Crepes

Here is Leah, Lindsay, Owen, & me with our crepes.
Me and my first crepe for the year! yum. (w/nutella)

Our Second Excursion: Conques

This sign says," Conque (the town) the big site of France, welcome.

Here is a wood statue of the Apostle James and me.
Eric and me with the pretty mountains as our background. (too bad it wasn't fall)

Picture of part of the town. It was very pretty in structure.
Me introducing you to the common bath tub. It was very large.
Here is where only monks/priests could hang out, it is attached to the cathedral, and the big tub is where they bathed.





Above every main door, tells a story out of pictures, because people back then could not all read.

Here is Eric our teaching, showing and explaining reasons for why the cathedral was structured the way it is.
Here is some town houses, that people still live in during the summer.
The way we walked into the town.
Me & my umbrella, it rained lightly all day.

Here is a closer view of the cathedral in the town.
Here is the town of Conques, at you can see the town is on a ledge off in the mountains. Very pretty scenery here. If you look in the middle of the town, you can see the cathedral. This cathedral location was very important because it is where many pilgrimage rs went. They came here to pray to relics. Relics were a very popular thing at this time. People would pray to the relics for help, (and then the church would collect money from the people who saw the relics). So it was a money maker for the church too. If their prayers were answered they would travel all the way back to the relics to pray and thank.

Obama... to be continued when encounter better internet

Olga (Gerry's wife) and their son Daniel:)
Here is Gerry and his 7 month old son Daniel. (isn't he adorable!)
Eric, Leah, Lindsay, & Owen sitting on the couch watching Obama.
Here is us trying to watch the inauguration of Obama. ( the internet did not want to cooperate)
After watching the inauguration, we got ready for a party! (Gerry invited some...

When bored...

Here is Ian & Matt, and Eric would switch in with them through out the games.

We play ping-pong! Jess and I totally killed the guys. We won 5 out of 5 games!

Our First Excursion: Saint Bertrand de Comminges

Picture of us checking it out. Well that is all for our first excursion, if you want to see better or more pictures check out some of the other students blogs.
Here is a gathering area for the monks or town people, connected to the cathedral.
Here is a peak of the area where the monks and royalty sat for church services.
Entrance to the cathedral.
This inside of it, which was very pretty with all the stained glass.
Here is the front of the Saint Bertrand de Comminges. It was so tall, that I did not even fit the top of it in the picture.
Next we actually went into the old Roman City.
Here is Eric, our teacher, talking/teaching us about this lovely Roman spa/bath.
Another picture of the spa/bath.

Okay, this does not look much different from the market, but it is located across the street from the market. Can you guess what it is??? It used to be a spa/bath. It is very large in size when you see it in person. There is little and big rooms in this spa. It also once had a gym. This was more the social hall/building where everyone went to socialize and clean up. Rumor has it that King Herald (the one that beheaded John the Baptiste) and his Queen once used this spa.
Another picture of the Roman Market.
Okay, this is not just stone and land, it used to be a large Roman market. The laid stones show where the walls used to be to divide the different products being sold. It also used to be a covered market. Not much left of it, but its still pretty cool.
Here is another picture of the pretty donkeys. Maybe they have them for us to take pictures of. The back-right donkey looks like its sunbathing.
On our way to the next Roman structure, we passed by some donkeys. I do not think they are actually used for anything, more just for pleasure. (by means, HAY-BURNER):)
Here is Chelsea standing by an (empty) sarcophagus in the oldest church.
Here is me in the oldest church in France!!
Next, we went to one of the oldest churchs in France! It was built in the late 5th century-early 6th Century. This is what remains of it, but it still shows the different rooms and location.
Basilique St. Just is the name of this church.
Here is a better picture of the whole church. Their was a cemetery fenced in around it too.
This is one of the earliest Christian symbols called the chiroh. This church had it engraved in the stone of the church.
Before we went to the Saint Bertrand de Comminges Cathedral, we stopped at this church. Sadly, it was locked, so we were not able to go inside, but in this picture Eric is teaching us what the entrance means. Ex. the half circle, pictures of the people.
Here is a picture of the Saint Bertrand de Comminges Cathedral. We went there 14th Janvier.