Day 9

Day 9:

Sunday, March 29, 2009: Today was very chill and relaxing. After breakfast with John, he and I walked to Melissa’s house. She lives the closest to us. Breakfast consisted of fresh bread with butter and raspberry jam and a cup of coffee.

We decided to walk around the city some more to see what was up. We walked to the Place d’Horloge at the end of Rue de la Republique again and around the Palais des Papes. There is a park nearby so we went there too. It overlooks the Rhone. The day was overcast but the Mistral was really strong. These are really strong, cold arctic winds that whip down the river valley.

We walked down to the river and crossed it to the island. This is the largest island in a river in Europe. There is a free ferry that makes the ten-minute journey at least 20 times a day. There is also a little restaurant on the island that looks toward Avignon that would be a good place for lunch one day. It was closed today. Almost everything is closed on Sundays (except for bars!).

We walked around the island and crossed back to the city via the traffic bridge (Pont d’Europe, I think it is called). There are also the ruins of Pont d’Avignon which was built by the Romans in like 40 A.D. (more on that and the Palais des Papes on Wednesday).

We walked home and had a dinner of sausage and cauliflower with a cheese cream sauce and vegetable soup. We again had wine, cheese, and bread. One thing you hear about the French and dinner is that meals generally are drawn out for hours savoring delicious course after course. Well at least not true with the Zemmits. They devour dinner! The food is delicious but I find myself struggling to keep pace.

After dinner we watched the news again. I received a text that a group was going to the Pub in preparation of our first day of classes, so naturally, I partook too. John followed along. The Pub is really cool because you can sit on the patio/sidewalk and socialize when the weather is good. It was also Zoe’s birthday and her mom was buying the drinks; what more could I ask for (at almost 6E a beer!)

(Google proper nouns that you do not know.)