2 Thanksgivings and a Wine-tasting tour!

Stylish French Man

Ferris Wheel in Lyon

Me near the vineyards

View of the vineyards

So Thursday was American Thanksgiving...and since most of the other assistants are American, I celebrated with them! On Thursday night, Maggie and I went to another assistant's house and enjoyed a great Thanksgiving meal amoung friends.

Then on Friday, Maggie, Isabelle and I walked around Lyon and saw the HUGE Ferris Wheel in Place Bellecour that they set up for Chistmas. We then made our way to another Thanksgiving meal, which was slightly more frenchified...but equally as tasty! So although I didn't celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving, I celebrated American Thanksgiving twice :)

So after 2 evenings in a row of wonderful food and wine, Maggie, myself and Adan went on a day tour of the Burgundy and Beaujolais wine regions. One of the teachers that Adan works with had offered to drive us around the region and do some wine-tasting.

In total, we tried 10 different wines at 4 different wineries while touring the beautiful countryside and historical small french villages in between. It was definitely something that we would have only been able to see by car, so we were very appreciative that someone had offered to take us! This teacher also knew the region VERY well, and so it was pretty much a guided tour with all of the historical facts included!

We are now very tired from our adventures, but it was certainly worth it. You can't live in France without going on a wine-tasting tour! J'adore ma vie en France.

Megan

A night at the ballet with Baryshnikov

I just returned from an amazing evening at the Ballet in Lyon! Mikhail Baryshnikov danced 2 solos and a duet with his famous partner Ana Laguna.

For those of you who maybe haven't heard of Baryshnikov but have seen "Sex & The City", he plays "The Russian" that Carrie gets quite seriously involved with in the last season!

The show was wonderful, a combination of ballet and modern dance. I am so glad that we decided to go...it was amazing to see these two people in their 60s dance the way they did.

Just 3 weeks until Riverdance! A Russian ballet and an Irish dance show...how very "French" of me.

Until next time...

Megan

Camels in France?

Unfortunately, this blog will not be accompanied by photos...it will become clear how unfortunate this is soon...

So today during my break, I walked out of my school and directly across the road, there stood a large camel looking back at me. Yes, a camel.

I kept walking down the street, only to pass several people walking with spotted donkeys. Yes, spotted donkeys.

I soon found out that apparently the circus comes to Amberieu once a year and they let their animals graze on the field across from my school.

By the end of the day, in the field there were 4 camels, 12 donkeys and several horses. Now you understand how unfortunate it was that I didn't have a camera.

But that's all for now. Just thought this was worth a blog post. Hee-haw.

Megan

My first holiday in France!

Marseille Train Station

View of Marseille from up top

Cassis Harbour

Les Calanques

Lighthouse in Cassis

Chateau d'If

The Beach in Nice

Monaco Harbour

Fountain on Lake Geneva

Geneva at Night

Last Monday morning, we left for Marseille! When we got to our Hotel, it turned out that our room was no longer available. Instead, we were given two rooms side by side! One of which was the room that was named after the hotel, so we like to think it was the equivalent of the Honeymoon suite. So we ended up having two beautiful rooms in a great location.

After getting settled we set out to the Old Harbour of Marseille. We found a place to eat along on the water and enjoyed a beautiful meal. We then decided to take a bus that looks like a mini train up to see the church at the top of the city. That little bus train took turns down narrow streets so fast that we thought we were going to fall out...I was laughing the whole time!

At the top, we had an incredible view of the city and the harbour. Inside the church was beautiful as is pretty much any old church you find in France! For dinner, we picked up a bottle of wine, some homemade pizza and went back to our hotel room.

On Day 2, we headed off to Cassis for the day, an incredibly beautiful fishing village about 30 minutes from Marseille. The train station was up quite high so we ended up walking for almost an hour to get to sea level. The walk was through the countryside and we passed vineyards and farm fields along the way.

When we finally reached Cassis, we knew that it was worth it. It was a small charming town with clean streets and smiling people. The harbour was much smaller than that of Marseille, but it was equally as beautiful. We knew that we wanted to take a boat tour of “Les Calanques” at the suggestion of one of the teacher’s I am working with. And boy am I glad we did.

We got on a small boat and headed out of the Cassis harbour. On the way to Les Calanques, Isabelle and I both saw our future houses, perched on the side of a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean. We toured 5 Calanques, which are bright white limestone natural harbours. I can’t describe them to you well enough, and the pictures aren’t even the same but they will help. One of the most beautiful things I’ve even seen if not the most beautiful.

After the mini-cruise, we grabbed a bite to eat at another harbourside restaurant, then walked along the small streets with shops and finally sat at the small beach eating gelato. It was a great day.

Day 3 we first took a boat to see the Chateau d’If, the setting of the Count of Monte Cristo, which is just off the coast of Marseille. It had beautiful views and enchanting history. Afterwards, we checked out of our rooms and headed to Nice. Once there, we found our hostel (the Villa St. Exupery – voted top hostel in France 2008) which is a converted monastery. The people that work there are mostly English, and they were very welcoming. We had our own triple room with private bathroom and balcony! Not to mention the food they served for dinner was incredible and the beer/wine was only 1 euro.

The next day, we walked around Old Nice and also spent quite a bit of time at the beach. We went to the fruit and flower market to pick up some meat, baguette, fruit and drinks and enjoyed a lovely picnic by the water. Afterwards, we walked around some more and ended up at the Modern Art Museum which was also really interesting. Finally, we went back down to the water and watched the sun set.

Day 5 was our day trip to Monaco! Although it was my second time being there, it was just as incredible as before. It is impeccably clean and the weather was beautiful, it made for a really great day. We toured the exotic flower garden which was perched on the side of the huge hill with views over the harbour and the Prince’s palace. We then went to the city of Monaco to see the palace up close and also to visit the graves of Grace Kelly and the Prince. Our last stop was Monte Carlo where we only got as far as the Casino Lobby because it was super expensive to get in! We then enjoyed ice cream for the 6^th time on the trip and headed back to the Villa for another awesome meal. Over dinner and drinks, we offered that one of the girls we met come back to Lyon for a night and then we would all go to Geneva on Sunday for a night.

So the next day we left Nice for Lyon and stayed on Saturday night only to leave again on Sunday for Geneva! We had a great day in Geneva as well, despite being tired from the previous adventures.

All in all, it was a hugely successful trip and I still have today off from school!

Until next time...

Megan

Train Bus we took in Marseille