Quelques Observations? Et la fin de Provence....

So about a block and a half down the street, there's a "Petit Casino" which I believe I've mentioned before -- it's part of a chain, but from what I can tell, each one is individually owned, and there aren't just "Petit" Casinos, but other kind of Casinos as well. Anyways, this particular one is run by a couple -- they are the only two that I have ever seen working there -- and the store is open everyday from 9am to 10pm everyday except for Tuesdays, when it's closed for the day. One might think, "Oh! 9am isn't so bad -- wake up around 8, get there by 8:45, etc.". Well, if you're thinking that -- you're probably right! The catch is, that the mornings I go to swim at 7 (so leaving the house around 6:35am) -- they're already there unloading deliveries and setting out the displays of fruits and vegetables that line the outside of the store. So. Let's say they get to the store at 6:15 (they were even there the morning that I left the house around 6:10 to get to the train station), and then they leave work at 10 -- or likely a bit after that. And then they repeat that 6 out of the 7 days of the week. It's difficult to imagine how exactly they function -- and needless to say, I have the utmost respect for the work that they do, and try to give them as much business as possible (unfortunately, their selection is rather limited). But I've just found it interesting as it is a place that I walk by everyday.

I guess I'll give a brief overview of the rainy Sunday in Provence...I woke up around 7:15 and decided to try and go for a run -- it actually was NOT raining when I went running which was nice. It was sprinkling slightly which actually felt pretty nice. Avignon was completely deserted which was a refreshing change, but also somewhat eerie. I decided to just make it an even half hour and then headed back to the hotel to shower and change.

The hotel had a pretty nice buffet breakfast of cereal, baguettes, yogurt, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, etc. And sure enough, as soon as we left the hotel to walk across the plaza to the Palais des Papes, it started to rain again. We toured the Palais des Papes -- which is quite impressive! -- with M. Lecomte's commentary which as always, was interesting. We finished up around noon and then actually went back to the hotel where Martine had ordered lunch for all of us -- quiche lorraine and salad! Yum!

After our lunch, we walked down to the bus and left for the Pont du Gare which despite the rain, was absolutely spectacular. We walked around for a bit and heard some history and took some pictures. After about an hour, we boarded the bus again, and this time set off for the town of Orange to see the enormous Roman theater they have there. Unfortunately, the rain decided to pick up when we were there, whijch didn't exactly make it pleasant....That was about it for the weekend! From there, we went back to the train station in Avignon and got back to Paris around 9:15.

Yesterday was pretty straight foward -- architecture, some work at Reid Hall, theater, and then swimming after that. It turns out that I can really get from Reid Hall to the pool in about 15 minutes which is fantastic. Today was fairly dreary -- colder and gray and rainy which makes it hard to stay motivated! I went from swimming to my Pensee Economique class at Institut Catholique which continues to be an interesting experience. It's clear that the students don't really respect the professor -- which they show by continuing to talk throughout the class...and I would never do that, but I do have to say that I got a bit frustrated when she was trying to fill out a table of numbers and couldn't divide 2 by 3 and vice versa....I know she's from Mexico, but last time I checked, numbers are the same in Spanish...and French....and English.

I ate lunch at home, and then I went to my history of France and Africa class -- and now I've spent a fairly relaxing evening at home which has been really nice. Marilu and Alain have company over for dinner -- who all speak Portuguese -- so I've just been staying in my room after eating my dinner in the kitchen! Which were delicious leftovers from her other dinner party which was this kind of casserole with duck confit, mashed potatoes, and cooked chestnuts? It was really amazing.

Alrighty -- here a few pictures from Sunday!

A bientot!