12/16/2017-12/27/2017
This will Be a very delayed post due to PA school rotations-But in the interest of continuing to keep track of all my major travels I definitely want to share some highlights! Over Christmas I went to Paris to meet Xavier’s family and we took a trip to Prague for my birthday.
Here's the blog post from when we met while I was traveling in 2016. It's fun to be able to look back on the first adventures we had. How ironic is it that on my first long term solo travel excursion (when I left with a goal to be totally self-reliant and independent) I met the one person who could make being with someone worth it to me. These two commitment-phobes have 'met our match.' Somehow, in another country, I ended up meeting another independent, hard-working, and adventurous person who only makes life better. The two of us maintained our connection via skype over years (and visited eachother) and we continued to evolve.
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| In Paris to meet Xavier's friends :) |
Xavier's family was lovely, and so was Paris. They were so patient with my french and very very sweet to me. Xavier's older sister and mom each studied kinesiology just like me- his sister is a physical therapist in Toulouse and his mom works in osteopathy. He has a younger brother currently in "Prepa" (preparatoire)which is two years of intensive schooling prior to application to les Grandes Ecoles, or the universities. His younger sister is in high school and living at home with his parents in Paris and his grandmother lives just a few streets away.
During my visit, Xavier's dad officially retired and was making plans to live for several months on his sailboat in Martinique, and then sail across the Atlantic back to France.
During my visit, Xavier's dad officially retired and was making plans to live for several months on his sailboat in Martinique, and then sail across the Atlantic back to France.
When I learned they hadn't yet had s'mores, we tried to make them with more 'European' versions of the ingredients.
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| The adorable family |
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We stayed a night with our dear friends Julie and Marouane in Paris; they are the reason we met :)
Prague was absolutely lovely and romantic. It was a little hard to get to know the locals
because it was really rare to find somebody who could speak English.
It was also quite ironic to put two mostly vegetarians in a city where next to no meal was lacking meat. A traditional meal is meat, bread dumplings, sauerkraut, and beer or maybe goulash.
Czech people drink more beer per capita than any other country- 143 liters per capita to be exact. The Czech people make the Irish look like lightweights- and each half pint or pint is incredibly affordable. Traditional Czech beers are a pilsner style, but there has been a recent influx of craft breweries and ambers, belgians, stouts, IPAs, you name it. Here’s us at a beer garden where we did a tasting.
We toured the city and visited the must-see sights like the Charles Bridge, the Christmas Markets of Wencelas Square, and toured through Old Town.
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| The Christmas Markets |
There actually isn't too much to do- activity wise- in Prague other than walk around, eat, and drink. We warmed up (repeatedly) with hot wine.
A brief tribute to bizarre czech architecture... here's a full size blimp, that was used for transport, on top of a building near to our AirBnB:
The benefits of a Frenchie as a boyfriend- impromptu Ratatouille for lunch (and it was quite a challenge to find the grocery store). Do things get better than this?
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| le chef extraordinaire |
On my birthday, we went to Prague castle!
We visited the John Lennon Wall which is a symbol of free speech following the communist era
Here's Trdelník : a traditional Czech street food/dessert that's also called a 'chimney cake' in english.
and Xavier took me to a Jazz concert in a local cave style venue.
The last day in prague, we explored New Town, which is actually way less touristy. On the way, we stopped at an overlook for a great view of the city and toured a neighborhood church.
Back in Paris, we walked in the gardens and park of Versailles which is near to Xavier's childhood home
We prepared the Buche de Noel- a traditional christmas cake in France made to look like a log. His mom -another chef extraordinaire- prepared two different types: chesnut filling and blueberry!
another amazing meal we had
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| Tartiflette |
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| the little church "downtown" |
Here's the view from Xaver's grandma's house and our breakfast spread in the morning
Christmas with Xavier's family was really special. His family spent the day cooking and preparing the meal together, and then we went to Christmas Mass
Xavier and I went into the city again to visit his university- the ENS- and the Luxembourg Gardens.
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| Crepes for lunch! |
I can't forget to put my cuddlebug, Andy, in here!
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| in the christmas tree decorations! |
