So here I am. All sorts of kinds of moved in. Most of you probably have a very basic idea of what I have been encountering but now I'm going to try to really flesh it out. Hayley and I arrived in Valenciennes on Sunday September 19. We waited patiently at the train station for my contact Mohammed who finally arrived and bought us lunch and started to explain things to us. We left there and were brought to Eric and Annabelle's. That day was special because they were celebrating Eric's birthday so there were many more people than normal. We met the immediate family comprised of Eric, Annabelle, and their three kids; Celine-18, Nicola-17, and Salomé-10. We also met both Annabelle and Eric's parents, Eric's brother and sister-in-law and their child, Annabelle's younger brother Mario and his girlfriend, and Annabelle's sister Leticia and her daughter Nino. There was champagne and so many tarts and desserts it was insane! They were very delicious though. Over the next couple of days Annabelle helped me get acclimated by helping me get a 10 ride bus pass and having Celine drive us around to show us where things were. Hayley and I successfully made our way to the centre-ville (or center of the city) by bus and did some exploring.
Wednesday September 22 Hayley and I left good ole Valenciennes for Vernon. We were one bag lighter at this point as I left my giant behemoth of a bag chez Annabelle and Eric (at their house). The highlight of that trip was trying to get from one train station to the other. Paris is like the center hub for most of the trains but they all come into/go out of different train stations. We had rough directions on how to get where we were headed, but there were no signs indicating where we needed to go and our 3 bags still slowed us down. I finally found someone to ask and we got on our way, but then we didn't know where to buy tickets for the metro. After we figured that out we had to push us and our bags through the turn stalls. I got through with two bags, but Hayley's big bag got stuck and she had to ask for help. We finally got through with bags and all and made it onto the metro and got off at the stop for the train station but then we couldn't find the train station. From where we got let off we had to go up to street level and then navigate a few turns to arrive at the train station which we found with the help of a very nice older woman. Finally we got on our train with moments to spare and headed to Vernon.
Vernon is a little town near Giverny where Claude Monet lived and painted and the Vernon train stop and the town itself is somewhat of a tourist destination. We found our hotel fairly easily and after dropping off our bags we went exploring. We found boulangeries/patisseries (bakeries/pastry shops), charcuteries (butcher shop), a supermarché (super market), and many places to eat. We also found a movie theater and discovered that Vernon is located on the Seine river, and it was a very beautiful sight. We ended up taking a nap and waking up around 8. When we went out to find our dinner we realized that the entire town was practically closed. We found an Italian restaurant and shared some wine and ate some lasagna. I finished my dinner with some delectable sorbet! The following day we went out and explored in another direction and found the McDonalds, a restaurant that we think was BBQ, a Chinese restaurant, and a giant supermaché named E.Leclerc that was somewhat like a Walmart. Hayley also met her contact and started to feel more relieved about the entire process. The French really like to talk but they aren't much for details, at least not over emails. That night she and I went back to E.Leclerc and bought some salads, pain (bread), brie, vin (wine), and an assortment of pastries to eat the next morning on our way to les Sables d'Olonne. After we finished our 2€ bottle of wine and our dinner we were craving some dessert. We headed out in the misting rain and went to the same Italian restaurant as the night before. We ordered two desserts and a carafe of wine to accompany it. The waitress looked at us like we were crazy for not ordering a meal (Pas de plat??). We ended up leaving her a couple of euro as a tip since we felt bad about her reaction.
That sums up our first few days in each of our cities and I'll be posting additional entries about Sables d'Olonne and what has happened this past week soon. And pictures! Be patient my darlings!
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