Chill day.

Today was a pretty relaxed day. I woke up and started reading Angels & Demons immediately - I'm addicted. I met some friends at the Place de Notre Dame at noon, got some lunch, went to the open market and bought some really delicious, inexpensive fruit, and hung out. It's truly amazing how much better fruit is over here... It's sooooo incredibly fresh, it almost melts in your mouth - and if I like the canteloupe, you know it's got to be fabulous, because that is the only fruit I typically won't eat. I even bought a melon today, aren't you proud Mom?

After lunch and fruit, I also found some multi-grain bread au boulangerie... Merci Dieu!!! I have been eating no grain except baguettes, and those hardly count. Angelina, Shelby, Emaan and I went to Haagen Dazs today - it was creamy, smooth, and fantastique. The mango crème and strawberry crème ice cream I ordered came with home-made strawberry sauce and very ripe, fresh strawberries, très delicieux!

Angelina and I decided we needed to rest after such a decadent dessert, so we found a park, turned on our iPods, and napped under a large, pigeon-infested tree. I was slightly concerned about our position, but luckily no pigeons crapped on us.

There is something I forgot to mention about the wildlife of Grenoble... As we are in Southern France and in a valley, it's a Mediterranean climate - hence the 100° days we have. This climate also explains the rather large, black furry spider that Amanda and Angelina saw, and killed, at their host family's house. They later asked the host brother who is a 19-year-old French boy named Sereal who hates all Americans, especially one with the initials GWB. Sereal told the girls that they had smashed a baby tarantula. Yes, tarantula, the same huge furry poisonous spiders that look more like 8-legged rats. SICK!!!!!!! He proceeded to tell them that the family always gets tarantulas in their house in the summer. I've been freaking out. Last night when I was lying in bed I kept thinking something was crawling on me and that tarantulas were going to climb through my window. AHHH! I haven't encountered one yet, and I really hope it stays that way.

Right now I'm about to put some more pictures online, probably in a new folder so you don't have to look at all the pictures every time you check them out. Tonight I am going to go back to the apartment and maybe do some laundry, read some more of my inticing book, sleep, and get up in the morning to either run or swim - or read more :) A bientot!