Last Day in Paris

It has been a great time getting to explore the famous city of lights, but also a tiring one. The only other time I would come back to Paris would be during the Fall or Winter, or a low season for tourism. The people haven't been too rude, at least not any ruder than you would find in the grand city of Houston. Many people seem to have adapted to tourism, but when the day is ending you can feel the stress of it all.
Until I went up the Eiffel tower today I didn't realize how beautiful Paris is from an aerial view. Although I still prefer a good hike into an unknown terrain, where you could find natural beauty and be able to enjoy it enough to move around and breathe. There is not much room for movement or personal enjoyment of any of the monuments here. It is somewhat sad in a way, but then again I much rather prefer the road less traversed. It is nice to be able to say that I've been there, and I am very thankful of that. Here are few pictures from today and yesterday. Enjoy. I'm at the half way point!

 Seine river boat ride. I thought the silhouette of the people was neat.

 Loving my 24x optical zoom (thanks Brian) This was taken from the top of the Eiffel tower!

I did not dare to go in with all those people but I had to see the pyramid. It reached about 100 degrees here...WOW..and I randomly caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror today and was caught off guard because I've never seen my face so tan...

Day 2 +3

So yesterday I was truly exhausted from the amount of walking and site seeing we did. We saw a bunch of things, to cut it short! I will post some pics from yesterday and tomorrow I'll post those of today. We began our day today at 1pm went to Versailles ...which was too much to detail, too much to see, too much to walk, and just too much! Particularly people. I can see why the French were angry about the chateaux being built...all that money..for what?! But I ended the day with the group dinner and boat ride down the river. I got to see the Eiffel tower shimmer and took lots of pretty pictures from the boat. I'll put those up tomorrow. One more full day tomorrow then back to Pau and back to the books. I love getting to see Paris but so glad I didn't study here. I think with all the english speakers it would be hard to really learn French. I also just don't like being in Paris too long with all the other tourists...too many people. I definitely feel my deflated personal bubble, drooping over my shoulders-defeated from the days eternal pokes, prods, and warm bodies.

Bonjour Paris

It has been a very long day. It began with an early rise to catch the train, but ended in a very nice hotel. I gave a small presentation on La Sorbonne, for my field study, and toured a few places with the group. The group has quite a bit planned for the next 4days. I will get to see most of the main sites, so I'm pretty excited about that. I don't have much to write but I will upload some pictures. I'm half way through my journey! One more session of about 5weeks, Norway, then France again and a bit of traveling.

Gavarnie in the Pyrennees Mountains

 This is actually random, its from Friday's lunch. They are finger size pastries, which I thought were cute. Cafeteria food here is much better than any cafeteria I've been to in the States.

Our first stop yesterday was Parc Animalier, a zoo in the mountain valley. It was about the best zoo I've been to because you actually felt like you could get really close to all the animals, even the bears! The cages were designed very well and in the back drop of the mountain valley. Unfortunately there were a bunch of clouds but the views were still amazing.

We got to feed these little rodent creatures. They were very greedy and as you can see would just jump up in your lap and eat out of your hand. We all were taken off guard when the guy asked if we wanted to feed them. Some others also got to hold 6 week old wolves.

Baby fox, so cute.

Up close and personal with a bear. They just followed us around then stood up on the very edge, a little frightening at times, and stared at us.

Don't you just wanna snuggle? It was a bit chilly, I almost contemplated it.

This was hilarious! Your walking along and then you notice that the little square off to your right, which is only about 2ft tall, houses this giant hog. Well one of the girls stooped down to look at him and he just jumped up and posed looking back at her.

Some of our views as we walk up the side of the zoo.

Have to represent my school, right? Bobcat.

Les Cascades: the restaurant we ate at. Generally where you see the clouds is actually where you see the large mountain range. It also didn't show in the picture but you can see some of the cascades (falls) coming down the top of the mountain while you're eating. I've really been happy with this USAC program because you truly see how well your money is spent. I feel like every cent was worth it.

Really, Really good pasta. The pasta tasted homemade.

Don't forget dessert; it's a must. You have a jelly like topping of blueberries, then a light cream in the center, and pastry like crust.

As you got closer to the mountains you can see the falls even better. They look as if they are coming from the clouds.

Wouldn't you like to be a horse?

This place is in the top most beautiful places in the world, apparently. The clouds hid a lot but at the same time it all was so immense and beautiful. I would say it is comparable to Switzerland. It was amazing.

Les Formage (Cheese)

Today was the cheese tasting and tour, as well as the day of mist, not rain, but a heavy blanket of tiny droplets of water. It almost looked as if it were snowing. We got to see the different holding rooms of cheese.

 Tiny little store. Took a very interesting bus route through a neighborhood to get to it.

 Cheese..but didn't get to pair wine with it. Maybe in Bordeaux next time.

 Eating cheese gives you blue feet...

 The cows eyes moved; it was pretty cute.

 Talk about cheese head, it was bigger than mine.

 Tasting.

 So I  never posted a picture of the infamous bathroom that is one of the first that dissuades me from taking a shower! I literally have to bathe myself like a child and then randomly turn the water off because it gets cold or too hot. The curtains are useless and if I stand up I tower over the lip of the bath tub anyhow and water would go every where. It's not long enough to stretch out and barely long enough in general. One of me barely fits. I can't imagine anyone bigger than me even attempting it. Oh and I forgot to get the hanging plant that is so perfectly stationed to take up any extra arm room, or head room. Along with the towel rack that I repeatedly seem to bash my head on from time to time.

 Right here on the left at the bottom of the shelves is the old toilet I assume. The toilet we actually use is next door to this room in a separate room, which is normal here. But I don't understand the toilet under the shelves. haha.

It's truly like a big sink. And whats the point of the random pieces of curtain? They are also paper thin.

Toulouse and my luck with water

Toulouse had a lot to offer, between giant cathedrals, museums, sculptures, and shopping you can accomplish quite a bit. I'm pretty sure we walked a great extent of the city. I went with two other girls, whom I shared a "family room" hotel room with. The room was rather odd and took random sets of stairs to get to. All in all we found it, even with the lights shutting off after we had just pushed the light switch. France conserves a lot of energy usage due to the high cost, but these lights didn't even stay on for two paces. The room consisted of one double and two twins. I think I was lucky enough to get the only bed that didn't creak incessantly. (one of the twins) The bathroom was an additional add on; we are pretty sure of that based on the fact that it appeared to be a cut out of one of the walls and was about the smallest one we have come across thus far. Not only was it small but the usage of space was not very well though out. There were no hooks for towels and you only had one person worth of space between the sink and the door (the width of me), but don't move more than two steps to your right or left otherwise you would be one with the shower or the toilet.
Speaking of the shower..but we'll get to that later.
First night out for dinner one of the girls was talking and some how knocked over the bottle of water on the table directly in my lap. That was the beginning of my luck with water. Dinner was superb. Most of the pictures I will post are of food, so don't continue if you have the urge to eat something sweet.
Ate alot, walked ALOT (thankfully...wait until you see what I ate) and saw alot of things. I enjoyed Toulouse for one time but never had the desire to want to go back. Some parts of the city were a bit grungy and there were a bunch of homeless people with big dogs every where. But then again they had some of the most beautiful public parks/gardens I've ever seen. Lots of shopping as well. The one store we came across with really cheap shoes was so crowded I almost thought I'd literally have to crawl on people to get out.
Second luck with water: So I was taking a shower on the last night before we left, and I had noticed earlier that the part where the hand held hose connected to the wall was leaking even more. As I'm lathering on shampoo I thought to myself  "it would really suck if the hose shot off at me" sure enough...that's what it did.

 Definitely made it worth the wet pants.

 Toulouse train station

 Forgot to mention the tootless frenchman who wanted to buy my friend a drink and work on his french lol. I secretly took a picture, I know that's wrong, but after ward I helped get rid of him. The worker in the hotel knew him and asked if he was bothering us.

 It's hard to remember to take a picture, as you can tell it was about to disappear.

 A lot of churches have neat little inner court yards with lots of flowers and gardens.

 blooming artichoke plant.

Stained glass, I try to change up the pics from the churches, some times they are just the same as others.

 The river that runs through Toulouse Garonne river I believe.

 Best cheese pizza ever, it had a variety of very good cheeses, such as goat cheese, blue cheese and others.

 Attempt at 10sec timed photo

 Yes, I know we have these in the states, but I thought it was a neat picture,

it also randomly showed up in a garden/park

No injuries, but I'm sure I've swallowed more soap than I ever did in my life ( all these "once in a life time experiences in France, right?" ). It scared the crap out of me. So I had to hold the hose as close as I could to where it came off so that I could rinse most of the soap off. We got the man down stairs to sort of fix it, but it needed more than what he did. So between walking around with the crotch of my pants soaked (in public) and getting attacked by a hose in a hotel, I still managed to enjoy Toulouse. Thankfully at the restaurant, where I got my pants soaked, we got fed shortly after because I almost had a fit with the girl who dumped the water on me. I knew it was an accident but my blood sugar was a bit low...yet I still managed to compose myself :)