Carnaval in the Béarn, San Seb, Italia

Long time no see! For those who check regularly to see if I've updated, my apologies. This last month has been choc full of good fun, good food, good traveling, good times with friends... la vie quoi! So that I don't write a novel for this blog we're gonna try to just break it down into the last month's biggest happenings. Here we go!

Et la carnaval commence!

The weekend after my last update marked the beginning of the Carnaval Biarnés here in Pau. When I think of Carnaval, usually I think of huge parties in the Caribbean, with dancing and flashy costumes with lots of color. Here in Pau, Carnaval was a very particular experience. My friends and I experienced bits of Carnaval here and there.  We attended the opening event in Place Clémenceau where the king of the Carnaval here, Sent Pançard, comes down from the mountain to start his two weeks of heavy drinking, eating and partying before Lent begins. One night we went out of curiosity to check out the Caça a l'ours, a bear hunt of epic proportions which involved young male cross-dressers, "bears" who were very lonely after sleeping all winter (if you catch my drift) and hunters who tried to catch these love-deprived bears. It was one of the strangest things I've ever witnessed and I think it says a lot about what Carnaval is like down here in the Béarn. At the end of Carnaval my friends and I joined the crowd in capturing Sent Pançard, marching through the downtown streets (while skillfully dodging unstable, huge torches held by children and intoxicated adults) and "burning" him in the Place de Verdun. Overall, Carnaval was a cool experience. It really solidified the idea that I had of Pau and its surrouding villages, of a region with its own distinct culture, maintained today by events like Carnaval where we got to hear traditional music and see traditional dances, as well opportunities to see and hear Béarnese (a local dialect of Occitan).

Sent Pançard on the boulevard

Right in the middle of Carnaval celebrations and at the beginning of our two-week vacation, a few friends and I headed down south to Spain for a quick overnight trip (It's it great being just an hour from the Spanish border, no?). We spent a day and a half in beautiful San Sebastian on the beach. Even with rain for the first few hours, the city was gorgeous. Our hostel was in the old city and just a few minutes walk from the beach, which was still a nice perk, even during the winter. We spent a Sunday night there when Carnaval celebrations are a bit more low-key, but we were still able to catch some Spaniards dancing in the streets to classics like "Grease Lightning," see mini marching bands playing in the streets and gawk at huge marionettes parading around just as night fell.

La playa!

Other than exploring the city, we also got the opportunity to go to a pintxos (pronounced pinchos) bar. Pintxos are kind of like tapas, but how it works is that in these bars different appetizers, consisting of combinations of fish, meat, cheese and/or vegetables along with traditional tapas like tortilla, croquetas, etc. are sitting up on the bar, and customers come in, choose what they would like, enjoy, and pay later. Pintxos are common in Basque country in Spain and my friends and I were happy to get the chance to try this delicious tradition.

Pintxos, chorizo, tortilla and sangria! Mmmm.

After the end of Carnaval in Pau, my friends Sarah, Andria, Agnes and I headed to Italy for the last week of our vacation from school. Our plane left from Toulouse, so we headed to "la ville rose" the afternoon before our flight to just hang out for a bit. After fun times in a little park and trying out a wonderful café with delicious orange blossom hot chocolate, we left Toulouse for Milan on the second Saturday of vacation. Because we landed in Milan in the mid-afternoon, we decided to spend our first night there and then head to Venice on Sunday morning. After an interesting night in Milan with our first taste of wonderful (and cheap!) pizza and a precarious night spent in a bookcase bed, we headed by train to Venice.

The Rialto Bridge. This is for you Daddy and Regine! :)

Before visiting Venice I had heard a lot about the city from others. Many of the French I had talked to before visiting spoke wonders about the city. Friends I had talked to from outside of France told me it was dirty and unimpressive. Because of the vast differences of opinions I was exposed to, I went to Venice with an open mind, but not expecting a great deal at the same time. I was pleasantly surprised by the city and really enjoyed my time there. The canals, bridges and stair steps everywhere really set the city apart. It's true that there were some corners with graffiti and chipped paint that weren't the most appealing to the eye, but on the whole Venice really struck me as a city with a lot of character. For every corner with peeling paint, there were other corners of the city that were truly picturesque. Besides having lots of gelato, some pasta and LOTS of pizza, we visited Piazza San Marco, the Grand Canal, the Rialto Bridge and had fun hanging out around different corners of the city in beautiful weather.

Real pizza with eggplant and zucchini

Ohh Venice...

After a few days in Venice Florence was next on our list. For me, Florence was a bit of a disappointment, but still a really cool city. Every person I had talked to about Italy told me that Florence was an unbelievable city, so I had quite high expectations. It might have been the overcast days, but Florence just didn't charm me like I thought it would. However, what impressed me the most in Florence were the museums. We were able to the visit the Uffizi and see Michelangelo's David at Galleria dell'Accademia. Even though most would say that there's not much to the Galleria dell'Accademia outside of David, I preferred it to the Uffizi, because with the smaller size I felt that I could more fully appreciate the works in the museum.

Outside of the Uffizi

Some of the other parts of note that we saw of Florence were the Ponte Vecchio and the Boboli Gardens. Walking along the Ponte Vecchio was a little much for me with all of the shops and people, but the bridge was pretty interesting. The Boboli Gardens were quite pretty, and it did my heart good to finally see some grass and trees in Italy. When my roommate and I got to the top of the garden and looked at the view from the backside, we both said that we were finally seeing in person what came to mind when we thought of Tuscany.

Agnes and I at the back of the Boboli Gardens

Finally it was time to say goodbye to Florence and we headed back to Milan to spend a day in the city before flying back home. Just as with Venice, I was pleasantly surprised with Milan after spending a day there. Even though others had told me that there were many other cities in Italy which were more worthwhile to visit, I'm happy that we got the opportunity to pass through Milan. Yes, other than the Duomo which is the 4th oldest cathedral in Europe, the museum featuring The Last Supper and the Galleria Vittorio (which technically has swanky stores like Prada and Louis Vuitton inside), Milan is primarily a city founded on fashion. Even so, walking around the city with my friends I got a good feel from the city. The Duomo was very impressive from the outside and the Galleria Vittorio was a beautiful structure.

Inside of the Galleria Vittorio

After leaving our hostel at 8:30AM it was non-stop travel until we made it back to Pau around 5:30PM. First the metro, then the bus to the airport, then the plane, then the bus to the train station in Toulouse, then the train, then the 30-minute trek back the apartment. It wasn't until we settled in on the train to Pau that we all realized how beat we were. Except for the time we spent in Venice and Florence, I felt that my two weeks of vacation were all go-go-go, but I would do it all over again. The places I got to visit and the times spent with friends were well worth some fatigue.

Nap time!

I've been back for a week and now it's getting down into crunch time. When I was in Grenoble it was hard to believe and now it's even harder to believe that it's time to start getting things together to go back home. Buying a one-way ticket to Europe is exhilarating. Buying a one-way ticket back home is nice, but definitely does not inspire as many romantic sentiments. As excited as I am to see friends and family, it will be difficult to say goodbye to my life here and my friends, co-workers and students. I'll try to be better about writing and maybe do smaller entries so I can still keep up with the blog, but as the next few weeks go by, with my roomie leaving at the end of the month and my classes ending in mid-April, I really want to make the most of my time left here in Pau. For me I hope it means hanging out in the sun on the Boulevard des Pyrénées, laughing with my students, riding my bike to visit Andor, enjoying some sweet Jurançon, sharing meals and pastries with friends and much more. A+

Goofing off at the beach in San Seb