BEWARE: this will be long...
bonjour!
Thanks for all the nice birthday messages- that was so nice of you guys. xoxo. *hugs* i miss you so much more than you'll ever know. soooo....my cousins were here for the first week of vacation (last week). it was so much fun...excpet for my mock exams. I had to go to school early tuesday and wednesday mornings for mock IGCSE exams- each 2 and a half hours. monday we went to the arc de triomphe, climbed to the top, then walked downt he champs and to the louvre- we wandered around there for two hours because my cousin wanted to find some painting her boyfriend liked...grrr....
Tuesday: we went to a fashion show at Galleries lafayette!!! it was absolutely amazing- the perfect french experience. we sat in the front row- the models walked right in front of us. their outfits were absolutely gorgeous and they were so incredibly beautiful- i was so jealous. There was this one model who was modeling this pink jacket from Sinequenone- it is the prettiest ever. My parents gave me 100 euros for my bday so I'm deciding whether i should get that--oooooh, french shopping spree----so exciting!
After that we walked to Notre Dame, got warm chocolate crepes and then went to hotel des invalides- where u see the tombs of tons of famous people- kinda depressing actually, but nice paintings...
Wednesday: hung around at EAB for a while saying bye to people- that was kinda fun...(after the exam). then we went to the eiffel tower- took the elevator to the top- what an amazing view. IT's so cool cuz they have all these signs pointing to all the other countries and saying how far it is to all of them. At teh bottom, there were these really creepy indian guys who kept waving to us- it was really funny though-
Thursday: stayed at home...packed...at night, my two cousins, meera and i went out and got vietnamese food from down the street while the grownups went out to dinner. it was one of the scariest momentsthough- this homeless guy has come to live on our street and he was all drunk and following us and yelling at us...aaaaah. i was sooooo scared.
Friday we went to Tours- took the TGV there. My dad has a friend whose son met us at the station and took us to our hotel. he's 15- really nice. but WAAAAY to young for those of us who are so mature, sophisticated and old- the sixteen year olds...haha. jk. THen we went to dinner at his house. His dad is really funny- he's indian with long gray hair even though he's balding- really funny. He has two other sons- two twin ten year olds- they're so funny! they are all so incredibly talented though- the 15 year old played the violin for us (he's taking a year off of school just for violin) and the younger boys played cello and piano for us. THen their dad played the veena and sang indian music. then all of them played/sang together for us- they're performing in paris on sunday- they're amazing!
We had a french and indian dinner- so good. THEN FOR DESSERT_ they all came marching in with two cakes with sixteen candles for me! they are so nice! it was incredible- i'd only met them a couple hours before- so kind! i was realy really really touched. it's so nice having my dad's friends all over the world...
saturday: my birthday!!!! we went to a chateau since we were in the loire valley! chateau amboise- where leonardo da vinci died- it was so cool. then we ate at a creperie and looked around the town of amboise- then we went to dinner at htis leonardo da vinci restaurant (to go with the theme). it was fun until the waiter found out it was my birthday and started pinching my cheeks and telling my parents how cute i am...okaaay...i'm not a todler anymore...
Sunday we went to Chenonceau (remember learning about it with Fabby last year?) it was so cool and you got ipods as guides!!! so cool! we also visited all these small towns
Monday we went to poitier- another city south of paris- went shopping etc. visited chateau azay- le- rideau
tuesday more shopping
wednesday we drove to another town. we stayed in a chateau in a small village. there are so many ancient churches and cathedrals around here- from the 10th or 11th century! also lots of roman structures...
thursday we went to cognac (where the liquor congnac is made) we took a tour of the hennessy cognac company- it's owned by louis vuitton so everything is so fancy!
you take a boat ride to their wine cellars (caves!!!!!) and you get this really high tech tour of the distilllation process and everything. with a movie and all. they have some barrels of cognac stored from the 1800s. basically, it's a ridiculously long process for not a lot of benefit. i tried cognac and it is so disgusting and strong- ewwwww. luckily no one in my family drinks it. we just liked the tour.
Friday (today) we went back to paris on the tgv. homework to do...
oh, i forgot:: in poitiers, i turned on the tv and there was the boston marathon!!!! and guess which town they were showing?? wellesley!!! and they were showing saint john's churhc where i stand everyyear to watch it and it's a block away from my house!!! cool. maybe i saw some of you guys. the camera went too quickly though..
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURA and ALEX!! (sorry it's late) hugs and kisses from paris.
xoxo,
Nina
Thanks for all the nice birthday messages- that was so nice of you guys. xoxo. *hugs* i miss you so much more than you'll ever know. soooo....my cousins were here for the first week of vacation (last week). it was so much fun...excpet for my mock exams. I had to go to school early tuesday and wednesday mornings for mock IGCSE exams- each 2 and a half hours. monday we went to the arc de triomphe, climbed to the top, then walked downt he champs and to the louvre- we wandered around there for two hours because my cousin wanted to find some painting her boyfriend liked...grrr....
Tuesday: we went to a fashion show at Galleries lafayette!!! it was absolutely amazing- the perfect french experience. we sat in the front row- the models walked right in front of us. their outfits were absolutely gorgeous and they were so incredibly beautiful- i was so jealous. There was this one model who was modeling this pink jacket from Sinequenone- it is the prettiest ever. My parents gave me 100 euros for my bday so I'm deciding whether i should get that--oooooh, french shopping spree----so exciting!
After that we walked to Notre Dame, got warm chocolate crepes and then went to hotel des invalides- where u see the tombs of tons of famous people- kinda depressing actually, but nice paintings...
Wednesday: hung around at EAB for a while saying bye to people- that was kinda fun...(after the exam). then we went to the eiffel tower- took the elevator to the top- what an amazing view. IT's so cool cuz they have all these signs pointing to all the other countries and saying how far it is to all of them. At teh bottom, there were these really creepy indian guys who kept waving to us- it was really funny though-
Thursday: stayed at home...packed...at night, my two cousins, meera and i went out and got vietnamese food from down the street while the grownups went out to dinner. it was one of the scariest momentsthough- this homeless guy has come to live on our street and he was all drunk and following us and yelling at us...aaaaah. i was sooooo scared.
Friday we went to Tours- took the TGV there. My dad has a friend whose son met us at the station and took us to our hotel. he's 15- really nice. but WAAAAY to young for those of us who are so mature, sophisticated and old- the sixteen year olds...haha. jk. THen we went to dinner at his house. His dad is really funny- he's indian with long gray hair even though he's balding- really funny. He has two other sons- two twin ten year olds- they're so funny! they are all so incredibly talented though- the 15 year old played the violin for us (he's taking a year off of school just for violin) and the younger boys played cello and piano for us. THen their dad played the veena and sang indian music. then all of them played/sang together for us- they're performing in paris on sunday- they're amazing!
We had a french and indian dinner- so good. THEN FOR DESSERT_ they all came marching in with two cakes with sixteen candles for me! they are so nice! it was incredible- i'd only met them a couple hours before- so kind! i was realy really really touched. it's so nice having my dad's friends all over the world...
saturday: my birthday!!!! we went to a chateau since we were in the loire valley! chateau amboise- where leonardo da vinci died- it was so cool. then we ate at a creperie and looked around the town of amboise- then we went to dinner at htis leonardo da vinci restaurant (to go with the theme). it was fun until the waiter found out it was my birthday and started pinching my cheeks and telling my parents how cute i am...okaaay...i'm not a todler anymore...
Sunday we went to Chenonceau (remember learning about it with Fabby last year?) it was so cool and you got ipods as guides!!! so cool! we also visited all these small towns
Monday we went to poitier- another city south of paris- went shopping etc. visited chateau azay- le- rideau
tuesday more shopping
wednesday we drove to another town. we stayed in a chateau in a small village. there are so many ancient churches and cathedrals around here- from the 10th or 11th century! also lots of roman structures...
thursday we went to cognac (where the liquor congnac is made) we took a tour of the hennessy cognac company- it's owned by louis vuitton so everything is so fancy!
you take a boat ride to their wine cellars (caves!!!!!) and you get this really high tech tour of the distilllation process and everything. with a movie and all. they have some barrels of cognac stored from the 1800s. basically, it's a ridiculously long process for not a lot of benefit. i tried cognac and it is so disgusting and strong- ewwwww. luckily no one in my family drinks it. we just liked the tour.
Friday (today) we went back to paris on the tgv. homework to do...
oh, i forgot:: in poitiers, i turned on the tv and there was the boston marathon!!!! and guess which town they were showing?? wellesley!!! and they were showing saint john's churhc where i stand everyyear to watch it and it's a block away from my house!!! cool. maybe i saw some of you guys. the camera went too quickly though..
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURA and ALEX!! (sorry it's late) hugs and kisses from paris.
xoxo,
Nina