Brașov
I got into Bucharest in the morning and was happily surprised that I could read everything. All the signs, even the ones that weren't in English, made sense. I followed them to the bus, and tried to buy tickets to Gara de Nord. Even though I could read everything, I couldn't understand a word the wo...
Basque Country and Zaragoza
We arrived in San Sebastián (Donostia) after about three hours on the road from Bordeaux. We parked underground and came out directly on the promenade overlooking the beach. After a couple selfies, we wandered around the old town, which really felt like part of a big city. We stopped in a cafe where...
Bordeaux
We arrived at the Airbnb, a well-decorated house in the suburbs, around three in the afternoon. We took the bus into the city, planning to go to the Cité du Vin. We walked through the downtown area and found an artisanal sweets shop that had delicious pates à tartiner and some interesting liqueurs i...
Châteaux de la Loire et Poitiers
Day one of our road trip! The day after the soiree des finaux, we headed out in the rental car around ten. After three or so hours we made it to our first stop, the Château de Chambord. We parked and walked through a small market to the castle, which was giant and imposing, but quite elegant. The fr...
Lunch with Mélaine and Bac Sucré
Last Saturday I met Mélaine in Paris for lunch. We went to La Soummam, a Moroccan place near Notre Dame and got couscous. It was served deconstructed, which I guess is the traditional way. It was good though, because I could put what I wanted on. I got the special, which was roast chicken, a lamb sk...
Belgium
The second week of the Stage de Français, we got tired of Compiègne. A couple of us got together and decided to take advantage of the fact that we had no work whatsoever and take a weekend trip. Mme Dubray had casually mentioned that you could drive from Compiègne to Belgium as a reasonable day-trip...
The Holy Trinity
When I was talking to the Costas about the must-sees in Europe, we joked that a European vacation could be summarized by going to every city and doing the same three things: climbing to the top of a tall thing, visiting a beautiful religious building, and tasting a local delicacy. Having been here f...
Weekend en Bretagne
To celebrate her second to last week in France, Annika and I went to Brittany. We got cheap train tickets through iDTGV and found an Airbnb in the city center. This was definitely the least planned trip that we took: neither of us knew much about Rennes, and the whole region was barely mentioned in...
Arrival in France
My flight from New York to Paris was delayed, so by the time I got in, I had already missed the train to Compiègne. I stayed over with Annika in Paris, and went to Compiègne the next day, on Thursday. When I was on the train, I met Julia Cotinho and her family, and she showed me how to get to Robera...