Sunday, November 1, 2009

so I've fallen behind again, which is bad bad BAD b/c now i have to tell you about TWO weekends where i went away! haha poor me!
So the moliere play was awesome, and i was lucky that i sat next to someone who could understand, b/c i didnt understand much of the french since it was old french...
Then i went to Nice! The train ride was at 9am and took 6 hours... i slept for 3, and then when I woke up, I spoke to the girl next to me who lived in Nice (we spoke in French!). The train went along the coast and it was gorgeous!!! I got to see Avignon, Marseille, Toulon, St Raphael, and Cannes before finally arriving at Nice! It was sooo hot when I got there... I went to the tourist bureau and got a map, then went to my hostel to get my key and pay. Then I dropped my bags off and hit the beach, which was a 5 min walk and where my friends were. The water was sooo warm and crystal clear! (my first time in the mediterranean!) The beach was also really rocky... Then me and my friends had some snacks that I brought and walked along the boardwalk that lines the beach (Promenade Anglais). Then we went to the hostel got changed and went out for dinner. We all really wanted seafood b/c we heard it was really good there...I had pasta seafood... soo good. we ended up spending 3 hours there! then we wanted to go to a bar (for some reason, my friend was craving an irish pub) so we had a pint, but my friend had a few too many mussles and now she didnt feel well, so it was kinda hard, b/c the 2 other guys and I wanted to go out and have fun. It's also not a really busy city once the high season passes. I've herd its outrageous in the summer...
The next day I woke everyone up early... we had an omelette near by, and then walked to the matisse museum, which was sooo cool b/c the house was flat, but it had the trompe-l'oiels (trick of the eyes) that made it look like it had carvings in the ceilings and balconys on the walls... We also walked through a park that had these really cool olive trees, which i've never seen up close, and some Gallo-Roman ruins...
Then we walked down to the old town. passed the modern art museum, town hall, and a cool church... there were also these parking lots that i guess they didnt want to be a sight for sore eyes so they built parks on top of them which was cool... then we ate in the old town, went to the beach and then i climbed up to the top of where there are ruins of an old fortress and an amazing view where you can see all the way to the alps! it was aweesome! then we went to a free museum (i mean, everything was free so far) called Musee Massena... some rich guy donated his estate to the city, and its really really gorgeous...
then we had dinner at a kebab place, which was awesome... then to the train :( quite a whirl wind trip!
at the station (9pm) we met an austrailian, and after talking to him, found out that his seat was right next to my friends!!! so for the 11hour overnight train we had a pretty fun time (although very uncomfortable sleep)...
the next day, i slept until work. then work & class and then righ after class a big group of my friends met up and we went out for beer & wings in a candian bar... and guess who was there?! the ausrailian! haha my friend had facebooked him and invited him :) we had such a blast!
tues, wed, thurs were not so fun, though on thurs i met up w/ some people (the austrailian again too! ha!) Fri i had a presentation i nailed... fri night i went to a halloween costume party! so fun i was supposed to be "80s" but i really just wanted to wear this dress i bought, so i looked really ridiculous (the austrailian backpacker was there again lol- we clearly liked him a lot, he was super cool)...
Then me and my friends got up early the next day b/c we went with our class to see the loire valley!!! so I've written a lot, so let me make a quckie summary:
~Chambord: beautiful, going on bus there you could see the silouette in the distance as we drove up this rocky road lined by a forest on both sides. amazing.
~Blois: cool b/c you could see the different stages where it kept being added to by different kings- medieval, flamboyant (1498-1503), renaissance, and classicism. It was also beautiful and full of history- the duc de guise and catherine de medicis died here, and the medeival hall held the estates general in 1576 and 1588
~Chenonceau: so cool, over the water... very cool! there was a kitchen with all these cool cake shape things... we played games in the maze that was there too
~D'Azay le Rideau: this one was probably my fav. it looked very castle-y and had a really pretty garden that looked amazing with all the falling leaves
~Villandry: this was also amazing, had really cool catholic art in it. also a cool kids room, and a keep where you could have an amazing view of what my teachers believes to be "the best garden in france" it was awesome
sooo it was a really long, fast-paced 2 weekends!
xoxoxo

3 comments:

  1. Very nice, mon amie!! Sounds like you had a wonderful week : )
    <3 patri`

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  2. Kristin, What a wonderful time you are having! So much fun on the weekends. Your descriptions are awesome. I feel like I am there. I can't believe you saw monets water lillies pond. I can picture his paintings but to see the actual....I googled the opera house you talked about a few weeks ago...WOW!
    Well, good night....and have fun this weekend!

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  3. have a great week with mom and martha~patri` <3

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