Well this American was living in the best of both worlds. Two independence day holidays in one month! Granted one wasn't really acknowledged by anyone other than my small group of American friends but today "Bastille Day" was really a big deal. So I signed up for this excursion the week prior, just because I knew that the CUEF had a tried and true tour that was well worth its cost and to avoid any coordinating on my part. I was ready to rely on someone else after having to think on my toes and arrange my entire weekend journey in London. So for the excursion we went to first Le château de Vizille, Lac de Laffrey, and then we finished out the day looking at this Napoleon monument. In order to get to these places we had to take this tour bus which was "très luxe (very luxurious). It was a little awkward because I knew people well enough to just wave but not well enough to sit next to, therefore when I first got on I just took a window seat. The bus eventually filled up and this nice Taiwanese girl Helen sat next to me. She was so nice and completely welcomed me into her and her friends' group. For the rest of the day I hung out with them, that why in a lot of pictures I'm flashing the "peace" sign, because Asian culture absolutely loves that!
So when we first got to le château Vizille the museum part was definitely closed, so we had to go to lunch. I'm afraid that this town has become so touristy that there is not a lot of authentic French restaurants in that location, so needless to say, that meal was pretty Americanized, but oh well. Then we went onto the château (castle) which was beautiful and dedicated to showcasing the events that led up to the French revolution. Here are some of the beautiful artifacts that we saw.
So after the castle, we drove for about an hour longer and got to Lake Laffrey. Annecy had kind of put the fear of sun stroke into me but I decided to apply my SPF 50 sunscreen and hope for the best. I ended up getting a little more burned that day but the severity of by burn from Annecy I don't think can ever be topped!
The last element of our excursion was going to the statue of Napoleon which I'm sure that I've seen in a text book or two, but it was really neat to see in person. So once I made it back to the residence halls I went in the lobby and got online. Then some people from my API group told me that they were going out to the fireworks tonight. I told them that I would love to go with them. All I can say is, What a celebration and culmination to a great day. The fireworks display in the park that we saw was probably the most impressive display that I had ever seen. I was talking amongst my friends and one of the guys that came from Houston, TX explained that he lived next to a "Six Flags" but doesn't ever think he's seen such an impressive display of fireworks. The park was absolutely insanely crowded, I was very fortunate to be with my API friends who had befriended some French military men who showed us around and kept us together. At one point I lost my group and the military men assured me that they would help me find everyone and they stayed true to their word. Then after the fireworks was a big dance celebration where they would play 1 french song to every 5 american songs. So the last thing that they played before I had to bolt to make sure that we entered the residence halls before they locked the doors was "Uptown Funk." I was dancing so confidently to this song that I acquired a little fan club and when it was time for me to go people were like "No---." What a great ending to the night!