Voyage au sud!

Bonjour tout le monde! Sorry that its been a while since writing anything, but it has been quiet. This past weekend marked our last program sponsored trip, and it was a wonderful one. We went to the sunny(ish) South of France and explored multiple stops along the way.

We started out early on Saturday, as its about three hours on the bus to Montpellier where we were staying, and we were stopping multiple times along the way to see some sights. We weren't really told what exactly we would be seeing, so it was all kind of a surprise. Unfortunately, it was a rare rainy day which put a bit of a damper on things but nonetheless I think we all enjoyed ourselves. The first stop was at the Pont du Gard, a Roman aquaduct made to transport water to Nimes and which is the highest Roman aquaduct made, as well as still being in great shape. We actually got to cross over through the aquaduct and even in the rain it was very impressionant.
Some photos:

Rather scenic! I thought it was especially cool that we got to walk through the aquaduct--it was amazing to think it was 2,000 years old and that we could still use it today as a bridge!

For lunch we stopped at a restaurant to try bull, a local specialty as they still have bull fights in the region. I thought it was okay, though I wasn't blown away. Bull is, of course, much like beef, but I think it may have been the preparation that threw me off rather than the meat, as I got a mouthful of pure fat! Yuck.

Afterwards, we were told they were taking us to a surprise. Here's a hint:

  

Yup! The Haribo factory! SO COOL. So much candy. Being a Hershey Park veteran, I'm pretty cool with my candy museums but this was lots of fun, to go through and see all the scienc-y things that go into making the candy. I think the engineers had an especially great time as they got to see both an aquaduct and a factory in one day!  I also enjoyed the store which had a massive selection of candies and it turns out the French love their gummies as I saw several of them with shopping-cart quantities of candy to buy. I personally only got a few gifts for certain gummy lovers I know. 

That evening we arrived in Montpellier, and unfortunately it was raining. I had planned to meet Julia Lopez, a friend from high school who is studying there, and so my friend Lindsay from the program and I headed over to see her. Unfortunately, it was rather rainy still which is uncharacteristic for the area but nonetheless we could tell it was a lovely little city. We wandered around a bit, sheltered by umbrellas, before we stopped at a restaurant to get something we don't tend to have in mountainous inland Grenoble...moules frites! (mussels for the non-French speakers out there). Delicious! It was wonderful to catch up with Julia and I think we all had a great dinner together. 

The next morning we woke up, got a delicious breakfast buffet, and headed off to the Mediterranean! We stopped at a town called Sete, which was founded in the 17th century and was home to several famous poets, one of whom I'd actually heard of! It has a beautiful oldish cemetary overlooking the water. Lindsay and I wandered around in search of lunch, to eat as a picnic on the cliffs, got a little lost along the way, but finally found a little grocery shop and a boulangerie. We had a lovely picnic of fresh strawberries, baguette, chevre (goat cheese) and potato chips seasoned with herbes de Provence. It was pretty ideal, even when a couple of seagulls I named One-Eyed Bob and Steven decided to join us. The sun was gorgeous and the food delicious!

Steven and One-Eyed Bob face off in front of our picnic.

The above picture was taken after lunch, when we drove up to a view point over looking the town and the sea. It was about what you imagine a French seaside town should be, no?

Our final stop was unfortunately brief since we got a bit stuck in traffic, but it was a stop at a proper beach, where I did manage to get a little sunburnt (of course) in only about half an hour. The water was way too cold even for wading, since it wasn't super warm out, but there was sun and sea and sand and shells, and it was lovely. I built a sandcastle and wandered around a bit!

Finally we headed back, which took quite awhile especially since there was more traffic. We took a half hour break at a rest stop, which was surprisingly like an American rest stop, complete with a McDonald's. It turns out it is a French law that drivers have to take a break every two hours. Finally, we got back around 830 last night and said goodbye. It's sad to think we probably all won't be all together again!

In other news, I have pretty much finalized my plans for the upcoming break! I'll be spending three days each in Fez and Rabat, and then a few days in Florence. Such excitement!

Bisous,
Miriam
PS: bonus points to any who comment; I can see lots of you are reading but I'd love to know what you think or if you have any questions/recommendations/requests for a blog post!