To those who I love
We made it, we are here. At 1 pm france time on sunday the 11th of June, we arrived at the Charles DeGaulle International Airport in Paris.
We spent three wonderful and tumultous days in Paris. Cole has a distant relative in Paris who happened to be out of town when during our stay, and she graciously offered us her apartment to stay in, as we are very financially limited. It was an absoultely adorable little appartment just two metro stops away from la tour eiffel. The sun sets at 10 pm every night right in the kitchen window, and every night we cooked and drank wine and watched it set there.
One night we found the place in town where the poor artists like ourselves hang out, and we were enjoying playing music with our new parisian friends so mcuh that we missed the last bus long after the metro had closed. It was a two and a half hour walk home! (but a good opportunity to get to know the city better)
Our Paris experience was slightly dampered by our tremendous jet lag, from not just one but two sleepless nights on air plane and bus, respectively, plus a sleep minamally finals/dead week preceeding our journey. Also, Cole and I had a couple of spats because of our crankyness.
Highlights were, of course, the modern art musueem and the dali museeum, as well as a dank falaffel place and a coffe shop stacked floor to ceiling with books.
On the fourth day, we hopped on a southbound train and made our way to Antibees, where we met up with Cole's parents. Antibees is in the south of France, near the beach bordering the medeterranian sea. After a huge, wonderful dinner in Antibees, we drove (yes drove, Cole's parents are addicted to the modern vehicle) to Biot, another small town near the coast where Cole's parents have a small little apartment.
Biot is fantastic! It reminds me of the french towns one sees in films like "Beauty and the Beast," although I try to avoid thinking of places in hollywood stereotypes. The town itself is up on a hill overlooking the countryside and the sea, with vinyards and gardens cascading down the sides of the hills. The town itself is a haven for local artists, with seveal major art galleries and studies and the center. The people are warm and friendly, although thier french accents are very difficult to understand.
It has been wonderful to practice my french with these people, as they are patient and really appriciate the fact that I do speak frech. Cole's parents live here two months out of the year and they barely speak a word of French, a fact that ensures their merciless teasing.
Anyways, here I was finally able to meet cole's sister, and the morning after we arrived, we headed to aix-en provence to meet guyton, madison's boyfriend. Aix was really neat as well...it had a market that kicks the saturday markets sorry little behind every day of the week. Also, we saw some fantastic stree musicians in Aix as well.
Our last night in Biot we celebrated madison's birthday by going to the beach at sunset and jumping in the huge waves. I swallowed about a gallon of ocean, but it was worth it.
Right now I am in Florence, in Cole's parenets permanent home. It's beautiful here, but I have to say that I am having a hard time adjusting to the bourgeoisie lifestyle, especially comming from the co-ops. Florence is nice, and we found a really hip bar, so all is well, although I am getting way to much of cole's relatives.
I am also having a difficult time getting enough to eat, as europe does not cater to vegans.
I will update again before I leave. Hope everyone is enjoying their respective summers.
We spent three wonderful and tumultous days in Paris. Cole has a distant relative in Paris who happened to be out of town when during our stay, and she graciously offered us her apartment to stay in, as we are very financially limited. It was an absoultely adorable little appartment just two metro stops away from la tour eiffel. The sun sets at 10 pm every night right in the kitchen window, and every night we cooked and drank wine and watched it set there.
One night we found the place in town where the poor artists like ourselves hang out, and we were enjoying playing music with our new parisian friends so mcuh that we missed the last bus long after the metro had closed. It was a two and a half hour walk home! (but a good opportunity to get to know the city better)
Our Paris experience was slightly dampered by our tremendous jet lag, from not just one but two sleepless nights on air plane and bus, respectively, plus a sleep minamally finals/dead week preceeding our journey. Also, Cole and I had a couple of spats because of our crankyness.
Highlights were, of course, the modern art musueem and the dali museeum, as well as a dank falaffel place and a coffe shop stacked floor to ceiling with books.
On the fourth day, we hopped on a southbound train and made our way to Antibees, where we met up with Cole's parents. Antibees is in the south of France, near the beach bordering the medeterranian sea. After a huge, wonderful dinner in Antibees, we drove (yes drove, Cole's parents are addicted to the modern vehicle) to Biot, another small town near the coast where Cole's parents have a small little apartment.
Biot is fantastic! It reminds me of the french towns one sees in films like "Beauty and the Beast," although I try to avoid thinking of places in hollywood stereotypes. The town itself is up on a hill overlooking the countryside and the sea, with vinyards and gardens cascading down the sides of the hills. The town itself is a haven for local artists, with seveal major art galleries and studies and the center. The people are warm and friendly, although thier french accents are very difficult to understand.
It has been wonderful to practice my french with these people, as they are patient and really appriciate the fact that I do speak frech. Cole's parents live here two months out of the year and they barely speak a word of French, a fact that ensures their merciless teasing.
Anyways, here I was finally able to meet cole's sister, and the morning after we arrived, we headed to aix-en provence to meet guyton, madison's boyfriend. Aix was really neat as well...it had a market that kicks the saturday markets sorry little behind every day of the week. Also, we saw some fantastic stree musicians in Aix as well.
Our last night in Biot we celebrated madison's birthday by going to the beach at sunset and jumping in the huge waves. I swallowed about a gallon of ocean, but it was worth it.
Right now I am in Florence, in Cole's parenets permanent home. It's beautiful here, but I have to say that I am having a hard time adjusting to the bourgeoisie lifestyle, especially comming from the co-ops. Florence is nice, and we found a really hip bar, so all is well, although I am getting way to much of cole's relatives.
I am also having a difficult time getting enough to eat, as europe does not cater to vegans.
I will update again before I leave. Hope everyone is enjoying their respective summers.