Last Weekend in Pau =(

Saturday: While it was still my last weekend in Pau, I decided to let today be a relaxing day at my French home. I knew that a lot of students were making last minute excursions here and there to mark the end of our time in this fabulous place, but it was important to me to spend as much quality time as I could with my very special host family. I spent the day today lounging around the house, reading, soaking in some sun in the backyard, and chatting with everyone in the house that I possibly could. Today also marked the last day Christine, Lionel, Guilhem, and I will be the four of us in the house together. Tomorrow, Guilhem leaves for a few days with his cousins so it will just be the three of us adults. When he gets back on Wednesday, Christine's brother ("Denis" with a silent "s"), his wife (Aude), and three of their boys will be coming too. And then I leave early Friday morning... =(
I used the day to try to get caught up on my blog; I'm hoping to be fully caught up by the time I leave Friday, but there is still a lot to do. We had a typical lunch today, but dinner tonight was special: we had a very grand apéritif in the backyard and Christine and Lionel invited their neighbors (an elderly couple whose names I forget). The five adults sat in the backyard and enjoyed very nice conversation, while Guilhem, who apparently was too bored by our talk to stay, went back and forth from the house to the food at least 15 times. Christine completely outdid herself with our snacks today: we had Spanish sausage, marinated vegetables, nuts, tiny quiche-like bakes, and individual crab cocktails. Lionel, meanwhile, treated us to a very nice, very French drink called Pineau des Charentes. I looked it up on the internet and found that Pineau des Charentes is like a mixture of wine and Cognac. It's also very uncommon outside of the Charente region in France and is nearly nonexistent outside of France. I felt very special getting to taste it!

Our gorgeous apéritif, served by passing each dish around at about 3-minute intervals

Christine's crab cocktails

The drink bar

Michat (scarred from being a big bully with another cat a few nights ago) decided to grace us with his presence 

Pineau des Charentes

haha he just couldn't hang with us for long :)

The apéritif was so unusually large that I couldn't help but feel like it was part of my send-off. We were so full after munching like this for nearly an hour that after the neighbors left, it was only Chrstine, Lionel, and I who ate dinner and we had nothing more than an endive salad and then yogurts for dessert. After helping with the dishes and setting the table for breakfast, I told Christine and Lionel that I was going out for a couple of hours to meet up with Roshanna. It was already plenty late but I knew that this was probably the only opportunity I had left to go to this bar that probably every other USAC-er had been to at least once. So I shook off being tired, got myself ready, and headed out to the bus stop to get downtown to Le Garage. I was the only other person on the bus besides the driver, and he decided to do the weirdest thing before taking me to my final stop: he pulled over to buy a kabob sandwich. So there I was, trapped on a bus, all alone, waiting for this bus driver to buy himself a late-night snack when I realized that the bar was only a block in front of us; I could have walked from there except that I had no idea how to open the door. And this knowledge would have come in handy when this French family with small children walked up and knocked to be let in from the cold. I felt terrible that all I could do was stand there (inside and warm) looking rather lost as I had no clue how to let them in. I tried gesturing towards where the bus driver had gone, and they seemed to realize that it wasn't my fault they were stuck outside- they all smiled and rolled there eyes at me when the bus driver finally came to let them in; like we had some secret inside joke. It was all a very slow, annoying experience that delayed me unnecessarily (and a first!), but it was also funny in its own right.

Finally, I walked inside the infamous Le Garage. It was like you'd expect: pictures, old-world memorabilia, and the like hanging everywhere; there was a rugby game on tv; and it was crowded with young people. The only unique characteristic was that most of the people there were American or English. Roshanna met up with me after a few minutes and I ended up walking her over to the same kebab shop I had just unwittingly sat in front of for what felt like forever, after she announced that she was starving and the bar was no longer serving food. C'est la vie!

It was fun to hang out at Le Garage for a little while, but it wasn't everything it was cracked up to be. I am happy to say that I did it, though, and that I got to see what the famous "Cobra Shot" is all about. My friend Joe was there tonight and he nearly forced the one person who agreed to take the shot with him (a girl I hadn't met before) up to the bar for this reputable drink. He worked it up to such heights that she nearly changed her mind half-way to the bar. Joe wouldn't tell any of us what the big deal was, but said that if you agreed to take it, you had to follow through with it even after the bartender pulled out the bottle. As you might have guessed, I politely disinclined but did watch.

Ahhh, so THAT'S what all the fuss is about!!

The Cobra Shot at Le Garage:

It made sense instantly: the Cobra Shot has such a reputation because, well... THERE'S A DEAD SNAKE IN IT! I have no clue what it tastes like, and I don't want to know. Just seeing the drink was enough to wet my curiosity.

And that about sums up my first and only Le Garage experience. By the end of the evening there was a good 10 or so USAC kids there and we stayed until they kicked us out to close up. I'll definitely come here again some day.... the next time I visit Pau. :)

It was late enough when I parted ways from everyone that there were no more buses for the night and I had to walk. For the first time, I felt truly skittish walking alone on these streets, and I chalk that up to the fact I was around a lot of various types of smoke outside of the bar and it was making me paranoid (though that probably wasn't the reality of the situation). In any case, I called my mom's cell to hopefully find someone to talk to during my walk. Unfortunately, my whole family was out so no one could get on Skype to call me back without charging my phone. But I think my mom could hear that I was a little anxious, so my wonderful family took those phone fees like taking one for the team and occupied a good 20-minutes of my walk talking to me by cell. They were actually out on our neighbors' boat when I called, and it just so happened that a good majority of our other friends and neighbors were there too. So I got passed around from one familiar voice to the next and I was almost brought to tears by each person: there was not one friend who didn't say something along the lines of being so proud of me, so excited for me to have this opportunity, or how they can't wait to see me in just a couple of weeks. A couple of people praised me non-stop the whole time I was on the phone with them for my decision to embark on this journey and how I've handled it. Those were some of the happiest 20-minutes of this entire trip for me. I talked to almost everyone I love and miss, and received so many compliments and reminders to keep enjoying this experience up to the last seconds. It was the best example of how blessed and how fortunate I have felt every day of the past few months- I went to bed with a lump in my throat but a smile on my face and in my heart.

Sunday: The last day of my last weekend in Pau, France. *sigh* Roshanna and I decided to make the most of this day while not stressing ourselves out with a ton of travel: we chose to spend a day on the beach! I packed my new French bikini and the two of us boarded a train over to Biarritz where we spent the latter half of the day soaking in the sun, walking around the stunning coast, and simply taking in the last glorious moments in our beloved France. 

It ironically happened that I had planned to leave the house about the same time Guilhem had to leave to head towards Christine's brothers place. It also just so happened that he was on the exact same train as Roshanna and I. And we hadn't planned that at all! What are the odds? So it worked out quite nicely for me that I did not have to take the bus or walk, but hitched a ride with Christine and Guilhem down to the train station. There, I waited for Roshanna and the three of us found seats together on the train. Guilhem was so hilarious about being shy in front of Roshanna, and he very kindly said that we could sit with him when I told him (once out of earshot of Christine) that we really could just find our own seats. He mostly just played on his Nintendo DS, but it was fun for the first half hour before us girls switched trains to sit by him and watch him play his game as he stealthily tried to decipher what we were saying in English. We said a quick goodbye and then parted ways until Wednesday when he comes back with his family.

Roshanna and I killed the last hour+ on the train with reading, filling out last-minute postcards, and the like. And then, we were finally in beautiful Biarritz! If you remember, Roshanna was sick the day we visited Biarritz with USAC back in March, so this was her first time seeing the place. And she was just as blown away as we had all been on that first day.

Welcome (back) to Biarritz!

Once off the train, we took a local bus to the heart of the city. Once there I was able to point us in the general direction of where we had eaten lunch with USAC. We were actually quite starving at this point, so we just picked the nearest reasonably-priced restaurant for lunch. It turned out to be a great choice: fried calamari with delicious tartar sauce and a view of the French Atlantic Coast seems to be an ideal eating experience for lunchtime in Biarritz. :)

My yummy, yummy lunch

Once good and full, we walked ourselves down to the sand! It was plenty full of people around this time but not nearly as crowded as it would become by the end of the day. We both felt awkward about stripping down to our swimsuits in public- since we had gotten used to thick wool coats and cold weather over the last three months- but we quickly felt less self-conscious after spotting at least 4 topless women within 10ft of us. After all, we were not in America anymore. XD Then it was just a matter of enjoying the sun and the surf for as long as our hearts desired...

Heading down to the beach!

haha I suppose I was a little out of place in my sweatshirt and jeans

In desperate need of a tan, but fully enjoying the beautiful ocean

It was a busy day today in Biarritz: tourists crowd the place all the time, but the French were also out in full force taking advantage of the very very good weather for the day

Surf's up

Once the tide starting moving in, people squished up towards the top of the sand. We realized with a sigh that our personal space had finally shrunk down to too small, so we packed up and went for a little walk around the bay.

As I said, a VERY busy day in Biarritz

Here comes the tide

Exhilarating! I wish you could have heard that water rushing in! 

And that was all; we didn't want to make a big production of the day, so we didn't. We laid on the beach for a few hours, walked around in the sun for another hour or so, and then we started trying to find our way back to the train station. Unfortunately, from that point on the day wasn't as simple as it had started out as. We couldn't find a bus stop anywhere, and when we did find one it was for a bus that wouldn't show up for another hour. We kept our eyes peeled for a taxi, but Biarritz is a small town and we had no luck with that plan. Eventually, after walking around for almost a full half hour, we had to face the fact that we were going to miss our evening train and would have to take a later one to get back to Pau. We sat down at the foot of a bus sign and waited there rather than risk walking 30-minutes in the wrong direction. I texted Christine to explain how I would be late for dinner and why, and then did my best on the phone with an operator for the SNCF rail company. She gave me my first piece of good news at that point: there was still a chance that we could make a train home without paying for new tickets. She said that as long as we made it to the train station by the time the next train left for Pau, we could use the same tickets to simply trade for the ones that corresponded to that train. We crossed our fingers and hoped that we could do all of that before the next train pulled out.

Roshanna and I finally made it to the Biarritz train station, ironically only about 10 minutes after our original train had departed. There was no line at the ticket counter and that ended up being about the luckiest coincidence: we were able to trade our tickets but would have missed our new train if we had spent one more minute inside. Yikes! Actually, we got really lucky and were able to trade our tickets for ones that were about half the price; so we were each handed a few euros worth of change with our new tickets. Whoopi!

Eventually, we were on the train home. I had never heard back from Christine when I texted her before and I found out why when we pulled into Pau and there was Lionel waiting for me (as usual). He said that Christine had come to pick me up at the original arrival time because she had left her phone at home and didn't see my text! I felt so bad, but there really wasn't anything I could do about that; Christine told me not to worry about it too. What was done was done, and the three of us sat down to a normal, fantastic meal after Lionel and I arrived home from dropping Roshanna off at the residence halls. I was able to talk to my family on Skype for a little while after dinner.... and that was the end of my last Sunday in beloved Pau. *sniff sniff*

Last Weekend in Pau =(

Friday: I set my alarm for 9:20a today but got up at 9a because a reminder I had set on my cell phone went off since I forgot to turn off my phone last night. Oh well- I used the time to facebook for a little while before I really had to get myself up and going. I got myself dressed and ready, went down to breakfast, and got to chat a tiny bit with Christine's oldest Maÿlis who was on speaker phone. When Maÿlis calls (which is all the time), specifically in the morning, Christine usually puts the call on speaker and talks to Maÿlis while she irons, cleans, or prepares the lunch or something. I think it's really cute- they have mother/daughter time like that quite often. It was nice to talk to Maÿlis a little bit because I have been commenting back and forth with her on facebook since she came to visit in February. The other day I posted a very honest status that said, "I have fallen in love with famille Desroys." Maÿlis was the only person to comment on the status; know what she said? "Famille Desroys loves you too."   =,)
Eventually it was time to head out to meet Rosie downtown. I left a little late but I also didn't know exactly when the bus would be there, so there was a chance I would catch it just as I walked up. I got there and realized I had just missed the last bus, but the next one would be there in about 8 minutes. The sun was out and I was feeling terribly excited about my day. I decided to walk just across the street to the center of the round-about and sit on one of the shaded benches while I waited for the bus. I really love this round-about: it has a mini park in the center, surrounded by trees and benches, and is more often than not full of about 40 to 60 old Frenchmen wearing berets, playing pétanque (similar to bocce ball). I have walked by this round about so many times to find these old men- who have probably been playing this game together for the past 4 or 5 decades- joined by small groups of guys my age playing the same game. The old-timers and the young-bucks will spend hours in that round-about under the sun. It's one of the coolest things I have seen here.
So I was sitting there on a bench when I realized that I was the only one in the park; so I decided that now was a good time to pull out my video camera and record the moment. I recorded the park, the streets I could see, the little cafés, and talked to the camera like a friend. I hope that I can watch that back one day and it will take me back to this experience with a great rush of detail so that I never forget it.
Finally the bus came. I ended up making it downtown to our meeting spot (the big beautiful fountain in Place Clemenceau) way before Roshanna. I decided that I might as well walk to Musée Bernadotte while I was waiting and see when it closes for lunch. Well, that didn't really happen. I thought I was walking in the right direction but I was not even close. I ended up walking down this alley that winds and curves its way downhill and is lined with rickety gates leading up to ugly apartment buildings and run-down houses. It was beautifully decorated with colorful gang symbols and crafty graffiti. I seemed to be the only one on the street and as it was broad daylight and a car would pass every now and then, I felt just safe enough to keep walking expecting to be dumped out onto a main street. A few minutes of uncomfortable walking passed- where I also walked under a bridge topped with a rowdy gentleman playing the accordion and spitting out darling cat-calls as I walked by- and then I came across a dark tunnel that curved in a way where I couldn't see inside, nor could I see the end. It was nearly covered with graffiti and I couldn't hear the accordion-player anymore. See ya! I turned on my heels and made the whole trek back to where I came from only to find Roshanna now waiting for me at the fountain. Such is the way of things!
Needless to say, we did not take that blasted street to try to find the museum. We knew it was close but couldn't remember exactly what street. We were standing there trying to remember where to start walking when we saw a group of three elderly people sitting on a nearby bench. We decided to ask them if they knew where to find it. No sooner had I said, "excusez-moi monsieur," was I greeted with very firm and fairly rude "no we are not interested in what you're selling" kind of remarks. The man would hardly let me speak, and since I felt like he was being rude on a rather ridiculous level, I persisted. "Non non, je cherche le musée Bernadotte. Connaissez-vous où le trouver?" Well he kept talking over me shaking his head. So I said "merci" (and almost added "pour rien!" *for nothing!*) and we walked away. I looked back at one point and saw that the three of them where watching us and talking quietly; I think they were asking each other if it was really possible that a stranger could actually simply be looking for a place in Pau and not be wanting to sell them devilish items. Take that snobby french people!
We ended up finding the museum pretty quickly after asking a shopkeeper which street to go down. We should have known- we had walked that area on our USAC tour way back on like January 5 or something. However, we were running pretty close to lunch time at this point (12p) and the place would be closing in 15 minutes. We decided to just head to lunch first and would come back when it opened again at 2p. Where do you think we went to eat?? Visnu of course! My third and possibly my last time eating there- and it was as good as every other time. There was a lunch menu that offered an entrée, a plat principale, and a déssert for only 8 euros so we each went for it. I had eggplant fritters for my starter, mushroom curry for my main course (Roshanna and I split saffron rice and nan with our main plates), and the house cake for my dessert. We also split 50cl of the house rosé and ended with coffee. It was a fantastic lunch!

My eggplant fritters are on the left

Our wine

Mushroom curry and saffron rice (nan not pictured)

The house cake: a lovely shredded coconut concoction 

Coffee break!

After lunch we took our time walking back to the museum. After all, we had the rest of the day ahead of us! Visnu is just around the corner from the château so of course we walked past it. And we were so glad we did: there was one of those cute kid's trains parked right in front that was probably waiting to be driven when its conductor was done with lunch! We took the opportunity for a photo-op.

After this, it was on to the museum. Musée Bernadotte is actually a house, and the reason it has been turned into a museum is that the Swedish king Jean Bernadotte (1763-1844) was born on the second floor. So Pau is the birthplace of a Swedish king and a french king... you gotta be kidding me. Bernadotte eventually became Charles XIV John of Sweden when he was selected as the heir to the Swedish crown; and he took on the name of Charles III John when he was King of Norway. The current royal family in Sweden descends from Bernadotte; the current king is something like the 6th or 7th generation of Bernadottes. Another very cool fact: they visit the home of their ancestors (where Roshanna and I walked today) regularly. There are pictures in the lobby of the museum of the King of Sweden standing on the balcony we took pictures in front of. Plus, the Princess of Sweden was here just last summer. I must say that I admire their recognition of where they come from and their admiration for their history.
We took a few pictures of the outside of the house and then we went in to pay our admission. We walked up to the front desk (which is literally a desk that originates with the house but now has a computer set on top of it) and pulled out our student I.D. cards for our reduction. But the woman at the front desk stopped us and said, "c'est gratuit" (it's free). Sweet! She reminded me that french people aren't usually mean like those old folks we came across earlier today. So, we started at the second floor and took our time admiring the history in this house.

There it is! On the left you have the flag of the EU, and above the front door are the French and Swedish national flags

There were many window displays like this throughout the house- mostly they just contain artifacts and remnants of the original family's possession from when they lived here.

Bernadotte's sleeping nook

As old as it is, it retains so much of its beauty and elegance

Bernadotte had a turbulent relationship with Napoleon, but it didn't start out that way: they were originally very close friends and Napoleon even appointed Bernadotte to Marshal of France where he served until he became King of Sweden. I don't know if you can see it, but that letter on the left starts with the name "Napoleon" and the most elaborate cursive "N" I have ever seen in my life.

A print of "The Coronation of Napoleon." The original is about the size of your average 10mX6m wall (aka: it is massive) and sits in the Louvre in Paris. There is an exact replica that sits in the palace at Versailles. I would like to take this moment to brag: I have seen both of these paintings and will see them both again in about a week. Okay, I'm done now.  :)

Bernadotte

"Roshanna, take a picture of me in the fireplace!"

Lovely royal crockery

Back down in the lobby, we came across this photo that is entitled "Blondes." The museum's curator was telling us that this photo was taken as part of a project to re-intrigue Swedes with their history. I didn't find it interesting (nor did I get how this represents Swedish history) until he turned us around to look at the table and chairs behind us. One table and four chairs that also originate with the house.... they were also replicated almost exactly in this picture above: --->

See the resemblance?

We spent the next 15 minutes or so looking through the photos, prints, and newspaper clippings that were organized in the lobby.

The next generation: the Prince and Princess.

The current King and Queen of Sweden

I found this collage to be so exciting: in the two pictures on the left you can see parts of the royal family standing at the place we just visited today! Look at the bottom left picture, and then.....

...check this out!

We both had a lot of fun exploring this little piece of unique Pau history. It was a good way to start our last weekend in our city...
Next, we headed to the nearby Musée des Beaux Arts. This is the same museum I went to by myself a few weeks ago but I knew I wanted to come back so I didn't have to rush through it. By the time we got there, Rosie was feeling worn out. She was tired of walking and I don't think she can take being in museums for as long as I can. So she walked through the temporary exhibit with me (which I wasn't allowed to take pictures of but was very cool- it was a gallery of photos called "Women of the World" by Titouan Lamazou) and then she headed back to her place at the residence halls. It was fine with me- I think I prefer to appreciate art by myself. For one, I can take my time with it and move at my own pace. And two, there are no interruptions as I look at different paintings/sculptures and try to find the stories or messages within.
In the museum:

"Le Baiser de Judas" (The Kiss of Judas), by Vincente Basabe, 1604

"Le Portratit de la soeur" (The Portrait of the Sister), by Joseph-Paul Mesle, 1886

"Place de la Concorde sous l'averse" (Place de la Concorde in the Rain), by Alfred Smith, 1888.

I've been there! That's the mirror in Bordeaux

"Henri IV enfant" (Henri IV as a Child), by François Joseph Bosio, 1823

"Matinée à Trouville" (Morning at Trouville), by Casimir Wielhorski, 1908

"Bacchus enfant" (Bacchus Child), by Henri Allouard, 1881

I love this museum

"Christophe Colomb à la cour de Ferdinand et Isabelle" (Christopher Colombus at the Court of Ferdinand and Isabelle), by Eugène Devéria.

I found this painting to be very interesting: if you look closely, you'll notice that the court on the right is mirroring the court on the left (or vice versa). There are the same amount of woman on each side, posed in the same way or making the same facial expression, and it's the same with the men. I just found this intriguing.

"Une fille d'Eve" (A Daughter of Eve) by François Etcheto, 1885

"La Fin de Madame Gardénia" (The End of Mrs. Gardenia), by Jacques Monory, 1964-66

And then I was in the more modern section. I'm not a huge fan of modern or contemporary art but I at least try to appreciate it and find something of interest/skill in it. This one I did like: it's so pretty and feminine with the colors and the big flower but then you notice the "bullet holes" all over it and realize that this piece was "shattered" by gunfire. A very interesting juxtaposition.

"I Barcatori," by Paul Eugène René Sieffert

"Pêcheurs de Saint-Yves" (Fishermen of Saint-Yves), by Anders Zorn

I thought this was beautiful.

I think I strolled, stood, and admired in here for about two hours. When I left it was 5:30p so I once again made it close to closing time (6p). Next I headed to the bus stop to head to the house and relax a little before dinner. When I got home, I chatted a little with Lionel out front (we talked about his flowers), said hi to Côme and Christine, and then I went up to my room to facebook, take off my showers, refresh, and read. I took one of my favorite books, "My Life In France" by Julia Child, out to the backyard to crack it open for the third time. I've been trying to read a USAC recommended reading called "60 Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong" for the past three months. While it is very informative about the French, it is kind of slow. Plus, I'm not going to be in France much longer and it is high time I sit down with Julia for a little while. So there I sat, on a long chair, in the sun, reading this voice I have grown to love. It was a great half hour. 

A little after 7p, Lionel invited me in for an apéritif with the three of them. We had three choices of snacks this evening: a Chex Mix type of thing that was a little spicy, salted cashews, and Pringles. Lionel offered to make me a "Sous Cassis" and, thinking that was the wine mixed with black currant liquor thing, I said yes. Unfortunately, this was that drink he had made for me a while back with the yucky flower juice that got me too tipsy; but I made myself drink it. At least I learned from my mistake and turned down a second one this time. While at our apéro (slang), Lionel suddenly asked, "est-ce qu'aujourd'hui est ton dernier vendredi à Pau?" (Is today your last Friday in Pau?) *Silence* "Uhh, oui. Je suppose que c'est vrai." (Uhh yea, I guess that's true). *Glances between Lionel, Christine, and I. Côme didn't exist right then.*

Soon after, the three of them went to the table and I went to my room to get ready for dinner. There is an American fifties-themed restaurant downtown called "Fifties Dream" that a bunch of us USACers have been wanting to go to. When I walked in, I happily realized that we were a table of about 12 girl- this was going to be fun! Us ladies hung out for the next couple of hours, eating our burgers, hot dogs, and fries, listening to the fifties jams (complete with "Greased Lightening"), and just enjoying the atmosphere- not to mention, our last friday night in Pau...

My "American Dream Hot Dog." Guys, I'm dead serious: this hot dog came with grilled onions, cheddar, and GOAT CHEESE! It was actually really good too

After dinner, I had wanted to walk to a bar that has been frequented by most USACers but which I have yet to visit called "Le Garage." For whatever reason, that didn't end up happening. I did, however, go back to the residence halls with a lot of the girls to do some more hanging out. I ended up sitting in Allie's room with Rosie, Chai, and a couple others who you don't yet know until about 1a. Eventually, I got to walking. Because these are all wonderful people here, I was offered an escort repeatedly. It would have been nice given the late hour and the length of the walk, but I knew I was going to be fine and I really didn't like the idea of them having to make the exact same walk all over again after saying bye to me at my house. So I turned them down. I did, however, call my mom on her cell to see if anyone was home to call me through Skype. That worked out nicely: Spencer was home and my mom and sister showed up soon after. The four of us skype/cell-phoned for all of my walk and then I got right back on it safely in my bedroom. I talked to them until my dad got home from work, got to say hi to him, and then THEY kicked ME off because of how late (or early) it was my time. It was a lovely day. :)