DESTINATION PARIS, ROME AND MADRID

Tomorrow morning I'm going to be waking up at 4:00 AM to head out to Paris and eventually Rome and Madrid later on in the week. My train is at 6:59 AM but I have to leave at around 5:20 to get all the way over to La Gare St. Jean, which is only half an hour away by bus but the bus only passes by every half hour at that time of day and I would totally hate myself if I missed my train.

Although it's going to be super cold tomorrow morning when I head out, in the dark, I can't wait for it. This trip is all I've been able to think about this last week... in fact, since I had this trip in mind every minute of each day this past week I've been pretty much stress-free. I studied a lot too since I was so relaxed and at peace. I even kind of started to like my French professor that loves to complicate everything.

Some things on the itinerary: Eiffel Tower (I promised Ray that I would wait to climb it until he and Virg came), the Louvre, possibly Disneyland, the Château de Vincennes, Montmartre, and possibly Versailles; the Colliseum, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, and the Vatican, oh and yummy yummy Gelato; the Prado and hopefully we'll get to see some Flamenco! Then we all head back to Bordeaux where I'll show Ray and Virg the Grand Théâtre, Quinconces, Rue Sainte Catherine (just simply to point out that it's the longest pedestrian street in Europe), the Jardin Public and the Catédral Saint André of course.

I hope I can sleep tonight because I'm just way too excited.

St. Emilion

Visiting St. Emilion yesterday really lifted my spirits. It was calm and relaxing and the weather was really nice. St. Emilion is a very beautiful medieval town 45 minutes from Bordeaux by train that's encircled by (tasty) vineyards (of course we had to pick some grapes like the American tourists that we are!). It's listed as a UNESCO world heritage site... there are catacombs in the city and a subterranean church, a dungeon and ruins there.

It was especially nice because almost the entire California group came... and the inhabitants of St. Emilion were all charming people... so all around good company.

Even though it's not that far away from Bordeaux it had a very different vibe. First of all the city is not flat like Bordeaux... and not only is it not flat but the streets there can be very steep. Most of them were pedestrian streets... which is exactly what I loved about St. Emilion; it was a nice escape from the sound of scooters, motorcycles, cars, and the oh so slow Bordeaux tram. Also the air was really fresh and clean and I'm not kidding, the air smelled like wine. Some of the cobblestone streets had more grapes on the ground than fall leaves!!! Bordelais-Californians sharing St. Emilion macarons... which apart from the wine is St. Emilion's specialty.

Little Booboo Bear is sad

Little Booboo Bear and I are not feeling very happy right now :(

I'm so homesick that I keep listening to "California, here we come, right back where we started from" over and over again. I'm getting very emotionally drained by everything and anything here... I couldn't concentrate on my reading this morning so I just got ready and went for a walk and headed to the Jardin Public to read. Every other paragraph I had to take deep breaths and tell myself to just simply relax, that I was in a beautiful setting and that in under three weeks I will be traveling to Paris, Rome and Madrid with Ray and Virg. For some reason though... whenever I read there at the Jardin Public some random person always pops out of nowhere and asks what I'm reading. Today it was this old man that almost reminded me of my dad, note that the "almost" part is important... He had these very pale blue eyes that contrasted with his tan skin... it was the paleness of his eyes, the loss of pigment in them that made him seem more elderly and thus seem very harmless... but at the same time they made him seem eerie especially since I hadn't at all noticed him until he was suddenly right in front of me. He made small talk about my book and then the weather and then he asked if I was a student and naturally I said that I was studying in Bordeaux for a semester. He then exclaimed, "oh you're not from Bordeaux?" and then asked what region I was from. I wasn't sure if I heard him right so I replied "what?" since I always get confused when people can't instantly tell that I'm from CA!!! So he then rephrased the question "what region of France are you from?" and in that instant I just got really uncomfortable and strangely really sad. It was the way that he asked the question... in such a friendly way that it made me feel for that instant that I had always lived in France and that my life in America had been nothing more than a dream. I said that I was American and he looked confused, as if I was confused about who I was... I put my book away and said good bye and good day to the man and as I walked away I felt that I was someone else saying good bye and good day to my dad.

Nothing here looks unfamiliar anymore and that makes me feel that I've been here... in far, far away land... much longer than I really have.