Bon Halloween!

This morning, the 4 of us groggily got ourselves ready for our last morning in Paris....which basically consisted of a yucky showering experience at our hostel, with water everywhere... (after sampling 2 hostels in the Montmartre area, I can firmly advise- Stay Away from the Vintage Hostel, and go with the Village Hostel... much better views, location, and no musty, wet carpets!), walking to the parking garage in the mostly empty and quiet streets of Paris (huge difference from the night before!), driving to the airport (no traffic this morning!), and returning the rental car (a little worried we'd never find the right place, but we did it!).

I waited for Maggie, Thomas, and Heather to check their luggage and to check-in... and then it was time to say good-bye:( Although the week was jam-packed with touring, walking, and very little sleeping, I was sad that my week with my friends had to end. I hope they had fun, because I know I definitely did. Being able to drive around France was so cool (albeit the pricey tolls) and seeing Annecy was wonderful, but getting to play tour guide in Lyon and Paris was probably my favorite part (hopefully I wasn't too ambitious!). It's one thing to be able to blog about my experiences, but a wholly other thing to be able to show what I know and the places I call (or called in the case of Paris) my temporary home.

Anyway, after saying bye... and going to the bathroom to pull myself together (mentally and hairwise- I don't know what I was thinking when I did my hair this morning at the hostel), I set out on my own little half-day Parisian adventure. My plan was to go to the Musee d'Orsay (my

favorite art museum of all time), but by the time I got there, my back wasn't enjoying the weight from my tightly packed bag and my over-worked feet... were over it. Plus, the line was winding around out the door, so it just wasn't meant to be this time around. I did go up on a bridge across the street to take a good picture of the building, which is also a work of architectural art (an old train station). While I was up on the bridge, I noticed people reading things connected to the wires on the fence, and realzied they were little locks, like luggage locks, with names of couples carved or written into them (like M+S, or Sharin loves Sherman). I had never even heard of this bridge or that this was some sort of lovers tradition. But how neat! And, also neat, at the end of the bridge, there is a really cool statue of Thomas Jefferson (another American lover of the French).

After this, I wasn't sure how much longer I could stand to drag myself around Paris, so I decided to see if I could catch an earlier train to Lyon. I found the station or gare, which is really cool looking from the outside (you always take Gare de Lyon to get to Lyon too, which I think is just very helpful). And thank goodness- I could get on one as soon as I got there (for a small 18 euro fee... which was worth every penny...or centime). The train trip was very pleasant, I even fell asleep for a bit of the trip. What was not so much fun was waiting for my bus to get from the train station home, and the actual bus ride. The driver almost hit someone crossing the street and a man, on the bus, obviously drunk, was yelling something... I'm not sure if I was any better at French if I'd even have been able to understand him!

Tonight, I have been endulging in the fine American treats brought to me by my friends- Reese Pieces and Oreos! Yumz.

Hope you're having an excellent Halloween:)

Reste cool!

ps, tomorrow I will post and explain more of the sites we saw in Paris at the beginning of the week!

Our Last Full Day Together:( Paris-Style!

We arrived in Paris, after a 4.5 hour car ride, an hour stuck in traffic on the Paris Peripherique (beltway), and getting stuck in huge market traffic over by our hostel inMontmartre. It wouldn't have mattered so much if we didn't have people to meet, places to see, but of course, we did! So we parked our car as fast as we could, got onto the very crowded metro, and headed towards the Champs-Elysees (the street leading off of the Arc de Triomphe) to meet a friend of Thomas'. We met them at Bistro Romain, on the most touristy street in Paris, so it was over-crowded and more pricey than we would have chosen in other circumstances. But, it was nice to meet his friend and his friend's wife, other fellow Americans living in France. And- we all had really yummy dessert, so I can't complain too much:)

After our lunch, we headed over to the Nunnery that is the sister Nunnery to one of Heather's voice students (a nun). We tried to explain that we knew a sister nun, back in WVA, but apparently they have lots of sister churches... and the first nun we talked to didn't really understand what we wanted (which wasn't really anything other than to say hello, we know your sister nunnery in WVa). The second nun we spoke with was more excited for us and gave us a brochure, so Heather has something to show off to her nun!

From the Nunnery (got to say, didn't think I 'd ever write that), we went back up to Montmartre to check into our hostel. It looked pretty nice in the lobby, not quite as much Halloween spirit unfortunately, but it didn't matter much because all we did was throw our bags down and head out to find the Moulin Rouge. As you may or may not know, the Moulin Rouge is located in the same general Montmartre area, on a long street of sex shops. By the time we got there, everything was already lit up (sex-shop signs included), which was.... pretty... especially the moulin (windmill) of the Moulin Rouge. The Moulin Rouge is originally famous for putting on the cabaret can-can act (a "seductive" dance opportunity for the courtesans of the 19th century), and today continues to entertain visitors with similar shows. These shows are very pricey, at least for us this go around, so we just took pictures from the outside. Next on our list- the Eiffel Tower.

We decided that we'd make ourselves a nutella crepe and wine picnic dinner beneath the Eiffel Tower or Tour Eiffel, as drinking alcohol in public is legal in France. It's actually a very strange cultural experience to be sitting beneath the Eiffel Tower, while it sparkles, (at the hour, every hour, for 5 minutes, the Eiffel Tower literally sparkles), with several other picnic groups, all with their little glasses or bottles of wine. As one of my French coworkers says, "In France you have 5 main rivers, the Seine, the Rhone, the Saone, the Loire, and le Vin" (vin being wine).

It was a short adventure in Paris, but a delightful one indeed!

Friday in Lyon

On Friday, we all slept in a little longer before heading back into Lyon. Heather and I were ready first, and she needed to mail some postcards, so we went on a quick walk around Saint-Priest. We found the Friday morning market, which is amazing. I need to come here to do all my shopping. There's everything from dish detergent to shoes to fruit to silverware! I actually bought a purse while we were there (just because I've been looking for one that's got a long strap and is a little more practical for metro riding... the one I got was only 12 euros.... all the others I've seen have been 30+!). We tried to show Maggie and Thomas the market on our way to the tram, but it was already starting to pack up (you really have to get to these market guys early!).

We took the tram to the metro and rode it up to Croix-Rousse (the working hill). I wanted to show them the pretty views of the Basilica we saw 2 days earlier. It was a really, really windy day, but the sun was shining! We walked down through the tall-windowed buildings with the stair-lined streets. I showed them the more "ruined" Roman Ruins off a side street (of the 3 roman theaters in the city, this one isn't quite as impressive because it's fenced off and you can't walk around the steps, but still, pretty cool that it's there!). We continued down into the heart of the city, passing through the Best Bagels, American Bagel/Specialty shop... (sadly upon looking closer at the Betty Crocker Brownie Mix.... I discovered the price tag of 8 euros. It just seems wrong to pay almost 11 dollars for a brownie mix.... so if you're ever in the mood to send me mail, I won't say no to brownie mixes, cookie mixes, etc.). We also stopped in a shoe store, which was a little dangerous, as I have just been paid (woohoo!). Not to worry though, thankfully I still couldn't validate spending 70 euros on the pair of boots that I want. (Maybe they will be on sale by January since every year after Christmas, France has huge sales in January???)

I showed them the Opera house and we got some chocolate from the Lyon specialty shop called Voisin. I actually got chocolate from this same shop for my family when my sister Leslie and I visited Lyon 2 years ago! They make the mocha chocolate quenelles, yum!

And to finish off our day in the city, we took a nice stroll down and across the river to get to the Parc de la Tete d'Or (Gold Head Park). This is the park where the teaching assistants all got together for the meet-and-greet picnic...with the small zoo. It was the perfect ending to the day. The leaves on the trees in the park were beautiful, the giraffe family had a herd of ox over for company, and people were throwing large quantities of bread to the deer so that we got to see them all flocked together (can you say flocked?).

We went home and had another French feast, quiche was added to the list from the other night:)

fyi

I will not have my computer until Sunday evening.... so no bloggy posts until then! But, you can look forward to: our little adventure in Lyon (from today), our last day in Paris together (tomorrow), and my half-day in Paris, all by my lonesome, on Halloween before returning via train to Lyon.

Because it's so pretty...

More Annecy pictures!!!!

Zee Beautiful Annecy (On-cee)

This morning we left the apartment around 9:30am to get to Annecy for lunch (when they were still serving sit-down lunch this time, hehe). The drive was beautiful.... going from hills, to mountains, to really big mountains, to really, really big mountains with snow covered caps. We found the office of tourism straight away and got a map and a few brochures on what to do in Annecy. We asked where to find a free parking lot (which we found and used!). We also asked for a restaurant recommendation... which turned out to be wonderful.

We were a little skeptical at first, especially because Maggie was unsure if she could find anything vegetarian friendly. But in the end, we were all very happy and full:) Thomas and Heather had the plat du jour or plate of the day (lamb chops and lasagna), Maggie had a very hearty salad with carrots and green beans, and I had.... dun dun dun, more cheese. Yes, I got the raclette... which interestingly enough, ended up not being the same contraption as the one I used at Laurence's house. The thing they brought out for me was a clip for a half wheel of cheese and a heater. Once the top of the cheese got hot, I lifted the contraption to scrape boiling hot cheese onto my potatoes. It was so yummy. We also sampled the house wine and the kir for an aperitif, also delicious. We left warm and ready for our self-guided walking tour.

After rolling me outside, (hehe), we went over to the lovers bridge or pont des amours. The town is similar to Chambery (in the same Savoie region, where raclette and fondue is famous), but unlike Chambery, it is full of beautiful canals, has a beautiful lake, and is very much in the French Alps. The lovers bridge is over a canal connected to the lake, so it has an amazing view. And we could't have come at a better time. The leaves are all bright orange and yellow, the weather is in the upper 50's/low 60's, and the sky was bright blue today, no clouds.

We then followed our walking tour guide brochure to see some of the main sights. We saw the beautiful Sales mansion, of the Sales family built in the 17th century. We walked through several old churches, one dating back to the 15th century (Saint Maurice). Inside the church it looks like it's caving in... but I think it's just the architecture that makes it seem that way. It also had a small trompe l'oeil painting in the back, making it seem like there was an extra room... with a creepy grave in it. We walked over canals, one passing right by the Palais de l'ile (or island palace), which was actually an old prison dating back to the 1200's. Heather and I toured the prison.... it was kinda creepy though... prison cells with bars on the windows and things scratched into the cell walls, but it had a cool inner courtyard with a tree.

And since the lake was so beautiful with the sun setting, we took a boat tour, showing amazing views of the Alps and the little Alpine villages (actually Maggie and Thomas opted for taking a walk around part of the lake in lieu of the boat tour, but they saw similar views). Anywho, when I become rich and famous, I shall buy my summer/winter ski cottage here.

We walked a round a little more and found our way to our car. I drove home (which was weird because I haven't driven in over a month now!) and we actually stopped at a McDonald's drive through of all things. But it was another experience I've yet to have... ordering in French at a drive through, check!

Tomorrow, leisurely trip to Lyon. Hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I do! This is one gorgeous place!

Reste cool:)

OFII Appointment and Lyon with Friends!

After a very long day yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that, and the day before that, I was very happy to sleep in my own bed last night (well, the one I have in France), and get real sleep. But of course, because I was nervous about my immigration appointment (doctor's appointment included in order to be signed off that I'm healthy enough to stay here), I got up a little tooo early... so I'm welcoming sleep again:)

Anyway, we got up and out of the apartment by 11am so I could show off the Saint-Priest castle, take the tram into Lyon, and point Maggie, Thomas, and Heather in the direction of the office of Tourism. I got to my appointment.... about an hour early, hoping I'd be able to scoot in a little early, but of course they were closed for lunch from 12-1:30. Why didn't I guess they'd be off for their long lunch break???

I went to grab a bite to eat (mozzarella panini), and waited in line with 50 other people who must have also been given a 1:30 appointment time (well, 13h30). Miraculously, and with the help of another English assistant, we went straight upstairs (as opposed to meeting the receptionist) and were first in line. I was in and out in under an hour! On the downside, although I was given my OFII stamp (office of Immigration and Integration), they notified me that I'd need to renew my visa and stamp come January as my visa extends only until Jan. 2011. I just assumed that was something everyone had to do, but after asking Lindsey about her visa, of course she tells me hers extends until Sept. 2011. So now I'm all freaked out that the French consulate in DC screwed up my visa and put the wrong dates on it.... and I stupidly just went along with it without checking before I left! Oh well, tant pis.... for now.

I found mes amis at the office of tourism and helped them find a place to eat. Then we were off on a grand tour of Lyon (my father, the tour guide extraordinaire, would have been proud!). I showed them Saint-Nizier (the cathedral built throughout the 14th-16th centuries), Place des Terraux and my favorite horse fountain, Hotel de Ville, the Soane river bridges with views of Croix-Rousse, crossed over to Vieux Lyon to see St. Jean (which unfortunately is all covered up by scaffolding at the moment, but we did go inside), up the funiculaire to Fourviere hill, went inside the Basilica, came back down the funicular, onto the metro, to the tram, and to a grocery store to buy a few things for our French feast (well... sort of... wine, cheese, and baguettes were involved).

Tomorrow, the plan is to get up earlish to go to Annecy (near Chambery in the Alps). I'm very excited. This place looks beautiful! Like Chambery, but with a lake! Then, Friday, we are touring Lyon some more, and Saturday we're back up to Paris! Busy, busy, busy!!!

Here are a few pictures from our day. The weather has been very pleasant, as you can tell! Upper 50's and SUNSHINE! I still haven't posted pictures from Paris, so I guess I'll just have to do one long post when I get back on Sunday night from both days in Paris:)

Reste cool:)

Trip from Paris to Dijon to Lyon

Hah, guess what??? I'm so TIRED! I can't wait until I can actually write a real, coherent post! But, here's a quick overview of our day:

We got up, had breakfast at our hostel (the staff was dressed in Halloween costumes...lol... I guess they wanted to make us feel at home?), checked-out, got our car, got into Paris traffic finding the interstate (or autoroute in this case), got confused on a few round-abouts, finally got onto the A6 (autoroute 6), stopped to get gas (piece of cake to find once we were on the interstate), stopped in Dijon for lunch (ended up being 3 before we got there.... so most places weren't serving real lunch, so we got sandwiches from a boulangerie), saw some really cool churches and quaint old wood-framed houses, got lost looking for our car on the way back (should have took note of the street names....), got back on the A6, got more gas just to be safe, got to my apartment (but only because I followed my nose... our gps failed us getting from Dijon to St. Priest), got all our bags up the 5 flights of stairs, made dinner... and now I'm slowly fading away.

Here are a few pictures of Dijon. I only took pictures of mustard... no taste-testing this time around.

Ah, Paris!!!

I'll have to upload photos tomorrow, but wanted to let you know that my friends Maggie, Thomas, and Heather got into Paris safe and sound, we found our rental car (a Mercedes with a GPS... Fancy!), we got out of the airport and into Montmartre near our hostel, found parking for overnight, went to the hostel to drop off our bags, had a nice lunch in front of Sacre Coeur, did a nice tour of the big sights (Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, Place de la Concorde, Jardin des Tuileries, Louvre (just the basement, not the whole museum), Notre Dame, St. Michel (for my favorite flower gelato), back to Montmartre for a nap in the hostel, out to dinner at a fabulous fondue restaurant, out to see the city from atop Montmartre... saw the Eiffel Tower all lit up, and back to the hostel to get ready for tomorrow. We'll be having breakfast at our hostel, leaving Paris early and heading to Dijon, which is on the way (and hopefully near more open gas stations). We'll stop there for lunch and be back to Lyon by 5/6pm... which means more pictures soon!!!!

More soon:) Reste cool!

A Tour of Tours and More!

Another long day!!! I'll give you a short recap of yesterday first and then another of today.

Yesterday, Oct. 23: Loire Valley Day Trip

Lindsey and I met the tour mini-bus at 8:50am sharp. Our tour guide was a very entertaining, petite French woman, who spoke in a very French/British English accent. (Although we could speak French, 3 out of the 7 passengers were Japanese, 1 Chinese... and their second language was English). During the drive, she would give us in-depth historical information about each Chateau we were about to visit, where to start and finish, and what her favorite parts of the castle were. She also explained that the Loire Valley used to be the capital of the French Kingdom in the Middle Ages because the mighty Loire River was the main way of travel back then.... because all the kings came out to build their castles, the nobility did the same.

Our first visit was to Villandry (which ended up being my favorite). We didn't even actually go inside the castle, but just toured the 4 beautiful gardens surrounding the Chateau. The gardens are the best representation of 16th century gardens and they were themed: the love garden (with four parts: tender love, passionate love, fickle love, and tragic love), the water garden (with a big "mirror" lake or reflection pool with swans), the sun garden (a fountain center with gardens extending out like

the rays of a sun), and the food garden (fruit trees, vegetables, roses, all surrounded by grape vines... which had delicious grapes!). Even though we about froze our toes off walking around so early in the morning, it was just delightful. And, fun fact, the noble lineage that owns the Chateau still lives in the stables.... which are bigger than the castle!

Our second visit was to Azay-le-Rideau. This castle, according to our guide, is an excellent example of the "feminine touch of the rrrrrenAissance style of archytecture" because whomever owned it first had his wife design the Chateau. It's a beautiful castle, with a pool surrounding it (made artificially way after the Renaissance), so it's almost like looking at 2 castles if the sun is out and shining a reflection on the pool. I liked it, but it wasn't my favorite...I've also been here once before on my Loire Valley trip in high school. I don't have the best pictures of this one because my camera batteries died. :(

After our 2 stops, we were dropped off back in Tours to grab a quick bite for lunch. Our guide actually told us that all we'd have time for was to buy a sandwich and swallow it, haha. Then, we got back on our mini-bus and headed off to Chenonceau (another chateau I visited before, but it is gorgeous!). The chateau is knicknamed the "ladies chateau" or the "chateau of the queens." And it has quite the risque little history... the original chateau was built and torched a few times in the 1400's, but eventually taken by the King Francois 1 after someone owned him money. Henri II was next in line as King, and he gave the chateau to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers. She decided it was too much to row across the Cher river to get to the other side of the bank from the castle, and so she had an arched bridge built extending straight from her front door. When Henri II died in 1559, his wife, Catherine de Medici expelled Diane de Poitiers to another chateau (which was scandalous because this was "her" chateau). Catherine de Medici added on the extra levels on top of the bridge extending over the river, as she found the chateau too small for her summer parties.

After her death, Queen Louise, wife of Henri III, was given the chateau, and after her hubby's tragic assisnation, she fell into a state of depression, choosing to live and pray in a completely black room.... And then some other stuff happened that I can't remember, and then in WWI it was used as a hospital... and in WWII it was used by the Resistance to help Jews escape to "free" France, which was divided by the Cher River (with Chenonceau directly in the river). Anyway, in my opinion, the coolest part of this chateau, besides its amazing bridge structure over a river, is it's HUGE kitchen, and it's beautiful checkered hall, on the inside, you see all these symbols for Henri, Catherine, and Diane de Poitiers... like the castle is still conflicted in a love triangle!

Last, but certainly not least, we visited Chambord, which is now the Presidential hunting retreat. The chateau was originally built by Francois I as his hunting lodge. The chateau is the 2nd largest , besides Versailles (although it was built first), and it is surrounded by beautiful forests, still to this day full of wildlife (we even saw a pack of wild boar crossing the street from atop the castle!). The chateau literally looks like it has a small village on top, it has more than 400 rooms, 77 staircases, and 365 windows. I was most impressed by the spiral staircases (designed by Leonardo de Vinci himself). Otherwise, this is just one huge chateau. This picture only shows about a third of the full chateau!

On our way home (Chambort was an hour out of Tours) we passed by Cheverny, Blois, and 2 others I can't remember. If I ever take another Loire Valley trip, I'll be hitting up Cheverny because it looked pretty spectacular!

And that was my yesterday (for the most part).

Today, we got up, refunded my train ticket from Lyon to Paris (woo!), went to McDo for breakfast (coffee, OJ, and 3 mini, but delicious pastries for under 3,50 euros), and then went on a little tour of Tours (haha, I laugh every time I write this). We passed by the pretty bridge with flags, our new favorite Cathedral, the Chateau of Tours (not very impressive), went to Vieux Tours that still has many wood-framed houses, to our hotel for check out, back to the cathedral for lunch at a nearby cafe, and then back to the train station. Our train from Tours to Paris was pretty miserable (so glad I'm done riding trains for a few days) with babies crying, loud talkers, and over crowding near the end. With the strike, people have to crowd onto one train, instead of several... and there isn't always a seat. Thankfully, we already had seats!

From there, I got on the metro in Paris, which was fine. Then, I switched to the RER commuter train to get out to the airport (SO glad I don't have to do this tomorrow morning). This was fine, until I realized the train would go one stop, have everyone get off, and then go in the opposite direction. I couldn't figure out why I wasn't going where I needed to go, so finally I just said, I don't understand, how do I get to Charles de Gaulle???? And a nice older man said he was on his way there and to follow him... he said because of the strike, the regular RER wasn't running, we'd need to take the RER from the train station....we walked REALLY fast, but got there just in time. I couldn't help but think, this little old man with the St. Malo baseball cap is my angel. I would have been riding the other dang train back and forth for the rest of the night!

I caught the free bus to my hotel, which is very cozy, and now it is time for bed!!!!

I want to live in a Chateau too

Because I'm exhausted from today (saw more than 8 Chateaux, touring 4...remember they are big, with lots of garden, house, stairs, etc to walk, see, and climb), I'm going to post a few pictures, and tell you more about my day tomorrow. Just so you know, these are the 4 I visited on foot, not from the tour bus window. We have, in backwards order from when I saw them today: Chambort, Chenonceau, Azay-le-Rideau, and Villandry.

Of course, my train has been canceled for tomorrow, so instead of taking 3 trains home, just to take another one Monday morning.... I made the wise decision to refund my ticket for Monday, book a hotel for Sunday night in Paris, and only take one leg of the 3 train trip tomorrow (the part that goes to Paris). According to Orbitz, I will have high-speed internet connection at my hotel (which, oh by the way is located a mile from the Charles de Gaulle airport). I will be able to pick up Maggie, Thomas, and Heather with zero problems Monday morning. Hurray! And I won't be cranky from train travel and waking up at 4am!!!! Happy day.

Reste cool:) More soon!

OMG!!! We made it to Amboise/Tours!!!

This morning is all just a blur to me now. I went to bed last night fully expecting to get up past 8:00am, but instead got a call from Lindsey at 6:40am, saying that she had found another train and to get ready. So- all I could think to do was to follow orders and get ready. I had semi-packed my bag last night, thank goodness! We were on a train to Gare de Lyon (gare=train station) in Paris by 9:30am, changed train stations in Paris at 12:00pm, via the Paris metro (we had to switch the metro lines twice... which I kind of remembered from my month stay a few summers ago), and then got to the Montparnasse train station (still in Paris) to catch the train taking us to St.Pierre-de-Corps (near Tours). From there, we took another train to Amboise. And when we got to Amboise, we bought our 8 euro train ticket to get back to Tours after our little visit around Amboise (which was our only extra train ticket-buy for the day... all the other trains we just rode for free due to our circumstances). AH!

By 3:30pm, we were taking a short taxi ride to the Tourism Office in Amboise, where we dropped off our heavy bags (mine being extra heavy with my laptop). We went to find the

Chateau in Amboise (not hard to find) which is right off of the beautiful Loire River (we are in the Loire Valley). We also hit up a famous/cute little chocolate shop... that I've actually been to before (I came on a high school trip to the Loire Valley when I was 16, amazing that I remember chocolate stores of all things... well maybe not that amazing, hehe). I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

We caught a little tour, but didn't follow long because we wanted to see a few more things before taking the train back to Tours. We saw a cathedral built in 1107 and walked along the river. Amboise is the town where Leonardo daVinci lived his last three years... the King at the time brought him there to help dseign parts of the Castle... he also gave him a nice little house (well, big house) in Amboise, and Leonardo is supposedly buried at the Chateau.

After booking it to the train station (across a really, really long bridge), with our heavy backpacks on.... we caught a 5:50 train to Tours, checked into our hotel (with free wifi!), and went to find something for dinner. On our way there, we found a HUGE, and I mean absolutely the biggest church I've ever seen (as of yet), huge cathedral. We went in, and it is equally as huge and high ceilinged as you'd think it would be from the outside. It is very beautifully preserved Cathedral, from inside to outside, with stained glass in tack from the 1300's. Note the moon's height in the picture....

We ate a cute little creperie (I had a spinach crepe for dinner and a pineapple crepe for dessert). It was a very good ending to our busy busy day. Now it is time to sleep. Tomorrow- more chateaux of the Loire Valley!!!!

Miss you all! Reste Cool:)

And don't worry, more pictures to come! I only took 200 today...