Ok, prepare for an essay!
DAY ONE
On Tuesday morning we all met at my apartment to see how many bags we had to squish in the car, the crew is as follows...
From left to right:
Zoe - University of Southern California (USC)
Hillary - USC
Moi
Jake - USC
Natalia - Queen's University, Ontario
We had a fair few bags of food so we sent Jake to go pick up the car, unfortunately when he got to the car rental place he realised he'd left his license on the photocopy machine at uni, so after we all ran around Paris trafficking his license, we finally received our sexy Mercedes (for 5 euro extra we chose to get 'upgraded').
We loaded up and set off into the rainy afternoon. Trust me, you haven't lived until you've gone ripping through the French countryside at 120km/hour belting out the soundtrack to Moulin Rouge!
A few (three) hours after our expected time of arrival we turned into the small town of Rheims, Champagne where we visited the house of G.H Mumm.
Whilst we had missed the official tour, we were still given a tasting and some useful information. The champagne production is an incredibly detailed and interesting process, and it takes over three years for each bottle to reach maturity, at which time they recommend you drink it (unlike red wine, you're not supposed to keep champagne).
We each bought a bottle or two of Mumm before piling back into the car and heading for Strasbourg!
Once again we took a little bit longer than expected, but eventually arrived at around 9:30, where we went to meet my friend Greta at a traditional brasserie for dinner. Greta is my friend from Sydney who is finishing her exchange in Strasbourg this week, so it was lucky that I was able to visit!
Strasbourg is in Alsace, half an hour walk from the German border and the cuisine is pretty unique. We had some traditional foods such as their local sausages and potatoes with munster cheese (not muenster cheese, which is American). It was delicious, and they also made 'beer cocktails', although I will admit I wasn't such a fan.
We then checked into our hotel, which was very cute, before heading out to 'Jimmy's Bar' with Greta and some of her French friends. At 3am we decided it was probably time for some sleep (it was also sprinkling snow) so we walked past the beautiful cathedral back to the room.
I should also briefly explain my sleeping situation... given that most places only accept 4 adults max per room, and we're being cheapskates, we were a bit vague in our reservation so that we didn't have to get an extra room. The result: I slept in a cot. Literally. It was extremely comfortable, I slept like a baby (pun intended).
DAY TWO
We slept till around 9, then headed out to explore Strasbourg. I absolutely loved it, definitely one of the best towns we visited because of the amazing mix of cultures. The streets and town are beautiful, as is the enormous cathedral.
I also found the 'Rue des Juifs', Jewstreet.
After a quick breakfast we began the long, long, long drive to Tours. We drove though Nancy and about a million other tiny towns which were very quaint. We stopped in the Dijon region for a quick snack break, and I tasted one of their traditional mousse de cassis (redcurrant) cakes.
Onwards we forged, eventually making it to Tours extremely late at night and pretty much going straight to bed, as Thursday was the big day of sightseeing.
DAY THREE
We woke up nice and early at 7am and after a quick croissant in Tours we drove half an hour to the Chateau Chenonceau, a famous castle in the Loire Valley.
Despite the cold it was stunning and we spent an hour wandering around inside the castle (there's even a chapel!) and through the gardens.
Eventually the cold got the better of us and we headed back to 'Benzy' (the car) and started off towards Mont St Michel in Normandy.
After a short-ish drive, bang it was there!
We drove up to the bottom of the hill to leave our car, before heading up into the town.
Again with a little help from Wikipedia, here is an explanation of Mont St Michel...
Mont St Michel was previously connected to the mainland via a thin natural land bridge, which used to be covered at high tide and revealed at low tide. This connection was compromised by several developments and over the centuries the coastal flats have become pasture or have been covered in silt. The small town is now full of shops and the famous abbey which has been used, amongst other things, as a monastery, with a history stretching back to the 6th century.
We then made the decision to try and reach the beaches of Normandy before sunset, so we raced back to the car and sped off to the coastline, where we literally caught the last five minutes of sunlight at Arromanches-les-Bains.
The tiny town is part of the coastline designated as 'Gold Beach' during the D-Day landings and Arromanches was one of the beaches used by British troops. The wind was freezing, but we ran along the beach and stopped for a while at the war memorial. It was a truly special way to end the day.
For dinner we drove one town along to Luc-sur-Mer and went to a beautiful seafood restaurant, as that is the specialty of the region. We all ordered the same dish, salmon in a creamy sauce served with baked potatoes and 'choucroute' (a.k.a sauerkraut) and it was brilliant.
After a short stretch of driving we arrived in Le Havre, a tiny industrial town. We weren't planning on going out, but when we got there we found our hotel was two blocks up from a bar that was buzzing, so we ended up dancing until 4am! We even spoke to a few local French people, who struggled to understand the other guys' French-American accents.
DAY FOUR
This morning we woke up at 6:30 (two hours sleep doesn't do anyone any favours) but we still managed to get back to Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport to drop off Zoe and Hillary who were flying to London. We then somehow found our way back into Paris (the signs are useless) and Jake dropped me at the metro station so I had time to run home and shower before my first class!
It was just an introductory lecture, so I won't go into detail now, but it seems interesting and I look forward to proper classes next week.
I'm very impressed if you've managed to read all of this and now I'm off to sleep for 12 hours straight!!
DAY ONE
On Tuesday morning we all met at my apartment to see how many bags we had to squish in the car, the crew is as follows...
Zoe - University of Southern California (USC)
Hillary - USC
Moi
Jake - USC
Natalia - Queen's University, Ontario
We had a fair few bags of food so we sent Jake to go pick up the car, unfortunately when he got to the car rental place he realised he'd left his license on the photocopy machine at uni, so after we all ran around Paris trafficking his license, we finally received our sexy Mercedes (for 5 euro extra we chose to get 'upgraded').
We loaded up and set off into the rainy afternoon. Trust me, you haven't lived until you've gone ripping through the French countryside at 120km/hour belting out the soundtrack to Moulin Rouge!
A few (three) hours after our expected time of arrival we turned into the small town of Rheims, Champagne where we visited the house of G.H Mumm.
Whilst we had missed the official tour, we were still given a tasting and some useful information. The champagne production is an incredibly detailed and interesting process, and it takes over three years for each bottle to reach maturity, at which time they recommend you drink it (unlike red wine, you're not supposed to keep champagne).
We each bought a bottle or two of Mumm before piling back into the car and heading for Strasbourg!
Once again we took a little bit longer than expected, but eventually arrived at around 9:30, where we went to meet my friend Greta at a traditional brasserie for dinner. Greta is my friend from Sydney who is finishing her exchange in Strasbourg this week, so it was lucky that I was able to visit!
Strasbourg is in Alsace, half an hour walk from the German border and the cuisine is pretty unique. We had some traditional foods such as their local sausages and potatoes with munster cheese (not muenster cheese, which is American). It was delicious, and they also made 'beer cocktails', although I will admit I wasn't such a fan.
We then checked into our hotel, which was very cute, before heading out to 'Jimmy's Bar' with Greta and some of her French friends. At 3am we decided it was probably time for some sleep (it was also sprinkling snow) so we walked past the beautiful cathedral back to the room.
I should also briefly explain my sleeping situation... given that most places only accept 4 adults max per room, and we're being cheapskates, we were a bit vague in our reservation so that we didn't have to get an extra room. The result: I slept in a cot. Literally. It was extremely comfortable, I slept like a baby (pun intended).
DAY TWO
We slept till around 9, then headed out to explore Strasbourg. I absolutely loved it, definitely one of the best towns we visited because of the amazing mix of cultures. The streets and town are beautiful, as is the enormous cathedral.
I also found the 'Rue des Juifs', Jewstreet.
After a quick breakfast we began the long, long, long drive to Tours. We drove though Nancy and about a million other tiny towns which were very quaint. We stopped in the Dijon region for a quick snack break, and I tasted one of their traditional mousse de cassis (redcurrant) cakes.
Onwards we forged, eventually making it to Tours extremely late at night and pretty much going straight to bed, as Thursday was the big day of sightseeing.
DAY THREE
We woke up nice and early at 7am and after a quick croissant in Tours we drove half an hour to the Chateau Chenonceau, a famous castle in the Loire Valley.
Despite the cold it was stunning and we spent an hour wandering around inside the castle (there's even a chapel!) and through the gardens.
Eventually the cold got the better of us and we headed back to 'Benzy' (the car) and started off towards Mont St Michel in Normandy.
After a short-ish drive, bang it was there!
We drove up to the bottom of the hill to leave our car, before heading up into the town.
Again with a little help from Wikipedia, here is an explanation of Mont St Michel...
Mont St Michel was previously connected to the mainland via a thin natural land bridge, which used to be covered at high tide and revealed at low tide. This connection was compromised by several developments and over the centuries the coastal flats have become pasture or have been covered in silt. The small town is now full of shops and the famous abbey which has been used, amongst other things, as a monastery, with a history stretching back to the 6th century.
We then made the decision to try and reach the beaches of Normandy before sunset, so we raced back to the car and sped off to the coastline, where we literally caught the last five minutes of sunlight at Arromanches-les-Bains.
The tiny town is part of the coastline designated as 'Gold Beach' during the D-Day landings and Arromanches was one of the beaches used by British troops. The wind was freezing, but we ran along the beach and stopped for a while at the war memorial. It was a truly special way to end the day.
For dinner we drove one town along to Luc-sur-Mer and went to a beautiful seafood restaurant, as that is the specialty of the region. We all ordered the same dish, salmon in a creamy sauce served with baked potatoes and 'choucroute' (a.k.a sauerkraut) and it was brilliant.
After a short stretch of driving we arrived in Le Havre, a tiny industrial town. We weren't planning on going out, but when we got there we found our hotel was two blocks up from a bar that was buzzing, so we ended up dancing until 4am! We even spoke to a few local French people, who struggled to understand the other guys' French-American accents.
DAY FOUR
This morning we woke up at 6:30 (two hours sleep doesn't do anyone any favours) but we still managed to get back to Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport to drop off Zoe and Hillary who were flying to London. We then somehow found our way back into Paris (the signs are useless) and Jake dropped me at the metro station so I had time to run home and shower before my first class!
It was just an introductory lecture, so I won't go into detail now, but it seems interesting and I look forward to proper classes next week.
I'm very impressed if you've managed to read all of this and now I'm off to sleep for 12 hours straight!!
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