Saturday morning, I woke up ridiculously early to get on a train with most of the other VWPP students to the Loire Valley. Our first stop was the Chateau de Blois and the surrounding village. Pictures speak louder than words, as they say... Actually, I'll hold off on the descriptions and just post the pictures of the places we visited. Soon.
Besides the spectacular architecture, the highlight of the trip was a stay in a ridiculously luxurious hotel, the Domaine de la Tortiniere, where we had an elaborate and delicious dinner together. Breakfast wasn't bad, either. Mmm.
The next day, we visited a champignonnerie - a huge underground complex of caves where mushrooms are grown, mostly in bales or bedframes full of dirt. After that, it was the Chateau de Chenonceau. Pictures coming. It would have been more impressive in better weather, though.
Sunday night, Aaron and I met briefly. Nice seeing him again. We didn't do much of anything together until Monday, though. I showed him around Reid Hall, and later, we went for dinner to Le Refuge Des Fondus, which is one of the most memorably bizarre dinner experiences I've ever had; for 16 euros per person, you sit in a small room at one of two communal tables, eat lots of either cheese or beef fondue, and drink wine from a baby bottle. Yes, a baby bottle. Not for all tastes, but quite fun.
Tuesday, we met for gelato at the Pozzetto place I mentioned earlier. Still delicious. There were some people I wanted to introduce Aaron to at Reid Hall, but he didn't feel like taking the time to come back. (Note: the movie shown for my cinema class was Singin' in the Rain, rather than some arty French film. A pleasant surprise.) We met at St. Michel for dinner, where there are dozens of street food vendors. After we browsed some at Shakespeare & Co., I said my goodbyes at Gare du Nord. Apparently, there was a major riot there last night, but somehow I completely missed it. I have a major paper to do this weekend, but after that I have the seders and, of course, vacation to look forward to. Light at the end of the tunnel.
Also, I should mention that I somehow managed to get A-'s on both of the papers I got back recently.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Friday, March 23, 2007
tidbits
This week, I've been to another conversation group. Wednesday night, I attended a meetup of expatriate Obama supporters, which ended in a fascinating discussion of politics with a few other American students and some visiting French twentysomethings. This Sat. and Sun, I'll be spending what sounds like a fun weekend around les Chateaux de la Loire, including a very upper-crusty dinner Saturday night. Sunday night, hopefully I'll meet up with Aaron after getting back.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Various things
In the last week or so, I have:
- finalized my plans for the seders and part of April break. For break, Aaron and I are going to Barcelona, then Rome.
- joined an English-French bilingual conversation group, which is primarily for students. Extremely fun.
- attended cocktails and a screening of An Inconvenient Truth at an expatriate Democrats group. Enjoyable enough, though many of the people there were, well, really, really rich. I kind of expected that, though, considering that the apartment where it was held is right off the Champs-Elysées.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Saturday, March 10, 2007
le semaine dernier
Monday, I met my parents at Reid Hall. We went out to a famous cafe, La Coupole, with a friend of my dad's (who has, very kindly, invited me to the first night's seder in April), and ordered the profiteroles, which were tasty, if very expensive. After my stage, we were supposed to go out to dinner together at a kosher North African restaurant, but it was apparently out of business - quite odd, since I had called there just a few weeks before. Ended up going to a tasty Indian place instead.
Unfortunately, I didn't have much time on Tuesday to meet with parents, because of my classes. We found a good Middle Eastern place for felafel/shwarma for lunch, and a pasta place for dinner. Apparently, I have some kind of amazing power to cause restaurants to close, since the place I had made reservations at was closed that night.
The rest of the week (Mom and Dad left Wed. morning) was fairly uneventful. The poetry slam last night was indeed as I predicted. Finally, I checked out another gelato place today: Pozzetto. Much closer in quality to the American places I mentioned earlier; maybe I'll go there with Aaron.
Photos tomorrow, I hope.
Unfortunately, I didn't have much time on Tuesday to meet with parents, because of my classes. We found a good Middle Eastern place for felafel/shwarma for lunch, and a pasta place for dinner. Apparently, I have some kind of amazing power to cause restaurants to close, since the place I had made reservations at was closed that night.
The rest of the week (Mom and Dad left Wed. morning) was fairly uneventful. The poetry slam last night was indeed as I predicted. Finally, I checked out another gelato place today: Pozzetto. Much closer in quality to the American places I mentioned earlier; maybe I'll go there with Aaron.
Photos tomorrow, I hope.
Friday, March 9, 2007
Wherein I recount...
the rest of my vacation, and a few other things.
Thursday the 1st, I spent a lot of the day at the science museum. Lots of interesting exhibits and scientific historical artifacts, though a few of the newer exhibits tried too hard to be "fun" at the expense of being informative; are kids really likely to learn anything about renewable energy from a bad Dance Dance Revolution clone? I also spent some time wandering around Picadilly Circus. Tacky, but amusing, much like Times Square.
Friday, I woke up early and took a train to Nottingham. After arriving, we had lunch at a vegetarian cafe and went for cocoa at a great place called Chocolate Utopia; after that, we went to the City of Caves, which was interesting, if somewhat tourist-trap-ish; Nottingham has a huge number of caves, and the tour there covered their use as tanneries and WWII bomb shelters. Afterwards, we vistited the Castle (no, it's not medieval) and a museum there. We avoided the Tales of Robin Hood, which apparently is an overpriced, Disneyesque indoor ride.
Saturday: went to synagogue with my parents, which was interesting largely because of the differences from the American services I'm familiar with - for instance, a prayer for the health of the Queen was given. After touring U. of Nottingham's campus (which is really quite nice) with Mom, Dad, and Aaron, and dinner at a Thai/Indonesian place, I went to a Purim party with Aaron. By the time it was over, I could still tell the difference between Mordecai and Haman, however.
Sunday, I had phô with Aaron at a Vietnamese place, and then took my flight back to Paris. It was great seeing him again - hopefully, his visit to Paris in a few weeks works out.
Sadly, I have to leave soon, for a French poetry slam on the outskirts of Paris; it should be fun, though probably mostly incomprehensible. I'll post more soon, probably including photos.
Thursday the 1st, I spent a lot of the day at the science museum. Lots of interesting exhibits and scientific historical artifacts, though a few of the newer exhibits tried too hard to be "fun" at the expense of being informative; are kids really likely to learn anything about renewable energy from a bad Dance Dance Revolution clone? I also spent some time wandering around Picadilly Circus. Tacky, but amusing, much like Times Square.
Friday, I woke up early and took a train to Nottingham. After arriving, we had lunch at a vegetarian cafe and went for cocoa at a great place called Chocolate Utopia; after that, we went to the City of Caves, which was interesting, if somewhat tourist-trap-ish; Nottingham has a huge number of caves, and the tour there covered their use as tanneries and WWII bomb shelters. Afterwards, we vistited the Castle (no, it's not medieval) and a museum there. We avoided the Tales of Robin Hood, which apparently is an overpriced, Disneyesque indoor ride.
Saturday: went to synagogue with my parents, which was interesting largely because of the differences from the American services I'm familiar with - for instance, a prayer for the health of the Queen was given. After touring U. of Nottingham's campus (which is really quite nice) with Mom, Dad, and Aaron, and dinner at a Thai/Indonesian place, I went to a Purim party with Aaron. By the time it was over, I could still tell the difference between Mordecai and Haman, however.
Sunday, I had phô with Aaron at a Vietnamese place, and then took my flight back to Paris. It was great seeing him again - hopefully, his visit to Paris in a few weeks works out.
Sadly, I have to leave soon, for a French poetry slam on the outskirts of Paris; it should be fun, though probably mostly incomprehensible. I'll post more soon, probably including photos.
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