Okay, This blog may take me a few sessions to finish because there is so much to write about the last week and a half and I want to tell you guys about everything. So, first I would like to mention that last Wednesday, our plan was to go to Paris for two days. Stephane had to evaluate some lab up in a suburb of Paris for work. So I went with him and while he was working I did the whole tourist thing. After that, our plan was to come home Friday night and attend a concert he had gotten tickets to, for his birthday. All of this depending on tight travel arrangements. Then we were to wake up in the morning and fly to Bordeaux for a wedding of one of his old friends and collegue. So, I knew we would probably be running for train connections and plane connections so I packed my Valium (I'm not kidding, I fucking hate the travel part of travelling). SO, here the story goes:
We left home with little issues except some stupid stuff which happened when we were picking up my tickets. But we got on the train just fine (first class baby) and travelled to Paris. On our way, the train stopped in the middle of some field, for no apparent reason. Now this is one of those wicked fast trains, so stopping is extremely strange. Eventually, they got on the loud speaker to tell us that there was a small fire (eek!) in one of the cars and that as soon as it was extinguished , we would get underway. Well, we had no plans except to go out to eat Vietnamese Pho when we got there so it was fine. They managed to put out the small fire within 15 minutes and then we were on our way.
So, we got to Paris and ate the Pho. YUMMY! Pho fucking rocks my socks! If you haven't had it I suggest you try it. It's like noodles in broth with veggies and beef and hot sauce! SO good! Pho is extremely exciting to us, but probably not to you, so I'll move on. :) LOL One of the things I was looking forward to was a hot shower with a shower head that was up top. Which we do not have in our flat (dammit!). But you never know what you will get when you are travelling here, obviously. SO this time in our hotel we had a stand up shower, but clearly this shower was made for all the skinny bitches running around France and not for my fat ass. Plus, you know how when the shower is going and the curtain kind of comes back and sticks to your wet body? Yeah well, basically I felt like I was making love with the shower curtain because it was so small in there. Hearing my rapidly increasing whining, Stephane was nice enough to come in and hold the shower curtain at bay while I finished my cramped shower. Oh how I long for the huge hot showers of America. So, anyway, then we hit the sack.
In the morning we had breakfast at the hotel, which consists of a croissant and coffee. I want an egg , sausage and cheese english muffin from McDonalds so fucking bad! They don't even have that in the McDonalds here! It's some frenchified version of McDonalds and they give you a croissant with your ham egg and cheese mcmuffin! Anyway, I digress. Stephane didn't have to go to work at the lab until noon. Our hotel was near the Cimetière du Père Lachaise (Cemetary of Father Lachaise) so we decided to go there (see pics in albums). For those of you who don't know, this is the cemetary where Jim Morrison is buried. So, since I'm totally an ex-druggie, I thought I would pay homage to the Lizard King. Of course, this cemetary is HUGE and we needed a guide to find his grave. But it was easily able to spot once you got near it because it is guarded by an armed guard ( I shit you not) and has makeshift fencing to keep you away from it! LOL So, needing no guarding, I just wanted the picture, I walked up to the fence and started shooting pics. There was a poor crying drunk old hippie there. I felt bad for him. I also though he resembled Jim Morrison if Jim Morrison were an old guy now. Mr. Mojo Risin' would be around 70 now and this guy totally could have been him. Who knows? SO , after I got my pictures, I nodded to the poor crying old man and moved on. I guess there's a bunch of famous poets and painters and what not buried there. I looked through the list but didn't recognize any of them, so didn't bother to find any other specific graves. Instead I just got some pics of random interesting ones. After that, Stephane had to go to work. I was a tad apprehensive because I then would be in Paris all by myself and have to navigate the Paris Metro and find the Louvre (which was my plan). I actually didn't do too bad. I mean, I am still here to write this blog so, clearly I made it back home alive. :) But it's definately a daunting task to navigate the city of Paris. It's huge! Okay, so after having a coffee at a corner bistro, I set off for the Louvre. ALSO HUGE! I got a map of the collection at the museum when I got there and after looking at it and having my eyes roll back into my head at least three times I decided to just put the map away and start wandering and see what I could find. I have been to the Metropolitan Museum of art about ten times now and I still haven't seen everything. This place is at least 10 - 15 times the size of the MET! So, I got plenty of pics you can look at in the albums. I went through the Greek and Roman statues, including the Venus de Milo , which I had no idea was on display there and was a great surprise to see her standing there. I also saw many French paintings and Italian ones. Of course, I had to go see the Mona Lisa too. Talk about a clusterfuck! So many people and the painting is very small, which I had heard. You can't get near it really and it is under the guard of about five people! I mean, it's a masterpiece but come on. I actually was much more impressed by several other of there famous paintings than the Mona Lisa. So I stayed at the museum for about four hours and saw almost nothing. Because I'm one of those people who actually likes to LOOK at the art for more than FIVE seconds. I like to study it! I mean some of this shit is truly amazing. Especially the sculptures! Those are totally impressive. I mean, here, I got this huge rock, and now I'm going to creat a beautiful human female form from nothing but my imagination. And I'm going to do it with this here primitive tool and some sand paper. And oh yeah, it's going to take me ten years to complete. Have you ever done anything that took that long to complete? No, so have some respect :) Yeah, totally amazing. So then it was my time to once again navigate the Metro over to Stephane's brothers house to meet him there for dinner. His brother is in Greece so we had decided to go and see Steph's neice and nephew and his brother's girlfriend. Last time we were in Paris, we visited them but both him and his brother speak English. His girlfriend , Marie, hardly spoke at all the first time. I get there, and of course, Stephane has not arrived yet, and phoned to say he will be about an hour late. So it was just the two of us and the kids. She spoke some French to me but mostly spoke some pretty understandable english which was really very relieving. Then Stephane got there and we played with the kids and ate dinner and then headed back to our hotel for the night. Overall it was a tiring day but I saw plenty of Paris and the Louvre and felt I had a great day.
I think I will stop here. The next day was quite long and the experiences are best written tomorrow.....
stay tuned.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Paradis, Church and Ketchup - October 1, 2008
Okay folks....new blog finally. I already wrote about the beginning of the week with the frolicking fornicators and the Visa denial. On to better things. Thursday and Friday when Steph wasn't working we explored in and around Lyon. We went to some places like the Rose garden at the Parc tête d'or (my new favorite place : see pics) and also visited Fourviere twice which is this old church on top of the tallest hill in Lyon. From there you can see all of Lyon (see pics). I rode a "funicular" for the first time in my life. A funicular is like a railroad car on a track/pulley and it takes you straight up the side of the hill in Lyon to Fourviere. It was completely strange but took all of two minutes to reach our destination at the top of the hill. This trip would have totally sucked walking uphill. It sucked walking downhill it was so steep. But there is a really neat path down so we decided to walk doan. So anyway, also on the top of the hill is an ancient Roman Ampitheater which we also visited. It's from a time when the HRE (Holy Roman Empire) was in France. I guess they still have theater and concerts there so we plan on attending one sometime soon. While in Vieux Lyon (Old Lyon) we visited the church of St. Jean, which I guess is the oldest church in Lyon and dates back to the early 12th century. Big fucking deal. But it was pretty and I got good pictures. But you know, my skin starts to itch if I stay in churches for very long so we didn't stay long . They had some crazy old clock in there and we waited for a certain time for it to do something and all that happened was one of the creepy statues moved it's head and I missed it because I was looking away at that exact second. God is SO fucking funny! LOL So after that we also had some rockin' ice cream at this famous place. Let me tell you my ice cream "plate" cost Steph $7 euros which is like ten bucks american and I have never had better ice cream in my life. YUM! And then we just walked around the cute little part of the city where we saw very cute restaurants and people smoking tabac (tobacco) out of hookahs in the public square. It would have been cooler if it was weed, but hey, this isn't Amsterdam. LOL So also during those two days we went to a cute little island part of Lyon which is in the Saône river. It's called L' île Barbe which means Beard Island. It's adorable and there are pics of it in the albums. Very cute and there were at least two different groups of people smoking weed there. I guess it's the "Spot" in Lyon. Every place has one. Needless to say, I'm jealous.
So on Saturday we went to the Marche de la Croix Rousse ( The Market of Croix Rousse : our saturday grocery ritual now)and then we went off to the Beaujolais wine region. The harvest started earlier that week. We drove through several towns and visited several different places along the way. We drove through the towns of Villefranche, Cogny, La Varenne, La Mure, Letra and Beaujeu. I saw forests and vineyards and cows and wine harvesters and goats and fromageries (cheese shops) and grapes being squeezed and transported and picked. We stopped at a place right outside of Letra called "La cave des Vignerons du Doury" which is a shop and factory for making wine. It's a commune of the grape growers of three surrounding areas who pool their harvest and produce several different beaujolais villages wines. Since we were there at the very beginning we were able to taste the "Paradis" which is the first grapes from the harvest. It's like slightly alcoholic grape juice and was very yummy. We were waiting around and listening to this women's entire boring schpeal about the wines and so we decided to give up waiting to taste some actual wine, grabbed two bottles of the wine and got the fuck out of there. It's like this game you have to play with the woman. She doesn't want to let everyone just taste wine without buying. Whatever, it was cheap , about $4 euros a bottle so we just bought it and left. And tasted it ourselves later on that night. Yummy! They don't ship to the US otherwise I would have sent some home to all you lovely people. So the entire day was spent driving around the countryside and enjoying the beautiful scenery and weather. Cool old graveyards (see pics) and towns. Grannies looking out windows and people biking through the countryside. Hippies and Frenchies working the grape harvest. Celebrations dedicated to harvest. It was a dream come true.
The last couple days Sunday through today have spent mostly just being lazy and riding my bike. Lying around in the park and trying to figure out what to do about the Visa situation. On Monday when we went to lunch I was "outed" as an American by the guy at the restaurant. LOL let me explain. Since I speak virtually no French, Stephane has to order food for me and such and translate everything (thanks baby!) so I always just tell him what to ask the waiters about certain things. Well, we had ordered Etouffe de Boeuf (beef stew= proof that everything sounds better in French) and Frites (fries). Well, I wanted ketchup with my fries and I KNOW it doesn't come with it normally and also they NEVER have it on the table like in America. So Stephane asked him for it , and they exchanged another couple words. Then the waiter repeated our order and said " Et ketchup pour Americain (and ketchup for the American)" and winked at me and smiled. LOL Steph obviously hadn't said I was American. I just laughed out loud and said "Oui". So I guess only Americans order ketchup with their fries. I thought it was cute how he was so nice about it. I always heard Frenchies hated Americans but this is clearly not the case. He wasn't snobby or rude. It was playful, like we both knew the same secret. I actually have found most Frenchies to be very nice and extremely outgoing. I haven't experienced any more snobbishness than under any other circumstances. They actually smile quite a bit and greet you when you pass on the street. It's quite nice. I'm having a great time despite being worried about the Visa situation. Next week we are headed to Paris for a couple days because Steph has to evaluate some lab up there. I get free time during the day while he is working. I'm thinking maybe I will go to the Botanical Gardens and perhaps the Louvre. We will see. Then we are travelling home on Friday and flying out the naxt day to Bordeaux for the wedding of a colleague of Steph's and staying overnight. That should be quite interesting. Then we have a trip planned for the week of his school break at the end of October for Toulouse , which is where his parents and sister live. It is in the very south of France and we will be driving down. So I will get my first glimpse of the Mediterranean sea. I can't wait. Also, we will see all of the countryside and some of the coast, plus we will probably take a side trip to the Pyrénées mountain range which starts very near his parents home.
So on Saturday we went to the Marche de la Croix Rousse ( The Market of Croix Rousse : our saturday grocery ritual now)and then we went off to the Beaujolais wine region. The harvest started earlier that week. We drove through several towns and visited several different places along the way. We drove through the towns of Villefranche, Cogny, La Varenne, La Mure, Letra and Beaujeu. I saw forests and vineyards and cows and wine harvesters and goats and fromageries (cheese shops) and grapes being squeezed and transported and picked. We stopped at a place right outside of Letra called "La cave des Vignerons du Doury" which is a shop and factory for making wine. It's a commune of the grape growers of three surrounding areas who pool their harvest and produce several different beaujolais villages wines. Since we were there at the very beginning we were able to taste the "Paradis" which is the first grapes from the harvest. It's like slightly alcoholic grape juice and was very yummy. We were waiting around and listening to this women's entire boring schpeal about the wines and so we decided to give up waiting to taste some actual wine, grabbed two bottles of the wine and got the fuck out of there. It's like this game you have to play with the woman. She doesn't want to let everyone just taste wine without buying. Whatever, it was cheap , about $4 euros a bottle so we just bought it and left. And tasted it ourselves later on that night. Yummy! They don't ship to the US otherwise I would have sent some home to all you lovely people. So the entire day was spent driving around the countryside and enjoying the beautiful scenery and weather. Cool old graveyards (see pics) and towns. Grannies looking out windows and people biking through the countryside. Hippies and Frenchies working the grape harvest. Celebrations dedicated to harvest. It was a dream come true.
The last couple days Sunday through today have spent mostly just being lazy and riding my bike. Lying around in the park and trying to figure out what to do about the Visa situation. On Monday when we went to lunch I was "outed" as an American by the guy at the restaurant. LOL let me explain. Since I speak virtually no French, Stephane has to order food for me and such and translate everything (thanks baby!) so I always just tell him what to ask the waiters about certain things. Well, we had ordered Etouffe de Boeuf (beef stew= proof that everything sounds better in French) and Frites (fries). Well, I wanted ketchup with my fries and I KNOW it doesn't come with it normally and also they NEVER have it on the table like in America. So Stephane asked him for it , and they exchanged another couple words. Then the waiter repeated our order and said " Et ketchup pour Americain (and ketchup for the American)" and winked at me and smiled. LOL Steph obviously hadn't said I was American. I just laughed out loud and said "Oui". So I guess only Americans order ketchup with their fries. I thought it was cute how he was so nice about it. I always heard Frenchies hated Americans but this is clearly not the case. He wasn't snobby or rude. It was playful, like we both knew the same secret. I actually have found most Frenchies to be very nice and extremely outgoing. I haven't experienced any more snobbishness than under any other circumstances. They actually smile quite a bit and greet you when you pass on the street. It's quite nice. I'm having a great time despite being worried about the Visa situation. Next week we are headed to Paris for a couple days because Steph has to evaluate some lab up there. I get free time during the day while he is working. I'm thinking maybe I will go to the Botanical Gardens and perhaps the Louvre. We will see. Then we are travelling home on Friday and flying out the naxt day to Bordeaux for the wedding of a colleague of Steph's and staying overnight. That should be quite interesting. Then we have a trip planned for the week of his school break at the end of October for Toulouse , which is where his parents and sister live. It is in the very south of France and we will be driving down. So I will get my first glimpse of the Mediterranean sea. I can't wait. Also, we will see all of the countryside and some of the coast, plus we will probably take a side trip to the Pyrénées mountain range which starts very near his parents home.
Okay, every problem has a solution - September 25, 2008
Ok, So.... I do believe every problem has more than one solution. Since I was going to learn French anyway, I have now decided to apply to a couple of language schools here in Lyon and try to get a student Visa. I actually had never thought of this as a solution, but now it seems like the right one. I think a student Visa is easier to get than a long stay Visa. Then at least I have, what they consider to be, a GOOD reason to be in France. But anyway, we will try this avenue and see how it turns out. I am in a much better mood today than yesterday because I now have some hope. Yesterday I was just denied, deluded and pissed off.
Oh and I forget to put this in the blog yesterday because I was pissed and forgot, but this one is fucking hilarious:
Stephane took me to this park the other night, Parc Mirabel, which is north of Lyon by a few miles. Huge Lake, Lake Mirabel, and horses and picnic areas and apparently, much to our surprise, people having sex in the bushes!!!!!
LOL I shit you not, we were walking along one of the walking trails around dusk and I see this guy who looks like he is taking a piss on a bush. Well, after looking for a second we realized that he was actually looking through the bushes and JERKING OFF to these two lovely heathens having sex in the park. It was dusk, and they were about 50 feet away, so really you could just see skin and motion but no doubt, they were screwing. LOL So we decided to move along and were laughing about it for a while, but then realized we had to walk back by them in order to get to the car. So on our trip back, we noticed they had finished and apparently the masterbating gentleman was a friend keeping watch for them and so they were all getting themselves back together. The girl (or shall we say Whore...because I think that's what she was) was fixing her panty hose and getting the grass out of her hair, the guy who had been fucking her was taking a piss on a bush and the masterbating gentleman was carrying the car mat they had been fucking on. How romantic!
We laughed all they way home.
Oh and I forget to put this in the blog yesterday because I was pissed and forgot, but this one is fucking hilarious:
Stephane took me to this park the other night, Parc Mirabel, which is north of Lyon by a few miles. Huge Lake, Lake Mirabel, and horses and picnic areas and apparently, much to our surprise, people having sex in the bushes!!!!!
LOL I shit you not, we were walking along one of the walking trails around dusk and I see this guy who looks like he is taking a piss on a bush. Well, after looking for a second we realized that he was actually looking through the bushes and JERKING OFF to these two lovely heathens having sex in the park. It was dusk, and they were about 50 feet away, so really you could just see skin and motion but no doubt, they were screwing. LOL So we decided to move along and were laughing about it for a while, but then realized we had to walk back by them in order to get to the car. So on our trip back, we noticed they had finished and apparently the masterbating gentleman was a friend keeping watch for them and so they were all getting themselves back together. The girl (or shall we say Whore...because I think that's what she was) was fixing her panty hose and getting the grass out of her hair, the guy who had been fucking her was taking a piss on a bush and the masterbating gentleman was carrying the car mat they had been fucking on. How romantic!
We laughed all they way home.
Fuck the French Administration - September 24, 2008
Yep, they denied my Visa application. So now, I have to find some other way (than the right way) to stay here in France. Did they give me a reason why? Nope. Just denied me and kept my money ($150)! I currently am pretty upset. I tried to go the right way and now I will have to try some other sneaky way.
I hate this shit! I worked on it for the past three months, got everything I needed and got denied. I don't understand.
I hate this shit! I worked on it for the past three months, got everything I needed and got denied. I don't understand.
Flamenco, Hamburgers and Policia - September 23, 2008
So here I am again....sorry for that break, it's just I get so tired of typing after a while. So, on Saturday night after our day trips and a nap we were invited to go and play music (me to listen) at his friend Samir's house. Another friend , Raphael was coming down from Paris and it's like a regular thing. They both play Flamenco style guitar and Steph plays the flute with them as well. SO , I thought it might be annoying but sure enough, I had a blast. I just drank with them, which consisted of at least four different types of wine and a French beer. Let's face it folks, I was shitfaced . I hardly ever drink so it was a rare occassion for me. But actually (seemingly normal) I have been drinking a lot of wine since I have been here. SO, Steph's friend lives in Presqu'ile which is a different part of the city of Lyon. A magnificant part actually. Really beautiful with murals on walls (see pics) and also really old buildings. It is on the other side of Lyon from where we live on the Saône river. If you did not know this already, Lyon lies between the two rivers, Rhone and Saône. Really pretty. SO after getting wasted and listening to Flamenco music all night we all decided we wanted to get outside in the fresh air and went for a walk at 2 a.m. LOL instead of playing more music, because they had brought their instruments, we ended up just talking and getting into interesting political discussions. It was interesting because they seemed quite fond of talking politic with an American. They asked me about Obama and Bush and different voting stuff. I also talked to them about socialism and Sarkozy. I have to admit I only was able to offer my somewhat limited opinion but it was honest and they seemed to buy it which was good. After all we were very drunk. So after we left them around 3 I really wanted pizza, but we couldn't find any of the pizza places open, so instead we went to this Muslim hamburger joint which was like really busy. We double parked and at one point, we realized there were like six cops outside looking at Steph's car. Of course I felt bad because I was the one who had told him to double park. So anyway, just like America, there are always way too many cops on the scene for a simple parking violation. He got a ticket. So those burgers ended up costing about $75 euros a piece LOL but it's fine.
So on Sunday we went to Les Puces du Canal ( or The Fleas of the Canal = Flea Market) LOL Everything sounds better in French. I took my bike and Steph rented one of the rideshare bikes. They have this awesome system (which Philly first told me about) where they have bikes you can "rent" from an automated system of bikes and stations all around Lyon. The first half hour is free and then it only costs like 1 euro an hour or something. You rent it at a kyosk and can return it to any other kyosk. So anyway, he rented one and we took the long ride along the Rhone. We passed a French gypsy camp along the way, which really is like a trailer park, but gypsy sounds so much more interesting. At the flea market we had some VERY traditional French food. I had Fricassée d'Andouillette with mustard. Stupid me, I thought it was sausage being the world chef I am. But no, it's chopped up cow intestine. Which is what sausage is, but believe me when I say, it's totally a different experience. So after we rode home and took a nap to sleep off the hangover we went shopping in Chinatown. It was awesome! I mean, they have these everywhere but I love Asian food so it was a treat. Then when we came home I called my Mom and talked to her on Skype for the first time. Pretty cool. So yeah, if any of you have Skype or want to download it we could chat. My nickname is DeeseTara. Hit me up.
Until then, see you next week. This weekend is the beginning of the grape harvest so we will go to the Beaujolais region and check out some wines and vineyards. HELL TO THE YEAH
So on Sunday we went to Les Puces du Canal ( or The Fleas of the Canal = Flea Market) LOL Everything sounds better in French. I took my bike and Steph rented one of the rideshare bikes. They have this awesome system (which Philly first told me about) where they have bikes you can "rent" from an automated system of bikes and stations all around Lyon. The first half hour is free and then it only costs like 1 euro an hour or something. You rent it at a kyosk and can return it to any other kyosk. So anyway, he rented one and we took the long ride along the Rhone. We passed a French gypsy camp along the way, which really is like a trailer park, but gypsy sounds so much more interesting. At the flea market we had some VERY traditional French food. I had Fricassée d'Andouillette with mustard. Stupid me, I thought it was sausage being the world chef I am. But no, it's chopped up cow intestine. Which is what sausage is, but believe me when I say, it's totally a different experience. So after we rode home and took a nap to sleep off the hangover we went shopping in Chinatown. It was awesome! I mean, they have these everywhere but I love Asian food so it was a treat. Then when we came home I called my Mom and talked to her on Skype for the first time. Pretty cool. So yeah, if any of you have Skype or want to download it we could chat. My nickname is DeeseTara. Hit me up.
Until then, see you next week. This weekend is the beginning of the grape harvest so we will go to the Beaujolais region and check out some wines and vineyards. HELL TO THE YEAH
Adventures in Lyon - September 22, 2008
So everyone, I plan on writing one blog a week... usually on Monday. This way you can follow what I am up to here in France. This week started off a little strange. I definately felt some culture shock and stayed locked in the house except for going out with Stephane for lunch and to to walk along the river. We also shopped for some stuff we needed for the house. Not real exciting for the first couple days in Lyon. I will say, once we went into Lyon downtown and went to a STARBUCKS!!!LOL That made me feel right at home. So as I sipped my tall Caramel Macchiato I was a little more relaxed. Ha ha ha I have seen so far, a couple Mc Donalds and a Kentucky Fried CHICKEN!!!! I felt a little better , I guess. How stupid that those things made me feel more at home. Okay so anyway, onto the good stuff.
After my two days in the house , it was Wednesday and also Stephane's birthday. I wanted to get out of the house and buy him a present. I never thought I would be so anxious to go buy a birthday present!! I felt like I was in another world but I really needed to get over this fear and get out and face it. I went for a walk in the park before trying to shop. I figured if I could gather some strength from nature before trying to go near people , it would be good. Also I needed to get a little exercise and this park seemed really neat. So the park is called, Parc Tête d'Or and it is a FREE park with botanical gardens, a zoo and greenhouses. It covers a large part of the inner city of Lyon. I have been there twice and haven't seen hardly any of it. There are pictures in my albums if you would like to check them out. So, after spending some time in the park, I decided to brave the consumer world and go check out this store we had passed called "Botanic". It is AWESOME!!!! I'm serious, I want to live there. It has a pet store, a gardening center with plants from all over the world, a natural foods store, a library and a section where they sell anything from soil to candles to dishes to tables. Fucking awesome! So I wandered around a bit and decided to buy Stephane a book on carniverous plants and also a Venus flytrap. He had expressed some interest in these types of plants before so I thought this was a perfect gift. I also bought him/us a new teapot. I also spent a hell of a lot more money on all sorts of random crap. I hurt my hands carrying it all back ! So I did alright at the cash register. I was polite and just scanned my ATM card. She was saying something else to me in French but I just smiled and hoped she didn't expect a response. So Stephane was very surprised when I gave him his gifts and was proud of me when I told him about my adventure. We had a nice dinner and a yummy cake we had bought from an awesome bakery in Lyon.
On Thursday I spent the day in the house again and then when Steph got out of work we went into downtown Lyon to the Place des Terreaux ( see pics in album). This is where the city hall is which is also called the Hotel de Ville. I also took some pictures of that. We went in search of an american goods store we had heard about from a guy at Starbucks. We had heard they sold bagels there. So this time we found it and bought me a dozen bagels. They are okay but nothing like the NY bagels I'm used to.
On Friday, I spent the day putting some of my stuff away because it had finally been delivered the day before. It's nice to have all my things finally here. It makes me feel much more at home. At 5 I met Steph for a tour of his University (see a pic of my baby at his desk) LOL. Then we went into Monplaisir for dinner at a seafood place called L'ilot Corsaire. The place was interesting but kind of bad service. My first bad restaurant experience in France. I could have made better food.
Then the weekend turned out to be much more interesting. On Saturday we spent all morning at a place called the Marche de la Croix Rousse ( The market of La Croix Rousse) which is a section of Lyon. I almost had an orgasm at the market. We spent only $60 Euros and got shallots, oranges, a grapefruit, avocado, a bunch of basil, raisins, lemons, tomatoes, sunflowers, three kinds of cheeses, broccoli, garlic, three kinds of bread and fresh ground turkey burgers. I swear, I never wanna shop anywhere else. It goes on for miles!! Tons and tons of fresh produce and meats and cheeses and basically whatever else anyone has to sell. After that we had lunch at home and then went out to buy a shelf and a bike for me. Steph was telling me we were going to this one store for a shelf and he kept saying the name "Ickya" or so it sounded. LOL I had no idea it was "Ikea" until we pulled right up on it. LOL So this Ikea is huge like the one in New Haven. It actually sucked ass but we got a cheap shelf for the kitchen and some other stuff. After that we went to buy me some new wheels. I got a flashy new bike with a basket and a new backpack to carry my gear while on long bikerides.
Later on that night I had another adventure which I will write about tomorrow. I've been typing for so fucking long........stay tuned
After my two days in the house , it was Wednesday and also Stephane's birthday. I wanted to get out of the house and buy him a present. I never thought I would be so anxious to go buy a birthday present!! I felt like I was in another world but I really needed to get over this fear and get out and face it. I went for a walk in the park before trying to shop. I figured if I could gather some strength from nature before trying to go near people , it would be good. Also I needed to get a little exercise and this park seemed really neat. So the park is called, Parc Tête d'Or and it is a FREE park with botanical gardens, a zoo and greenhouses. It covers a large part of the inner city of Lyon. I have been there twice and haven't seen hardly any of it. There are pictures in my albums if you would like to check them out. So, after spending some time in the park, I decided to brave the consumer world and go check out this store we had passed called "Botanic". It is AWESOME!!!! I'm serious, I want to live there. It has a pet store, a gardening center with plants from all over the world, a natural foods store, a library and a section where they sell anything from soil to candles to dishes to tables. Fucking awesome! So I wandered around a bit and decided to buy Stephane a book on carniverous plants and also a Venus flytrap. He had expressed some interest in these types of plants before so I thought this was a perfect gift. I also bought him/us a new teapot. I also spent a hell of a lot more money on all sorts of random crap. I hurt my hands carrying it all back ! So I did alright at the cash register. I was polite and just scanned my ATM card. She was saying something else to me in French but I just smiled and hoped she didn't expect a response. So Stephane was very surprised when I gave him his gifts and was proud of me when I told him about my adventure. We had a nice dinner and a yummy cake we had bought from an awesome bakery in Lyon.
On Thursday I spent the day in the house again and then when Steph got out of work we went into downtown Lyon to the Place des Terreaux ( see pics in album). This is where the city hall is which is also called the Hotel de Ville. I also took some pictures of that. We went in search of an american goods store we had heard about from a guy at Starbucks. We had heard they sold bagels there. So this time we found it and bought me a dozen bagels. They are okay but nothing like the NY bagels I'm used to.
On Friday, I spent the day putting some of my stuff away because it had finally been delivered the day before. It's nice to have all my things finally here. It makes me feel much more at home. At 5 I met Steph for a tour of his University (see a pic of my baby at his desk) LOL. Then we went into Monplaisir for dinner at a seafood place called L'ilot Corsaire. The place was interesting but kind of bad service. My first bad restaurant experience in France. I could have made better food.
Then the weekend turned out to be much more interesting. On Saturday we spent all morning at a place called the Marche de la Croix Rousse ( The market of La Croix Rousse) which is a section of Lyon. I almost had an orgasm at the market. We spent only $60 Euros and got shallots, oranges, a grapefruit, avocado, a bunch of basil, raisins, lemons, tomatoes, sunflowers, three kinds of cheeses, broccoli, garlic, three kinds of bread and fresh ground turkey burgers. I swear, I never wanna shop anywhere else. It goes on for miles!! Tons and tons of fresh produce and meats and cheeses and basically whatever else anyone has to sell. After that we had lunch at home and then went out to buy a shelf and a bike for me. Steph was telling me we were going to this one store for a shelf and he kept saying the name "Ickya" or so it sounded. LOL I had no idea it was "Ikea" until we pulled right up on it. LOL So this Ikea is huge like the one in New Haven. It actually sucked ass but we got a cheap shelf for the kitchen and some other stuff. After that we went to buy me some new wheels. I got a flashy new bike with a basket and a new backpack to carry my gear while on long bikerides.
Later on that night I had another adventure which I will write about tomorrow. I've been typing for so fucking long........stay tuned
First week in France - September 17, 2008
Hey everyone, I never wrote a blog before but I figured if anyone was interested in what I have been doing in France, they could just read here instead of me telling the same story a hundred times. SO here goes, I boarded the plane early Friday morning at 1 a.m. , September 11th, 2008. Raquel dropped me off. The flight was long but it was fine. Me and all of my luggage arrived safely in Paris, the same day at 2 p.m. ! Time Warp! Anyway, the airport in France is not like getting off here where people are meeting you right at the gate, instead you have to walk to the baggage claim, collect your bags, and then go through customs, get a stamp in your passport (YES!) and then you meet your party who has come to pick you up. I knew none of this ahead of time, so I was a little worried until I saw Steph, if we would find eachother in this huge airport! Plus I had to wrestle my luggage all by myself, however, they provide FREE carts for your use (hello America!) so I made it okay with my 150 pounds of luggage. So I met Stephane and we rode the Metro into Paris. At first, coming from the airport was not very pretty. Railyards and tunnels....but soon I could start to see Paris in the distance. I remember asking if we would be able to see the Eiffel Tower from our hotel....and he kind of snickered at me and said, "I don't think so, Paris is a huge city." My first stupid American question of the trip, but certainly not my last. LOL Anyway, you could NOT see it even remotely from our hotel. SO we stayed in a small section of Paris which is like art galleries, boulangeries (bakeries) and small shops. It is called Butte aux Cailles (Quail Hill) and it was very cute. See my Paris photos for a couple of pics from our Fenetre (window). So the first night I basically just slept. We ate at a Vietnamese restaurant that night that he had been to before. Pho 14 was it's name and they serve one thing....Pho. LOL Which for any of you that don't know, it is a noodle soup with your choice of toppings and hot sauce (Raquel and Lori...you would have loved this). So in a sleepy daze we walked the streets of Paris into the night. I had a craving for something sweet so we bought some confections as a Greek shop was closing for the night. Macaroons and fig cakes. YUMMY! Then we went back to the hotel and slept.
Next morning I awoke to my first morning in Paris and my first introduction to the European bathtub/shower. OMG talk about feeling like a fat ass! LOL It's like half a bathtub with a half of a door and no curtain. You fill up the bathtub...or stand. Then use this sprayer which is attached to the bottom part of the bath faucet. WTF! No steaming hot shower here with water cascading over your body! More like taking a bird bath with a hose! Now it's clear why people here may only shower once every couple days. LOL
So we decided to go to the Rodin sculpture garden http://www.musee-rodin.fr as we had planned. However the Metro was not stopping at the two stops we wanted to get off that day so we decided to get off at Champs- Elysees. I thought it was annoying that we were so far from where we were going but as it turned out, I was in for a surprise. Knowing virtually nothing of the city, I did not know that this was the popular "main drag" in Paris. We realized there were a ton of Police and asked someone why. The Pope Benoit XVI was also in Paris that day. LOL Me and the friggin' Pope visiting Paris on the same day! No fucking way... I thought. So this was the reason the two stops on the Metro were closed off. Anyway, on Champs Elysees street there are numerous things, The Palais de la Decouverte , the Jardin de Tuileries, that famous egyptian obelisk thingy and the famous arch everyone sees when they look at pictures of Paris. Also the Eiffel Tower in the distance. We walked past fountains (see pics) and gardens. Past the Louvre (for another time) and the Seine river. As we were walking a woman in front of us bent down to pick something up on the ground, a huge gold ring. We were both just walking past her and then she stopped us, was rapidly speaking in French and trying to give the ring to Stephane because it wouldn't fit her. At one point she even kissed our hands! I was like WTF and started walking away from her. Then she stopped us again and asked Stephane for some change. At that point I think we both realized it was a fancy trick designed to get us to hand over some loney. Hmmmmm gold ring...for some pocket change. Not too much to ask. So it cost Stephane 2 euros to learn that lesson. LOL and so he just set the ring down on a sidewalk a little down the way. It seems it was quite the trick because as we were walking on a bridge over the Seine a half hour later some guy tried to do it AGAIN to us! Well we basically just told him to fuck off in French. We weren't going to fall for that one again. From there we walked by the river for quite a while and then went to the Rodin sculpture garden. For those of you who don't know who Rodin is, well, famous French sculptor whose most famous sculpture is " The Thinker" or "Le Penseur" (see pics) but also studied human moods in his sculptures. Pretty awesome and surrounded by beautiful rose gardens. After that we travelled by Metro to Pigalle. Unfortunately we did not get to see the famous "Moulin Rouge" because it was during the day, and well, we looked for it but realized later we had walked completely in the wrong direction. But we were headed for the "Sacre Coeur3 church ( Sacred Heart) which is at the top of, how do I say this lightly, a FUCKLOAD of stairs! WOO HOO! And stupid me decided to wear new shoes that day. Anyway, it is in a section of the city called Montmartre (Mountain of the Martyr). And, even though the stairs sucked to climb, the view was phenominal from up there. (see pics) So we spent some time on the steps listening to a Korean guy playing guitar in France and singing John Lennon songs in English....hmmmmm! Interesting atmosphere. So we then met Stephanes brother Jean-Philippe and girlfriend Marie and their two kids Arthur and Lucie. They were very nice and we spent a long time with them. When we had finished our meal, we walked back to their flat which was right in the middle of Montmartre. Really a beautiful part of the city. They were very nice but only his brother spoke english. His girlfriend Marie could understand a few and speak a few but she was very friendly and open to having me in their home. I have to say all of the French people are very NICE. I have heard this stereotype that all French people hate americans and that they are rude. I have noticed when I'm not with Stephane that they are a little more wary of me, but I am butchering their language when I speak to them and it seems maybe that is why they look at you funny and possibly dismiss you. But this is like anyone. Regardless, we spent a nice evening eating sushi and other Japanese food with his family. His brother was very good about translating for his girlfriend and really his english was very good. It was nice that he spent the time and energy to speak my language for me. After the evening was over we returned by Metro to the hotel and went to sleep.
In the morning, since we had so much of my heavy luggage, we tried to take an earlier train back to Lyon but our tickets were not changeable. We had a lot of time to kill outside the train station, So we did what many Frenchies do on a Sunday, sat at a cafe for four hours. LOL If you ever did this in America surely the waiter would hate you. But it was totally normal. We had a drink, then i ate a salad, then he ate some mussels, then we had dessert. We walked around a little bit but mostly, we just sat there. Our train departed at 4. The countryside was beautiful to look at on the way to Lyon. Vineyards, and cows (lots of cows) , sheep, hares, and neat water towers. It was all vary French. We arrived in Lyon two hours later on the fast train. Lyon is now the second largest city (population-wise) in France. The train station was so busy, so we quickly caught a cab to the flat. I think I will write the rest of my adventures in Lyon at another time because my hands hurt. Ok.....see you next time.
Next morning I awoke to my first morning in Paris and my first introduction to the European bathtub/shower. OMG talk about feeling like a fat ass! LOL It's like half a bathtub with a half of a door and no curtain. You fill up the bathtub...or stand. Then use this sprayer which is attached to the bottom part of the bath faucet. WTF! No steaming hot shower here with water cascading over your body! More like taking a bird bath with a hose! Now it's clear why people here may only shower once every couple days. LOL
So we decided to go to the Rodin sculpture garden http://www.musee-rodin.fr as we had planned. However the Metro was not stopping at the two stops we wanted to get off that day so we decided to get off at Champs- Elysees. I thought it was annoying that we were so far from where we were going but as it turned out, I was in for a surprise. Knowing virtually nothing of the city, I did not know that this was the popular "main drag" in Paris. We realized there were a ton of Police and asked someone why. The Pope Benoit XVI was also in Paris that day. LOL Me and the friggin' Pope visiting Paris on the same day! No fucking way... I thought. So this was the reason the two stops on the Metro were closed off. Anyway, on Champs Elysees street there are numerous things, The Palais de la Decouverte , the Jardin de Tuileries, that famous egyptian obelisk thingy and the famous arch everyone sees when they look at pictures of Paris. Also the Eiffel Tower in the distance. We walked past fountains (see pics) and gardens. Past the Louvre (for another time) and the Seine river. As we were walking a woman in front of us bent down to pick something up on the ground, a huge gold ring. We were both just walking past her and then she stopped us, was rapidly speaking in French and trying to give the ring to Stephane because it wouldn't fit her. At one point she even kissed our hands! I was like WTF and started walking away from her. Then she stopped us again and asked Stephane for some change. At that point I think we both realized it was a fancy trick designed to get us to hand over some loney. Hmmmmm gold ring...for some pocket change. Not too much to ask. So it cost Stephane 2 euros to learn that lesson. LOL and so he just set the ring down on a sidewalk a little down the way. It seems it was quite the trick because as we were walking on a bridge over the Seine a half hour later some guy tried to do it AGAIN to us! Well we basically just told him to fuck off in French. We weren't going to fall for that one again. From there we walked by the river for quite a while and then went to the Rodin sculpture garden. For those of you who don't know who Rodin is, well, famous French sculptor whose most famous sculpture is " The Thinker" or "Le Penseur" (see pics) but also studied human moods in his sculptures. Pretty awesome and surrounded by beautiful rose gardens. After that we travelled by Metro to Pigalle. Unfortunately we did not get to see the famous "Moulin Rouge" because it was during the day, and well, we looked for it but realized later we had walked completely in the wrong direction. But we were headed for the "Sacre Coeur3 church ( Sacred Heart) which is at the top of, how do I say this lightly, a FUCKLOAD of stairs! WOO HOO! And stupid me decided to wear new shoes that day. Anyway, it is in a section of the city called Montmartre (Mountain of the Martyr). And, even though the stairs sucked to climb, the view was phenominal from up there. (see pics) So we spent some time on the steps listening to a Korean guy playing guitar in France and singing John Lennon songs in English....hmmmmm! Interesting atmosphere. So we then met Stephanes brother Jean-Philippe and girlfriend Marie and their two kids Arthur and Lucie. They were very nice and we spent a long time with them. When we had finished our meal, we walked back to their flat which was right in the middle of Montmartre. Really a beautiful part of the city. They were very nice but only his brother spoke english. His girlfriend Marie could understand a few and speak a few but she was very friendly and open to having me in their home. I have to say all of the French people are very NICE. I have heard this stereotype that all French people hate americans and that they are rude. I have noticed when I'm not with Stephane that they are a little more wary of me, but I am butchering their language when I speak to them and it seems maybe that is why they look at you funny and possibly dismiss you. But this is like anyone. Regardless, we spent a nice evening eating sushi and other Japanese food with his family. His brother was very good about translating for his girlfriend and really his english was very good. It was nice that he spent the time and energy to speak my language for me. After the evening was over we returned by Metro to the hotel and went to sleep.
In the morning, since we had so much of my heavy luggage, we tried to take an earlier train back to Lyon but our tickets were not changeable. We had a lot of time to kill outside the train station, So we did what many Frenchies do on a Sunday, sat at a cafe for four hours. LOL If you ever did this in America surely the waiter would hate you. But it was totally normal. We had a drink, then i ate a salad, then he ate some mussels, then we had dessert. We walked around a little bit but mostly, we just sat there. Our train departed at 4. The countryside was beautiful to look at on the way to Lyon. Vineyards, and cows (lots of cows) , sheep, hares, and neat water towers. It was all vary French. We arrived in Lyon two hours later on the fast train. Lyon is now the second largest city (population-wise) in France. The train station was so busy, so we quickly caught a cab to the flat. I think I will write the rest of my adventures in Lyon at another time because my hands hurt. Ok.....see you next time.
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