almost like a huge cafeteria and all handmade swiss specialties...ahhh bliss... So after once again gorging myself on Swiss food we hit up the old 'pedestrian only' area of town which is all cobblestone paths, the Cathedral, the frescoed Hotel de Ville and passed many, many fountains while sightseeing. Shopping was entertaining. I basically would find the most hideously atrocious clothes in the store and then try them on for giggles. When we finished sightseeing and shopping for the day Celine and me stopped in a grocery store to buy the ingredients to make some homemade pizza for dinner. Once back at the apartment I watched the Olympics some more, replied to some emails, had some pizza and then got ready to go out for the night. Nightlife in Basel is a little different. People dress down instead of up when they go out. So I would wear my nice fashionable french dresses and clothes during the day and then change into jeans and a t-shirt for my evening wear. Which if fine by me, because they still allow smoking cigarettes in all the establishments, so I'd come home from the bars smelling like stale smoke and I wouldn't want my nice clothes drenched in that smell. First stop of the night was at a billiards hall to shoot some pool and have a few drinks with some of Celine's friends, then her boyfriend dropped the two of us off at a club for the evening. This is definitely one of my favorite clubs I've been to in Europe. Its hard to describe the place but I'll try. It kind of reminded me of a pirate ship. It had wood carved statues of mermaid lining the walls of the second floor where there were balconies to watch the people dancing below. The tables that lined the walls were wood and shaped like barrels and there was rope hanging here and there. But best of all was the music. They had all the new hits that I love to dance to, but also all the classics and the DJ was great at remixing and spinning. Celine and me stayed there dancing and drinking until around 2am when we finally walked back to Celine's.
Friday February 19th
Celine and me slept in and watched the Olympics in the morning. In the afternoon we met up with her boyfriend in order to buy a Raclette Grill for the Raclette Dinner Party at Celine's in the evening. We also stopped by a grocery store and picked up all the supplies for the dinner and I bought swiss chocolate for all my friends who requested it. The rest of the evening was spent watching the Olympics and getting everything ready for the Raclette Dinner Party. Maybe I should first explain what is a 'Raclette Dinner Party'. Raclette is a type of cheese which you melt and place on or mix with a variety of things like potatoes, sausage, pickled veggies, eggs, etc. Its amazing. I've decided that when I return to the states I'm buying one of these machines in order to introduce this amazingly savoring chic 'meat and potato' meal to my fellow Americans. Hours later after we'd all finished gorging ourselves (no wonder why I gain so much weight when I'm in Europe) we hungout at the apartment drinking for a bit longer before making our way to an Irish Pub called Paddy Reilly's to drink and dance until the wee hours of the morning before taking a taxi home and calling it a night.
Saturday February 20th
I woke up and started arranging/packing all my things in order to be ready to catch my train that afternoon back to France. Celine and me hungout in the morning. We headed to the train station a little early in order for me to stop by the candy store that Celine works at in the train station to buy some specially requested chocolates for Nalleli. I still had a lot of Swiss francs so we ran around the train station finding things for me to eat for lunch on the train, then we said our goodbyes and I boarded my first of three trains. The journey back to France was long and obnoxious. I had to switch trains in Strasbourg and had a 45 minute wait. Then I had to not only switch trains in Paris, but also train stations so I had to take the metro across Paris. By the time I arrived in Poitiers the last train to Montmorillon had already departed so I made arrangements to stay at my friend Moona's place. A french friend met me at the train station and we dropped my bags off at his place since Moona wasn't home yet and we headed out to the bars. We ordered a bottle of 'punch' which is rum mixed with tropical fruit juices. Some of Cedric's friends met us there so we hungout for a while and then Moona called and we met up with her and I headed back to her house to crash for the night.
Sunday February 21st
I caught the first train from Poitiers to Montmorillon. I could have stayed and hungout with my friends longer in Poitiers, but I was exhausted from all my travels and ready to be home. I arrived back in Montmorillon at 12:30pm and spent the rest of the day resting and watching tv. And so ended my February vacation :)
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Vianden, Luxembourg Photos
View from the Chateau
View from the Chateau
View from the Chateau - Ramparts
Trinitarian Church
Trinitarian Church
City Hall - Stadhaus
Vianden - religious monument
Ramparts
Fountain in Vianden
Vianden
Vianden
Vianden
Vianden
Church of Saint Nicholas
Inside Church of Saint Nicholas
Chateau de Vianden
Chateau de Vianden
Chateau de Vianden
Chateau de Vianden
Chateau de Vianden
Models of what Chateau de Vianden looked like in different centuries
Models of what Chateau de Vianden looked like in different centuries
Models of what Chateau de Vianden looked like in different centuries
Chateau de Vianden
Chateau de Vianden
Chateau de Vianden
Chateau de Vianden
Chateau de Vianden
Old medieval knight uniforms
I would not want to go to war with that type of weaponry
Old knight armor
Chateau de Vianden
Chateau de Vianden
Chateau de Vianden
Chateau de Vianden
My first view of Chateau de Vianden
Statue on a bridge
I liked the architecture of this house
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
