Madison the end

Day 6 (Sat 9th August)

We woke up early to go to a traditional American diner for breakfast but unfortunately for me I wasn't feeling all that hungry after all the partying last night, so I just enjoyed the atmosphere...Florian enjoyed his huge egg breakfast though.

We then spent the rest of the day preparing for the party at the house. Friends started arriving at about 2.30 and we partied all day and night with games of Big Chicken (gros poulet importe de la France!) and beer pong (an American party game). Florian became everybody's new best friend and we now have orders from everyone to buy a house in Madison and move here! Florian also wants to come back in winter and play ice hockey on the pond (etang) at the back of Alex and Josh's house, which freezes in the winter.

All in all we have had a great time here in Madison and here in America generally. Today we are heading back to Paris, happy with our memories and excited about sharing them with you all. (Florian also has a lot of T-shirts to show everyone! One for every location....)
Thanks for reading and see you soon,
Laura and Florian

Madison, the end

Day 5 (August 8th)

We went to America's largest waterpark today called Noah's Ark: http://www.noahsarkwaterpark.com/
There were loads of different slides, some in the dark, some in rubber rings and some head-first! Florian went on most of them, including one called the Point of No Return where you freefall a second before sliding through water: http://www.noahsarkwaterpark.com/attractions/point-of-no-return/. It was a good day out, and bigger than anything we had ever been to.

That evening Josh cooked us Mexican fajitas, he's a good chef! We ate on the deck in the sunshine and it was lovely. Then we headed out, I went to get my hair cut and then joined the others at a bar where we had a few beers. We were thinking of going home to get an early night in preparation for the party planned on Saturday, but one drink led to another, and we finished in Waunakee bars (the town where Josh grew up) meeting loads of his friends. We had a great night dancing and chatting, and were pleased to meet some more of Alex and Josh's friends.

Madison

Day 3 (6th August)

Sporty day today: we slept in late in the morning and headed out in the afternoon to Devil's Lake, a state park not far from here that is a glacial formed lake. It was beautiful, and featured a couple of cool rock features too like a rock balanced on another as if someone had just put it there. We walked around the lake and it took about 4 hours, 30 minutes so we were pretty tired by the end of the day!

To reward ourselves for such physical exertion, we ate at a steakhouse in the evening called Texas Roadhouse. In this place they have huge steaks and ribs just like we love them, and also peanuts in the shell (cacahuetes dans leur coque) which people just threw on the floor (ils mettaient les coques par terre)! Also Alex told our server that it was Florian's birthday so after dinner she came over with a saddle (une selle) and he had to pretend to do a rodeo! The whole restaurant gave him a big Yee-haa! It was hilarious. Definitely worth telling a lie! (mensonge)


Day 4 (7th August)

Got up early today and went to a local brewery where we had a tour of the beer making process and tasted a couple of their beers. They are well-known in Wisconsin and we have been drinking one, Spotted Cow, since we arrived. It was nice to see the local produce again, and to try it!

We then returned to the mall to check out the shops we didn't have time for last time and also to check out a shop of hockey equipment for Florian. He was excited like a child in a sweet shop but couldn't find gloves (des gants) in his size.

We had an early dinner that night with Alex's parents who came up from Freeport in Illinois (about an hour and a half away) . It was really great to meet them and also Alex's brother. We ate in a restaurant where they use only Wisconsin produce so we had some great cheddar, good beer and a good time.

We then headed to the bar on the lake shore and watched a reggae band. It was good but a little cold because it was windy.

Madison

Day 1 (4th August)

Our first day in Madison was spent in a hue supermarket stocking up with food for the week. It was the biggest supermarket ever with so much choice you would not believe. The ice cream aisle (rayon) was so long and with so many amazing flavours it was actually impossible to choose!

After lunch we strolled around downtown and explored the university campus which is right in the centre of town. The town actually sits between two lakes so there are beautiful shore lines to walk along with bars too. We liked the main street, it has little boutique shops and reminded me a bit of Brighton. We also went in the capitol building (Madison is the state capital of Wisconsin) which was beautiful, very ornate. We went up to the observatory balcony and had a birds' eye view of downtown.

In the evening we continued our culinary marathon with a meal at the Chinese restaurant where Alex and Josh both used to work. It was very good, as is everything that we eat here!!

Day 2 (5th August)

We spent this morning in the mall (centre commercial) shopping, which I think Florian adored....
After this we went with Alex to the day camp where she works (centre aere) to meet her French club and answer questions about France. They had some interesting questions like: 'Are you from Paris or France?' It was funny.
Finally in the afternoon we went to a local winery called Wollersheim Winery where we tried a few wines and decided the whites were definitely better than the reds. We bought a few bottles and enjoyed one on their terrace before heading home. It was nice to try local wine, plus local cheese which is the main product of the region. Their cheddar is very good.

That evening Josh made us two delicious pizzas and we headed into town to meet up with Alex and Josh's friends in some bars. The alcohol here is so cheap! We were having beer for a dollar and so much rum for 3 dollars that you had to wait for the ice to melt to make it drinkable. It's great!

Chicago

Day 1: 2nd August

Today we walked around Chicago in the sun and visited the Art Institute which was a pretty big museum. We saw a cool display of interior design in Europe and America where they had made miniature models of rooms from different historical periods.
We then headed to the beach where we ate fast food in a bar shaped like a boat! I didn't even know there was a beach in Chicago (they never talked about that in ER (Urgences)!!), but it was sooooo crowded! There were loads of volleyball pitches and all of them were full. The lake is so big it is like the sea, you can't see the other side so it really is like being at a beach. Some people asked if we wanted to play volleyball so Alex and Josh beat a few people to represent Madison, since they both play in a pub team.
We were pretty hot at the beach so we went back to the apartment where there is a pool and a gym (how cool!) and cooled off.
That evening Florian and I lost our sushi virginity to a huge platter of sushi that Alex ordered to make us taste the best things. It was my first real sushi restaurant and it was so good! I am converted!

Day 2: 3rd August

Got up pretty late and went straight out for pizza, but not just any kind of pizza, Chicago famous stuffed pizza. It was soooooo good, full of mozarella cheese and very filling. Almost more like a pie than a pizza. I can tell that with Alex and Josh we are going to eat a lot of food....

We tried to get to the aquarium in the afternoon but there was a big concert and a soccer game so parking was expensive plus we had to be back in Wisconsin for a volleyball match so we didn't make it. We got back to Madison at 6 and had a tour of Alex and Josh's beautiful house before going to the bar where they play volleyball. It's pretty cool, the bar has a sand pitch set up in the car park and they organise a league every night of the week. It was a close match but they won, I think it was thanks to our shameless cheerleading!

We finished the night with burgers from the bar and Wisconsin beer.

San Francisco again

August 1st

We dropped our bags at the airport so we couls spend the day in San Francisco and we were lucky enough to have a beautiful, cloudless day. We went to Union Square, the main centre of town, and had lunch in the Cheesecake Factory (where Florian had the burger the size of his head in the photos on the right). We also went to Chinatown and strolled through, enjoying the atmosphere and looking at the architecture.
We finished our day with a bit of shopping in Macy's, a big department store with lots of brand name, luxury products. We went a bit crazy here and made the most of the dollar/euro exchange rate to buy Florian a nice watch.

We returned to the airport at the end of the afternoon to catch our plane to Chicago, where we arrived at 1am and joined Alexandra and Josh in their friend's apartment.

Redwood City

We got the bus to meet up with Marianne again and explore her home town, just south of San Francisco in Redwood City. It is a pretty town and they welcomed us in their home with a barbecue and a taste of California life. They have chickens and a duck which the girls took great joy in showing us!

Santa Cruz

Day 1 (29th July)

We spent today exploring the town, having said goodbye to Mum and Dad after a pancake breakfast. First we headed into the centre of town which was basically one long road with all the main shops on, but the shopping here was not great and the atmosphere not as laid back (relaxed) as we had hoped. There were a lot of homeless people which made it quite uncomfortable.
We also headed to Lighthouse Point and the famous surfing spot Steamer Lane just north of the main town, but there was not much surf today. We watched the surfers there anyway for a while before heading back to town.

That evening we had reservations for a performance of Romeo and Juliet in an outdoor theatre in the university campus. It was amazing, the stage (la scene) was in a redwood forest and everyone had picnics before the play. The acting was good and I think Florian managed to follow most of the story with occasional explanations from me!

Day 2 (30th July)
Today we hired mountain bikes and headed out on a pilgrimage (pelerinage) to Jack O'Neill's house at Pleasure Point, just south of Santa Cruz. We passed some beautiful coastline on the way and saw a lot of surfers! This time the surf was pretty good and we watched for a while. We ended our bike tour in Capitola, which is a pretty town on the beach, much nicer than Santa Cruz! We really would have liked to stay longer but we had to get the bikes back so we headed home to finish our stay in Santa Cruz with a hot dog on the boardwalk! (a la fete foraine sur le front de mer)

Napa to Santa Cruz

28th July: direction Santa Cruz

We set off in the morning and stopped at the Muir Woods, a redwood forest dedicated to the Scotsman John Muir that Dad likes. The trees were so huge, it was very cool to be walking among them, and nice to be in a cooler environment after the heat of Napa!
We had lunch overlooking the north side of the Golden Gate bridge, where we ventured out in the wind to get a look at the bridge in the fog, it was so windy we almost got blown off the cliff!
After San Francisco we went down the coastal highway to Santa Cruz, taking in the beautiful scenery of Half Moon Bay and other coves along the way.

Arrived in Santa Cruz at about 4pm, checked into our motel near the beach and went for a wander along the beach and wharf with Mum and Dad. We had dinner that night in a cute restaurant tucked in between the wharf and the beach.

Napa 3

Last day in Napa on 27th July saw us going to an organic winery, Benzigers, where we did a little tour on a tram around the vineyards and the insectary, where they plant things to attract beneficial bugs and deter the nasty ones, without pesticides. Clever, huh?

Then we headed to Sonoma for lunch, a lovely historical town which I found prettier than Napa. we visited the mission here and had a history lesson from Kate and Nick about the Spanish history in America.

We ended our stay with bbq ribs on the terrace and a hot tub!

Next day we headed out for Santa Cruz!

Napa 2

Day 1 (Friday 25th July)

We started our few days in Napa with a lazy morning and a quick walk into town, which is only 10 minutes away. It's a small town but has a nice centre with lots of boutique shops. We went to a winery for a picnic lunch on their lawn (leurs pelouses) and then went to Robert Mondavi Winery, a fairly large company that made many different wines. we had a tour and a tasting of three wines but here in napa you have to pay for most tastings so it's not as good as France! Plus it's all very modern so there are no impressive chateaux to look at, although the scenery is still beautiful. (it is also very very hot in the afternoons).
After this visit Florian and I took the convertible (decapotable) car (I felt so cool driving a convertible in California!!) to a factory outlet store, where major brands (les marques) sell their products cheaper than in normal shops, plus there was a summer sale (les soldes) so we got some great bargains: Levis jeans at 20 euros, Calvin Klein shirts at 18 euros, Quiksilver shorts at 20 euros... Florian hasn't bought so many clothes in one day in his life!
That evening we cooked lamb on the barbecue and enjoyed a late night hot tub with Nick and Kate, including beer, chocolates and cool underwater flashing lights.

Day 2 (Saturday 26th July)

Florian and I hired a tandem today and rode along the Silverado Trail, a road that runs north-south along the valley and has many wineries along the way. It was hard work riding the tandem, especially up hills and in the burning heat. To refresh ourselves we stopped at a winery and tasted champagnes and wines for free, the last free tastings in the valley apparently. That was nice and gave us enough power to head to Mumm for a look at their art gallery (air conditioned thank god) and to taste their champagne in the little bar overlooking a vineyard. It was very nice to cool off for an hour before getting back on the bike and heading back to the hire shop. It was a great (40 mile/60km!!) ride and we are happy to have finally ridden a tandem, we always wanted to!
We went to a restaurant for dinner and went to bed with sore bums and aching legs (les fesses douloureuses!!)

Napa 1

Just arrived in our beautiful new home which looks like something out of a decoration magazine. we have a hot tub (jacuzzi) in the garden again, along with huge flat screen tv and a gazebo in the garden (tonnel).

We have internet here so will write more often and put more photos of Napa soon!

thanks for all your messages, keep them coming, we'd like to hear what you think of the photos!

Yosemite 2

Day 1

We had a trolley tour around the base of the valley and took in all the amazing sights of this incredible place, then walked up to Yosemite Falls and on to Mirror Lake, after a picnic lunch with the squirrels. Unfortunately Mirror Lake was more of a stream at this time of year but the walk was pretty nonetheless. On the way, we saw a group of people looking in to the forest and they were watching.... a mother and baby bear! We were so close it was impressive, Florian got a few great pictures (check out Flickr, the link is on the right).
We tested the hot tub (jacuzzi) back at home and thoroughly enjoyed relaxing our muscles!

Day 2

Florian and Dad went on a photography walk in the morning to learn how to get some great photos of the valley, while the ladies had a leisurely walk and a soak in the hot tub! After lunch we went to Mariposa Grove, a forest of Sequoia trees and saw a huge one that was 2700 years old called Grizzly Giant. There was a tunnel cut through another, see the photos!
That evening we drove to Glacier Point to watch the sunset and listen to a very enthusiastic park ranger talk about the different mountains and their names. It was so beautiful to watch.

Day 3

Florian and I got up at 4.45am this morning to watch the sunrise and we were not disappointed: it was blue and pink and really stunning (beautiful). We all drove out to Tuoloumne Meadows in the east of the park for a complete change in scenery, the rocks up there were whiter and trees more sparse, very moon-like.
Eventually we arrived at the trail (chemin) we wanted to follow up to Dog Lake, which involved a mile of very steep incline fit for mountain goats. Luckily the trail flattened out and led us to a beautiful lake where we strolled around and admired the beautiful view of the mountains in the distance.
That evening, Florian, Dad and I made one last trip into the valley to say our goodbyes to Half Dome at sunset. The red face of the rock never gets boring, it is so amazing.

We left this morning and have spent today in the car heading for Napa.

San Francisco 2

Hello again, we have finally made it back to civilisation after a few days in the wilds of Yosemite National Park, so I can tell you all about San Francisco, since last time the keyboard was rubbish!

We had a day in the big city, and saw some of the main sights: the Golden Gate Bridge was very impressive, but it was foggy (as everyone assures me san Francisco always is in the summer...).
We also climbed up 400 steps along some beautiful gardens, you can see a photo of me on these steps on my flickr page (click on the link to the left to see all the photos from San Fran). We also ate a traditional San Francisco ice cream which Florian's cousin Juliette is demonstrating in the picture with it all around her mouth!

Our hotel was very lovely, in a beautiful residential area, and we even had complimentary wine and cheese in the evenings.

My San Francisco highlight has to be the cable car ride though, the driver was very funny and it was amusing to hang on the side of the tram!

Yosemite

We are now innn the worst internett placee ever so excusee the multiple letters!!!
Yosseeemmiitee iis soo beauttiful and big!!!! Florian has hundreds of photoo whiich wee wiill put up sooon..

We wiilll write again iin Napa, wheen we haveeee goood internet access!!

San Francisco

It was foggy and cool in san fran, we saw marianne, florian's mum's cousin, which was nice. We wennt to fishermann's wharf and saw crabs, alcatraz and boats. we walked on the golden gate bridge with marianne and her family, photos will come soon!!!

We took a cable car too which was excellent!!!!

The itinerary

Just so you know the plan...

Friday 18th July: Fly Paris- San Francisco

We spend saturday in san Francisco with Florian's relatives.

Sunday 20th July: Drive to Yosemite.

Thursday 24th July (I think): Drive to napa Valley and drink vast quantities of Californian wine!

Monday 28th July: say goodbye to Kate and continue driving with Mum and Dad to Santa Cruz.

Tuesday 29th July: Mum and Dad continue south, we stay in Santa Cruz.

Thursday 31st July: return to san francisco for a night with Florian's relatives.

Friday 1st August: Fly to Chicago and spend weekend there with Alexandra and Josh.

Sunday 3rd August: Drive to Madison, Wisconsin to stay in their house.

Sunday 10th August: Fly Madison - Paris

First post

This is a new experience for us as we have never done a blog before so bear with us...
For the Frenchies reading, sorry but I am the one doing the posting so it will be in English, if Florian wants to he can write in French but don't hold your breath...

Anyway come back and see what we have been up to and look at Florian's beautiful pictures, now he is an expert photographer.

We leave Paris tomorrow so you can imagine my excitement is growing and I can't wait to arrive in San Francisco tomorrow night (we will be going back in time, which is also quite cool).

Leave comments or send us emails if you have any news, hopeuflly this blog lark isn't too difficult!