Back to the Basics

Yeah, yeah. I know. I haven't updated my blog in a month. But nothing different has really been happening. My life has remained constant: wake up, school, lunch, school, passing the afternoon with friends, home, sleep. Every day.

I finally have something to write about! Aren't you plum surprised?

We're on vacation now. I'm currently in a small town outside of Carcassonne, France. After the arrival of Abby's mom and her friend Karla, we headed out on a quest to find the most beautiful place in France (more or less). We spent the first night (Friday) in Angers and showed the two newbies around the city. We had some faux-Champagne at my place, then a nice dinner at Abby's. It was brain-draining trying to translate the conversations we were having for them (since Amy and Karla don't speak French). The next day, we headed out in our rented car for the city of Bordeaux, France's favorite city. I think the population is around 700,000, with 1.1 million if you include the surrounding 'burbs. It was an amazing place to stay. Unfortunately, it was only for one night. I think I could have stayed there for a week. I'll make sure to go back someday.

After the trip to Bordeaux, we headed to Carcassonne. Half-way there, we decided to leave the route and go exploring a town called "Villeneuve-sur-Lot". 'Sur-Lot' means it is on the Lot river. There, we found a tiny town with a Notre Dame. It was located on the very top of a small mountain, where we found a cave with a shrine to an angel and Jesus, along other things. It was filled with fresh flowers along with pictures and sculptures of Catholic religious figures. It was quite extraordinary. We then went to the very peak of the mountain and found some old ruins along with a larger-than-life crucifixion of Jesus. I climbed to the top of the rubble and took pictures of the surrounding landscape -- I could see for miles. It was awesome.

After leaving the little town, I took a picture with a particularly interesting road sign. Less than 10 km from Ville-sur-Lot was a small, itty bitty farming village called... Can you guess? "Saint Germain" -- my mother's maiden name. Cool, eh? I'll be posting pictures of all this once the trip is finished.

After the little excursion through the countryside, we headed back to the highway to continue on to Carcassonne. We've set up shop in a small youth hostel. There were 3 girls here, all traveling independently, and a father and daughter traveling around France. It interesting to hear what they're doing and why they've come.

We'll be staying in this hostel for a couple days (leaving tomorrow morning). We've visited twice now a preserved medieval city next to Carcassonne. It's a city completely surrounded by two stone walls, with a castle in the middle (of course). I'll be posting pictures of this, like I said, at the end of our vacation. It's really an incredible place to be. The roads completely cobblestone and very narrow, the buildings old but well preserved (but unfortunately rather commercialized with restaurants and hotels). I have plenty of pictures to help you understand what I'm rambling about.

We're now back at the hostel, relaxing. I'm ready to leave, though. This town was fun, but there's more to see yet.

Next stop: Nimes!