"On a clear day...."

This statement was said many times on Saturday. 

We had an excursion to Saint Malo and Mont Saint Michel.

Saint Malo

narrow streets in the walled city!

Turret on the corner

ramparts!

SO FOGGY

AHA '12

American sized coffee. Found out it was €4 after the fact.

Adorable Evian bottle

Belle- Helene Crepe:

Crepe, Pear, Vanilla Ice Cream, Chantilly Cream and Chocolate Sause

Sign in the Restaurant!

Crepes are a Brittany specialty!

Macaroons!

Tide when we got there

Tide when we left!

Pirate ship!

Pretty blue door!

Ma Frands

Super foggy

Mont Saint Michel

ChiChis (Churros) on the way down!

AHA Ladies in front of Mont Saint Michel

When we arrived

Front of Water spigot, I thought it was cool

Inside the Abbey

Cloisters

Standing in the middle of the cloisters

Chain. Those tiny things are busses (It's really far up)

Parfait pour moi!

Sweet ceiling

It was very grey...

UPDATES:

This weekend: March 2-4, I'm off to PARIS to celebrate a 21er!

March 23-25, DUBLIN. I might cry I'm so excited. We're doing a pub crawl.

May 17-20, we have a 4 day weekend, so we're heading to LONDON

Also, we're thinking about going to Coatia for part of spring break, does anyone have any information?

Hey there, Culture Shock

I thought I wasn't going to get culture shock.

I've lived in Europe before. 

I thought I was fine.

Until last night.

I was.

Then Dinner happened. 

We were eating our lovely potage (veggie soup that's pureed), and I saw them.

Our main course. 

A Boudin (prononced Bou-duh) for all of you San Franciscans

Which turns out, is a blood sausage.

Yes, you read that right, blood. 

Curdled blood to be exact.

And I had to eat it. 

I have never eaten one, but somehow I knew that the black sausage sitting in the pan was blood. 

My brain and stomach FREAKED out.

I ended up having to leave dinner to be sick.

It was so embarrasing. 

Let me tell you, it is very difficult to communicate that you never ever want to eat that again when you don't speak the same language. 

It was fine, I ate the apples, cheese and dessert. 

The rest of dinner was really awkward, as was breakfast this morning. 

I didn't want her to think that I didn't like her cooking, because it's usually really good.

However, my culture doesn't eat blood sausages. 

Dinner tonight was much better (we had salmon)

and she kept joking about how tonight's was better than yesterday.

We were talking about how my friends and I are going to Paris in a few weeks and she was helping with my grammar. Which was wonderful. 

The last 24 hours have made me realize that plunking yourself down into another culture is REALLY hard, and very shocking at times. 

but SO worth it. 

And I'm so grateful to have so many wonderful people around me to go through this with me. 

Chateaux de la Loire

Yesterday, we went Chateauin'

We went to 3 chateaux: d'Azay-le-Rideau, Chanonceau, and Chambord

d'Azay-le-Rideau

This Chateau was built between 1518 and 1529.

It's considered a Museum of the Renaissance, because of the tapestries and paintings!

 Little village of Azay-le-Brule

 Le Chateau

 It was a little misty...

 Le Chateau

Alyssa and I in front of the Chateau

Bein' artsy

Chenonceaux

This cheateau is built over the river Cher. 

It was built between 1513 and 1521. 

It's known as the Chateau of Ladies, Catherine de Medici lived here!

[I also had major deja-vu when I got there. I didn't remember that I had been there and when I steped up to the castle I remebered. It was so creepy!]

 Tree lined drive!

Moi!

 The facade of the chateau!

 Sweet floor tile!

 It's built into the river!

Alyssa and I!

Chambord

Chambord is the most famous of the three we went to. 

It's MASSIVE.

440 rooms, 365 (one for each day of the year) chimnees, and 57 stair cases

Francois 1 lived here. 

It's also famous for raspberry liquor, however about 3 oz was 8 euros!

massive!

Etchings in the facade

Coronation things

Francois 1st's symbol was the salamandar!

trophy room

Chimneys

Chimney

Although the weather was not ideal (overcast and rather dreary) and the day was very long (12 hours, 5 of those spent exploring the 3 chateaux) it was so much fun! 

Next week: Sant Malo and Mont St Michel

Two Weeks: PARIS for Laura's 21st birthday!