11 November 2012
Day two of our mini
CEA vacation - Saintes Maries de la Mer! I woke up in the morning and quickly
took advantage of the hotel's continental breakfast, which consisted of a lot
of…breads, and then from there I got on the tour bus with the rest of the group,
and we made our way down south to Saintes Maries de la Mer. The bus ride down
was very interesting. The scenery all around was rivers and marshlands, an
environment I never expected to see in France. When one thinks of France it's
usually cafés and bakeries and Paris, not swampy marshlands. However, I still
enjoyed it - it was a change of pace, and there were flamingos every now and
then grazing in the small ponds. That's right, wild flamingos! They were so
much more majestic than any old flamingo in a zoo! After about half an hour of
driving, we finally arrived in Saintes Maries, and we all debarked the bus and
made our merry way into town. I absolutely adored this town! It was such a
stereotypical seaside harbor town, with boats on the shore, white houses with
blue rooftops, and scents of the fresh sea-air breezing through the houses and
shopping stalls. It was so refreshing! I walked through some of the stalls
searching for some nice trinkets, and I ended up buying some neat postcards and
a divine smelling bar of soap made in the South of France. After shopping
around for a little bit, some of us headed down to the beach to take some
pictures by the water and on the rocks. Oh my goodness, I have missed the
beach! It was so wonderful being here! And the fact that it was a beach full of
French-speaking people just made it even better! After exploring the beach for
a little bit, we went back into town to meet up with Patrick, and then we made
our way down the coast, way down the coast, to set up camp and wait for a
special event that they host down here: A running of the bulls! That's right!
Right alongside the beach, horse riders would run down the coast on their
horses, with a bull in between all of them, and they would herd it all the way
back into town. It was really exciting! Although it only got more exciting when
the bridge that brought us back to the mainland collapsed, and then one of the
bulls escaped, but…nobody was hurt, so yay! After watching the horses run down
the beach, we eventually made our way back into town as well, and I bought a
delicious sandwich and an ice cream cone and enjoyed my lunch on the beach. I
found myself just staring out at sea, just in complete awe of the beauty that I
was witnessing. After finishing my lunch, I ended up walking along one of the
rock "peninsulas" that stretched out into the water, which was an
incredible experience. The waves were splashing and crashing against the rocks,
spraying them with water and making them glisten in the sun. It was so
beautiful! After enjoying the beach and the coast, I made my way back into town
to meet up with the rest of the group, one by one, and then together we made
our way back to the tour bus, and soon we were on our way to a small horse
ranch in the marshes, where we were going to go horseback riding! Oh my
goodness, this is the point I was looking forward to all weekend! I had only
been horseback riding once in my life, and that was at least six years ago, so
this was going to be thrilling! They ended up giving me the biggest horse
(which is what happens when you're the only guy in a huge group full of girls.
Nothing makes you feel like a fatty than being given the biggest horse.), and
they didn't tell me his name so I just called him Clap-Clap Kitty Kat. He
seemed to respond well to that, so I suppose it was his name anyway. We rode
the horses through the gorgeous marshlands, weaving through small ponds full of
flamingos, striding through fields of tall grass, and crossing small country
roads, under the late afternoon sun. Clap-Clap was feeling aggressive and ended
up pushing his way towards the front of the line…I felt a little bad for the
other horses that he bit, but he was the big alpha horse, so get out da way.
After about two hours of horseback riding in the marshes of France, we made our
way back to the ranch where we played with some of the border collies that ran
around the ranch (it had been so long since I played with a dog - I miss my
puppies back home!), and then we all hopped on the bus that took us back to
Arles, and from there we hopped on a train that took us back to home-sweet-home
Grenoble. What a wonderful and amazing weekend with the "CEA
Grenoobles"! =)
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