Paris!

Paris!!!! What an amazing city :)

This was my second time to Paris, and I got to see some completely different things! (the first time was with my family in the summer of 2005 I believe). So between the two trips, (and maybe another one in May!) i've been able to cover quite a lot of the city!

After getting an early start, Virginia and Babette and I met Babette's friend (and now our friend too!) Virginie at the train station. We left at 7am and had a sleep filled two hour trip to Paris on the TGV.

At 9am, Virginie's sister (who we stayed with) Emilie, met us at the station. Emilie goes to l'ecole du louvre in Paris! (an art school if you weren't sure :P). Pretty awesome eh? Emilie showed us all around Paris, and was nice enough to let us stay with her in her apartment which is just outside of Paris.

We started our visit at Emilie's second home the Louvre. We didn't actually go IN the museum (just the entrance, we would have needed a whole day just dedicated to wandering the Louvre. But we did go down to see the inverse pyramid, and all of the surrounding stores. It was crazy! there's a little mall in the basement of the louvre. Which is crazy i thought, complete with a Virgin Megastore, Esprit and Europe's first (and only apparently) Apple Store!




Next Emilie took us to the Galerie Lafayette. An absolutely gigantic french department store (i believe it was 8 floors), where you can go up onto the roof to get a full view of the city of Paris! This is definitely a secret of Paris, as the view was absolutely beautiful, it's free, and there were hardly any people up there! (we also went at 10am). I would definitely recommend this :)





We wandered the side streets in Paris, and stopped for lunch before going to see the Eiffel Tower! It was Virginia's first ever trip to Paris, so she was seriously excited (we all were really). We took the super extensive Paris metro, (thank god we had an excellent tour guide with us, or we definitely would have gotten lost!) We tried to avoid all of the vendors as best we could (hundred of guys throughout the city at ALL the big tourist attractions selling eiffel tower keychains!) We decided we would come back later that night to go up the Tower, to be able to see the city lit up at night.





It was a pretty crappy day weatherwise, so while we tried to spend as much time outside as we could, sometimes the weather wouldn't let us. Our next stop was to the other end of town (more commercial) called La Defense. Here we went to a HUGE shopping mall, and Paris Christmas markets! We could see the Arc de Triomph from the top of these gigantic stairs. Here I got to try Vin Chaud, which is actually very good! Although very difficult and time consuming to make properly. Babette's father makes it a christmastime :)



Next stop was the Champs D'Elysses. Emilie really wanted to take us there at night so we could see the street all lit up :) She was right, it was absolutely beautiful! All of the stores were decorated for Christmas :) We wandered up the street to the Arc de Triomph and then back down the other side :)



The last stop of the night was back to La Tour Eiffel, to go up! There was a MUCH smaller line at this point, BUT we chose to go where there was no line at all, UP THE STAIRS!!! We were feeling pretty brave, plus it was cheaper hahaha. We made friends with the security guard who liked my Canadian flag on my back pack.




Unfortunately the Top floor was closed due to extreme winds, but you can only climb up to the second floor anyways (I believe....). So we climbed the 670 stairs up to the second floor of the Eiffel tower! It was Crazy windy, but had amazing views :)

After a VERY long day, we made our way back to Emilie's apartment where she made us dinner, and we all got some much needed sleep.

DAY 2

Day two started out a little more leisurely, we woke up at a reasonable hour of the morning, had some breakfast, and THEN went on our way. Day two was actually COLDER and rainier than day one. But we made due, and still had a great time! We took the metro right to Notre Dame, where we wandered in and out of the millions of tourist shops. I got a lot of Christmas shopping done there!



After that, Emilie took us to a small park outside of a nice church where we ate the lunch she packed us! (She was EXTREMELY nice :) ) After that, we went to Montmartre, to see Moulin Rouge! Unfortunately it was under construction, so the pictures aren't as nice as they could be. We also stopped at Starbucks to warm up and where I bought the most expensive Hot Chocolate in history. Unfortunately we seriously needed to warm up a little bit, so I sucked it up.



We walked from Moulin Rouge (through Pigalle, the "Red Light District") where we saw, but didn't go into, many "interesting" stores....... We made our way through a whole entire walkway of tourist shops to Sacre Coeur, the most beautiful church. We walked up the stairs of Sacre Coeur where we met the most impressive robot street performer ever :) He attracted quite a crowd, and he would put on a show for whoever put money in his jar :)







After sacre coeur, we decided we were all parised out. We went back to Emilies to get our bags and just relax for an hour before our train home. All in all, an absolutely wonderful trip!


Click on the Title for ALL the pictures!!!

American Thanksgiving!

So Virginia and I already celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving in France, but now (thanks to a very special American named Hannah!) we got to celebrate American Thanksgiving in France too!

This thanksgiving was very festive, as for the American's Thanksgiving marks the start of the Christmas season! We were also cooking in a REAL kitchen (thanks to Pasan and his apartment), for WAY more people, so it really felt like home :) We cook for many hours while listening to Christmas music from Hannah's hometown radio station online (Charlotte, North Carolina!).

Our Thanksgiving feast included me, Virginia (the Canadian representatives), Hannah (the sole American), Pasan (From Dubai, but who goes to school in America), Babette (Holland and now France), Omar (Mexico), and Giacomo (Italy). It was Babette, Omar and Giacomo's first ever thanksgiving :)

Like traditional thanksgiving, we made WAY too much food, but it was all soo delicious! Everyone contributed, and here's what was one the menu!

Pasan (the cooking thank that he is) made A TON
- pumpkin pie from scratch! (pastry and all)
- turkey thighs (that was the closest to a full turkey we could find), which he glazed himself as well
- Garlic mashed potatoes (my favourite!)

Virginia made a slightly modified version of stuffing, but JUST as delicious (we didn't cook a full bird, so we couldn't exactly do traditional stuffing...)

I made steamed veggies and momma's homemade cheese sauce (which turned out pretty well if i do say so myself!)

Hannah made deviled eggs, and homemade macaroni and cheese (a thanksgiving tradition in her family)

Omar made sangria, Giacomo brought the wine, and Babette brought a delicious chocolate cake! (it was a little harder for the first timers to make part of the feast, but we didn't mind at all!)

We also bought two pre cooked chickens from the grocery store as well :) Oh and there was gravy! we can't forget the gravy!

All in all it was a VERY successful thanksgiving dinner! Everyone ate waaay too much, and of course still had room for dessert. We also came back the next day for thanksgiving lunch AND had enough to take home a full plate for dinner :)

Well done everyone!!





Virginia had to help make Pasan's pie crust pretty!


















Halfway through making all of the food!














And it's all there! Holy crap. Yes it took 7 of us 2 days (3 meals) to eat all of this food.















Giacomo, Omar, and Babette's first Thanksgiving!















Please click the title to see more Thanksgiving Pictures!

November in Lyon

The end of November is almost here and I cannot believe it! Only 4 more weeks and i'm really excited to come home :) But before that happens, there's still so much excitement happening here! Here's what's been happening so far in November:

Fondue Day

On Nov 11th, it was Armistice Day in France, and instead of going to school where we have our remembrance day ceremonies, school and businesses are closed. So we decided to take full advantage of our day off.

Since our delicious fondue experience in switzerland, we decided we needed to share our new love :) So we bought frozen cheese fondue, lots of bread, and decided to throw in some chocolate fondue as well! So we bought tons of fruit to dip!

The girls (Hannah, Virginia, Babette and I) made lunch for once, melted some chocolate, melted the cheese, cut the bread and the fruit :) the boys got to chill and play the wii while we cooked :)

After stuffing our faces, we all just hung out and played Wii and card games :) An excellent day off!









Fondue supplies











relaxing after eating all of that fondue













Playing Wii


















Girl's Night

The friday before hell week started (where i had a 25 minute presentation, a 4 page analyse du texte which i've never done before, a 7 page essay, and a test) we (Virginia, Babette and I) went over to Hannah's apartment for a girls night! We ordered pizza from pizza hut (which had real pepperoni pizza!) and enjoyed some girly movies and made cookies!

The really exciting part of the night though, was after the movies, after the cookes, and after cutting virginia's hair, we went for a walk around town. It was at least 15 degrees out that night. We had a good walk, and on the way home, we were walking through the place des terreaux (a large pedestrian square with a big fountain in the middle of it) we're walking out of the square when we hear some "excitement" so we look over, and about 15 naked guys come running into the square~! The streakers ran right into the fountain where they splashed around a bit. Half of them ran away right away while the others posed for pictures in the fountain! it was hillarious. One guy from the crowd even joined in for fun. It was an interesting event thats for sure :)

A fun start to the weekend full of work.










Making cookies :)

















Streaker!!!















Beaujoulais Nouveau

Every year, the third thursday in November, Beaujolais Nouveau Wine is released. It is the only wine that can be sold the same year that it is produced. So we decided to go to one of the tastings! (Virginia, myself, Hannah, Pasan, Omar, and Giacomo) Virginia and I set out, and heard tons of cheering outside. Once we were outside, we saw tons of people cheering and honking cars. It turns out there was a soccer game between Egypt and Algeria as part of the African Cup, and apparantly Algeria won! So all of the Algerians were out cheering and celebrating. They were all over Guillotiere, stopping traffic and cheering and setting off fireworks. It was exciting!! Of course we stayed just on the outside, observing from a safe distance.
Virginia and i left to join the others in search of Beaujolais. But all we found were more cheering algerians. There were even more in place Bellecour, which is attached to Rue de la Republic, a pedestrian walking area. We were watching the celebrations and there was more honking and cheering. Then all of a sudden we saw people running away, and then heard loud pops! it was the riot police!!!! Luckily we were nowhere close to that, and very close to the metro, so we hopped on right away.











Part of the celebrations








So our night of Beaujolais turned into cheering algerians and riot police. It was quite the interesting night! But definitely one to remember!


Experiencing French Culture

Last week, Virginia and I decided that we needed to start experiencing more french culture. We have the bread/pastry eating down, but for living in france (apart from classes of course) we speak a little too much english sometimes. So we were telling our friend Babette this, and she, being the amazing girl that she is, told her friend Justine (who we know as well) and Justine invited us over to her room for a french movie night and pizza eating :) Justine also doesn't speak a lot of english, so we spoke french all evening! we even at dinner at french time (around 8pm) and watched this movie called Jeux D'Enfants. It was a really good night, and I even understood the movie! Not every sibgle word, but i wasn't lost at what was going on, which i was very excited about. And we spoke french and chatted all evening :)


A night at the movies


Friday after we had handed in all of our essays, done all the tests, did my presentation, we went to see NEW MOON! (the second installment of twilight for all of those non fans out there!) We really wanted to watch it in english so we could understand it perfectly :) So we found a theatre that plays the french version and the original version of each movie. So we got to see it in english, with french subtitles.


That's about it for now! I have an exciting few weeks ahead of me though, so there will be lots to write about! Paris, then Rome, the Fete des lumieres, Exams, then HOME!

Annecy!

Hello!

It`s November! I cannot believe how quickly my time is going here. I've been here for two months! I've been going to school, speaking french, traveling, it's been amazing :) I have a group of friends here now as well! We're all international students, but from all over, so i'm learning not just french now, but some Spanish, and some Italian, and hopefully some other languages as well!

My latest big adventure was to Annecy, France this past weekend. Annecy is a very small town about 2 hours north east of Lyon, (20 minutes away from Geneva!). It's a beautiful place on a lake where you have beautiful views of the mountains.

Virginia and I expanded our traveling camaraderie for this trip. Virginia and I went with our new friend Hannah (from America), her boyfriend Pasan (from Dubai, but school in America), Omar (from Mexico), Giacomo (from Italy) and two german girls and another girl from Mexico. (I just met those girls on the trip)

We went to Annecy just for the day on Saturday, and left early in the morning to get a good start to the day. Unfortunately the start of the day was incredibly cold and rainy. And not the type of rain that's bearable to walk through, it was pouring. and we HAD to walk through. We tried to brave it, but ended up taking shelter for an early lunch.

Eventually it stopped raining, and even the sun snuck out for a little bit. So we were able to take some nice pictures that were only a little foggy, but much better than all that rain. So we walked by the lake, and through Vieux Annecy, where some of our group had to purchase some warmer clothes. Hannah needed boots that weren't paper thin, Virginia needed pants because she had worn a skirt that day, and Omar was desperate for a winter hat.

We explored the little town, and saw beautiful old churches, an old Prison, that is what everyone thinks of when they think of Annecy (who knows it haha). We went in this AMAZING chocolate shop as well, where the shop owner didn't really like us, because we only bought one tiny chocolate each! Except for Giacomo who bought a chocolate bar, made from 100% Cocoa. I don't know if you've ever tried that, but don't. It's absolutely DISGUSTING, and i think it tastes a little bit like dirt actually. hahaha Everyone hated it, but it was interesting to try. Also interesting to think how any chocolate could be gross, but this one was. Although 100% cocoa is the best kind of chocolate for you, i've heard, with all of the antioxidants and whatnot.

Eventually the cold got to us, and we had to take shelter in a bar, where we all warmed up with some hot drinks. Unfortunately when we came out, it was once again raining. We had one more trek to do before we left. We walked up (where everything good always is) to a Chateau, and then continued on to a beautiful old church. We explored there for a little bit before we headed back home, a little early, absolutely freezing, and a little damp. But despite the weather, it was a great trip! Although i'm hoping for a little less rain for my next day trips!!




All of us in front of the Prison (that you can't really see....)











On the lake with the beautiful mountains!











It's pretty cold and rainy in Lyon right now, According to the weather people, it's supposed to rain for the next 2 weeks almost straight. According to the Lyonnais people, it's abnormally cold for Lyon right now. So we're hoping that this is as cold as winter is going to get here. But no snow yet! Which is a little better than back home :P

I mentioned before how school is much more relaxed here than it is back home. Classes are only once a week instead of 3 or 4 times a week at home, so there's a lot less work to do on a daily basis. Although November is the time for all of the big projects to happen, but i've gotten so used to not have to do a lot of work, it's not easy getting motivated. But I am of course! (don't worry parents! haha)
We have school off this Wednesday November 11th, for Armistice (what they call remembrance day here). So of course i'll be using that ENTIRE day dedicated just for homework :P And a fondue party, but thats not important. :)

I think that's all for now! I love reading comments when anyone reads this! So if you do read it, either leave a comment, or send me a short email letting me know you've read it! Feel free to ask my any questions about my trip as well! I like hearing from everyone back home.

once again, if you click on the title, or this link, you can see pictures from my trip!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=18792&id=1642740063&l=a4d89b74e7

Until next time,

Elisa :)