Travel Tuesday: French Home Tour

While staying with Miti in Toulon, I made sure to get lots of photos of the house because it was so different from houses I've seen here in the states. 

The only way I can think to describe the doors and windows are garage doors.  They literally rolled up and down with the push of a button.  It was so neat and a great way to open up the house. 

This was the bedroom that Kara and I stayed in.  It overlooked the Toulon Harbor.

View from our bedroom window.

Looking into the living room from the porch.

I am from the east coast so I had never seen a bathroom where the toilet was separate!  Then I saw it again when I went to AZ.  Maybe we're the weird ones??

Looking into the Kitchen from the living room

The basement


Kara's Photos

The Views

HAPPY NYE!!!!

Travel Tuesday: Toulon, France Part 2

Our last full day with Miti was nice and relaxing.

Miti had a dentist appointment in the morning so she told us to sleep as late as we wanted.  Kara and I did not argue!  When we woke up, Miti had set out so much food for us for breakfast.  Kara and I were thrilled to see cereal and fruits and NO CROISSANTS!!

When Miti got home she took Kara and I to the flea market for a bit, then headed back home and we just chilled out at the house.  Miti's son then came over to help her out with some things around the house, then they left to go pick up Miti's grandson and his friend.

ahem ... I was not complaining.

We all went for a swim when they got there until around dinner time.  Then something weird happened .... The boys cooked dinner!  And would absolutely not let us or Miti help.  Even after dinner they would not even let us put our dishes in the sink.

After dinner Kara and I gave Miti some gifts that we brought from back home and spent some time with Miti before she went to bed.  Then, of course, we stayed up and watched the world cup game with the guys and then went to our room and talked about how cute the one on the left in that picture is.  Duh, we were seventeen, what else would we have done.

Our time at Miti's was fantastic and I definitely loved living as a local for a few days!  I actually wrote to Miti a few times after I got home and got a few replies :)  She is such a sweet lady!

That is Kara and Miti.  The one of me and Miti is not flattering for either of us.

Miti's dog Rita was the cutest thing!

Now ... who wants to buy my plane ticket back??  I'll love you forever!

Coming up on Travel Tuesdays ... French Home Tour, Chicago, and the Road Trip from Hell (not in any particular order).

Travel Tuesday: Homestay in Toulon, France

I am so excited to share stories from my Homestay in Toulon, France!!

Toulon is a military harbor town on the coast in Southern France, about an hour and a half Southwest of Nice and Cannes. 

We all met at a local meeting point to meet up with our families who then took us in for two nights.  Most of us were super nervous to live with a French family when none of us spoke much French, but it was easily my favorite part of the trip!

Kara and I were placed with Miti.  She is an elderly woman who hosts students all the time.  Her and her son came to pick us up and take us to her house.  Her son spoke pretty good English and her's wasn't too bad either which settled my nerves a bit.

When we got there I was absolutely amazed by the view from her house!  Also, the first thing she insisted is that we go for a swim while she made dinner - we did not object!  Dinner was some sort of Quiche and for dessert we had some amazing ice cream!  That night we shared our pictures from home with Miti and called it a night pretty early.

The next morning we had an amazing breakfast - maybe it was only amazing because we had been eating croissants for two weeks straight, but even so.  We had rolls with butter and a cereal called Chocapic which is pretty similar to Cocoa Puffs.

Today we did a little shopping then went back to hang out at the house with Miti and her friend.   For dinner we went to the harbor and walked around for a bit before settling at a seafood restaurant called Le Mayol where Miti got us Mussels (tomorrow I will talk about how I almost vomited).   After dinner Miti took us to a beautiful little beach where we got to walk around and watch the sunset.

In the interest of not making this post too long, I will talk about our last day with Miti in two weeks :) I will be in Chicago next Tuesday!