Hi everyone,
This is not an incredibly glamorous post, mais bon, it's what happened today. No long-term trip to Paris would be complete without a strike. Today I proudly experienced my first (and only) Paris train strike. At least they are nice enough to announce it ahead of time. Plus it is now illegal to totally cut off train service. In 2007, they had a ridiculous amount of strikes, and everyone started getting worried about what that meant for national security, not to mention the economy, so now there is a mandatory minimum service, thank g-d. And since they announce it ahead of time, you do have time to prepare. This morning I got a nice good look at my local train station when I waited an hour and 15 minutes for my train to class. I only had to wait about 45 minutes on my way home, and overall, it was just something interesting that I'm glad I experienced.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Normandy and Brittany
Hi guys,
Sorry it's been so long. Things have been picking up since the end of the semester is quickly approaching.
This past weekend I went on a school trip to Normandy and Brittany. If you're scratching your head at the mention of those places, check out a map. They're both regions in Western France on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. We started the trip in a strange island-castle-church called Mont St. Michel. It's essentially this monastery that was built on top of this huge granite island almost on the coast. It's very impressive, like so many other French buildings. It was a little overcast that day, but still very interesting. Of course, it was a little touristy, but it really wasn't too bad.
Then we headed to a little town called St. Malo for the night. It's a marine city within a medieval wall. Unfortunately it was raining, so it was a little hard to do much exploring, but I did find a great dinner. Normandy and Brittany are known for their crepes and cider, so that's what I had. It's always so nice to go outside of Paris because the prices get so so so much cheaper.
The next day (Sunday the 8th) we headed back towards Paris with some pit stops along the way. We visited the American Cemetery in Paris at Omaha Beach, for all of you WWII buffs. It was really neat to see the beach where the Allied troops landed near the end of the war. The cemetery is beautiful, so of course that was beautiful to see. Also May 8th is the anniversary of the end of the war, so there was a nice little ceremony to commemorate that. There were tons of American vets there visiting.
Sorry it's been so long. Things have been picking up since the end of the semester is quickly approaching.
This past weekend I went on a school trip to Normandy and Brittany. If you're scratching your head at the mention of those places, check out a map. They're both regions in Western France on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. We started the trip in a strange island-castle-church called Mont St. Michel. It's essentially this monastery that was built on top of this huge granite island almost on the coast. It's very impressive, like so many other French buildings. It was a little overcast that day, but still very interesting. Of course, it was a little touristy, but it really wasn't too bad.
Then we headed to a little town called St. Malo for the night. It's a marine city within a medieval wall. Unfortunately it was raining, so it was a little hard to do much exploring, but I did find a great dinner. Normandy and Brittany are known for their crepes and cider, so that's what I had. It's always so nice to go outside of Paris because the prices get so so so much cheaper.
The next day (Sunday the 8th) we headed back towards Paris with some pit stops along the way. We visited the American Cemetery in Paris at Omaha Beach, for all of you WWII buffs. It was really neat to see the beach where the Allied troops landed near the end of the war. The cemetery is beautiful, so of course that was beautiful to see. Also May 8th is the anniversary of the end of the war, so there was a nice little ceremony to commemorate that. There were tons of American vets there visiting.
Mont St. Michel
Crepe dinner with smoked salmon and cider
Omaha Beach
The cemetery
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