Blogs from France, Europe - page 1587

Happy fourth of July to all my family and friends on the other half of the world! Unfortunately, I will not be able to blow off any fireworks because A) they don't sell them here and B) there is a thunderstorm tonight and not the best weather for doing just about anything. Kinda sucks. I was at the Cote d'Azur this weekend taking in some much needed sun. I went with two friends to Nice, Monaco and Cannes for the four day weekend. Spent most of the time baking in the sun with the exception of a few hours when we went to see the Matisse Museum which was actually quaint and nice. Spent too much money in one day in Monaco and was glad that it was only a day trip...my friend paid close to ... read more

...and we're in Reims, France, about an hour northeast of Paris. It is a gorgeous little town of about 200,000, and it feels good to be here after three nights in Paris. Not that Paris wasn't a great scene, but Reims offers much of the same French urban experience -- charming sidewalk cafes, good wine, quaint shutter-and-wrought-iron-laden buildings, grandiose Gothic architecture, shopping -- with more hospitality and lower prices and without throngs of obnoxious tourists like ourselves. Plus, this is where they make Champagne with a capitol C. You don't save any money on it by coming to the source, but it's exciting to drive through small agricultural villages whose whole economy is devoted to creating New Year's Day headaches. Yesterday afternoon and today we broke out the Ford Fiesta (that's how we roll) for a ... read more

Our first of many trips to Europe started perfectly with a long weekend in Paris to celebrate our birthdays. Saturday We caught the Eurostar (fast train) from London and before we knew it we were in Paris 3.5 hrs later!. We didnt want to waste any time as we were keen to explore this beautiful city, so after checking into our hotel we explored in style.....a 4hr push bike tour of the city! This was great fun, and was capped off with a boat cruise along the river Seine and a few glasses of red of course! We crawled back to our hotel at about midnight to recharge for the next day. Sunday After breaky we decided to visit the Lourve for the morning......this place was ENORMOUS! To give you an idea, apparently if you spend ... read more

Wow, this is officially my last entry for this trip. Today I leave for Brussels to catch the Eurostar train to London, and then go to the airport and crash for the night until I leave tomorrow morning. I've had fun the past few days. Met up with a girl and the day before yesterday we actually rented bikes and went to this tiny town outside of Bruges called Damme. We also went to the chocolate museum (overrated, but the samples were good). After that we took one of the cheesy cruises down the canals. Funny how every town with more than 1 canal calls itself "the Venice of the north". But it was all good fun, we ate lots of pancakes and waffles. Yesterday we went with another Canadian girl to Brussels for the day. ... read more

No pictures with this one, just a goodbye. 6 months - Half a year, has gone by since I got on that plane at LAX and landed in Paris on a rainy January night. Tomorrow morning, I'll wake up while it's still dark, hauling one suitcase full of clothes and comics, the other full of a few thousand drawings, back to the airport, and leave France. I don't like how quickly things become memories- already I'm reminiscing, looking back on the me of january, febuary, march. I know that soon I'll be in California, looking back on the me that was sitting at a computer lab in the school writing this, and that makes me a little sad. It feels like the friendships I've made here were just starting to really develop into somehthing deep, and ... read more