French Riviera, London and Paris!

Bonjour mes amis, bon dimanche à vous! Au Canada, vous vous réveillez maintenant et moi, j'ai besoin de commencer mes devoirs mais c'est pas grave parce que je peux les faire plus tard. Pas comme les quatre weekends derniers, je suis à Tours aujourd'hui, passerai le jour entier ici et peux reposer un peu. En fait, j'ai besoin d'avoir une petite repos comme ma vie était très occupée récemment, avec beaucoup de travail et voyage alors je suis contente de prendre un jour pour moi-même et partager mes histoires avec vous! Je ne peux pas croire qu'il reste seulement un mois et onze jours pour moi en France mais je connais que le prochain mois sera plein de voyages, de mémoires et de bonne nourriture! Je suis déjà triste de partier mais j'ai hâte de continuer mon experience d'échange! 

Translation: Hello my friends and happy Sunday to you! In Canada, you are just waking up and me, I need to start my homework but I can do that later. Unlike the last four weekends, I am actually in Tours today, will spend the whole day here and can rest a little. I need a little rest since my life has been pretty busy lately with lots of work and traveling so I am happy to take a day for myself and share my stories with you. I cannot believe that there is only one month and 11 days before I leave France but I know that the next month will be full of more trips, memories and good food! I am already sad to leave but I am excited to continue my exchange experience. 

For those who have been following my blog, hopefully you can see the improvement in my French but if not, let me tell you it has improved so, so much! I was asked earlier today what my favourite part of my exchange has been and honestly, probably the best part for me has been learning the language. Of course, my exchange has been more amazing than I ever thought possible but I really feel as though I have come close to my goal of becoming bilingual. I am no longer afraid to start a conversation in French and (get ready for this) I CAN NOW TALK ON THE PHONE IN FRENCH, which is actually a huge accomplishment for me. Naturally, these small accomplishments have come thanks to all of my experiences here, one of which being my most recent trip to the south of France, so without further adieu, here is a look back on my reading week and my impromptu trip to Paris! 

My route for Reading Week!

The last week of October was the fall reading week here in France and am I ever glad that we got one! It was the perfect opportunity for me to visit some of the places on my European bucket list. The above map shows the trip that I did with my friend Samantha over a series of 10 nights and 10 days. We visited Nîmes, Avignon, the French Riviera, Lyon and London, England and it was absolutely amazing! It took a lot of planning, a lot of walking and a lot of picture taking but it was worth every second, step and snapshot. During the week, I got to see a friend from Ancaster and a friend from Wenonah, so it was a week well spent. 

Sam and I left from Tours Friday night and headed to Nîmes, a little city west of Avignon. It is in the Languedoc-Roussilon region of southern France. We used a website called AirBnB to find a little apartment to stay in for the night. Nîmes was very interesting because in its birth, it was heavily influenced by the Romans and it almost felt like we were in Italy! The tourism office had a great package deal to visit the three most popular monuments in Nîmes: 1) Les Arènes, which is the best preserved Roman amphitheatre in the world, 2) the Maison Carrée (literally the square house), one of the best preserved  Roman temples and 3) the Tour Magne, a tower from the Augustan era, which we climbed to get an absolutely phenomenal view of the region.

We spent Sunday in Avignon, where we did a walking tour of the city. Avignon was very beautiful but unless you want to spend a lot of money to go into the museums, palaces, historic monuments, etc., it is not the best city for tourists. However, on our walking tour, we got to see the Palais des Papes (Palace of Popes), the papal residency during the 14th century, the University of Avignon and many, many churches. Before leaving, we decided to pay the price to go on to the Pont d'Avignon, which you may or may not remember from the popular children's song "Sur le pont d'Avignon." The entrance fee came with an audio tour, which included 8 different versions of the song! So of course, just like the song says to do, Sam and I danced sur le pont d'Avignon. 

After Avignon, we took a carpool to Nice, where we stayed in a hostel for three days. Staying in the hostel was one of my favourite parts of the whole trip. It was very small, about 20 bedrooms with 8 beds each, a small kitchen and a breakfast terrace but the atmosphere there was great. After checking in, Sam and I went to check out the kitchen and the first 4 people we met there were from Vancouver, New York City and Sherbrooke! How crazy is that??? And on our third night there, a solo traveler from Sherbrooke checked in! And the owner of the hostel was very friendly and helpful, so I highly recommend Hostel Pastoral if you ever go to Nice. 

We were based in Nice for two days but on Monday and Tuesday we took day trips to nearby cities. It was super easy to do so as there were local buses that cost 3 euros round trip to go to Cannes (Monday's destination) and Monaco (Tuesday's destination). In Cannes, we did a walking tour, visiting the site of the International Film Festival, where there was a world business expo going on, and the huge shopping street, Rue D'Antibes. Of course, we visited the famous sandy beaches and I went for a sunset dip! I could not believe that I was swimming during the last week of October. Tuesday, we went to Monaco for the day, starting the day off at the Prince's Palace, where we watched the changing of the royal guard and then walked along the seaside to Monte Carlo, where  we visited the famous casino! We stopped at a seaside carnival for waffles before catching the bus back to Nice!

Wednesday we had a private, free tour of Nice with a local city greeter named Jean, who showed us Vieux Nice, the Château, the Promenade des Anglais, the Marché aux Fleurs, and some hidden shopping quarters in the old town. He also showed us where we could buy la socca, or chickpea flour crepes and where to buy the best ice cream, which we bought after our tour. We then spent our last afternoon sunbathing and swimming on one of the many stone beaches in Nice. 

La socca from Chez Theresa - delivered fresh to the market by bike! 

We caught a train to Lyon that night and after a handful of transportation problems (delayed train, missing the last bus, almost losing my cell phone in the cab) we found our AirBnB apartment and went directly to bed, alongside our roommates for the night aka two rats. We were up early the next morning to meet my friend Tara, a friend from my skating club in Ancaster who is skating for a synchro team in Lyon this year. It was very cool to meet up with her and meet another one of her friends from the team, an Italian girl also named Erica. She gave us a tour of the old town and took us up to the best lookout point in the city before leading us to the bus station. Thank you Tara (and Erica) for the amazing day morning in Lyon!

We then took a 15 hour bus trip to London, England. We left Lyon at 3:30pm, got to Paris around 9:30 and left for London at 10:30. We got to Calais at 3:30am where we had to go through customs (a nightmare) and then took the ferry into England. We arrived in London at 7:00am, and after finding a cafe in which to have a coffee and brush our teeth, we met up with my friend Anna to begin our day in the big city! Anna was a fantastic tour guide, taking us to all the big sites: Buckingham Palace, the Royal Mews, the Prime Minister's house, London Bridge, the Tower Bridge, Picadilly Circus. At the Tower of London, we saw the poppy memorial for the First World War. The memorial is called Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, is composed of over 888 000 poppies and is in honour of World War One. We had dinner with a friend of Anna's in the Covent Garden area of London before catching the train to Anna's house. Though it was Halloween, I had no energy left to go out trick or treating! 

Buckingham Palace

Saturday, Anna took us to Windsor, where we visited Windsor Castle, aka the weekend residence of the Queen. The Castle was absolutely breathtaking! The first thing we toured was the Queen's doll house, which is a miniature version of a royal home made for Queen Mary as a gift. The doll house is probably worth more than any of my future homes will ever be. It has miniature bottles of real wine, miniature versions of famous paintings donated by famous artists, running water and mini Crown Jewels! We then visited the state apartments, getting to see reception rooms, bedrooms, dining rooms and galleries. The Castle is actually not always accessible for visits because the Queen still uses it today, though unfortunately she did not make an appearance while we were there. After Windsor Castle, we went home for tea and scones with Anna's mom and gran, followed by a traditional roast supper! 

Sunday, Sam flew home and I spent the day with Anna. First, she gave me a tour of her gran's garden. Her home actually reminded me a lot of my Great Aunty Wendy's house, in Northern England, which I visited when I was 8. And Anna's gran definitely reminded me a lot of my own Granny! After the garden, we went to a small town called Marlow, visited the shops and then went for a walk along the Thames river in the English countryside. We ended our walk at a local pub where we went for a cider. In typical clueless me fashion, I thought we were going for apple cider, the juice, but as I now know, British cider is actually alcoholic! Good thing I wasn't driving anywhere! For dinner that night, we had toad in a hole, or sausages wrapped in homemade batter, with vegetables from the garden and apple crisp for dessert, which was absolutely delicious! Anna definitely gave me the British weekend I had asked for (though I did not get to have my fish and chips, so will have to return for that some day)! So to Anna and her lovely, lovely family thank you so, so much! 

Monday morning, I made the commute back to the big city with Anna's brother and successfully managed to take the tube to the airport. I caught a flight directly to Tours, with about 20 other exchange students heading back to UFR! I landed with just enough time to make it to my CrossFit class and was finally chez moi around 7pm Monday night. 

Tuesday I had to hand in an assignment and take an exam, so I was thrown right back into student life. Wednesday, I went out with my host mom and her husband for dinner to a local brasserie, where I had choucroute (sauerkraut) and sausages and tried profiteroles for the first time! Thursday, I watched a comedy show on tv with other people in my residence, of which I probably understood about 20 minutes of the 2 hour show. And Friday, after an entire week of waiting, my best friend from Canada MAGGIE MACDONALD ARRIVED IN TOURS! 

Maggie is currently studying abroad in Leedes, England, which is actually where my granny went to school. I unfortunately was not able to visit her during my time in England, so instead she came to visit me here. She landed in Tours Friday afternoon and was here until earlier today. Friday, we made dinner together in my room, complete with French wine, cheese and baguettes and spent the night chatting, laughing and singing the soundtrack of Les Miserables!

Saturday, we took a carpool into Paris where we spent the day. Originally, we had planned to stay in Tours, but how often do you get the chance to take your best friend to Paris? We started the day on the Île de la Cité which is home to Notre Dame, the Sainte-Chapelle and the Palace of Justice. We did the Rick Steves’ walking tour of the area, which took us around Notre Dame, to Shakespeare’s Book Store, and the Pont Neuf. We then walked along the Seine to the Louvre, walked through the gardens where I bought roasted chestnuts and walked to the Eiffel Tower. As we approached the tower, the sun was setting and we were fortunate enough to watch the tower light up and start to sparkle! Never did I ever think to get to spend a night at the Eiffel Tower with my best friend but now I can check that off my bucket list!

We returned to Tours late last night and pretty much went directly to sleep, but not before enjoying a cup of Nutella hot chocolate. We got up this morning and made chocolate crepes and then went to the local market near my residence. Maggie caught the train to the airport around noon and is probably boarding the plane right now! Unfortunately, there was a problem with the carpool she was supposed to take which cut our time short but we had an incredible weekend together and I am still a bit in disbelief that it actually happened! Good thing I have lots of pictures to commemorate it! And don’t worry - we got one of us with the Ancaster News so that we can be local celebrities!

In sum, these last two weeks have been unbelievable. New friends, old friends, incredible experiences – I couldn’t ask for anything better! However, now I need to hit the books for a little bit and get back to the whole “studying abroad” part of this exchange!

À bientôt!

Erica xoxoxoxoxo

PS I would like to send a huge thank you to my parents for being so supportive of me while I am over here! Despite the time difference, you two are always there for me and I would not be making it through this exchange without your constant love, support and encouragement.

PPS Happy early birthday to my Granny! You don’t look a day over 27!