...But I'm getting ahead of myself, I don't think you know that we were in France this past week! My best friend's brother married a lovely French girl and we went to the wedding in Lyon.
Our trip began at the Malaga airport where Angelines realized we had forgotten to pack our drivers licenses... (oops!) In Barcelona we had a car rented to drive to the wedding! Thankfully we have wonderful friends who bailed us out and even lent us their car, saving us 200 euros on the rental! (thank you Montse and Monica) We stayed the first night at their house awaiting an express envelope from La Roda with our licenses (thank you Nuria). So we started our trip a day and a half late, but feeling quite lucky to have such wonderful friends!
Given that we took the scenic route to Lyon, things when much more slowly than anticipated. Unfortunately, all our driving time took up most of each day and we just barely had time to find a campground each day, eat dinner and relax some (most of the campgrounds have swimming pools!) and go to bed in order to get up and drive some more! Camping was part of our plan to save money...but any money saved by camping was spent twice over on our daily cervecita and coffees. It wasn't at all what I had planned, but I'm focusing on the good things: visiting friends and spending time with my Angelines.
Aside from getting to visit with our friends in Barcelona and of course with all the groom's family in Lyon, we made a surprise visit to a friend from here in La Roda who is working through the summer at a cafe in Port de la Selva, Girona (north of Barcelona and very near the French boarder). She was SOOOO happy to see us. We stayed our first night at a campground nearby and were able to spend an hour or so chatting over ice cream as we strolled along the beach.
Southern France is gorgeous and the area north of Lyon where the wedding reception was held was absolutely amazing. Angelines and I stayed in a little rural hotel in a tiny little town near the site of the reception for the three days we were in Lyon. It was a quaint old building from the 1800's with views of the flower-lined streets and the church steeple--just exactly what you think of when you think of small European villages.
We drove by so many beautiful towns and villages nestled into the rolling green countryside. The entire area was riddled with them--little pockets of golden stone buildings with pointed, slate turrets of castles and church steeples peeking out of each one. It's a shame we had so little time to see things...but I suppose there's always the possibility of a next time.
Avignon was one of our only tourist stops. We explored the Pope's Palace (although we didn't buy entry tickets) and got pictures of the bridge at Avingon. Do you know the song? ;) Somehow we stumbled upon a Spanish bar for our daily beer and wine! They had the menu set out on the street listing "les tapas" (hahaha) and inviting passersby to explore the flavors of the regions of Spain. ;) It was pure coincidence that we happened to have our cerveza there, I swear.
On Friday morning, after a horrible night of thunderstorms (A was so worried about flooding being camped right near a creek that we spent the night squished into the back of our friends' van--needless to say we didn't sleep much!) we were able to do a bit more exploring. We camped near the tiny medieval village, Mirmande. It reminded me of Belle's hometown in Disney's "Beauty and the Beast." It was full of tiny winding cobbled streets and stone houses dating from the 1600's. Of course we were only able to explore as long as it took us to eat our croissants, but still it was nice to get another little taste of tourism.
I was pleased with my French. Thanks to Maggie and my trip to Belgium, I was definitely able to communicate. I also was pleased to find that it is indeed a myth about French people being so stuck up that they will refuse to speak to you in English...or refuse to speak to you if you don't have perfect French. Everyone seemed grateful at my attempts to speak their language (which were really much more like butchering it and then mixing it up with Spanish), and I found that many people knew enough English (and were willing to speak it) that we had very little problems navigating when lost, finding our tiny village with the hotel or working out train schedules to and from Lyon.
Our vacation was indeed an adventure. We went to France the old fashioned way: with a road map and asking directions. No GPS for us. Angelines drove most of the way and I was the navigator--a perfect team given that I get more nervous in traffic than she does, and she's not very good at reading road signs or maps! :) We only got lost once, in Lyon...traffic there is INSANE. Thank God we figured out the train schedule for the wedding day. I was quite impressed by the efficient and cheap (surprisingly enough) public transportation.
Now we're back in La Roda and I have my exams tomorrow and Saturday. Wish me luck. Once again, I feel horribly unprepared...France didn't lend itself to studying. I'm drinking "tila" for my nerves and just doing my best to remember that all I need to do is pass!
oh, that sounds like such a fun trip! Similar to (and yet different) from Matt and my's recent trip. We drove from Minnesota to Oregon while camping all the way: Nebraska, Wind Caves Nat'l Park, Lander (with friends), and the Grand Tetons were our stopping places. It was pretty awesome.
ReplyDeleteYou will do fine on the tests. Is it true in Spain (like the US) that no one will bother with your grades once you have a job? I've found that to be true many times over here! All my agonizing in college did not do a whole lot for me in the job market.
Sounds like even though that trip didn't turn out exactly as planned, you had a good time :) and bravo on the French by the way.....you show-off!
ReplyDeleteje voo sweat.... ;)
Love you!