Nous sommes sur le pont d'Avignon!

We visited Avignon today! Our train from Lyon left at 7, yes 7, in the morning and arrived in Avignon around 9:30am. We had an extravagant "French breakfast" before exploring the town.

Once you get to the square where the Palais des Papes is, you are overwhelmed by the building's size. It is huge! As we approached the entrance, a young man dressed as a jester (we later found out his costume was an original Pope's guard uniform from the 1300s) looked at us in awe. "Are you Tahitian? You're very beautiful," he said to us. He had clearly never seen a Tahitian before because neither of us have ever been mistaken for that in our lives, but it was very nice of him (and extremely funny for us).

The Palais des Papes from the square

Anyway - the 'palais' was incredible. It was an enormous fortress in the middle of the city where six papal conclaves were held from the early to late 1300s. It's actually made up of two buildings: the old Palais of Benedict XII and the new Palais of Clement VI. It took us a good two and a half hours to see it all. 

View from the top of the palace

What was interesting was that there was a modern artist being featured in the palace. His unusual works were hung all over the wall. It gave the big, bare walls color but the nude female subjects seemed extremely out of place in the religious landmark. 

Some of the art on the palace's walls

After our tour in the Palais des Papes, we walked to the Pont Saint-Bénézet (better known as the Pont d'Avignon). We had a great time, despite the wind blowing extremely aggressively.

 

By the time we finished up at the bridge, we were exhausted. So we went and got some ice cream, naturally, and then made our way back to the train station to wait for our ride back to Lyon! 

All moved in!

Today, I moved in with my host family! They live in the third arrondissement in a nice (and big) apartment just a few blocks away from the Rhône River.

The host families came to pick up all of us kids from the hostel we were staying at around 10am. My whole family came to pick me up, which was very sweet. After I dropped my things off in my room, I walked with my host mom and host brother (who is 10 years old and very cute) walked to the river for the Saturday market. We bought vegetables, fruits, meat, flowers... It was really fun. When we got back, everyone let me get settled.

In the evening, Meera arrived! I met her at the train station and we got her checked into her hotel before heading out for dinner. We went to the same place Mom and I went to for lunch the other day: Chez Hugonierre. One of the waitresses even recognized me! We had an absolutely amazing, and long, dinner that ended late. We hurried home after to get ready for tomorrow...

Here We Go!

The past 2 days have been crazy!

Yesterday morning, Mom and I got up early to visit a local market - unfortunately, it wasn't as exciting as we anticipated. However, we did buy a small basket of yummy raspberries that we snacked on as we walked around the Centre-Ville. After breakfast at a café in the Place des Jacobins, we headed back to the hotel for check-out.

We hopped on the tram (yes, the tram) to go to the Halles de Lyon, which ended up being SO much fun. It was essentially an indoor marketplace that sold a variety of cheeses, meats, chocolates, wines, candied fruits, etc. We wandered around the many, many stalls and admired all the fancy little stores. Mom was in awe by all the interesting things we found - typical!

Candied fruits - including peppers and avocado!

We ended up having lunch there at Maison Malartre, which was delicious. Huge emphasis on the "delicious".

My salad first course with warm cheese on top

Salmon, cooked to perfection Provencal-style

Then, we walked over the train station so Mom could make her 4pm train. It was so hard to watch her head toward the platform while I walked away toward the tram.

I finally got to the hostel where my program is staying for orientation around 4:30 and settled in. After a long introduction meeting, we had dinner at the cafeteria (which was not good - I've been spoiled with the best food lately so it was a hard adjustment).

Today, we woke up early to meet at the university for another meeting and then a group of us walked into Centre-Ville together for lunch. We even got our TCL passes, which we can use all of September for the metro, tram, and bus in Lyon!

 Throughout the day, I kept noticing things that were very "French" now that I was with fellow American peers: the old windows which lock and unlock very differently from the American ones at home; "la bise", or kisses, as a greeting instead of a hug or handshake; the number of pharmacies around (at least one green cross per street); French restaurant hours (lunch is only served 12-2:30 and dinner 7-12); the no-doggy-bag policy; the slow-paced service at restaurants (which is a blessing and a curse, I might add); the people people-watching while sitting at cafés...

Lyon, at last!

It's been a crazy past couple of days!

Sunday was our last day in the south of France. We toured the small city of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, where Jo lives, before heading east to Menton for lunch. In Menton, we had Indian food - it was so delicious! I had been missing my regular dose of ethnic cuisine so it was nice to have something other than French food (as delicious as it is, of course). We had dinner at home: polenta with sautéed zucchini and eggplant, fresh cheese on the side. It was one of the best meals I've had in Europe - the ingredients so fresh...

View from the castle

(French) Indian food! YUM!

Monday, we hopped on the morning train to Lyon. We got to our hotel in the early afternoon and met up with my host dad soon after that. He was extremely friendly and gave my mother and I a tour of their (big) apartment. Afterward, we walked into the Centre-Ville and explored town. We window-shopped and restaurant-browsed until we got to the square in front of the Hôtel de Ville where we sat down for a drink, which turned into dinner.

Standing over the Rhône River

Today was much more exciting than yesterday. We woke up early and went to the old town. Even though it was raining, it was fun to explore St-Jean, see the cathedral, and find all the secret passageways built within the buildings. These "traboules" are found behind regular looking doors and are paths from street to street through the buildings themselves - it's cool because you can see a bit of a hidden world.

Side view of Cathédrale St-Jean-Baptiste de Lyon

Courtyard inside a traboule

After walking around the old town, we had lunch at Chez Hugonierre where we had a very traditional Lyonnaise meal.

Salad lyonnaise, saucisson chaud

Following lunch, we went to the train station to get my mother's ticket for Paris tomorrow. Then, we got my things together and brought over my big suitcases to my host family's apartment. We met my host mom and her son, both who were extremely kind and welcoming. The family was kind enough to let me leave my things there while I have orientation (we technically don't move in with our host families until Saturday).

We then took the bus up to the Parc de la Tête d'Or, which was beautiful but felt a little pointless. We just walked around the lake before hopping back on the bus and going to the Centre-Ville for dinner.

Parc de la Tête d'Or view

Lyon at night

Tomorrow is the first day of the program! Can't wait :)

Beaulieu Villas

Today, we headed over to Beaulieu to visit Villa Kérylos and Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild.

Our first tour was of Kérylos, a beautiful Greek Revival estate on the edge of the water. The mosaic floors of the home-turned-museum differed from room to room and the wooden ceilings had ornate designs painted on them. It was a very accurate representation of an ancient Greek home.

Mosaic floors 

Living room

Terrace behind the Kérylos

We had lunch afterward at a nearby restaurant.

Vegetarian pizza!

Our second tour was of the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild. It was incredible. Built during the Belle Epoque, it was very extravagant. Constructed by Baroness Béatrice de Rothschild who had a taste for Louis XVI style, the rooms were filled with ornate tapestries, furniture, and carpets (many of which belonged to Marie Antoinette or were once in the Palace of Versailles). She also inherited a love for porcelain from her father so there were tens of sets of various porcelain and china collections.

Outside/inside of the Villa

The Baroness's bedroom

Mini chairs for the Baroness's pet mongoose and dog...

Part of the porcelain collection

Not only was the house itself fabulous, but the NINE gardens were too. Each of them a different theme: Florentine, Spanish, Garden à la française, exotic, a stone garden, a Japanese garden, a rose garden, Provençal and a garden de Sèvres. They were designed in the shape of a ship (to be viewed from the upstairs terrace of the house, which was like the bridge of a vessel) with the sea visible on all sides.

The Friday Market

Today was a little more low-key, which was much needed. We enjoyed a simple lunch at home outside on the patio - cold cuts and cheese.

Later, in the early afternoon, we drove back over to the little town of Ventimiglia for their weekly Friday market. The streets were packed - vendors as far as the eye could see selling jewelry, leather purses, belts, clothes... We wandered around a few cashmere and jewelry stands before Jo found a beautiful gift for her daughter and we headed over to the food part of the market.

There were rows and rows of fresh fruits and vegetables, homemade pasta, meats, and flowers sold by local farmers. It was one of the most colorful places I've ever been.

Ended off our beautiful afternoon with gelato!

Clockwise from top: yogurt, mango, and watermelon!

Cinque Terre - Vernazza

Yesterday, we woke up very early in the morning to drive over to Ventimiglia (an Italian border town) to hop on a local train to the Cinque Terre! The train stopped at every single little station - it took 5 hours to get to Vernazza (the second town of Cinque Terre). It was definitely worth the trouble though.

The view from our room!

After dropping our bags off, we headed southbound. We met a nice, young couple who was staying next door - they had warned us about what we were getting ourselves into and told us what to expect. The first portion of the hike (Vernazza to Corniglia) was difficult, but manageable. It took us about an hour to get there, including the time we took to admire the panoramic view of the Mediterranean before us. 

Vernazza from the trail 

Corniglia from the trail

In Corniglia, we stopped for a small snack (we hadn't had lunch) and explore the town a bit. It's bigger than Vernazza and we ended up losing our way. We had to back track twice before we found the next part of the trail toward Manorola. The first hour or so after we left Corniglia was hell. The sun shone right on our backs and we were just climbing step after step after step. I could hear my heart beating in my ears! It was so exhausting. Finally, the trail flattened out and we were amazed by 1) how high up we were and 2) how many grapes were growing up on this side of the cliff! There were rows and rows of grapevines on these steep hillsides facing the sea, it was like nothing I had ever seen before. 

The descent from the top of the mountain was not as easy as we had hoped. The pathways were very steep, making it hard on our feet and knees. Finally, after two hours, we could see Manorola. It seemed like it took forever to climb down and by the time we made it into town, our legs were wobbly from exhaustion. 

Manorola: a welcomed sight, indeed...

After some gelato, we took the train back to Vernazza where we cleaned up and went out to eat. Following dinner, we took a walk around the main piazza and enjoyed the beautiful night out by the sea.

Vernazza at sunset

This morning, we woke up early and set out for a half-hour walk toward Monterosso to get a better view of Vernazza. Afterward, we bought a few pastries at the local bakery and two cappuccinos from the local bar for breakfast and ate on a bench facing the sea. 

Breakfast-by-the-Sea

When we finished, we headed back to our room, packed our things, and hopped on to a train to Monterosso. There, we thought we could get on to a faster train for Ventimiglia. That didn't work out so instead we had lunch in town and waited for the local train to arrive. We got to Ventimiglia around 6pm and had happy hour at a nearby restaurant - 5 euros for a drink and an all-you-can-eat buffet of Italian "tapas". 

Such a great couple of days in Italy!

Monaco & St. Paul de Vence

On Monday, we left Paris. We took the train down to Nice (5-hour long ride...) and then took a local train to Monaco -- one of my mom's friends (Jo) lives in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, right outside the tiny country.

On Tuesday, we visited Monaco's oceanography museum and aquarium. That was a lot of fun. We then wandered into the garden next door, the "royal" garden, and enjoyed the ocean views. 

In the afternoon, we headed over to Saint-Paul-de-Vence, a French town up in the hills above Nice. It was a really quaint, medieval town which a great view of the surrounding landscape. Jo has a friend, an artist, who owns a gallery (Bang & Lessin) up there so it was really amazing to see and meet working artists and their work. We had lunch in town and maneuvered our way through the narrow, narrow streets and steep steps, shopping in small stores, and drinking fresh spring water from public taps.

View from St. Paul de Vence

Bang & Lessin Art Studio