Day 28 - Monday September 6th

Slept in again today, got up around 11:00 and got ready to meet up with Maria and our new official meeting place for our excursions. M* Trocadero - we meet there for our bus trips and such. We met her today at Cafe Trocadero - she treated up to Coffee and Dessert (Cappuccino and Mousse de Chocolat).Before hand, Victoria and I went for a little walk and got crepes (I had a sugar crepe) and got to see a view of the Eiffel Tower I've never seen before - the side with the fountains from up above, not the garden side.After lunch, Victoria and I bought planners and a French-English dictionary and the headed towards Galleries Lafayette and Le Printemps - the two major shopping malls of Paris. We walked the combined 10+ levels of both, looking and admiring and wishing we could buy all the expensive clothes. Then we headed home and had lunch with the group in the caf.

We got ready, went to the corner bar - had Afligem (The beer we had in Colorado!) and then hopped on the Metro towards the 1st and the Louvre and ended up at an all American or at least English-speaking bar The Lizard Lounge. Katie, Victoria and I had a round of Woo-Woo's - their drink of the week - and then finished the night off with a couple demi-peches. We took a cab home around 2:00, Victoria and I had a nice chat, and then off to bed.

Day 27 - Sunday September 6th

I got to sleep in today. Victoria finally made it to Paris - after crazy problems with getting her visa. So all in all, she's here for the next 3 months as a "tourist" and then has to take a weekend trip to Brussels before the rest of the trip. *Here's hoping I can go with *

Me, Allyson, Denise, Andrea, and Victoria walked to Centre Pompidou today for lunch. The Pompidou is famous for having the air ducts, and plastic tubes, and inner workings of a building on the outside as it's architecture. The escalator spans 4 floors and it's all one big long plastic tube on the outside of the building that you go through.

After Lunch Victoria and I hopped in a cab and met the rest of our group at CISP (Centre de International Sejour en Paris) or the youth Hostel. We had a little meet and greet session with our director in Paris - Maria Al Saleem. She's a very motherly and warm blond woman who always addresses us as "love". She constantly is switching from a hardcore American accent to a British accent - and speaks French fluently obviously. She's married to an Arab ambassador and is personally friends with all the people we are working for at our 'stage' or internship and who we are staying with as our home-stays.

My internship is with the French Heritage Society. My boss is a princess. It's in the 7th arrdondissement near the Eiffel Tower. We don't start work until October 4th, but we move into our home-stays this Saturday.

My home-stay is with a professional chef/caterer named Charlotte. She is a single mother of triplets - 10 years old - 1 girl and 2 boys. I live in a room on the 3rd floor of her house, with apparently a very nice view of Paris and of the Eiffel Tower. I'm excited to move in!

We had dinner in the hostel's cafeteria - average caf food, not too good but I still ate it. Afterward, Me, Katie, Kiernan, Eli, Joanne, and Erin went out for drinks. We walked around our "hostel's" area for a bit and then just got drinks and went home. The area around where we're staying isn't very nice. We're on the very southeastern edge of Paris Proper in the 17th. Lots of groups of men just sitting around - lots.

New fun drink "demi-peche" a beer with peach syrup in it. Really sweet but very delish.

Day 21 - Monday August 20th - Day 26 - Saturday September 4th

Days 21 - 26 were spent in Paris with Andrea, Denise and Allyson. It was a true girls trip, although on steroids with a ton of museums and not as much planned downtime as desired. We stayed at 123 saint honore in the 1st - right off of Louvre de Rivoli and the Louvre itself. Everyday we would get up and walk through the Louvre and the Jardins connected to it.



We walked around the Eiffel tower and grabbed lunch on our walk through St. Germain.





The Moulin Rouge ***
FANTASTIC - the food, the show, the champagne. It was a great night.

We went to a bunch of different museums - starting with Rodin. It was one of my favorites. He had such a talent for sculpting marble. Rodin could get such raw and deep emotions out of a block of stone. I've included a bunch a pictures of some of my favorite works and his most famous.We also perrused Musee D'Orsay, Musee D'Orangerie, and Musee de Claude Monet. In Giverny, which was like a 1h20 minute train ride plus a 20 minute bus ride from Vernon, we could go through Monet's house and his gardens. He has beautiful gardens, from the Chinease bridge to the waterlilys.


We had the region's famous cider and I had a ratatouille crepe.

Afterwards, we headed home, got ready, and headed out to Willi's Wine Bar. We had one of the best meals here, Guinea Foul, Beaf, Panna Cotta, and peppery wine. Good dinner for my last night!

Day 20 – Sunday August 29th

We woke up at 7:00 today because our train was arriving in Paris at 8:19. After we got off the train, we headed out and hailed a cab. The cabbie drove us to Gare de L’Est where we printed out our First class tickets from a kiosk and then sat down to have breakfast. Our train was at 10:35 to Eperny – Champagne countryside. We sat in the train station for a while just talking and eating, I was teaching Allyson, Andrea and Denise the little French I know. We hopped on our train and sat down. The car was basically empty so we all sat separately. I read an article about Champagne production and tasting and looked out the window on our 1-hour trip east through the countryside.

I learned that in Northern France, due to the climate and the claylike earth, that its hard to grow grapes to their full potential and thus champagne was born. Because of these conditions, vineyards had to harvest their grapes before being fully ripe. This means that there is less sugars in the grape and therefore the subsequent wine would be awful. Instead, they would harvest these premature grapes, bottle them and ferment them – making a tart wine – and then add yeast and sugars – to create carbon dioxide – thus making it a sparkling wine or a champagne. They turn the bottles everyday for years until the residue of yeast etc has settled, then its flash frozen and pops out – leaving only the delicious bubbly we enjoy so much.

Once we got to Eperny we got off the train and walked to our Bed and Breakfast. It’s a cute little joint with a automatic gate and rocklike driveway.

We settled down and then we out for lunch. We walked north towards the republic circle down a street that our landlady recommended to a little restaurant called Cave. It was very good. I ate escargot and artichoke for an appetizer, then I had salmon lasagna, and for dessert I had a mixture of sorbets. We got a fruityish champagne for lunch, and it was very refreshing and bubbly. Andrea didn’t feel well so she and Denise went back to the B&B after lunch while Allyson and I headed on some champagne tours.

The different places are called champagne houses. We stopped by Moet and made reservations for the next day so Denise and Andrea could come, then we walked up Avenue de Champagne towards the other houses. We stopped at Mercier and took the tour. We got to take a laser-guided train around their cellars.

They have corridors so long that you can’t see the other end of them. Their cellar system runs along underneath Avenue de Champagne. Although a huge winery, Mercier doesn’t export any product and only 2 of the 6 wines produced can be bought at other locations than their house.

Allyson and I also tried to differed Brut champagnes – a rose and a brut champagne. It started to rain so we headed home and I hopped in the shower.

Day 19 – Saturday August 28th

Today is our last day in Florence before the night train to France and then off to Champagne. We slept in today so we could relax a bit.

Denise, Allyson and I went into the Basilica and then stood in line to walk up the 436 steps up to the top of the Duomo.



After the long walk, which has you circle the inside twice and then the outside deck, we took some pictures and then headed back to Mercato Centrale.
We grabbed lunch as a cute restaurant on a side street – I had gnocchi again but this time in a pesto
– and we learned that the whole dipping your bread in olive oil pre-dinner is an American thing and not a traditional Italian thing. The woman took away our dipping plate and bread while we were eating. We had coffee and split a tiramisu and then walked around the market. The leather goods are fantastic, from coats, to every kind of bag, to wallets and belts. I wanted to get a jersey but passed, maybe I’ll get a French one?
We went out and walked down the high-end shopping street and then walked to the restaurant outside of the Uffizi museum to have dinner at the delicious restaurant again. After dinner we headed home, grabbed our bags and hailed a cab. We got to the train station in a jiffy, got on the train and waited. We got off in Milan around 10:45 and connected onto our Paris line sleeper car for 11:35. We rode in two separate pairs in 6 person cars. Andrea and I had the very top row of the 3-sided beds. It wasn’t too bad either.

Day 18 – Friday August 27th

Today is day 2 of Florence. We got up early, around 7:00 and walked to breakfast at the café down the street called nabucco – they gave us meal vouchers for one pastry, one sandwich, one coffee and a glass of orange juice. Then we headed south towards Galleria degli Uffizi.On the way we walked by the Duomo again and then ended up in Palazzo Vecchio and in Piazza della Signoria. The Uffizi is U shaped with the bottom of the U South, lying on Fiume Arno (Arno River). On the West side of the Uffizi is Ponte Vecchio – the famous bridge (Old Bridge), lined with shops.
In the 1500’s the Medicis booted out the bridge’s once buthers and tanners and installed the gold and silvers shops still seen today. You can see along the top of the bridge the Medicis’ protected and elevated passageway that led from the Palazzo Vecchio through the Uffizi, across Ponte Vecchio and up to the immense Pitti Palace.
After taking 4 hours to walk through Uffizi, we grabbed lunch and then headed down across Ponte Vecchio to Piazza Pitti and the Giardino di Boboli. The woman was rude. She asked Allyson is she was under 25 and Allyson said no, she was 26 but I said I was. She asked for proof, I pulled out my ID and she said no sorry. Allyson paid for her ticket with a 20 – the woman couldn’t make change and seemed appalled that Allyson would ask her to, so Allyson paid for my ticket as well. I went back to see if she could use my international student ID card ISIC and she said ohhh no, sorry only EU citizens get the discount. Like it just felt like we were being discriminated against. We paid 10euro each and headed into the gardens.
They aren’t as well kept, as I would have imagined, a bit wilder than I would assume. We walked through and then sat in Palazzo Pitti, talking about the history. Afterwards, we walked east, grabbed some gelato and hopped in a taxi.
We rode east up the hill to Piazzale Michelangelo getting a fantastic look of the city. From there you can view all the sites that Florence has to offer.

We went back to our hotel for a Siesta around 6:00. Around 8:00 we went out for dinner. We ended up just walking back to Mercato Centrale for dinner. We ate at ZaZa’s, which I guess is the sound a bee makes when it stings your butt cheeks – the picture for the restaurant it a little boy with two bee stings on each of his butt cheeks.

They owned the restaurant we ate at last night too, La Mamma’s or whatever. I had ravioli with walnut cream sauce. We drank 2 bottles of Chianti and just hung out and chatted. We’re hoping to sleep in tomorrow, and then climb the Duomo afterwards, but tomorrow is our last day in Florence!