Friday, September 11, 2009 Marseille, France to Chamonix-Mont Blanc (via Lyon and St. Gervais le Bains) After class on Friday, I packed a bag for the weekend, and set out for the train station to get a ticket to Chamonix-Mont Blanc. This is a ski resort town in the winter months and a popular place in the summer for seeing the mountains and glaciers. My train reservation took me through the city of Lyon, France (2 hours from Marseille if I remember correctly) where I caught a connecting train to a town called St. Gervais les Bains. From here I caught [View Full Entry]

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Monday, September 7, 2009 Marseille, France I am attending L'Alliance Francaise Marseille - Provence for four weeks. I began French classes today. Well at least I thought that I would begin them. In preparing for this trip, I had neglected to send via FAX my placement test to the school here in Marseille. So when I arrived on Monday morning, they looked over my written placement test and decided that I would be in the class that is for beginners. This class is a Wednesday through Friday class from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. However, there seemed to be a miscommunication [View Full Entry]

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Nice, France I slept a little bit later today trying to catch up, had breakfast, and decided to catch the bus up the hill in town to the Matisse Museum. During this month there was also a Rodin exhibition traveling through and on at the museum. I was really glad I got to see these sculptures by Rodin. Later in my travels, I will see the Rodin Museum in Paris. The museum is on a hilltop amidst ruins from the ancient Roman city Cemenelum. The museum is a three or four story red building set in an olive grove that is [View Full Entry]

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Saturday, September 5, 2009 I woke up as the train began slowing down around 3 a.m. and then fell asleep again. At one point in the night, with the rocking of the train, my head began to hit the side of the train in a rhythmic rocking motion. I am so glad I had my little sleep comfort inflatable camping/travel pillow. With this standing between my head and the side of the train, I was able to get a really great night’s sleep. I woke up as the train began to slow and allow passengers to board and get off at [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday - Friday, September 2 - 4, 2009 Houston - Atlanta Today I was able to catch the plane to Atlanta and but did not make it in time to be on either of the flights to Paris. So I spent the night in a hotel in Atlanta and got a good night’s rest. The next morning after breakfast, I went to the airport to attempt to get on the flights to Paris. Unfortunately, the four flights to Paris were full all day, so I decided to change my ticket to Brussels, Belgium. This turned out to be the best option [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday, November 26, 2008 Today I took a bus to the old capital of Guatemala, called Antigua Guatemala. This colonial era capital still has cobblestone streets and lacks the bustle of the new capital. I was only here long enough to have a cup of coffee at Caffe Opera and catch a shuttle bus to Panajachel. The bus was scheduled to leave at 12:30 however we had to go to a garage and switch to a larger bus to accommodate all the passengers that had signed up for the trip. We traveled about 3 hours and the views of the lake [View Full Entry]

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November 25, 2008 Guatemala City, Guatemala, Central America I arrived in Guatemala City on Sunday, November 23rd and spent a couple of nights relaxing. Tuesday morning I went to the National Museum of Arqueology and Ethnology in Guatemala City. There are many original artefacts here from the ancient Mayan cities of Guatemala. The museum is in the Zone of the city that is close to the airport and the zoo. I visited the zoo as well today. In all my time in Guatemala, I had not ever visited either of these places. The zoo is quite nice. The museum is really [View Full Entry]

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Saturday, November 22, 2008 Today I used my same ticket from the museum of Mayan sculpture from the previous day, to enter the museum again. I told the lady that takes the tickets at the door that the previous day I had not had sufficient time to see all of the sculptures. I actually had the time but my camera had run out of battery power. The museum is very impressive. Inside a central courtyard are two levels of artefacts, mostly the original pieces from the ruins. Some of the original stelae in the park are left in situ are protected [View Full Entry]

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I left via bus Thursday morning to go to the little town of Copan Ruinas. I first took a bus to the 18th street in the Zone 1 of Guatemala City. This is the place were one finds all the bus lines to take you out and away from the capital city to the tourist spots. The bus I chose was the one direct to Chiquimula. On this route, you leave Guatemala City from the east and eventually find yourself in the middle of the arid region of Zacapa. Here you see fron the roadside all sorts of cacti. It really [View Full Entry]

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I arrrived here in Guatemala City around lunchtime on Wednesday. There is so much more traffic here in the city than I had remembered. I secured my transportation option to begin my travels the following morning to Copan Ruinas, Honduras. I will close this entry becuase there really isn't much to tell. [View Full Entry]

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