an afternoon in france...and burgos.

On our trip to Pais Basco, we also took a quick little jaunt to France. Rewind time until Friday morning. :)

After a wonderful night’s rest in a wonderful hotel bed and a delicious breakfast buffet (most memorable item: delish chocolate muffin), we all piled back on the bus for a new adventure, passports in hand.

The bus slowed.

Goodbye, Spain. Oh, hello, France.

            More specifically, Biarritz.

               

            Biarritiz has been blessed with a beautiful beach, beautiful flowers, and beautiful people (oh, hello, french hottie). It was sprinkling so lightly that there was almost a mist in the air. It started to rain a little harder later, but the strange thing is...I didn’t even care. I was just so happy to be there in such a lovely place with the fantastic people from my study abroad group.

              

            We played in the beach for a while.

doing the can can on the beach.
these girls. so great.

            Then we walked next to the coastline and through the town…I loved it.

barefoot and happy.

coast.

                And we ended up in an adorable little cathedral. It had a completely different feel than the Spanish cathedrals. It was lighter, more of a hopeful feel. Also, in the front of the church, Christ was the focal point instead of the Virgin Mary. It was also smaller, more cozy. I really enjoyed it.

outside of the cathedral.

                After the cathedral, we walked back through the town and got back on the bus to visit another French town—Saint Jean de Luz. One of the language professors at BYU told Killian (our TA/assistant director) that it is his favorite town in the world. It was indeed so pretty.

                You walk down these streets and you hear cheerful, lilting music coming from small white speakers attached to the walls. The streets are full of the most heavenly-smelling bakeries I have ever walked past (Laura bought a croissant and told me it was incredible).

Saint Jean de Luz.

                We went to a little French café, where I had lemon chicken, potato wedges, and a green salad (NOT drenched in olive oil, thank you very much). But even more memorable, I had chocolate crepes, which boy, do the French know how to make.

chocolate crepes.

                We had some free time to just wander around and shop if we wanted. Everything was incredibly expensive so I didn’t buy anything, but it was fun to look. It’s a very classy town and the products in the stores reflect that.

eli and i in saint jean de luz.

it's cute, huh.

                After free time, we all met up again and headed back to San Sebastion, Spain. Southern France was such an incredible time—I can’t wait to go back there again in less than a week now.

                After we got back, a group of us students (Laura, Natalie, Aubrey, Chris, and me) had a “study night.” We never study when we’re all together…but I kind of finished the itinerary for Florence and my notebook for our conversation class. But to be completely honest, there was probably more talking, music-listening, and laughing going on than studying.

                At around midnight, a group of us decided we wanted to go to the beach again. So we did. T’was a good decision.

                The next day we all got back on the bus and headed for Burgos to see the cathedral

la catedral.

El Cid is buried in this cathedral, which I thought was super cool.

will and i at the tomb of el cid and his wife.

After the cathedral...and after lunch...we headed for home. End of spectacular weekend adventure. Sad day.