I have been on vacation for the past two weeks, which is one of the few good things about living in France: the school system takes a 2 week break about every 6 weeks. The first week of the break I spent it laying around the house, watching French tv, and shopping. We got our first paycheck in the middle of that first week so of course I had to spend some of it! Don't worry mom and dad I did pay rent and I am buying food not just shoes and scarves. On Tuesday of that first week I went to the zoo in Lille, which is situated in a part of the citadel and in fact the zoo is free! For being a free zoo it was actually really nice and the animals were all well taken care of. They had a pretty good array of animals living in the zoo as well: monkeys, birds, zebras, rhinos, capybaras, and so much more! (See pictures below).
On Wednesday of that week I went out with my friends Janine and Emily and my new french friend Vaalentine (she is friends with Janine from a previous language exchange program). We went to Euralille and shopped literally all day. It was so nice to have been paid and to have money to treat myself to some new clothes. For those of you who don't know, Euralille is a giant shopping mall in the city center of Lille. It doesn't compare to the mega malls in Indianapolis but definitely bigger the Eastland mall in Evansville. You can find a little bit of everything in that mall and that we did :)
Friday of that first week I left for a 6 day trip along the northern coast of France. Janine, Emily and I visited Dunkerque, Calais and Boulogne sur Mer. Our friend Jason from Canada and his canadian friend Erica joined us for the trip to Dunkerque. We left Lille pretty early that morning and took a train to Dunkerque. When we got out of the station it was of course raining (this is the north of France). we had about a 30 minute walk from the train station to our hotel. After dropping our stuff off in the hotel room we went to visit the North Sea. With all the rain and wind and general cold of the north we decided not to stay at the beach for long. We tried to visit a WWII memorial museum, but it was closed for the winter season. So instead we visited a Maritime museum and spent as much time there as we could muster as to not have to be out in the cold rainy day. The museum was very informational on the history of the ports in Dunkerque throughout history and the highlighted on famous people who have made the city into what it is today. Around early evening the weather had let up just enough for us to explore the city where we found lots of restaurants and shops and an old church. That night we decided to just buy a couple of pizzas and eat dinner in the hotel room watching Youtube videos all night. Very good use of the time given the dreary weather was against us.
We left for Calais the next afternoon, but before we left Dunkerque I had decided that I had had enough with the boots I had brought with me. They had completely split open in the back and in the rain water was just rushing into my shoes soaking my feet and socks. Not only was this a fashion crisis but it just wasn't healthy to walk around in the cold with wet feet. So! I stopped at a discount shoe store and bought a really great pair of black rain/snow boots. We had a moment of silence for my beloved brown leather boots and then I threw them away in the trash. I'm really hoping a homeless person in need of shoes found them. The train ride to Calais didn't take long and after checking into the hotel we headed off towards the old part of town and the beach. First we stopped off at the Hotel de Ville and saw a famous sculpture by Rodin, which is situated just infront of the Hotel de Ville. We found a really neat lighthouse, but of course it was closed due to the rain getting the stairs wet and making it a hazard to tourists. Instead we headed to explore the one thing that is free and guaranteed to be open: the beach. We explored the harbor housing tons and tons of boats and then when we tried to cross a pedestrian/vehicle bridge a little tug boat was entering the harbor from the ocean. It's antenna was just barely too tall to fit under the bridge so we all had to wait for the bridge to rotate itself letting the boat into the harbor. I've never seen something like that before!! The bridge literally tilted and then rotated clockwise till it was perpendicular with the street and the boat could go by. This beach was more packed with people flying kites and walking dogs. I don't mean to give the impression that we went to the coast for a nice holiday in the sun and sand. It was insanely windy and cold and we couldn't stay longer than 10-15 minutes before just giving up. That night we ate out at a really nice restaurant and took about 2 hours to sit and eat and chat. Typical french dinner.
The next day we made a second attempt at viewing the lighthouse, but since we tried to get in just before the noon hour (which is lunch time and very important to the French) we were asked to come back later in the day. We found a famous church where Charles de Gaulle married his wife Yvonne. Of course it too was closed for renovations. We tried to get into a WWII memorial museum that was housed in an old Nazi Naval bunker, but it too was closed. The museum is situated in a park and since there was a strong wind storm coming in the park was closed to the public. We made a third attempt at the lighthouse and FINALLY had luck with a tour. It started out with a very informational video about the history of lighthouses and their current day function. I learned that each lighthouse is decorated differently so sailors can distinguish which cities are along the coast. At night when the lighthouse can't be seen the light projected from the lighthouse is unique to each one determined by the frequency of the beam and how long it shines in each direction. After the video our tour guide lead us up the 271 steps to the top of the lighthouse. It was so windy out you could feel the lighthouse swaying in the wind. After the lighthouse we went to an art museum, where I got to see more sculptures by Rodin. He's my favorite sculptor so that was pretty exciting for me. I did realize after a while that the pieces on display were borrowed from the official Rodin museum in Paris, which I've already been to, so these pieces weren't new to me. There were a lot of paintings and sculptures all around the museum and after an hour of exploring we decided to head back to the hotel to rest up before dinner.
The last part of the trip was spent in Boulogne sur Mer. I liked this city the best because there was much more to see and do. We met up with our friend Grace at the train station and went to check into our hotel. The hotel was unlike any other I have ever stayed in before. For one there was no elevator and our room was on the 4th floor, which to the Americans that actually the 5th floor. There was only a toilet and sink in the corner covered by a fabric curtain. We learned to blair the tv when someone needed to use the facilities. The showers were communal amongst the floor and just on the other side of the hall. The first night in Boulogne we ventured down to the beach and watched the sunset. For dinner we thought we'd try out a chinese restaurant just next to our hotel. The sign on the door said they were closed but a little chinese lady ushered us inside and read us the entire menu twice telling us everything on the menu was very good. She spoke to us in French but I honestly thought she was speaking Chinese. I ordered a chicken dish, and was afraid my chicken was undercooked because it looked a little pink inside. The other girls ordered some kind of noodle soup. Pretty much a bowl of water with noodles and some sliced vegetables. Needless to say we weren't too pleased with that restaurant.
The next day we went to the old part of town that is surrounded by the Ramparts or old fortified walls of the city. We found a bright and colorful art garden just outside the Hotel de Ville. We tried to go up the Belfroi to get a 360 view of the city, but of course it was closed for the season. So we explored the rest of the Hotel de Ville and found a big ballroom and court room. We ventured around the old city some more and found a giant church with a crypt housing many Egyptian artifacts (of course this was closed too). the view from the old city was gorgeous over looking the rest of Boulogne and then out into the sea. We got lunch at a cute little creperie restaurant. I had a ham and cheese crepe with a side salad and a local type of cidre. In the afternoon we walked back to the beach and the harbor. This day was election day in America so I retired to the room to nap so I could stay up late and watch the election results. I could only stay up till 1am or 2am before passing out. I had set my alarm to go off at 6am and got caught up on the election results.
The next day we checked out of our hotel and headed off to an aquarium, which is supposed to be one of the best tourist attractions in the north of France. Naussica was AWESOME! It was by far one of the best aquariums I've ever been to. We saw all kinds of fish, alligators, penguins, sea lions, and so much more!
Thanks for sticking around for an insanely long blog post! Back to work on Monday!!
No comments:
Post a Comment