the bing mafia

It was the weekend we had all been waiting for: Bing Trip weekend. A weekend of culinary extravagance and cultural overdose, of castles and 7:30 wake up calls. For those of you who aren't familiar with the Bing family, they are Stanford grads who made their fortune in real estate and revolutionized the Overseas Studies Program. They pay for all of the students in all of the overseas programs to go somewhere in the country they're staying in for a weekend and have an eye-opening cultural experience. We paid 25 euros - they paid for 6 huge meals, lodging, and airfare. Not a bad deal?

Carcassonne is a small city in Southern France that they've kept in medieval condition - we stayed in the Hotel de Donjon (=dungeon) and walked on cobblestone streets around 12th century cathedrals for 2 nights. Then this morning, we drove to Toulouse, where we toured the Airbus 380 factory (the huge, huge planes - Dad was very excited about this) and wandered around the city.

It was really fun getting to know the other Stanford students better - we've had a few weeks to meet and greet, but staying in the same hotel sort of forced closeness. We got a little tired of the guided tours, but it was an amazing weekend overall. See for yourself!

Night of arrival:




The Carcassonne Cathedral (we're freezing here):



Castles from hither to yon:





Toulouse (if you can't tell, Natalie and I are saints here):