Adventures through Europe........... mainly France

Better late than never

2009-03-10T16:25:00.000-07:00

So it's been WAY too long since i've updated my blog........... So here goes............

We went to Paris. It was awesome. End
We saw A LOT! yes, we saw the Mona Lisa.... I was never really interested in seeing it. I was much more interested in exploring the museum that is the Louvre. I can't wait to go back there.
Eiffel Tower is just............ amazing.......... A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! it is large and in charge.
One night went to a club. The club didn't open until 11:30pm and it closed at 6am. We left around 4:30am. good times.

All i can say is I cannot wait to go back.

Here are some pics with captions.

our main source of transportation. AKA the best kind.

The two Statue of Liberties face each other. Pretty nifty

Mr. Toast > Tour de Eiffel

E.T.

Mr. T <3 Orangina

MKVI GTI...... i cant wait for car shows this summer

Paris Opera House

Notre Dame. The Sunday we were in Paris we went to mass there. The architecture here is just breathtaking.

Line to see the Mona Lisa. what a joke

Massive painting across from the Mona Lisa. Here is a little story, an 40 something American woman was walking behind me as i was taking this picture talking to what looked like her husband. She makes a profound statement "Oh, and this honey is the Last Supper".....................

Pigeons basically own Paris

Group picture in front of the Eiffel tower. Lynds was taking the picture (that's her foot)

Group w/ Gerry

Group w/ Dan

well that is all for now. I have A LOT more pictures, but they take forever to upload onto flickr.

On Thursday Lyndsay and I are going to London then on Monday evening we are heading up to North Hampton to stay with some of my family there and in Wales. Then that Friday we head off to Rome, Italy. I cant wait to get back to Rome. Then after Rome we are back to Paris. (sneak preview for Paris: Disney Paris?!?!)

My room and etc..... (around ambialet on Jan 29th)

2009-01-29T10:49:00.000-08:00

Random pictures of the dogs and our room.

i figured people would want to see one of the bedrooms.

This is my room btw haha

and onto other pictures

Carcassonne ftmfw

2009-01-29T10:35:00.000-08:00

So we went and visited Carcassonne.

I must say it is easily one of my most favorite places we have visited yet.

The construction and history of the place was just amazing.

lets move onto pictures... (i suck at explaining)

Here is our group fresh off the bus being lectured by Eric.

On the bridge leading into the city of Carcassonne

Part of the outside wall.

Mr. Toast FTMFW

Inside fortification

Torture was only 5 euro per person

I pick up Saint Francis students

Mr. Toast needs to pee before we eat.

Cathedral within Carcassonne

Rain and Spring Break

2009-01-26T12:58:00.000-08:00

So it rained a lot and we had to stay in a hotel for two nights.

apparently it was cold in some of the rooms.

Me and lynds also booked our Spring break. Toulouse -> London -> Rome -> Paris.

should be a good time. peace out

pics for clicks.

This next one was taken AND edited by Lyndsay M Neugebauer. the one and only...... well maybe

Conques

2009-01-21T15:05:00.000-08:00

Today (Wednesday Jan. 21) we went to Conques and visited the Sainte-Foy abbey-church. Conques is an amazing place that was discovered by a Hermit and eventually was expanded into a thriving city by people seeking religious enlightenment.

pics from today.

gratuitous bathroom picture. No soap or toilet paper provided in the bathrooms

The Tympanum over the entrance to the church

The return of Mr. Toast

Since we go on so many bus rides these are definitely required.

Bonjour and such

2009-01-21T13:07:00.000-08:00

So I am really bad at this whole blog thing.

On Saturday we all got to have our first shopping experience in France. Tim arranged for a bus to take us into Ambialet. All i can say is J'ADORE CREPES.
pics for clicks

Well last night we had a special event devoted to Mr. Obama's rightful take over of the United States. None of us had even considered making his inauguration into a special evening/party, but apparently the French had other ideas.

First off we were interviewed by French news reporters about our ideas and hopes for the next four years with this completely new style of president. I hope we didn't sound too stupid, haha.

Then we attempted to watch the inaugural speech and events via web cast, but that turned out to be much more of a hardship than we had expected. After Collin, Matt and Dan messed with various connections and websites we finally got it up and running.

After watching the inauguration we headed down into the dining room where we met up with a few of the students from Albi University who decided to spend this evening with us. We also met up with our teachers and some locals. We snacked on sheep cheese on baguette and Gaillac red wine.

Here are some pictures from that evening.

Here are our teachers

I must say, i am actually looking forward to the next four years and the hopeful changes that will come with them.

Mr. Toast arrives in Ambialet!

2009-01-16T08:40:00.000-08:00

So the first week of classes have ended and so far they all seem very intriguing.
It still has yet to hit me that we are actually living in a different country. It feels as if we are taking a school trip for a week or two to some local rural place.
I'm sure after a few more encounters with the French population it will hit me.

Our classes so far include French, an Economics course focusing on the European Union, A French and European Film Class, Art history and a food/gastronomy course. With each of these classes it seems like we will be taking various excursions and outings to further involve ourselves with that specific course.

Yesterday (thursday) we had began our classroom Art History classes and then we moved onto our food/gastronomy course and cooked dinner. After dinner for our European Film class we watched the movie Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, Le (Amelie).

Today (Friday) we had our Economics course and had an overview of the European Union and how it came about. After our only class today most of us went out for a walk in separate groups to continue exploring the small town of Ambialet. This place is very different, and has it's own distinct character. There isnt much to do in Ambialet, and you will usually see more dogs out in the streets than actual humans.

Here are some pictures from today when me and Lyndsay went out.

Here is Mr. Toast relaxing on the bench outside of the monastery that we live in.

Here he is checking out a speed limit sign

Here he is making a local phone call. (collect of course)

Here he is relaxing and looking over the bridge leading into Ambialet

and Lynds being a super cool photo taker

Mr. Toast working hard

Mr. Toast in danger

and Jay-Z hanging out with his bone. We thought we lost him yesterday

The Beginning of Our Lives in France

2009-01-14T11:51:00.000-08:00

So the last few days have been really exciting. We have done a variety of different things, and have begun to get to know our surroundings and our course work.

On Monday we had our first French class and a nice tour of Albi.

Albi really is an amazing town that has a huge amount of culture and history within it.

random pictures. ill add text later

maybe not. read lyndsays

So this is France....

2009-01-11T06:33:00.000-08:00

So this is the beginning of my France Blog.

Sweet.

So far not much has happened.

We traveled for around 14 hours.... but don't quote me on that number.
It was an experience to say the least.

Once we arrived at our final destination just about everyone wanted to crash, but we were instructed to stay awake for another 6 hours at least so we could get on a proper sleeping schedule.
Longest day of my life.

I have no idea what to write about right now. So lets move onto pictures

Flying with Air France went fairly well. Id give it a 7/10.
My parents drove me to the Philadelphia Airport at 1pm, and the check in lanes were closed until 3pm.

Philadelphia airport international terminal.
After getting through customs, i took more pictures

Then we moved onto the Paris airport which has an amazing design, but can be extremely confusing to navigate

The monastery in Ambialet where we will be living is amazing, and full of character.
and as we all know, character is key.

and the view from the Monastery

At the monastery there are a few animals that live with us.
First off we have Brune, a chocolate lab

and next we have Jay-Z

And lastly we have Blanchette, a goat..........