I've been "off the grid" - or off the internet at least! - so it's been a while since my last post. I assure you that I've used my time wisely! For the first time in my memory, I had two whole weeks of vacation for my spring/mid-semester break...and it was amazing! Thanks to the generosity of good friends I was able to spend the first week of my vacation in the Savoie region in the south-east of France (at the base of the French Alps) with Debbie and her fiancée Wim. The weather, food, and scenery were all incredible! For a girl from the midwest, waking up to mountains every morning was a new experience - I think I spent most of my time there with my nose pressed up against the window just trying to take it all in! The weekend I arrived there was an exposition for the St. Jean de Maurienne photo club "Photo Folies" of which Wim is a member, so I was able to see some absolutely beautiful photographs taken by mostly amateur photographers and showcasing everything from the local wildlife to scenes from Carneval in Venice. And while the photos were breathtaking, my favorite part of the expo was spending time getting to know the other photographers and their wives at the meals we shared together at the expo center. They were a very welcoming group, and so much fun! Most of them have lived in the region their whole lives and are close friends with each other. Saturday at dinner I laughed so hard I was exhausted! It was also a lot of fun for me (and great practice!) as I was elected/self-elected to translate for Debbie - between translating their comments for her into English and her comments for them into French I was really put to work! The food, prepared by the wives of the club members, was just incredible. After dinner, they started passing around two different "digestifs" - a very French tradition. The French love tradition, and the drinking etiquette at dinner is no exception. Before dinner, you have an "aperitif" - a kind of appetizer drink; during dinner, you (of course) drink wine; and after dinner you have a "digestif" - literally a "digestive" drink. The first one they had was a bottle of Chartreuse, a very strong liquor brewed by monks in the Chartreuse monastery in the mountains whose only contact with other humans is to sell the liquor (they apparently take a vow of silence). The second one was a home brew called genepi named for a local mountain flower they use to make it. Patrick, the president of the club, pulled the bottle out and it looked exactly like the bottles of "moonshine" I've seen in cartoons and bad movies. To be polite (and because we were more than a little curious) Debbie and I both tried a sip of the genepi - she estimated it at about 150 proof. We decided that it aids in digestion by destroying the contacts of your stomach!
In addition to photo expo, we also spent some time just relaxing, enjoying the beautiful views, and eating lunch out on the porch in front of the house. On Monday, they took me hiking near the mountains Les Aiguilles d'Arves. It was a lot of work, but Wim was a great guide and really helpful for me as a novice mountain climber. We saw some completely gorgeous landscapes and picnicked on some rocks up in the snow. I forgot that you can still get sunburned when it's cold and ended up a little pink (and sore!) at the end of our day but saw some amazing things and really enjoyed myself. We also were able to eat at two local restaurants where Wim knows the owner and sample a lot of the regional specialties. It was a delightful change from Paris to be in a small town where everybody knows each other and even if you don't you wave and smile when you drive past! I can also safely say that I may have instigated another Orangina addiction - you're welcome Debbie!
My second week of vacation, I traveled to Italy with my friend Kimmie (from church at home) who's also studying in France this semester. We figured out one day when we were talking that we had an overlapping week of vacation and decided to plan a trip together. We spent the first part of our week (actually 9 days total) in Rome, and the second half in Naples. Rome was very beautiful, and we enjoyed being real tourists - trekking all over the city, visiting all the sights, and taking tons of pictures! As neither of us speak any Italian (besides grazie!) we were initially a little nervous, but we had very good luck in both Rome and Naples at either finding someone who spoke/understood some English or using hand gestures and pointing to communicate. We hit up all the "main" sights, including the Coloseum, Palatine Hill, the Trevi Fountain, the Vatican Museum, and St. Peter's Basilica. All in all, by the time we got on the train to Naples we had very tired feet!
Naples was a very different experience. We had decided to go because Kimmie's mom had lived there for three years with her family when she was young, so it was something of a personal pilgrimage for her. Not all of it was bad, but the downtown area had a very dirty feel to it - a lot of garbage and graffiti. Needless to say, we spent very little time in the actual city! Luckily, there are a ton of different things to do or see nearby. Our first full day, we took the ferry out to the island of Capri, which was incredibly beautiful and probably my favorite day of our trip. The second day, we took the train out to Pompei and explored the historical ruins preserved there. Our third day, Saturday, it was rainy all day so we didn't get as much sightseeing done as we had wanted to. We did spend some time in the national museum that's in Naples - we saw a lot more naked marble people than I ever want to see again. I guess that's Greek/Roman sculpture for you... After the museum, we had an adventurous trek in the rain and were able to make our way to the address where Kimmie's mom used to live and take pictures of her in front of the building. Finally, we got on a train back to Rome, and from there another train back to Paris. All in all, a lot of train travel and time spent in train stations that left both of us very tired. But we both returned safely - so it all ended well.
This week was back to "business" for me, a rough adjustment from vacation back to schoolwork. But I survived, and now for my reward I'm traveling to Germany with my friend Kaellen this weekend. I'm taking the train to meet up with her in Frankfurt, and then we're taking another train to get to Erfurt, spending two days there, and then heading to Berlin. Based on my research into both it should be a lot fun with plenty to see and do. Hopefully I'll have another post updating you about my trip when I get back next week. For now, I'll leave you with a few pictures from my trips!
No comments:
Post a Comment