Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Running Through Vineyards in Bordeaux & Stuck Behind a Herd of Cows in Normandie!!!
Heaven!! Running in Bordeaux was absolutely fantastic! And being stuck behind a herd of cows in Normandie was hilarious. Their butts were eye-level. I was amazed, I'd never been that close to the hind end of a cow before. It was an "eye-opening" experience (ha! I feel clever!)
This post will be dedicated to my favorite runs so far..... (but for now I need to go to bed, so I will leave you anxiously awaiting details!!)
In a Nutshell!!! (a very long, loooooooooong nutshell).
Phew! So much to experience, so much fun, and so little time for computers, here's what's happened the last month, in a nutshell =) A picture-less account, sorry!
NOTE: For news on WWOOF-ing, see near the bottom of this novella! And for the upcoming itinerary, see about midway through.
June 11th - June 19th: Stayed at an aunt's house in Le Mesnil St Denis, the town we used to live in when we lived in France for 3 years. It was so fun to see the apartment we used to live in and the school I used to go to. Saw my former best friend's mom and learned that she's in her 10th year of medical school - holy shlamola! This is where I met up with my parents and sister.
June 16th: The four of us, along with most of my extended French family, went to one of my favorite cousin's weddings. SO FUN! Started at 4:30 pm for the church service (in an incredibly quaint, small, stone church) and ended with a crazy fun dance party until 4:30 am. Dinner started at 10 pm, dessert was served at 12 am, but this is also when the dancing started, so I took my dessert break at 1 am. Ha!! So French. If I ever get married, that is the way I want my wedding to go! "Incroyable!!"
June 19th - June 22nd: Visit an uncle in Aubière; a small town in the Auvergne region which is gorgeous with volcanoes extending as far as you can see. Magnificent! I went on a couple of great runs with phenomenal views of volcanoes, one morning with fog clinging to the bases and it was breath-taking.
June 22nd - June 28th: Visit a cousin near Bordeaux. Got to run through vineyards on three different days and felt absolutely surreal! We spent a day visiting St Emilion and took tours of the underground church and some wine caves. We also spent a day at the beach near the Bassin D'Arcachon and played in the waves. Some of the waves beat the crap out of me, but it was tons of fun!! One of the days was dedicated to Bordeaux proper, and it still remains one of my top 3 favorite French cities (Bordeaux, Montpelier and Rennes top my list) =)
I got to celebrate my birthday on multiple days! Woohoo! =) We celebrated early on W 6/27 with some decadent ice cream (this was also the day at the beach, which I consider an absolutely fabulous way to celebrate my birthday). The actual day of, we spent driving from Bordeaux back to Aubière, and we stopped in this AMAZING little village called Turenne. It was magical! Built on a hillside, a fotified castle atop it all, and quaint houses with slate roofs and narrow streets. It was very fun to explore, although insanely hot! We ate lunch at a restaurant outside in the shade, and just sitting there, I had sweat rolling down my back. Eeeesh, not the most pleasant way to enjoy a meal. Afterwards though, it was hilarious as we did all we could to cool off, including soaking our paper napkins with water from our cups to dab the neck and face, and getting our hats wet in the bathroom. I think we were quite a specatcle. =)
That night we celebrated my birthday again with a delicious chocolate cake. YUM!! So extravagant and so fun!
June 29th - July 5th: Met my friend Aaron in Cannes, in the south of France on the Cote D'Azur! So much fun to hang out with him and explore a brand new place! I've never been to the Cote D'Azur before, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Every day we spent at least a few hours at the beach, swimming in the Mediterranean and lounging on the sand. One day was spent exporing Isle St Marguerite, which has a fort and prison (one of the four prisons where the "Iron Mask" was kept, if anybody saw the movie with Leonardo DiCaprio). We took a guided tour of the fort and prison and learned all kinds of cool stuff, which I leave Aaron to remember most of, as my retention rate is so appalling. Another day was spent at Isle St Honorat, which has a fortified monastery - INCREDIBLE!! This was my favorite day. The ancient monastery is absolutely phenomenal. Once I put pictures up, I will definitely show you. I stopped dead in my tracks and gawked once inside.
Our last day there we went to St Raphael, but after a short exploration of the town, ended up on the beach as well! The best part of St Raphael was this awesome German Shepard named Venus who learned quickly that we would do as she asked, so Aaron spent a good 30 minutes throwing a pine cone for her. It was so fun! We'd stopped to watch a game of Pétanc (lawn bowling, I believe we call it) but were more entertained by their dog. =)
I think my two favorite parts of Cannes were:
1. The market we went to every day (except Monday as it's closed) to buy fresh fruits, veggies, and other delicious treats for picnic lunches.
2. Walking on the beach barefoot. LOVE IT!! (oh yes, and having gelato while walking helped too - one scoop of coffee, and one scoop of hazelnut) =) It's very refreshing, their 1 scoops here are actually the size of 1 scoop versus our scoops, which I feel have grown to gargantuan portions of 2-3 scoops but try to still go by 'single scoop' labels.
Oh yes, and I got to go on two amazing runs while I was there. One was right along the Mediterranean, and I ended up in a different town. I love running past city limits! Can't explain why it gives me so much joy, but it does! The other run had some serious hills and one SPECTACULAR view of the sea and coast from the top. Talk about a serious reward for hard work. That is what I love about climbing hills. The views are absolutely priceless. The biggest bummer is that I keep forgetting to bring my camera on runs, so I have yet to capture any of the gorgeous things I see on my runs. They're just burned into my memory; but I wish I could share them with you!
July 5th - July 11th: Normandie!! Met back up with my parents (my sister unfortunately had to go back to work - I MISS YOU CHANTAL!!) for my uncle's 50th wedding anniversary! HOLY SHLAMOLA! Getting to experience someone's 50th wedding annivesary was incredible and very thought and emotion provoking. It is truly unbelievable the things that they have lived through and all of the lives they have affected.
The celebration was on Saturday, July 7th and started at 3:30 pm at the mayor's house. At 4:30 pm we all went to the church (another very cute, quaint, small stone church) for the service and at 5:30 pm the celebrations began at the "Salle des Fetes." We didnt't start eating until 10 pm again, but this dinner was much more drawn out and had more courses (7 to be exact) with singing scattered here and there (they were very organized and even provided handouts with lyrics!!) We started eating the salad at 1:15 in the morning. It was crazy! But very French! I was out of steam by 2 am for this party though, so called it a night at 2:30 am.
The rest of the days were spent with family, either helping to set-up or clean up from the festivities. We spent one day going to St Lo with my parents so I could show them the town I lived in for 9 months during my teaching assistantship. I took them to my favorite path to run on which is right by the river and has a spectacular mansion / castle along the way. It was so wonderful to be back!
I went on two absolutely fabulous runs in Normandie and realized how dearly I miss living there! On my first run, I actually got stuck behind a herd of cows for 5 minutes as the farmers transferred them from one field to another. =) Only in Normandie! Running and biking through the Normandie country-side is absolutely one of my favorite things to do. It actually beats running by the Mediterranean, if anyone can believe that. I don't know what it is, but I'm terribly drawn to rainy, lush green places (check: Normandie and Seattle!!)
Today, W 7/11 I took the train back to Paris to meet up with my aunt and uncle back in Le Mesnil. Tomorrow morning we leave for L'Isle de Noirmoutier. =)
And now, projected plans for the month, as who knows how long it will be before I get back on to blog again:
July 12th - July 15th = Noirmoutier with aunt and uncle to start, then my cousin and his new wife will join for a short weekend. Return with my cousin on Sunday night to be in Paris on Monday morning.
July 16 - July 20th = meet my wonderful friend Rose in Lille, France. Another totally new place to explore! I haven't seen Rose in far too long as well, so I'm extremely excited about the whole thing!
July 20th - July 24th = going on my first solo adventure to Brussels! WOOHOO!! I can hardly wait! Never been to Belgium and am super psyched to explore it!
July 24th - July 29th = Back to France, in the NE to a little town called Luttanges to visit another favorite cousin. Will be meeting back up with my parents at this point until August 3rd.
July 29th - August 3rd = Quick trip to a nearby town called Sarrebourg to visit an aunt and uncle.
August 3rd - August 20th = Return to Normandie. Can never spend too much time here! OH!! And talk about "meant to be"!!! I think I may end up WWOOF-ing there in March. My parents and I stayed at a 'gite' in Normandie at this incredibly cute farm and it turns out they're looking for help next year and are going to list themselves on the WWOOF website. WHAT??!!! You don't say! How incredibly cool! They're extremely nice people and I simply love the idea of working with them - we are very like-minded and they have bikes and badminton, and a gorgeous flower garden and tea garden....the list goes on and on. We exchanged emails and plan to keep in touch. I see myself there, but I guess we shall see how it all works out.
In other WWOOF-ing news!! I have two farms set up in Ireland and two in Scotland. All are set for stints of 3 weeks. I'm so excited about it I can hardly stand it! My first farm host has also just started an at home bakery so I get to help bake bread the first two days I am there! I start on September 7th on a farm near Dublin.
Until that point, I've got: August 20th - 27th back at Bordeaux with another favorite cousin and together we'll go to an old family house that's been passed down the generation in an area called La Creuse. Should be there from August 27th - September 2nd. This house used to be so rustic that we took showers outside when I was little. Great memories! They have since added a shower inside. It's such a fun place and so full of memories, I'm really excited to go back.
September 3rd: Depart for Ireland! I just got my plane ticket today and am also SUPER EXCITED (do you see a trend??) =)
But, all of that being said, and having purchased travel arrangements and hostels, etc.... I have spent about 6 hours at the computer today, so I am going to call it quits now. We'll see if I feel motivated enough for morning of TRX before we leave tomorrow. It's so much easier for me to get out of bed to run than TRX, but we shall see, it's sleepy-time!
NOTE: For news on WWOOF-ing, see near the bottom of this novella! And for the upcoming itinerary, see about midway through.
June 11th - June 19th: Stayed at an aunt's house in Le Mesnil St Denis, the town we used to live in when we lived in France for 3 years. It was so fun to see the apartment we used to live in and the school I used to go to. Saw my former best friend's mom and learned that she's in her 10th year of medical school - holy shlamola! This is where I met up with my parents and sister.
June 16th: The four of us, along with most of my extended French family, went to one of my favorite cousin's weddings. SO FUN! Started at 4:30 pm for the church service (in an incredibly quaint, small, stone church) and ended with a crazy fun dance party until 4:30 am. Dinner started at 10 pm, dessert was served at 12 am, but this is also when the dancing started, so I took my dessert break at 1 am. Ha!! So French. If I ever get married, that is the way I want my wedding to go! "Incroyable!!"
June 19th - June 22nd: Visit an uncle in Aubière; a small town in the Auvergne region which is gorgeous with volcanoes extending as far as you can see. Magnificent! I went on a couple of great runs with phenomenal views of volcanoes, one morning with fog clinging to the bases and it was breath-taking.
June 22nd - June 28th: Visit a cousin near Bordeaux. Got to run through vineyards on three different days and felt absolutely surreal! We spent a day visiting St Emilion and took tours of the underground church and some wine caves. We also spent a day at the beach near the Bassin D'Arcachon and played in the waves. Some of the waves beat the crap out of me, but it was tons of fun!! One of the days was dedicated to Bordeaux proper, and it still remains one of my top 3 favorite French cities (Bordeaux, Montpelier and Rennes top my list) =)
I got to celebrate my birthday on multiple days! Woohoo! =) We celebrated early on W 6/27 with some decadent ice cream (this was also the day at the beach, which I consider an absolutely fabulous way to celebrate my birthday). The actual day of, we spent driving from Bordeaux back to Aubière, and we stopped in this AMAZING little village called Turenne. It was magical! Built on a hillside, a fotified castle atop it all, and quaint houses with slate roofs and narrow streets. It was very fun to explore, although insanely hot! We ate lunch at a restaurant outside in the shade, and just sitting there, I had sweat rolling down my back. Eeeesh, not the most pleasant way to enjoy a meal. Afterwards though, it was hilarious as we did all we could to cool off, including soaking our paper napkins with water from our cups to dab the neck and face, and getting our hats wet in the bathroom. I think we were quite a specatcle. =)
That night we celebrated my birthday again with a delicious chocolate cake. YUM!! So extravagant and so fun!
June 29th - July 5th: Met my friend Aaron in Cannes, in the south of France on the Cote D'Azur! So much fun to hang out with him and explore a brand new place! I've never been to the Cote D'Azur before, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Every day we spent at least a few hours at the beach, swimming in the Mediterranean and lounging on the sand. One day was spent exporing Isle St Marguerite, which has a fort and prison (one of the four prisons where the "Iron Mask" was kept, if anybody saw the movie with Leonardo DiCaprio). We took a guided tour of the fort and prison and learned all kinds of cool stuff, which I leave Aaron to remember most of, as my retention rate is so appalling. Another day was spent at Isle St Honorat, which has a fortified monastery - INCREDIBLE!! This was my favorite day. The ancient monastery is absolutely phenomenal. Once I put pictures up, I will definitely show you. I stopped dead in my tracks and gawked once inside.
Our last day there we went to St Raphael, but after a short exploration of the town, ended up on the beach as well! The best part of St Raphael was this awesome German Shepard named Venus who learned quickly that we would do as she asked, so Aaron spent a good 30 minutes throwing a pine cone for her. It was so fun! We'd stopped to watch a game of Pétanc (lawn bowling, I believe we call it) but were more entertained by their dog. =)
I think my two favorite parts of Cannes were:
1. The market we went to every day (except Monday as it's closed) to buy fresh fruits, veggies, and other delicious treats for picnic lunches.
2. Walking on the beach barefoot. LOVE IT!! (oh yes, and having gelato while walking helped too - one scoop of coffee, and one scoop of hazelnut) =) It's very refreshing, their 1 scoops here are actually the size of 1 scoop versus our scoops, which I feel have grown to gargantuan portions of 2-3 scoops but try to still go by 'single scoop' labels.
Oh yes, and I got to go on two amazing runs while I was there. One was right along the Mediterranean, and I ended up in a different town. I love running past city limits! Can't explain why it gives me so much joy, but it does! The other run had some serious hills and one SPECTACULAR view of the sea and coast from the top. Talk about a serious reward for hard work. That is what I love about climbing hills. The views are absolutely priceless. The biggest bummer is that I keep forgetting to bring my camera on runs, so I have yet to capture any of the gorgeous things I see on my runs. They're just burned into my memory; but I wish I could share them with you!
July 5th - July 11th: Normandie!! Met back up with my parents (my sister unfortunately had to go back to work - I MISS YOU CHANTAL!!) for my uncle's 50th wedding anniversary! HOLY SHLAMOLA! Getting to experience someone's 50th wedding annivesary was incredible and very thought and emotion provoking. It is truly unbelievable the things that they have lived through and all of the lives they have affected.
The celebration was on Saturday, July 7th and started at 3:30 pm at the mayor's house. At 4:30 pm we all went to the church (another very cute, quaint, small stone church) for the service and at 5:30 pm the celebrations began at the "Salle des Fetes." We didnt't start eating until 10 pm again, but this dinner was much more drawn out and had more courses (7 to be exact) with singing scattered here and there (they were very organized and even provided handouts with lyrics!!) We started eating the salad at 1:15 in the morning. It was crazy! But very French! I was out of steam by 2 am for this party though, so called it a night at 2:30 am.
The rest of the days were spent with family, either helping to set-up or clean up from the festivities. We spent one day going to St Lo with my parents so I could show them the town I lived in for 9 months during my teaching assistantship. I took them to my favorite path to run on which is right by the river and has a spectacular mansion / castle along the way. It was so wonderful to be back!
I went on two absolutely fabulous runs in Normandie and realized how dearly I miss living there! On my first run, I actually got stuck behind a herd of cows for 5 minutes as the farmers transferred them from one field to another. =) Only in Normandie! Running and biking through the Normandie country-side is absolutely one of my favorite things to do. It actually beats running by the Mediterranean, if anyone can believe that. I don't know what it is, but I'm terribly drawn to rainy, lush green places (check: Normandie and Seattle!!)
Today, W 7/11 I took the train back to Paris to meet up with my aunt and uncle back in Le Mesnil. Tomorrow morning we leave for L'Isle de Noirmoutier. =)
And now, projected plans for the month, as who knows how long it will be before I get back on to blog again:
July 12th - July 15th = Noirmoutier with aunt and uncle to start, then my cousin and his new wife will join for a short weekend. Return with my cousin on Sunday night to be in Paris on Monday morning.
July 16 - July 20th = meet my wonderful friend Rose in Lille, France. Another totally new place to explore! I haven't seen Rose in far too long as well, so I'm extremely excited about the whole thing!
July 20th - July 24th = going on my first solo adventure to Brussels! WOOHOO!! I can hardly wait! Never been to Belgium and am super psyched to explore it!
July 24th - July 29th = Back to France, in the NE to a little town called Luttanges to visit another favorite cousin. Will be meeting back up with my parents at this point until August 3rd.
July 29th - August 3rd = Quick trip to a nearby town called Sarrebourg to visit an aunt and uncle.
August 3rd - August 20th = Return to Normandie. Can never spend too much time here! OH!! And talk about "meant to be"!!! I think I may end up WWOOF-ing there in March. My parents and I stayed at a 'gite' in Normandie at this incredibly cute farm and it turns out they're looking for help next year and are going to list themselves on the WWOOF website. WHAT??!!! You don't say! How incredibly cool! They're extremely nice people and I simply love the idea of working with them - we are very like-minded and they have bikes and badminton, and a gorgeous flower garden and tea garden....the list goes on and on. We exchanged emails and plan to keep in touch. I see myself there, but I guess we shall see how it all works out.
In other WWOOF-ing news!! I have two farms set up in Ireland and two in Scotland. All are set for stints of 3 weeks. I'm so excited about it I can hardly stand it! My first farm host has also just started an at home bakery so I get to help bake bread the first two days I am there! I start on September 7th on a farm near Dublin.
Until that point, I've got: August 20th - 27th back at Bordeaux with another favorite cousin and together we'll go to an old family house that's been passed down the generation in an area called La Creuse. Should be there from August 27th - September 2nd. This house used to be so rustic that we took showers outside when I was little. Great memories! They have since added a shower inside. It's such a fun place and so full of memories, I'm really excited to go back.
September 3rd: Depart for Ireland! I just got my plane ticket today and am also SUPER EXCITED (do you see a trend??) =)
But, all of that being said, and having purchased travel arrangements and hostels, etc.... I have spent about 6 hours at the computer today, so I am going to call it quits now. We'll see if I feel motivated enough for morning of TRX before we leave tomorrow. It's so much easier for me to get out of bed to run than TRX, but we shall see, it's sleepy-time!
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