Four Posts and Counting...

Hey everyone,

Just letting y'all know, we are still alive and loving France. I'm working on four posts to upload, but I have pictures in about three different places and sporadic wi-fi, so I'm hoping they'll be up soon...but making no promises. (:

We've been busy sightseeing after arriving in Paris Sunday night. Details will follow (in these posts that I hope to have up soon, haha), but the places have included Notre Dame (multiple times), Arc de Triomphe and more!

For lunch two days in a row, we've had baguettes, cheese and fruit. It's a hard life in Paris and I love it.

A little teaser of what's to come:

It's almost 11 here (oh...just kidding, it is 11...crap.), so as the French say: bonne nuit!

More tomorrow,
B&S

Going to Paris - 6/24

Today, we made the 7-hour trek to Paris. We started our trip in Toulouse, which is in the South of France and planned to go to Paris (in the North) after. To get to Paris, we decided to take the train through the French countryside. Sylvie bought our tickets and put us on the slower train (instead of the TGV) so that we (meaning I, since I haven't seen it before, haha) could see what France looks like outside of the city. Conclusion? It is absolutely beautiful. I spent almost the entire trip glued to the window with my camera. Warning: the other working title for this post was: "Gratuitous Pictures of French Fields"...just as a heads-up.

I am intensely, ridiculous, unfathomably in love with little French villages.

They also have super cute "no passing" signs. Tony told us that because so many people from other countries drive in France, the EU has established a set of multi-country signs, so even people who don't speak French recognize the meaning.

Is there a Little French Villages Addicts Anonymous? I think I might need to go.

Sylvie and Axelle picked us up at the train station and then we took the Métro to their town. We arrived about 5, so we visited, settled into our room and had dinner with the family. It was a crazy jumble of French and English (as Mom translated), but a lot of fun at the same time.

We're definitely glad to be here and are ready to begin exploring Paris tomorrow.

B

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The Way - 6/23

On Saturday, I was reminded how much life is truly about the journey, rather than the destination (hence the title).

We went hiking in the Pyrenees Saturday afternoon, after a fantastic waffle breakfast on the patio, courtesy of Tony. Yum.

Helen and Raphael stayed behind at the house to rest so the three of us headed to the mountains.

The mountain we went to was about two hours away from Tony and Helen's house...and totally worth it. We drove all the way up one of the mountains until we were about 5000 feet up. My poor NC lungs weren't used to the altitude but we had found a trail that promised a lake, so we set off. If you've never been to the Pyranees, put it on your bucket list. It's always been easiest for me to sense God in the mountains...and these were no exception. I was reminded of this quote by Tim Riggins in Friday Night Lights, as he's pumping up the team for a big game: "Let's touch God tonight, boys; let's touch God."

Oh boy, did we touch God. I don't know how to explain it, so I'll share some photos in an attempt to do it justice:

Our trail from the parking lot

Tony realized that he actually got cell reception, so we emailed Dad and Maylen a picture...from the top of the Pyranees.

The clouds started to move in

He has bread strapped to his back! I thought it was beyond cool.

Hang-gliders

This is where we started hiking.

After about an hour of hiking, we ran into some other hikers and Tony asked to see their map. When he and the other hiker conferred, we realized we were hiking up the "down" side of the trail to the lake. For the trail we'd wanted, we should have begun hiking further down the mountain, then come out at the higher altitude after the lake. At first, I was disappointed about not being on the right path/having used all this energy/missing the lake, whatever, but then I realized that I was surrounded by beautiful countryside and did it really matter where we were going? No. What mattered was the path we were on. We discussed going back, but decided that, since we'd already hiked about 1000 feet straight up (I only wish I was kidding about this), we'd hike up a little further, eat lunch and then head back down. 

A panorama view from the mid-way point

Going back down was interesting; it felt essentially like we would start tumbling straight on our faces at any second. There were many "jokes" made about just giving up and rolling down.

The little bulge in the road below? That's the parking lot.

This is the point where I stopped and shouted "no mas!". 

Eventually, we made it back down and decided to drive around the mountains a little bit. As we put all of our stuff in the car, a couple of guys also came down. One of them started "running" down the hill...making sheep noises. It was hilarious and absolutely made my day.

When we were driving around, we passed a field of cows. We'd thought we were hearing sheep earlier...turns out it was just the cowbells. This sound echoed all across the valley. It was marvelous.



On the way back down the mountains to go home, we stopped in a cute little village we'd seen earlier so I could walk around and take pictures. Just looking at these pictures three weeks later gives me the shivers. I was so, so, so in love with this village.

The center of town

We talked to the woman who had these plants outside her home and she said that the ferns come up naturally whenever the stream (below) runs.

The sign over the door says "mayor". Unsure if this was his house or office...or both.

The military were there for a training exercise. Easily 100-150 of them marched past us  and almost everyone paused their conversation to say hello.

It was an amazing day and I don't think I'll ever forget how incredibly beautiful those mountains were. It was like a scene straight out of The Sound of Music. Definitely looking forward to a return trip...

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Day Two

This morning, because everyone (meaning me) actually got up at a decent hour, we had breakfast together on the patio. Tony and Hélène had eggs and bacon, while Mom and I feasted on fruit and yogurt. It was lovely.

I've realized that even showering here is a different experience. Water is more expensive, so you rinse, turn off the water, shampoo, turn off the water, etc. Even so, I still felt more like an actual human. It was wonderful.

After everyone was dressed and ready, we loaded the five of us and Tony and Hélène's dog into her Fiat Panda and headed for the market. Side note: I love that car. I may sell my soul and buy one, then cart it back to the US. And it looks like so much fun to drive! If I can't bring it back, then I'm moving to Europe. Tell me it isn't precious:

We went to the market and wandered around, then we all got crepes from one of the booths. They were delightful. I bought a dress...and tried it on in the seller's van...in the middle of the market. Awkward (for my American soul, at least) and definitely a first.

From the market, Hélène drove herself and Raphael home, while Tony, Mom and I took the dog and walked. The entire path was along the river Ariège and almost totally shaded by trees. I saw so many plants we don't have in the US--definitely something I hadn't even really thought about. Tony said something this morning about having to bring maple syrup back from the States when he visits his family because they don't have maple trees here. Crazy.

The walk took us 45 minutes to an hour, so by the time we got home, the three of us were exhausted, we all took a nap. After we got up, we had lunch on the front terrace and then all headed our separate ways. Mom and I Skyped family and rested, Tony ran errands and Helene and Raphael had Mommy-et-Baby time. We also got to visit with Helene while Tony was gone. (:

After Tony got back, we unloaded groceries, then all headed back outside for a group TAT session--Raphael included (he was in his carrier on Tony's chest and gurgled his presence every few steps). After we finished, and it got too cold to be up front...we took the party to the back.

We'd discussed doing something big this afternoon, like trekking over to Spain, but we're hiking in the Pyrenees tomorrow and decided a quiet afternoon was perfect. While the girls sat out back (and I cuddled with Raphael), Tony was inside looking up good trails. It made me extremely aware--and grateful--of the Blue Ridge Parkway. At about 8, Helene and I went inside and made dinner while Mom stayed out back with Raphael. Before we went in, I snagged this picture:






Making dinner was lovely. Like I mentioned before, Helene speaks very little English, but understands a lot, and I speak no French and understand very little. Still, it was nice. I'd point to something and ask a question and if she didn't know the English word, I'd try to supply it and then she'd tell me the French word. It was a productive afternoon in more ways than one!

Tony's making a big breakfast tomorrow, so we all agreed on something light. It ended up being a big salad, popcorn, cheese and wine/beer. Yum.






The French eat late, so by now, we've cleaned up and shuttered the house for the night, which means its time to sleep in preparation for our big hike tomorrow!

A bientot,
B&S
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Welcome to France!

~9 am, Paris:
I'm sitting in the Paris airport typing this on my iPod (Blogpress ftw!), waiting for our connecting flight to Toulouse. It already feels different here; not superbly different, but enough to where I feel like I stand out a little bit. Or maybe that's just me. We've been through security-- they don't make you take off your shoes! --, customs, and traveled the entire length of the Parisian airport from our international flight to the local terminal. It's interesting. Almost all of the airport, the interior and exterior walls and ceilings--even the walkways to the planes, are all glass...which makes it about 100 degrees in here with the sun shining, even if it's only about 54 outside.

The strangest thing is probably remembering what language I'm speaking. The Southerner in me wants to greet everyone, but "bonjour" is not automatic...yet. Neither is "merci". ...I should probably work on that.

~10 am:
Now we're headed to Toulouse in the airbus. It's actually nicer than the plane we had coming over. I could spend 9 hours in this. There's a strange mix of English and French so far (End Note: I even noticed this out and about; a lot of tag lines and such are in English, or have English words thrown in). They are very aware of how many people from other countries visit--the instructions on our flight are spoken in English, French, Italian and Spanish. I'm not used to being so near so many other countries! The brochure in our airbus was a good indicator of where we actually are:




We're going to meet a friend of Mom's for lunch (even though my body thinks it's roughly 5 am) before taking the train to the outskirts to the couple we'll be staying with before we head to Paris on Sunday.

One of the coolest things about traveling by air is seeing how France is really laid out. You can see the little cluster of houses and buildings, then a road, then the next little group. I've been a little obsessed with taking pictures out the window. (:

The best thing so far? Listening to all the little children babble in French. LOVE.

~10 pm, Toulouse:
I can't think of much to say, because I'm so fried, but we're here, safe in our house. I love our hosts, who are some people Mom's worked with before, and even though there's somewhat of a language barrier with my host-mom, we've bonded over their baby and host-papa speaks English like a native, because, well, he is one! We laughed all through dinner. Love them.

After we arrived in Toulouse, we had lunch and made our way back to the train station (dragging luggage and everything), then rode home. We got off at our stop...and realized we had no way to get to their house! The phone booths here reject our credit cards, because all European cards now have some sort of embedded chip that the machine reads, instead of a swipey-thing, like ours. We went back into the train station and were asking directions, because we had the address, when the man behind us in line said that his house was right around the corner from that! His wife was in the parking lot and he sweetly volunteered her to take us. She did and it was wonderful. I was stunned by their generosity (and very grateful). Mom and the wife chatted all the way over and Mom was overjoyed at how quickly her French has come back to her! To me, of course, it sounded flawless, but that could just be how tired I am. It's about 2 pm at home, which means we left over 24 hours ago...time for sleep.

Day 1, Toulouse
Conclusion at the end of our first full day? I am never leaving. I slept an entire 12 hours (!) so we got sort of a late start on the day. Air France lost Mom's luggage yesterday (they delivered it to our host's house this morning!) so they gave her 100 Euros to go shopping with and she did that before I got up. After that, we took the train into Toulouse. Our hosts live about five stops away from the center of Toulouse and the architecture is wonderful out here. It reminds me of Italian villas. My heart sighs. It was overwhelming at first to hear the constant French, but now I'm starting to recognize words and very occasionally get the gist of conversations. I was lying in bed last night, trying desperately to remember how to sleep after over 24 hours of not...thinking in French (actually, it wasn't really thinking, more replaying the conversations I'd heard). It was a cool moment.


After we got into Toulouse, we had about an hour before we met another friend of Mom's for lunch (I'm telling you, this woman knows people), so we walked around the "block" (their streets are so narrow here!) and sat beside the canal. We found a newspaper and Mom read it, while I pointed out words and asked what they meant. (: I didn't have any trouble with this one though:

After we met up with her friend, we walked around downtown, past the City Hall/Capitol building, on our way to lunch:

For lunch, we ate at a café, overlooking the Garonne, which is the main river throughout most of France. It was sunny and warm and I'm fairly sure one of my arms is burned from where I wasn't quiteee underneath the awning. (: One of the main things I've noticed here is that meals are much bigger deals. They last an hour or more. You order, usually, a 'plat' (an appetizer, usually 'salade') and then an 'entree' (the main dish), or ('ou'), an entree and then dessert. But restaurants are slower, you eat more slowly and everything is wonderful. Apparently, many shops, especially in the smaller villages still close for lunch. Really puts that Big Mac on your "lunch hour" into perspective, hmm? There's still McDonalds and Subway, but even they have tables outside to encourage you to enjoy your meal.

After lunch, we walked along the Garonne, where they were setting up for 'le festival de musique', which is an all-night festival of different bands taking place in big stages all over the city. It's happening tonight in all the big cities all over France.

We walked around some of Old Toulouse, then headed back to the center of town to have tea on the 6th floor of 'Galeries Lafayette' (which is the epitome of snooty France; a wallet there? 155 Euros. ouch.), where we could see all over the top of Toulouse. We spent several hours there chatting (and laughing), before it got cloudy, chilly and windy. It, fortunately, still didn't rain, so we walked around downtown some more before stopping at a 'pâtisserie' or a bakery, for some eclairs and pain au chocolat. I didn't grab a picture of that, but I'll leave you with one borrowed from Wikipedia. Trust me, it was a heavenly experience; one that I am eager to repeat.

We ate them while meandering back to the train station (and therefore canceling all of the calories, naturally) before catching up with Tony and coming back home to dinner.

Not sure what tomorrow holds, but I'm anxious to find out!

As the French say, 'bisous', or kisses,
B (& S)

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