France

2009-03-27T07:20:00.000-07:00

I just got back to the hotel after a long day of wandering around the city. We headed to the Latin district and found a market right by the metro station. I found some local artists there, bought some gifts and then wandered around the surrounding streets where we found lots of unique boutiques and restaurants. I was planning on going up to the Sacra-Couer by our hotel but I didn't have time to do that and then be ready to be at the Eiffel Tower by 4:30 for our group photograph.

I can't believe I'll be in Tuscaloosa tomorrow night! I feel like I've been gone for a month! I'm so sad to be leaving France but I'm looking forward to my own bed, clean clothes and most of all, Taco Casa.

Sorry I haven't uploaded photos, I have misplaced my card reader somewhere between my room and another photographers- I'm sure it will show up when packing tonight. I did, however find my journal (hell yeh!) I thought I'd left it in the rental car from Normandy.

Its been cold and rainy today, 45 degrees with clouds. I decided to wear flats without socks today-quickly regretted this decision within 5 minutes of leaving the hotel. I'll be sure to put socks and boots on for tonight. I've also decided that I should have at least one day where I'm not strapped to my camera bag-I've got the worst pains in my neck and shoulders from all of the walking up and down hill with a 15 lb. baby strapped to me at all times. I feel like I haven't seen everything I wanted to see in Paris, but am looking forward to a trip back to pick up where I've left off.

Things I'll miss from France:

BREAD

Crepes- with Nutella, an enemy of mine until this trip

Cheap Rouge Vin

Accents

Cologne- contrary to popular belief, the men here smell wonderful

Trains

People watching

Things I WON'T Miss from France:

Bread

Language barrier

Luggage

Cheap Towels

Creepy Latin women pick-pockets

Cold Weather

Walking 10 miles a day

Our flight leaves at noon tomorrow, and we'll be arriving in Atlanta at 4:30pm. The flight will technically be 9.5 hours due to time change but hopefully I can sleep through most of it. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone so if anyone's up for hanging out tomorrow night, let me know- I will have my phone around 7:30pm central time.

thanks to all who have been following this, I hope its been some what interesting. I've left out many stories so I'll have to fill you all in when I get home. I will try to upload many more photos when I get home so that folks outside of Tuscaloosa can see what the hell I've been doin for 2 weeks!

AU REVOIR!

True Life: I Survived My First Eurotrip

2009-03-25T15:44:00.001-07:00

We just got back to the hotel...alive.

Bobby, Allyson, Lacey, Laura and I made it to the train station to rent a car at Avis at 7am. We hit the road and made it to our first stop: Mont St. Michel- took a quick tour, walked up probably 2,000 stairs at the least and got some good photos for Allyson's story.

Then we headed straight to the D-Day Memorial at Omaha Beach- walked around the grounds and then hiked down another 5,000 steps to the beach...well worth it. We took a bazillion photos, that I will upload later...its been a long day.

After a LONG, WONDERFUL DAY in Normandy, we hoped back into our hatchback and hit the highway straight to Paris...who would've thought 5 U.S. college students could successfully drive themselves from Paris to Normandy and back without trouble? we spoke too soon.

Someone in the car had the bright idea to drive into the city and under the Arch de Triomphe to see the city at night rather than go straight to the train station to drop off the car.....bad idea.

After 2 hours of weaving in and out of 12 lanes of traffic and making our way around 3 million round-a-bouts, we finally pulled into the Avis parking deck, safe and alive.

My shoulders are stiff with stress and I still can't figure out why we thought that we were prepared to drive alone in one of the biggest cities in the world.

Needless to say, I'm at the hotel....headed out for a well deserved victory "I'm alive" beer then headed to bed.

Will post photos tomorrow, after I clean the squished banana out of my backpack and can wrap my brain around literally the craziest night of my life. so far.

2009-03-24T16:07:00.000-07:00

Escargot

PARIS

March 23

2009-03-24T16:03:00.000-07:00

me at the Eiffel Tower....its a little bright but oh well!

2009-03-24T16:00:00.000-07:00

Eiffel Tower at 9:05pm tonight.

PARIS

March 24

2009-03-24T13:55:00.001-07:00

so i guess the videos aren't working- I'll try again later.

2009-03-24T13:54:00.000-07:00

Here's a video of us frantically getting onto the train from Avignon to Nice...we had 3 minutes to get:

18 people

25 bags

onto the train. CHAOS! I had the camera velcro-ed to my headband- notice the suspensful music from the speakers. haha

2009-03-24T13:52:00.000-07:00

VIDEO OF NICE

Its not great, but hopefully will be fun to see.

2009-03-24T10:09:00.000-07:00

On the beach in NICE....it reminded me of Katie and me in Gulf Shores.

Check out Laduree.fr to see whereI had champagne and dessert this afternoon.....awesome!!!!!!!

I'll update with Paris photos tonight...I'm headed to the Eiffel Tower tonight. LOVE YALL!!!

Trying to Keep Up...

2009-03-21T17:21:00.000-07:00

Musee' International de la Parfumerie

we toured the recently remodeled perfume museum in Grasse today, the perfume capital of the world! I was in heaven!! We saw Marie Antoinette's travel case that included silver flatware, porcelain dishes, lighters, candles, etc. We couldn't take photos inside, but I did think of you, Katie when I saw it :)

GRASSE

March 21

Beef Carpaccio for lunch today. 12 Euro, but worth it.

GRASSE

March 21

Potpourri in Grasse at a perfume shop.

GRASSE

March 21

Today I went with a group to Grasse to see the perfume capital of the world!! After the tour, we had lunch at (insert restaurant name here-I can't recall the name). We wandered around the city, stopped in a few perfume shops then found our way to Guy Bouchara's botique. It felt like a French version of Everyday Indulgence- his wife, Lynne was there and let us see their "laboratorie" - blending room. It was AMAZING. It was the motherload of essential oils. She let me look through her shelves, I found Chamomile, my favorite. I didn't buy any perfume and am regreting it thoroughly. Its available online, so I guess I'll have to buy it when I get home. I went with Tyler to listen to a "folk band"....it turned out to be one guy outside with a guitar singing "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper. He got a decent interview out of him, but it wasn't exactly what we'd hoped for.

Yesterday we toured Nice, just wandered around until we found the beach. Although it was like 40 degrees and windy as hell, we took tons of pictures and videos. We went to the Monoprix to get bread, cheese and sliced chicken (we couldn't remember the french translation of turkey so we went with the "poulet"). I've had 3 sandwiches so far-so I spent 9 euro for 3+ meals...trying to save money for Paris.

I'm headed out in the morning to A. find a washing machine. B. find potential cover shots C. head to Antibes to see Market Hall

Wish me luck. Love ya'll!

2009-03-21T12:19:00.000-07:00

Cezanne Studio

Everything here is exactly the same as he left it the day he died. His family purchased the house and turned it into a museum to showcase his life. From the window in the hall you can see the mountain scene that he painted numerous times.

AIX EN PROVENCE

March 19

2009-03-21T12:13:00.000-07:00

Tyler being....French.

Avignon

March 18

2009-03-20T12:21:00.000-07:00

Megan's Gelato...Tiramisu flavor

NICE

March 20

2009-03-20T12:18:00.000-07:00

haha.

2009-03-20T12:16:00.000-07:00

awesome.beach.

Mediterranean Sea

NICE

March 20

2009-03-20T12:13:00.000-07:00

haha, sorry....I had to do this.....

Mediterrean Sea, NICE

March 20

2009-03-18T13:32:00.000-07:00

sketchy Bichon Frise roaming the streets of Annecy. We saw him 3 different times in 3 different places! haha I should've stowed him away in my camera bag. There are dogs all over the city...They sit AT restaurant tables with their owners, in chairs. I love it. I've seen mostly Bichons, Yorkies, Silkie Terriers. LOVIN IT!

Annecy March 16

2009-03-18T13:20:00.000-07:00

Vendor serving cheese.

Annecy March 15

2009-03-18T13:16:00.000-07:00

this is for Angela....who loves little rat dogs! haha

Annecy March 15

2009-03-18T13:14:00.000-07:00

little girl enjoying a treat from a local vendor in Annecy on March 15th.

2009-03-18T13:13:00.000-07:00

More Scottish Clan......sooo cool!!!

2009-03-18T13:12:00.000-07:00

A view of the Palace of the Popes in Avignon on March 17th.

2009-03-18T13:09:00.000-07:00

Avignon Bridge on St. Patrick's Day---Jessie sang the song for us, but we didn't dance, unfortunately.

2009-03-18T13:06:00.000-07:00

salad from O'Neill's Irish Pub in Avignon on St. Patty's Day. Chicken, Cheese (looks like french fries), tomatoes, olives, croutons, green, yellow and red peppers.

soooo delicious!

2009-03-18T13:01:00.000-07:00

This is me on Lake Annecy with the Swiss Alps behind me. too bad its too cold to go out on the boats!

2009-03-17T14:55:00.000-07:00

Check out French girls eating McDonalds! haha

Just one of the many HOTTIES around France.....YOWZERS!!

KISS MY BLARNEY!

2009-03-17T14:27:00.000-07:00

Mr. McAllister playing the bagpipes for St. Patty's day!

Palace of the Popes tour....

Flowers outside of the city center in Avignon! I look rawnchy- long day!!

Today we woke up at 6am to catch a train to Avignon….we arrived finally around noon and immediately hopped on a bus to the center of town. Our hotel is about 8 miles outside of the city so we will be walking down the highway around 10 minutes each morning to get to the bus stop---lots and lots of walking!!

Once we got to the city, we stopped by O’neill’s Irish Pub to have a lunch to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. We laughed that we were in France, eating at an Irish pub, listening to a mariachi band across the street.

After lunch, we rode a double-decker Carousel and then headed to the Palace of the Popes. I took a lot of photos of the museum and afterwards hung out in the center of the town to take people pictures. We wound up right next to an Scottish band playing in the streets, later to find out their head bagpipe player’s name was Mcalllister ( I didn’t hear his first name). They called themselves the Claymor Clan. I was so excited!! I took a bazillion pictures of them and can’t wait to show everyone!!!

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at El Rancho- yes, that’s correct….a MEXICAN RESTAURANT by our hotel!! We were served Cool Ranch Doritios with salsa and we all ordered chicken quesadillas. It was so nice to have something besides ham and swiss croissants!

We’re headed to the wine Safari tomorrow, can’t wait!! Its at the Palace of the Popes, so we’ll be back where we were today!

AU REVOIR!

Day 3...

2009-03-16T15:17:00.000-07:00

My photos are acting weird- I'll upload when I can...

Today we woke up at 8 to try to catch a train to Moutiers for our Tobogganing excursion but couldn’t find a route that would work so we decided to tour Annecy instead. We walked to the park to see the Lake Annecy which was surrounded by white peaked mountains. The lake was filled with covered boats just waiting to be untied and enjoyed. The weather was perfect- sunny skies, 60 degrees and light winds. We watched bikes ride by, dogs being walked and locals enjoying lunch. We ended up people watching by the lake for almost 2 hours, capturing photos of the daily lives of Annecy locals. I saw countless bichon-frises throughout the day, none of which compared to my little brothers at home….

We went to Monoprix (France’s Target, as we called it)….our first pseudo-American experience, and bought lunch: bread, chicken, cheese, chips and a coke for under 5 euros!

We toured the Annecy Prison- a museum in the center of old town that once doubled as a prison and a coin-making factory. We saw the original beds, kitchen and cells that were used from 1325-1864.

We searched for crepes after shopping around at H&M and Zara…..finally stopped at a small creperie in Old Town- I had a chocolate crepe with a glass of Chotes de Rhone red wine for dinner.

2009-03-15T15:59:00.000-07:00

I must apologize for my misspelling of Lyon yesterday, as you can tell, I’m not from around here.

I woke up at 6:30 to catch a train to Lyon, not realizing that the trains weren’t running until noon so we strolled down to Old Town in Annecy…stumbled upon the Sunday market- so wonderful. Cheese, meat, produce, clothes, you name it, they sold it. We took tourist-y pictures and wandered around until noon.

After taking a 2 hour bus ride to Lyon, my seatmate offered to help us find our way around the city, I swear he was a Godsend. Yani, a Swiss native, spoke perfect English and gave us a local tour of Lyon. We stopped by his flat to drop off his snowboard and luggage then headed to a local pub to watch the Rugby game- France vs. England. BIG RIVAL. Unfortunately, ‘we’ lost. BAD, but an enjoyable time nonetheless.

I just finished off a mayo-loaded ham baguette and a Heineken tallboy….haven’t had anything sweet yet, but hopefully will tomorrow! I’m off to bed...will say prayers for our dear friend, Yani.

I AM ALIVE

2009-03-14T13:37:00.000-07:00

This is the view from our hotel- its overlooking the trains in Annecy- not too pretty but still neat!!

This is the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

HELLO PEEPS!

I am alive, I have been traveling for what seems like 3 days. My time schedule is all kinda messed up but I just got my internet hooked up.

we flew into Paris, wow. amazing. I didn't see the Eiffel Tower from the plane but beautiful nonetheless.

After Paris, took flight to Geneva, Switzerland- by far prettiest thing I've ever seen- snowy alps. soo pretty!! Then proceeded to take 2 different trains through Switzerland into the French Alps, arriving in Annecy, France around 6pm. We took a mini tour of Annecy, ate at an italian restaurant-where we proceeded to respond to every sentence in Spanish. Needless to say, we need to practice our french.

sorry this so strungout-its been a lonnnnnnng day. No shower yet, but headed to bathe and sleep very soon. More photos to come- I am headed to Leon tomorrow to do museum tours and then watch/photograph a rugby game at a pub. Should be fun- I probably won't post again until at least 10pm tomorrow night.

love you all- wish me luck. this is complete culture shock!

pardon my french

2009-03-12T23:15:00.001-07:00

I just set this blog up...not really sure how it works, but I figure it will be an efficient liaison to connect me to....you.

I'll try to update as much as I can for your viewing pleasure, as I understand many of the people reading this need as much internet entertainment as possible during their work-day.

Enjoy!!