Bonjour!

Aside from almost dying on the way to Mt. St. Michel, everything has been fantastic here in France! Vicky picked me up from the airport donning French-cheese-filled sandwiches and red wine, we meet up with her friends and proceeded to the French countryside. It was absolutely lovely – very green, lots of cows, and old, provincial houses. Her crazy French friend Oliviet organized a 25 person trip to Mt. St. Michel and the beaches around that area of this country. Everything was great - the trip to Mt. St. Michel was a wee bit treacherous – we walked for 2 hours in the freezing cold across where the ocean was coming into (at high tide parts of the day, it is completely surrounded by water). The guide almost sunk into the quicksand, then Oli was pulled out of it by 3 men when it tried to eat him, and when we had to fjord the quickly rushing water, we all almost died. BUT we made it and it was really quite pretty. The chapel at the top overlooks the water and has been maintained itself very well (it’s at least 700 years old;…).

The next day, we went to the beach and it was absolutely wonderful. In Europe, the sky gets so blue…I remember the same pretty skies in Spain 9 years ago. We walked around the little town, ate some bread (it’s the cool thing to do…), and did some shopping. The French are so laid back and seem very relaxed about nearly everything they do. EXCEPT if you are trying to use a bathroom where you shouldn’t…then they are overly aware of your presence and tell you where you can pay to pee.

Today, we went to the Musee de Arte in downtown Rouen, where Vicks lives, and she bought a “pain de chocolat” which means a crossaint filled with chocolate. It’s really, really good. I want one now, in fact. We’re going out for dinner tonight – yeah – and tomorrow head for GIverney.
SIdenote: Lots of French toilet paper is scented. AND it’s rare to find white TP – mostly pink. A far cry from my organic, recycled Berkeley tp!