My hard drive died yesterday. I was all happy on my bed watching So You Think You Can Dance when 1) Safari stopped working and then 2) VLC stopped working (quite possibly my computer disagrees with my taste in TV). So I restarted. Except it never actually restarted after that. I dropped it off with the friendly tech people at Interactif in Reims (thank God we have an Apple retailer here, and also that this time the thing is still under warranty) and hope hope hope I’ll get it back before they close today at 7. Because it’s raining and there’s nothing else to do. And they aren’t open Sunday or Monday. Am currently in the mediateque monopolizing a computer but I have the right to 1 hour so I’m going to milk my abonnement.

Also am trying to solidify what I’d like to do in Morocco. I’d like to do:
1) Les cascades d’ouzoud
2) a Sahara camel or jeep trek
3) Marrakech
4) buy some woodwork-y stuff in Essaouira
5) Fes

Obviously, have to run all of this by Malavika, who fortunately has a better guidebook than I do (I have a Thomas Cook Travelers guide and to be honest I find it kind of confusing, I miss Let’s Go). We have ten days. Suggestions?

Edit: Just got the phone call that my computer is ready! Phew.

We went to the Champagne Parc today to look at the La Terre Vue du Ciel exhibit (and also the Champagne Parc). It was quite nice. Veronika was a little nonplused by the apocalyptic tone of all the accompanying blurbs. I was a little nonplused by the excess of significant grammar mistakes in the translations into English. A large group of German students arrived shortly after we did but they weren’t really annoying. I also finally went into the Basilique St Remi (that’s what happens when you have guests) and tonight we are going out for crepes.

I also finally got paid and now have some money. Except I’m about to spend most of it on my ticket to Morocco. WOOT.

But I did post all the pictures on offexploring. They are excellently captioned so go have a look.

Have possibly found a very cute apartment for next year. Am awaiting response from the girl who lives there. Crossing fingers that I can stop looking. This place is perfect.

I should really be getting organized and cleaning but instead I’m lying around, editing pictures, catching up on tv. (Omg Lost has become the BEST THING EVER.)

So! Just got back from Lyon where I left Laurel to go visit people that her boyfriend has a connection with. The trip was quite excellent. On Friday we got on the train the Paris, expecting to be on it for 45 minutes like normal. About halfway in, we stopped. After five minutes they announced that they didn’t know how long we’d be stopped. A short time later we heard that a German train in front of us had caught fire. A bit more time after that we learned that they were sending us back to Reims and then on the slow TER route to Paris. So we got there four hours after we left. It was pretty special.

Anyway Saturday morning we headed off to Lyon where we wandered an then met our host and his other couchsurfer. They were lots of fun even though L and I were really tired. Host made us a Lyonnais salad that was quite yummy, other couchsurfer dropped his books into the garden below and got them back with a bizarre combination of duct tape and long wire. Then we went out.

Today we wandered around the Roman ruin-ey part of Lyon. We meant to do more but ran out of town. But it was a really cool city. They had just won the Coupe de France so everyone was out honking horns and one person jumped in the Rhone naked. I think that’s not generally advised, or legal. General impression of Lyon was excellent and I don’t think we were really there long enough.

Laurel and I collaborated on a summary of what we’d done each day at the end of the day. Here is the oeuvre (mostly by Laurel) in final form:

Thursday
-Laurel arrives
-Eileen feeds Laurel salad
-Walk around Reims with Ketsia
-Get ice cream (cassis, framboise) and spill on selves (except for Eileen)
-Go in cathedral
-Went out for pizza
-Got lost looking for bar which was closed

Friday
-Train to Tours: arrive at 2:45
-Walked to Manon’s, talked for an hour
-Walked to the gare. Got misled about where Chenonceau was; received incorrect Blois-Tours tickets.
-Went to tourist office, were misled further about where Chenonceau was. Is not in Chinon!
-Wandered around Tours, saw cathedral, garden with huge tree. Got ice cream (cookie) and ate in garden. Walked along river.
-Ate at La Souris Gourmande. First people there and then it filled up with people with reservations.
-Met Manon and friends at Greg’s house. Played Mario Kart on Wii. Had Ricard (anise drink).

Saturday
-Got up early to fix Chenonceau tickets. Did so. Promptly missed train to Chenonceau. WTF
-Found tour group and joined them instead.
-Got driven in van by Russian lady. First went to Chenonceau FINALLY.
-Saw castle. Walked through castle. Walked through gardens. Talked to American. Walked through hedge maze!!! Very easy.
-Got back on bus. Went to Amboise. Wandered castle grounds. Had ice cream (caf?©).
-Amboise was very cute. Castle on hill. Wandered a little bit in Amboise but didn’t have much time before had to catch bus.
-Took bus back to Tours. Had sandwiches at a little caf?©. Found the commercial district and did some window shopping. Found the Hotel de Ville.
-Back to Manon’s. Packed up stuff. Back to gare. Did not miss train.
-Took train to Blois. Blois is cute!
-Found hotel by wandering up hilly streets and ramparts. Desk clerk was a little too friendly.
-Room is cute! FREE WI-FI!!!!!!! Check email.
-Wandered around Blois. Circled castle by accident trying to find restaurant.
-Ate at le Triboulet. Andouillette was a little weird. Sat outside where it was windy/coldish. Service was VERY SLOW. Resident dog clearly not neutered. Food was still good. Almost left before bill but waitress showed up. Moved inside for dessert (cheese!).

Sunday
-Slept late. Thought it was dark out but it was the shutters!!!!!!
-Grabbed breakfast at boulangerie.
-Went to bike rental place that was out of rentable bikes! Guy gave us directions to another bike rental place.
-Walked through flea market along river. Took wrong turn to bike place, walked awhile in residential neighborhood. Turned back, went right way, found bike place.
-Rented bikes. (Eileen left carte bleue in passport left behind as collateral!)
-Hopped on bikes. Biked across Loire. Instantly got lost.
-Wandered around, picked a road to go down.
-Road down road along river for a long time. Had pretty fast going cars on it, but they gave us space. Saw Chateau de Menars on the other side of the river. Took pictures.
-Ended up in tiny village of Montlivaut. Got thirsty. Tried to stop at hotel-restaurant, but looked too fancy and bar wasn’t open. Saw a map and realized we weren’t where we thought we were.
-Got on the right path. Stopped in Maslives for lunch of vegetable appetizers at hotel-restaurant. Slow service. L had tomatoes stuffed with goat cheese, tuna, and some mysterious vegetable mix.
-Eileen realizes she doesn’t have her carte bleue!!!! Tries to call to cancel card; numbers don’t work. Calls bike shop and discovers she left it in passport. RELIEF.
-Find bike path signs. Not clear where they go. Take us out into big agricultural fields where mysterious tall green grass is growing. Plastic things with holes on ground. Turned around and went back to town. Bike paths really not well-marked.
-Took correct route to Chambord. Got to grounds. Found a bike path that didn’t clearly go anywhere useful. Finally asked where castle was.
-Found castle!!!! It only took 4 hours. Parked bikes, bought jam from market vendor.
-Went inside castle. Climbed double helix staircase. Lost each other. Found each other at top. Looked at views. Walked through fancy rooms.
-Tried to get out the back. Were blocked in by moat. Went out the right way.
-Stood in line for ice cream (pineapple). Tried to plan route back, failed.
-Biked back to Maslives. Got on correct bike path: no traffic. Very tranquil. Passed many vineyards.
-No problems until somehow ended up on highway past Vineuil. Scary. Got off highway in Blois. Made our way back to bike shop, dropped off bikes. Chatted with bike man about card. Only took 1 hour 20 min. to get back!
-Had croques-monseiur at a Brasserie. Walked back to hotel. In pain. Eileen is weirdly sunburned. Laurel’s thighs are chafed. All muscles hurt.

We are in Blois. I don’t think I much like andouillette, which I tried for the first time tonight. Laurel’s camera is out of battery and mine is working fine except for the on-off wheel which requires Laurel’s fingernails of steel to work.

We had sort of a time getting to Chenonceau. Yesterday we bought tickets at the train station. I went up to the guichet and said we would like two tickets to go to Chenonceau, and he sold us two tickets to go to Chinon. We trusted him that this was the correct thing to do (it is not). Then instead of tickets from Tours to Blois, he sold us tickets from Blois to Tours. We fixed that one. But then we were talking to our couchsurfing host and her friends last night and I happened to ask, just to be sure, if Chenonceau was in Chinon, and they said pas du tout, so we had to fix that again this morning. Then we missed our train. It’s okay, we went straight to the minibus excursion booth at the train station and hopped on a minibus that took us to Chenonceau and Amboise. Will post pictures later.

Our host in Tours was incredibly nice. In fact everyone down here has been remarkably friendly, including service people.

My life’s pretty uneventful for the moment. The weather has been great. I went to Nancy and saw Laura and Gavin, and Swiss R and her boyfriend whom I lived with last year at the internat. It was a really nice visit. Then I got back here and went to some empty classes since my students are all in the middle of projects. Yeah… I’m not gonna say anything about that. I’ve been hanging out with a couple of assistants (American J among them) who are leaving soon. =( I’m sort of haphazardly trying to find an apartment in Austin.

Laurel is coming tomorrow! So today I’m doing massive cleaning.

I got back this morning after the sun was up. It was weird. I wasn’t quite sure I should go to bed. L and D and I went to another African soirée which wasn’t bad, we met some of L’s neighbors and talked to a few other friendly people, and watched people dance. Africans dance differently from Americans. Maybe that’s obvious to all of you.

I am feeling so much better after having decided on Austin (in theory I could still change my mind till May 7th when I have to accept the financial aid).

In other news my camera is really batty these days. I think some of the IRN BRU (Scottish energy drink) that I carried in my bag for my host in Dublin spilled on it, and even before that it was disagreeing with my definition of “new batteries.” You kind of have to push on the batteries a few times to get it to turn on. This morning it’s behaving though.