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FRANCE/Europe 2007

a travel blog by daniellebachan

a collection of experiences from France and Europe ..
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Baton Rouge, United States



permalink written by  daniellebachan on August 10, 2007 from Baton Rouge, United States
from the travel blog: FRANCE/Europe 2007
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Leaving

Houston, United States

So I have packed up my belongings from LSU and moved to Houston only to turn around and move again for a month to France... I have lived out of a suitcase for a little over 5 years now, It is hard to believe... Needless to say I am excited to have all of my personal belongings in one place at one time..

Graduation

I have not begun to actually pack yet... I have a dilemma it is 107 degrees right now in Houston, in Paris it is 68 degrees, It never gets much colder than that ever in Houston much less in August. I am having to dig out some of the winter clothes and scarves. I also know the rules, must always wear a dark color and comfortable non-ugly shoes are a must...

This is my travel blog from this summers trip to France and hopefully it will be updated once I travel with work I will post on the job updates as well... This will include my experiences, stories, pictures, insight, as well as serious observances. I will be in a wi-fi cafe by the Eiffel Tower updating daily... Feel free to check back as often as you like... Au revior USA!


LSU graduation

permalink written by  daniellebachan on August 14, 2007 from Houston, United States
from the travel blog: FRANCE/Europe 2007
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blowing fuses

Paris, France


Me in front of the Eiffel Tower

So I blew a fuse or quite a few in the apartment today attempting to blow dry my hair... so the guy at brookstone has some beef with me one month from now... The bad news beyond feeling bad about that is that we tried to flip the breaker and that shut off all power to the flat so we were without lights for about an hour and my hair was "travel hair" all day it actually was ok as you can see from the photo... good side is it allowed us to drink a glass of wine in the pitch black while viewing the sparkling Eiffel tower from the apt. windows it is stunning in the pitch black of the night ... So finally we got the power back on and here I am able to write on 20% battery power I left but, from now on it will only be writing from agathes computer because mine will die and due to past history with american plugs and alleged converters... After we had dinner at the house with agathe and one of her friends from the university we went down to the eiffel tower and saw and american couple and he proposed to her under the eiffel tower after they ate dinner on the 2nd story, there is a restaurant on the 2nd level it is very expensive but apparently according to the locals worth the 150$ a plate... It was somethign the I saw myself one day doing... except i would have had incognito photographers and dressed up nicer, as well as flowers and champagne because it is not everyday you are in paris and get proposed to, right? Anyway, this was a picture I took tonight it looks like a postcard if you want to ask me.... It was worth the freezing 54 degree wind and weather to get it as well... :)


I am leaving for Normandy for the weekend and we are staying at Agathe's friends holiday house so it will be a good time, it is 2 hours by car, a small drive compared to baton rouge- houston drive huh?...I do not know if I will be able to call due to country codes changing or if there will be a computer available but i will try my best... but if you do not hear from me it is ok I am fine... and will call on my return sunday or monday... we are going to the site of dday omaha beach... and allegedly the bunkers are still there to this day and we will also view the cemetery of the american soldiers from dday so all of that will be interesting and educational at the same time... I have heard about it for so many years and even seen the movies but I do not think that anything could ever replace the actual viewing in person... if possible I will look for something for dad... not sure what but I will look... Au revior

ps: the last picture is the view of the eiffel tower from my bed room window... talk about a view... the 1st one is of me outside of the eiffel tower and the other is my postcard picture i took of the eiffel tower at night on August 17th 2007...

permalink written by  daniellebachan on August 17, 2007 from Paris, France
from the travel blog: FRANCE/Europe 2007
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Veauville, France



permalink written by  daniellebachan on August 19, 2007 from Veauville, France
from the travel blog: FRANCE/Europe 2007
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normandy is NOT a city ?

Deauville-les-Bains, France

After a ridiculously long metro ride and 4 station changes I thought we were going to take the metro all the way to Normandy and with numerous bags and other items that would have been the worst thing possible but, no we came out of the metro and there was a neighborhood with actual houses and gardens its rare for that in Paris (think a house in Manhattan) and we go up to one of the houses i wish i could have gotten a picture of it but Agathe's friend Helen came out before i could snap it, and its not really nice o say hey hold on a min can i take a picture of your house? lol and how stupid would I have looked? So we drive for 2 hours in Helen's personal car, also very rare for even a family to have a car much less a girl who is 23... I am amazed as we drive how pretty the north of France is most of it looks like its out of saving private ryan or band of brothers she has a house on the hill of course lol it is a 200 year old court house that was converted into her home... it is only her home for her to ride horses she is ranked nationally in France for English jumping (over the bar kind without the western looking saddle and the cute boots and stuff)... her mother is an heir to a newish furniture family and her sister and father passed away about ten years ago and her mother and her live very well... Helen told me that her mother remarried into a British royalty lineage kind of thing... cool huh? so Helen does what she wants and buys houses and such but for as rich as she is she is very down to earth even wears gap jeans... lol...Her mother is in the rich sightings in Paris section of the magazines how cool Helen is in sometimes Agathe said but mostly to criticize her boyfriend... the story continues with her boyfriend who is so nice and funny is a guy she met who is a stable boy and after 2 years she helped him get a better job and they hope to marry and she wants to live in Normandy and ride horses for a living... a sweet little story out of such sad events, needless to say the house looked like ralph laurens equestrian line was born there... She had her three friends there at the same time as agathe and I, nicolas owns a tack store in Paris, julien; he is a popular news writer and he writes on the gossip of the rich and famous thats how they became friends, and pierre-eve her boyfriend, as well as her best friend fannie... we had a wonderful time with them and ate crab claws the size of my foot last night it was crazy thought dad wouldn't believe it so I got a picture ...

So we stayed in Deauville with the other kids and they rode horses in the morning while agathe and I slept, these kids are devoted getting up at 5am to ride... So the lesson of the weekend Normandy is a REGION of france not a city... i wish i knew that before i asked to go to normandy, they said we are in normandy... lol so omaha beach was planned for Monday afternoon it is a 2 hour drive from the house and that morning it was pouring and about 35 degrees outside and since we all already have colds going and walking around a even colder beach in the pouring rain we opted not to go... it is ok by me because I do not think I would have enjoyed it if it were in that type of weather... so we took the 4 wheelers out and rode around in the pastures and were covered n mud good thing we had jump suits and boots on so we just hosed off after and looked like brand new...


The house in Deauville... cest manifique...


The view from my bedroom window... Looks like band of brothers?


Agathe and I with the 4- Wheelers .... we even wore helmets!


Normandy


The view behind the house...


On Monday we also went to the Darley horse races but this is no sam houston race park sleezys betting a few dollars and drinking sheap beer... This was big time like the president of France and the sec of state were there sitting near us, we looked at the paper the next day for us on the front page because we were so close but, it was of no luck bummer. The races were incredible the amount of money people were betting was unreal a guy near us bet over one million a horse because his wife said it was pretty.. i was thinking wow are you kidding me? he lost and everyone had to hear about his stupid wife and her bad idea, lol. I didn't bet because I didn't know how to bed in french, not something you learn in school but a guy comes around and takes the bets on a slip of paper not on a computer, so it is very old fashioned but interesting to watch almost like stock trading... oh and it appears that brit's like to bet and watch horse racing they were everywhere...


The Horse races... Agathe, Helen, and Me


The Darley Horse races.. the American is in Blue...

We left on Wen today and rode the train back to Paris.. it cost thirty us dollars for a train ride home thats unreal bc the gas would have cost 5X that at home; I slept the whole time and now I am ready for another great day in Paris... any suggestions on where I could charge the camera it looks like a few more days and its dead??... I got my computer to hook up to Agathe's and now I am all French connected with wifi and all...

Also, dad I looked for a Adrienne something helmet but I couldn't find one... sorry Hope all is well in Texas...

permalink written by  daniellebachan on August 21, 2007 from Deauville-les-Bains, France
from the travel blog: FRANCE/Europe 2007
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Back in Paris...

Paris, France

So as you can tell I am back in Paris hence the writing on this... I wanted to keep an accurate log of the travels so this stop had to be made.
It has been raining for 2 days now... I am a little fed up with the rain... its hard to go and see things when it is pouring outside, I guess I have my own little hurricane Dean over here... We walk everywhere and we have ot do it in the rain its not cool when we have to go to the grocery store and then tromp home in the flooding streets lol... Just imagine all of the bags you get next time at the grocery and then imagine having to walk 20 or so blocks with them in your hands... Its unreal no wonder why everything is in such small portions...

We went to a dinner party at one of Agathe's friends house... She is in film school and speaks English very well... Its unreal how all of her friends feel like they don't speak English well but it is almost perfect... The royalty was not at the party but the others were very very intelligent... asking about my views on stem cell research, gun laws in the US, Hillary and obama, voting stats in the US, religion differences, why I like GWBush, smoking laws in LA, and drinking laws in the US.... That is all I can remember now that we spoke about but keep in mind this is ALL in English, they preferred to speak in English to practice... One of the best speakers who is 24 said he learned English slang and other words we use from playing vidio games online where you have a live connection to other players and you speak and also from watching TV shows in english like law and order and friends... How cool is that? I could not even begin to watch French TV and start to speak... It was good to have intellectual conversation with young adults because that rarely happens in the us... I tried to explain that we do not have dinner parties we have keg parties but it was difficult.. lol


Some of the Group at the Dinner Party

I learned some fun phrases... like if you are the one to pour the last of the wine bottle the phrase is " get married or kill yourself" in one year lol... Also when you cheers someone you ahve to look them in the eye or it is bad luck and you must cheers everyone... not like us lazy people from across the room... the other fun thing is you ahve to do the 2 kisses on both cheeks to EVERYONE... it took about 20 min to do it at the party because there were about 20 people there... wow again I could not imagine... The students at the party said they admire me for being so different from other Americans because I have an opinion and I also know when to say it and when not to, that is the French peoples biggest problem with American students...

After the party the metro was closed at 2am so we had to call a taxi and wait in the rain it was fun because the taxi that picked us up was a Bently... never in the US you almost need to clorox your body after a taxi in the US... this was wonderful but it should have been after the 40$ price...

I will be in the south for the weekend doing the vineyard harvest so i will update with pictures and stories after I return on Monday...

This is of before the rain started I LOVE this picture...


Eiffel Tower glittering



permalink written by  daniellebachan on August 22, 2007 from Paris, France
from the travel blog: FRANCE/Europe 2007
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vendange: the wine harvest

Montpellier, France

I am leaving tommorrow for the vineyard so updates and pictures soon...

permalink written by  daniellebachan on August 23, 2007 from Montpellier, France
from the travel blog: FRANCE/Europe 2007
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Le Vendange- Vineyard Harvest

Lansargues, France

The VENDANGE is the most difficult thing physically that I have ever had to do... besides the climbing of the Pyrenees in France last time I was here... Lets begin from the breakfast... started at 6am consisted of coffee, tea and juices as well as a million types of bread and fruit (healthy compared to our fatty waffles and whatnot).... Then we were briefed on the events of the day....
My team of three set out to cut the grapes... we were told how o cut them so we didn't cut one of our fingers off (it has actually happened every year)....It was about 98 degrees outside and we are rolling around on our backs and crouched down cutting grapes... then loaded them into big buckets weighing about 30 lbs each... then the team of loaders came around with a huge tractor and loaded the buckets into the big dump truck looking machine where the stems were to be removed and the seeds taken out as well as the skin removed for the grapes...

All of the wives cooked all day and came around with snacks and water about every thirty min so that gave us some extra energy and fuel to keep on cutting... We had lunch for 2 hours of mussles and boiled shrimp during the hottest part of the day... The rest was well deserved as well as needed...


The harvest and cutting of the grapes...

After the lunch we went back out until sun set when the harvest is over... whatever was not cut that day would not be included into the bottle... The vengange is more for the best of all of the wines... the 150$ bottle grapes are hand picked and thats why it is so good as well as expensive...


The vineyard logo and ennty...

Me cutting grapes

After the party began in which the 6 course dinner was served and 2 lambs were roasted as well as about everything French you could imagine was served... The party had a live band and servers... talk about a party too bad we all were covered in dirt and grape juice and smelled awful...lol The party lasted until 3am... The rest of the weekend we rested and continued to eat and drink in celebration of a great harvest and past season... The wine was featured in 6 books with 4 out of 5 stars in each... So the sales for the next year will be excellent due to the ratings...


Gerlandin and I at the harvest party

Needless to say I am still so sore from the lifting and cutting and still have all ten fingers so it was a great harvest... Minus the wine headache that will be there for a few days...

On Monday before I left we got to go to the beach it was a bit freezing but, it was fun because its pretty dark blue water and with the weather this past week this was a nice change...


The beach at the mediteranean


geraldine and I at the beach

permalink written by  daniellebachan on August 27, 2007 from Lansargues, France
from the travel blog: FRANCE/Europe 2007
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the monet exibit

Paris, France

}We went to the Monet exhibit at the musee d'orsey... It is an old train station converted into a museum... I got a great picture o me from behind looking at the huge 12 foot water lilies of Monet... They also had the girls with the umbrellas and the Japanese garden with the bridge ones... It was wonderful to see his famous paintings and be so close to them... There was a little girl with her linea goes to Monet's garden book and doll and it made me think of me...

the inside of the musee d-orsay

After the museum we went to the Les Invalides, the wounded and disabled war veterans hospital built by Napoleon... The building is phenomenal on the inside... The lines were too long to go and see Napoleans grave site, he is buried there because he believed that he should be with those who lost their lives fighting for the country they both loved... Kind of a nice gesture... We went into his personal chapel St. Louis and it is almost 75% covered in gold... It was almost more amazing than Notre Dame cathedral... Mostly because this was for him and only him to worship in,... The walls have all of the flags of the enemies that he defeated in the chapel... It is strange to me to have your enemies flags in a place of worship but, to each his own... This was where we went before he went off to battle to pray... there is one spot where jesus' tomb is recreated in marble where he would pray but, that area is obviously blocked off for us common folks... lol The most amazing thing to me is that the floors we were walking on are the same floors that Napoleon himself walked on and the others in that time... I think its great that the cracks and problems in the floors and cobblestone driveways have not been replaced because that is so neat to me that we can walk on the exact same floors... That is something we don't have at home because nothing is even close to that old in the us but we tend to replace old things in which it in reality is the most amazing part in my opinion to share that.... I tried my best to get a picture inside the chaple but without a flash its hard...


the inside of napoleans personal chapel st. louis

We also went shopping all day almost yesterday in Les Gallaries Lafayette it looks like a cathedral inside... sure puts Saks in NYC to complete shame... We didn't buy anything partly because its all galleria in Houston prices but it sure is fun to look around the 6 story department store...


the department store gallaries lafayette

Tomorrow we are goign to Notre Dame Cathedral, The Moulin Rouge and The Pigall.... Plans migt change but as of now at 1am thats the plan...


permalink written by  daniellebachan on August 29, 2007 from Paris, France
from the travel blog: FRANCE/Europe 2007
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The Notre Dame Cathedral

Paris, France

We went notre dame cathedral today... It was wonderful despite the 5 euro charge to light a candle... So i lit one and the nun said I could keep the other as a souvenir... a new jesus candle with "Notre Dame de Paris" on it... The pictures I got were phenomenal... I had a great opportunity to just roam around... The bells began to ring and agathe and I were separated from each other... So thats when I opted to light my candle and sit and wait for the commotion to cease... It didn't especially when the cardinal came in and the young kids were acolytes in front of him... We had come to visit during the afternoon mass... I learned how to turn off my flash and I got a few pictures when we were leaving of the cardinal giving the mass... It was amazing because half is in French and half is in Latin... How amazing, what a wonderful opportunity... on the negative, It was extremely difficult to even begin to concentrate on the service while people aka: dumb Americans are using flash cameras all around you in your little pew and yelling children... after 5 min of that I was ready to wanna say something but since I was in church I vowed to never use a FLASH camera in a church EVER again... I think everyone else should do the same...

We had a wonderful dinner tonight as well since the parents came back from the south... Agathe and I cooked for 2.5 hours and the dinner was amazing... I found out why she wanted such an extravagant dinner... she had over drafted her account by 1,000 euros... WOW and in the words of her father... "come on Agathe"....

More to come tomorrow after the days events...

permalink written by  daniellebachan on August 30, 2007 from Paris, France
from the travel blog: FRANCE/Europe 2007
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