I spent the first 2 weeks of June in France. My husband had work commitments there, while I was busy finishing my thesis. After that we had a well deserved week off for holiday. We went to a few places: Montpellier, Marseille, Aix en Provence, Nîmes, and Avignon, on top of a few smaller cities, with under 10k people. All these cities are in the south of France.
I blogged about half of the places we’ve been to and the other half will appear on my blog in July. So far I posted about Château d’If (inspiration for Dumas’ The Count of Monte Christo); 3 unique churches in Marseille; Camp des Milles (old factory transformed into an interment camp for Jews during WWII, now it is a memorial, incredibly well made); La Maison du Chats (cat cafe); Carbonniere Tower (a medieval watch tower); Palais Longchamp (water reservoir). I also talked about what I bought from France, which includes a bag of rice.
I will blog next month about: Arènes de Nîmes and Maison Carrée (Roman colosseum and a temple); Aigues-Mortes (a small city which looks so impressive); The Cosquer Cave (an underwater cave recreated in all detail, in Marseille); Palais des Papes (Papal seat in Avignon). I will also talk about how it is for a vegan to travel to southern France, which will include lovely photos of food, but also some funny mentions.
Our trip to France also included going to the pool, but not often. The red “dot” in the back is me in the beach dress.
I also talked about Oriel, my college at Oxford. I finished my course and submitted by thesis. Another chapter ended.
All this vegan food was enjoyed in Oxford. There are 3 pictures of desserts because they were so good. Top left is savoury food from The Oxford Blue, a newly opened vegan pub which is just amazing. The people working there are so lovely and friendly. I’m sad we will not have pizza and leek dip at them weekly. Top right is one of their desserts, Crème Brûlée.
The bottom pictures are from a non-vegan. It might be veggie because it’s a dessert place on High Street. It is a Japanese place with desserts which are traditional or inspired from Japanese cuisine. On bottom right is a soup-like dessert with different flavoured taro balls. I liked it and it is very unusual for us.
1. Flying to Marseille. 2. Dumas’ Count of Monte Cristo is only 20 minutes by boat from Marseille. 3. Aix en Provence. 4. Camp des Milles was a French internment camp. 5. Aix en Provence. 6. Finishing my dissertation in France, on “holiday”. 7. Wildlife in southern France. 8. Aigues-Mortes. 9. Nimes. 10. Palais des Papes, Avignon. 11. Pool. 12. Wild flamingos. 13. Aqueduc Saint-Clément, Montpellier. 14. Marseille, view of the docks. 15. Palais Longchamp, Marseille. 16. Above the rainbow. 17. Tryzub T-shirts in holidays. 18. Library at Oriel. 19. Lunch dinner at the Oxford Blue. 20. Last event of the year at Oriel. 21. Duke Humfrey’s Library, Oxford. 22. What I bought from France. 23. Newest NAFO T-shirt. 24. Romanian Borş. 25. Flower from my garden. 26. Hai Romania!! / Go Ukraine!! 27. Vegan dessert. 28. Cherries (from the garden). 29. Central Library Liverpool. 30. Books in June
In June I finished 5 books and now my total for the year is 38, meaning that I am 5 books behind in my goal of 89 for the year. But so far I was very busy with my studies and read less. Next month I will go well beyond the 7 books needed for the goal to be achieved, that’s for sure. I have some books waiting on my bookshelves, and I also borrowed loads from the library.
I read some interesting books in June, the Dolls’ House book was from 1924 and it was fascinating. The College Graces was read mostly in Latin and very interesting. Elie Weisel’s book is a classic and a must read.
Books in June:
Last Bus to Woodstock by Colin Dexter – 3 stars
The Book of the Queen’s Dolls’ House by Lawrence Weaver – 5 stars
The College Graces of Oxford and Cambridge by Reginald H. Adams – 5 stars
The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivisation and the Terror-Famine – 5 stars
Night by Elie Wiesel – 5 stars
I was in France in June, the weather was amazing as was the food as always. It’s been years (decades) since I’ve been to the South of France. I too am behind with my reading, but hope to catch up with the summer holidays now.
Looks like you had a lovely time in the south of France. We have friends who live in Aix-en-Provence and visited a few of the same places when we last visited them. Well done on finishing your course at Oxford. Those desserts look amazing. #project365
It sounds like June was a great month for you! I have enjoyed reading about your trip to France.
I’ve really enjoyed all your posts about France and look forward to seeing more. I also enjoyed your Oriel post. Do you have to defend your thesis before a panel? What’s next for you academically?
I didn’t have to defend my thesis because I did a Master’s, so it’s much shorter than a PhD/DPhil. I don’t know what I am going to do next academically. This month I want to focus on my home, to decide if we are doing some renovations. Next month I have very exciting planned, but I will blog about it at that point.
I guess programs can vary. My daughter had to defend her Master’s thesis as a requirement to receive her degree. She actually had to do the same for her undergraduate Honors thesis.
I look forward to finding out what you have coming up!
That’s very interesting. As far as I know this is not usual in British universities for undergraduate or Master’s. Not even the ones doing a MPhil don’t have to defend their thesis and a MPhil is 2 years instead of 1 and their thesis is twice as long. I think that I would have liked to defend what I wrote.
Ooh I used to love reading (and watching) Inspector Morse books when I was a teen. I’ve not read one for years. Your trip to France sounds lovely, and those desserts largely look nice. Not too sure about the bottom right one though
It’s very different, worth trying once, if you get the chance.
Sounds and looks like you have had an amazing time. I love France but never explored the south