Bonjour from Perpignan France

Today is my first full day in Perpignan in the South of France. Classes do not begin until Monday (Lundi) but we have a fully planned weekend of orientation activities.

To go back a bit to the last post and fill you in ......

(OK FYI I am watching a Bruce Willis movie right now that is dubbed in French and it's super weird and scary, I'm not sure the name but anyone familiar with a Bruce Willis movie where he and a woman find a broken window in their bedroom and then a man in his underwear standing in their bathroom who is bloody and cries before shooting Bruce Willis and then himself??)

Back to the trip....

On our second day in Paris we headed towards the edge of the city to Parc Citroen where for 10 Euros we took a 30 minute hot air balloon ride. It was by far the best 10 Euros I have ever spent. It was not a traditional hot air balloon but a montgolfiere, which were invented in France by the Montgolfiere brothers, Jacques-Etienne and and Joseph-Michel around 1782. The balloon stays tethered to the ground during the flight but floats as high as the second story of the Eiffel Tower and does get blown around by the wind.

Taking a trip in a hot air balloon has been something I have wanted to do for years so it was an exciting morning for me and I really can't think of a better way to get an aerial view of Paris. From the sky we were able to see all the Paris and spotted the Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur, Notre Dam, Montparnasse, and so much more.

After our ride we wandered through Parc Citroen until we found a metro station, stopping to use one of the free, self cleaning, public toilets. As you step inside and close the door a long message is rattled off in French, which I was unable to understand in even the slightest bit, but I'm hoping it said something to the effect of "don't worry we flush the toilet for you" as I could not get the thing to flush.

(OK I think I've figured out that I am watching the Sixth Sense in french as the little boy from that movie is onscreen)

From Parc Citroen we headed to the Pantheon where we climbed 271 steps to the top dome for a second view of Paris. After we toured the Pantheon and the crypt, visiting the graves of Voltaire and Rousseau, Marie and Pierre Curie, and many French dignitaries.

We wandered around the area surrounding the Pantheon, visiting the historic University of Paris, Saint Etienne du Mont (a beautiful Gothic church), before wandering the streets, turning down those that looked interesting.

For dinner that night Trevor took me out for a three course French meal and La Bohemia in the Montmarte area. I had a tomato salad, roasted chicken in thyme sauce, and chocolate mousse while Trevor had an amazing french onion soup, a cut of meat that I cannot recall, and caramel flan. It was a leisurely meal lasting almost 2 hours allowing us to sit and observe the many people strolling through the street.

Around 10:30 p.m. we headed over to the Eiffel Tower in order to catch the light show that happens every night from at the top of the hour, every hour. We arrived at Champs de Mars just before 11 p.m. and took our time strolling down towards the Iron Lady. At 11 p.m. the tower began to sparkle before turning back to its traditional amber glow. We sat on the grass and tried to soak in our last night in Paris, and couldn't help ease dropping on two French boys attempting to hit on two girls from Prague in English.

At midnight we headed back to our hotel for the night to pack our backpacks and get some rest.

The following morning we checked out of our hotel in the early afternoon and headed to the Austerlitz area. After a delicious lunch of seriously the most amazing fajita salad I have ever had we took small naps in a park outside the Museum of Natural History. Through the windows we could catch peeks of large dinosaur skeletons. As we sat a few groups of school children came through near us and we had quite a time watching them and trying to respond when they would talk to us. Later that same day we stopped in a store to buy some of the cookies (they called them biscuits) which they were eating. They turned out to be to die for little graham cracker sandwich cookies with chocolate cream in between and are in the shape of smiling and winking pieces of toast.

As the afternoon wore on we walked along the outside of the menagerie were we we able to see small deer, red pandas, and kangaroos.

I had been attempting to fight off a head cold for a few days prior but on our last day in Paris it really hit me so we popped into a Pharmacy to pick up some medicine. All 'real' medicine is located behind the counter and in a fantastic bit of luck the shop girl did not speak any English. I only know froid, the word for cold in reference to the weather so there was a lot of gesturing but she seemed to understand and handed me a box. I can't read much of the directions as they are in French but I understand it has a decongustend in it! Still congested today but hopefully soon I'll be feeling well.

As it got close to 8:30 p.m. we headed to the train station to catch our night train to Barcelona only to find out that there was no train as the French train company had just decided to go on strike. Instead we were placed on a bus and driven 13 hours to Barcelona.

I'm still attempting to sort out what I can do in order to get a refund on the 73 Euro seat reservation we EACH had to pay for the overnight train sleeper cars. Seems unfair to still pay 73 Euros when we struggled to catch a few winks on a crowded bus.

We did meet some nice people on the bus including three Americans, two from Ohio and one from Florida, as well as a beautiful girl from Copenhagen Denmark.

I will have to save Barcelona for another post as this one has already become incredibly long.

In a few hours I head out for a evening walking tour of Perpignan and then a welcome dinner which will include cargolade (escargot grilled over charcoal).