The Most Fabulous of Weekends: Weekend 7

Friday: Aleca and I made it to the train station with plenty of time to buy ours and Carl's tickets. Cauterets sits up in the mountains so we were only able to take a train as far as Lourdes. From there we had to take a bus the rest of the way up.
Carl met up with us and the three of us ended up with about an hour of time to kill before the train showed up (it was delayed about 15 minutes). So we sat at a table outside, had drinks, and I got a slice of "Basque" almond cake (that's in quotes because it's not really Basque if it was made in Pau). Aleca and Carl both had a glass of wine and I got a coffee to go with my cake. A lovely way to wait for a train. :)

Once on the train, it was a fun half hour ride to Lourdes talking, joking, and getting to know each other better. Since the train had been delayed, we had to run to our bus when we arrived in Lourdes, but the driver seemed to understand and even waited so Carl and I could each use the bathroom. The bus ride to Cauterets was a little over an hour- an hour of beautiful countryside and completely adorable mountain villages! When I own a house in these hills one day, I think it will be in one of the towns that we passed on this bus ride...

It was dark and very cold out when we landed in Cauterets. The crisp chill of the nearby snow-covered mountains was in the air, and we would be hiking those bad boys in the morning! We found our hostel without a lot of trouble; Cauterets is incredibly tiny. After checking in, the three of us headed out to find a restaurant that Aleca was told had some of the best food in the area. The restaurant belonged to a hotel called Le Sacca, and we figured out very quickly that we were in for a treat. 

There was a coat rack in the entry where jackets and hats hung, we got strange looks when we came in in our jeans and casual teeshirts, and the menu was organized in courses. Finally! A true French dining experience with courses!! We were a little dumb when it actually came to ordering like this but the waitress helped us get through it. *FYI: when you order a meal that's served in courses, the waitress/waiter wants everyone's first course, then everyone's second course, then the salad or cheese plate, etc. You don't tell her what you want for your first and second all at once.* We were served our bread basket, water, the house red we had ordered, and a small apéritif, then we just enjoyed the atmosphere and our courses as they came out. We each ordered the same first course which was a pâté/foïe gras type of plate. That lead the way into the mouth-watering plat principal: I got sautéed trout in a creamy, buttery sauce, with little dollops of other sauces on the side, and the restaurants name spelled in mashed potatoes on the top of my plate. Wowzers. We were invited up to the dessert bar to choose our desserts after that. As soon as I saw the tub of thick, creamy fromage blanc and the bowl of saucy blueberries, I knew exactly what I was going for. :)

The restaurant's apéritif- a small cup of Bloody Mary type juice without the alcohol, little waffle chips, some lettuce, and a large, very tough ball of Basque sausage. All very good!

Our wine

First course!

Second course!!

Le Sacca's style (look at that sauce under my fish!!!)

The beautiful and cozy dining room- we were the last ones there

That's the symbol of Basque Country

=)

Dessert! Fromage blanc topped with blueberries and sugar. Mmmm

Aleca and Carl's dessert: Basque almond cake on a cream sauce

After this meal, we were feeling happy as can be and weren't yet ready to go to bed. So we walked around the town a little bit taking in its charm. We played a few rounds of "what's the most ___ you've ever done/felt/experienced/etc" and really started to get to know each other. Doing this while leaning over a bridge staring at rushing water was a great moment. There are parts of this evening I feel I might never forget...

Aleca and I :)

Carl and I lol

One of Cauterets many rivers of mountain run-off

Eventually, we started getting sleepy and headed back to the hostel. We had a very simple room that actually had another bedroom attached to it with a bunk inside. We were hoping that neighbors wouldn't show up in the middle of the night (in the end, no one did). The beds were fairly comfy but there was a lot of noise during the night. There was a group who got in about an hour after us, either right next door or one floor above- the walls, doors, and ceiling were so thin that we couldn't tell where they were; we just knew they were close. I don't think any of us got a great night's sleep but we were ready enough in the morning to get going. :)

Our hostel

Week 11

Wednesday: FREE DAY! The DELF exam was held for three days but us B1 peeps only had it on Monday and Tuesday; the A2 people had Tuesday and today so that means.... no class for me today! I had wanted to do something really fun with this free time like go downtown for lunch, go shopping, walk along the Boulevard de Pyrenees but in true Pau form, it was gray, cold, and rainy today. :( Darn. But there are always benefits to spending time at home. Lionel left for a conference in Grenoble early this morning so he wasn't here for lunch. And since Kathy eats with her professors during the day, it was just Christine, Guilhem and I at lunch today. The three of us started off with a salad of julienned carrots, and then had a main course of piles of tiny elbow noodles and slices of ham. Christine had to take Guilhem back to school before I was done eating, so while they were out I stole a small piece of cheese from the fridge. :) Hey, I still had a sizable piece of bread left and you just can't eat that plain! I also ate my apple in silence but I actually preferred that, because there is less pressure in trying to peel that darn thing with a butter knife without an audience.
When Christine got back, the two of us had coffee and chocolates together and watched the news. The French news has been dominated by stories, footage, and updates about Japan lately- needless to say, the theme of the news quite matched the gray, cold, raininess outside.
I spent the next few hours relaxing and then I had to get myself ready to give my weekly english lesson at the university- unfortunately, that didn't get cancelled on account of rain. Guilhem was home by now but he had a theater thing going on around the same time so Christine was able to drop me off at the university on their way out. Cécile had asked me to meet at her office at 3p so the two of us could catch up on some french, and then she would drive us downtown to meet with the kids and do english for a while. So that's what we did. When we were done, Cécile drove me back to the university because Aleca had proposed the idea to me of going to the mountains this coming weekend and she wanted to plan it. I was wet by the time I got to her room but it was exciting to figure out our coming Saturday: we were going snow-shoeing! Aleca found a great company that gives tour guided hikes through the Pyrenees and they also provide snow shoes. Together we booked a full day of hiking for the coming Saturday and also booked three beds at a cute ski-lodge type of hostel for friday night in the charming village of Cauterets. Aleca's neighbor Carl (also a USAC student) had expressed interest in coming too so it was going to be the three of us. Fun!
I left soon after that to head home for dinner. I felt all yucky and wet by the time I got there but warmed instantly when I saw the fire place lit and smelled what we were going to be eating: pizza. Oh Christine, how I love you. ;)

This is the way the dinner table looks almost every night (and yes, Kathy is ALWAYS on her iPhone at the table lol)

Bread (a few pieces with little raisins) and cheese (courtesy of Kathy)

Ahhhhhhh

OMG!!!

It was a spectacular dinner and we were all in such good moods from the snuggliness of the warm fire and delicious food. Plus, Guilhem was being so silly and funny. Christine commented at one point, "there's a phrase in french: quand le chat n'est pas là, les souris dansent." Which means, "when the cat's away, the mice play." If you're wondering how this is relevant to that moment- Lionel is the cat and we are the mice. XD 

Thursday: Back to school today. Today was completely normal day-wise but the evening was different. For one thing, it was our last meal with Kathy; something we were all bummed about. And two, we had our full dinner at the coffee table. Christine called this and apéritif dînatoire (dinner appetizer style). There were lots of little things to choose from- crackers, rice puffs, veggies- but the main dish was a plate of mini quiches that looked like cupcakes. They didn't have the same eggy texture of quiche but they were made with the same ingredients; flour added so they would hold. They were so good! I think I had five or six of these ham, cheese, and egg cupcakes. We also had the usual apéritif drinks: I had a black currant and white wine mix (which I am starting to fall in love with) and I followed that with the Spanish Muscatel. 

Our dinner/appetizer platter (sans les quiches)

How cute!

And delicious!

Time for dessert! :)

My favorite <3

And THAT would be why.

It was an excellent evening. The mice were dancing but we did miss Lionel. And I think I am truly going to miss Kathy too. :(

Friday: Today was a normal school day once again. We got the news that even though we had just finished a huge exam, we would be getting another one on the last day of class the following Thursday; courtesy of our favorite teacher Isabelle. Whoopi! -_-

After school, I booked it right home to back for my weekend in the mountains. I felt like there was a ton I wanted to get done before I left but I ended up not having the time for all of it. Christine had told me the other day that her and Lionel were going away for the weekend, just the two of them (using up a Christmas present from Christine's kids). Guilhem was going to spend the weekend at an English friend's house to practice his english, so I was invited to have a friend over to keep me from being all alone Saturday night. Since I was already going to be with Aleca when we got home on Saturday, I invited her. After school today, I was hoping to make it to the store to not only buy some food for Aleca and I (I wasn't sure what we could help ourselves to at the house) but I also wanted to re-buy the ingredients to make another Tollhouse Pie on Sunday. Unfortunately, none of this happened. I was a little stressed by it but I just told myself that everything would work itself out and just go enjoy your hike in Pyrenees. I packed up my backpack super fast when I got home to leave myself time to have a quick slice of bread with Nutella (we would probably be having a late dinner tonight) and write a note to the family (only Guilhem was home at this point). After that I hiked myself down to the bus stop to meet up with Aleca and head to the train station!

Week 11: DELF Exam

Monday: DELF day 1. The oral expression portion of the exam was scheduled at 10:30a for me. So I was able to sleep in a little before the test and go over some last minute things beforehand. But when you have excess time like that, you can also make yourself pretty nervous too. I wasn't at the freaking out point but I had butterflies in my tummy... yuck.
I got to the university about eight minutes before my time slot, so I was able to talk to a couple of others who had just finished to get their take on it. Everyone was a little different because we were all going to be talking with different examiners. Ugh. Then, I turned the corner to go to my designated room and saw wooden chairs in a line all the way down the main hall that had signs taped to them saying, "Shh! DELF in progress." Great. THAT isn't nerve-wracking. Fortunately I only had to wait a few minutes before a woman came out and took me to a room across the hall. There I was told to choose two slips of paper out of a pile of maybe 20. Then she took me back across the hall to a quiet room where I had 15 minutes to read the two short articles, pick my favorite one, and prepare a summary of it and my opinion of its main point. I would be presenting that to the examiners... in french of course.
At one point while in that room, one of my two teachers (Vuokko) came in with another student. When she saw me, she whispered to me, "Samantha, c'est pas grave. (It's not a big deal/everything will be fine)" and signed to me to just take a deep breath and relax. It was exactly what I needed.
Eventually it was my time to go. The same woman came back to get me and then she brought me into the room where my two examiners were waiting. Fortunately, I had seen both of them before- they are both french teachers at the university- but I had never talked with either one. I was also fortunate to have a good idea of what was coming next: our second teacher (Isabelle) and given us a mock oral exam this past week that was exactly like the DELF. The first thing they had me do was introduce myself. I knew that the key with this was to come up with enough to say that they didn't have to prompt me with tons of questions, but to also keep it short and to the point. I also had to speak in complete sentences using the correct forms of verbs, know if a word was masculine or feminine, and actually say something of interest. I think I told them my age, that I came from California, and that it had been three years since I took french. I remember saying something about it being difficult to communicate when I arrived in Pau but that I feel so fortunate to be living with a host family as great as mine because I'm having a fantastic experience and my french is improving so rapidly. They seemed to like that because they started asking me questions about my host family- what sorts of activities do I do with them, what do I enjoy most about living with them, etc. There are only 3-4 minutest accorded to this portion of the test so that ended nice and quickly.
Next, I had to choose another two slips of paper from a pile on the examiners' desk. These were much much smaller and I had about one minute to read them and pick one to perform. The one I chose was: "you're leaving for vacation and you just found out that you can't bring your pets with you. You call your friend to see if he/she can watch your pets while you're gone." One of the examiners was going to be playing the friend and we commenced to making up a dialogue on the spot. She decided to be a mean friend and tell me things like, "why did you wait until the last minute to ask me? I just don't think it's fair that you are wanting to push this responsibility on me..." blah blah blah. It was all in good fun but I got enough into what we were doing that I felt annoyed with her. haha
Lastly, I had to present my article. I had chosen the topic I was most familiar with: Internet sites where one can make a profile to meet other people or to find someone willing to host them during a vacation. (If you've ever heard of "Couch Surfing" it's like that. You make a profile so people can see that you're not a freak and you can exchange information to set up a period of hosting. For example, you're going to be traveling in my neighborhood for a few days, why don't you sleep on my couch for free and I can share my culture, language, and neighborhood with you.) I presented the article to them and then gave my opinion that yes, I did think sites like this were becoming more popular with travelers. My evidence to support the point was that I had never heard of sites like these until I came here. Since being here, I've been around quite a few people who have used and continue to use sites like Couch Surfing to find free lodgings. I felt pretty good about everything I presented when I closed my mouth and they didn't have anything else for me- even though we still had 5 minutes left. Sweet!
I cannot describe to you my relief when I got to walk out of that room and know that it was all done! The most nerve-wracking part was over and I had nothing left to do for the day but enjoy being alive in sunshiny Pau, France. It was only 11a at this point so I spent the next hour talking with other students and trying to reassure them as they came in for their time slot. I filled the in between time with postcard-writing, and then at 12p I met up with my friend Aleca. The two of us had decided to go buy lunch from the same bakery Roshanna and I went to last week and take our food to Aleca's room in the Residence Halls. There, we started making plans for a weekend in Provence!

My "Norwegian" sandwich of ham, cheese, lettuce, and creamy mayonnaise; and a Nutella-filled beignet that we split :)

Aleca and I decided that we are going to go to Avignon, France the weekend of April 8th! We're going to see the massive Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes), have a picnic on a bluff-top cliff, see Avignon's famous bridges, and take a lunch time cruise on a river boat that will take us past lots of adorable fishing villages. YES!

We planned for a few hours and then it was time for me to head home for dinner. Tonight we had a delicious apéritif of Lionel's black currant wine mixed with white wine, salted cashews, and peanut puffs. We even took our glasses to the table at dinner time to have white wine with our meal (a rare thing in this house). We started dinner off with the ever-amazing raquelettes: individual fondue. This is where you put your slice or slices of cheese in a tiny pan and let it heat until it is sinfully melty. We poured our ooey gooey cheese on little potatoes and got our protein in more ham, bacon, and chorizo slices. There were also little cornish pickles and tomatoes to nibble on. We had a green salad [so this could all be digested] and then finished with yogurts: I went with the blueberry jam tonight. :)

Another excellent day!

Tuesday: DELF day 2. The second and final portion of the DELF exam started at 10a today and this was the same time for everyone taking the B1 level- which was almost every USAC student on campus. I find this strange that most of our Group C class was able to take the same level as those in Groups D, E, and F, but whatever. This portion of the test was the longest and the most challenging. We had about an hour and a half to demonstrate oral comprehension by listening to three different recordings and answering question about them (with only two listens each), complete two reading comprehension activities, and then write a long essay to demonstrate written expression. It was hard. We've done a lot of this same work in class the last couple of weeks but I struggled a little with the recordings. I was able to answer almost all of the questions but I had to leave two blank and that really frustrated me. I wanted to a least be able to make an educated guess but I couldn't. I did feel good about the two written sections, though; especially my essay which I could easily have bombed. Our prompt was to pretend we were writing for an entertain magazine and choose a film or book that we loved or hated. We had to give a brief synopsis of the piece and then explain what it was that we loved or hated about it. I chose one of my favorite books, "My Life in France" by Julia Child. It was the perfect choice because I could easily summarize the book, and the things I love about it are simple to say in french. I had thought about writing about my favorite movie (Titanic) but I figured there would be a lot I wouldn't be able to say in french (for instance, I don't know how to say, "I think the special effects are some of the best ever" in french).

When it was done, it was done! The DELF was over and I was either going to receive a diploma or not- it was out of my hands at this point. I wish I could say that I had no more obligations for the day but it isn't so. It just so happens that the final stage of the Visa process for this trip (the doctor's visit) was to happen today at 3p. Zut! Oh well, at least all of the stress from this exam could now dissipate and I could go enjoy lunch and some free time with friends until then. I met up with Joe (from the Italy trip) at La Vague (the nearest cafeteria) and we had lunch there. Aleca met us towards the end to have coffee with us and then another guy from my class (Steve) came in because the two of us had our doctor's appointment at the same time. 

It was eventually time to head downtown and get this all over with. Steve and I still needed to purchase the [insanely expensive] 55 euros stamp that was required for the doctor's visit, so we headed to a tabac downtown to buy the stamps. Afterwards, we had about two hours until our appointments. lol We had expected all of that to take more time. So the two of us wandered into a Barnes & Noble type of store called FNAC to look at CDs, movies, and whatnot to kill time. An annoying amount of time later, we could finally head to the doctor's office. We got there and there were three USAC girls already waiting in the lobby. I still can't understand why they schedule groups of people to be seen at the same time by the same doctor. Anyways, we were taken in one at a time to a clerk's office to have our passports looked at (I.D.'s verified) and get the paperwork we needed to bring to the x-ray room. Then we all had our first and hopefully last experience with the french style of getting a chest x-ray: boobs out! There were two closets that lead to the x-ray room and these were treated as changing rooms. Basically, you go in there, you're greeted by signs such as "Strip your torso nude. If you're pregnant, no x-rays for you!" and you undress your upper half. Apparently they don't believe in those silly gowns that I now appreciate much more in France. Then you sit in there with your whole upper half naked and wait for the door to the other side to be opened. It was a very weird experience being locked in a closet like that. You start to think that you've been forgotten and nobody is going to come for you until the janitor makes his rounds that evening, or that the door is going to be opened and the last person to get their x-ray will still be standing there. That was my main fear, that the x-ray technician was going to open the door and Steve would still be in there getting a full shot of me without my shirt on. Thankfully, none of these things happened. The technician opened the door, put me in front of the x-ray machine, took my picture, and then went into her little room to decide if the picture was good enough. She came out a few minutes later, handed me my x-ray, and told me I could put my clothes back on. Then she shut me back in the closet to get dressed. 

Waiting for my turn to go in

Back down the hallway we go!

After that, I headed back to the lobby to wait for my turn to see the doctor. I went in there and one of the first things he asked me was if we were going to be speaking english or french. I said that we could try french. He looked at my x-ray, took my blood pressure, weighed me, measured my height, looked in my eyes, had me do a very short vision test, and then asked me simple question about my health. He was irritated when I said that I didn't have my Immunization Records with me, but we hadn't been told to bring those so whatever.

Afterwards, I took all of my papers (including Lionel's I.D. card and Proof of Habitation written by Christine) to the secretary. She checked it all, pasted my pricey stamp on her paperwork, stapled a small headshot of me to the other side, printed my verification slip, and taped it into my passport. I was legal!! ;)

Finally, I could relax. Thankfully the doctor's office was very close to my house so I was able to walk home from there. Once home, I chilled on the couch watching "La vie en rose" until dinner time. Dinner was interesting tonight and I'm still not sure if I really liked it or not. We started off with soup as usual and then had a main course of asparagus loaf. This was made with white asparagus, eggs, and not much else. It looked like a very large and slightly spongy stick of butter and tasted just like mashed up asparagus. So the flavor was fine, I just don't know how I feel about it in general. With that we ate a chicorée (endive) and apple salad and then finished off with the usual dessert. I had raspberry again because this was the first jar I've seen that also has red currant mixed in..... it's as amazing as it sounds. :)

The Most Fabulous of Weekends: Weekend 6

Sunday: I slept in today and then got myself downstairs for breakfast. I didn't have any big plans for the day so I mostly was able to relax and study for the upcoming DELF exam.
Lunch today was interesting. It was good but it was the first meal that reminded me that the family was on Lent. We started off with thin slices of lightly seasoned and sautéed chicken and a pile of hardly seasoned sautéed mushrooms and zucchini. After that, we each had a pile of cucumber slices that were tossed with a little oil and herbs and that was it. We ended lunch with fruit- I had a banana because it's the easiest thing to peel. And then we had our coffee and chocolates. It was a very light, healthy lunch and it left me wanting more! haha
I spent the rest of the day studying for the DELF. I've talked a little bit about this exam before but I think that was way back in February. So the DELF is a national french exam that one must take to earn a diploma at a certain level of french. All USAC students are required to take it. There are different levels of difficulty with the language and our different group levels at school correspond with the exam. We all take the exam this coming week in two parts: one day of oral expression (talking with two interviewers, performing a short dialogue on the spot, and giving a summary of an article including your opinion about it), and one day of written comprehension and expression. Those two parts together make up the DELF exam for your specific level, and if you pass you receive a diploma saying that you are competent in french up to a certain point. It's also good for life so none of us want to screw up...
I took a break from studying to have dinner with the family. We started off with another great vegetable soup and then we had a main course consisting of the rest of the olive bread and lunch meats from yesterday. There was a cheese platter, and we finished with the Basque cake. So good!

A typical dinner soup in this house

Yum! (that's bacon and ham on the left)

How french.

By the way, the "proper" way to eat cheese is to tear off a small cube of bread and smear a large chunk on top. One should not smear all of the cheese on a whole slice and eat it like bread and butter; I learned this the hard way.

Our Basque cherry cake :)

My evening ended the perfect way: I got to skype with my family and they were joined by our friends the Burnside family! It was the first time I had skyped with any family friends since being over here and it was great to see all of them! I think we talked for an hour and a half and I got to watch all of the adults enjoy some chicorée coffee, the kids have hot chocolates, and everyone nibble on bits of the chocolate that I sent. It was so so great.

Tomorrow: THE DELF.   =O

The Most Fabulous of Weekends: Weekend 6

Saturday: I got myself up and was downstairs all ready for breakfast about 9a. That gave me a half hour to eat... sweet! But unfortunately, the morning didn't quite go as planned. Kathy hadn't heard that we wanted to leave for Saint-Jean-de-Luz by 9:45a so she wasn't ready to eat until about 10a. Christine hadn't bothered to tell her the evening before because she has consistently been up about 7a to talk to her family in China. Plus, Lionel finished up some work on the upstairs bedroom/bathroom and he ended up not being ready to go until around 10:45a. Oh well- Christine and I were both ready "on time" and we got to spend a little time together.
Once we were all on the road (without Guilhem who was going to a boy scouts thing), everything went smoothly. It was a little short of an hour ride to Basque Country and the entire thing was filled with gorgeous views of barely-touched huge green hills, big valleys, and charming houses. I listened to what I think was the perfect selection of music for the ride and the whole thing just put me in a great mood. I tried to study a little bit on the way for my upcoming DELF exam but I couldn't do it: it was one of those car rides where you feel so comfortably sleepy that you could just stare out the window with droopy eyes all day.
We made it into Saint-Jean-de-Luz about 11:30a and the first thing we did was walk towards the fishing port to admire the view of the water and the insanely beautiful Basque houses. I loved Biarritz and Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port but Saint-Jean-de-Luz was simply dripping with charm. The word Christine used was "picturesque" and I had to agree 100%.

Some Basque homes

So SO lovely

Me! By the fishing port

Christine (her and Lionel had matching hats), Kathy (forever a tourist- Christine asked where she was at one point and Lionel said, "behind her camera"), and I by the port

We hung out here for a little bit and then we walked through a few small streets to get to a Basque "linge" shop that Christine really likes. Well, she loves and hates it. According to her, there is too much "temptation" in that store. XD She was right, though. The table sets, towels, napkins, canvas bags, etc were gorgeous! And very expensive. But I think I'll just have to make my husband bring me back here one day so he can spoil me. ;)

Just up that same street there was a stone staircase that emptied you right onto the grand promenade next to the ocean. We spent a good half hour up there taking in the view, soaking up the sun, and feeling jealous of the houses who's front yards were the ocean.

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful 

Imagine this being your front porch...

=)

Ahhhh boats <3

Courtesy of Kathy :)

Somehow or other, we lost Lionel when we left the Basque shop. Christine noticed this when we were up on the promenade and she went back to look for him (naturally, he was without his cell phone). Well, she couldn't find him and we waited up there for at least 15 minutes for him. Eventually we decided that the next best thing was to head back to the car in case he was waiting there. Thankfully, Saint-Jean-de-Luz is a very small town so there wasn't much risk of him getting seriously lost. On our way to the car, though, Lionel walked right up to us from the other direction. He said he had been in the Basque shop the whole time... we had walked right by him! haha go figure. We headed back to the car all together after that to drive a few minutes to our picnic spot.

On our way to the car: the window of a typical Basque shop including the small red, flowery Basque symbol near the top of the picture

The tulips of Saint-Jean-de-Luz's church :)

So pretty!

The drive to our lunch stop was only a few minutes but I think Lionel and Christine wanted the car closer so we wouldn't have to carry our food so far. Once there, we unpacked and walked up to this new end of the promenade (the far right side of where we were earlier). It was stunning. And there was a large stone barrier running out into the middle of the water, at which Lionel declared, "I think we should eat lunch in the middle of the ocean today." An excellent suggestion!

We decided to walk down towards the end of this stone barrier and eat lunch on the rocks :)

Next it was lunch time: couscous salad (with tomatoes, cucumbers, cheese, the works), deli meats (ham, bacon, chorizo, etc), fresh white bread, coffee, and one Ferrero Rocher chocolate each. This is livin' right here...

Lunch time!

<3

Coffee, chocolate, ocean. Cheers to a great life!

When we were done with lunch, we packed everything back up and brought it all back to the car. After that, the sun started to come out so we gladly dumped our jackets and walked the rest of the right half of the promenade up onto a gorgeous hill overlooking the ocean.

What beautiful water

That's where we're headed! Isn't it cute?

Gosh, I am becoming such the photographer! ;)

=D

=D

Lovely silver sea

We reached that hill and there were multiple different walking paths to choose from. We took the one that went all the way up to the top so we could see the water on the other side: the open ocean instead of the bay. It was spectacular! If you ever feel like the coast isn't blue enough wherever you are in the world, it's because France stole all of the blueness.

My my my...

Happy birds!

We enjoyed the view for a while and then slowly walked along some other paths. There was one that took us over by that tiny white house, there were others that went more through the park area of the hill, but it was all beautiful. Over the course of the next hour and a half our so, we saw a ton of ocean and a lot of sun. But strangely, in such a beautiful place we also saw a lot of reminders of some of this country's war-time history. There were retired German bunkers planted all over this hill; thankfully, with nature trying to re-claim them. It was very sobering- I know that I don't have the capacity to imagine what went on in those cold, stone structures or to comprehend the reasons why they are even here....

One of many of the German bunkers

And of course, more glorious sea!

It looks like a great spot for running full speed ahead with your arms thrown out wide

Also on our walk, we came across this plant that Lionel is certain is what the Smurfs eat XD

Eventually, 3p rolled around and the beautiful church in the center of town opened up for the evening. We walked ourselves back that way to admire the beauty inside and to also take a little moment to reflect...

Eglise Saint-Jean-Baptiste (Church of Saint-Jean the Baptist)

The inside.... wow.

The stunning pulpit

The huge organ

I didn't want to use flash so the picture is a little blurry, but that's the altar. It was very impressive in person

Pretty window with my favorite color: purple :)

Back outside- everything looks better under the sunlight! (and with funny looking Dr. Seuss trees planted all around)

Outside, there were more tempting shops and we ended up going in a few. I bought some Basque towels for my family and some friends and then I was satisfied to walk to the next shop to look at scarves. Naturally, all were ridiculously expensive. Lionel also headed over to a nearby bakery to by us all a treat for after dinner: Basque cherry cake! =D

After shopping, we walked back to the car to head home.

A group of teenagers performing a Basque dance in the center of town

Coffee time!

<3

Last view of the lovely coast for the day

There was a guy on the promenade walking his ferret -_-

France sure knows how to decorate its public spaces

The car ride home was the same relaxing, sleepiness. When we got back to the house, I boiled some hot water for anyone who wanted a quick coffee or tea. We settled ourselves back in and soon enough, it was dinner time. I love dinner time! We started off with another fantastic carrot, cauliflower, ginger, and cream soup and then it was on to the main course, which Christine had prepared in advance: olive bread! This ended up being a small loaf of almost cake-like yellow bread that was baked with green olives and small chunks of ham inside. It was very simple and very good, and went great with the salad. For dessert, the Basque cake! OMG soooooo goooooooo!!!

What a great day :)