Mission Accomplished

Day 7
Morning sunshines! As you read my long and tedious blog, I sit sipping cafe au lait and chewing on French croissants and looking outside at the beautiful English Channel in Dinard. Hopped on the bus, and headed to a photo op on the cliffs of the Emerald Coast. You know the story.... Senior picture... Fantastic Four picture... Family picture... etc. All in a days work.
Next stop on the scenic route... A field overlooking the gigantic Mont St. Michel, fully equipt with tourists and fluffy sheeps (or maybe those were the tourists). We then proceeded to climb the 100+ steps to the monastery at the top of the mountain. After touring through every single room we could find, including one with a giant human hamster wheel, we were given our freedom. We roamed, we shopped, we ate... we drank (nasty REAL cider). We ate lunch and Katherine and I enjoyed a banana, chocolate, and cream crepe. When we returned to the bus, Em, Laura, and I argued for a unnecessarily long time with Kat about her hair. hahaa straighteners don't work in Southern France. We made a quick stop for biscuits and trinkets, filled up the bus with diesel, headed to our next stop, the city of Orleans. Joan of Arc anyone?
Long drive... LONG, LONG, LONG drive. 5 hours LONG to be exact. While Kat took my only form of entertainment, ie my ipod, Laura and Emily frantically tried to control their laughter as they watched Dwight Shrut in "The Office." So I being the novelist I now am, wrote in my journal and filled out postcards.
OH WAIT! Hours of laughter were provided by a medical emergency aboard the autobus. Andy or... Agamemnon, as Jamie would refer to him, mangaged to get part of an earpiece lodged into his ear... We had to make a quick stop, but the procedure was quick and easy. (That's what she said.)
We arrived in Orleans and headed to our secluded dining room for dinner. Duck, yuck. We were told we were headed for a photo shoot in the square of Orleans, but the only thing that happened was that Katherine Burton was mistaken for a street performer - she made no money =( Came back to the hotel and as Kat and Laura played cards, Emily and I tucked in for an early night.

Day 8
You know it's sad when 9am sounds like sleeping late... Jamie forgot to wake us up, so Em and I had to rush to make a quick breakfast. We headed to Chambord, King Francis I hunting lodge. Quite cool, but all the chateau-s seem to blur together. Then we headed to Chenonceau, home of Henry I... maybe II... Heck maybe it was the XV... Not even our tourguide could keep it straight. Well it was someone's mistress. Walked through the world renound gardens and proceeded to take the usual group photos. We ate lunch in a cafe overlooking the chateau, which consisted of veggieburgers aka smushed broccoli. Laura overestimated her tolerance for dijon mustard, therefore will have clear sinuses until the year 987395834859. We loaded back onto the bus only to learn that the roads of France would be blocked by striking truck drivers. The entire continent of Europe is in rebellion over gas prices. Essentially that means our travel time back to Paris will double... Meaning we have to wake up at 1 billion o'clock am.... Which is crazy because Laura has never been awake at that time. We discussed our plans for the overnight train tomorrow at dinner over Emily's favorite - Salmon.
Headed back to the room to relax and chat about the day's cold and rainy weather and gave our roomate a bit of a scare when 5 girls surprisingly exited the bathroom... Hakuna matata, we were all clothed - the whole time.
As you know I have to be up at 1 billion o'clock tomorrow so I should probably hit the sack.

Can't wait to chat again mes amis.

Sincerely,
Natalie