Soiree Night!

That evening we had a fantastic time with other young adults from La Rochelle. We had an 'english soiree' where those that wanted to improve their english were invited and we all spoke english the whole time. There were about 10 of us and we joined together at a nearby 'brasserie' or bar. (The bars there are very cafe style and not like what you'd think of a bar in the states.) I ordered a hot chocolate and we had a great time all intorducing ourselved in english and asking questions about each other. I felt like I was able to contribute more to the conversations because they were in english! Although I did miss speaking French. :) I was very happy to be able to share my skills with those that wanted to learn.
Afterwards there were some of us that wanted to go and get Kebabs. A kebab I had never heard of before but there were a lot of places that sold them, always with french fries. It is basically like a middle-eastern inspired hamburger. Celeste and I got one to share and it had sliced beef and was seasoned with curry! Very different but good. :) The french fries were similar to the states but a little different and very good! I figured I wanted to try them at least one time is France. They also served humburgers and I took a picture of the menu becuase I thought it looked cute in French. :)

Blue Doors and Crepes

I made a discovery about myself in France. I love doors. Not only do I love doors, but I love blue doors! The streets were lined with completely old buildings (most of them made of stone in La Rochelle) but almost all the doors were unique from one another and different bright colors! Usually when they were blue though they were about this shade that you see in the picture. It just made everything about the house look so cute and welcoming and pretty. Like a little vibrant burst of color. I love blue doors. Later on in France I embraced my new-found obssesion for doors and started taking pictures of them whenever I got a chance! I'll probably do a post about them later. :)



I was insistant on having a crepe, so I did. Celeste and I went to a little cafe restaurant called Le Pass'Port and had crepes! They had a huge variety of sweet or savory toppings. I got mine with Nutella and with, of course, whipped cream on top. I love whipped cream. The crepes were really big and very delicious.

Nous Sommes Soeurs!

I think my favorite thing about France and La Rochelle at this point was sharing it with my sister Celeste. We had so many laughs, good converstations, and such a great time together. I think it was a little surreal for part of the family to suddenly be in this completely foreign culture with her and it took a few days to realize that I was IN FRANCE with Celeste! We were both so eager to learn the language and be a part of and experience everything.

Discovering Europe!

The following day, Tuesday, we spent the morning and afternoon exploring the streets of La Rochelle. I was so thoughouly enchanted by their picturesque beauty, historical architecture and classic european feel. Being there and walking down those streets was so thrilling and exciting I could hardly believe I was there. I loved every second of it. Celeste knew the area so well as well; it was great to have her be able to show me around, and most of all it was wonderful to share the experience with her. We loved the same type of details and appreciated the same type of beauty and we had great fun walking around together. It wouldn't have been the same without her.

In the busy parts of town, all the bottom sections of the buildings were actually shops. We were consantly passing a variety of cafes, brasseries, glaciers (my favorite) :), les magasins pour les vetements, tobacs, chocolatiers (another favorite) :), or little shops that exclusively sold things like glass wear, watches, knives, etc. It was so fun to pass by them and look around! As you can see the buildings were very tall though, and the portions above the ground level were apartments and such. Living quarters.

This building (below) is a half-timbered house style and was built in the medevil times!

The detail in the architecture was breathtaking! And it kind of reminded me of Rohan. :)

Away

That evening there was a very beautiful sunset.

New Experiences!

Monday was a great. We spent most of the time in the day helping the family the Celeste was staying with move into the new house. We went back and forth from one end of La Rochelle to the other unloading large furniture items and the placing them in the house. And yes, if you saw a picture of the stairs in an earlier post, we lugged VERY heavy wooden items (such as bedframes, desks. shelves) up those ladder/stairs. It was a great adventure. I was very happy to help out this gracious host family. That evening, Celeste and I were treated to dinner. We took the sea taxi, or ocean bus (which Celeste had never been on and was very excited about going on), to the other side of the La Rochelle port. We got a great view of the towers on the way. Once we got there we went to a very authentic little seafood restaurant which I now forget the name of. I like seafood but must confess I've only ever had the more conservetive items. Again, wanting to immerse myself as far as possible, I looked for something on the menu that I knew I definitely had NOT tried before. I remembered Celeste saying that she particularily enjoyed 'des huitres' (oysters) and I had never had them, so I ordered them. After learning how to suck the dead creature out its shell, the first one went down my throat in a slimly sort of way and tasted very sea-foody. I decided right then that I think I prefered lobster or shrimp, but I ate the remaining six. I'm glad I tried them, but I don't think I'd order them again. Celeste ordered shrimp and the others ordered sardines. I noticed that sardines were frequently consumed in La Rochelle with an accompanying baguette.

Les Fromages (cheese)

I was so anxious to jump into the French culture as deep as I could go. I wanted to speak their language, eat their foods, see their buildings, participate in their activities. Somethings that was VERY french was their selection and variety of cheeses. What can I say? I LOVE the cheese in France. There are so many different flavors, types, tastes, textures... it was fun to experiement with them and find a favorite! They all tasted great to me though. At every market and store there was a huge variety of cheese. I liked to just randomly pick them out having no idea what it would taste like, and then be surprised when I tried it. One I particularily enjoyed was goat cheese made in the Pyrenees mountains. That's something you'll never find in the states!

They had cheese with almost every meal. It was an after meal thing, but not a desert. I don't know, something to kind of 'top off' your stomach I guess. They would always have it with baguette - another french favorite of mine.