The most scenic way to burn 700-800 calories Yesterday my roommate and I hiked from our apartment in Cimiez to Ville-Franche (the next town over from Nice) and took the Sentier Littoral. The weather was absolutely gorgeous! It was sunny and warm--for most of the day I wore just a tshirt, and it's almost the end of November! So we walked down from our apartment through town to the port, and then when we hiked around the cap of Nice past Coco Beach to the Sentier Littoral trail head. The trail is a lot of fun, not quite real hiking [View Full Entry]

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Day 55 - 15/11/09 Images that won't be forgotten, That words construed in stories could not depict, That mould ones core into shapes unseen, Raising a glass over conversations of the universe, Smoke rising towards the night sky, This was no sad day, This was a respectful goodbye, An end that buried souls would envy Where the patter of feet was always unseen, The land welcomes this stranger, A deservedly slow process, A goodnight with intentions of a return, For tomorrow you will shine in the sun, For tomorrow you will line each blade of grass, For tomorrow you will be [View Full Entry]

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Lesson of the Day: When an ugly, French doctor asks you to take your top of for a chest XRay, close your eyes and imagine Taylor Lautner So basically the first half of this entry is for everyone who wanted me to spill about New Moon before it comes out at home. I went last night with my roommate to the 7:20 movie at the only theater I could find in Nice that was showing the original version (i.e. English not French), so my roommate could understand everything. Don't worry...definitely going to go see it in French and probably English [View Full Entry]

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Alo alo !! Bom dia, boa tarde, boa noite !!! Como estao as coisas por ai ??? Aqui esta tudo otimo apesar do frio que aos poucos vai alcancando a espinha... Beleza... Nesse post vou falar da ultima viagem que fizemos para Paris e Bruges. Depois de 8 meses trabalhando na Inglaterra e curtindo o verao eu e a Rafa finalmente tivemos uma semaninha merecida de ferias(ou pelo menos uma semana em que pudessemos viajar juntos), a primeira de algumas(muitas) que estamos planejando. Engracado que nos nunca tivemos muita vontade de conhecer Paris, mas quando estavamos vendo o que fazer nessa [View Full Entry]

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The day is starting out with a thick fog which is probably made worse by the large lake below where our cabin is located.And there is absolutely no wind to blow the fog away so we will hope that once we get on the road and away from the water the fog may lift. The road away from Larche wanders through a mix of empty farmland and forest for a good distance until we crossed over the top of A20 which runs from Paris to Barcelona. We then went onto the D840 and took a break in Martel,another medieval town with [View Full Entry]

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I found Les Invalides very somber...It is very inviting and picturesque from the outside, but from the inside, I had a different impression...It was probably because I entered from the area of the Dome and the tomb of Napoleon that was brought to Paris From the Island of St Helena in 1840...The tomb is designed such that the visitor bows down from the top level and looks up to it from the bottom level...It feels unreachable...The army museum, the museum of Charles De Gaule, and the exhibit of model reliefs of French fort cities and citadels within the compounds of the [View Full Entry]

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I ended my day with a visit to the Eiffel Tower...I walked to the 2nd level and took the Elevator to the summit... With my small, dinky camera... [View Full Entry]

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Day 47 - 7/11/09 Wednesday this week was my day off and as Vivian (Caroline's helpx) was leaving in two days it was decided that we would both go to Biarritz. After a 6.30 get up and 40minutes at the bus stop we somehow managed to miss the bus (I prefer think that it didn't turn up)...however I'm kind of glad we did! Plan B...road trip! We were kindly granted use of the car for the day and so we set out in search of several places including a fort , a lake and forest in Aignan and a lake in [View Full Entry]

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This week was a very demanding week, workwise...I worked a day and a half! We had Armistice Day (Veterans' Day for you Americans) off on Wednesday, but I normally have Wednesdays off, so that was a bit of a letdown. I stayed home Thursday due to a nasty stomach bug that I can only assume came from my students and their grubby little hands. I had previously arranged to have Friday off (I was able to make up the hours a few weeks ago) so that I could catch an early train to Grenoble. Elizabeth, a friend I've known since first [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday I went running in the Bois de Boulogne. It was not easy to force myself out, despite the sunny day and the fact that I was running behind on my necessary 9-miler (part of my marathon training). I had to enlist Liz and Alan, my hosts, to come with me for the first 3 miles. For those of you who know me, the Bois de Boulogne was the scene of my concussion several years ago. I flipped over the handles of my bicycle and landed on my chin, causing me to temporarily lose my vision and have to rush to [View Full Entry]

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