Friday, September 09, 2016

French Holiday // Days 7 - 10


                                                                               Hey guys!
So here we are, with my final France blog, all about the last 4 days! My aunt & dad worked hard to make sure we all had a fabulous holiday & they definitely delivered, even though we were all shattered by the end of it, as we packed a lot into the time we were away for!

I’ll also be adding in a few little details which I didn’t mention previously (some stuff that wasn’t massively important, or which I can’t remember exactly what day they happened on) so it’s a good blog to finish on!

Again all photos were taken by me on my iPhone 6s!

Enjoy this final instalment!

DAY SEVEN 

This was my dad’s birthday, so we decided to have a quiet day around the village my aunt also spent most of the day cooking an amazing curry (which lasted us the next few days, too). 

I went to the stream with my dad & cousin for a while they were skimming stones, while I was reading a book (I read Tripwire by Lee Child, it was okay but I definitely don’t think I’d read it again!) It’s so pretty & peaceful by the stream, especially to just sit & read/relax for a while!
My brother & cousin dug out the dart board when we got back, so they were playing that for a while & I was keeping score for them! Eventually, we got bored, so my dad drove us around for a while so we could all get phone signal (he wanted to make a few calls/check his texts cause it was his birthday & all) then we headed back after about half an hour.

My aunt had invited some people for dinner Roland (the neighbour who lives opposite her), Midge & Cathol (the friends who invited us for dinner on the second night, who are lovely)! They brought some balloons, napkins & flans, which was so nice of them!
It was a really nice, relaxing day overall, which gave us a nice break from the hectic days before!
 (I'll probably add more photos soon of dinner etc)

 Back to the stream! Didn't take many pics this day

DAY EIGHT

We went to the lake in the next village over (LaBastide Ev Val). We were originally intending to spend the afternoon there, but the water was so cold that I ended up cramping up when I jumped in, I lost a shoe & I just couldn’t swim the weather wasn’t very hot, either, so that didn’t help with the coldness! We decided to call it a day after around an hour.

My cousin made us lunch when we got back toasted bread with cheese & pepperoni, mmm! I decided to go upstairs & finish reading that book, as we didn’t really have much planned after the disappointment of the lake being so cold!
We’d been invited to the b&b in the village, as my brother made friends with the stepdaughter of the owner he’d also got talking to her parents, who’d invited us over for drinks so we headed over there in the evening for an hour or so! It was pretty nice, they were very friendly!

After that, we went back to ours for dinner, as we were eating with another neighbour, Patrice. It was another nice, chilled out evening, which I ended by going for another walk with my dad before bed.

 The lake at LaBastide
 Tree silhouettes

DAY NINE

Today, we were supposed to be going to La Cite (the castle, which has loads of cool shops & restaurants) but we ended up getting pretty lost, as we drove out of the village a different way than we usually would. It was a pretty cool detour, actually, as we drove up the mountains & through a few forest looking areas, but by the time we drove back to the village we were all pretty frazzled.

I went on a walk around the village with my ipod on, taking some photos of things I found pretty or interesting, so I could try & destress a bit I also found a few spots to sunbathe with just my legs in the sun (I was trying to tan them a bit, as my arms & face were more tanned than my legs!)

A bit later on that evening, my dad drove me to La Cite, as there was a certain shop I wanted to go to, but typically, that one shop was the only one that was closed! We still took some time to wander around, though, we also took some pictures of the castle (& us)!

 Vibrant flowers against a wall
 An old water pump in the village which is now a sheltered seating area
 I really liked this house & its cute turquoise shutters
 La Cite/Carcassonne Castle

DAY TEN

The final day!
My aunt spent the morning frantically tiding the house (she rents it out when she isn’t there, so she had to make sure it was neat & tidy) so we all went out for walks to get out from under her feet yes, we did offer to help, before you ask!

My dad & I went for a final walk around the village, taking pictures & chatting. We also stumbled across some donkeys, which we’d been hearing the whole time but hadn’t seen until this final day! We went to the shop with my brother & cousin too, as we’d bumped into them back at the house, but by the time we went back to the field, the donkeys had gone again!

We said goodbye to everyone in the village that we know, then went back to La Cite to see if the shop I wanted was open. Luckily, it was, so I bought myself some pretty postcards & we went for lunch at a restaurant (I didn’t eat there though, I didn’t really fancy anything.)
Once we’d dropped the car off & got to the airport, we went to the café there & I got a tuna salad wrap. We were pretty early for our flight again, so we all ended up logging into the wifi at the airport for a bit.
Again, my dad was meant to have the window seat, but let me have it for the reasons I mentioned in my first blog! It was really nice flying back it was evening, so the sun was reflecting off all the ponds/lakes, etc the whole time!


 Donkeys!


View from a road just outside the village

Things I forgot to mention :
·      I can’t remember which day we first saw him, but there was a cool dog called Hades who kept hanging out with us he’d sit in the street with us when we were sitting outside, or follow us to the stream when we went there. His owners are the people who own the b&b!



·      I took most of the photos, I wasn’t really in many, which is why I haven’t included any photos of myself in this post. Similarly, I didn’t want to post photos with my family in, so it’s mainly scenery etc

So, that’s the end of my summer holiday blogs! I hope you enjoyed them as much as I enjoyed writing them! Please feel free to comment what your favourite parts/photos were & give me feedback in general!

Until next time!  

Wednesday, September 07, 2016

French Holiday // Days 4 - 6



Hey guys!


So, I’m back again with blog number two of my holiday in the South of France! This post will focus on the middle 3 days of the holiday & will probably end up being the longest post of the 3!


Also, again all the photos in this blog post were taken by me on my iphone 6s!

Enjoy!


DAY FOUR

My Aunt decided to book us into a couple of hotels on this holiday, so we could visit a few new places! The first one was in a place called Gruissan, which is a seaside town! 


It took a while to get there, but it was definitely well worth it, as our hotel was literally right on the edge of the beach we had balconies in our rooms, too (my brother & dad shared a room, while me, my aunt & cousin shared another one) & the view from the balconies was pretty much just of the beach!

We decided to get lunch at a restaurant next to the hotel, as we were all starving by the time we arrived! I decided to go for tapas which was definitely a good move, as I loved everything I had!


We spent the afternoon at the beach we all went in the sea for a while throughout the afternoon, although obviously we always had at least one of us guarding our stuff then we headed back to the rooms to shower & get ready, as we were going to head to the marina for dinner.


It was so pretty at the marina there were loads of really picturesque houses dotted along one of the shores, along with loads of palm trees & boats (of course). We wandered around for a while, looking for a restaurant that we all liked the look of (I originally really fancied paella) & in the end, we found one with several amazing sounding set menus, so we went there & I’m so glad we did! I had mussels for a starter, steak for a main & a massive profiterole for dessert (I included pictures in case anyone is interested at all, haha). My dad & aunt treated us to dinner, too, which was lovely of them (thanks again if you’re reading this!)

We wandered around the shops/stalls for a while after dinner (& a man old enough to be my father told me that I was beautiful, lol). When we headed back to the hotel, we all decided to go on a moonlit walk on the beach (apart from my dad) & I went for a paddle because why not! After I got changed into my pjs, I joined my aunt & cousin on our balcony, which was so peaceful with the sounds of the ocean. My cousin & I also played Pokemon Go a bit earlier in the day & both caught a Ponyta, which made me smile.

I could quite happily have slept on the balcony, as it was so cool & peaceful, but in the end I’m glad I didn’t, as the next day it was back to being scorching hot!

My delicious tapas!
View from our balcony!
Houses at the marina
Starter - mussels
Main - steak & fries
Dessert - profiterole
A cute palm tree & chalet thing



DAY FIVE


My dad’s dream for the past 10 years or so was to see the Millau viaduct suspension bridge (I’m not entirely sure of the exact name of it) so today’s trip was mainly about going there/driving over it!


It was a pretty cool experience driving over it the views were amazing but it was even better when we stopped so we could take some photos of it! I ended up taking a load of photos of it & of my dad with it, before we headed up to the information centre to see if there was actually an observation point! There was, so we walked up to it (I say walked, it felt like a hike to me because it was all steep uphill walking & I definitely struggled with it because I’m so unfit) but it was worth it in the end for the amazing views!


We spent quite a long time there before we headed to our next hotel. I can’t actually remember where it was though, oops.

We had a mini suite so 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, 2 toilets & a terrace but the views were insane! The terrace also led down to the swimming pool, so it was even better! We spent ages in the swimming pool my cousin & dad were teaching me how to do handstands in the pool for a while doing a load of swimming! After we’d showered & looked at the insane view for a while, we headed out for dinner.


Sadly, the restaurant wasn’t as great at the one we went to the day before the staff had a bit of an attitude & I personally didn’t really enjoy my food all that much, plus there wasn’t much choice but my dad & aunt treated us to dinner again, so thank you again! (I included pictures of my food again cause if nothing else, it was photogenic!)

View of the bridge from the observation point
View of the bridge from near the car park
One of the rooms in the hotel suite
Our balcony/terrace
A cute building
Disappointing dinner (I didn't like the sauce)
Lemon sorbet!
The view from our hotel room



DAY SIX


We had an amazing breakfast again the hotel made their own bread & croissants, plus they had cereal, fruit, meats, yogurt, etc so after we’d sampled most of it, we went for another swim! Everyone else had gone swimming before breakfast, but apparently I was dead to the world, so I didn’t go then I wasn’t going to go in after breakfast, as I wasn’t really in the mood, but I’m glad I did end up going in, as I had a good swim in the end! 


After we checked out, we decided to head to a town called Pezenas which has some beautiful architecture & an amazing bead shop my aunt & I spent a while in there looking! The actual shop is pretty small, but they have a courtyard outside which has so many amazing beads too! The boys got bored quickly, as there weren’t many shops they liked the look of & it was a really hot day, so we didn’t stay there for long. Before we left, my dad & I decided to go to a Japanese restaurant for lunch, as I was craving sushi. However, we both ended up going for bento boxes, which were delicious! The only thing I didn’t like about the restaurant is the fact they put down a bowl of edamame beans for us, which they didn’t mention would cost us money, so when we got the bill we were annoyed to see they were chargig us 5 euros just for a few beans!


When we got back to my aunts, we waited till around 5ish, when the shops opened again, so we could get some stuff for dinner & so I could get some more euros out (I seriously underestimated the amount I was going to need for the amount of time we were away for).

We ended up eating dinner outside my aunt’s house (the streets are pretty narrow, so sometimes people will bring tables & chairs outside so they can eat outside) which was a nice change! My dad & I went for a long walk around the village before I went to bed, too!

Bridge full of flowers over a dried up canal

Pretty flower garlands strung inside a building
Some of the beads in the courtyard (ft mirror selfie)
Tasty bento box!



So, that’s the busiest 3 days of the holiday summed up! It was so tiring but so worth it all, I think they were probably my favourite days of the whole holiday too. My aunt put so much time, effort & money into planning everything for us to have a perfect holiday, so thank you so much for everything! 


Keep your eyes peeled for my final post about our last few days! I can’t promise that it’ll be as interesting as this one, but it’ll sum everything up & have some more photos!