Les grèves et mes vacances

So, this week was the beginning of my spring vacation! I had made plans to explore France a bit with a friend, Whitney, and we had planned on a trip to Cassis (a little beach town on the Mediterranean), then a bigger trip to Lyon, Grenoble and Geneva (Switzerland!). Then I would travel on to Bretagne with my parents! I started break on a good note; I visited the other IAU program that I got into but choose not to go to in Avignon. I have a few friends who are there from HWS and I wanted to visit them before they left (their program ends in early May)!

We had a great time walking around the walled city, which was really cool! Unluckily and luckily the weather held out... it was cloudy and gross, but it didn't rain, even through there was a 80% chance! A few friends from Aix came to join us and we finally we able to explore the parts of Avignon that are most famous; the Palais des Papes and the Pont d'Avignon! We went to the Palais first ( the Popes moved to Avignon in 1309 but returned to Rome in 1377) and explored that area a bit! It was amazing and much bigger than I imagined! Then we journeyed on to the Pont d'Avignon... which of course, we danced upon (remember the children's song... sur la pont d'avignon, on y danse...?)! I will put those pictures up soon on webshots!


So I mentioned my plans about break (Lyon, Grenoble, and Geneva)... but France does not want me to go there I guess :( The people who work for the train stations throughout France, and therefore the trains themselves are not working... starting Wednesday... the day I was supposed to begin my trip. So we luckily were able to do some quick thinking, adn Whitney and I are exploring a little more of France! We shall see what we are able to do though, because the strike may last for 24 hours or it could last for 3 days... it depends on how the workers feel. Ohhh la la, la France et les greves! Hopefully everything will work out!

Hyeres, Isle-Sur-La-Sorgue and Fontaine de Vaucluse

It has been such a crazy past two weeks! I have had midterms and tons of presentations so I haven't really had time to update my blog! Last weekend,a few friends and I had an epic misadventure in Hyeres, a little beach town on the Mediterranean! It was a good plan in theory, but the strong 50mph+ winds made it a bit of a misadventure. We had planned on sitting on the beach all day... and when we got there, there was a bit more wind then we could handle. So we stayed on this beautiful beach, watched tons of windsurfers and enjoyed the beauty of the Mediterranean Ocean. After a little while, we decided to try to find another beach that would be sheltered from the wind. So the four of us headed in the direction of the port. After a few miles of walking, we came upon the port and the gorgeous area around the port. We walked around for a bit and finally found what we thought was a beach... but in fact it was the very beginning of the beach and there was more dirt then sand. What a misadventure! Well, we finally found an area to sit on and tried to enjoy the sun (the winds were still howling)... so we finally headed back to find a bus. After waiting a little while, we caught the bus, went to a local bar to get coffee and took the train home! The train ride was hilarious and the four of us were laughing the whole time, so even though we didn't have the day we planned, it was still a great day!


The next day, we had an IAU excursion to Isle-Sur-la-Sorgue and Fontaine de Vaucluse. It was a gorgeous day and we were excited to explore another part of our area! Isle-sur-la-Sorgue is a little town on the Sorgue river and it has tons of canals and little paddlewheels! On Sundays, there are huge markets, so we stopped here to explore the market a bit, pick up fresh food (from fruit to cheese to bread) and after a few hours headed on to Fontaine de Vaucluse, which is the town where you can find the source of the Sorgue river. We walked into this old town and I immediately fell in love. It had the French charm of a little town and it was beautiful! The Sorgue ran through the tiny town and we were shocked at the color of the river; green and turquoise. They used to harvest some type of plant that made the river this color, but they have stopped harvesting that plant, but the river remains the same color! We walked along the river a bit, and decided on a spot right next to an old paper factory (with a water wheel and all!) and had our picnic of bread, cheese and fruit- tres francais!


After our picnic, we went on a search for the source. I expected it to be some type of a fountain-like thing (as implied by the name Fontaine de Vaucluse). When we finall had hiked a bit, we came across a basin of water that was ice cold and turquoise. The mountains around the basin were so tall that the sun rarely reaches the water basin, which is in fact the source. The water is collected from the surrounding mountains and just pops up out of the ground to make this basin of water! We were in luck though, since it has been raining a little bit ore than usual here, the water level was really high! After exploring this little area a bit, we went back to the town in search of ice cream. We quickly found a little shop and my two month long search for two certain flavors of ice cream finally happening. Lavender and Cassis (black currant) ice cream. Yes, lavender ice cream. I was in heaven. Definitely two of my new favorite flavors of ice cream!!! Sow e enjoyed our amazing ice cream in front of the river... what a day!

So all in all, I had yet another amazing weekend in the South of France!