So I guess I'll start by explaining what this blog is for. I am studying abroad this semester in Cannes, France at the College International de Cannes. I decided to write this blog for the dual purpose of keeping family and friends up to date with the goings-ons of life abroad, but also because, after having already completed two trips to France, I find myself looking back on hazy details that I wish I had taken more time to preserve. Hence, I am going to try to post as much of the cool stuff that I am doing. Hayley and I decided to leave for our study abroad trip a little early to have time to travel before classes start on the 27th, so I will also be doing my best to detail our mini vacation.
Day one!
We left Georgia (where I had been spending some quality time at the Van Gelder's new house) towards Dallas yesterday morning. After a five or so hour layover, we were on our way to France! The flight was actually rather underwhelming compared to my last couple trips, and both Hayley and I were unimpressed. We got remarkably little sleep on the plane (maybe two or three hours, optimistically) and arrived in Paris with some serious jet-lag. We worked our way to the SNCF (France's train company) station to take the trek to Paris, which took a bit longer than anticipated due to some accidental backtracking. By the time we made it to our hotel, it was already roughly 1 p.m. We decided to get cleaned up after our long flight, and Hayley commemorated our arrival to Paris by frying her hair-dryer and taking out the electricity in our hotel room. It was a great start.
Since it was already semi-late in the afternoon, I thought that it might be a good time to go visit Montmatre. This has always been my favorite part of visiting Paris, and it makes a good stand alone trip, as it is really not conveniently near any other major attractions. The chapel is gorgeous and the town is really rather charming. It was a long trek up the small mountain, bringing us to the highest point in Paris. Although we were winded from the ascent, the view was well worth the climb. We also got a chance to go into the chapel while a mass was in session, which was a very cool experience, although we were unable to take any pictures because of it. Afterwards,we took a tour through a museum detailing the history of the town, which has a rather interesting relationship with the arts, having been home to a number of famous artists, writers, and performers. The famous Moulin Rouge and Le Chat Noir are found in this little town. We would have stayed longer, but Hayley began to start feeling sick from a combination of lack of sleep and not having eaten anything all day. We decided that it would be best for us to find a place to get some food and head back to the hotel, since it was starting to get late.
We found a nice bistro in the Montmatre area and sat down. I had a delicious meal of Cannard Marget (duck with a delicious sauce made of molten happiness) and Hayley had the special house fish, although we were never really sure what kind it was. The food was delicious, and we both enjoyed a nice glass of Chardonnay and fresh bread.
Today was our semi-short day in terms of activities and we are certainly going to have a lot more going on tomorrow. Fortunately, tomorrow is supposed to be wonderful weather, unlike the off-and-on rain we had today. So far, though, the trip is going well and Hayley and I are having a blast. Very excited to write about our adventures tomorrow!
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