Le Weekend before Paris!!

Saturday we went to the grocery store so Nathalie could shop for a big dinner she was hosting. When we returned, Simon and I packed and drove to Nantes to meet up with cousin Clemont. I was all packed and ready for the train on Monday to Paris! The cousins, brother and I went to our Aunt and Uncle's creperie that I've posted about before and had another delicious dinner and dessert! I really like crepes, well, the dessert ones. Not the nasty dirty sponge Brittany crepes. Ew. those are gross. I don't recommend those to anybody. We also drank a ton of apple cider that is also specific to this region. After dinner Jerome brought out a selection of 'digestifs' to drink after dessert. (think congac, etc.) One of Clemont's friends and I thought it would be a fun idea to have a shot taking contest. In hindsight: BAD IDEA! I'm pretty sure 20 minutes after my 5th or 6th shot I threw up - then wanted to sleep ON the table because I was suddenly very sleepy. On one good note, I can drink as much as a 6' tall guy (or he drinks like a 5'4'' girl) and he threw up probably 10 minutes after me, but instead of making it gracefully to the bathroom like yours truely - he threw up all over the side of his moving car! ha! I do remember, however, one other lady who stopped to talk to Sandra and Jerome and she noticed I spoke English and wanted to have a conversation. I have NO idea what I talked about, I just remember hugging her and telling her it's okay because i'm American. She laughed and made a joke about drinking too much wine.

I'm not drinking any orange flavored Liquor for a LONG time. No contreau, no wannabe contreau with the same alcohol percentage. ::shudder::

Sandra and Jerome took me home so that I would have a real bed to sleep in and not on the floor of some dank apartment, or in a car. (which I tried to do when the boys drove me to their house. Apparently it took them a good 5 minutes to pull me out of the back seat because that seemed like the next best place to sleep than on the table).

The next day we went to Chez Mami to celebrate the combined birthday of two cousins, one turning 18, the other 20. It was a huge feast in the usual family fashion and I had a lot of fun. I'm feeling more comfortable with the big groups even though I still really don't understand when they speak really fast. They played the usual silly games, and I even participated in a few with the translating help of the relative next to me (I think it was a cousin, and he was hot, is that weird?) I also joined a small group in playing a game called "Jungle - something" it was a game of reflex and when you put down a certain card matching an others you had to grab a stick from the center of the table. The directions were a little fuzzy at first since I learnt them in all French (their idea was i'm here to learn french, dammit, no english allowed). I wasn't the best player, but I caught on and even came in like 3d place which means I did better than people who actually speak french and Understood the rules! Yessss!

We went to a nearby town to watch some fireworks for the holiday (monday was Bastille day) which was fun since I missed the 4th at home. The fireworks here were way cooler anyways. Instead of being super far away like the space needle or over some other body of water they were right in the field we sat in, so literally right above us. They also choreographed the whole show to Mozart. It was super classy and fun. But it was cold outside, too, so the idea of going back to a warm bed was all that was on my mind. Especially since I had to get up early to catch my train.

I felt really bad about scheduling a 9 am train. I misunderstood Nathalie when she said we'd be in Nantes and to book my ticket there because the house was super close to the train station. It wasn't, so Dominique and I had to get up and leave at like 8 am. Ouch. That's what I get for thinking I understand French. It all worked out though.