Chartre

Yesterday some of us went for fondue, il faut try fondue when in France. I took a salade though. I've been ignoring my cold for a week at least now, I'm still of the belief that if I keep ignoring it it will eventually go away. Like annoying children; ignore them long enough and they'll stop harassing you. Anyway, it was a very pleasant night, I'm not a fan of raclette and fondue though. Unless the fondue is melted chocolate and the pieces you dip is fruit. Now that's tasty!

It was an early night though because the morning after, that is today, we were going to meet at Gare de Montparnasse at... wait for it... 7.20 a.m. No I'm not kidding. Ambitious! I made it. I'm proud. However, once we got there the tickets to Tours, France were not as cheap as expected. 90 e is not in the student budget so highly disappointed Helena and I made our way to the ticket office for trains within Île de France (that is area around Paris) to see if we could find a place to go for less money. I mean we were already there with pic-nic ready for a field trip. So we asked the man in the ticket office if he knew of a nice castles not too expensive away. Versailles? No, it's an obvious one. Fountainbleau? Already done. Château Gilles? Ohh, that sounds good, where is that? It's my château he answers... Oh come on. Louvre? Seriously... Then he mentioned a cathedral in Chartre. Score, we'll take it! No idea where it is, what it is or how far away it is we grab a coffee and get on the train, single journey if we feel like going somewhere else after it. It felt pretty good to just not stress, care or worry about literally anything. Turned out to be one of the best decisions made since I came to Paris. The day just kept getting better and the ridiculous tiredness of both of us just made it a very giggly day.

We began with the Notre Dame of Chartre. 

It was me, Helen and the pensioners. We found a map and saw that there was a big park, and we love our parks so after a brave attempt at showing some interest towards the cathedral we made our way to the nature instead. And you know! As soon as you get outside Paris people are so much nicer to you... The town was absolutely adorable, felt like walking through a 18th century picturesque village.

And as you can see the weather was goooorgeous! Summer heat, not a cloud in sight and just fantastic! The further we went the more beautiful it became...

Fun fact 1: Helena came home at 3ish, and just went to bed without undressing, washing of her make-up or any preparations. Helena wakes up at 6.30 (we are meeting at 7), rolls out of bed, dressed and ready. I would never have known though...

Fun fact 2: Helena, a little tired, packs her baguette, ham, a tomato and because she doesn't want to "wake up her room mate" she takes a knife with butter on it and doesn't smear it on her sandwich but puts it in directly in her bag... When she later wants to butter her baguette the butter has fallen off the knife. What a surprise... Helena, you crack me up!

Fun fact 3: Madeleine is half asleep when suddenly she is woken up by someone throwing water on her legs. But no, it wasn't water. It was bird shit... And the frickin bird manages to hit my right calf and left thigh. That's it, not on the ground or anywhere around me, just my legs. It's like it was aiming for me and bulls-eye! Got me. Later that day I also managed to walk it dog poo. Lucky day. Didn't get me down though!

Honestly, the tranquility of coming out of the big city is so relaxing, the fresh air, the quiet, the animals and wild nature (as opposed to the planted perfection of Paris' gardens). I need it, I may be a city girl but I need my countryside trips and experiences.

An ice-cream, a vintage dress, a long walk later we stumble upon a car show of some kind, extremely cool cars, Rasmus you would have been in heaven with all the Porsche and Ferrari there!

I particularly liked this, proper summer car

What a day Helena! What a great great great day.....