Sunday, October 14, 2012

French Weekend

The Pyrenees might just be one of the most beautiful places on earth. The rural Basque Country is so, so gorgeous. 

Had the craziest weekend ever. Good crazy. Saturday we were going to catch the 11:15 metro to Hendaia, then the 12:30 bus to St. Jean de Luz, come back to Hendaia to catch our 5pm train to Pau. Most of that did not go according to plan. My friend had to put money on her phone, which took way longer than she thought. Not having a working phone, I didn't know she wasn't on the train. We get on a different stations. So I was in Hendaia by myself for two hours. I used my French skills to buy un pain au chocolat avec un cafe au lait. Best croissant I've ever had. Fresh out of the oven too. First one I've had in France. :)

By the time my friend I was going with got to Hendaia, there was no way to get to Sainte Jean de Luz and get back in time to get to Pau. Hendaia, as I discovered, is rather boring, so we went back across the border to Irun and had yummy lunch there. Standard Spanish cafe fair. Sat around and did nothing til our train to Pau. Half hour layover in Bayonne.

My friend in Pau met us at the station. He took us to our hotel, which was by his university. When we got there, they didn't have anyone working. Glad he was with us to speak French (and guide us). We had to call this number and they told me my room and that the key was inside the room o_O um ok. Worked out ok. Room was way nicer than I expected. 

Oh yeah, on the bus from the station to the hotel, two very intoxicated French guys and one girl heard the three of us speaking English and came over to talk to us. One of the two guys was very good at speaking English. He had Elvis hair lol. This amusing young Frenchman made my visit to Pau very interesting within the first five minutes of arriving. We parted on friendly terms and once we were off the bus we busted out laughing. 

Did some mini nighttime sight seeing. Ate Italian food. Went out with my friend's friends. It was terribly cold, colder than expected. I did check the weather but I did not pack for 10 degrees. My visit also made me appreciate the night life in my city way more. It is so lively. Pau isn't. They don't even have good entertainment. they we showing replays of Spanish soccer games everyone already knew how they ended. No wonder all the Americans in Pau go to the same places. They all miss the nightlife in my city too lol. I had a lot of fun thou. company is far more important. My friend very sweetly took the taxi with us to our hotel to make sure we got back ok and then took the taxi from our hotel to his place (which was really not on the way).

He'd left his scarf in our room and was able to pick it up before we left to I told him I was holding his scarf captive until he came back to my city. He was perfectly ok with this. 

I ate at McDonalds for the very first time. But I was in France. I had a cafe au lait and a macaron. It was the only thing open.

I was convinced we could walk from our hotel to the train station in plenty of time. We ended up following the signs to the train station instead of going with our gut. Took us on a crazy walking tour of Pau. We made it to the train station 20min before our train left when we had left our hotel three hours before. Nothing like a little stress to get you going XD. Uneventful train ride. Although our train did have compartments and we felt like we were in Harry Potter lol. Poured rain the closer we got to the Basque Country. Nasty rain in Hendaia to run though. Had a delicious hot mini quiche for lunch. Yummy, authentic French food lol. Ran through more rain. Took the metro to Anoeta. Shivered the whole time. Ran through more rain. Made it home. Changed. Dried my hair. Now sitting in my pjs catching up on the Internet world.

It is absolutely storming outside. Glad to be back. :D




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