Now Normandy! Day 1

Before I start with Normandy, let me tell you about my postal experiences. I recently received all my mail on one day. It was weird. I received a letter from my mom from almost 2 months ago! Nonetheless, I was still happy to receive it. I also got a piece of paper saying I need to go pick up a package at the Post Office. I went to get it and saw that it was from Aunt Lisa and Uncle Joe. When I opened it, I laughed so hard because it was full of toilet paper. And the strangest thing was, the toilet paper looks weird to me. I am so used to the small, pink, roles that the French use here. I almost forgot what color toilet paper we use in the States. And the roles are so huge! I don't know, it just threw me off. They also sent me Tylenol PM (yay!) and Mac and Cheese, which I will make tomorrow for lunch. I think I will also make some for my French friends because I described it to them and they looked like they were going to vomit after I mentioned the powdered cheese. Hopefully it will taste the same with the strange milk they have here.

Ok Normandy. I left Thursday morning (May 21) with Rachel, Jenny (The grad student), and Catherine. It was a nice group of just us girls. We first took a train to Paris, and then from there we took a train to Bayeux, but not before stopping at Starbucks in Paris. Catherine, Rachel and Jenny are caffine-aholics. The train ride there went smooth (just wait until I tell you about the ride home!)

When we arrived in Bayeux, I was terribly surprised to see how much cleaner the North is! Avignon, granted I live in the inner city, is very dirty at times. We went to our cute inn/hostel, Le Maupassant, which sits on top of a bar, and then headed out to see the tapestry of Bayeux. That sucker was long! It was amazing that it was all stitched by hand. I mean, who sits down and says, I am going to make the longest tapestry ever of the Battle of Hastings (I think that was it)?

After that we visited a very pretty Notre Dame. Of course it wouldn't be a city without a Notre Dame! But actually, this one was very pretty and I liked it a lot. 

It had a crypt in it, too. And the stained glass was magnificent. And as you can see from the photo, it was gorgeous against the blue skies.

After the church, we decided to have some tea. Being that Normandy is so close to England (just right across the Channel), there were many English speakers. In fact, many French people who speak English have a British accent because they are taught that type of English. Anyway, Anna's Tea Room started our eating binge in Normandy. It was a fun, different thing to do. The French love to sit and chat for hours on end, and I am starting to like it, too. The waiters never give you the check unless you ask for it. You can sit there for hours in a restaurant just drinking coffee and it's normal. 

After the tea room we went to this French specialty shop of foods from around France. I saw the alcohol that one of the student's host dad makes in Provence. It is a liquor with a pear inside the bottle. I guess the pear grows inside the bottle. It was cool. I texted Lance to let him know that this shop had one bottle of it in Normandy. At this store, I bought onion jam. Ok, I know that sounds gross, but I am super excited to try it. I have not opened it because I am going to save it for home.

Next we went to dinner. Oh my God, dinner was delicious. I had some pizza, with eggplant. It was sooooo good. We had the table wine, too, which is a cheap wine (you can drink cheap wine here without looking, well, cheap), but even France's cheap wine is better than the USA's good wine. It was 11 euro and we eat got three full glasses out of it. And of course, we had dessert. I had this caramel, vanilla, delicious ice cream dish. In the photo you can see how big it is. And it was only 5 euro. Jenny got this crepe with apples and caramel and ice cream and sugar. That was good, too. We all wanted to vomit when we had finished. It was a delicious dinner. Going out to dinner here is always magnificent. When I think of Applebees, I want to cry. American dining is so sad. Oh well. 

We went to bed after that, very tired and stuffed to the brim...