So I've been gone, I guess? Since 2012. But I'm back! For a little bit. This will be one very long post concerning my travels in France. This was all written up on word while I was actually... in France. It's over 3000 words and 6 pages long. (A Home Again update will follow.) Brace yourselves...
Day 1. (August 10th)
The South of
France (le Sud de France?) looks just how you would imagine it does, only
better and more beautiful. The toll roads, which we stuck to for the better
part of the 9 hour drive, are clean and well-kempt, but boring, and have the
tendency to pass by the major cities rather than run through them. We get
glimpses of cathedrals, ruins, and pretty French cities over the metal railings,
but it's an altogether unsatisfying view.
The country
roads, however, are exquisite. I don't think I've ever used the word exquisite
to describe something before, as I am not a posh Englishwoman describing a
glass of wine, but they really are. They're not as well maintained as the toll
roads, and the twists and turns and unprotected ditches that drop down several
metres would scare some people, but in the sunlight the fields gleam dark
green, bright green, brown-green and even blue, as do the vineyards, the fields
of maize and olives, the muddy little lakes and the creamy white villas. It's
how I imagine the Greek island of Corfu to look, from the descriptions in
Gerald Durell's memoir, My Family And Other Animals.
And the
little towns... my god. Imagine this: you're driving along a stone road between
rows of houses all made of seven different kinds of brick; there are shiny
French people wandering the pavement, all brown and dressed in bright reds and
oranges; you pass a boulangerie, a patisserie, and several corner cafes where more
brown French people sit sipping from tiny cups; then you round a corner and you
see, in a little courtyard off to the left, a crowd of formally dressed people
milling around what looks like a movie set – I think it was a wedding reception
or something like that. The courtyard is so brightly lit by the sun that
everything shines brilliantly, and there are flowers everywhere. It was like
something out of another world – so different from my normal Kiwi lifestyle.
The last
little stretch was rife with massive chateaus nestled up on the hills or
bearing down on the smaller residential areas. We saw ruins off in the distance
(ruins are quite common here), and lots and lots of sunflower fields.
The house
we've booked to stay at for the next two weeks is so, so nice. There are five
bedrooms in all, each with an en suite bathroom with shower and/or bath, and
all the rooms are themed – mine is gold, Ellie's is pink, Jess and Oliver's is
sapphire blue and Nai and Andrew's is emerald green. I'm not sure what Nana and
Papa's is. There's also a sizeable kitchen, lounge, and dining area, a huge
laundry, and a backyard that looks out over a lake. We have a pool, too, and a
barbecue.
Last night
we sat outside for dinner (barbecued chicken, roast potatoes, grated carrots,
capsicum stuffed with olives and mozzarella, and cous cous with tomato), but I
was so tired and miserable from the journey here that I couldn't really enjoy
it. I'm actually writing this on the 11th, since there's no way I
could have mustered the energy to type a journal entry yesterday. Some wasps
came along and started buzzing around the food so I went back upstairs
(everyone was finished eating by this point), and watched a few episodes of
Soul Eater before going to sleep at about 9pm.
Day 2. (August 11th)
I woke up at
around 6-7 this morning. I can't be quite sure because my clocks are all wrong,
but it was very early. The window in my room (and most of the others) has a
switch-powered shutter that, when lowered while the air is cool, keeps that
cool air inside all night. It also keeps the light out, so when I woke up I was
blind – couldn't even see my hand in front of my face. I turned on the bathroom
light (which blinded me more for a few seconds), and since 8am have been
watching Soul Eater and playing Solitaire. It is, apparently, almost 10 now,
but I'm not sure that's right since I haven't had a definitive answer on the
time yet.
It took a
while for everyone to get up but I think they all are by now. I'm pretty sure I
can get away with doing absolutely nothing for a few days. Everyone seems to be
in the same tired, unfocussed frame of mind (except Ellie, Jess and Oliver, but
they're all under 14 years of age so it's probably to be expected). The problem
is that when Nai and Nana etc say “We're going to do nothing for three days!”
they really mean “We're going to socially do nothing for three days, together!
But we're also going to swim and take walks, which isn't actually nothing.” In
short, I'm going to encounter at some point a knock on the door and someone
coming in to say, “Rosie, we're taking a two hour long ramble along the shore
of the lake,” or, “Rosie, we're going to the beach,” both which end with, “Do
you want to come?” to which my answer is, always, whether I'm on holiday
or not, “Fuck no.”
But we'll
see what happens. For now I'll sit in bed in my room with the curtains drawn,
watch Soul Eater (episode 7 and a half already!) and try to avoid everyone.
–
So it's now
5.20pm. I've sat outside with everyone, played table tennis with Roo, eaten
lunch and watched the Polar Special episode of Top Gear with Jess. But Nai just
came into my room and asked me why I was sitting in my room, and she sounded
quite cross. She obviously doesn't know me very well (understandable,
considering we see each other once every 3-5 years). I'm an introvert, with a
bit of extrovert mixed in. I can be very social, I like parties, and there are
many people who I love spending time with, but a lot of conversation and
interaction does eventually wear me down. Add to that the fact that I've just
spent 4 days travelling and have had awful hayfever and a cough for two of
those days, and you have a pretty big incentive for me taking some alone time.
I have NEVER been a super outgoing person. I value very much the hours I spend
watching tv shows alone. It's just what I do.
Truthfully I
would happily give up this entire vacation for my room in Woodville again, but
only if no one noticed me being gone. I miss the internet, I miss my bed, I
miss not being cripplingly tired by 9pm, I miss being alone 24/7 and being able
to slouch upstairs after work to catch up on my youtube subscriptions and watch
my tv shows and drink Coke. But I'm not going to complain about any of that
(aloud) while I'm here, I'll just breathe a massive, pent-up sigh of relief when
I finally step through my door again in just over two weeks' time.
The good
thing is that while it is sweltering outside, inside it's quite cool. If this
were like a New Zealand summer, when it's just hot everywhere, I
wouldn't be able to handle it at all.
Day 4 (August 13th)
So I feel a
lot better now. Yesterday was really nice. We went to la supermarche two
towns over and did a big shop. I got some chips and pistachio nuts and coke
etc. I read about 100 pages of my book (Sailor Song) in the lounge where it's
nice and cool, and then after dinner we played a game of Yahtzee. It was super
super hot yesterday but I didn't feel it that much.
Today we're
having a quiet day and then going to the night market at the town we were in
yesterday. I think it starts at around 8.30.
I'm still
peeved about not having internet. Most of that peevishness comes from not being
able to contact Cecile, who is no doubt waiting for me to let her know when I
can visit. I'm also wondering about less important stuff like the current state
of my blog, and how many likes my recent facebook statuses have. Charmaine (the
lady who owns this house) isn't sure when the internet will be back on though.
Things move quite slowly in the South of France. The cause for all this is a hailstorm
that happened a couple weeks back. Hailstones the size of golfballs destroyed
the sunflower and grape crop near us – driving past we can see the damage quite
clearly, bent stalks and broken supports and petal-less heads all facing down
sadly.
So I guess
I'm just going to spend another hour or two upstairs watching Soul Eater
(epsiode 15 now) and eating pistachio nuts before I go down to sit outside.
It's getting to the hottest part of the day (11am-4pm) and I really don't like
sitting in direct sunlight. It hurts my eyes and it's altogether very
uncomfortable for me. The fact that I spend all day everyday indoors back home
probably contributes to this, but that's just me I guess. Some people, like Nai
and the kids, love it. At least Andrew also doesn't seem to like it much,
either, so I'm not alone in that.
Day 5 (August 16th)
Was really
good today, sat outside for quite a while and may even have a tan... not much
else to report from today though. Andrew and Roo went fishing and the rest of
us watched for a little bit and I went... swimming.............. after dinner.
Day 6 (August 15th)
Today we
went to Sarlat! It’s this really, really old town (established 1550 or
something?). We stuck to the old areas rather than explore the shiny new
streets, which I much preferred. They were shadier too. We had lunch at a nice
little cafe. I had tomato soup with garlic basil and croutons, and the others
had croque monsieurs and paninis. I bought two postcards and a little string
doll thing, basically using up the rest of my cash. We still don't have
internet so I can't do any internet banking, which really sucks.
We had yummy
barbecued salmon for dinner. Nana and I did, anyhow. The rest of them had
squid. Blegh. I did try some though! Didn't like this particular squid much but
I'm not going to write it off altogether.
Day 7 (August 16th)
I'm not
doing very well with keeping up with this!! It's actually the 18th
today and I've had to go back and write entries for the 16th and 17th.
Sooooo
'today' I had a free piano lesson from Timothy, the teenage boy who lives next
door. I was pretty much forced into it by Charmaine, his mum, who owns the
house we're staying in. I went over there just to ask about the internet (which
we still do not have), and then I asked who was playing the piano. Turned out
to be Tim. He's 15 but he looks 18 (we were all surprised by how old he is) and
like Charmaine he's English. So a couple hours later I went next door and he
taught me some stuff. He's very funny and I had a good time. I'd say 30% of it
was serious piano playing and the other 70% was joking around. We really
clicked in terms of humour. You know when you’re talking to someone and you’re
just a completely different wavelength to them? Like you’re speaking a
different language and it’s just… awful. It was nothing like that with Tim. I
hope it's not gross to say that he's really cute. Nai agrees with me there...
At about 4pm
we went to St Emilion, which is a lovely little place... somewhere. It took
some time to get there – bout 40 minutes I think. Could've been 20 minutes. Not
sure. Anyway, it's basically a town of wine shops and wine makers, and it also
has this tower called Le Tour De Roi, which means The Tower of the King. This
tower is advertised as having 100 steps but actually has 118. We climbed all of
those steps and spent about 10 minutes at the top before going back down. I
hated it because a) upwards movement is bad, b) the steps were very uneven,
narrow, dark and scary and c) it was stupid. After the tower though we had a
little wander up the streets of the main part of town. We only stopped once, at
a wine shop helmed by a “dishy” (Nai's words, not mine) English bloke. Nai and
Andrew bought 3 bottles of white wine and then we went home.
My legs
still hurt from climbing that tower. It would've been fine if it weren't so
scary but because on the way down I was so tense and shaky I now have very sore
thighs. They're fine now except for when I'm going down stairs or sitting on
the loo.
We got back
from St Emilion at euhhh... I'd say 7pm? And had dinner, can't remember what...
I think chicken and sausages. After dinner I went swimming and it was rubbish because
Ellie was being all show-offy. I ended up getting out after 10 minutes.
Day 8 (August 17th)
'Today' we
went to Bergerac! A big city about 50 minutes drive away. It was very busy when
we got there and it took a wee while to find a park because there was a market
on in the square, but we finally found a place in an inside parking thingy.
I pretty
much had only two things on my mind the entire time we were there and they were
a) my lack of money and b) the stall I'd seen from the car on our way round to
find a park: a stall that sold... One Piece figures. Something I never
thought I'd see in the middle of a smallish day market in the South of France.
I mean, I was really, really surprised, and very pleased.
Before
leaving I'd called Mum and asked if she could put $100 in my account because
without internet I couldn't get on Kiwibank to transfer money between my
savings and eft-pos accounts. When we got in the car and got going though, I
realised that she might put it in the wrong account, so I was worried about
that the whole way there.
Thankfully
she chose the right one. Ellie and I went off in search of an ATM (called an
ATM, still, in France, according to Andrew). I withdrew a whole 60 euro which
meant I could both pay Ellie the 16 euro I owed her AND buy two One Piece
figures (a Zoro and a Luffy) AND a Strawhats pirates flag, the likes of which I
had seen hanging on the walls of certain bloggers in their selfies and wanted
for a long, long time. Those three things were 28 euro all up (I worked out
later that there is 62 euro to every 100 NZ dollars, which means those three
things I bought cost $45 – not bad!)
We didn't
get back until 7pm, had dinner (pasta) at 8, then strawberries for dessert, and
I went upstairs at 9. I watched some of Soul Eater (up to episode 31 now) and
some of the Top Gear Botswana special before going to bed at 11.45.
Day 9 (August 18th)
And that
brings us to the current day! Thankfully we're having a quiet one. Andrew and
Roo are off fishing (or were – I think they're back now) and the kids are in
the pool. I'm writing this up in my room and eating the cashew nuts that I
bought a couple days ago.
Day 12 (August 21st)
The days have
started to blend together and I'm not entirely sure what I did two days ago.
Yesterday we walked 8 kilometres (5 miles) there and back to Villefranche en
Lonchat, the village closest to our manoir. It was torture, pretty much.
I wasn't particularly out of breath but my feet were killing me, and I got this
awful pain in my ankles. And all this for a market that wasn't even on! We got
drinks at a cafe instead and then walked all the way back, after which Papa,
Andrew & I went to the Intermarche to get dinner.
I think...
on the 19th we did nothing at all? Or I did nothing. Ah yes, I
remember: everybody except me went to a market someplace (I didn't go due to a stomach-ache).
Later in the day the Chances went to see about this canoeing trip we wanted to
do and to find the train station in Montpon. Nothing much else happened.
And today
we did go canoeing. I was not happy about being paired with Ellie
because she was fucking useless. We trailed behind Nai and the others
the entire way. I haven't much good to say about today at all, except that I
finished reading American Gods. I'm really super pissed off with Jessica. She
is sweet but when she insults you she says it in this cutesy little voice just
like normal, as if you shouldn't be offended. Still, she's only 11, and I
probably shouldn't be so mad.
Ahhh, only 2
full days left! I'm sad and happy at the same time. Some days have been really
wonderful, and some places, too. I've taken some amazing photos and bought some
cool stuff, but I'm really ready to go home now. I don't like being around so
many people for so long, especially people who all except so much of me. I want
to get back to Woodville and my 10-5 job and my cosy bed and my morning chats
with Mum and my afternoon chats with Nick. I haven't been to see Cecile either
which I feel massively guilty about.
I'm also
itching to get on the internet. It's been about 11? 12 days? And I just
really... want... to go on... I want to catch up on my youtube subs and check
my tumblr most of all. I bet I have several messages from Cecile asking me
what's going on too.
Nana and
Papa's anniversary dinner is tomorrow. I'm fairly sure that the day after that,
the last day, we won't be doing much at all. I suppose I should make the most
of the time I have left.
Day 13 (August 22nd)
Good day
today – it's Nana and Papa's 40th wedding anniversary (the ruby
anniversary), so tonight we went out for dinner and it was really nice. We went
to this Spanish restaurant 5 minutes away. The menus were in French but the
food was Spanish, and our waitress was Spanish too, so when I asked for “plus
de l'eau, s'il vous plait” (more water, please) she got confused and said the
Spanish word for water. Luckily Nai and Andrew have been to Spain and speak a
little of the language, and we got the message across. Nobody got the wrong
food or anything, but the lady did bring us a small bucket of ice instead of
the wine glasses that Andrew asked for (he said glass, which sounds the same as
the word for ice). I had steak and chips and then crème brulee. Most of the
others had a ham entree and then pork, which was the set menu (and cheaper),
then crème brulee, but Nai and Roo had paella and since I don't like ham I just
had a main.
Earlier
today at breakfast Nana and Papa opened their cards and presents. Nai and
Andrew got them a framed, blown up version of one of their wedding photos. It's
pretty incredible to think that they've been married just a little less than
twice as long as I've been alive.
We went to
this town after breakfast, called R... something. It was completely dead – no
cars on the roads, barely any people – because French people sleep during the
middle of the day in summer due to the heat. We got drinks at a little cafe and
then walked around a bit, stopping mostly to look at this partly ruined castle
from the early 1300s. It was closed though, so we couldn't do the tour. The
castle was this sandy creamy white/brown colour, and bits of it were very run
down, but we read on the information at the tourist centre that they’ve been
doing renovations on it for a while. We also walked around the back of the
castle and up a little hill to a church (also closed). When we started back
down the bell in the bell tower started ringing, and it didn’t stop for quite a
while. I’m not sure what that meant. A faulty bell maybe? A faulty tower? Haha
faulty tower…
When we got
back I read heaps of my book (The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle). It's not a
very long book to begin with, only 244 pages. I think I read 150 or so today.
After that we went to dinner and now I am upstairs in my bedroom about to go to
sleep!
Day 14 (August 23rd)
Today is our
last full day!! I'm equal parts happy and sad. On the one hand I will miss
everyone a lot, but on the other I am so ready to go home. I just wish I didn't
have to endure 30+ hours of planes and airports to get there. I'm absolutely
dreading Hong Kong airport because of what happened last time. I was so
incredibly exhausted but I couldn't sleep because I had to watch Ellie and the
bags. She just went right to sleep and left me to fight to stay awake in the
departure lounge. Our stopover is even longer this time. I thought of nothing
but my cosy bed the entire way to London, and I doubt it will be any different
on the way back.
So I've
packed most of my things (our suitcase seems a lot fuller than it was when we
got here, though we don't have much more stuff) and tidied my room. There are
just a few things I've left out, such as my bathroom bits (contact lens stuff,
toothbrush, toothpaste) and some more fragile things (notebooks, a drawing from
Roo, an embroidery pattern for mum) that I'll pack last.