Wo ist der Bahnhof?

It's a little late but I'm finally getting around to writing about last weekend!

I caught the TGV on Thursday and 7 hours later I was greeted by Jean at the train station in Strasbourg! So we headed over to her residence, which to get to you have to take a bus since it's a ways outside of the downtown area. We didn't do too much, just spent some time catching up (until approximately 3 in the morning!)

Friday Jean toured me around Strasbourg a little bit. Unfortunately the weather was pretty miserable (cold and rainy!) but I enjoyed walking around the town. It was very different from Aix, which definitely has to do with the fact that it's so close to Germany (it's a very different style of architecture). It's also a lot bigger than Aix! But it was very cute, there was a big river running through the town (which even had swans!) and I especially liked a little area called Petite France ("Little France"). For lunch we got Tarte Flambee, a specialty of the Alsace region. It's kind of like a pizza but very thin and not as greasy. It was really good! Then we took a bus over to the big bridge that leads over to the German town of Kehl. So it's cool being able to see the border of two countries like that, and it's so easy because you can just walk over! (So weird too not having to wait in line or show my passport... very different from going into the US!) Once we crossed the bridge we could tell immediately that we were "in" Germany as EVERYONE was speaking German! (Maybe that sounds silly, but I guess I expected there to be SOME French being spoken since we were so close to France) So that was really interesting! Kehl doesn't have a lot to offer tourist-wise but it has a few shops/cafes all of which are cheaper than in Strasbourg, which is great since Jean can go over there pretty much anytime! Friday night Jean got some of her friends together and we went out to a little organic-themed bar/cafe called "Artichoke". I'd never been in a bar like that before so that was neat! Jean has made some French friends too so it was nice to get to speak with them, as I haven't made that many French friends in Aix!

On Saturday we decided to go to Freiburg, located in the South of Germany, on the suggestion of one of Jean's friends. 2 trains and about an hour and a half later we were there! We had even met a nice student on the train who was helping us out with the Germany phrases we were trying to learn out of Jean's Germany phrasebook. Once there we pretty much just walked around. There were some nice buildings, a huge church, a market, and some really pretty streets! We even found (drumroll...) a Starbucks! (Apparently the only Starbucks they have in France are in Paris, so I have not been to one in about 2 months.) Now Starbucks isn't something I even drink all that often back home but it was nice to see something that reminded me of home. Only one of the employees spoke some English, but she spoke enough where I was able to explain how to make the drink I wanted (she didn't know what a London Fog was - Earl Grey tea, filled half with steamed milk, plus some vanilla syrup). I think we probably spent a good couple of hours in Starbucks doing some more catching up. After Starbucks we found this really nice park with a fountain and LOTS of beautiful fall colors on the leaves, so we spent some time there taking some pictures. Pretty soon after we decided to head back. That night we went to a little Mexican restaurant Jean had discovered which was really good! (Although not as good as Paso del Norte - our favourite Mexican place back home). It was nice being able to afford a meal out, because I can't often (or, ever) do that in Aix - it's too expensive!

On Sunday Jean and some of her friends usually get together and make a brunch so that's what we did. Cookies, apple crisp, pancakes, crepes... it was delicious! It was really fun too because only one of my friends lives on my floor and we don't usually cook together, seeing as our "kitchen" has 2 elements, a microwave and a sink. (No table, barely any counter space, etc.) making it not the nicest atmosphere to eat/hang out in. So the brunch was really fun! Then it was time for me to head back to Aix. I didn't get back to my room until almost 1 in the morning! It was a very long day. SUCH a fun weekend though, it was so great to see my best friend from home! And Jean has already booked her ticket to come down to Aix in the beginning of December, so I think we're already looking forward to that! PLUS we even came out learning a few Germany phrases, such as: "Where is the train station?" (This is what the title of this blog entry means), "Can you take a photo of us?" plus a few other little things, so we were pretty proud of that too!

Flamingos & Ocre

What an amazing weekend! Saturday we went to Camargue, a town known for its horses and bull fights, as well as other wildlife (ie. flamingos!) We woke up at 5 AM to catch a 6 AM bus going to Arles, which is where we had to switch buses. It was so dark and absolutely freezing when we arrived in Arles! (The weather has really started to turn here, no more 30 degree weather!) Luckily a nearby cafe was open and we were able to drink some hot tea until the next bus came. We were greeted by an extremely strong (and cold!) wind in Camargue. After making a quick stop at the tourism office to get some info, as we usually do in a new town, we headed to the trail that offers sights of lots of different kinds of birds. We were even lucky enough to see some flamingos, which was kind of cool since I don't think I have ever seen any in real life (not including the zoo) and apparently this is the only spot you can see them in all of Europe. So that was really cool! On the way back we walked along the beach, which was amazing. It had almost-white sand with lots of dunes. Although I have never been to PEI, this is what I imagine the beaches there to look like! Even though it was incredibly windy, we had such a great time walking back on this beautiful beach. The other cool thing was that since it was mid October and pretty chilly, we were basically the only ones on this huge beach, other than the odd horseback rider! It was really neat. After walking on the beach, we went into town because we had heard you could go on trail rides with the famous white horses of Camargue. We found a place and were all ready to go but at the last minute me and another girl decided not to go! (I forgot how much I really don't like horses...) My friends Hana and Christine still went though, and they had a nice time. Even though we had to wake up incredibly early, Camargue was totally worth it; I just loved the beach, as well as being one of the only people on it!

Sunday we took a trip with Georges (the man who organized the trips to Saint Tropez and Monaco) to the villages of Luberon. We visited three villages: Isle sur la Sorgue, Roussillon and Gordes. Isle sur la Sorgue was lovely; it had a really pretty river running all around the town, as well as several 'roues' (working water wheels) which were neat! There was an amazing market that had pretty much anything and everything: jewelry, clothes, toys, spices, meats, cheeses, antiques, etc. We spent pretty much the whole time just wandering through the market (they had lots of free samples... amazing!) Then it was off to Roussillon, a town know for its "Ocre" (I don't know if this is the same spelling in English) which is a special type of red-ish sand. The colors were so vibrant, it was really pretty. The town itself was also really pretty; lots of red stone buildings and cool lanterns. Great views from the town too! After Roussillon it was off to Gordes. Even though I know I would never want to live there, I think this was my favourite village. It's one of 20 or 30 in the region that is built on a 'colline' (hill), so the streets are quite narrow and quite steep. Everything in the town just looked so ancient and authentic... it was kind of hard to believe it was inhabited by modern day people! This town also had amazing views of the area, and you couldn't see any big shops, stores, markets etc. All you could see were houses, grass, mountains, etc. It just looked so natural and untouched. Because it was our last stop we didn't have a ton of time in Gordes but we spent our last 10 or 15 minutes just looking at this amazing view. It was really something.

Anyway, it's Monday and I'm now exhausted but it was totally worth it! It was a great weekend! Now I'm looking forward to Strasbourg, which I leave for on Thursday!

Grace Kelly

Friday, we (2 Chinese, a Japanese, an Austrian, a Czech, a Moroccan and myself) organized a little international picnic. We had planned to go to the park but decided that was a little far to carry all the food, so we ended up having it on the stairway landing on my floor! The food was delicious and we had such a variety! Homemade sushi, mushroom soup, Moroccan tea... and of course pancakes with maple syrup (my contribution). So good!

Saturday I went to Monaco. I went with the same group that organized the trip to Saint Tropez. It was much prettier than I expected - some great modern architecture, huge yachts and clear blue water! Super clean too. We went to the palace and saw the guards change over just before noon which was cool! Then we ate some lunch (leftover pancakes) and went to the Oceanography Museum (we wanted to go to the palace as well but we only had time to do one or the other). They had tons of different kinds of colorful fish. Then we had to get back on the bus to head to Monte Carlo. Once there we headed to the Casino. We had to check our bags before entering but the building was really beautiful. Unfortunately we couldn't enter the ACTUAL gambling area (well we could have, but it would have cost us 10 euro... no thanks!) which was too bad because I would have liked to see that. Almost more amazing were the cars parked outside. Now I don't know much about cars but I saw some names I recognized: Ferrari, Mercedes, Bentley... it was pretty fancy! Then we walked down the equivalent of Rodeo Drive called Avenue des Beaux Arts. Nothing we could even come close to affording obviously but it's fun to look! Then we spent some time in the park (so many pretty fountains!) and before we knew it, it was time to get back on the bus. On the way back we drove through Nice - we didn't get to go outside but I definitely want to go back there in the Spring. All in all Monaco was really luxurious and fancy, definitely worth spending a day in just to see it. It was especially cool to see the Casino since I'd heard so much about it.

Coming up: the villages of Luberon next weekend, Strasbourg in 11 days and Barcelona in less than a month (just paid my deposit this week). Looking forward to it all!

Another great weekend!

Another great weekend in the south of France!

On Saturday some friends and I traveled to Cassis, a town south of Aix right on the coast. The port was LOVELY; the colors of the buildings were so vibrant. It was what I had been expecting of St. Tropez (at home I'd always heard so much about St. Tropez but never anything Cassis) but the town of Cassis turned out to be much nicer, in my opinion anyway! Although there was a beach right by the port, we decided to do a bit of a hike to reach the Calanques ('Lagoons') which we had heard were gorgeous.

There are 4 lagoons located at different stages of the hike. The 'nicest' one is, of course, the furthest and hardest to reach. We hadn't been expecting a very difficult hike but the rocks proved very slippery and since not all of us were wearing the right shoes or clothes, we decided not to venture down to the furthest lagoon. We did do a good deal of hiking though, and saw some AMAZING views which we thought resembled the scenery of 'Never Never Land', from Peter Pan. It was THAT gorgeous! We then made our way back another one of the lagoons we saw on the hike (not as hard to reach) which, although it wasn't the 'nicest' one, was still so pretty! The water was so clear and definitely warm enough to swim. I felt so lucky I was swimming in the ocean in the beginning of October! Definitely wouldn't be doing that in BC. We are hoping to make a trip back in the spring so we can try out the farthest lagoon that we didn't make it to that day.

We experienced a little bit of trouble getting home. Upon our arrival in Cassis we checked the bus times for returning home, and (after making sure it didn't just come on every third Tuesday of the month or during Christmas holidays... the buses in France are very finicky!) we saw that the last bus to Aix was at 5:05. We were at the bus stop in plenty of time to see a bus going to Aix pull away from around the corner. Turns out there was another bus stop around just around the corner, and THAT was where we were supposed to have caught the bus going to Aix (which apparently left at 4:55... we still don't know why there was a sign that said a bus going to Aix at 5:05). So we had to go to Marseille and switch to Aix from there. Kind of a pain but at least we made it back!

Today (Sunday) we traveled south-west Martigues, also known as the Venice of Provence. Although there wasn't a ton to do in the town (the bus that went to the beach didn't run on Sundays) we did enjoy walking around. From what I've seen/heard about Venice, it sure did look a lot like it! It was very pretty. We were all very tired from the long day we had on Saturday so we headed back pretty early. Tonight's agenda is homework!

As great as my weekend was I wish I could have seen Olivia for her sweet 16 and be visiting my dad at the hospital. Miss you both & thinking of you.