It has been an adventurous last few days. Friday the Bellforissimo Festival began. 20-30 White tents dotted the water way with flower venders from all over the city and a few crepe, wine and meat venders. It seemed everyone in Belfort came out! Everyone was carrying flowers around and I was a bit sad we did not have an apartment yet as I would have loved to bring home some of my own flowers to plant on the balcony. We wanted to taste some of the many wines they offered but for the first time, the language barrier was actually a problem. With so many people around, it was not even worth finding out if any of the venders spoke English as it would be almost un-understandable with all the noise and chaos around. The pictures below are the little flower beds they created specifically for the festival. There was a couple of them on each of the four corners by outside the festival and a few placed nearby. I am assuming it was a paint theme! They used colored chips and flowers to create the "paint" flowing from the tubes of paint. It was very vibrant.
Saturday we made our first trip out of Belfort to Stausbourg to explore Ikea! We came home with a few odds and ends for our apartment, very exciting as it means we will actually have an apartment soon! Soner and I continued on our way about an hour or so outside Strasbourg to visit with a military buddy of Soner's. They greeted us with lots and lots and LOTS of Turkish food. I had not been presented with so much food since i was actually in Turkey. It was nice and little bits and pieces of Turkish began to come back to me. 
^^We found these great little Nutella treats at the gas station with little cookie sticks to dip into the Nutella...heavenly!
The most memorable part of the weekend, the mountain! Sunday we wound our way throughout little towns near Belfort. The towns were beautiful little French villages everyone in the US imagines with their great big windows and shutters that actually open and close. On our way back to the hotel after our little adventures we decided to follow a sign with some kind of symbol on it. Little did we know it would take us about 30 minutes away or so and up a mountain! Ballon d'Alsace. We followed and followed and followed the signs and eventually began to climb a mountain..a very high mountain in my personal opinion. My stomach was in all kinds of knots as we made our way up with the edge so near the road. One false move and I could see my life flashing before my eyes. The view was beautiful from the top although a little chilly. Picture Soner in a t-shirt and shorts and I in a little summer dress, cardigan and sandals and everyone else in anoraks and pants! I told Soner he needs to start speaking Turkish when he is around people so they don't think stupid Americans everywhere we go! Luckily, our return trip down the mountain included a very slooowww tour bus in front of us so I could actually enjoy the scenery instead of practicing my in and out, in and out breathing.
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