périgord

our final excursion of the year! a four hour bus ride south took us to a lovely historic part of france that you just don't find up near paris. everything was so springy and green! i hope you enjoy...

this little streetside garden in périgueux became the perfect spot for afternoon ice cream.

the entrance to the breathtaking gardens of eyrignac.

the hedges were unbelievable...

...with an occasional pop of red chinoiserie. until my camera died, i was in heaven!

the beautifully preserved medieval village of sarlat.

we arrived just in time for the saturday market!

approaching the château de beynac.

views from the château. aren't they extraordinary?

the hillside town of rocamadour.

a baby goat (born that day!) at the chèvrerie/fromagerie we visited. he was too cute for words.

the view from inside the cave of padirac. very alice in wonderland, wouldn't you say?

périgord is a truly lovely region of france unlike any other i've had the chance to see in my time here. it was the perfect way to round out my five months with bucknell en france!

switzerland

i had such a great time with my brother, grayson, and my boyfriend, michael, in switzerland this weekend. interlaken was so beautiful: huge mountains, turquoise water, and hang gliding!

view from the casino in interlaken.

grayson and i.

look at that water!

grayson and michael.

grayson and i waiting for our turn to run off the mountain.

and we're off!

ed and i cruising above the mountainside.

more hokey poses. check out our flight:

it was so much fun!

i survived!

proof for the insurance company?

brief pit stop in london before grayson had to fly home.

goofing around at the monument to the great fire.

model shot.

for our little brother, camden!

normandy

our excursion to normandy was a long haul: early wake-ups, hours spent on a freezing bus, cranky professors yelling at us to speak only in french. there were definitely parts of the trip that i would have done differently if i'd been traveling by myself but the moments of the trip that went right made all the others worth it. saint malo and mont saint michel were beautiful but it was the american cemetery at normandy that really took my breath away. the second we set foot in the area, which is territory owned by the united states, we could all tell we had left france for a moment. i can't put my finger on exactly what it was — the layout of the museum? the bathroom stalls wide enough for obese americans? — but there was an immediate lift in spirits among the group. without further ado, some highlights of our trip:

the fortified village of saint malo.

view from behind the walls.

hanging out on the fortress. from left to right: carl, annie, denise, maika, and valerie.

mont saint michel from afar.

courtyard at mont saint michel.

monastery at mont saint michel.

stained glass windows in the cathedral at bayeux.

remnants from d-day on the beach at normandy.

entering the american cemetery.

a handful of the 9,000 crosses in the cemetery.

it felt like no angle could capture the number of white crosses. they just went on and on.

and on and on.

an unknown soldier.

pretty trees overlooking the american cemetery.

the altered landscape at pointe du hoc, where bomb craters offer unsettling proof of the battle that occurred here.

german bunker.

view from pointe du hoc.

kids playing in bomb craters. this should provide an idea of scale... the craters were huge.

the german cemetery. the gravestones (each of the squares on the ground — the five crosses are just statues) were engraved with the soldiers' dates of birth (unlike the american cemetery) and the number of 17-, 18-, and 19-year-old soldiers killed was truly disturbing.

le musée de la paix... interesting way to conclude our weekend of studying the second world war.

the gallery of nobel peace prize winners.