
Well I am no longer a teenager! See you later 13 and 14 year olds I am no longer in the boat with you. Hello 27, 28, and 29ers I have officially stepped into the twenties with you! How weird that time flies by so fast! I remember like it was just yesterday that I was celebrating my birthday with inner tubes and strawberries in between my two-a-days of gymnastics practices. But thanks to my great friends it is a birthday that I will never forget.
(I guess it did help that I was celebrating it in France, huh?) But my day started bright and early, okay maybe not too early more like 10, with a knock on my door. Guess who it was! The paparazzi. Just kidding it was only Taylor with her camera, but I can dream right? Kelly and Taylor greeted me with an assortment of pastries from the Boulangerie right across the street. They picked out the best, including of course, our favorite apple pastry! Mmm it is so good! I would bring one home as a treat, but I just do not think it would make the trip back. Not only did they get me pastries but they also gave me the cutest light purple watch from a store they got in Vichy. Look out, I am so French now! So my day started out with a bang! I got my favorite pastry, had the paparazzi snapping pictures of me, and even got some French jewelry.
We then got dressed and headed to the train station. I swear my day just isn't complete without going to that darn train station. This time it was for getting our Italy tickets. Kelly, Taylor, and I are planning on staying a few extra days in Italy when we are done with class in Vichy. So let's just say we have gotten pretty good at ticket talk. Arriver, partier, matin...we know all those words…
After our morning activities we rounded up our friends and decided to go rafting. What better way to spend a sunny Saturday afternoon?! We heard that there was this sports complex where you could rent rafts or tubes and float the river. We looked up the website and you even had to wear helmets. We have seen the river and we did not know how roaring those rapids looked but we thought hey let's give it a try. So off we went, on our hiking adventure. The plan was to catch a bus, which come just right in front of the train station right by where we live, to take us to the rafting place. Well after running back and forth across the street a couple times trying to figure out which bus to take, we finally got on one. The bus we decided to get on though did not drop us off on the front door step of the rafting place, it was more like a couple neighbors down. And when I say a couple neighbors down, I mean we must be really bad with directions and it was more like a mile. So away we went. We had to walk down this road and across the bridge to get to our destination. Well as it turned out this sports complex that was suppose to have the rafting did not have the rafting at the moment because it was shut down. So, we decided to resort to plan B, the public pool. We were so hott and so ready to get in some water that we did not really care where it was.
We do not even need Rick Steve anymore we have gotten so good at communicating with directions. So we asked the nice ladies at the reception desk if we could walk there. The giggled and laughed to themselves, and said sure. Pointed in the right direction we were ready for hiking adventure number two, except this one was more like hiking adventure number three for me because of my detour trying to get to Switzerland. The differences between this hiking adventure and my Switzerland one was that we were in a bigger group and I did not have Vera. But the gravel on the side of the highway type road was about the same. Away we went.

This journey was also a little longer than Switzerland being about two miles and hott. While walking we were not quite sure how this french public pool would be. Would it be a single circle? Would it be a square? Would it be like Hurricane Harbor? I think when we got to the public pool though we were all pleasantly surprised. I would compare it to the Aquatic Center in Coppell. It had a couple of slides, had a couple of different pools including an indoor and outdoor, and even had a nice locker room to put your stuff. Now we were impressed by the facilities but not by the men's choice in swimsuit attire...Yes that is right they did not believe in swimming shorts, only swimming speedos. But what can you do we were hott and ready to go swimming. So we put our stuff in our lockers, lathered up, and went to the pool! Wait where did the boys go? Oh that is right they got in trouble for wearing swim shorts so they had to buy speedos out of a vending machine. Yep, they sell swimsuits in a vending machine. It is is pretty safe to say we did not see them for a while. They slowing crept in, and stood out like caspers in a crowd. Not only were they white, but they also were matching. Funny funny funny. So after our relatively short time at the pool, all that walking took a little time away, we decided to treat ourselves to Mickey D's! What a great birthday dinner right? But let me tell you, it was the best birthday present ever that day. We have been missing American food so much and Mcdonalds hit the spot! So after eating hike number three, four for me, began. We had to hike all the way home...
When we got back to our humble abode we quickly showered and were off to the next adventure for the night! The horse races! Except this time instead of walking, we learned our lesson and took a taxi. The horse races were supposed to be a big deal because it was lady's night. I do not know entirely what they meant by that but we were ladies and decided to go. It was a neat experience. In America jockey's ride on the horses and in France they do not. The jockey's in France sit in this cart with two big wheels on it behind the horse. I am not quite sure if I would want to ride behind a horses butt, but whatever! There were eight races and in between the races there were fashion shows and at the end a French singer sang. So there was plenty entertainment, if only we knew what they were saying!

After the races when we got back Kelly and Taylor had one last surprise for me. They made me Flann for my birthday cake!
But not any Flann, Flann de Vichy Flann! The Flann company with poor Franc that we were trying to help. Let's just say their marketing strategy on this might be best not to have one at all. It was not the tastiest. So we threw it out the window and called it a night!
To sum it up, I got in some good exercise, ate a nutritious meal at Mcdonald's, hit the horse races, and maybe even got a little tan. How much better does it get!
Au Revoir!
(Your 20 year old friend/daughter/grand-daughter)
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