March 23rd

I love my family enough to wake up early for them and I mean early. After about four hours (more like three) of sleep I arose to meet my mother at the hotel at 9:30 AM. She wanted me to show her the Saturday market of Le Havre which I was fine to oblige to do. However, being young and stupid I drank more than planned the night before. My morning was a struggle but I prevailed and was there on time. We walked around the market together and I even purchased a small vine of tomatoes. My mom just loved seeing everything all the fresh food and produce. I enjoyed smelling the rotisserie chicken but growled since I couldn't buy one. As much as I'd love the challenge of eating an entire chicken by myself I simply didn't have the time.

We returned to the hotel and met my father and Pete. After about twenty minutes of relaxing in their room we all left to grab the bus to Etretat. Now the weather forecast lied to me. It said that it would be sunny today, load of bullshit. It was misty as all hell. Though (though audience) this actually proved useful at Etretat, no wind. The ride was fine and I actually didn't sleep on the way there. Rather I talked to my brother about what we would be doing. He had trouble imagining the cliffs but he would see soon enough. We arrived to the quaint town of Etretat covered in a silver haze. The fun began.

At first my father thought the stairs to the beach were the stairs that I had mentioned going up the cliffside. The beach stairs are maybe ten steps, the cliff stairs are easily one hundred or so. Before we even set foot on the beach my father purchased a beret from a local hat shop. He wanted one and actually he pulled it off rather well. I've never been as gifted with hats as my father, somehow I'm alright with that. Anyhow we hit the beach which surprised my family.

In the States a beach has soft sand and sunshine. In France a beach has grey rocks and somber clouds. I suppose I forgot to mention those minor details. Regardless the beach was much bigger than it had been for Kate and me a month earlier. The tide was out exposing more of the sea floor to the surface. My brother and I skipped stones and climbed over chunks of sandstone sticking out of the grey rocks.

After about twenty minutes we all decided to hit the cliffs. I beat the rest of my family to the top and only accomplished this because of two factors; I didn't wait for them, and Pete stayed behind with my mother. Still, first! Once at the top we had an amazing view of misty Etretat and the sea. Pictures were snapped and some feats of minor daredevilism were performed. Seriously, it's a surreal rush being so close to the edge.

After that my brother, mother, and I took a winding path down to the bottom of the cliff. My dad stayed behind (he's not fond of narrow descents) and observed from the spongy tuffs of green grass. You can honestly jump on that stuff. How I wish I could tumble there, if only it were more smooth.

Anyhow the walk down was more complicated than it had been with Kate because recently there had been a rock fall. Nice chunks of sandstone created obstacles on the already steep staircase. Guess that's why they have the warning sign. We reached the bottom relatively fast and were able to explore much of it. I finally was able to go through the small cave I had seen before. That was a big deal for me. After spending about forty minutes to an hour on the bottom we made our way back to the top. There was one problem, my dad was gone.

He had figured that we would have walked along the bottom beach back to the town rather than go back up the cliff. He didn't think that my brother and I would "force your mother" to scale the cliffside stairs. Uh oops? We didn't force her and she did wonderfully. My dad was a little ticked though (he was hungry) and I received an earful for being irresponsible with the time. I bought him a vegetarian sandwich peace offering and all frustration was broken.

It had been a great few hours and we all were ready to take the bus back to Le Havre. While waiting for the bus we witnessed two things; a parade and a mild car incident. The parade was the Grand Deballage Printemps which included a live band, costumes, and huge wooden witch float. The concept was to burn the witch on the beach a few days later which I'm sure is quite a sight to behold. The car incident involved a man backing into a pole. Normally not a big deal, the crack can be repaired and the light replaced. The issue was this car happened to be a Bentley. Everyone's jaws dropped that this man had so carelessly crashed his Bentley into a metal pole. Sucks to be him.

The bus ride back was fine and one also in which I didn't fall asleep. Where I had the energy I do not know. Pete and I passed the time by talking, taking pics of our parents, and drawing inappropriate images on the window. My design was the shocker.

We reached Le Havre in perfect time and swung by the hotel for a few minutes before Pete and I left for my dorm. There we met Kate and surprise, Jonathan as well! Yup he had spent the morning with Kate and planned to see Pete and me before going back to Paris. That was at least the original idea. Instead I found out that he didn't have to teach the next day and told him to just stay the night in Le Havre. I checked with a friend of mine and he okayed Jonathan spending the night in his room. Sweet, now I was able to hang out with my brother, my best friend, and my European boyfriend. We started the evening by grabbing some dinner.

Pete told me that a mandatory part of his trip would be trying French McDonalds. Apparently many people say that the burgers are fresher. They're more expensive but no the burgers are the same. He found this out. The only difference is the condiments. The ketchup here (in France) is sweeter than Heinz and they have a mayo fry sauce rather than sweet and sour. Regardless of ketchup changes we all enjoyed our Mickey D's dinner and spent most of the time talking away. I sadly only had two burgers. I know, crazy of me! I just wasn't feeling up to my regular intake. To make you feel better audience I just downed a bottle of Heineken and half a tube of pringles while writing this. My appetite has returned and won't be leaving me, ever again.

The four of us then returned to my room and stayed there for the remainder of the night. We had offers to go out but none of us (sept maybe Pete) were feeling the effort to socialize. Thus we stayed in my room watching various videos on youtube primarily stand up. A few times when Pete and Kate weren't looking Jonathan and I stole a kiss or two. I'm not into PDA but a little kiss here and there won't kill anybody. Sides I don't see him everyday audience. Wait, are you surprised? Well then SURPRISE I have told you all now (mainly for my aunt and uncle in Roatan) you can confirm any suspicions.

Anyhow, like I said before, the four of us really just chilled in my room together watching various standup routines online. We all responded well to Jim Carrey (no shock there) but Pete and I had trouble with a Scottish comedian. His accent was too unfamiliar to us and we couldn't understand him. Jonathan and Kate could but then again they'd have trouble with southern miners. No saying I understand southern dialects perfectly but I'd (forgive for using this word) get them a lot better than they would.

After a few hours of comedians the lot of us was ready for bed. I wished everyone a good night and fell into a soft heap under my covers. It was a long day but one that was filled with a lot of happiness from beginning to end.