Sunny day in Le Rheu

Today it was 16 degrees with no wind and a clear sky. A big change from the cold snowy weather we had before! Since I only had school until 1130 today Marie and I went for a walk in the afternoon to visit the neighbours' cows. They weren't fully grown yet so they were pretty cute- mooo :p
Here's a pic of Marie's house.

Joyeux Anniversaire!

Happy Birthday Baptiste! Baptiste (Marie's little brother) turns nine today so we had a little celebration for him.  We ate pineapple cake and some macarons that Thomas and I made. :) We then opened gifts- a new leather jacket for Baptiste! 

Two week trip

Now that I'm back home I can post a few more pics of my travels. Voila!

The castle that I stayed at in Paris.

Marie and I in front of Versailles.

A view of the grounds at Versailles.

Brugge, Belgium.

Church in Brugge.

Luxembourg.

Nancy, France.

The "roulotte" I slept in when in Jura, France.

Jura, France.

In le Puy, Auvergne at the top of the Rocher Saint Michelle with Marie and her cousin Clara.

Clermond-Ferrand, Auvergne

Waiting in the car to start our 6 hour drive back to Le Rheu...

Le Puy, Auvergne

Today I climbed the "Rocher Saint Michelle" which is basically a volcano right in the middle of Le Puy with a super old chapel on top built in the tenth century. You can see a great view of the city from the chapel and also the sculpture of the Virgin Mary on top of another volcano.

Germany

Yesterday I got a chance to visit my friend from Germany in her home town of Aachen. Right now Germany is celebrating this festival called "carnival". It's basically a four day party where people dress up like its Halloween :p There is music, food, and dancing all through the streets all day and night. Marie and I had the chance to dress up and experience a bit of this carnival. We also took a little tour through the Netherlands since its right beside Aachen :)

Day in Brugge

Brugge is amazing! All the buildings are so beautiful, the food (and chocolate) is delicious, the shopping is great, and there is plenty of history here to learn about. I saw a Flemish art exhibit today, a few churches, and quite a few chocolate stores of course. I also saw the only work of Michelangelo removed from Italy during his lifetime, "Madonna and Child".

Belgium

Tonight I sleep in Brugge, Belgium. Their main language is "Flamen" i have been told which I don't understand one little bit! Luckily most of the people here also speak a bit of French and English. I ate at a cute little restaurant tonight decorated in hearts and angels for Le Saint Valentin. This is what was on the menu. Anyone understand?

Shopping

This pic is for Evelyn :)

Shopping in Paris

Today I had the chance to do a bit of shopping at well know places such as Place Vendome, Galerie Lafayette, and les Champs Élysées. I got to see some big name brand stores and also a few more affordable stores :p i saw street bums, pigeons, took the metro and saw a pick pocketer. It was a true Paris experience!
Here's a few pics of my day.

Versailles

Versailles was incredible! The outside is just as impressive as the inside :) however due to the snow covering the grounds (which is very rare) we unfortunately were not able to see "le Trianon" of Marie Antoinette.
Here are a couple pics. I'll post more when I have access to a computer.

Paris again!

So i am back in Paris and im staying in a beautiful castle built in the 1700s. I am off to Versailles today! I will post pictures soon :)

Oops i don't think the pic worked. Let's try this again...

Souffle

In France we eat delicious dinners very late in the in the evening. We ate this souffle at 930 tonight!

More of Eiffel

I uploaded a few more pics of le tour d'eiffel and the view from the second level.

Macarons

I tried a French "macaron" today- yum! :) They come in an array of colors and flavours. Here's a pic.

School!

I had my first day of school today and it was 8 hours long!  I started at 830 am and I ended at 530 pm.  I was pretty tired by the end of the day.  Everyone here seemed to be excited to meet a Canadian and many of them would try to speak english with me.  Some of them weren't so bad :p  The paper they use is quite a bit different than back home and I discovered a new kind of pen to write with!  I forget what they are called but mostly everyone uses them. Take note that they don't dip them in ink but that theres an ink cartridge you insert inside :p

Rennes: Parlement

I visited the "Parlement" today in Rennes which is basically the court house of Bretagne. It was ordered to be built by Louis Xll in the 16th century according to the tour guide. So it's super old! Every door,wall, and surface seems to have some sort of design on it that is symbolic of justice, God, Louis Xll, etc. The details on the ceiling as seen in one of the pics below are painted with gold.

Rennes

In Rennes all of the buildings are naturally very old. Some are made of stone and others wood. The streets are very narrow and are made of stone. Here are a few pics of the streets/buildings. In one of them you can see where a wood building has burnt down. The round stone building is an opera house and the other with a clock is the mayor's building. There is also a pic of inside one of the many churches I have visited. They are so beautiful!