Pastries make me smile, a lot.

I have a lot to update on- I'll try to make my post a little bit shorter than the one a couple of days ago (but there is so much to tell you about, so no promises).

In France, or at least in Normandie, everything closes down on Sunday. It's kind of nice to think that everyone gets to enjoy a day off,but it's frustrating when you want something to eat. One of the only places open at 2 on Sunday afternoon was McDonalds (aka MacDo) so MacDo it was for lunch. This was unlike any McDonalds I've ever seen- it was three stories and pretty fancy, it even came complete with a bakery. Of course, I had to take a few pics.












I'm not entirely what these were for, but it looked as if you could place your oder electronically. I didn't go over to find out, unfortunately. But, i'm convinced this is the future of ordering at fast food places.



One other thing about France, and from what I'm realizing most of Europe, they don't have public bathrooms. In fact, in most places you have to have a receipt or pay to use them. At the MacDo's there was a sci fi bathroom you had to enter a code before the door would open. A bit weird and bad luck if you really had to go...I'm a woman, bathrooms are really important to us.






Since there wasn't many places open we spent time around Caen (in Normandie). I got to see William the Conquerer's castle and enjoy some really tasty pastries.

Some pics from the downtown of Caen:








The French may not smile much but they sure make up for it in their tasty pastries. Pastries, mmmm- I'm definitely my mother's child. :)

Nutella Donut thing- I can't spell the french name for it so this will have to do. :)




P.S. Nutella rocks. You should try it. Careful, it's addicting.

Lemon Tart


William the Conquerer's Castle:














This is a building inside the walls of the Castle, I'm not entirely sure what it is for, we didn't go in. But, I thought it was pretty all the same.


On the top of the castle you could see the skyline of Caen, it was beautiful. This picture captures some of that. I took a video but I haven't had any luck trying to upload any of the other ones I wanted to show you guys. So I'll have to find some place to put those.



After that we headed to a French theatre to see if we could catch a movie in English. We ended up seeing Another Year. I know, I know you're thinking "I've never heard of that movie!" and don't worry you aren't missing much- unless of course you really enjoy films that end at the most awkward moments with absolutely no resolution. :) The movie theatre looked like something out of 1990 complete with coffee bar and movie rental place. Of course, I snapped a couple pics.






Caen was a great little city with a lot of history. I wish I could have spent a couple more days there but I headed off to Hungary on Monday. I was greeted at the airport by some very familiar and smiling faces- my aunt, uncle, and three cousins. It was really nice to see them. They had flowers and Hungarian chocolate for me, that was an added bonus. I only get to see them a couple days every four years so I'm definitely looking forward to spending some time with them and of course seeing Budapest. The only downside, as my aunt says, it's hideously cold (-4 degrees celcius which is only about 20 degrees Fahrenheit) but there is so much snow! I can't wait to share some of those pictures with you.