The first leg of the trip

Wow!!!! What a crazy few days it has been. I have been on a train for many hours in the last few days. I left early Wednesday morning and went to Rouen. It was four hours on the train to Paris, and then I had to take the metro to another train station. Then I took the train an hour longer to Rouen.

The town was nice. It has about 100,000 people. It is also where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in the 1400’s, so everything has her name on it. They have a museum there about the life of Joan of Arc, but it was closed so I was not able to go in. I did get to see the huge cathedral. It is called Notre Dame de Rouen. It is really famous because Claude Monet painted it in every season, but they all look the same gray color. It was almost completely destroyed after WWII, so they had to rebuild everything. It is a really amazing church and the inside is incredible.

I also went to the coast on Friday. That was a really fun trip. The weather was nice. It was cloudy at times, but it never rained. It probably would have been a really long day had we been wet the entire time. We took another train to Le Havre, which is about an hour away. Then we took a bus for another hour to Etretat. This beach is absolutely gorgeous. There are white cliffs all a long the coast. We walked all along them, and I took tons of pictures. It was nice too because there wasn’t too many people. I can just imagine it would be hard to walk around there in the summer. I definitely could have stayed there for days.

While I was Rouen both Tamar and I wanted to find some Mexican food. This is now the longest I have ever gone without Mexican food. It has been a true test of character for me to go this long without Mexican food! We found these two restaurants that said they served “Mexican” food. One had enchiladas and burritos with tomato sauce, and the other had their meals served with coleslaw instead of beans and rice! Both of those things just seemed wrong to us, so we decided instead to try to make tacos at Tamar’s apartment, which is an adventure because her kitchen I actually located in a closet. It is tiny. They were edible, but the guacamole we bought in the three foot Mexicqn section at the store was terrible. I think it is a lost cause if I think I am going to find some good or even decent Mexican food in France. I guess it is a good thing I will be coming home for Christmas maybe we could make tacos for Christmas Eve dinner the first night I am home!

Tamar and I came back to Belfort on Saturday, so it was another long day of traveling on the train. It was even longer because from Rouen to Paris the train was so crowded that we had to stand the entire time in the area connecting the cars. I really felt like the true American backpacking through Europe.

Tomorrow Sarah, Tamar and I are going to Strasbourg with one of the English teachers we have met. She went to college there, so she offered to drive us and show us around the city a little. It takes about an hour and half to drive there, so we are leaving early in the morning. I am really looking forward to seeing this region of France. I have heard it is really beautiful.

The people from France Telecom came on Wednesday and successfully installed the telephone and Internet, so I think it will be up and running by the end of the week. I am really hoping it will all be done. I can’t wait to put up al the pictures I have taken in the last six weeks. I guess I should go get those organized.