Cougars vs Molosses

Last Sunday the 19th the Cougars played the Molosses at home. It was a sloppy game. We started out sluggish. This easily being seen in the 0-0 half time score. The Molosses are the weakest team in our division. Their Americans seemed to have changed their attitudes a little bit about playing in France. The runningback now was the play caller. He'd run to the huddle and tell them what they were going to do. Their other import who was playing center now moved to guard and helped lead their running attack. They tried to follow him and utilize his talent, but he was really just a bad holder and a squatty body which didn't really prove to be that usefull. It was a slow game, not a ton of action in the first half.


Some of our players who have worked their butt's off at practice and made big improvements got an opportunity to display their talent on the field. Danny Mendes, Florent Hirel, Alexis Dorard got to start. Danny had a huge catch for a 20 yard gain, which was huge because I think it was his first reception in a game. However he had a chance at a wide open touchdown pass, that eventually fell to the ground because of his over excitement. We were all so upset because we wanted it so bad for him. Florent made some good receptions 3 for 18 yards and is doing a great job catching the ball. We still have to work on his moves after the catch, but he is doing a great job pulling them in. Jean Michel also had a big touchdown reception. His first of the season. Nico caught a touchdown pass as well. Both first for those guys this season. I was proud because they have worked hard and deserved that. Alexis made 2 solo tackles and it's so good getting to see the guys that pour into the team, get something back for their hard work.

Coach later told me that Alexis was nervous going in and getting to play in the game. But he did well. Bago grabbed a screen pass out of the air on defense and scored a touchdown on the play. Matty, playing safety at the time, had told them to look out for the screen. As soon as he did, the RB's eyes lit up as if saying, OH CRAP. Bago jumped the passed and scored. Rounding out our 21-6 victory. I had a statistically decent game, 7 tackles, 3 solo.


You can find other pics of the game here... click me

Barcelona film

Highlights of the trip to Barcelona....

A little taste of India

The other day Apputhurai Sinthujan .... aka Pakat... one of our safety's for the cougars, took us out to eat Indian food in Paris. Pakat is actually from Sri Lanka and I had been bugging him to try the traditional food. It was an experience. Matt, Will, Loic S., Pakat, his girlfriend Caroline and myself went to Chettinadu, a traditional Indian resturant.

We walked in and dominated the space. Being 3 offensive lineman, it was funny watching all the people look up to us and stare at our size. We sat down and Pakat started to speak in Hindi (i'm guessing that's the language I'm not quite sure) It sounded like a fast mumbler ripping off word after word. Kind of like a motorcycle engine reving up. It was so fast, I have no clue how he could understand.

Anyways I told Pakat to just order for me... give me the traditional experience. It was great. We started with some appetizers. Samossa Viande, Somossa Legume... small triangle shaped pastrys filled with meat or veggies. Medu Vadi and Masal Vadai.... small packed veggies or bread fried, think hush puppy like but with more ingredients. My favorite the rolls packed with spicy meat, eggroll style fried and dusted with maybe cinnamon or sugar or something sweet. Amazing these where so good. Of course we had different sauces to put on all of these. A white sauce that was not as spicy and a green sauce resembling guacamole that was spicier.

Then we got my favorite part of the entire meal. Nan au fromage. This Indian type of bread, delicious on it's own, filled with creamy fondu like cheese. It comes to you in a huge puff ball shape and you push down the top layer of Nan onto the cheese and bottom layer. It is amazing. We had about 2 of these per person, or more. SOOOOOOOo good. Oh and the sauce we put on top of it. AHhhh seriously amazing. They also brought out a Poulet Tandoori....some very tender rottiserrie barbecue style chicken.

Along the appetizer Pakat introduced us to Necto, a drink. The bottle has a huge elephant on it, so I didn't know what to expect. It was a framboise flavored drink, meaning raspberry. I usually dislike raspberry flavored stuff. Just not a fan of artificial raspberry syrup, but this was the real deal. It was so sweet and helped the little bit of spice from the appetizers. We then sat around talking and waiting for the food to come. I tried to work on my french and understand why sometime you have to use "pas" after for instance "Je ne sais pas" Je= I, sais= know, ne + pas = the negative, like don't. So you use ne pas for the negative of a noun. Anyways there was some case about me trying to say I can not take any more food. Where you do not use pas, because the next word includes it or what not. This being said, I in my Texan ways, got a little louder in trying to figure it out. Apparently they thought I was yelling and getting upset... not the case, just my style of intensity and passion. All was good but it was a little funny.

After they brought out the main courses, we had 4 Kothu Parotta, a neat dish eaten with the hands...mostly made up of the diced nan bread, some form of meat, and some veggies. It was really neat you basically balled up a bite to eat on the dish and then grabbed it like you would an egg. Then with your thumb you pushed the food into your mouth. It was so funny, Matt was like "all my life I've been told not to eat with your hands and now that I'm older I get to do the opposite." I ate a huge crepe like thing filled with a potatoey paste with 4 different dipping sauces. Really good and crispy. Willie had a nan filled plate too. It was such a great dinner.

Afterwards we went to a different restaurant for dessert. My belly was completely full by this time and I told Pakat, I don't know if I can do this... he assured me it would be alright since dessert was just a drink. Oh and it was worth it. A strawberry milkshake type drink, with pieces of jelly like candy floating in the drink and small hard sugar things in it as well. It went down quick.

All in all I had a great time learning the Indian cuisine and it is definetly a lot easier having a native speaker order for you. I don't know how I would've been able to go on my own. Actually I probably wouldn't have. Thanks Pakat.... Indian food was delicious.

Coming to a house in Cergy-Pontoise.

So we had this ridiculous photoshoot thing about a 3 weeks back or so. Well the other day we opened up our mailbox and viola...sitting there is the magazine that was delivered to every house in Cergy-Pontoise. If you can translate it, let me know. HAHAHA

Normandy

Thursday Coach Mas drove Matt and I out to Normandy. It would be an adventure that was a lot too take in. I must have said that 50 times since I've arrived back from the shore. The sites, the sounds, the events unfolding in the background of your mind, survival, death, politics, economics, radical leaders, strong speakers, the importance of the entire situation.....it's all too much to absorb without somewhat being changed.

We arrived first at the Caen museum. It is about 20 miles inland and is dedicated to the preservation of the events that occured during the war. It was incredible. The first thing was saw was a 40 minute film with nothing but film from the war. It was breathtaking, jaw dropping, and fear striking. It starts with two split screens. One side showing the Axis powers, the other the Allies. Let my try and take you there. Intertwined you see the events of D-Day playing out live on screen. Footage of young men, most mere boys suiting up and getting onto boats along the British coast. Fixing their jackets, cleaning their guns, going over strategies. While at the same time the Nazi's are working on their defense. Young guys setting up barracades, working on machine guns, loading the ammunition rooms.

Then to the water, the troops cross the sea's as airplanes more numerous then a hoard of locusts devouring a field from it's crops. Men jumped from planes behind enemy lines, Nazi's raced to their battle stations. Alarms sounding, guns loading, battles beginning. Men running for their lives onto the beach taking massive quantities of casualties. At a moment I stop and think about the cameraman. How brave and scared do you have to be to charge into a nightmare with a weapon that only shoot's film and light. No source of defense. Men's faces a pale, painted with fear. I breath in, thinking how different the time was. The only draft we know now is coming in 2 weeks, where 21 year olds will become millionaires. There draft was different.

You see inside the bunkers, one of which we actually visited. This of course would bring chills down your spine as your standing in the exact spot that soilders where killing Americans. The war is playing out in front of me in two simulatneous screens. Two different perspectives, both sides mortal. Then a plane flies across the beach showing the battle from above. Covered in obstacles, barb wire, vehicles, bodies, firing of weapons back and forth, it seemed to go on forever. Then it switched it showed the beach today, the tranquil silence. Almost as if a destination for summer vacations rather then a battlefield. Again it would switch back to the fighting.

Scenes of boats coming up to the cliffs, shooting rope ladders for men to climb. Victory coming and Nazi's surrendering, raising white flags. Then shots from the overall war. The strategy. The push. The Red Army covering Europe being pushed back and back. Devestation surrounding towns. Battle after battle. Strategy unfolded and the plan was unveiled. Soilders marching in French cities. French citizens celebrating with glee. Freedom had for all. Thousands died for this one idea, this one concept, FREEDOM.

The movie was incredible. I was there. I was lost in this world of horror and celebration. The museum had plenty of relics. Parachutes used as decoys to throw off the German troops, a soldiers parachute used as a wedding dress for his bride, vehicles and planes. Photographs galour and explanations of the events. The men who died are honored with pride. There is enough material here to learn and go on forever.

After preparing our minds, we drove to the Juno/Gold beach. We walked along the beach and saw the remains of the floating harbor. An idea from Churchill himself. The harbor was entirely built out at sea and capable of holding countless ships and providing roads to transport vehicles to shore. You could see the length of the harbor as the remains only deminish from the toils of the tide.
I took a minute to take it all in and re-live what happened here. I walked along the beach and stood on a blockade remains that ran into the water. Built to break the easy sands from the cliffs ahead. The base was all that was left.

We walked to some of the old bunkers housing the large guns used for taking out ships and massive numbers of troops. They were quite a distance away from the shore and high in elevation in comparison to the coast. It took an entire day to capture the bunker. The sheer size of the guns where impressive and 3 of the 4 where actually in recognizable shape. I climbed on one of the barrels and took a photo showing the perspective towards the sea. It doesn't do it justice because I have climbed halfway down the shaft.

We then drove down to the beginning of Omaha beach and parked on the sands nearly 20 yards from the high tide. It was a pleasure seeing the children play on the beach. This site helps take away the horrible memory of the tragic events and reminds you that the price of freedom is never forgotten. To have this ability to see kids run and laugh freely is priceless. We climbed up to the bunkers and saw the memorial for the 5th engineer brigade. There job was to clear the beach of obstacles and they paid dearly for their actions. The said 94 percent of their company died. We also saw one of the main bunkers that the 1st infantry took out. It took 19 hits to the side of the bunker with a tank to render the defense ineffective.

The standing room in the top of the bunker was just head level for me. I had to squat down to see through the windows. The bottom floor was pitch dark. Walking through coach led the way and actually stepped in a puddle. He was moving out of the way for a British girl and fell in the hole, which was actually uncovered by the planks. The girl laughed at him and he was covered in water about a foot or so down. The bottom bunker was so dark. I imagined the boredom soilders had to face during the war. Countless months sitting, waiting. I thought about them playing cards to pass the time, practicing their marksmanship, drinking beer. And then all of a sudden the most intense fight of your life happens. How do you plan for that? How do you deal with that? How did they react?

I stared off in the distance almost in a haze from all that I was taking in. This is the beach. This is the place where US soilders stormed the beaches fighting for another country, fighting for freedom. At first I wondered why they didn't want high tide to get as close as possible, but then it was explained to me that they needed the low tide in order to clear the obstacles for their vehicles. Picture that just right behind me on the beach.

We walked into the American cemetery at the top of the hill and words can not describe it. A place for reverence, for rememberence, and pride. This our my countrymen. These are my people. Americans. Being in Europe it has been hard for me to grasp who America is. What our pulse is, Who we really are....being so much younger then the foreign countries and made up from these different countries. I see buildings daily that our older then our history. Seeing the cemetery reminded me of our character, of our strength, of my patriotism. And I pray that as Americans we all remember this. That we all take history a bit more seriously. Learning what others did for us, where we as a country have come from. And taking pride in it. I am an American.

After my moment in the cemetery, I went to the visitors center and found a registry. I searched my name and found 4 Rhodes buried in the cemetery. One was Carl E. Rhodes from Alabama (originally where my Rhodes family name is from) I found his grave in Plot B row 1 grave 25. First row. He was a member of the 67 bomb squadron and recieved a purple heart. I can only wonder if he is a family memeber or not. All in all it was a great trip, one I think every American should make. I feel changed from it, and I can only hope it is not just emotions that I am feeling, but a deeper understanding of who I am as an American. That I would have had the courage to do what these men did in paying the ultimate sacrifice for freedom.

Find more pictures from the trip here....

photos

Normandy

Barcelona

Last weekend Matt and myself ventured to Espana. We went to Barcelona for our off weekend and let me just say it is a beautiful city. Very clean and neat. The metro stations are not dirty, it's close to the water, they had amazing parks, good cheap food, and a very fun atmosphere. When we first arrived we tried to locate our hostel and drop off our bags, but instead found our first Gaudi building. Gaudi is the famous architect who has several projects in Barcelona. For me some of his stuff looks like fantasy land, or that he was on drugs when he started building this crazy stuff. A lot of the mosaic tiles are customary for his work, some of it is straight up weird, and some of it really breathtaking. After arriving at our hostel, which by the way was a party hostel, we were greeted by Eduardo a very helpful staff member. He showed us where everything on the map was and where we had to go and what not. So after the advice we decided to head to the main tourist attraction in Barcelona. The Sagrada Familia, the church built by Gaudi. It is still not finished. It was really neat looking at it. Everywhere you look had a different feel. The 4 towers intertwined with intricate details. One side of the entrance had block looking scene of the birth of christ and the crucifixcion. Really cool, but then on another part it looked like the background from the Willy Wonka scene in the chocolate river area. Crazy.

We stayed here for a while and took in the good weather and the architecture.

Next through our walk in the Spanish city we found the stadium for the bullfights. It was neat and we just missed a bull fight scheduled for the next weekend. It's crazy to think about that.

Afterwards the early flight had helped build up an appetite so we headed to a local restaurant. We stopped in and ate a meal, but ordering in Spanish was much more difficult then in French in Paris. In Paris, they pretty much all know English. This was not the case in Barcelona. I also found it difficult because I constantly tried to go back to speaking French. Tough. We managed to get our order in. I will say though that Matt had to go up to the counter and point out what appetizer we really wanted. We had red peppers stuffed with this little meat mix in a red picante sauce. It was incredible. Next I had Paella, and sangria. The Paella was mixed so I had prawns, mussels, chicken, beef and squid. Really hit the spot, but would make it a little heavy on the stomach later. We also had sangria partially due to coach david's insistence that we have a glass. But it was really good.

We then tried to find the Guell Park. Another one of Gaudi's masterpieces, however we missed the turn somehow and ended up watching skaters trying to ride a ledge with a stadium seating crowd in attendence. However we did wander down some pretty cool streets. As we were walking up the hills though Matt and I couldn't help but thinking of the hills in Greece. I stopped to take this picture, you can see down to the city center and the sea. Really cool city. Finally we arrived at the park which was just a masterpiece. It was crazy, like a fantasy land again. The structures looked like a kid had just dropped wet sand on the ground and it stuck. It was spectacular. Some of the twists and turns were amazing. Of course like the cathedral, everywhere you looked had something different. Other parts had beautiful mosaic tiles, or columns, some an open space with palm trees and archways, and even hansel and grettles gingerbread house was there.

I also happened to meet one of the local Spanish girls here. There's a picture of her below. Just your typical Barcelonian. She was a lot of fun to hang out with.

Ok so not really, there was a modeling shoot going on and it was so funny because atleast 20 different people were snapping shots of her posing with Barcelona in the background. She got a kick out of it and was a bit shy. Not being able to understand all the attention. Really funny, the guy model though was dressed in this 80's pure shinny gold sweatsuit which made me laugh. We then took off to the hotel before the FC Barcelona match we had tickets for.

The game was really good, the stadium incredible. Except for the lack of size in between rows. My knees touched the railing and it was quite difficult to get comfortable. The game was great FC Barca won easily 2-0....should have been 4-0 but an offsides call on a goal made by Thierry Henry and a missed penalty kick by Messi cost the score. It was still a great game, the atmosphere played foghorns and would chant "BAR-SSSSSSS-A" over and over. This is the accepted pronunciation. I will have to say though it was not as intense as the Dortmund game. Definitely not up to the Gilberwand standards. However it was a tremendously massive stadium. Holding over 110,000 fans.Later that night we met up with the hostel mates and got to know each other. There was an Australian group living in London, a couple from Chigago, and some Irish guys who ended up going out to Razzmatazz. We walked up to the club and 3 of us jumped the rail to get into the Que line (which had no people in it) and meet up with friends. After we walked down the 50 yard line we were turned back because of jumping it and literally had to walk back 50 yards and down again. Not that it was a matter of skipping people in line, but moreso a matter of security guards wanting to excercise some form of power. It wasn't necessary and pretty annoying.

We finally got into the club at around 1:15AM. Let me just tell you this thing was as empty as main street in an old western films shootout scene. There was NO ONE, here and we thought maybe we just came on a bad day. However around 2am people started showing up. Brings a whole new meaning to the term nightlife. This club was literally the biggest thing I've been in. It had atleast 7 different rooms with different styles of music. Including the live performance stage in the picture. The light show behind the singer was amazing and masked his semi decent performance with the classic "smoke and lights." There were some interesting people though in the club. Check out this guys hair!

The next day Eduardo had a bit of a problem. I was sitting in the common area when he started telling someone to get out of the storage room and open the door. After many attempts at trying to push the door open, I decided to see what the commotion was all about. He thought someone had locked themselves in with the luggage. Thankfully though there was an old airvent about 8 feet from the ground, so he grabbed a step ladder and tried to peer through. I took a look and realized the bedframe was pried against the door making it not budge. Somehow we came up with the bright idea of me pushing him through the hole in the wall. This is a picture after we succeded in getting the door unjammed. A funny story.

We then took off down La Ramblla. The famous street in Barcelona with street performers galore. My favorite was Edward Scissorhands. He had the face and the actions down to a T. Very impressive. There was also a group of street performers playing bells on their back by walking with their heads bobbing up and down. A very unusual site. They were dressed in this old ox skin suits and paraded the whole time. We got a bit hungry and ate at McDonalds. I couldn't believe it but at all the fastfood joints apparently you can have a beer with your meal. It took me a back. I settled for sprite.After walking through the streets we ended up at the port and took some pictures on the lions. Feeling a little fatigued from the late Spanish nites we sat on a bench in the port and watched the sailboats, fish, and seagulls. After relaxing a while we then walked through the old town with small narrow streets. Easy to jump from rooftop to rooftop, infact you might even be able to lay across the street below. We tried to see Picasso's museum, but the line was really long at about the same time the rain started to pour. We opted to head back to the hostel and relax.

That night we went to an Irish pub and sang karaoke with the entire group staying at the hostel. The people there were very friendly and organized all this for the travelers staying at Saint Jordi Hostel. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed hanging and meeting new people. After the night ended we headed back to catch some sleep before our 8am departure from the hostel in the morning. All in all Barcelona was a very fun time and cool city. I'm learning that wherever we go we meet new people and make new friends. I think I'm ready for a traditional getaway maybe to Italy with Will's family for a real Italian experience!

Cougars vs Flash part deux...

We played the Flash last Saturday night at 8pm. Saturday night lights! It's always fun playing a night game and this was our chance to make history. A chance for redemption. The whole week Dino our running back was intense. He has some friends who play for the Flash, some really good friends and you could tell he wanted nothing more then to beat them. The Flash recently returning from their Russian victory had a new attitude and quite literally a new looking team.

I think they must have gotten 8 or so new players, some of which had experience with the NFL Europe. It was going to be a tough test. We came out and chose to recieve the ball. The inspired running back, Dino led us down the field in one of our best looking drives so far in the season. We ran left, right, and up the middle on the back of Dino's will. He ran hard and after Michel's pass that got us to the 5, Dino ran in for a Touchdown. As soon as we started celebrating, it was as if Lee Corso himself pulled a "Not So Fast My Friend"... of course holding. Finally we plunged the touchdown in on a Quarterback sneak. Matt and I went on to the line and Matt told me he wanted a silent snap. We rushed to the line and only me and him where moving as we caught them off guard for the touchdown. Where up 7-0 in the makings of what appeared to be a great match. Unfortunately though Dino twisted his ankle on one of the runs and was in pain for the rest of the game.

With a confidence and enthusiasm we kicked off the ball to the Flash. They returned it to the 40 and their offense took the field. I'm not kidding you, their Offensive line was as big as Georgia Tech's starting line, but with one key advantage that you don't find much of in college football... Man Strength! Knowing they liked to run the ball to the tightend side and often on first down, they made a brilliant play call with the play action and scored on the first pass. 60 yards to Number 9, who would turn out to be frog picking flies out of the air. The guy had hands, normally you have guys who drop a ball here or their in France, but not sticky fingers. I wasn't surprised to learn he had almost made the Bengals team.

The rest of the match would look like a bigger brother holding down a little brother. We couldn't seem to get anything going on offense, and as soon as we'd get to 3rd down on defense they'd find a way to make things happen. They ran quite a bit behind their massive line. 21-0 at half. We seemed out of it going into the locker room. That first play touchdown had swept the wind right out from under us and some of the guys looked asleep.

The second half as we walked out of the locker room the Flash were chanting and yelling as we walked through the tiny tunnel out to the field. See their locker room was right upon entering the hallway, while ours was left. As we walked to the field, they were waiting chanting together as a team and it seemed eager to beat up little brother some more. Personally it fired me up because I love playing the cocky arogant teams/players, who think they're God's gift to life. However they would pick up right where they left off. They scored twice more in the 2nd half to go up 34- 7. They didn't even play their americans either, I guess figuring they didn't have to, or giving them a break and the younger guys a chance to compete. As they went to kick the extra point to go up 35-7, I broke through the line with Ludo and Nyda and blocked the extra point.

I was pissed and we needed to come together as a team. After we got the ball back I said we were going to score regardless. The offense needed it, the Cougars needed it, I needed it. With time winding down we made it into the endzone on some good quarterback keepers and hard earned yards. It seemed that we were going to stall on the 4 yard line but then got some good breaks from stupid mistakes/ penalties by the Flash. We finally punched in a touchdown with 0 on the play clock. I was proud. It's what I've learned about the Cougars, about my teamates, about my friends. They didn't quit. They didn't give up. They played til the end. Even when we were physically outmatched they left it all on the field.

After the game I got to talk to the Americans on the Flash, and talk a little bit about our experiences. Seems like they were having a good time and some of the same things when it comes to football. I also noticed that the Spartiates head coach was at the game, kind of different because they should have been playing. He came and said hello to me and is a nice guy. Apparently the Meteores where not able to produce a 2nd ref for the match so they would automatically lose. Instead of going to play the game for pride, their coach decided it was better to just not go at all. A 5,000 Euro penalty for this. So the Spartiates got the win without even stepping a foot on the field.

4 more games to go and in a must win situation, we still have a shot at the playoffs if everything goes our way.

Chantilly....The home of creme, castles, and chevals

Yesterday Coach Mas took Matt and myself to Chantilly to see the chateau there. It was a pretty quick ride. Funny to think that it took the Kings and Queens of the time over 8 hours to arrive from Paris to Chantilly. Coach made the comment that for us 8 hours now means New York, not Paris. The world is definitely getting smaller, which makes you think what it will be like in the next 100 years.

Anyways as we arrived to the Chateau, you could see the overwhelming size of land that belonged to the estate. The Chateau was situated on the left of the cobblestone street, while the Great stables and horse track where on the right. Chantilly seems to be the place for the horse. As I was told... apparently the King who lived in the chateau was so convinced that he would be reincarnated as a horse, that he built an enormous stable just for the horses. It was incredible to see a building of such grandiuer housing just horses. But I'll get back to that later. It was a warm day with no clouds to block the sun from beeming down so we were comfortable in shorts.

First we went into the chateau and looked around through the open rooms. It seemed to me that the inhabitants of this specific place were well intrigued with hunting. There were lions and platypus and stag and horns lining the walls.... that's right a platypus was on the wall. Not to mention the massive amounts of old school weapons. Like staffs, swords, and even a completely silver knife decorated in ornate fassion.

A picture of the all silver knife.

One of the Lions hanging from the wall.

The Orleans family owned the property and then left it over to the Institute of France. Apparently his rule was that you could not move the collection of his library and you could not change the arrangement of his paintings. The painting gallery had frame to frame pictures and was quite a unique layout. The library was imense for a private collection. It also had some cool chairs in the room with built in reading stands to lay the books across your laps. Because some people are just too good to hold their own books!

One of the rooms held this really weird piece of furniture. It looks pretty normal from the bottom up, but once you reach the top you'd think you just found Superman's home planet. The top of the dresser or desk or gun cabinent had huge rocks standing on it. I didn't quite understand this one, maybe you can figure it out.

We went into the chapel built for the king. Probably capable of holding 20 people at a maximum. I started singing old songs from choir class, which I still remember. (sidenote I wonder if I just put every piece of information into a song....would I be able to recollect it on demand? Because some how I can still remember the words from most songs I know) After seeing the chateau on our own, we went on the guided tour into the parts of the castle that requires a chaperone.

We saw a 2 million dollar table that was valued at 4 million. The chandeliers that used to run on candlelight only. The guide would explain that they had to constantly clean the candles and could only use half of a candle before they would change them. This was the second highest price spent on utilities, the first being fresh flowers that were exchanged twice a day. As you woke up the flowers were yellow and as you went to bed they were blue. All of this of course was being translated by coach to us in the back of the room.

Afterwards we walked to a small shop which served amazing desserts. Coach Mas is obsessed with desserts. He was literally a big kid in a candy store and couldn't wait for the creme chantilly. It's actually the place where they invented the creme. Needless to say it's amazing. It is whipped cream with a sweetflavors, sometimes having vanilla in it. It was really good on my chocolate pear pie. I tried to take a picture, but of course we couldn't help ourselves and already began to devour the desserts before I remembered to pull out my camera.

Afterwards we saw a pretty neat animal gladiator competition. Against the birds of the air and the fish of the sea. Ok so a duck and some fish were fighting over bread, but I did get it on camera. Check out below.

Afterwards we walked over to the Great Stables and walked around the horse track. The stables were huge. I couldn't believe that they only housed horses. Ridiculous. But when you think about people in power wasting money on things, it's not too bad! Really though it really is a place to show off the horse. The ceilings and walls were all solid stone and had to be close to 3 stories high. Just for 30 or so horses in the main hall.

All in all it was a good day. I learned later that they have a huge firework competition out on the lawn for all the people to see. It's sometime in June...so might have to check that out. Not a bad place to celebrate the 4th of July if it was in America. Also I learned that Ronaldo got married in the Chateau, and that you can rent out the Chateau for formal occasions. Seems me and Ronaldo have been going to the same places. That's another story for another day.

Check out the pictures HERE