Heading East; Salzburg & Prague

Wednesday- Austria; Salzburg

We only had one night in Austria however we somehow managed to pack in a huge amount of tourist activities. We began with a walking tour lead by our tour leader around the sights. We then were free to explore the tiny town of Salzburg were we climbed the many many stairs to the castle. We saw the view and an exhibition which included a full body armour exhibition and some medieval torture devices (including a real chastity belt!!!)

After then walked around and around trying to find the boys schnitzels, which we did find eventually… after the Mozart exhibition had closed… thankfully we did still go and see his birth house and where he lived before walking slowly back to the hostel for our basic dinner, some card games with the group and then bed.

Thursday- Czech Prague

Today we left for the Czech Republic but first we stopped at --- an Austrian concentration camp. There is no words I can use to describe the intense emotions we all felt being in such a place so I won’t even try.

We arrived at Prague and went on a night walking tour of the city. The quirky bohemian style amongst the gothic architecture had an awesome feeling about it and I quickly decided that Prague was rivalling my second favourite city behind Venice (obviously Paris is my favourite). We walked past my future house (some kind of castle) then through the Jewish quarter where they have one of the oldest and most packed graveyards. The last person to be buried there was in the 18^th century and in some spots people are buried 10 deep! They say the area and the synagogue next to it is haunted by ghosts and a ‘Gollum’ creature. I wanted to return at midnight… but Alex was too scared! 

After the walking tour we had dinner in a very “sausage and a beer” stype if restaurant. I had potatoes with cheese… no it was more like cheese with potatoes… but there was wine so I was happy. We also god a show with dinner, however the show was given by the Eastern European buck’s party sitting at the table opposite us.

Feeling enchanted in the old city of Prague we decided to continue our cultural experience with a club or two. The first was a deserted communist themed bar where we had cheap cocktails followed by an underground bar where I made the unfortunate decision to shot absinthe. It was hard to resist the spectacle of the bar tender melting the sugar cube on a spoon over the shot with a naked flame… but I think once will be enough. From there we progressed to the 5 storey nightclub and I found heaven on the fourth floor in the form of a retro/ rock and roll dance room equipped with multi-coloured, light up tiled floor. We danced at the club until 5 am before deciding that perhaps bed was a good idea… After hotdogs for the boys of course!

The next morning (or a few hours later) I was keen to get into the city so I pulled myself out of bed and into the shower. I swaying slightly I whispered to the occupants of the room “ quick get up we have to go and see Prague!” Michelle stirred and said “Margaux, don’t you think it is a little early?” I looked at my watch, realised it was 6am (I had only been asleep for an hour), agreed that, yes it probably was a little too early, and went back to bed.

The day started again at 10 am for a quick breakfast and then a dash into the city with Alex, Ian and Michelle. We visited the castle and saw the changing of the guards and climbed the bell tower which was much more steep and claustrophobic than we anticipated. We did get a spectacular view of the city and some beautiful photos of the gothic architecture on the surrounding buildings. (After my visit to Notre Dame I seem to have developed a fascination with gargoyles.)  We stopped for a quick lunch and managed to just creep in to the old Jewish cemetery before it closed at dusk. We found a restaurant tucked away in one of the streets and, delighted by the atmosphere, we ate ourselves a 4000 Kronor bill!! Definitely worth it! 

Venice; Masks, Gelato and gondolas

Tuesday; Venice

Venice for us meant hotel rooms!!! We arrived, ate a very nice dinner restaurant, Dante’s where I had pasta and a vegetarian soufflé. Alex, Ian, Michelle and I drank some Italian wine and returned home for n early night.

The following day we took a bus into Venice and did a walking tour with Lindsay. I was amazed that she didn’t get lost walking through all those winding streets. There was a live band playing alongside the main canal and we sat and listened to the band. After that we went and visited a glass making house where a very Italian man sat alongside a furnace, cigarette in mouth, and effortlessly crafted a horse out of a piece of hot glass. We were very impressed! After glass we went to a lace making house where the most gorgeous old lady explained the process to us and the reason why it is becoming a threatened profession (It takes 7 ladies 8 months to make one of the larger pieces so the government subsidises their wages).

Next we had a gondola ride where we had to get into groups. All of the single guys got together in one gondola for form a “man boat’ and all the gondoliers, who were standing alongside the vacant gondolas, were in hysterics at the sight. Our ride was very romantic… apart for the section of the trip where Alex suggested we should look for poo fish as the sewerage is emptied straight into the canals… yep the water is the equivalent of liquid death. After our ride we went looking down side streets for some lunch. We found a really lovely place and, as we lingered over wine, antipasto and pizza it began to snow.

We finished off our day with some shopping which ended only when I was reluctantly dragged from the countless mask shops I tried to enter. Back on the main land we had pizza for dinner and then a few drinks at a bar before packing our bags and going to bed.     

Be Italian! - Florence and Rome

Saturday; Florence

With sore heads we headed off to Florence with a quick stop in Pisa to see the leaning tower; we saw it… it was leaning… we moved on. (It was quite interesting to learn however that it started leaning when they were building it as the foundations sunk into the ground on one side. Stubbornly the Italians just continued to build, correcting the weight distribution of the tower as they went.)

We arrived in Florence and had a terrible dinner at the hostel (frozen bread bruschetta and undercooked pasta with tomato sauce) but our Florence stay was redeemed by the following day. After a walking tour of Florence with a local guide we explored the streets finding many shops and stalls where I bought way too many things. We stopped for lunch at a busy restaurant and had bruschetta and pasta before heading towards the Basilica where Michelangelo, Galileo, Raphael and Dante are buried. We saw a street puppet show, bartered with locals over leather bags and, to finish a wonderful day, we had pizza for dinner followed by the biggest gelato I have ever seen/ eaten.    

Sunday & Monday; Rome

We arrived in Rome and headed for a group dinner at a local restaurant where we had pasta and Italian wine. The entire group has been sick and some people did not make it out into the city but Alex and I soldiered on... when in Rome...

We began our day at the Vatican which was mind-blowing. The wealth and grandeur of the collection and the history behind the artworks (particularly the Sistine Chapel) is amazing. I bought some Rosary beads and sent my grandfather a postcard from Vatican before leaving for St Peter’s Square. We then walked to the Coliseum and explored Palatine Hills. We found a little restaurant on one of the back streets and decided to have a late lunch. I had pizza, again, and it was yummy.   

We headed back to the hostel to have an early night and to get some washing done. This trip is exhausting!!!

Photo post; Paris and the Swiss Alps

Switzerland

Thursday; Swiss Alps

We left Paris for Switzerland early in the morning. On the bus we introduced ourselves to the group and watched a movie. Our group leader Lindsay also gave us some info about Switzerland. After driving for about 9 hours we arrived at our hostel in time for dinner which was a cheese fondue (and sausages). Our snow covered cabins nestled among the Alps were very picturesque, particularly as everything was decorated for Christmas still.

Friday; New Year’s Eve
For our only day in the Alps we decided to explored the village we were staying in (insert town name here). It was a beautiful day which must be rare because when we asked the lady at the campsite for change for the washing machine she rolled her eyes and said “you’re doing washing today!?” After doing our washing like good little travellers we walked through the snow looking at all the little shops, bought Swiss army knives (a must apparently) and laughed at Ian when, after grabbing a street pole, could not get his glove back off because of the ice. We caught cable car up into the Alps where we sat outside on deck chairs enjoying the scenery in the sun. The boys had beers and after we headed back down to prepare for our New Year celebrations.  

We started with some Champagne which we carted across from France and then Michelle and I, who were drinking Midori and pineapple juice, decided to make snow slushies. They were amazing (although I was particularly careful to use fresh, untouched snow)! We then joined the rest of our group in the bar for local apple cider and beers. Needless to say it was a BIG night which was highlighted by the fireworks display at midnight… put on by the 10-14 year old daughters of the campsite owners. This might explain why so many Swiss children were missing fingers?

We awoke New Year’s day to the news that it had been a big night for all… particularly for two unnamed members of the group who were caught having “good times” on the washing machine and for cabin 28… although the reason why is probably too improper for blogging purposes (just ask me what awaited the occupants of cabin 28 when you see me!)

Adventures in Paris

Sunday
After another big buffet breakfast (this is to be a theme throughout the trip) it was straight to the Eiffel tower for our bike tour of Paris. Despite it not snowing the air was bitterly cold and I was not looking forward to being on a bike for 3 hours. We met our guide, picked our bikes and off we went. It turned out to be a really good way to introduce us to the city. We got around to many of the main attractions and were able to mentally plan where we wanted to go back to> We were told some history and got a few opportunities to take some photos. My hands and feet by the end of the tour were frozen but it was a good experience and I would definitely recommend it (in spring!)

After the bike tour we lined up at the Eiffel tower but, sick of people already, Alex suggested we come back where there are less people (ha). So instead we went down to the river where there were some Christmas markets still open so we bought vin chaude and marrons chaude and watched the river rise.

The rising river was the unfortunate catalyst for the cancellation of our river cruise so instead we headed to dinner at a little restaurant where we made the embarrassing mistake of ordering  cocktails in France! They came out garnished with lollies and a smug look from the waiter (we did not ordered cocktails again in France).

After dinner we headed back into Paris to see the Eiffel tower at night and to meet up with one of my Cavilam friends, Danielle who took lovely photos of us with his DSLR camera. We then journeyed over to the Champs Elysees to see the lights and Christmas stalls. The street was packed but we still managed to make our way to the Arc de Triumph and take some more photos.

We slowly made our way back to the hotel to get some rest for the next day. I endeavoured to pack as much into our time in Paris as possible but, as Melanie said, there is no way you can see it all in a week!

Monday
Our second day began with (after breakfast) the line at the Louvre. The line was very lovely… but after we got into the museum and saw the obvious musts; the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo but we also saw some amazing things in the Egyptian exhibition and the ancient Greek and Roman collections. We spend the next three hours trying to take in the amazing the collections and the beauty of the actual building itself. Although I could have stayed there all day we left and walked to the Military museum to see Napoleon’s Tomb and learnt about France’s turbulent (yet impressive) military past. We also saw Napoleon’s horse, which they stuffed and stood in the corner of the museum… nice.

We stayed in the museum until security herded us out. We then decided to head to Notre Dame where we took some photos and explored the Latin quarter of Paris. We found a little restaurant on the outskirts which read “authentic French cuisine” on the menu so we decided to head in for some dinner. Turned out it was owned by a Chinese family where the mum cooked in the basement, sending the meals up to the son who, during his ‘service’ interludes watched videos on his laptop at the table across from us (perhaps this is authentically French service?)Our food, thanks to “mum” was amazing and cheap! All in all an exhaustingly productive day!      

Tuesday
For our last day in Paris we decided we would visit Versailles to see the Chateau. . We got off the train to face the biggest line I have ever seen. Inside the Chateau was no different; I have not been in such a small space with so many pushy people! The Chateau itself was amazing though, particularly the room of mirrors.

We returned to Paris and trekked to the hotel where we were meeting the tour group. After a treacherous and dirty walk through the suburbs of outer Paris we found the hotel and met our lovely Scottish tour leader, Lindsay. Ian and Michelle (the couple who were planned to do the tour with) we staying in the room next to us so we had a good catch up with them before our group dinner. Dinner for 40-something people on the cheap would be a challenge for any restaurant so I wasn’t expecting much. I was pleasantly surprised with French onion soup and an omelette and salad. The others also got to try escargot. (I tried to but just couldn’t do it; those snails had families too!)

After we went all got on the bus to do a city lights tour. It was nice to sit back and see all the areas or Paris we had been in. We also drove past the Moulin Rouge, down the Champs Elysse and around the Arc de Triumph round about (twice)! After stop at a church and the Eiffel tower we headed home.

Wednesday
Our final day in Paris!! We headed to the Eiffel tower first to make sure we got at the front of the line. We climbed the stairs to the second level (a good 800 or so) and had a look at the view. After the Tower we were to the Catacombs where we were faced with a two hour long line. Thankfully we had Ian and Michelle to talk to and before we knew it we were descending some more stairs into the mass graves. The bones were all arranged into patterns and we walked through the tunnels surrounded by more than 8000 skeletons of ancient Parisians who had fallen victim to the plague. It was a humbling and hallowing experience and we all left in a subdued silence.

Our spirits quickly escalated as we stepped onto the Champs Elyesse. We walk the length of the street and the boys say and watched the traffic at the roundabout. Despite him being sick it was the happiest I had seen him all day! (boys..) We window shopped and bought souvenirs from the  stalls then rushed  to Notre Dame to meet our group for dinner. Despite the overwhelmingly packed metro we got there early so we went into the church. It was magnificent. I cannot describe how beautiful the building is and the rich history behind it made it even more incredible. 

We met our tour group and walked to the Latin Quarter to have dinner which was, for me, a goat’s cheese salad, vegetables drowned in cream and cheese, and sorbet. One of the boys in the tour got a bug in his dinner and so, in an effort to make us all forget the experience, the waiter gave us copious amounts of free wine. It was a good night!

After dinner we went to a cabaret show. It started off a little tacky with motorcycles however they did the traditional cancan at the end. There was also an amazing male  gymnast, juggler and tap dancer who were incorporated to entertain the female component of the audience. There is something in the fact that the men actually have to have some type of skills while the women just have to look pretty... my thought for this post...       

Alex a Vichy et notre Noël blanc

Christmas Eve and my last day in Vichy

Friday
I got up Friday morning early enough to run down to the bakery and buy a croissant for Alex and a baguette for my class. I asked Alex to bring some vegemite and for my last day I wanted to treat them to an Australian delicacy. Our morning class was a mix of Christmas sayings and words and some traditional carols. We had vegemite during our break (which everybody surprisingly liked) and I said my goodbyes to the class.

I met Alex outside the school and we walked to a tea house to have some lunch. I ordered in French and Alex and I enjoyed hot chocolates and baguettes for lunch. After lunch we walked to the Grande Marche to buy some cheese, bread and a bûche noel for Christmas Eve. We shopped and bought some expensive lollies on our way back to the room where we got ready for drinks at Niveks place to say yet another farewell. After cheese, wine and bread Alex and I went to the local church Christmas service for a while. It was lovely to see the old church packed full of people but it was so crowded! We tried to find somewhere open for dinner but, after no luck, we went back to the hotel room to eat more cheese and bread and watched the Christmas programs on French television. It turned out to be a very quiet, cosy Christmas Eve.        

White Christmas!

Saturday
We woke Christmas day to beaucoup beaucoup de neige!!! It was awesome to have a white Christmas in France and Alex and I took many pretty photos from our hotel window. We went downstairs for petit-dejeuner and, unfortunately for the hotel restaurant, it wasn’t at all petit!  As we ate our big breakfast we watched the snow build up in the street and started to wonder just how we were going to get our bags to the train station. In the end we decided to catch a taxi. In now time at all we jumped off the train and landed in Paris. After negotiating our way through the metro system we clambered up onto the street. By the time I had opened the map an old French woman had Alex by the hand and was asking him where he wanted to go. (If only every metro station had a resident old women out the front!) She directed us, in French, to our hotel and we checked into our first Parisian hotel.  

Alex had organised with his cousin Tori to go and have some Christmas drinks with them because they lived in Paris. So after quick showers we were back on the metro heading towards Alex’s cousins in-laws place, a bottle of French Champagne in hand. We arrived and were warmly welcomed by Tori, Vincent (her French husband) and his French parents (who spoke a little English). Their house was beautiful and we ate cheese, pate, salad, vegies and little sausages (well I didn’t…) We also drank, which is where the adventures began. After two bottles of champagne and three bottles of red we were all relatively toasty and Vincent’s parents joined us so I got to practice my French with some real Parisians. They either understood me or cleverly and politely pretended to, either way we had the most amazing Christmas day thanks to them. After a very warm and thankful farewell on my part (I think the wine played a large part in this final exchange) we made our way back to our hotel, and crashed straight away; our first full day in Paris was to begin with a bike ride, oh my! 

Mes adieux à Vichy

My final week in Cavilam continued just as it had begun, with a lot of food!  

Monday night was sushi night in Danielle’s room where we made salmon, cucumber and avocado sushi and drank more red wine. Tuesday night was my last official night with the family and we had salad, grilled and baked vegetables followed by cheese and then baked apples.

Wednesday was Lynn’s farewell lunch followed by my farewell dinner at Josephine’s, the best crepe place in Vichy. I had a salade followed by a smoked salmon crepe and then sorbet. After we went out for cheap cocktail at one of the bar’s and good times were had by all. I went home very happy inn the early morning excited about Alex arriving on Thursday…

Thursday arrived and I was woken by a call from Alex informing me that his flight from Heathrow was postponed and, as a result, he was going to miss his train to Vichy. After spending all week listening to how hard it is to get train tickets at this time of year I started to think he would have to stay in Paris for Christmas! I went straight to the train station and tried to book him a ticket but there were none left. After trying to book one online with no luck during my lunch break I began to wonder whether I should try to get to Paris.

After a day of worry my clever little Alex rings me from a train which would arrive in Vichy at 10pm. (Sometimes I forget how clever he actually is!) The story of how he managed negotiating his way around Paris however relies heavily on his ability to look lost and forlorn which apparently  attracts a large number of elderly French women eager to help the young Australian.

So dinner was at a local Moroccan restaurant with my Vichy friends. The food was incredibly cheap and amazingly tasty! I had vegetarian couscous while most others had tagines, which smelt wonderful.  After dinner I walked, accompanied by my gorgeous entourage of Reiner and Nivek, to the train station to meet Alex. Yes the reunions was like some sappy romantic movie involving trains and reunited loved ones, it the scene was shot it sepia tone it could have been mistaken for a vintage Hollywood film…

So despite the weather everything turned out perfectly; bring on Christmas!

Faux Noël

Sunday and Faux Noël

I had been a little worried about how I was going to spend Christmas away from home this year but lucky for me I have found some wonderful friends in Vichy, all of whom love Christmas. We decided to have an early Christmas party which I titled “Faux Noël” where we would each bring a dish of something and celebrate a time which is near to, but not quite, Christmas.

The day began at the Grande Marché where the lady who owns one of the local bakeries, who we see almost everyday, gave us samples of all the different Bûche de Noël (chocolate, strawberry and caramel) she was selling for Christmas. We all bought our ingredients for our one Christmas dish each and then headed back to Nivek’s place to cook up a storm.

Nivek had spent the week downloading Christmas carols which we played in the background of our feast. Ater four courses of; two salads, pasta, an amazing Trifle made by Nivek and a bottle of Côtes du Rhône I felt like it was finally Christmas time. Just like at Christmas time however, we all ate way too much and had to retreat to the bed for the next two hours to watch a DVD. When I could move again I waddled home, in love with Vichy, Christmas in France and my beautiful friends.

Fromage, petits villages et de Noël

Saturday began with an early (8am) start for an excursion around the local region, Auvergne. Our group was about 10 people (including Nivek) so we all spread out on the bus and enjoyed the snow covered scenery from the windows. 

Our first stop was a small village called Orcival. The bus dropped us at the top of the village and as we made our way down the steep, snow covered steps I pondered as to how much money I could actually make as a personal injury lawyer in France. (Considering I would need to speak flawless French I am guessing not that much.) The entire town was covered in a thin blanket of snow and decorated with Christmas paraphernalia.It was my first excersion to such a little town so I was a little excited and the phrase “it’s so cute”, I am ashamed to say, was utilised a little too often.

We went into the local cathedral (called Notre Dame) where the priest and I had an interesting exchange in French which ended with him asking me whether I was from Cavilam (the language school) to which I replied; “oui” and he told me that it was pretty much painted on our foreheads (although perhaps he could have been blessing me… I think I will go with that story instead.)

After a quick coffee we were off to the next town for lunch. We arrived at Les Arnats and entered a “donkey” themed restaurant called ‘Auberge de l’âne’ which Nivek informed me literally translates to; “The inn of the ass”! We negotiated our way through the endless donkey posters, statues and stuffed toys to our table where I tried to inform the waitress that I was a vegetarian. Although my French was fine, the concept was not. After a brief conversation with the tour guide however she fetched the chef who told me he could make me something “sans viande.”

The table consisted of two Chinese men, a Japanese couple, a Texan, a Canadian, Nivek, the tour guide and me so the language of the lunch was French. As far as conversation goes I did alright, particularly when I got talking about my favourite Japanese films and bands with the Japanese couple but got horribly stuck when the Texan asked me why I was a vegetarian. The lunch for me was a salade vert followed by Truffade (a local specialty of potatoes fried with three types of cheese) and, after another course of cheese,we had crème anglais and meringue for dessert. It was a fantastic lunch.

Our final stop for the day was les Mysteres de Farges, a series of caves in which the cheese I have been eating is ripened. The bus dropped us at the top of the snow covered cliff and we began our tour of the “grottes”. The St Nectaire cheeses lay on stones inside the caves and we got to try some while the tour guide told us the history of the cheese. Now, through a combination of the fact that it was intensely cold and that the guide was speaking French, I may have missed out on some of the finer details of the talk, Lucky for me there was a diorama waiting for us in the next room equipped with dramatic music and a light show. This was followed by a “3D experience” where a pair of magic glasses let us view projected images in real 3D, which led me to conclude that the tour had not changed since the 70s, although perhaps it added to the authenticity of the 'little town' feel.

Freezing and ready for home we got back onto the bus only to find that everyone jumped off it just as quick, Nivek and I soon realized why. The bus, parked on the snow next to a cliff, lost traction as it tried to reverse and, every time it attempted to turn around we slid a little closer to the cliffs edge. Needless to say we were off the bus in a flash and back up to the caves to find some warmth.

I can safely say I have never been that cold in my life and locked myself in the bathroom with the hand dryer. Thankfully the bus had blocked a somewhat important route out of the town so within the hour we were stranded half the town turned up to help. (I might point out here it was a small town so there was about 20 people) but soon the bus was towed to safety and we returned home.

Jeudi; ou le billet de retard et Vendredi

(Thursday or The late pass)

Thursday night a few friends and I decided to go out for some drinks and so what followed could easily be the start of some kind of joke; An Australian, an Angolan, a Palestinian, a Saudi Arabian, a Russian, a Pilipino and a Japanese person all walk into a bar in Vichy… No it would never work asa joke, the situation was far to ridiculous!

Thursday morning the habitants of Vichy were greeted with a snow covered ground. When this happens the shop vendors usually put salt or gravel on the footpath. For those venturing out before the shops open; the way is treacherous! Walking to school took me 15mins longer than usual, particularly seeing that every step I took was carefully placed on the ground so as to avoid the embarrassing "glisse" on the street. I am proud to say that I did not fall but I was unfortunately late to class resulting in the infamous "billet de retard".

We spent the night drinking cocktails (for 6 euro!) and communicating through a combination of French, English and animated hand gestures that almost resulted in the loss of some of the precious beverages. Towards the end of the night a slightly intoxicated woman came up to our table and reminded us, in French, that class starts at 8:45 and we all better be there on time! As no one at the table actually knew the woman the incident reaffirmed my belief that we stick out in Vichy like joggers in France (seriously though, don’t wear running shoes in France. If you must run, do it in heels or risk seriously concerned “up and down” looks from everyone you pass. I have decided to leave the exercise till I return home.)      

As the majority of our class arrived late that very morning (yes we had to get “late passes” which were printed on angry-red cardboard) we decided we should call it a night!

Friday was, unfortunately for my beauty sleep, another late night were a farewell party for one of the Russian residents turned into a giant melting pot of students of countless nationalities, cheap French wine and cigarettes. Although I am yet to physically take a cigarette to my lips I feel that my time in France had allowed me to inhale almost a packet. Being a good girl I pulled a Cinderella and made a swift exit at midnight ready for the weekend’s adventures.

Ma semaine de neige; Lundi, Mardi et Mercredi

So my second week came and went so quickly I didn’t have enough time to write everything down; I hope I can remember everything!

NB: In amongst all the adventures, food and escapades assume that during the day I was a good student and soaked up the French language like a sponge cake in alcohol… (sorry too much food!)

Monday at lunch the girls and I went and had lunch at a little tea café where we all had cheese crepes! They were incredibly cheesy (as was to be expected) and we all felt guiltily content afterwards. After class we took the “Cavilam Vichy Tour” which informed us of the history of the region, well those who could speak French anyway… Despite my limited capacity I gleaned from the tour the importance of the town’s mineral spa resource which supposedly has “healing powers.” There are many distribution points around the town in which to collect this water for free and, as the tour was in progress, the “source” was visited by no less than 3 senior citizens of Vichy, all with their reusable bottles. Disregard my cynicism but I feel that the beneficial properties of this water need to be tested… but perhaps the fact that all three of these believers either jumped on their bikes and pedalled away or lugged 5-6 Litres of the stuff away on foot is testament enough. The rest of the trip talked about the Opera of Vichy, the royalty who used to make it their holiday destination and the war memorial monument. Interestingly, not too much was said about the German occupation of France in which Vichy played an integral role… but as it was near freezing I stopped paying attention and focused on keeping feeling in my toes so I probably missed a lot.

Tuesday night Nivek and I went to dinner and a movie. And although I say dinner I feel I must clarify; we had ice-cream and sorbet which was possibly the most amazing sorbet I have ever had! The fruit sorbet had pieces of real fruit throughout while the chocolate ice cream was littered with dark chocolate chunks. After our well rounded, nutritional meal we walked across to the cinema to watch “Raiponce,” the French version of Rapunzel. It was a great movie and, although I didn’t understand all of the dialogue it was quite easy to glean from the situation what was going on.

Wednesday afternoon is activity day at Cavilam and so we had the option of attending the weekly event, which was ice skating… Yes that’s right, bring on the disaster! When I bought the tickets I had visions of a beautiful outdoor rink surrounded by trees, Christmas lights and cheerful children however the venue was in an in closed dome and, if not for the French children and the 90’s U.S. disco music it could have been at Warner’s Bay! However, keen to make the best of it I strapped up and began my career as a figure skater. It was a career short lived as during my 7 triumphant laps (which took near 40 minutes) I hit the deck three times. With a bruised pride, wrist and knees I was relieved to hear that Nivek was keen for coffee so we took our skates back and asked for our shoes. Unfortunately we could not receive our shoes until every member of our group handed back their skates which rendered us without anything on our feet. Wishing I could argue my point in perfectly constructed sentences all I could come up with was “le system, c’est shit!” So unable to leave the rink and enter the coffee shop outside we were stranded for 1 hour in socks. Despite said events I still had a really fun afternoon with the girls  and now know that I never need to try ice skating again!

Le Weekend; Quand en France!

So, after an exhausting week my first weekend in Vichy began with a sleep in followed by a late-ish breakfast before some shopping in town with the girls. We walked, talked, shopped and took in all the sights of Vichy... so that took about 3 hours!
After shopping we had a farewell dinner for Denisa we drake wine and ate cheese at Nivek's place before going out for a nice dinner at a little French restaurant avec more wine and cheese.  

Sunday I was a good girl and studied in the morning before a walk with Reiner around Vichy. We walked along the river, past the “putt putt” course which, unfortunately for Alex is closed during winter. With a map in my hand I nonchalantly guided our promenade towards the cemetery. It was amazingly beautiful! The grand, old tombstones sat weathered amongst the trees with every row housing at least one mausoleum. There were many headstones which were deemed “abandoned,” and were left to decay into the surroundings.   

We finished our walk at the Grand Marche where  we bought some chocolate, fruit and (for me) carrots from the local vendors. The people of Vichy are so lovely. Whether selling me fruit or just chatting to me on the street they take their time to ask questions and speak slowly so we can understand each other. (It must be the presence of the language school).

Sunday night I had dinner with my host family again. We had an amazing vegetable and lentil curry as well as bread and cheese (of course) and baked apples for dessert.

Les aventures de photographie

Vichy Christmas decorations

The church in Vichy

At the Fête des lumières

The cemetary in Vichy

The Christmas market at the Fête.

  One of many cruelly tempting chocolate shops  which conveniently situate themselves on my route to school. 

Vichy la nuit et the fête des lumières

So lazy posting has rendered me backtracking to last week’s events, (which I am a little hazy on!) But I will start at the beginning;

Sunday night was a night in with the family where we had soup, cheese and crêpes; oh my!!!
Monday I went for a walk around Vichy and came home for an early night.

Tuesday was [enter events here!] I think I went for a walk and a chat with my Spanish friend Beatriz but I can’t remember!

Wednesday night I went to the fête des lumières in Lyon. It was very pretty and wonderful insight into French fêtes. On the Journey I met some Australians!!! (as well as some other Anglophones) It was good to speak in full sentences after 4 days of feeling like a child, a child with terrible French skills that is!

The festival started with people putting candles in their windows and now it is a huge event. Lifting the truly accurate and historically detailed description from Wikipedia (because I am far too lazy to explain it myself);

                “The unique Lyonnaise tradition dictates that every house place candles along the outsides of all the windows to produce a spectacular effect throughout the streets. The origins of the festival date to 1643 when Lyon was struck by plague. The municipal councillors (échevins) promised to pay tribute to Mary if the town was spared. Ever since, a solemn procession makes its way to the Basilica of Fourvière on this day to light candles and give offerings in the name of Mary.”

As for the lights themselves, it was lovely to see the mix of traditional candles in the windows of the houses amidst the multiple light instillations across the town. (Yes, including a giant ‘mock’ moon which, aided by a crane, was raised above the towns buildings every 20 minutes). The church in Lyon is amazing! Its structure is so impressive, particularly the detail in even the most hidden and out of reach places.

Later in the night we found the markets where I drank a chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) while listening to a marching band play MJs 'killer' and watched a police officer have a fight with a festival goer. He was yelling something like "if you go over to them, they are going to break you head" (haha) Oh the French!  We arrived back at Vichy at 2:45am, giving me just enough time to get confortable in my bed before I had to get up for class.

Thursday night I went to the degustation at Cavilam where I ate local cheese, drank (terrible) wine and met some new friends. By the end of the meal I was playing UNO with Spaniards and Chinese students in French. After that I went to a bar for drinks with my Australian friend, Nivek and students from New Caledonia, Slovenia the Philippines and Spain. There we met up with some locals who are studying graphic design at the local university (they did not speak much English). It was funny having half the people only understanding half of what is going on but between English and French and $6 cocktails we had a great night.

Friday was another dinner with the family. I made sushi with my host mother and, if I do say so myself, it was amazing! After dinner I was quite exhausted so I went straight to bed.

(Mum; I finished Jasper Jones. I loved it! Silvey has the most brilliant ways to articulate the simplest of things)

All in all an exhausting week; bring on the weekend!

Ma première semaine à Vichy

My first week in Vichy started with a somewhat embarrassing test of my French capabilities... however after being put in the "debutant" class I felt a little more reassured that I was going to be able to understand what was going on. My class consisted of seven other people; two from Lybia, one from Spain, one from Saudi Arabia (living in New York), one from India, one from Japan and one from Angola! Because of the diversity of students (and because of our reason for being there) the classes are conducted in French. This made for some interesting moments during the week when we began trying to explain things to each other through broken French and mime. Things like "take" and "want" and "boyfriend" were particularly interesting to explain to the other students.

My teachers are lovely and I think I am learning French quite quickly considering it is my first week of speaking it! The classes run from 8:45 till 12 and then lunch is from 12-2 then the afternoon classes are from 2-3:30. The day, although not long, is quite exhausting! I spent the first three days speaking entirely in (terrible) French with my class mates during lunch and after classes. Thankfully though a lot of the students speak a little english so when French fails, our common language becomes english.  

On Wednesday night, when boarding the bus to Lyon (more on that later) I heard Australian voices so I asked; "is that an Australian voice I hear?" Turned out it was and I now have two gorgeous Australian girls from Melbourne to spend time with.

The walk to and from school is about 10 minutes past the main shopping area which is good for local business, but bad for Margaux's budget. There are bread shops every thirty meters and cake or chocolate shops every ten. The town is all dresses up in Christmas garb and the shop windows all have a Christmas theme so it is a very nice way to start/ finish my day. After school I usually go for a walk around the town which consists of me walking for thirty minutes or so until I feel completely lost, getting out my map and then working out how to get home. After four day of this however it is getting hard to feel lost as I think I have covered every street in the town.  

I set myself a little task everyday whether it be buy something from a grocer or ask where something is or order food in a cafe. All tasks, I am pleased to announce were a success however nine times out of ten they notice my accent (or my terrible French) and ask me where I am from. Today however a woman carrying her daughter stopped me in the street and asked me where the cinema was. I replied that I thought it was around the corner in the building next to us but I was not sure because I am Australian and only visiting Vichy. The little girl said "Merci Madame", I replied "de rien" and the whole affair was delightful.  

I have been eating so much food! I have had crepes, baguettes, salades and copious amounts of bread! And everywhere I seem to go people want to give me chocolate. Perhaps it is because of the Christmas season? 

Anyway I will post my "adventures by night" tomorrow as I am about to have dinner with my family (on Friday night I made sushi with Murielle, my host mother so I am excited for dinner tonight)

xxx M 

Bienvenue à la France

[I have been writing but not posting these so here is the first week of my adventures all in one go!]

The Journey; Day 1
(I say day but it seemed closer to a week)

Waving a sad good bye to the family I boarded my Etihad Airways flight to Abu Dhabi (17hours) connecting to Paris; Charles de Gaulle airport at 4pm... but not before some quick duty free shopping! [Dad; thought you would be happy to know that for the first time ever I was not “randomly selected” for further bomb testing at the Sydney airport!]
Trudging the distance back to seat 45C I passed the ridiculously luxurious first class seating equipped with full length day beds, massive entertainment screens and gold encrusted sliding door. 
I spent the 17 hours watching no less than 5 movies, sleeping for two hours and eating for the entire duration. Looking around at the screens of the three Middle Eastern men who surround me; I was amused/delighted to see that they were watching Hannah Montana, Eat Prey Love and Eclipse; the Twilight saga...
After two hours wait in Abu Dhabi airport and then another 7 hour flight to France I arrived at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport. No less than two minutes into my Parisian adventure I make my first faux pas; I pressed the emergency stop button on the revolving door! (Don't ask why because I couldn't tell you! Perhaps my subconscious wanted the world to stop for just a moment so it could catch up).After the security lady scolded me, but not before a queue had formed behind me the door was reset and I was on my way. 

As I approached the information desk I ran through everything I was going to ask; "Où est le bus à destination de Paris Gare de Lyon s'il vous plaît?" [Where is the bus to Paris Gare de Lyon please?]  but when I opened my mouth all that came out was a meek "Parlez-vous anglais?" I did however manage to buy my bus ticket in French (albiet it isn't that difficult howeverone small step for man, one giant leap for Margaux!)

I spent my time at the train station (4hours) people watching, drinking expensive tea (3.50 euros!!), and courtiously accepting the copious amounts of chocolate covered almonds the waiter kept giving me; in the  end I had to say "pas plus s'il vous plaît!" [no more!]

I would like to take a moment now to acknowledge the crafty begger woman who watched me buy a baguette (because I am in France!!) and, as I was receiving my change, pounced on me with her puppy dog eyes. Needless to say, I donated 40 centimes to the "homeless Parisienne food fund."

After three hours on the train, making a combined travel time of about 35 hours, I arrive in Vichy! Thierry, my host father picks me up from the train station and takes me for a tour of Vichy (he speaks some English so I am quite relieved!) Murielle, my host mother made dinner for us so I had soup, bread and cheese for my first night in Vichy followed by home made crepes!! (Dad Thierry loves the book you gave him and Mum the scarf was a fantastic idea!)   

So after an exhausting trip I collapsed onto my bed hoping to get a good nights rest for my first day of school!