Thursday after a visit to the opera house with our class, Danielle and I met my parents at their apartment. It is so very cute! A typical Paris apartment, but very comfy. They had a busy day going to a bunch of different museums and walking all over the place. When we met them, we left for Montmartre. We went a better way this time and didn’t have to climb up so many stairs. We walked through Sacre Coeur. It was very busy and very dirty as well. Doing all these touristy things make me realize why I did everything in January when no one was really here. The tourists are so inconsiderate and annoying! And yes, I am sort of a tourist, but I feel like I live here now :)
The view from Montmartre is magnificent. Both my parents enjoyed it. After, we headed over to our favorite fondue place. We had cheese and meat fondue and it was great like usual. Dad ordered us more wine and called us “jeunes hommes” (young men) when asking if we could write on the wall/ceiling. He was giving the guys quite a laugh. After taking the metro back, my parents stopped at a café on the way home but I went upstairs to their apartment. They came back a little bit after because Dad was nervous that I wouldn’t have came downstairs to give them the codes to get in the apartment complex….
Friday morning was a calm morning. We walked around the Bastille area and got a few things for breakfast/lunch at a bakery. We walked over to Notre Dame and stopped on ile de Saint Louis for Berthillon ice cream. I tried raspberry this time. It was wonderful. Then I took my parents over to the front of Notre Dame and showed them Point Zero. But right after that, I had to take off to the train station to go to Brittany for the weekend with my program.
We arrived in Brittany after about a 2 hour and 15 minute train ride and moved into a hotel called Mercure in Rennes. It was so nice. The rooms were actually really big. I roomed with a nice girl in my program, so it worked out good. We had about an hour to kill before dinner, so we walked around the area. I found it a little sketchy, but it was fine. I finally bought new sunglasses, so I was happy! It was really sunny and hot out on Friday so sunglasses were a great purchase. We walked over to a creperie for dinner. We had the whole upstairs to ourselves. I think only 6 people in the whole program didn’t come this weekend, so there were probably about 60 of us. Since it’s lent and I can’t eat meat on Fridays, I had a delicious salad. It is funny that to order salads out in France is so expensive. It’s usually over 10 euros. I don’t understand!! That is one thing that I miss…But, good news is that we had cider as well! You are supposed to eat crepes and drink cider together. Definitely my kind of a meal!
We had to meet at the bus at 9am on Saturday morning, so we went to breakfast at around 8:15am. The breakfast at the hotel was so good. There were many choices. I had a crepe, bread, fresh fruit and tea. Good start to the day!
We took a bus to Mont St. Michel. It probably took a little less than an hour and a half. It was such an interesting place. It is in the middle of nowhere and there is quick sand surrounding it. We climbed up and had such a spectacular view. It was a bit foggy, but still amazing! We all got audio guides and got to tour the old monastery. I learned a lot of interesting information! We met at 1pm by the bus for some sandwiches and then got a bit of free time to walk around. It was a little cold out, so we just stayed close to the bus. We left a bit earlier than we were supposed to in order to drive to Saint Malo. Again, it was probably around an hour bus ride and it was the cutest little island as well. Unfortunately, it was not beach weather but we were brave and hung out on the beach for a bit. It was so beautiful. It makes me miss summer so much. But I know that it’s right around the corner. It’s April 1st already!
After hanging out on the beach, we met up with some other girls from our program and found a cute little tea shop. It was cold out, so we wanted something warm. It was really great. Then, we stopped for delicious waffles! They were very different then Belgium ones, but still really good. A few of the other girls ordered vanilla ice cream with nutella on top and in the cone as well. It looked so good as well. Hopefully they do that in Paris! We were back on the bus again and finally on our way back to Rennes.
We had an hour to spare again before dinner, so I took a shower and just relaxed for a bit. We met for dinner at 7:30pm and walked over to the restaurant. It was a cute little place and they first served us this very tiny glass with crushed up olives and other vegetables on top. I tried it and it wasn’t terrible, but I definitely wouldn’t order it on my own. They brought out the wine and bread next which is my favorite part of all French meals. Then came the DUCK. Yes, I ordered duck and potatoes. It was very very delicious. It was marinated in this really great sauce and the potatoes were so different but may be the best I’ve ever had. I was a happy camper! Especially when French toast came out for dessert. The French do things the right way. It is NOT a breakfast food. Since we had a long day, we just hung in the hotel for a bit and knew we’d be up early for mass in the morning.
A funny story about that. We were meeting one of the program directors, Juile, at 8:00am to leave our bags at the reception and take a bus to a church just outside Rennes to go to a Latin mass. Danielle, Anthony and I had breakfast and met up with Julie at the reception to get everything settled. When we walked to the bus station, we noticed that the times were not the same as the times Julie found online. We had about 45 minutes to kill so we went back to the hotel because it was FREEZING out. So I had another breakfast and got some bacon this time! Then, we walked back to the bus stop and I noticed that the bus 11 was also on the other side. We checked that timetable and that was the one we were supposed to take about a half hour earlier…if we waited for the next bus, we’d miss mass. Julie felt so bad that she made us wake up that early, but it really didn’t matter. I felt bad for her because she has so much work to do to coordinate all of our trips. We decided to just go to a French mass in Rennes that we could walk to. Unfortunately for us, it didn’t start til 10:30am and it was only 9:15am. It was so so cold out that I was shivering. I need the warm weather to come back! We walked around the town and there was NO one out. It was so quite and peaceful. We found some benches in the sun and sat and chatted for a while. The sun felt good. I finally stopped shivering. We got into the church and got very different palms that we receive at home. They were like our own little tree branches. The church was so cold inside too, so that didn’t help my shivering situation. After a few minutes of the mass, we all had to participate in a procession to a different church. I felt like I was in a movie. Everyone had their “trees” in the air and were singing songs in French. It was a pretty interesting experience and would have been much better if it was a bit warmer out. The next church was even colder. I think the air was on! I couldn’t stop shaking the entire mass. We started that mass at about 11am and were probably done around 12:15/12:30pm. Not too much longer than mass at home. After mass, we walked through a park nearby the church. It was so beautiful. All the flowers were bloomed and the sun was shining. Our other program director wanted to come meet us for lunch so we all went to a different creperie. YUM! Both the program directors bought cider for us. Dry cider is for your meal and sweet cider is for dessert :D I loved it. I had a cheese and tomato galette for my meal with a small side salad and a banana, chocolate and coconut crepe for my dessert. It definitely makes the top meal list of France.
We ran back to the hotel to grab our bags and headed over to the train station. When we got into Paris, I had to run to my house to grab some clothes and my notebooks for school and then headed over to my parent’s apartment. They had a fun weekend as well. Crown of Thorns mass Friday afternoon, Racetrack Friday night, two friends came to visit Saturday, Rue Cler, Eiffel Tower, boat cruise....lots of stuff! We caught up for a bit and then walked around and grabbed some paninis. They were both tired so called it a pretty early night. I have classes all day tomorrow and they are going to the Louvre!
Fun Fact! April Fool’s Day doesn’t exist in France. Instead, they call April first “The Fish of April.” On this day, people place paper fishes on others’ backs. I don’t really understand why, but it’s a pretty funny concept. And after mass today I actually saw a lady with a paper fish on her back!
Gros Bisous!
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