Let the world change you...: April 2011

Mike just left from his 2 week visit to France and we had a blast! In the short time he was here we went to a 4 course dinner with traditional Auvergne food, visited Normandy and the D-Day beaches, visited Mont St. Michel, saw almost all of Paris, climbed Puy de Dome, and cooked chicken wing dip, enchilada casserole and stuffed peppers.

He arrived in Lyon after a long plane ride and we got on the train back to Clermont. When we got here, we immediately went to the school for the Global Village-- a huge event where all the international students cook foods from their home countries for everyone to sample. I had made chicken wing bites and chocolate chip cookies and another classmate had made macaroni and cheese and sliders. By the time we got to the Global Village all of the American food was gone. Mike brought a real football and we threw it around before it was time to go to dinner at Le Paradis with a group of students from the University of Kansas and another group of international students at our school. The meal was fantastic.

We started with the traditional aperitifs: a cocktail (kir-- white wine with cassis) and little snacks (olives and crackers)

We started with an avocado and shrimp salad with grapefruit.

The next course was roasted duck with a potato gratin and stuffed tomato.

Then was the cheese course with bleu d'Auvergne, Cantal, and St. Nectaire.

For dessert was a delicious apple tart with vanilla bean ice cream.

The next day I went to class and then Mike and I left immediately for the train to Paris for our 3 day weekend in Normandy. We started out by the Moulin Rouge where we saw a ton of sex shops and this chair with tongues on it in front of the Erotica Museum.

We made our way to the Sacre Coeur and saw a peek of the Eiffel Tower at night. I promised Mike we would see it up close later on in the trip.

The next morning we woke up early and headed to Bayeux. We were greeted at our Bed and Breakfast by three cute little puppies, a few cats, and a rabbit. We were the only people staying there for the weekend so we took advantage of having the building to ourselves. Once we were settled we set out to find a tour of the D-Day beaches and Mont St. Michel. The town of Bayeux is really small but very charming and we enjoyed walking around. We ate dinner at a nice restaurant in town and were the only ones there. Again, we enjoyed a 4 course meal which was delicious.

The next day we got up early for our half day tour of the D-Day beaches. We started at Gold Beach and Arromanches and went from there to the German batteries of Longues-sur-Merto. Then it was off to Omaha Beach to the American cemetery (which is actually US property) and ended at Pointe du Hoc.

Arromanches

German battery

Last Wednesday we spent the day in Paris and really got our exercise. Since we saw Montmarte before we left for Normandy, we decided to stay close to the Seine. We left Clermont at 6 am and got to Paris around 9. Our first stop was the Notre Dame.