Storming the Castle

Today was the day of my last Provencal History class day trip. We had to meet at the hotel at 9 so I had to be up a bit before 8. It was so not fun to have to wake up. I miss sleeping in! I miss summer where I just have to be up before noon! But I usually don’t mind waking up early as long as I don’t have to get out of bed. I love lying in a warm bed in the mornings. It is probably one of my favorite things. But anyways I didn’t get to do that and rolled out of bed to get ready to go. Madame was already up as usual and had breakfast on the table. I ate breakfast being very careful not to break the glass this time and when I was done got all my stuff together to go. I showed her my new coat and she really liked it. She was surprised I had found it so cheap too. But Marseille is truly a lot cheaper than Aix. I think that Aix is like the novelty small town close to Marseille so they know that they can get away with selling things at a higher price. But if you live here long enough you learn which places are tourist traps, and where to get the cheapest water and stuff like that.

So once I was ready I decided to leave and head over to the hotel. I thought that I had Christmas music transferred from my computer to my iPod but I didn’t so that was a bit sad. I wanted to listen to Christmas music! But oh well. On my way to the hotel I ran into Gina who was talking to some random guy and looked like she needed saving. So I saved her and we walked to the hotel together. She said that the guy just like came up and started talking to her which I hate when that happens. So we went off to the buses. Gina wanted to sit in the back and I had forgotten to take a motion sickness pill so I didn’t want to sit in the back. Sally was my seat buddy again so that was nice.

On the way to Avignon we talked about how we are sad to be leaving but will be happy to be home in a way. She doesn’t really want to leave at all but we both know that this place is being special because of the friends that we have and the families that we have. She says that she never wants to come back because it won’t be as special because it is made special by the group. I kind of see that. I think there is definitely merit to that but I think I still will want to come back and visit my host family. It will be interesting to see what kind of person Paul turns into. I know it will be hard to stay in touch with Madame but I want to try anyways. Sally and I talked for most of the ride there about this and that. Mostly about France and our whole experience. There is a cooking class to learn to make the chocolate truffles which we want to try and do this coming Saturday. Also Catching Fire comes out here on Wednesday so we want to do that this coming week. She has already seen it because she went to the premiere but I haven’t seen it yet. It is out though in every other European country except for here though. So that is a bit annoying! But oh well. Just stay off of the internet to avoid spoilers :-).

When we finally got to Avignon about 45 minutes later we didn’t really want to stop talking. We parked the bus next to the Pont d’Avignon (bridge) with the promise that we would come back and could dance on it before we left for the day. You have to dance on the bridge because there is a children’s song here that is just as popular as ring around the rosy. So we skipped past the bridge and went through the remains of the rampart that surrounded the city and in to find ourselves in front of the enormous Palais des Papes, or Palaces of the Popes.

Holy cow that was a big building! It was really cool looking on the outside and looked like a castle because it was built in the castle style architecture. It has the cut outs at the top towers and also the holes in the wall that you could shoot arrows out of. It even had the towers above the door that you could open the bottom of and throw things at enemies trying to come in. It was pretty awesome! Though this being a religious place that wasn’t exactly needed especially because it was protected by the Comte de Provence and his army and then the French army. But it was still really cool looking. Our bus split into two groups and my group went with our normal professor. We went and toured the palace which was pretty cool. There were a lot of cool art pieces and it was kind of cool to see the architecture and the rooms that they used in the 1500’s. There were lots of bay windows where you could sit and look out the window. I thought they were really pretty and I hope one day to have a window like that that I can sit in and look out. I like sitting in windows and have always want to be able to.

We walked around for a couple hours and looked at all the rooms. There were some that were painted which we weren’t allowed to take pictures of, so naturally I did a little bit. WHAT. Don’t tell! It was really beautiful though. We saw where the monks would eat and where the pope would live and one of the coolest parts of it I thought was seeing all of the chimneys. I thought those were really cool and I can only imagine the amount of work to keep all of those going all of the time during the winter so that no one froze. Though maybe they did because weren’t monks supposed to use things very sparingly? I think so. So I wonder how often they really did light them, though because it was the pope I would think that they would light them more often than most monasteries. We also learned that 1/3 of the annual budget used to go to food. They would have 12 course meals every night, if that doesn’t sound like indulging to me then I don’t know what is!

We also looked out the window of indulgence where the Pope used to greet his honored guests because it overlooked the courtyard. He would then forgive their sins and bless them and all that. Next we went up on top of the building to a lookout tower. It was SOOO windy! The Rhone region gets more wind than we do that is for sure! It was super windy that no one wanted to stay out very long because it was already cold and with the wind it just got worse. But it was really pretty to look out over Avignon. But it was very windy!

After that we all left the Palais des Papes and went through Avignon to a little museum that had some sculptures in it that we had studied at the beginning of the semester. It was kind of cool but also we were all starving and ready to get lunch. Sally and I wanted to get home before 6 so that we could go to a big firework show thing that was supposed to happen in Aix at 6. Ideally we would have liked to be home at 4 to see the inauguration of the Christmas lights but we knew that wasn’t going to happen. After a quick run around the museum we were released or a two hour lunch break but we learned we should be back by 5:30 to Aix.

 We headed out in the direction that Patrick said there was restaurants. He had come here earlier in the term and stayed a weekend with the rest of the group but Sally and I hadn’t been in town to go with. We went off in that direction and after a while started drilling him on where the heck we were actually going because there was nothing in sight the way that we were going. He said we were heading towards a Japanese restaurant. Then a guy in front of us turned around and was like I think you mates are going the wrong way and he pointed us back the other direction. We thanked him and turned around. I have noticed here that when I listen to other people who seem like they know where they are going, they don’t really ever know… It is kind of annoying. I at least say I think it is this way but I’m not sure. But oh well whatever. We found the place eventually that Patrick was looking for but Sally didn’t want Japanese and I don’t eat seafood so we were like why were we trying to find this place in the first place? So then we went back to the main road and found a cute restaurant to eat lunch at.

Sally and I got Lasagna and Patrick got beef tartar. I can’t get past the idea of eating raw meat and a raw egg, it just doesn’t sound healthy to me so I haven’t had tartar. I also had tea which was really good and I decided I miss tea and should try to find it more often. It was very good and we had a nice time talking. The lasagna was delicious and came with a green salad which was very healthy and I decided that I missed salads as well. It was good and a lady sitting next to us that teaches English to foreigners leaned over and started talking to us. She was really nice. Though then we left and ventured a bit in the city. We found a Carrefour where I bought speculoos and smurfs. We also found that they had Reeses! So that was pretty cool to find but we didn’t buy any. It was weird though because they came in a 3 pack. In the states they are in 2’s or 4’s but I have never seen them in 3’s.

Then we left there and went to look at the chalets. They had more of a mix of things for sale but most of them were like food products that you would cook at your house. So we got some hot wine and then called it good. This wine was more alcoholy and winey than the other that I had in Marseille. I didn’t like it as much. But it was okay. Just not as good. Then we called it quits for lunch and went to the Petit Palais for the next part of our Avignon Education.

In here there was a lot more art. We looked at a couple different pieces but most of it was all very similar to me. It was really pretty but I can only look at art for so long until I am like okay great lets go. We looked at a couple different images of Mary holding Christ and then compared them. There was one that I liked a lot and then a picture of Saint Catherine holding a giant sword. Go girl power! It was pretty cool. We looked at the art for quite a while and because there was no glass over the paintings there was a person in each room that would tell us to back up if we went within two feet of any work. So that was a bit annoying. They should just get glass to cover each one… A lot cheaper than paying all these people to sit around in each room.

But whatever! One we were done there, we went to the bridge. There are a lot of supposed facts about the bridge that are all false. Some people think that the bridge has never been completed to reach the other side. This is wrong. The King of France (before France was completely united as the country it is now) once wanted to cross the bridge. But he was denied by the Comte de Provence so he said fine I will just destroy it. So then they rebuilt it again. And then the exact same thing happened like 50 years later. So then they just never rebuilt it again. But now there are plenty of other bridges to it just stays half done on principal because the French Government when it was led by a King once the regions were united was still mad about it so there has since then never been any government money sent to fix it, and now it is a big tourist attraction with the legends that it has never been finished. There is also the rumor that because the river is too deep or too strong that it is impossible to finish it. But that is wrong too because it has been finished. More recently in the 1850’s a song came out called Sur le Pont d’Avignon.

In the song it goes (translated:

 On the bridge of Avignon
We all dance there, we all dance there
On the bridge of Avignon
We all dance there in a ring

So naturally when you get on the bridge you have to DANCE! So we went to the end and took pictures (changing the song to jump instead of dance. ;-) Then on our way back Sally and I danced the whole way looking like crazies. It was really fun. Then we realized that we were the last ones on the bridge so we ran to catch up with the group. They were just in the gift shop though so it was all good! I bought some post cards which all had the bridge on them and then we were off! We got back on the bus and the other class was already on it! So probably they all saw Sally and I dance on the bridge. But who cares we had fun! The bus left and then had to loop around because we forgot two people. Oops! Then we rode the bus back to Aix. There was a stupid movie playing but it was more like SNL but not funny and just stupid and from the 80’s. They were playing it really loud so Sally and I went to iPods after texting Cassandra to facebook everyone that we would be home in time and that we would meet at the Rotonde. 

When we got back to Aix, Sally went back home to change her shoes and the rest of us waited at the Cezanne statue. I called Cassandra who was not at the Rotonde like planned and pretty soon she showed up. I called Sally to see if LaSia was there and was joining us. We got Sara contacted and she met up with us and then pretty soon Sally came with LaSia. No sign of Jonny so hopefully he hadn’t wanted to come. :-/ But we headed out with about 10 minutes to show time. By the time we got as close as we would to the Theater building for the show they started a countdown at 5 minutes. I said I am so counting down in French from ten. And eventually when I did other people did too so that was really cool!

 

It was kind of like a firework show with some weird other things to be honest. There were some guys in light suits that walked around sometimes and sometimes held fireworks. At one point on of them had firework wings which I thought was really cool. They also used fire canons which made smoke circle and then they would light the fireworks to go through the smoke circles. That was probably one of my favorite parts. I love fireworks though. Every time I watch fireworks I get sentimental and think of the last time I saw fireworks (Disneyland) and then think of how much my life has change since then. This time it wasn’t so long ago but my life has definitely changed a lot!One of my friends posted a video on my faebook. But I dont have a way to put it here so I will see if she can email it to me and I can put it up later.

After the fireworks we left and went to find some food. We decided to eat from the Christmas stalls even though there were a bazillion people out. I got a tete au choco which translates as a chocolate head. It was a marshmallow on a waffle cracker wafer cookie covered in chocolate. It was pretty good! But not worth it to be honest. I also got a pomme d’amour which is an apple of love with is a candied apple. I had never had one and with the name pomme d’amour I had to get one. I think it is called that because of Snow White. The apple that she has is originally green and then she candies it and it becomes red. I think it is the same and when I asked Madame she said it was the same thing and that is why they call them that. I felt really smart for once. I thought it tasted pretty good once I was able to get into it! It wasn’t as good as the chocolate covered one that I had in Munich though.

After that there was a funny thing that happened with some Churros. We were standing and talking in the group and then Gina offered me some Churro and I figured it was a bite so when she held it out to me I opened my mouth and bit it. I didn’t know she was giving me the whole stick and it broke from my mouth and the rest started to fall and literally everyone in the group but me tried to catch it in a matter of like two seconds. Someone did which was good but I was like what just happened. It was a really funny moment for the group and looking at this maybe it was a “you had to be there moment” but it was really funny. It was like “we MUST save the Churro!!!”

 

After that we walked down and looked at all the chalets. There was some cool stuff there but nothing too terrible interesting. There were some awesome looking candles that I am now thinking about. They were really pretty but I don’t know what they smelled like. And the problem with pretty candles is that you have to burn them and then it isn’t as pretty anymore…. But once we got to the end we decided we should eat some real food. So then we went and walked until we found a bar and someone thought they would have food. (I did not) but I had to pee so I went and used the bathroom. When I came back and we realized they didn’t have food we decided to leave but I felt super weird about having used the bathroom and not bought something so I bought a shot which tasted like pineapple and not too bad with alcohol. Patrick bought one too and then Cassandra and after that we left.

We went farther down the street and found a restaurant where the waitress was very nice. We all ordered and I had just a side salad and tea. I was not hungry but after all the sweets I wanted something light and more on the healthy side of things. It was a perfect dinner. The conversation was fun and Gina did a tarot reading for everyone. Mine she pulled the marriage and widow card. What. But that doesn’t actually mean either of those two things. But she told me it was that I used to be really lonely and then I wanted to change that and now I am a lot more open to other people and making friends. I said okay cool. I don’t personally know how much stock I put into stuff like tarot cards but it was interesting to hear her take. When she ordered she asked for a salad with beaucoup beaucoup de salad dressing which was really funny because it was like that is not the word for that! But the waitress knew and she just laughed with us. It was all in good fun. The whole dinner was really fun and very relaxed. We debated on going to a movie after words because LaSia had wanted to earlier but ultimately decided to skip it and go home because we were all exhausted by that time.

I walked home with Sara because we live in the same direction. Oh! I forgot. So while we were at the Christmas stalls earlier in the day I was attemptedly pick pocketed. We were standing and I was holding things in my hands and then all of the sudden I felt someone’s hand in my pocket and by the time I turned around there was no one. The others had seen the guy and said that he had been suspiciously eying us. I told them I think he tried to pick pocket me. We were all a little shocked but I had been smart enough to keep everything in my purse under my coat. So I can see why I was the target because you couldn’t see that I had a purse so presumably there would be stuff in my pockets. It was a little strange but I didn’t really think too much into it. It was like I knew something bad would happen so I had been careful all day and because there were so many people around I was being more careful as it is easier for stuff like that to happen when there are a ton of people around and especially when you aren’t paying attention like I wasn’t. But too bad for him that I am too smart! :-)

 

After that when I got home I talked to Madame a bit about the fireworks and such. She had watched them from outside on the balcony with Paul because he didn’t want to go out. I told her about my coat and attempted pickpocket and she was proud of me for being really smart and not having anything in my pockets. She is always warning me to be careful so I think she was a bit proud of me. :-) It was cool. She also cleaned up my room a bit when she changed my sheets which I felt a bit bad about because I should have cleaned it better but I was in a hurry to leave this morning. But I thanked her for it and she seemed happy. Then we watched a bit of a show called Le Zap which is like funny clips or cute clips of animals and stuff like that. It is a good show but we both got exhausted and decided to go to sleep knowing that tomorrow would be cookie trying-to-make day!

A Day in Marseille

Today I was not happy to wake up after staying up later than I probably should have last night talking to Thad. But oops. I took a shower which was not very fun because the bathroom was FREEEEEZING and the water didn’t ever get very hot. So that was not fun at all! Beebo kept me company all morning while I got ready and ate breakfast and all that. He was chilling under my bed when I came out of the shower because it was warmer in my room. He was being good today though which was nice. Then I went off to the cave to start my day.THe picture below is me expressing how good people can look while eating :-)

 

I was the first one to the cave because everyone else wasn’t done with class yet. I was chilling and then suddenly everyone was there but not at the same time because everyone went to the bathroom or to their locker or to check the mail. After about ten minutes we were finally all in the same place and decided to go get dinner. We went and ate at the pizza place by the school because it is the best. LaSia and I split a pizza and it was delicious. I really like going to this pizza place because the guy who runs it is super nice and funny. It makes the whole experience better. We ate our pizzas there and then after that headed out in the direction of Sally and LaSia’s house so that they could drop some stuff off. We were all in a really good mood which was nice. I think we all are kind of realizing we don’t have much time left and that we need to make the most of it and each other.

 Jonny split off and was going to meet us at their house because he wanted to drop off his stuff too. We walked the rest of the way to their house and I was already getting a bit cold. I don’t know why but it seems infinitely colder here not because of the temperature which was according to Kristen, colder in Oregon than France today, but because of the wind here. It is not fun at all! But I decided I would try to find a coat in Marseille because things are supposed to be cheaper there. Sally and LaSia don’t live to far from me which is interesting. I would think that I would see them a lot more often but they walk a different path to school than I do. Then we waited for Jonny to get there and went off to the bus station. I used my handy dandy cartreize bus card which gave me a 24h pass for 2 euros. Win!

 We rode the bus to Marseille which took us to the Gare St. Charles which is actually the train station! SO we kind of had to meander our way through town towards the Vieux Port. We followed the car direction signs and eventually got there. We did end up taking some sketch roads though. That was a little creepy. Once we got to the port we came upon the ferris wheel and Christmas chalets that are there for Christmas. The ferris wheel was pretty but I had no desire to go on it. (Fear of Ferris Wheels). We walked around the chalets which were cute and had some nice things but then we stumbled upon a hot beignet chalet! Beignets are sort of like… Doughnuts and Fried bread mixed together? They put apples inside and the inside is doughnuty but it is fried on the outside with sugar all over it. It was deeeeelicious! But also very hot. I also got a water. Sara bought a hat at a chalet which had lots of colorful looking handmade sewn things. She got a gray hat. Of all the colors that they had she chose gray. I was disappointed in her. After that I bought a little gift for my Grandpa and then we walked towards the museum that Jonny had to go to for his class.

 

We all paid a 5 to get in and then discovered that it was actually kind of a boring museum… Or I’m not sure if it really was boring but I was not in a very museumy mood. Before we went into the museum they made us put our water bottles away in our bags. I accidentally photo bombed some guys picture of the museum. And then every time I walked through the main hallway I would make a funny face at the really bored security guard at the end of the hall. I was really hyper and was pretty silly all day. Plus that security guy was bored out of his mind.

Everyone but LaSia and Jonny got pretty bored pretty fast of the museum. At one point we sat down on a bench and noticed that in one of the 45 second long videos that was on loop there was an odd portion where this skinny lady was running out of the water in a bikini, and then she laid on the beach and all the camera shot was a view of her chest and then a really strange face. We laughed at the bizarreness of it intermixed with the rest of the 45 second flm. Then pretty soon a group of guys came up and ogled at the screen for two rotations of it making comments about the lady. It was so guyish that we had to laugh.

Then we all decided that the museum wasn’t going to get any more interesting for us so we left the exhibit to try and go to a café on top of it. It ended up being ridiculously expensive so we decided we would leave Jonny and LaSia a phone to call us when they got done. It was kind of a hassle though because we were giving it to them through the exit door which the security guys didn’t like. But oh well.Then I went outside to dump out my bag because we discovered that the plastic water bottle i bought had cracked and leaked half a bottle of water all over my bag. So that was not so good.

While I was doing that this like 30 year old dude like tried to hit on me. I really hate that. I know some people are like oh you should take that as a compliment. Yeah No. Would you take it as a compliment if some guy who is super older than you just like aproached you and you didn't know him and tried to get personal with you? No. It is just creepy and makes me feel unsafe every time. I hate it. Also I hate getting hit on because it makes me feel like an object not a person, because the only thing they know about you is what you look like. I hate it.

We left and walked down the main road until we found a tea salon that looked pretty empty. I had a tea and everyone else had hot chocolate or coffee. Sally and Sara got steak frites sandwiches. Then pretty soon LaSia called and wanted to know where we were so I told them the directions and they came and met up with us. There was only us and the guy running it in the place and he was nice. There was a movie on which was all watched and made fun of but didn’t actually bother to listen to so it was funny. My tea was really good and made me miss tea. We hung out there for a while and then decided to head out. We all were like dang now we will never know the end of this great movie. Also LaSia has decided on saying “meep” after all of my hiccup-like sounds.

From there we went on in attempting to find a big mall like store that was supposedly unmissable. In the meantime we ran into another Christmas market. This time there was a hot wine vender so I decided to buy one (mostly for something to hold while we walked around to keep my hands warm!) It did smell amazing though! We walked around and looked at the little Santons which are like miniature figurines that you can make towns and nativity scenes from that are ceramic and then had painted. They are CRAZY expensive. But I guess the idea is you buy one thing each year and then by the time you are older you have a good size town. They were a really cute idea but so expensive. A little duck was 6 euros. For a tiny ceramic duck! It was crazy. I thought about buying a nativity set because that would be cool and I don’t have one but then decided I would get one when I got back to the states. Maybe next year because I am getting back so late.

When I did drink the wine it was SOOO delicious! It didn’t feel very alcoholy maybe because it is burned off? So it was just delicious! They put extra spices in it so it is kind of like hot apple cider but not apple but grape. It was reallllllllly good. I want to learn how to make it. It reminded me a lot of that appley drink that we make at the helwigs sometimes that Grandma Dar used to make but I can never remember the name of because it is so weird, but then grape. I liked it A LOT. I got a second cup with everyone else decided to get some. We all huddled and drank it and talked about what to do next. We kept walking after a while of selfies and attempted group shots which Jonny always shied away from.

 

Then we found the mall and I found a coat that I really liked. They told me I looked better in gray than black so I went with that. It was only 65 Euros. I like it and it is big enough that I can wear another sweatshirt under it. Perfect! Also it was the only gray one and my size. WIN! Then we went to a book shop which we were kind of shooed out of after not a very long time. We walked around a Christmasy craft store which was kind of fun. Then after that we went up to another FNAC. There were tons of books there so naturally we ended up in the childrens book section because they are easy to read. I found a liz climo book which I really liked but didn’t buy. She just makes funny cute little comics. Somehow all the girls but Cassandra ended up with a sort of eye spy (word help on that from Thad) ((I could only think of hide and seek)) book where we sat on the floor and played. It was really fun and silly and cute.

Then the store was closing so we left. I bought a pair of gloves at Claires. And we found an ATM on the way out and got out a bit of money to cover the weekend/probably some if not all of the week. Then we walked back down by the port to find food/ see the Ferris wheel. But everything was so expensive we decided to find something on the way back to the bus stop. We didn’t find anything though. The cold weather though was getting to me so I had to walk pretty slow to keep up.

Cassandra noticed/ her ankle started hurting so she fell back with me while the others figured out which direction to go to get back. So we walked slow while they walked fast and eventually we got to the station. We found the bus and all went back to Aix to find some dinner. I left my new gloves on the bus because I am an idiot. I know. I literally had just bought them… I’m stupid. Don’t laugh!

When we got back to Aix we decided to go to Patacrepe which I had never been to but it is a crepe restaurant. I decided to get a burger with pancakes as the buns. It was really good and came with fries. I decided to get the meal thing with a little drink and a crepe for dessert. It was only three euros more than the meal so I was like sure why not. My burger was really good and I at the whole thing. My drink was cute because it was a meal drink so they just give you a bit which was fun. Sara who sat across from me bought a coke but couldn’t finish it so she shared with me so that was cool. We had fun at dinner though. The atmosphere of the restaurant is pretty cool. They had cool lights and it reminded me a lot of an American restaurant because it was more streamline in design than most restaurants here. They also had very delicious crepes! I had a strawberry jam one. It was really good. They came with these like marshmallows as garnish which none of us ate because we all found them super gross and far too sweet. I tried just a really really really miniscule piece and it was like BLECH too much flavor for one candy. So needless to say we didn’t eat them. Then after that we decided to call it a night because some of us had to be up early to go to Avignon the next day for school. It was a really fun day in Marseille though. :-) I have great friends.

When I got home Madame wasn’t here even though it was past ten thirty. I was like hmm. Do I go to sleep because I am tired or do I wait up to say Hi. And then once I decided I would go to sleep I was thinking about whether I should lock the door or not. The bottom door was locked I knew and it wouldn’t be a problem for me to lock the door because she has a key but it was a question of is this a normal thing for me to do? Or is it like rude to lock it? And then it was like well if I leave it unlocked she might think I am being unsafe. But if I lock it how will she know if I have already come home or not? Hmmm. I was in the middle of debating that when she came home and we talked for a bit before we both went to bed. She had been downstairs watching Paul while Laurence worked late. 

Then we went to bed because I had to be up early the next day!

Beebow, il a bien détruit la sourire!