Asterix, Escargo, Futuroscope

ah rarara....

So sorry we havent done a blog for a while. There's so much other fun stuff going on ya know? When we wanted to do a blog, there was just no time cuz we were doing so much fun stuff. Ok, first we came home from Paris, right? So guess what then, the next day we have to go to Parc Asterix, which was a Disneyland-esque theme park. We rode the most popular rides first, hoping that they wouldn't be too crowded but we still did about 7 rides including one of the biggest wooden rollar coasters we've ever been on called the Thunder of Zeus. Lots of young people smoke here we have all realized... Dylan has just started too. That night was just for relaxation. The next day we just relaxed, and ate escargo. Seriously people it ain't that bad. You just have to close your eyes and pop that sucker in. Then on the 26th we rode the TGV (fastest train) and went to a future based theme park called Futuroscope (catchy eh?) There were no rollar coasters but virtual ones. There were also tons of IMAX theatres and 3D movies. What was also interesting was the architecture of all the buildings as you can see in the photos. We then rode the TGV back and fell right asleep.

Dylan does not smoke...

11, 12 & 13: PARIS

So ill let you know before hand, when we got ready to go to paris, we all got in the car and i tell hunter to get the camera and the charger and of course he comes back with the camera at its last limb battery-wise and no charger, we are all like crap, i guess we're gonna get like nine pictures of paris... these are them.

although we did do much more than these pictures show, and below is our exciting and wonderous account: so we drove to the airport friday morning and met with our friend eric and his daughter melanie, we drove into paris easily and went to eric's apartment which is located near the Chateu Vincennes and hung out for a little deciding which amazing site we would then view. We chose the eiffel tower. so we hit up the metro station about a kilometre from his appartment and wham bam boogie we were there, the pillar of iron shooting out from behind the skyline. So, being friday there were alot of people, and after waiting for like an hour at the southeast leg we bought tickets and rode up on the yellow rhombus-shaped elavator to the second level. Dang. That was a killer view. In no stretch of the truth, even at the second level, one may say they can gaze upon every rooftop in paris. After a while of awe inspiring view, we bought a few souveniers, a ham sandwich and some coke, and headed back towards the ground to meet angelina and Genevieve (sorry if spelled wrong), watch some music at the paris music festival going on on every other street corner and cobbled square, but most of all to party it up. After we met up with those guys we took the metro to the latin quarterand decided to go eat. What did we eat you ask? Two words: Fondue, baby. So basically we ordered a really hot stone with various herbs and spices on it, a pot of boiling oil and two plates of superbly fresh meat, and just went at it. Ten pounds and two bottles later we decided to get up and start listening to some music. So we went down to the nearest band playing, who was finishing up their song in that set, so angelina asked if hunter and tommy could rock out on their drum and bass, in fron of the small crowd gathered in the shady square. So they played a few songs, got a bunch of people dancing and tappping their feet it was pretty awesome im not gonna lie. It turned out that the drummer was a music teacher at a local music school, and he admired their skills. We kept walking around until angelina suggested we go to a little ice cream place behind Notre Dame, supposedly the best ice cream in paris. Ive only had ice cream a couple of other times in paris and i would have to agree, between the presentation and the taste, it was absolutely divine.

We were there for a little more than an hour, and after, we went out into the darkening city to music and shouts of mild drunkeness Tommy, Eric, Hunter, and I split from the other two when we realized it was very late and took the extremely crowded metro back to his apartment to go to sleep.

The next day we decided we wanted to go to the Louvre, so after a while of getting groceries eating breakfast and hanging around for a bit we took the metro to just one of the stops at the Museum. Walking up through one of the garnd entryways in the building was a sight in itself, with mosaics and exquisite stonework, its really more than anyone can process in just a few moments. We then went into a giant crowded courtyard where many people were just sitting by the fountains as well as going into the giant glass pyrimid that is the entrance of the Louvre after we went through, and then down two escalators into the main enrty hall, we decided we would see the museum's extensive collection of Egyptian artifacts.

We went into the Sully Part of the museum where alot of the very old artifacts from egyptians persians and other area of northern africa and the middle east. Unfortunately, because it was sunday, by the time we got to the end of the egyptian section the museum was closing and people were hurried out so that the exibits could be cleaned and maintained. After we came back up, eric told us about a greek resturaunt we could eat at just a couple blocks away from the Louvre called Chez Alexandre. A very quick and filling meal was a good change of pace from our upwards of 3 hour marathon dinners in the nights previous. We went around that part of town (in between the louvre and notre Dame) looking for souvniers to buy, we found many, but only seriously considered a few. By that time, being tired of walking around nearly all day, we went home and went to bed.

The next day, Hunter Tommy and I would be alone, eating breakfast at the apartment, and then walking to the metro stop to go to a large mall in the Defense district of the city and then back to another mall Near the Hotel de Ville that we skimmed past the previous day. The stores in the Defense mall were mostly closed becase we got there at about 9:30 in the morning (most stores opened at 10:00). We first stopped down at the Virgin Megastore at the very bottom level at got a few things that caught our eye. We worked our way up to the top level next to Toys R Us to get Zack a toy (he wanted a Transformer and we oculdn't let him down because he doesn't have enough of those already... anyway) and then to a perfume shop because Dylan wanted some cologne (this is Hunter writing now) but he couldn't really find any he was particularly fond of. We then headed to the nearest metro stop and caught a train to get to the "underground" mall. We had a little trouble finding it at first but all was well as we recognized our surroundings so when we found the mall, we just browsed and got lost and didn't really find anything cool. We did however find a Waflle Factory and we got hot waffles with Nutella which is about the yummiest thing I've eaten in about the few weeks I've been here. We waaaaalked out of the mall with basically nothing and Dylan wanted to go to those green boxes they have buy the river-side that sell a bunch of random souveniers. I was pretty surprised at how much stuff we got and how cheap it all was. We got some posters and poscards and all kindsa stuff for our freinds back home. If you are still reading this, dang, you really have a big attention span... So summed up, we came back to Eric's apartment and then on a rain to a car where we went back home and ate dinner. Then we crashed and sleeped in waiting for the next day to go to park Asterix. bye bye now!!!

Day dix aka the chill day

Day ten? yeah, we drove home from normandie for six hours and then slept well into the afternoon

stay tuned for the exciting days 11 and 12!!!

France 8 & 9

Bonjour everybody. Well starting on day 8 we pretty much did our routine breakfast in the morning and taking showers and getting dressed. We then proceeded to hop in the car (again; Tommy has officially counted our car hours to be literally exceeding of one day) and travel to a nearby dock to then be transported by boat to the fortified city of St. Malo. When we first got there, we walked up a stone dock then immidieatley on top of the outer walls where we saw a few cannons and statues of all sizes. We walked down into town and noted that it was just as big as any other city, just with two story stone walls around it. The streets went here and there and up and around, so finally we made our way to the main street where there was a few souvenier shops and bakeries. We waited for a bit while Bibi offered to help one of the store owners fix his hose. Finally, we stopped at a nearby creperie to get some... crepes. They tasted very good and homemade. Tommy saw a few things to peak his interest. He saw a set of samurai swords that especially caught his eye so... he got them. Don't worry, he hasn't used them. So any way, we went back home, then directly to the beach to play more frisbee. We went back home to have a dinner of which the kind I do not remember. The next morining was basically the same - breakfast, shower, than chill for a bit. We went to the farthest point of France by this really cool lighthouse and then went home to swim. I don't know how to describe the water other than COLD!!! We then we went to visit a friend of Mimi's. Tommy thought we were going shopping, because their house was so close to the grocery store. We sat down while the Mimi and Bibi had a chat with their friends. After they were done visiting, we stopped at the grocery store and bought some candy. We soon departed to the house where we had dinner and then hit the beds.

Normandie/Brittany

on our trip from nearly the center of the northern part of france to the coast of normandie, we had to take a scenic 4 hour drive to take, and with our ipods charged and stomachs full from various cuisine, the drive wasnt filled with boredom as we had though, but with sleep. we awoke in arromanches at the site of the official DDAY 6 JUIN 1944 Museum, filled with various uniforms, machinery, diaramas and a panaramic view of the sea, in whichcement causeways wer floating in a line. in town we found manty american, british, canadian flags among the frech ones and besides paris, this town has been the most english speaking we had been to. After that we went along to our hotel, which we could not find for a couple of hours due to some miscommunications, but we realized that it was only a mile or so from the american military cemetery on our small stop there. The crowd was mixed, and yes, there was a fair amount of people there, about as many french people as american and brittish, but the feeling was all the same, escalating as when you walked the thousands of headstones would align. There was a heavy wind from the sea that could be seen just over the forested ridge surrounding the place, and the centerpiece was the statue of Glory on a pedistal reaching up to the blue, blue sky.

After sleeping in a rather comfy hotel which we were convinced was haunted because of the moderatly creepy oval black and white portraits depicting dissapointed-looking people which adorned the walls, we started driving across a peninsula toward Mont San Michel andBrittany. It didnt take long at all but before we went across an artificial land bridge to the island-like formation, we ate at a nice resturaunt which featured a view of the Mont as its visual decor. We went on and walked into the fortress/church/butte which was generously filled with resturaunts, souvenier shops, one or two hotels, a museum, and of course, the real reason people go there, the church which lies on top. Anyway we saw many a suit of armor, bought many a trinket and descended from the mont for a great view of the bustling gaggle of bakeries and butresses, and then went on to the site of the next plae we would stay the night. Near the fishing town San Lunaire, we stayed in the house of Mimi's cousin, which had three floors but very low ceilings "because of the britons who build it" they said. That afternoon we went to the beach and played frisbee for a while, but the water was really too cold to go in.

France: Days 4 & 5

Well then, let's get started, shall we?

On day four, we started out with the usual breakfast of basically a baguette and Orangina (carbonated orange juice). I, Hunter, woke up a litlle *ahem* earlier than Tommy and Dylan so I was the first one to eat. Well, taking the effort to wake earlier and eat, I decided I desereved a nap. When I awoke, we went to Paris to the airport and waited for a few hours around for Angelina to get off the flight. They were a bit late so we did some more napping. We returned to our cozy maison and chillaxed for a few minutes before going straight to a Festival de Art (or something along those lines). We saw a few interesting acts but nothing to special so we decided to walk around town and grab a quick drink at the café. Angie saw some sweet cakes and we all got a lil bit of ice cream. We waited for a bit for Bibi to pick us up and we were on our way back home. Me and Tommy did some frisbee throwing at the park while Dylan stayed home to work on the blog. We had a nice dinner with Angelina, and Bibi thought his new vest was just swell (pictured).

The next morn' Angie went back to the states and we took some more naps. Philippe decided that it was a good day to go take some names in Paris. It was about an hour and a half's drive so we took our iPods and did s'more napping (We just like to take naps, ya know?). When we got there, we walked to Notre Dame, saw a lot of gargolyes, and a lot of stone, aaaand a lot of stained glass. Next, we hopped on a bus labled Disneyland but ironically, never took us there. Where it did take us, though, starting from Notre Dame, we went to the Champs Elysees, we saw the National Assebly Building, the Eiffel Tower, the Opera, and the Military Academy. Next was the Louvre, and the Arch de Triumphe. We finally went home and ate a nice dinner of steak hache and pasta. Uhhhh well, I think that's about it then. To you dudes having maybe a semi-boring time back in the States, we are going to Normandy for a few days so we will see you later! (Remember, for those tech-challenged, you can always click on the picture for full-size. Peace.)