Montelimar: Ice cream and castles

I will be home in just one more month! I still love living in France with my host family of course, but I've been getting more and more anxious to get back to 'real life' again. I'll be spending my next month taking advantage of the rest of my time here with the food, places, and people I'll be missing very soon. Here are some pictures from this past weekend in Montelimar with Kayley and Evan. We had ice creams, played on the parapet and checked out the contemporary art exhibit at the Chateau Adhemar, and went to see The Iron Lady.

First ice cream of 2012 -- Dark chocolate and hazelnut chocolate

Kayley taking a picture of Evan

Chateau Adhemar

 

Taking more pictures

A view of Montelimar

Sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows (minus the lollipops and rainbows)

Ever since I returned from vacation, the weather has become more and more bearable. This is of course unfortunate news for the coat and boots I bought just two months ago, but oh well. I'm thrilled to get outside without it being a necessity. For the first time since October, I took my time walking home from work on Tuesday. 

To give you an idea of just how nice the weather is right now, here are a few pictures from my first weekend back in town at the park in Pierrelatte with Kayley and Evan. 

Please note the absence of my coat, hat, and gloves.

Kayley soaking up the rays... I loaned her my sunglasses afterward.

Evan -- short sleeves!

Lyon, Prague, Budapest, and London: The photos I was too lazy to take

More Lyon photos, courtesy of Anna

Budapest Opera -- Cosi Fan Tutte

After our great experience seeing Il Trovatore in Prague, Anna and I decided to go to the opera house in Budapest to go see another opera, this time something a little more cheery. We saw Cosi Fan Tutte, or rather we saw the first half. In Prague we had been spoiled with subtitles, but in Budapest the subtitles were only in Hungarian and we decided we didn't quite enjoy the opera enough to sit through the second half without understanding it. At intermission we headed to the cloakroom where the woman at the counter explained, "No finish. It's break." 

At least we were able to enjoy seeing the inside of the opera house and the impressive set and costumes.

Budapest Baths -- Szechenyi

If ever you go to Budapest, you must go to the baths. And get a massage. I think we all agreed that this was our favorite day of vacation. 

Budapest Sightseeing

Sightseeing in Budapest...

This sign made me chuckle

Our hostel

Il Trovatore, the Beer Tour, Communism, etc.

In Prague I saw my first opera -- Il Trovatore. The opera house was beautiful and I loved that I was able to follow along with the English subtitles on the screen above the stage. 

Prague

For whatever reason I just haven't been able to bring myself to really blog lately. I guess I've had too much on my mind. Anyway, here is a round of pictures from some of our time in Prague.

Travel buddies in the Lyon airport

Snowy view from our hotel room

Astronomical clock

Inside the astronomical clock tower

Anna in the clock tower

Nikki and Anna

A view of the city

Lyon: Take Two

I'm finally back from my February vacation to Lyon, Prague, Budapest, and London -- it was a blast but it's definitely nice to be back in Bourg, if for nothing else but to stop living out of a dirty backpack and finally have clean laundry. 

One thing that I've learned about myself from this experience is that I do not take nearly enough pictures. I don't know if it was because my camera is too big or if my purse was just too crammed with stuff already, but I found myself rarely taking it out since I was traveling with three other girls, all taking pictures already anyway. Expect a post in the future full of the photos I was too lazy to take. First up, Lyon.

The reason I started this blog (almost four years ago) was to document my summer study abroad adventures in Lyon. When Anna came to France at the end of December, we resolved to return to Lyon to visit our favorite places and discover the city in the winter. The freezing temperatures and snow certainly changed the city. We spent most of our time going from cafe to shop to cafe to shop to cafe to restaurant, bearing the cold for brief moments in between. 

On our first night we bundled up and walked from our hotel in Guillotiere all the way to Vieux Lyon. In retrospect, this was not the smartest of ideas because the cold ended up getting Anna sick at the beginning of our trip (and later at the end), but we enjoyed our scavenger hunt for Mexico Lindo (it was closed, possibly for the whole vacation) and the Irish bars. We ate some kebabs before taking the metro back to the hotel, watching a movie, and going to sleep. 

Our first hotel of the trip

The Pink Tower