Blogs from France, Europe - page 1569

So last week, after the return from Provence, I went to visit the Pere Lachaise cemetary, which is actually very close to where I live. It was a beautiful afternoon and I went with a couple of friends from the program. The goal for me was to see the tomb of Abelard and Heloise. It almost felt like a pilgrimage to the legendary lovers. But of course I got much more than that. The cemetary itself is more like a town than a cemetary. The only thing is instead of houses you have tombs. It's quite eerie, to be honest. I kept feeling like their ought to have been doorbells on those doors openning onto the cemetary street and leading in to infinite resting places. I had to keep reminding myself that the residents here ... read more

So after leaving the amazing city of Paris. We drove along to Fountainbleau, and to see one of the many palaces made famous during Napolean's reign. It was set amongst some amazing gardens and was a great way to start the day. We then made our way through the central part of France, before reaching our destination, an old chateau for 2 more nights accommodation. It is set in the Beaujolais wine region, just outisde of Lyon, and we arrived to some great views of the vineyards that surround the area. We started with some wine tasting of the local produce, before dinner, which I helped prepared this time .... and it was actually made pretty fun! Our first night saw a beach theme party, so out came the boardies and zinc cream set on the ... read more

I arrived in Paris on Thursday, Sept. 22 around 6:30PM. I was late for my supposed arrival at the dorm because a. British Airways is still experiencing the effects of a strike and b. traffic in paris is crazy, regardless of the time of day. When I decided to make an all-girls dorm my temporary home here, I thought of the dorms at KU. I lived in McCollum, which was not a very pleasant experience. It was an ugly brick building full of dirty college students! The dorm I am in here, however, is nothing like that. In fact, when I first came into the dorm, I was shocked. It is comprised of four old buildings on the Ile Saint-Louis with a gigantic, beautiful courtyard in the middle. The director gave me a tour of the ... read more

Septiembre 20 Strassbourg, Colmar,Besancon, Dijon, Beaune Aprovechamos la mañana para visitar el casco antiguo de Strassbourg, sus calles, la Petite France y la Grand Ile, sus casas de madera con el entrando y los geranios y en fin tantas cosas típicas a las que estábamos acostumbrado de ver o imaginar en los cuentos alemanes y que finalmente concretamos en esta visita. Es una ciudad con mucho toque alemán…de hecho ha hecho parte en ocasiones de Alemania ya actualmente de Francia. Sus habitantes hablan un dialecto con mucho contenido alemán. Después de esto iniciamos un recorrido por la ruta del vino de Alsacia, una serie de pueblos típicos de esta región y productores de vinos, especialmente el Riesling. Nos sentimos en Alemania en todo momento. Pasamos por Molsheim, Obernai, el mas grande de todos…allí caminamos un rato ... read more

France ... info to come! Having left Billericay early morning to make it to Russell Square at 6:30am, we checked through the Contiki rigmorale, before boarding our blue bus for 30 days. Seated towards the rear I was joined by Craig T, a fellow Melburnian and we got along really well. Getting to know all the other kids around us as we continued on, before boarding the ferry at Dover and seeing the White Cliffs and crossing the English Channel to Calais. Continuing on into France was great. We chatted away but Kezza and Molly would make sure they kept their distance from us as they thought they were far too cool for us, being Californian girls and everything. Rather childish on their behalf. But as we got into our campsite for our time in Paris ... read more