Merde et autres choses

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Today was pretty awesome. Let me share it with you. I slept in til 1230 and when I woke up I watched Ferris Bueller's Day off while I ate these breakfast crackers called Petit Dejeuner with soy milk and yogurt. After that Marissa and I decided we had cabin fever and went for a walk on the beach which only took about 10 minutes by foot. Once there we attempted to walk on the rocks (these beaches don't have sand, rather smallish gray rocks that are really hard to walk on and probably even harder to lay on) but soon gave up because of how difficult it was to walk on the rocks and also it was harder to spot dog merde.

What is merde you ask....merde is French for shit. And there is definitely a lot of it on the streets of France(even the beaches!) Here a dog owner is not responsible for what their dog does. Dogs are allowed everywhere which is funny because you won't expect to see one and then it'll just pop up out of no where! This means that you have to be extremely careful about where you step or else you'll be in the merde! I would also like to take this opportunity to comment on the psychotic way the French drive. I cannot put into words how happy I am that I am not required to drive here. There is no space to small or too awkward for the French. They'll go on the opposite side of the road, on the median, on the sidewalk...wherever they need to go to keep it moving, and oh my God do they use their horns. Even when it seems pointless to klaxon (blow your horn in French) they do it anyway (maybe for fun? frustration? because its there??) You've got to be mindful of the traffic signs here because they aren't as quick to stop for pedestrians as Americans. Titou has saved my life a couple of times as I have saved Marissa's. Its the circle of life.

So back to our day of walking....We walked along le boulevard des anglais all the way to the Airport then turned around and moved in a street to avenue de la californie to look for some food. In France though, just about everything is closed down on Sundays and it was like a ghost town. The only things open where the boulangerie (bread shops) and the patisserie (pastry shops). We walked for a while until we found a boulangerie/patisserie that sold sandwiches and we went in and sat down to a delicious meal of a 3 cheese panini with tomato, lemon fanta and a delice (dessert). Once we were full we headed back out into the world and made our usual climb back up the mountain to our dorm. Now I think I'm going to try out this thing called laundry. If you know me pretty well then you'll be aware that my mom is kind of protective of the laundry in our house therefore I've never done a load of laundry in my life. So not only will this be hard because the machines are in French but it'll be doubly hard because I have no idea what I'm doing to begin with. On that note wish me luck! Here's hoping I don't turn all my clothes pink!!!!

P.S. If you're wondering where all the pictures are...they're coming soon! I'll have my camera cord by the end of the week.

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Comments

[VinnieR]

Laundry
How did your laundry turn out?

[DebbieCakes]

ahh ha! you shall see gentle reader!

[Aunt Pearl]

Travel
Hi Debbie, We have enjoyed reading your blog and finding that many of the things you are experiencing in France was a puzzle to us. The water or lack of it and no ice. I also got a bottle of water but was much surprised at the carbonation,Yuck. We went to a Hard Rock Cafe and they brought a huge glass of water filled with ice but that was in Holland. Maybe there is one in Nice. We did have a great time and hope you much luck and keep safe. Love Aunt Pearl

[Jeanette]

Does the merde make you think of Lucy? I guess the French need some etiquette on dog ownership. LOL

[DebbieCakes]

Thanks Aunt Pearl! Tell Uncle Bob I said HOWDY! Love, Debbie

[DebbieCakes]

nah they think it's part of their liberte (their rights as humans) to let their dogs crap everywhere! haha P.S. I miss Lucy so MUCH!