(sulyvain and lyme regis)

Today you get a peep into the day trip that PAB, D'yon, and I took to Lyme Regis during my winter break. Before diving in, however, you also get the cute kid story of the week:

Sulyvain (a weird name even in France) is 6. He's not actually one of my students, but he looks longingly into the room where I take half of his class twice a week for English time, and always proffers a shy " 'ello" before Carine calls him back. This week I arrived at his school (Fabié) a bit miffed at the previous behavior of a few of my fifth graders, and just in time to walk upstairs with the students as they came in from lunch/recess. In the echoing foyer, amidst a chorus of eager 'ellos vying for my response, I felt an earnest tug on my sleeve and a pat on my tummy. Sulyvain was looking up at me through his thick glasses and pronounced with a rather concerned expression, "Emilee, tu sais, j'aime bien quand tu fais le sourire"-- "Emilee, you know, I really like it when you smile." Upon his declaration, Sulyvain immediately fell in with the rest of his class to march upstairs with his line buddy, and I couldn't help but smile on the brink of the challenging class already awaiting me.

And now, ladies and gents, Lyme Regis. It's a small coast town on the English channel chock full of fossily cliffs (the reason the trip had been planned) which, like Bath, also happened to figure in Austen's Persuasion. PAB (that stands for, and is much easier to say than, Pierre-Alexandre Bourbon), D'yon, and I enjoyed a nice drive down from Bristol at the weekend, ready for fossil-hunting, picnicking, and enjoying the coast. Lyme Regis did not disappoint on any of those counts. As with the rest of the trip, we had uncanny weather-luck, putting "Southern France" to shame ;)

Bundly picnic! My gracious hosts D'yon and PAB.

We picked our way around this area for hours, breaking "stones" with our bare hands and occasionally finding fossils. Mostly we found fossil imprints, though.

This was our first fossil encounter of the day--can you see the giant shell imprint on this stone? It's been smoothed over by the tides.

There were lots of slippery, smooth moss-covered areas to walk across, like this one. I only stepped in a puddle once, at the end--thankfully!

My first (and best) real fossil discovery! A vertebrate of some kind.

Old roommates reunited after a productive day of intense fun-making.

I've still got pictures from Cardiff, London, and Bristol on the way--hopefully I'll get them all posted before I bring home lots more pictures from the Spring Break adventures in the works (hint--Paris and Dublin!). I know, I know. I work too hard here. How I'm managing to survive life with a two-week vacation every month and a half or so is beyond me, too ;)