Catacombs and Crepes.

We arrived in Paris after a 5 hour train ride and made our way to our hotel for the night.  The hotel was nothing special but it was clean and we quickly settled in.  We had an aggressive agenda for Paris and we made the most of our short time there before our flight home.

Our first stop was the Catacombs.  The Catacombs were originally a stone mine beneath the city that was eventually closed due to the vast cave-ins it was causing around Paris. The city eventually decided to use it as a place to store bodies after the cemeteries around Paris began running out of space (a problem that lead to diseased water and seepage of bodily fluids from the mass graves into the basements of adjacent homes). The bodies were originally just tossed down shafts into the catacombs. Eventually a man decided to spend some time and organize the bones into walls (made of femurs and skulls) and other strange sculptures. It must take a pretty disturbed person to want to volunteer to do something like this.

After convincing the clerk we were students (getting half off the admission price) and walking down a dizzying spiral staircase and lengthy stone corridor we got to the good stuff...


The long corridor

Creepy off shoots from the main walk through the Catacombs

A sculpture made by a mine worker of the Palace he could see from his prison cell before he was released.







I touched it...









There were weird shrines throughout



A cave in area.


Once we were out of the macabre maze we grabbed some crepes (apparently tons of dead bodies make Amy and I hungry) and headed over to the Notre Dame.


No hunchbacks here.




Our final stop was a the Eiffel tower. We were so exhausted from the endless walk over there that we just snapped a quick pic and hopped on the metra back to our hotel.



And that's that! The end to our 3 month European adventure. The flight back to Chicago was surprisingly enjoyable, save for watching the movie Contagion, and we were glad to be back state side. Now, time for the Holidays!

Our Last Workaway - Salles, France

Our final workaway brought us to a tiny village called Salles about an hour North of Toulouse, France. We were picked up from the Montsempron Libos train station by Fitz (one of our hosts) and drove about 30 minutes to their quaint farm. We arrived well after the Sun went down so we didn't get to see the property right away. We walked into their beautiful home (an old renovated stone building) and sat down with Ann and Fitz for a home cooked meal. We spent some time getting acquainted before turning in for the night.

The next day we took the grand tour of the house and of the surrounding area and talked about some of the work we would be doing while staying with them. Over the next week and a half the agenda consisted of rebuilding a tile roof and painting the frame of the terrace, installing a rain gutter and rain barrel, pouring cement and setting posts for a new and improved chicken enclosure, and enjoying the surrounding area and the company of our hosts.


This was an old house on their property that they plan on restoring as a vacation rental.

Here is a view of their house from the courtyard.

This was a nearby village with an old church.  They host arts and craft  fairs here in the summer.

The old stone built church.  There were some interesting grave stones in the floor...probably secret entrances to crypts filled with the knights templar treasure!

The local Chateau.





Me working on the tile roof

Amy sitting down on the job
 
We cooked thanksgiving dinner for our hosts one night.  We had turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and brownies for dessert.

Ann and Fitz were gracious hosts and we enjoyed the 10 days we spent with them.  Our original plan was to spend another month in Europe but all of the moving around had taken a toll on us and we were ready to be back in the good ol' USA.  We switched our flights to December 5th and headed to Paris for a quick visit before flying home.

The French Riviera

Saying adieu to Switzerland, Amy and I took a train from Bern to Nice, France.  We were thrilled with the Swiss hospitality but the numbness in our hands and toes sent us in search of sunshine and warmer weather.

We arrived in the evening, after the 7 hour ride, and were pleased to find what we were searching for.  We headed to our bags at our hotel (Comte de Nice), which was surprisingly full of German guests and staff, and checked in for the night.  

The next morning we were scheduled to pick up our rental car so we grabbed some food at the local street market (60 cents for a bag of dates and a pear) and took a walk through the city towards the Mediterranean.



Nice is a "Nice" place, had to throw that in there.  The streets are clean, the air smells of the sea, the people are friendly, and the city feels like an actual city instead of a strip mall of tourist shops.  I can see why the rich flock to the French Riviera.





We finally arrived at the beach and spent some time walking along the Boulevard towards the rental company.  And now for my plug for the rental car company "Sixt".  First off, super friendly staff and good prices.  Secondly, free upgrade to a Mercedes!!!  The only downside was the driver had to be the person whose credit card we used which meant Amy was driving.  She was not too pleased and I don't blame her because driving a big car down narrow European streets with motorbikes cuttin in and out of traffic is not enjoyable.


Big pimpin'

Anyways, we picked up our bags from our hotel and started driving along the coast.  Our first stop was on an empty beach on a peninsula dominated by million dollar homes.  The beach was loaded with sea glass (we filled a glove with it due to our lack of any other suitable container) and we enjoyed the view of the sea with Nice and the mountains in the background.  





We drove the entire day, taking in the scenic views and met up with our first couchsurfers, a younger couple living in Aubagne.  

Joel and Hortense (our CS hosts) recommended that we visit the Cap de Caneille cliffs so Amy and I left in the morning and headed that way.  We were glad we decided to go because the views were spectacular.


Amy hanging her feet over the edge.  No thanks!  I got as far as laying on my stomache and peeking over the edge.









A strange cave in the rock nearby.





After the cliffs we drove to Aix-En-Provence and walked around the city before driving a good ways to our next couch surfers in a small town called Virages.  


They were setting up for a Christmas festival which made us miss Chriskindlemart in Chicago.




We met our hosts at a bar and they treated us to a drink before taking us to a local spot with a view of the entire town.

  

We then headed to their place where they cooked us a delicious dinner (aperitif, salad, truffle eggs, a baked pumpkin dish, and pears simmered in red wine).  Stuffed and full of wine we turned in for the night.

One of Amy's attractions that she wanted to visit was the Fraganard perfume factory so the next morning we headed straight there for a tour.


The essence use to be extracted by laying the flowers face down in animal fat and changing them everyday for up to 3 months.  Now they just use chemicals to extract the essence.



This is where the "Nose" sits and makes perfumes from over 250 essences.  There are only 50 "Noses" in the world and it takes 9+ years of training to become one.

After a long drive back towards Nice we arrived in St. Paul de Vence, a hill top town full of nothing but art galleries and cafes targetting tourists.  



We spent some time walking around and then drove to the top of a nearby mountain where we relaxed for a couple of hours and took in the view.

We met up with our final couchsurfers later that night (A young couple who spoke very little English).  We tried our best to communicate, and although it was a little ackward at times, we enjoyed the stay.

The next morning we dropped off our car in Nice, booked a room for the night, and toured Nice.


Hotel Negresco where Amy's grandpa played chess during WWII.

A great street market we strolled through.  

Candied fruit, mmmm.  Amy didn't like them but I thought they were good.

Nice from the city Chateau.

Relaxin' on the beach.  The weather was beautiful.

There were nude sunbathers all around the beach.  We tried to leave them out of the pics, this is a "PG" blog ya know.

Our French Riviera excursion had to come to an end so we took a train the next morning to our next workaway in a little village north of Toulouse.