La France

So I have returned from France. I had a rather nice time. I am now also convinced that all French men are called Jean.

We rented out a small villa that had a swimming pool and it was really nice.

I kept a sort of diary. Here it is in compressed form:

~First Week~

Sunday: Went to Southampton Airport which was very small. Got on a small plane. Arrived at Avignon airport which was TINY. Arrived and met the owners of the house who live forty minutes away - showed us the house. I was tired. We ate pasta with tomato sauce. I got the green room but actually wanted the blue room (because it was blue).

Monday: We had a lazy day, just swimming in the swimming pool and stuff.

Tuesday: This is the day I actually started keeping the diary, since I had no paper beforehand. It is creepy French paper which is gridded with extra lines in. They don't have lined paper over there. Visited a small French town today. Took some pictures there, visited some churches. On the way there took photos of awesome rock cliff things - local legend says that they are monks that got turned to stone after falling in love with some Moorish women.
















(they're all looming and ominous!)

Wednesday: Visited a small French town named Lurs in the mountains, visited some churches and stuff. Mainly went there for the tourist office, but it was shut on Wednesdays.

Thursday: There was a big lazy cricket in my room. Otherwise a lazy day today.


















Friday: Visited Gorges Du Verdon - very scenic. Then went swimming in a nearby lake. Nice and cool. There was an area of the lake we (well me and my sister) that was bright green. Reminded me of the poisonous liquids in Spyro that you died if you stepped in. Afterwards visited a mountain village.

Saturday: Lazy day. For some reason the main entry for today is about me slicing my thumb open on a bread knife. and there was blood everywhere! :D
but it was only a small cut.

~Second Week~

Sunday: Went to the infamous Lavender fields there.

Monday: Went to Sisteron and visited a citadel with good views over the rest of the town. It has some history to do with Napoleon but I can't remember what. Really hot though and it was really nice in some cellar place we found which was all dark and smelt of that lovely underground smell that you get in caves (but it smells nicer and more natural in proper caves (sadly we didn't visit any caves (they were too far away))).

















































Tuesday: Went to a market, didn't buy anything but there was a dead body there. Covered by a white sheet and everything. Police and firemen (yes France uses the firemen instead of the ambulance in cases like this) wandering around. It turns out he died of a heart attack (not some inventive murder like I imagined) but still, RIP market man.

Wednesday: Dad, Virginia and I went to the observatory and I didn't understand a thing because they spoke French too quickly. But it was nice inside the observatory. All sci-fi-y. They had thirteen telescopes in all. Also they were having a sci-fi film night on the day we left for England; playing Wall-E (would like to see), Star Trek (already seen), Hancock (don't want to see) and Jurassic Park 3 (don't want to see). Not the greatest line up for a sci fi film night IMHO.

















Thursday: Went to another town and market, purchased two pairs of earrings. One is black with some blue and green in, um, an explosion shape and the other are blue dreamcatcher type things. My sister bought a necklace and mum bought some soap and kitchen items. Afterwards went to a lake and went swimming. Not as good as previous lake though because there was no beach. There were rocks that you had to step off to get into the lake.

Friday: Lazy day

Saturday: went home.

^ Oh that was awfully written. I do apologise. See for some reason I only kept the diary for one week and then gave up so the second week I did from memory.

Anyway other things about France:

• BNs!!! I had some!! Photo proof of them (and, um, a packet of Pringles):

(look at them being all happy!)

• Magical French food! (well not magical). They have all this awesome stuff over there that we don't have (but then that's true for pretty much all countries). Crazy cereals - I quite liked the Lion cereal - caramel and chocolate flakes. BNs of course. Other awesome cereals including flavours of Special K we don't get over here. I tried snails. Can't say I was mega impressed. But they were all garlic buttery. Chocolate spready stuff. Rillettes du Mans!! I had that on my sandwiches every day. (just looked it up on Google images. It looks disgusting there. It really isn't). Tried a little bit of Lavendar ice cream. Weird.
• Wearing my blue dreamcatcher earrings now. My first pair of dangly earrings and they feel weird. My head's all "there's something dangling from my ears!".
  
• Trying to extend my sister's vocabulary I gave her a new word each day to learn, although near the end of the holidays I usually forgot to give her one. and she usually forgot what they meant.
  
• Books! I brought seven: Frankenstein (which I had read a third of), a half read Lolita, The Colour of Magic, Mort, Sourcerey, Animal Farm and Northanger Abbey. I liked them all. I also managed to pace myself fairly well so I finished my last book on the second Friday but then had no book for the aeroplane journey. (for those that know me that read this blog if you have any Discworld novels then pleasewouldyoumindlendingthemtome? :D (oh I have just been to the library (the other library, not my usual one) they have a fairly large collection of Discworld novels. I got three out. Which ones I can't remember.)
  
• Speaking of aeroplane journeys it was weird going to France in an aeroplane because before I went on the ferry or the Eurostar/Shuttle. I may have been on an aeroplane to France before mais je ne sais pas.
• By the end of the holiday our house was full of insects. Moths, crickets, flies, wasps, weird beetle things, mosquitoes, spindly legged house spiders (I don't mind these ones), fat house spiders (I abhor these ones. Only when they're moving though); you name it, it was in our house.
• Pool was full of insects every evening when we switched the light on. Usually moths or fly-things. One time in the morning I found two dead big house spiders at the bottom. My sister would insist that I save as many insects as possible with the net.
• One day Virginia came to show me two flies; one was on top of the other, it was obvious what they were doing. Then she goes and says "I wonder what they're doing". She's thirteen dammit, she should know.
  

Our villa:















I would put more pictures in but it is the most annoying thing on blogger because you have to drag them down all the way since they appear at the top. I may make a Photobucket album so you can see them there. OK I have now made an album but it doesn't show up. Screw that. I'll work on it.

Argh that was a horribly horribly written blog post. It has also taken me a day to write it. Started yesterday and added little bits at intervals throughout today.