Have you ever aged a year during 6 months?

Well the finish line and my "t's" have been crossed. My thesis is now to be found in all of its zero sum glory collecting dust in a closet somewhere in the Rhône valley. A fitting place for something that creates that acidic sting of pre-throwup in my mouth each time it recall its memory in the recesses of my frontal lobe. Seriously though, I would like to find the last copy and puke on it. 

I will say that since it is over, I am fully able to enjoy things that have had somewhat of a hanging weight attached to them since the writing, reading, reading, re-reading, re-writing, deleting, re-writing, re-writing, and re-writing began. Some of those things that have lost their chains are to include but are not limited to the following: weekends, wine, sleep, The Zac Brown Band, this blog, friends, family, and life in general. 

Even though I didn't think my writing deserved a salutations page, I would like to say a million thank yous to my editor, my most supportive critic, my best friend, and my reason for being me - Juliana. Without you  I would be like a Red Hot Chili Pepper without California. I am a better person because you are who you are. 

I would also like to thank the Rotary Foundation for allowing me to be part of such a magnificent city, graduate program, the ambassadorial scholar program, and for giving me the chance to spread goodwill to those I come into contact with. 

I shall have more opportunity to contribute to this blog in our remaining two and a half weeks. Spoiler alert: my writing is nothing compared to what you guys have grown accustomed to this year with Julie's wizardry. Her ability to create ninja moves with words is not fair to my shrill, pessimistic rabble. Comparing her words to mine would be like comparing the artistic talent of Buonarroti to that guy Biff from the Back to the Future movies, respectively. This is the reason I attribute my thesis to passing the defense panel, and without her sharing her talents, I would have ended up writing somewhat of a cross between Mein Kampf and the newest Peter Griffin "This Really Grinds My Gears" segment. 

Since I'm not one to bet on for giving 'Be still my heart' quotes, I will tip my hat to that which has inspired me all year long. For those of you looking for direction in life, put down the self help book and learn yourself on a little Dr. Seuss. "You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. You are the guy who'll decide where to go."

March Showers...bring...April Showers!

We recently made two more weekend trips, so we thought we might share those adventures with you in a brief blog post.  It is another rainy day today, so I figured I would take a break from curling up on our couch with a blanket, a hot tea, and great books to write a blog instead.  Mark is in class, so the computer is temporarily available-- he received his thesis draft back from his adviser this week, so the revisions have begun.

Our recent travels took us to Arles, la Camargue, and Grenoble:

 Arles, like Nîmes, is another city known for its Roman ruins, so we enjoyed strolling about the ancient city quarters.  This mural is painted on the side of the Tourist office.

 In addition to the Roman ruins, Arles happens to also be the city where Van Gogh painted many of his famous works.  We scouted out several of the locations on our visit (the photo above is of the other half of the Tourist office mural).

 We stumbled upon a fantastic Provencale market as soon as we arrived.

 Yum!

 Mark is really excited about our fresh market pizza, cooked in a brick oven on site.  The vendor was incredibly friendly, and he even shared some rosé wine with us while we waited on our pizza to cook. 

City center square

 The coliseum

 The amphitheater ruins

 Goofing off with some of the interesting door knockers in the Old Town

 Standing in front of the coliseum

 Mark goofing off with a statue in a beautiful church courtyard

 Loved the ivy forming a bridge across the street

 The site of a Van Gogh painting-- beautiful courtyard.

 Here you can see a copy of the painting, with the courtyard in the background.  It is "Le jardin de la maison de santé à Arles."

 Van Gogh park

Mark posing on a huge tree stump in the park

 After exploring the city for a bit, we then met up with a tour guide to drive us to Camargue, a natural reservation a few kilometers south of Arles.  We had heard about how much wildlife one could see in the area, particularly rare birds.  We bought tickets for a "safari," which was advertised as a way to get out and explore the reserve for four hours.  However, much to Mark's disappointment, the "safari" turned out to be about like paying someone to ride us around the backroads of Paducah, TX.  The jeep we rode in was way too loud, and any rare birds that may have been nearby would certainly have flown away at the sound of our approach.  We hardly got out of the jeep at all, and our guide basically pointed out domestic animals along the way.  The reservation was breathtaking, but it would have been nice to have explored the area on foot, or on horseback, which was another option.  Oh well; we still tried to make the most of our trip!  The photo above is of fruit trees just beginning to bloom on our drive through the area.

 Spainish bulls.  The weekend following our trip, bull-fighting season opened in Arles.  They still hold the events in the Roman coliseum.  I personally think a bullfight sounds like a horrid spectacle to observe, but they are apparently still very popular events in the area.

 We caught these guys frolicking in the grass, despite the chilly wet weather.

 The white horses in the photo are the breed that are typical of the Camargue area.  They are known for being very gentle and tame, so they are great for the horseback tours offered on the reserve.

 Symbol of the Camargue region.  The cross is a symbol for faith, the heart for love, and the anchor for hope.

 Our "safari" ride.  It was so loud and had terrible shocks, so riding the bumpy, muddy backroads for four hours actually left us pretty exhausted and kind of sore. 

 Mark got up close and personal with these guys-- our driver would feed them bread along the way.

 The pink flamingos that live in the Camargue draw a lot of visitors each year.  They were beautiful, and we enjoyed observing them.  Apparently they eat for up to 14 hours a day, and they can only eat with their heads upside down.

 On our second day, we found more Van Gogh sites before heading back to Lyon.  This bridge is one of his famous paintings-- it takes quite a bit of imagination to envision a lot of these, as the modern sites have changed substantially.  The title of this one is "Le pont de langlois à Arles."

 Modern day site of "Le café de nuit."

"Le Pont de Trinquetaille"

We walked along the boardwalk to find the sight of "La nuit étoilée."

It was completely blocked by a huge carnival, but we finally found it.  We renamed it "Rainy Day." Our camera kept getting water droplets on the lens due to the excessive precipitation that day.  As you can see, the imagination really had to kick into overdrive to imagine it as Van Gogh once did.

This was the site of "La Maison Jaune."

And we trekked way off the beaten path to find the Alyscamps Cemetery, only to discover it was closed that day.  Bummer.  We returned to the city center and found our way back to the train station.  We headed home completely drenched, but we enjoyed our day nonetheless.  Umbrellas only help so much when you are walking around in the rain for several hours.

Our latest weekend trip took us to the city of Grenoble, a town nestled in some of the lowest peaks of the Alps:

 We began the day by stumbling onto a market, once again!

Purchasing our delicious warm lunch-- fritters stuffed with meat, potatoes/cheese/bacon, and apple fritters for dessert.

 Beautiful view of the Isère River and the cable car that goes up to the Bastille.

 Church in the Old Town

 A local woman passing by stopped to tell us the story of this intricate grill found on the church.  It was fashioned by the monks living in the Alps and is a unique design that cannot be taken apart once it is made.

 Old Town main square-- and another market!

We saw several street performers the day we were there, and stopped to watch a show for about an hour.  It was FREEZING that weekend, so we had to stop in for a coffee to warm up afterwards.

 Going up to the Bastille in the cable car

 The Mandarin caves-- these caves were the highlight of our trip.  They are tunnels that have been dug out into the side of the hill where the Bastille sits, and we enjoyed making our way through them after reaching the top of the Bastille.  The caves have been used as fortification during several wars.

 Mark was really enjoying his tour of the caves.

 View of Grenoble from the top of the Bastille.  As you can see, it was really foggy, so our view was somewhat limited.

Random pink door on top of the Bastille

 Going back down

Loved this mural in the city center

 And this window display

 Fountain near the Old Town

 Public Park

 Random crooked door

 Parliament Palace

 We found Mexican food again-- yes, we tried it... again... and this time it worked out okay.

 But not at this place, which looked sketchy.  Mark wasn't buying it.  Not sure if this is a chain that actually exists in Lyon as well, or if they only set up shop in Grenoble and use Lyon's city name for some other reason...

 The place we ate at had menus hanging from the ceiling, counter-weighted by that little sandbag you see tied on the other end.

 Mark had Corona with lime

 And the margarita was tiny, but it actually tasted like a margarita.

 Mark ordered a "demi-metre," or half-meter of burritos.  Yes, he ate all of them.  The food was actually quite good at this place.

Fun bicycle photos

 After strolling through the Musée de Grenoble and observing the permanent collection as well as a Giacometti special exhibtion (it was free entrance since every first Sunday of the month is Museum Day here in France), we enjoyed a final delicious lunch before we headed back to Lyon.

Mark's final day of class is next Thursday, and then we plan to head out on another big Eurail trip with some fun guests who will be visiting.  Hopefully we'll have a few days of sunshine along the way, and we are hoping spring will arrive to stay for good any day now.