Paris

The first week of the second program through the Learning Abroad Center ended with a trip to Paris.

We caught the train early on Friday morning and after ditching our bags we headed out into the narrow, quaint streets.

Paris wasn't all just sight seeing and taking in the romantic air of the beautiful city, we were there to visit the Musée de l'Immigration. It is a great museum, and after spending 3 hours there we still only saw a fraction.

We got lunch at a small cafe, where we met the nicest, best crêpe maker. We couldn't just get a crêpe salé we caved and also got a sucré :)


We also visited the the Institut du Monde Arabe which is filled with beautiful artwork and the tiniest Korans in the world with amazing calligraphy.

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On the last day I made sure to see the Eiffel Tour, Arc de Triomph, Champs-Élysées, the Luxombourg gardens.


It was a very quick, busy, exhausting weekend but very enjoyable !

Danse, danse!

Fête de la Musique Montpellier 2010

Today is a musical festival in Montpellier. More than 60 groups performing.
Every corner, park, plaza, filled with music.
Bring your dancing shoes!

Bella Italia

As time seems to be a continual discourse I will add that I can't believe its already been 1 month since I've embarked on this journey.

Tram, Train,Bus, Train, Tram, Tram, Train,Train, Bus, Bus, Train, Tram later I'm back in Montpellier.

This past week I had free so I caught a train to Torino, Italy and visited some dear friends, who were also so kind and gave me a place to stay and fed me.

We got pizza and beer and watched Italy play Paraguay in the World Cup.

Tuesday morning I headed on down to Roma. I met up with a friend who is studying there and I helped him get settled into his apartment and get around the city the first couple of days. We had to make stops to see the Sistine Chapel and the Colosseum.

Its pretty hard to beat a day filled with Sun Scooters and Gelato!

Cuisine and Canals

Wednesday we took a trip to the 300 year old port, Sète in Southern France. It is the largest port on the French Mediterranean coast selling 8,000 tons of fish every year.


Fishing boats leave at 3 am and return at 4 pm to auction off their catch. Turing the Cannes festival the price of fish sky rockets because restaurant owners travel to Sète to buy the freshest, best fish for all the celebrities.

Tuna boats leave in April and return in October where they fish as far as the coasts of Spain and Africa



After having a boat tour through the port and around the canals, we ate lunch at small restaurant with excellent seafood. We had oysters and paella with shrimp, scampi, crab, octopus, and mussels.

Cévennes

Friday afternoon we took a 2 1/2 hour bus ride up into the Cévennes Mountains. We hiked up to Le Pont de Burgen, a resting place for hikers who are doing the Stevenson Trail. The Pont de Burgen, also called the le fregere, has been run and operated by a lovely couple for 28 years. They make a point to grow all their own fruits and vegetables in order to supply themselves for the year.
After hiking up the mountain to their home, we were greeted with a few of their 28 donkeys.
We had an amazing dinner of fresh eggplant and tomatoes from their garden, wild boar, and pelardon (goat cheese) from their neighbor. We also had Sirop de Fleur, which is a syrup made from soaking elderberry flowers. You can mix with with white wine or water to add a nice, subtle, sweet flavor.
Saturday morning we hiked up the mountain, down the mountain, across a river, and up another mountain in order to visit the local cheese maker who had provided us with the cheese for the dinner the night before. We got to try some of his goat cheese and visit the goats!
It was an absolutely beautiful experience with a real taste for the French countryside.

Olives

Wednesday afternoon we ventured on up near the estate where Johnny Depp owns a home, however we did not get to visit Mr. Depp, instead we visited Les Oliviers du Mas des Vautes. We learned about various olive trees, the picking season, and how olive oil and tapenade are made. We also got to taste test their gold medal winning olive oil!

Les Oliviers du Mas des Vautes is a family owned and operated company with 13 hectares of olive trees from the 16th century without pesticide or chemical treatment. All their products are made right on their property and the caps and labels for all the jars are put on by hand. 1 tonne of olives are picked everyday and passed through their mill the following day.
" Au Mas, nous travaillons la qualité et non la quantité."

We were bought into on of their many olive groves and learned about Lucque olives and Picholine olives.
Lucque olives are known as an Olive de Table, which are the olives you get as tapas or just eat out of a jar. It takes 10 kilos of Lucques to make 1 liter of olive oil.

Picholine olives are the olives that are used to make olive oil. It only takes 4-8 kilos of picholines to make 1 liter of olive oil.

Olive season is from September to October and they must be hand picked or gently shaken off from the tree.

All olives start green.20% of the flowers on an olive tree with turn into olives- 80% is lost.

Don't eat the olive straight from the tree! Olives are soaked in a
brine or salt mixture to remove the bitterness and add flavor

All olive oil must be tested in a lab for acidity, if the acidity is from:0 -> 0.8 it is Extra Virgin
0.8 -> 2 Virgin
2 and above are used for soaps and shampoos