One last trip to Paris! (Or Disneyland)

A few hours after my last exam, we were all packed and ready to go to Paris for one last time.. for some stress releasing Disneyland! We arrived in the evening, and after staying the night with a friend, we got up early the next morning to make it out on the suburban train to EuroDisney, which is well out of central Paris.
It was a freezing morning, but that didn't stop us, and the sight of Disneyland definitely made it worth the early morning start!

We bypassed (almost) all of the children's rides, and went straight to the rides with the big <!> next to them, so we knew that they were the serious ones! The first one we went to was 'Space Mountain', which was AMAZING! So much fun, and we managed to turn up just as they opened so our waiting in line time was literally 2minutes, which is unheard of in somewhere like Disneyland!

Our ticket for the park was only 49 or so euros, which was amazing because a kids one was 72! But luckily student discounts were great. That price got us into both Disneyland and the nearby Walt Disney Studios, which was more for older people. We spent the day trying to find every single <!> ride we could find in both parks, and only diverted for a go on the teacups, a peter pan ride, and of course the 'Small World' ride.

In Walt Disney Studios, we made sure that we made it to a show scheduled for mid afternoon, as it promised to be an exciting stunt show. It definitely was, with cars driving around on two wheels, motorbikes on one, and this amazing piece of stunt work in the grande finale!

We went on a few more rides after that -the Tower of Terror, and up to Robinson Cruseo's house in a tree, all of which were great fun! By the time we had managed to get on all of the <!> rides, it was getting dark, and the parks took on a whole new look! With parades down the streets, and lights everywhere, it was definitely a Christmassy feeling.

We were very tired after a whole day of running round Disneyland and going on all the <!> <!> rides (and I had a slight headache.. I think I'm sadly getting a bit old for these rides now I'm 22 :s ) so we decided to head back to Paris, to get a good nights sleep so that we could make the most of the half day in Paris we had the next day before returning to Grenoble!

I had heard that there is an Amazing Christmas market in Paris, one of the best in Europe, down the Champs Elysees, and of course I had to make time to go and visit.
I was not disappointed. It was so beautiful, especially with the Christmas lights, and it sold everything christmassy you can think of, from gingerbread, to christmas lights, hot chocolate, wine, and even hot beer! I didn't quite get around to trying that one.. I wish I could have spent longer at this market, I really love looking at all the handcrafted gifts and food lining the streets.

There was even an ice skating ring around some Christmas decorations, it would've been fun had it not already been so freezing outside!

Later on that afternoon we went to see the Catacombs of Paris.. But you'll have to check back a bit later to read about them!

In the French Alps!

I was too busy studying over the exam period to go skiing unfortunately, which I know is one of the main things to do in Grenoble.. But after having studied all morning, some friends asked if I wanted to go to the mountains for a couple of hours just to see a nearby ski field, and of course I took any excuse for a study break!
A mountain ski field that was only an hour away was Chamrousse, and I couldn't believe how set up French ski fields are! It's like a little village, complete with many shops, a post office, a bank, and lots of apartments to rent over the ski season!

We had a friend with a car which was lucky, so we all went up together. It was a very windy hill up, I forgot how sick you can feel after being on a windy road for a while - I guess not being in a car for a few months does that to you!
It was very cold at the top, and we decided to go for a walk to the ski field itself to see a real French ski resort! The snow was the deepest I have ever seen, I went to walk a bit off the main road and as you can see was caught a bit by surprise!

Knee length at least! Apparently it was one of the smaller of the ski fields of the area, but I thought it looked pretty big!

Even though we just thought we'd go for a look, we saw a toboggan rental shop and of course we had to give it a go!
There was a beginners slope nearby with a 'magic carpet' like thing that took you up, so we made our way up with our toboggans..

The hill was steeper than we thought! I ended up screaming all the way down (almost) into a woman who just watched as I screamed towards her, luckily just sliding over the back of her skis!

And then the sun came out.. It was a perfect day for being on the mountains (and not studying!)

There were only 2 toboggans and 5 of us, which meant a lot of waiting while two people went down and then back up on the magic carpet, so we had the innovative idea of going down 2 at a time on each one!
It was good in theory, but seeing as they were built for just one child.. They only sort of worked!
But still great fun!

We were only up there for a couple of hours, because of other commitments, but I'm so pleased that I got to go and see the French Alps, it was a great experience!

Fete des Lumieres - Lyon

My last exam is finally finished! I now have the time to finally write my blog on the Fete des Lumieres as promised. The Fete des Lumieres is an annual festival in Lyon to celebrate the fact that a long time ago, Lyon was struck with the plague, and nothing they did would get rid of it. Legend has it, that on the 8th of December, the whole city prayed to Marie, a patron saint, and after four days the plague was gone.
So it is a festival to celebrate the saviour of Lyon, and all of the churches and windows are covered in candles and lights, the city squares with beautiful lit up designs, and the streets are lined with strings of shapes and colours. As we walked from the train station into town, the sunset from this flag-lined bridge was only the start of the incredible light shows that we would be seeing over the next few days!

Lyon is only an hour away by train from Grenoble, so we decided that it was a must see, and visited from Thursday night to Saturday night. On the first night, Thursday, we wandered round the inner city, not quite knowing where anything was or what to do until we luckily found a map pointing out all of the key spots to go and see. It wasn't too hard to miss where you should be though - every street you walked down there was a new design, here are some examples:

On our way to finding the place where we were staying for the night –with a friend’s family, we had to walk across a big square, and when we looked up, the surrounding buildings were dotted with beautiful coloured dots, and it looked magical in the darkness. 

As we were watching the dots we realised that actually, they were just a 5min intermission between shows that were going on there, and when the show began to start, we realised just how amazing this light festival was going to be! It was the most spectacular light show that I have ever seen in my life. There were projections onto 3 out of the four surrounding buildings, and it made it look like the building itself was alive with so many different things at once!

They used the building's natural designs to compliment the show, and it worked really well! On one building they even had someone riding an incredibly lifelike looking horse, and when the lights turned off, we realised that it was actually a huge horse carved into the building!

The colours were incredible, I cannot explain the show in words so here is a short video of just some of this show!

After watching the show, we headed to bed, as we knew that we had a big day the next day! We woke up to snow covering the ground, and realised that we had a very cold day ahead! Luckily I had brought my snow boots and umbrella, my friend I was with had to go and buy gumboots after her shoes gave out as soon as we stepped outside! This was the view out our window when we woke up, onto a little square with its own light designs!

We decided to see the city during the day, taking the funicular up the hill to the big church at the top, to get a good view across the city. We were a bit worried that the torrential snow would make visibility a bit of a problem, but the sky held out for the time we were up there, and I don't think that the view turned out too bad!

This was the church, and in front of the church was a poor statue who looked like he’d had enough of being out in that weather!

You can imagine how cold it was! But I think it made the Lyon experience more memorable, walking through the streets of Vieux (old) Lyon was a very picturesque experience.

That night, we made a plan to see as much as possible of the light shows and decorations, and we ended up seeing almost everything! Which was quite an achievement, as many were spread around the city and not just concentrated in the centre. Here are some of the highlights!

This one may need a bit of explaining.. it is called ‘weird elevators’ or something to that effect, and it is projected animals stuck in elevators, it looks really realistic! This elevator looked like it was filled with water, with a huge turtle inside it! 

We walked a wee way to get to these jellyfish in the tree, but it was worth it! Their colours were beautiful, like colourful pearls, and they fluttered in the wind like huge swimming jellyfish. I loved them!

This tiger was part of a massive animal parade that went alongside the river.

Throughout all of the main areas was also a very cool and very French aspect of Christmas -  street vendors selling hot food and hot spiced wine, so of course we had to try some! For dinner that night we got tartiflette, a regional specialty made of creamy potatoes with bacon and grilled cheese on top (essentially a potato bake) and then a vin chaud to wash it down with! 

Later on in the evening when we were getting a bit cold, we saw a churro stand, and while not entirely French, we decided that they looked too good to miss, and they most definitely were! They are a Spanish specialty of sticks of dough, deep fried then coated in sugar. Delicious! Especially on such a cold night.

Here are our churros being cooked, we got them steaming hot!

The next day we went to explore their Christmas market, as any French town that is worth their name must have! I absolutely love markets as I may have already mentioned, so I had a great time at this one! My poor friend probably spent three times as long as she (or any normal person) would've wanted to spend at the market, but oh well I had a great time! This may look like a stall of fruit, but really it is hundreds of tiny beautifully crafted fondant icing pieces, they were truly amazing.

That afternoon some more friends joined us, and we all went out for a very French lunch, I don't think the restaurant knew what to do with itself when we asked for a table for 15! It turned out that was almost half the restaurant! But we all found a seat, and then some of us ordered the 'traditional' Lyon menu items, including cows feet, for a starter, or even cow's head for a main! One friend decided that she would have both which was brave, I told her that I would get a steak and then we could share the cow's head together, as I wanted to try it but we weren't quite sure what it was, and wanted a back up plan if it turned out to be a disaster!

When we got a meal, luckily it avoided disaster status.. narrowly. I'm not quite sure why someone would ever decide that this would be a good idea for a meal, the texture was enough to put anyone off! 

This photo is my friend with the meal, as you can see she is trying her best to smile despite the prospect of eating the cow's head dish in front of her! This picture is included for her dad in Scotland, who I know has been keeping up with my blogs! :)

Lyon is another amazing city I am pleased to say that I have been to, and I am so happy that I could see their festival which they are known all over France for! I know I have been a bit slow on updating this blog due to  the lack of time I've had recently, unfortunately exams have got in the way of my travels! But today I finished my last (ever!) exam, and I have a train leaving for Paris in just over 2 hours, to have a final little adventure before leaving France for good on Sunday. This time I will be going to Eurodisney, and don't really know what to expect, but no doubt there will be an updated blog post on it so look out for that! 

The culinary delights of France

Ever since I have heard about their existence, I have always wanted to try frogs legs in France, and have been on the look out ever since I got here. I had heard that they were a speciality from Lyon, so once I got there, I searched all over for them! Unfortunately, I soon learnt that they were actually completely out of season, and in the summer there are stalls lining the riverbanks selling them. Sadly for us, it is currently the middle of winter.
Not long after we got back to Grenoble, we noticed a upmarket restaurant in the city centre was selling them! So of course we had to go and try them, even if they were priced at 23Euros per serve!
We weren't sure quite what to expect, but we were pleasantly surprised, and as you can see from this picture, they don't look too bad at all!

This is me.. just about to try it! they are crumbed and sitting in garlic butter, which is a really nice flavour when you add some lemon on top! And they really do taste like chicken actually! Or some sort of poultry.. But much more moist, and the flesh is almost translucent in parts. It pays not to look too close.
They have the smallest little bones I have ever seen, but it is easy to eat around them!

If you didn't know what they were, you wouldn't really know at first glance, because the legs are crossed in a way that just makes them look like a little package of meat and bones. But.. if you uncross them, there's no mistaking what they really are! If you plan to try this delicacy in future, and don't want to be put off, don't scroll down! 

After my meal, I had a small pile of tiny bones on the side of my plate, which looked like a tiny massacre had taken place.. but I enjoyed the meal! I have decided that it is one of those things that you try once though.. I highly recommend having a try if you're in France, but I can't say that I'll be making them a part of my regular diet by any means!

Amsterdam and windmills!

I had always wanted to visit Amsterdam, so when the opportunity came up to go with my university for only 150 euros, I signed up as soon as I could! The day finally came, and of course, it was another 13hr bus ride overnight. We learned when we got on the bus that in fact the heating was broken, which was disastrous for the people who weren't prepared! But luckily I was prepared, and had brought along a sleeping bag for the sole purpose of the bus rides, as I was freezing on the way back from Rome last time!
Here is us, at the beginning of our bus ride. I dread to think what I looked like at the end!

After a long trip in the freezing cold bus, we finally arrived, at the Ibis budget hotel by the airport. I'm not sure why we were put by the airport, we ended up spending more on transport than anything else that weekend!

So we dropped off our stuff and had some breakfast, then went out to explore Amsterdam. It was cold and raining, but that didn't stop us! 

I saw this on the way, which was exciting, apparently the real 'Zealand' is at the bottom of Holland, and actually means 'Sea land' in Dutch, because it is on the coast. Maybe that's why NZ is called new sea land? maybe..

First on my list was the Anne Frank house, as I was really interested to see something which I had heard so much about. It was right in the heart of the city centre, although I don’t know what it would have looked like 70 or so years ago. They kept the original house, and made a museum around it.

This is the converted bookshelf which the hidden part of the house was behind, its amazing to actually go through it and see the little house behind which over 10 people didn't come out of for two years!

After the museum we went to find some lunch, but it was surprisingly hard to find anywhere typically ‘Dutch’ to eat amongst all of the takeaway places. We even found this delicious looking…vending machine? Yuck!

After a bit of searching, we found a café/restaurant that had an interesting looking menu, I got the Dutch meatballs, which were really nice! Apparently traditional Dutch food has a lot of mashed potatoes mixed with meat and other things, and that was exactly what was in my meatballs. I enjoyed them a lot.

As we sat and ate, we got out our tourist maps and looked up what to visit next. A huge sign for a 'Sex Museum' was indicated on the map not too far from where we were, so we decided to go and have a look around. 

Interesting is definitely the word for it, there is nothing censored in there! You can imagine what this automated old man is about to pop out and do...

After that experience, we went back to the hotel for dinner, and on the way we saw this beautifully lit up shopping mall. Europe tends to do a lot of lighting up things for Christmas, as you will see in my next blog post on the Festival of Lights in Lyon!

After dinner, we decided to see what Amsterdam is like at night. Another interesting experience. The reason for the bad quality is that I don't think we were meant to be taking any pictures in this area, so I had to be subtle!

The next day, we found this sign, it is somewhat of a tourist icon in Amsterdam so we definitely had to get our photos taken with it! I loved this sign!

After checking out the inner city some more it was already dark, due to the short hours of light that this part of Europe has in winter, but this allowed for some lovely twilight photos by one of the many canals that are running through the city centre.

Like Strasbourg, Amsterdam had an inner city long boat that goes round the canals for tourists. We had planned to go on it but unfortunately never got around to it.

And on our way back home, yet another example of how nicely the streets are decorated at night around Christmas time!

The next day was an amazing day of seeing real Holland from a local's perspective, as I took the train from Amsterdam to Utrecht, another city in Holland, to meet my Dutch friend who I lived with for the first half of the year. He drove from his home town to the city to come and pick me up, and we went back to his parents house where he is living, in the middle of a tiny Dutch town where he has spent all of his life. 

Luckily for me, it is also a town famous for having the largest concentration of windmills nearby, which was great news for me, as I had really wanted to see this quintessential aspect of Holland while I was here, and allowed me to see the country beyond just Amsterdam.

He had planned a bike ride around the town and then through the middle of the windmill area, which was a really good way to see them all!

They were beautiful, and he told me that half of them had been converted to houses, he actually knew someone living in one of the houses! These ones are definitely the converted ones.

As we biked back towards the town, stopping only at a little bakery for a traditional Dutch apple pastry, we saw the windmills in the distance dotting the landscape.

The whole area was beautiful, and made me really want to come back and spend a decent amount of time in this quiet place, but unfortunately, I had to go back to catch my 15hour bus ride back (it took a lot longer on the way back..)

Amazingly, my friend drove me all the way back to Amsterdam, which was so nice of him as it ended up being over 3hrs of driving for him! (after me directing him wrong a couple of times)

I really liked Holland, and I'm glad that I got to see another side of it than just the highly touristical Amsterdam, I will definitely be coming back to visit!