By Madeleine Fuselier

Hi there! I am a life-long Orangeite who is currently living in Paris. I am spending this year teaching English, improving my French, and exploring France (and some of its neighboring countries) before heading to college this fall. Keep reading to find out what’s been going on “Meanwhile With Madeleine.” Thanks for allowing me to share my adventures with you!

It has been an action-packed week! After a lovely stay in Lyon, my dad and I picked up a rental car and headed south. Our first stop was Annecy, where we grabbed a bite to eat and stretched our legs for a while. We sprawled out in the cool grass of a park overlooking a perfectly blue lake that was filled with sail boats of every color. I could have stayed in Annecy all day, but after that refreshing little break it was time for us to move on to Chamonix.

Chamonix is a beautiful town lying in the shadows of the Alps. On our first full day there, we took a cable car up to the top of the Aiguille du Midi. From the top of this mountain, we had a clear view of the summit of Mont Blanc, the highest peak in Europe. At 12,605 feet up, we were short of breath, but the views were incredible. While taking in the snowy landscape, we met a lovely Italian lady. She has lived in a town just on the other side of the mountains for her entire life, but had never crossed over to the French side before. She excitedly pointed out Italy and Switzerland and asked us all about Texas. The weather was clear and sunny while we were on the mountain, but as soon as we got down we saw that clouds had closed in over the peak.

Our next destination was Geneva, Switzerland. We spent most of the day just wondering the streets, eating, and doing some shopping. We saw the famous “Jet d’Eau” (Water Jet) that shoots 460 feet in the air from Lake Geneva. It was a pretty impressive sight! Geneva is known to be a very international city, and throughout the day I noticed people switching easily from one language to another. Other than some touristy areas here and there, the city was calm and quiet. Weirdly enough, the thing that stood out most to me about Geneva was that it was impeccably clean.

After Geneva, we went back to Lyon for a night and then caught a train back to Paris the next morning. We had a little more time together in Paris before it was time for my dad to head home and for me to go to Amsterdam with a friend!