Another Part of France

Wow, I'm really behind on my blog! Oops, sorry! These last few months have flown by and when I turned my calender to March I kinda freaked out. It's already March! It feels like I just arrived in Rennes yesterday! I'm getting really sad as the days go by. There is just so much still to learn and see! The hardest will be saying good-bye to all my peeps here in France. No offense, but I have the MOST amazing people in my life! So many people have helped me and have been so kind to me, and I have done absolutely nothing to deserve it. I'm so lucky!

So, where do I even start! January...nothing really super special happened. That month really flew by! February the kids had two weeks off of school. The first week we went to the cinema, to the museum, and to the science exhibition. Oh, and of course the park. The second we I was able to get off so Jennifer, Sheridan and I got to explore the South-West of France. We all met up in Bordeaux and rented a car. We got to see a lot of different cities! I took tons of pictures but I won't be able to put them all up. I will just put a few from each place I went to and write a little bit about them under the picture. That's probably the easiest and fastest way to catch up!

St. Emilion. This is where macarons were invented...by nuns. So you know they have to be good! And they are!  This was our first city we visited on our trip. Even though we got lost before we arrived, it was worth it. Very cute, small town. I just realized that I didn't buy a macaron while I was there. 

We traveled through wine country! There were fields and fields of vineyards! It was crazy! It's like Idaho, but with grapes! I wish we were there while the grapes were in season because I'm sure it's prettier. I don't know what that building is in the background...well it's not really a building anymore. It's a wall of what use to be a building. 

Another viewpoint of the city of St. Emilion with Jennifer and Sheridan. My American friends. Love them. 

Next city, Sarlat-la-Caneda. Pretty much the whole city was like this picture. Very cool and medieval like. We met an artist there who was from England but hadn't been back for 15 years. He was super weird and had a lot to tell us about some cult/group/I don't even know what. We just listened, and smiled, and nodded. Then looked at his artwork and ran away. 

I'm actually not sure what this was. I didn't go down there but I took the picture instead. I think it was water...but it was cool looking. Oh, I was basically in charge of all the pictures because Jennifer forgot her camera and Sheridan's camera had almost zero battery left. 

Next, Rocamadour! Breathtaking! Beautiful! I loved it here! This little village is built into the rocks of the mountain with the castle at the top! Unfortunately, the castle was closed and there was hardly anyone there! I'm pretty sure we were the only visiters there that day. We parked our car and hiked up into the city and I was a little scared because no one was on the streets and the first thing I see are two dead birds lying on the ground....and then I thought maybe there was a disease that spread through this city that's killing all the animals and people. haha. But then I saw some nuns and everything was okay. 

This is a view of the city before we got there. It's literally built within the mountain. I'm standing next to a cliff. It was so freaking awesome! 

View within the city looking up towards the top of the cliff! I wonder who thought of building a city here. Oh look at that really cool cliff, that would be a great place for a village! That's like the last place I would think of putting a village. But I'm glad they thought of it, because it was really cool. 

After Rocamadour, we had some fun with a flat tire...on our rental car. Just imagine, three American girls in the middle of France with a flat tire. Ok, you can laugh. Because we sure did. Until we got the bill that apparantly insurance doesn't cover flat tires. So stupid. 

Yes, that is me wearing a bright yellow vest. It was needed. We were in a mountainous region of France with cliffs next to us and little, windy roads. So I went down by the curve to warn other cars to slow down and not kill the other girls who were trying to change a tire. Luckily for us, the first car that came by stopped and asked if we needed help. So kindly, this man who was on vacation with his wife and son, stopped and helped us change the tire. And we were on our way again!

Next city, Saint-Cirq-Lapopie. I love saying Lapopie. This was also another city built within the mountains. Crazy people who build cities within mountains. It was also amazingly breathtaking and beautiful! It was also very deserted and basically everything was closed for the "off-season." Luckily we found one, rather expensive, restaurant that was open. So we ate there for lunch. Also worth noting, and I wish I took a picture, we saw the cutest puppy there! I wanted to cry it was so cute! The family clearly noticed us freaking out about there dog and they just laughed about it. I should have asked them if I could pet it. Or at least get a picture so you could see how adorable this puppy was! Okay, moving on.

Just another view of Saint-Cirq-Lapopie. 

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Another half-torn down wall. 

Next city, Cahors. I wasn't really impressed by Cahors and I could have skipped out on it. Sorry all you Cahorians. Because I know you all read my blog. This picture is of some random clock thing. It was....cool.

Next city, Carcassonne. Actually we didn't really visit the city of Carcassonne, but the castle and ramparts of Carcassonne. It was a really neat place! We got in for free to the castle because of our visas. I love when that happens. 

That is the castle behind me. 

Entrance to the castle. Yes, I am in the doorway. 

I don't know. Do you know? 

Cannon balls. I never really understood how cannon balls could do much damage. But after seeing these I realized that I would never want to get hit by one, or have my house get hit by one. 

Next, the city of Pau. We stayed with Annalise and she was kind enough to show us around Pau. She took us to this great spot where there is a good view of the sunset. It was really pretty. 

The castle of Pau behind me...I think. It was small.

Sauveterre-de-Bearn. So this was a very small town and not much to it, but for some reason I really liked it. There was old ruins of a drawbridge over the river. 

Path that leads to the drawbridge. 

Part of the drawbridge

I was so scared of falling!

Next city, Ainhoa. I honestly am not sure why we went here. There was nothing. Okay, there were white buildings with red shutters, but other than that nothing. 

Biarritz! Love it! This place is famous for the surfing. I love the ocean and beaches and I want to leave here someday. I wish we could have spent the whole vacation there! I also wish that it wasn't cold! I hope that I can go back there before I leave France, but I doubt it!

There were crosses on those rocks. I'm not sure what that's about...or how someone made it to the rocks to put them on it.

Last, but not least, Bordeaux! How to describe Bordeaux? It was big. It was French-like, but not like Paris. I liked it, but I don't know if I would go again...well maybe I would, but I felt like I saw everything that I would need to know about Bordeaux. I also think that since it was the end of our trip that I was just super exhausted and not very motivated to explore all that I could in the short time that we had there. We grabbed some kebabs and ate on the steps of this monument. 

There was also the big river whose name I know but forgot, that runs through. It was a super nice day. Probably the nicest day of our trip. 

Another monument

Another...monument? 

The church...very gothic looking. Very dark looking. I'm glad my church doesn't have gargoyles on it. They scare me. 

This is the bell tower for the church. Normally they are in the church but they built this one in a separate building so the the bell wouldn't rumble the church. Yes, we paid to climb the very numerous amount of steps to the top of the tower. 

A view of the church 

A view of Bordeaux from the bell tower. It was worth the stairs! This is also a good picture to put in your head about what Bordeaux looks like. 

There were many, many other photos that I didn't put on here. I just don't have the time, or the patience (it takes FOREVER to download pictures onto my blog!) If you are my friend of facebook you can look at the rest of them. It was a much needed vacation and I was very happy to see another part of France. I hope I will be able to see other areas before I leave. I have been told numerous times that the area I live, Bretagne, is where everywhere in France goes for vacation. I have only been to St. Malo and le Mont Saint Michel (which is either in Bretagne or Normandie) so hopefully I will be able to explore more of Bretagne also!


Je dois pratiquer mon francais maintenant! J'espere que avant je pars pour l'Etats-Unis que je saurai savoir plus de francais! C'est vraiment difficile mais je l'adore beaucoup! C'est vraiment joli! Je suis enthusiaste pour ma mere de venir en France cette juillet! Nous allerons voyager a plusieurs des pays en Europe!