'Ello Guvnah

Welllll cheers! Once again it's been a crazy two weeks. Let me start with the weekend trip the Furman group took to the Loire Valley. We had a very interesting (and testing) bike tour of the Loire Valley for a whole weekend. We first stopped in Blois to pick up our bikes and quickly set off, sans guide, on our three day tour of multiple chateaus and the French countryside. We got lost countless times, but the scenery was so beautiful. We were able to see amazing vineyards that ordinarily we wouldn't have seen had we taken a bus to each chateau. We hit a bit of a speed bump Friday afternoon when Victoria's bike got a flat tire, which turned out to be much more difficult to repair than we thought. We had been stopped for about an hour when it started pouring rain, so we went to the nearest house we saw to see if they could help. The nicest French man did the best he could to help, but we ended up having to call a car from the hotel to pick up the bike and one person while the rest of us road the rest of the way on our bikes in the pouring rain. It might sound miserable but it was actually a really fun time. It seems like nothing can make France ugly (except for the crazy thieves in Paris), especially the rain. During our weekend in the Loire Valley we saw Chambord, Amboise, Beauregard, and Chaumont-sur-Loire. They were all beautiful chateaus and it was great getting to see Chambord for a second time.

Last weekend was out first free weekend to travel wherever we wanted. I travelled to London, with five other girls from Furman, and it was a blast. I had never been to London before, but I absolutely loved it and can't wait to go back hopefully soon. Friday night we saw Wicked and it was AMAZING. It was my third time seeing it and I guess third time's the charm because it was the best performance I've seen. The British accents definitely helped because they make everything sound way cooler than it is. Saturday was a busy day that started with visiting the Victoria and Albert Museum. We spent about an hour and a half there, but unfortunately I stayed in one exhibit the whole time. They had a special exhibit dedicated to London fashion from the 17th century to modern day. It was incredibly interesting and it was so easy to spend all of my time there that I wasn't able to see the other exhibits. After that we had lunch and then visited Kensington Palace (nothing compared to Versailles :)), walked past Buckingham, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and got beer in a little pub. We then set off to find a supposedly delicious fish and chips place, got very lost, and just went into the first restaurant we saw because we were all starving and exhausted. We spent Sunday morning in Richmond, right outside of London, and walked around and did some shopping (but not too much, father :)). Overall it was a great weekend, although not very restful, but we're young and can rally pretty well!

Yesterday we started our two week tour of France at 7 in the morning (yikes) and driving to Orléans, which is the town that Jean d'Arc from the English. It was great getting to see a town that's so different from Versailles. We ate lunch in Orléans and then drove to Poitiers to spend the night. This morning we woke up bright and early to tour Poitiers a little bit. Now we are in La Rochelle for the rest of today and tonight and tomorrow we head to Bordeaux. I'm so excited for Bordeaux because they have some of the best wine in France! If the rest of Toussaint continues like this, I'll be a happy camper because we're eating delicious food and seeing a lot of really historic and interesting places. Until next time!