Extreme tourism at it's best!

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It has been awhile! I returned back from my amazing 10 day adventure on Wednesday night. Now that I am settled back home, with my clothes washed and my room cleaned (Mom, you'd be proud!), you shall finally hear my tale of my crazy time as an extreme tourist...here goes nothing!


To start off, I tell you that I didn't put any pictures on my blog. I have many photos and it takes a long time to do them on here, so I put them on another site. The address is: http://bonjouramanda.myphotoalbum.com/ Just click on my photo album that is called, "Toulouse, Marseilles and Corsica."
ALRIGHT! So, day one, Saturday, October 25th, I started my adventure. Melissa (a girl that I attend school with in Mankato and she's also an assistant in France) and I met up with Kelley (another assistant in France who is from Ohio) in Toulouse. We found our hotel quickly without having to walk around a lot (which isn't the case later in the story). We arrived in Toulouse around 4:00 in the afternoon, dropped of our bags at our hotel and hit the pavement with great enthusiasm. We found the center of Toulouse, which wasn't far from our hotel and had a bite to eat. We walked around for a bit and people watched. We were really lucky we were in Toulouse that weekend, because it was the weekend of the Toulouse Marathon, so, there was lots of people, events, bands, street performers and parades! We ended up hearing these drums in the distance and went to check them out. It was a parade with a bunch of bands and people with crazy (huge) costumes (you'll understand when you see the pictures). We watched them for awhile, then played around on some toys in the square that we were walking through (haha, again, you'll see the pictures). We ended that night by exploring a bit more and then made our way over to a small wine bar (thanks to Kelley's AMAZING investigation on the cities we were going to visit, we got to see a lot that was off the beaten track). We had two bottles of wine and just talked amongst ourselves. It was a very nice and relaxing time. The morning after, we woke up at 8:00 to start our day, only it was 8:00. All of us forgot that it was daylight savings time and didn't set our clocks back! Hahaha. That day we explored SOOOOO much of Toulouse. We saw a lot and enjoyed ourselves greatly! We sat in park for about an hour and a half having lunch, watched street performers, saw the start and finish of the marathon and saw the beautiful city that is Toulouse. That night, we met up with my friend, Greg, that I met in France when I was here two summers ago. He has an internship in Toulouse and is not living there. We all went out for a drink at one of his favorite bars. After a couple hours, we said our goodbyes and left him in great anticipation for our beds (remember! we were up at 7:oo that morning! haha!)

The next day we were on the train headed for Marseilles. We arrived around 7:00 at night. Since it was daylight savings time, it was already dark. Kelley thought she could get us to our hotel by walking (because she IS really great with a map) but she didn't expect Marseilles to be as BIG as it was! Haha. That night, I bet we walked about 4 miles with about 40 pounds of baggage on our backs! It was terrible, but now we laugh at the situation. We must have looked so funny going through Marseilles with all our bags. After about 3 hours of walking around (no lie!), we FINALLY found our hotel. We dropped off our stuff and went to McDonald's (yes, I said it) and had a late dinner. The next day we went to find this art-warehouse sort of thing. It's an old warehouse that the city converted in to a place for artist to come and just paint on the walls. It was really awesome, but it would have been better if there hadn't been a monsoon!!! It rained SOOOO much!!! And it never let up, so we never got a chance start drying off. It was really miserable, but we fought through and made the day of it. After, we went to a grocery store and bought some food and retired early to our hotel. We sat around for the good part of the night watching movies, eating junk food and drying off! The next day we took a tour of Marseilles. We went on the "Hop-on, Hop-off" bus. It was nice, but, again, it would have been better if it hadn't been FREEZING! Okay, we'll it wasn't freezing, it was just really cold and drizzling the whole day. Despite the cold, we wanted to see Marseilles, so, we rode on the TOP of the double decker bus, which is open and has no roof! Haha. We couldn't even sit down, because the it had rained and the seats were wet. At one point, I was looking around enjoying the view and I heard a lady in front of me say, "OH!" I looked and saw she was dogging a tree branch that was hanging over. I moved quickly and it just swiped the side of my face. Then, right after that, I heard from behind me, "AHHHHH!" Kelley didn't hear the women or see the tree branch. It smacked her RIGHT in the kisser. We all laughed until our sides hurt. I have a picture in my photo album of her face right after it happened. This is when the term "extreme tourist/tourism" was born! We hopped off and once at a beautiful church that sits on a hill in the middle of Marseilles and overlooks the whole city. It was amazing. (See the pics). At one point, we hopped off the bus in a shopping district to have a look around. When we were ready to be picked up, we waited by the stop for the bus. Once it came, we hopped up and down to get the bus driver to stop. That didn't work. All the driver did was look at us and did the motion of "raising the roof." So, Kelley LITERALLY took off running after the bus for it to stop. Melissa and I ran to follow! Finally, she got him to stop and we got back on. That bus driver was not my favorite person of the day! After we got done with our extreme tourism, we got a bite to eat. We ate mussels and fries and shared a delicious dessert! The next day it was off to the train station again to make our way to the town of Toulon to catch the ferry to CORSICA!

The ferry ride was only a short 10 hours, We arrived in Bastia, Corsica, a little tired and still swaying from the motion of the boat, but happy to be there. We arrive at 7:00 a.m. and couldn't get in to our hotel till noon. So, we stashed our bags in the hotel baggage room and went to have break fast. When we finally got in to our hotel, we all showered and rested a bit. (NOTE: by this point we had almost been up for over 24 hours. On the boat we only had seats and they were very uncomfortable, so we slept on the floor, which wouldn't be bad IF we would have brought a pillow and blanket! Hahaha. I think we each got about 2 hours of sleep that night.) Since we only had 24 hours (including sleep time) in Bastia, we set off for a walking tour of the city. It was beautiful! We went off the beaten road and took a walk up in to the hills that overlooked Bastia. It was AMAZING and beautiful. That day was Halloween and we actually saw a few kids dressed up! It was awesome! On the ferry ride over, we met some other assistants that told us about this restaurant they were going to check out. We decided why not? and went to find it. I am SO glad we went to it, because it was THE BEST THING EVER. Not only was it a real French meal (with all the courses) but they also served traditional Corsican food, which is exactly what we wanted! For 23 euros, we had: an aperitif (a before diner drink), an appetizer of cheese, bread, dip and lentils, then 3 main dishes which were: fish stuffed with cheese on top of rice, pasta stuffed with cheese and had a marinara sauce and cheese melted over it and a meat (we think lamb) smothered in gravy and mushrooms, then after all that, we had cheese, bread and jam (surprisingly good together), then it was dessert of mixed fresh fruit, finally they brought the "digestif" which was schnapps. I don't think I forgot anything! Haha. All this including 2 bottles of wine and never ending baskets of bread. Needless to say, we were STUFFED!!!!!!! We had SUCH a great time, too. We timed our meal and it was only a mere 3 hours long! :D But it was amazing. That night, we had plans to have a drink at a bar because it was Halloween, but we almost had to have people roll us home, so we skipped the bar! Haha.

The next morning it was off to Calvi. We went to the train station and after a bit of confusion and a crazy bus ride, we made it to our train. In Corsica, they don't have trains like on mainland France. They have OLD trains. There is only one car with about 40 seats. The motor was sooooo loud, because you were in the same place the motor was! Haha. The driver would rev it and then coast. So, ever 15 seconds, there would be a loud "RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!" Haha. It was an experience and I was glad we did it, because (I guess) next year they are putting in trains that are like those on mainland France. The cute, old little train went with the scenery of Corsica. It fit right in. I don't have a picture of it, but when I do, I will post it. Corsica is so beautiful and the train ride was well worth it. Corsica is very mountainous. Just spectacular.

We arrived in Calvi and started looking for our hostel we were staying in. Yes, I said STARTED! The directions that Kelley had to the hostel only said 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the train station, so it wasn't that bad, or so we thought. If we would have gotten off at the train station before the one we got off at, it would have been 2 kilometers. Instead, it was about 2.5 miles from our train stop. Again, not so bad, but we had 40 pounds of baggage on our backs AND it was UP HILL. Not a slight incline, but UP!!!!!!!!! It took a long time and we were dead by the time we made it (which took about an hour and a bit)! We dropped off our bags and made our way down to a music festival that was going on. It was actually a festival of the wind, "Le festival du vent," and we think it had something to do with helping the environment, too. Nevertheless, it was awesome. We ate a crepe and walked around and looked at things the venders were selling and then made our way to the beach, where we strolled and watched some people trapeze. We then went back to the hostel and had dinner. This hostel was owned and operated by an old couple, so the food was amazing! We ate well that night, too. At the hostel, we met 2 French guys who were hiking through Corsica (which is very popular). One was a gym teacher who was there to check out the area, because he wanted to take his class down to hike. He knew English fairly well and was excited to speak to us! After supper, we hit the hay.

Then next day, we took a train to Ajaccio! For those of you who don't know, I have a great interest in Napoleon Bonaparte. He is from Ajaccio and he was my main reason for wanting to visit Corsica. We arrived and found a hotel. It was cheap and was run by this little old man who was amazing to us. Our room was overlooking Napoleon Street (the main street) and had a balcony. It also was unlike any ordinary hotel. It had a painting on the ceiling and on the walls. I have pictures and will post them! It was awesome. We got there in the later part of the afternoon and started to get ourselves acquainted with the area. We walked by the port, visited a few tourist shops and walked along the ocean. That night we retired early to get a goodnights rest. We woke up and headed for anything Napoleon! I visited the Musee Napoleonienne and we took a walking tour of Ajaccio. It is such a beautiful city. Since we were there on a Monday and since the French think that things don't have to be open on Mondays, some of the places we wanted to go (like Napoleon's house) was closed, but we went back the next day. We explored the city in every which way. We saw monuments for Napoleon, historical sights, and many other things. That nightwas our last night in Corsica, so with help from the little old man from the hotel, we found a great restaurant and enjoyed ourselves. The next day we went to the house of Napoleon. It was AMAZING! It was just so cool to be in his house. I even saw his bed! Hahaha, sounds funny, but I am really into Napoleon. Our ferry left at 7:00 that night, so we entertained ourselves until about 5:30 and headed towards the ferry. We got on and prepared ourselves for another looooooooooong night!

We arrived in back in Toulon at 7:15 a.m. and had to RUN, seriously, RUN to catch our train to go home, unless we would have had to wait 12 hours to catch the night train, which was not going to happen. We had 25 minutes and ran practically the whole way. Again, we had our bags, which by this point were probably 50 pounds. It was incredible and an experience that we now laugh at! We made it and I got back in La Rochelle 12 hours later. Yup, only 24 hours of travel. Gotta love it!

WHEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So there's my story! I'm sure I forgot somethings, but when I remember them, I will add them.

I hope you enjoyed my story of my first traveling adventure in Europe! There will be more to come! Now go look at my photos! :D

This lady need some sleep...