English Vacation: Day 2

A day of unexpected encounters and museums.

My favorite things:
1.  Meze Cafe.  The people.  The porridge.

2.  The British Museum.

3.  Finding Waldo.

4.  The Tate Modern.

4.  This Indian.

English Vacation: Day 1

A day of travelling and the ultimate in touristyness.

Things I will remember:
1.  RyanAir.  Ugh!  Talk about your "basic" airline.

2.  Our newest Polish friend/tourguide, Serg.

3.  These girls.  This view.  This place.

"Vacation: a period of travel and relaxation when you take twice the clothes and half the money you need." Author Unknown

Hopefully packed a little more efficiently than normal this time.  Fingers crossed.  Heading off to London tomorrow, and then Edinburgh and Dublin.

Celebrated Pri's best friend's arrival here today with brunch, of course.

The Cutest, Frenchiest Man I've Ever Met

Voila, mes amis.

"We build too many walls and not enough bridges." Isaac Newton

The Loire and one of its many bridges at night.

Boite aux Lettres

Mailbox.

I've been feeling very, very grateful this week.  The weather is warming up and I can really feel Spring in the air.  People are back from their winter hibernations.  Restaurants are re-opening for the new season.  And my boite aux lettres is seeing a lot of love.

Not only are my friends the best and sweetest, they are uber crafty (I point you to Kellie's creation I received on Tuesday) and now this from my visitor earlier this month, Olivia.

She crafted an easel of hearts from our train tickets and the metro map of places we stayed.  Precious!

Thank you!

Margherita

A Margherita is the most classic, basic pizza you can find.  It's simply cheese and tomato sauce.

Yet it is oh so delicious!  Today we went to Gino's, a tiny pizzeria owned by an authentic Italian turned Frenchy.  The definition of a hole-in-the-wall, it was one of the best pizzas I've had.

"Maybe our girlfriends are our soulmates and guys are just people to have fun with." Carrie Bradshaw

I knew that handwriting immediately.

And oh how I've missed it.  Kellie Ketelsen.  You are a crafting goddess.  This has made my entire month.  THANK YOU.  Je t'aime!!

P.S.  Might I just add how magical it is that this made it to me...my address is "4 rue des trois marchands" and the marchands was missing and still this piece of goodness made it into my hands.

 Given the ridiculousness of the French/European postal system, this is Magical.

T-FIVE Days Until Vacation

The girls and I have booked our upcoming vacation to London, Edinburgh and Dublin!

If you've been to any of those places and have any recommendations of things we MUST do, let me know, s'il vous plait :)

La Plage

The beach, or rather, the Mediterranean Sea is my favorite body of water.

Ever since studying abroad in Cannes, the South of France, especially the Mediterranean has a tres, tres special place in my heart.

Some shots on and around ma plage prefere.

Most delicious strawberries known to man.

Never too cold for a swim, right?

 

...and Costumes

The Parade of Lights is absolutely spectacular.  The French showcase their technical talents as well as their sense of humor.

The theme was about sports and the Olympics.  Here is Queen Elizabeth and the Royal Family.

Korey and EJones, that's Kate and Will haha!

Creepy, right!

World leaders, there's our Pres.

A coach potato.  No clue why this was the final float, but okay, Frenchies?

Parades...

The parades are the main attraction of Carnaval.

This is the Battle of the Flowers.  All of the floats are made with beautiful, fresh flowers, which are thrown into the audience after the parade completes one rotation.

I see London, I see France, I see these scantily-clad ladies' underpants...

 

People leave with some gorgeous bouquets.

Carnaval in Nice ce Weekend

Christie, another English language assistant in France (also from SMU), Pri and I went down to Nice for Carnaval this weekend.

Opening Ceremony

"For what it's worth: it's never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you're proud of, and if you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again." -F. Scott Fitzgerald

Have You Ever Wondered What English Sounds Like to Non-Native Speakers?

Check this out.  INSANE.

St. Valentine

The Frenchies do not get our American obsession with Valentine's Day.  Still, this was a lovely touch.


In case you missed it, that is a heart carved into the snow on the giant staircase in town.  It's probably 35 steps!  Happy Valentine's Day mes amours.

La Courgette

Zucchini, if you're an Anglophone.

I am currently obsessed with courgettes.  I find myself buying them each week and cooking them in different ways.

Here mixed with hamburger, onions and mushrooms and pasta.

And in the form of a zucchini cake.

L'Orangerie

Or Ben's Blues, as we Blesoise affectionately call it, is this really cool place two meters down the street from my apartment.

If you look closely someone who loves Texas left their mark.

It's covered in stickers and concert posters both inside and outside.

Here we are inside.  That's Grace (Rich's girlfriend), me and Betsy.
And yes, I do wear all black now.  It's the tres chic way of the French.