Our first day...

Bonjour from France!

Needless to say, it has been a rather busy few days.  We left O’hare around 6 P.M. on Tuesday and arrived in Paris around 9 A.M.  After that, it was on the train station for a two and a half hour ride on the TGV and a bus ride to Avignon.  One of the girls on the trip said it took us about 14 hours to get from Chicago to Avignon and I would say it felt more like 24!

The first evening was spent taking a mini-tour of the city.  Tim and I got croque-monsieurs from a local boulangerie or bread shop and our group went on a walking adventure of trying to find the local internet café.   We also caught our first glimpse of the Palais des Papes, the Palace of the Popes.  However, after a long day of travel and very little sleep (I might have slept an hour on the flight), we were both passed out by 8 P.M.

The early end to the day came in handy the next day when we were up and on the roads running shortly after 5 A.M.  The heart of Avignon is encircled by a stone wall that was built by the popes hundreds of years ago.  For our run, we just followed this around for a few times; two for me, four for Tim.  Shortly after returning, cleaning up, and eating an actually very good breakfast, our group headed to a local collège, a French middle school.

The middle school we went to was about a 20 minute bus ride away but well worth the trip.  We all had a blast teaching the children about American culture and life in the States.  The classes knew various levels of English so we would have to speak very slowly and simply and their professors would ask them questions to see what they understood.  We also entertained questions from them.  My favorite was when all of us were caught off guard when a few questions asked if we could show them the dollar trick that shows the Twin Towers after the attack; I was shocked they knew about that (that they found out through the internet was slightly less surprising).  We also had a kid break-dance in one of the classes, which was pretty entertaining. At lunch, we sat with groups of French kids and spoke English or French as they wanted.  My table had one kid who was born in Poland but has been living in France for 10 years.  His English was excellent and he also spoke German, Polish, and, obviously, French.  The other kids, who were little hoodlums and loved to make trouble, including throwing bread into the purses of girls on the trip, would ask the Polish boy to ask me things in English.  I found this entertaining because I understood enough of what they were saying to get the gist of the question before it was asked to me.  They wanted me to play basketball with them but, while we were waiting to go to our next thing, they must have had class.  This didn’t stop Tim from hopping in a game though… Later on, the boy gave me his e-mail so I guess I have my first pen pal?  Another enjoyable part of this day was singing our National Anthem and When the Saints go Marching In with a group of the students.  We then attempted to sing to them Frosty the Snowman but failed miserably as nobody really knew the words.  Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer was a much better choice.  Madame Schillerstrom was talking with a few of the NCC students on the trip about how they have a better appreciation for teaching now since we all had to make the same presentation for each class and hear the same groups present all day long.

After the middle school, we went on a guided tour of the Palais des Papes.  I am not entirely sure how to describe this place as it was the most massive structure I have ever seen.  In fact, Tim and I ran past what we thought was another structure that morning, but was just the backside of the Palais.  This complex was incredible to be inside and consists of two styles; one pope had a more Romanesque style while the pope that replaced him wanted a Gothic style.  The result was two palaces in one, split in the middle into the two styles.  I could not believe the incredible size of a structure at which only twenty or so people actually lived (hundreds came to work there every day and lived nearby).  I probably won’t go into too much detail on this place because trying to describe it will only do it a disservice.  However, I strongly recommend visiting.

That was a fairly busy day that was capped off by a nice pizza, some good wine (even though I do not really like wine, at all), and, to my delight, crème brulée and whiskey.  After that we went to an Irish bar (yes, in the south of France) and had another drink.  Since I had seen Frenchmen order beer at dinner, I no longer felt obligated to drink wine. 

All in all, that was quite the busy first day and we were pretty beat by the end from being on our feet from before sunrise to past sunset.  Internet isn’t free at this hotel so my posts will be relatively infrequent.  Stay tuned for the next edition.

A nice view from the TGV. There wasn't much snow at all in Paris but, for a while on the way to Avignon,  there was quite a lot.

Part of the front of the Palais des Papes. You can sort of get an idea of its size from the size of the entranceway, which is much bigger than a person itself.. 

The lunch at the middle school for the unfortunate souls who do not go home... (I wish we had had that at St. Pete's) 

An interesting statue of an elephant doing a trunk-stand? Needless to say, I do not know what it means. 

A replica of the size of the complex. The previous picture was taken about where the bottom of her folder is. 

And from the inside... 

By far, the best way invented to chase whiskey...