Sunday, October 9, 2011

A Windy Weekend in Provence

Bonjour!!! I write to tell you about the amazing weekend i just spent in Provence! it was a group trip taken with AIFS and we toured all over the region of Provence, such as Avignon, Arles, and Aix-En-Provence. We saw roman ruins, aqueducts, and markets. we went wine tasting before noon on a friday. we had adventures. it was super fun. true to my story telling through picture form i will tell the story of each photo below!!
We went to a castle ruins place called Chateau des Baux de Provence. it was awesome. literally a castle on top of a mountain hill. sweet. it was super windy however and literally almost blew me away a couple of times! they had old relics like this old catapult and trebuchets and archery ranges. it was pretty awesome. all i could think the whole time was how much my brother would have loved it! so i took a bunch of pictures to show him! they even had an old door ramming thing that they would use to break through castle doors. this thing i'm sitting on in this photo squeaked pretty intensely when i sat on it and i was mildly concerned for a second that it was going to break on me and i was somehow going to get thrown from it. which, however much of an adventure that would have been, i would have either landed on rock or flown off the side of the mountain and somehow i don't think that olive trees make a soft landing...
Me and my darling friend Michelle a top the other castle we visited. the Chateau du roi Rene a Tarascon. it was a legitimate castle which entertained me to pretty much no end. there were archery slits in the walls and places to dump boiling liquids out of on top on people attempting to storm your castle! it was also super windy here in case you can't tell from my shirt and hair in this photo. the minstrel winds as they are called are intense. they will literally blow for hours even days without relenting at all and then all of the sudden stop. it got fairly annoying after just a little time. if you live in this region i swear you cannot have long hair or wear dresses. you'd have to shave your head and wear pants all the time. slightly constricting.
Me and alex at the Pont d'Avignon. there was a part of the Pont that was too titanic to pass up this beautiful picture moment. i literally spent the next couple hours quoting the movie and being annoying with the "you jump i jump jack" or "never let go". what can i say? it's a epic and very quotable movie! and i could be kate winslet you never know. all i'd need is some super red hair! alright, getting off topic. the Pont was really beautiful. it used to be a bridge until half of it got worn away by the river and eventually washed away. at least that is what i got from the descriptions on the signs. they were in french so there is always a 50/50 chance sometimes...
More old roman architecture, we saw a lot of it this weekend! this is the Pont du Gard. it's also in Avignon and it's an aqueduct. and really really old. and while technically doesn't still work i am pretty sure it still could. cause it was in tip top shape. for a ruin it was amazing! i am super impressed with all of the old stuff europe has, i mean i know they're older than the US but i guess i just wasn't prepared to be in a place where there can be an old colosseum like thing in the middle of your city. and it's just there. there's newer buildings all around it and there's definitely older houses too but it just somehow all fits together perfectly in an old/new puzzle. i really like it. however this is me and alex wading into the river that ran underneath the Pont. it was actually quite warm for it being october. warmer than the saco in the summer sometimes!
Last but not least, but actually the first thing we did... WINE TASTING! we went to Chateauneuf -Du-Pape. it was wonderful. i mean it was 10:30 in the morning but it was still wonderful! we tried and white and a red wine. it was interesting to say the least. let's just say that people weren't kidding or joking around when the have movies with people trying wine. you are supposed to swirl it in the glass and then smell it and try and explain what you smell. which i still stand by all i smell is wine but some people were smelling apples and pears. which was interesting. i never smelt it. then you taste it. but just a little and you hold it in your mouth and try and say where you feel it. which was odd cause i just felt it wherever i had held it in my mouth! the white wine was exceptional and i bought a bottle for a present for my dear michael cline for his birthday! the red was really good too which is odd cause normally i can't stomach red wine, it's just too strong a taste. but this one was actually good! i could almost get people saying they tasted oak cause there was a tree like taste almost but i think it's probably just from the barrel it was fermented in or something. overall it was delightful and if you are ever in france and you get the chance to go to the chateauneuf-du-pape region i would go. and try some wine. it's fun and makes you feel super fancy. i don't think i'll be starting my career as a professional wine taster any time soon but oh well, it's still fun.

So that was some of the moments from this past weekend! it made me super pumped for our Paris outing in November! things to look forward too for this weekend: friday we're visiting a distillery that is run by monks who make a special type of liquor. so that'll be fun! on saturday me and Michelle are having a cereal picnic to eat cereal pretty much cause it's not something that i get to eat a lot of here. aka haven't had cereal since i got here. and i would like some. hence a cereal picnic. sunday i believe i am going to go hiking with Emily! so it should be a fun weekend! plus ya know, i've got school stuff too like tests to study for and papers to write but that'll come later! i'm off to meet with the american consulate from Lyon tonight with a bunch of other american students studying in grenoble, so i've gotta get ready!

Ciao!

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