Baby Monkey: Eurotrip '12 w/ Claire

Hello all! I made it back from the trip in one piece, and have spent the last week sleeping a lot and taking it easy. The thought of giving a blow by blow of everything Claire and I saw and did is exhausting, so I will just say that the trip was amazing and let the pictures do most of the talking. We spent 3 nights in Paris, 4 in Marseille, 3 in Barcelona, 3 in Santander, and 3 in Chefchaouen, a small city in the mountains of Morocco. It was wonderful to see Claire, who is a dear friend from high school now living and working in Boston, and to have such a good chunk of time to hang out, really catch up, and explore new places together. We also met some nice folks along the way, including a couple of cool English girls and an exchange student from South Korea at our lovely hostel in Marseille, and a wonderful English & Greek couple and an awesome solo-traveling retired pediatric nurse from Norway in Morocco. AND, we got to see a bunch of Grinnellians in Santander-- Libby, who came to visit me in November, is doing a Fulbright there for a year, and we were lucky to overlap with Courtney & Anand, a recently married couple doing a Watson fellowship (one year of paid international research!) on international film festivals. We also had breakfast with my friend Felicity and her brother on our way to Morocco. SO, in sum, it was 2.5 weeks of amazing sights, experiences, and people.

Claire in Shakespeare & Co. bookstore, Paris

Versaille! The hall of mirrors.
Marie Antoinette's bed
Versaille's gardens in winter
Sunset in front of Notre Dame de Paris
Musée d'Orsay-- originally a train station built for the World's Fair in 1900. Saw some beautiful Monet, Manet, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec...
SUNSHINE in Marseille! Our first day Claire & I sat at a café near our (wonderful!!!!!) hostel sipping pastis, an anise liquor well loved in the South of France
View of the old port from one of the old forts that guard the port of Marseille
Marseille's beautiful cathedral, situated on a hill overlooking the city and the Mediterranean
We took a walk along the calanques (sea cliffs) that are a half hour bus ride from the old port, where our hostel was.
Les calanques and the Mediterranean :)
Chateau d'If, an island fortress only a 20 minute ferry ride from the old port! This is where Alexandre Dumas' Count of Monte Cristo was imprisoned in his famous novel!
Pretty posh for a prison, no?
Day trip to Aix-en-Provence
BARCELONA from the top of the weirdly hyped up Columbus monument-- the tree lined street is Las Ramblas, and our (really loud stinky terrible) hostel was just off the main drag.
Gaudi's Sagrada Familia-- unlike any building I have ever seen. Everyone should go see it. Columns built to look like tree trunks, ceiling like a forest canopy.

Gaudi's Parc Guell
Side street near our (stupid) hostel
Santander! Libby thought this raft was the actual Kon Tiki, and we were both really excited until Claire knocked on it and it was very hollow and metal sounding... Don't know why the actual Kon Tiki would be in Santander, Spain anyway :)
View from a hillside overlooking Santander-- we had a picnic there with Libby on a beautiful afternoon. Libby gets the prize for best hostess!
The rooftop of our (beautiful, clean, charming, friendly) Riad in Chefchaouen. Everyone should go here, too. (When I win the lotto I'll buy you all plane tickets.) We spent our evenings sitting up here chatting with our lovely neighbors, looking at the stars, and listening to the call to prayer echoing off the mountains that loom over Chaouen.
Powdered paint in the medina (the old part of the city, completely surrounded by walls and in Chaouen's case, painted entirely blue/teal/periwinkle!)
Winding media streets
Fresh oranges... One afternoon I had an avocado orange smoothie... yummmm
Kids on a break from class at a small school about an hour's walk from Chaouen
View from the Riad's rooftop terrace at sunset
Hike to the Bridge of God, an hour cab ride from Chaouen

Snack above the main square of the medina
Kids playing soccer in the main square
Hopefully the photos speak as loud as words. It was a truly amazing trip!

Some news from the home front-- yesterday I had a basketball game with Équipe B, the team of older ladies who play for fun. It was great to see them all because we haven't had a game in a while (and we won!) Unfortunately next weekend might be my last chance to play with them, but they arranged for us all to eat a meal together beforehand, which will be nice. Tabea and I also had my Czech friends over for dinner yesterday-- Lucka and Bara, the two girls I tutor, as well as their respective husband and boyfriend, Lubos and Jakub. They are such nice people, and we had a nice time chatting and eating and drinking wine. I can't believe how little time I have left in Tergnier (1 month!), and it's hard to imagine saying goodbye to all the people who have been so welcoming to me.

It's also sad to think about saying goodbye to the children I've been working with, and the other teachers, who have been wonderful. The other night I was in a bit of a bad mood at the grocery store, stalking around gripping a bag of frozen peas, when I heard a little voice say "Marianne!" I looked up and saw Hugo, a 5 year old boy who I work with at Condren, running toward me with a huge grin on his face. He gave me bisous, and I felt my bad mood fall away immediately. After speaking for a moment with his parents, who say he has been practicing numbers and colors in English at home, I left the store smiling and feeling much better about things. Looking forward to practicing "Head Shoulders Knees & Toes" tomorrow in class. Much love and BISOUS!