Arles - Salon - Camargue - La Fare

This weekend was couchsurfing in Arles with Giulia. It threw it down all weekend and I had soggy shoes the entire time. Reminds me of home!

Arles is found at the mouth of the river Rhone, it has a Roman amphitheatre and Van Gogh lived there for a while. It's a very small town, but I think it would be quite pleasant to stroll around on a nice day. We however, had no such luck and spent a large amount of time sheltering and drinking coffee!

Our host was a Columbian called Andres, who took us for an apero at his friends house and then let us join in a big end of exams party he was throwing. The party was loud, smokey and international, I spoke to a Peruvian called Ricardo most of the night and he said I'm crazy for wanting to do the Machu Picchu trek!

The next day was spent mostly driving around semi-lost in France. We went to La Camargue, which is a big nature reserve with white horses, black bulls and pink flamingos. We saw a falon. Then we went to Salon and had lunch. Salon is very nice.

We had a powernap at a motorway service station (being lost is tiring!) And I borrowed a map from a less than friendly lorry driver!

Finally we got to La Fare les Olivier; Giulia's new home. It's a small village between Salon & Aix. Tears were shed as we said goodbye.

Wasn't the best couchsurfing experience ever thanks to the weather and the lack of sleep, but it was a nice final weekend together!

Freak Blizzard!

I spent last weekend on the beach wearing t-shirts and sunglasses, it was 20degrees. So imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning to this:

6 inches of fluffy white snow!

It's so weird. Thursday daytime was mild, decent weather, I even went for a walk around the cliffs with Melissa. Then by tea time the skies opened to what was genuinely the most violent storm I have ever seen! I thought my windows were going to shatter they were shaking that much from the thunder, and the lightening lit up the fields as if it were daytime!

So I spent the day sledging with Charlotte :) We made a sledge out of some plastic boxlids and a plastic freezer bag. I was pretty proud of it myself. It's the first time the family has seen snow in the region.

On the downside I was somewhat stranded in Le Beausset beacause we're up a hill, and all the roads were blocked because they were too slippy for the cars to drive up!

Crazy weather. And here was me hoping to swim in the sea again before I leave!

Mont Faron - Mourillon - Giens

Mont Faron with Markus (Thursday)
Mont Faron is the big mountain in Toulon that I went to before Christmas, although we didnt go very far up because it went dark. However, on Thursday me and Markus made it to the summit! It took us about 1 3/4 hours to get to the top and I'm proud to say I climbed the 581m at a fairly brisk pace! The panoramic views from the summit were fantastic, even the weather was nice for us. Going up we took the 'off the beaten track' route through the forest, and worryingly someone had graffiti-ed a sign saying "Masacre Forest - turn back now", fortunately however we weren't masacred and it was a very pleasant hike. On the way down we took the 'off the beaten track' thing one step further and attempted to shimmy down the mountainside over the rocks and shrubbery. In hindsight this was probably rather dangerous as the rocks/shale were loose and I fell on my arse twice. We made it down in one piece and were exhausted afterwards, my buttocks are feeling more toned already!


At the summit :)

Beach day in January with Markus, Debbie & Paul (Saturday)
The weather was gorgeous this weekend, 18°C! So we made the most of it and went to the beach. We went to Le Mourillion, which is a nice part of Toulon with nice beaches and seafront bars & cafes. We sat and watched the sunset then went for a beer. I even paddled a little bit!


Sunset at le Mourillion

Giens with Markus & Debbie (Sunday)
Sunday was yet again a gorgeous day, and we went to a place called Giens. It's about 45minutes away, you head south from Hyeres and drive past all these salt 'lagunas' and on either side is the ocean. Then there's the village of Giens, which naturally was deserted as it was a Sunday (I'm determined to find where all the French go on a Sunday, it's like they all disappear!) We checked out the views and went for a stroll, and ended up at La Tour Fondue, literally 'The Melted Tour'. It's an old fort/military lookout and port overlooking Les Iles des Porquerolles. We sat next to the fort and watched yet another stunning sunset, and I provided much amusement to my friends and passers-by by getting stuck up a wall! I decided I wanted to climb the fortress walls, and did so with the help of a leg-up from Markus. It was an anticlimax to say the least and once I was up there I was too scared to get down! It was really high and I couldn't exactly get down the same way I'd gotten up; you can't get a leg-up-down!? I started shaking and decided I'd better get down before they had to send for the fire brigade, so I ended up jumping down, with Markus kindly catching me/breaking my fall! DOH!


Sunset at Giens

A Wild Boar Stole My Shoe

True story.

I left my beautiful trendy €15 Carrefour supermarket trainers outside by accident one night and in the morning one of them had disappeared. I'm blaming it on the boars that live in the forest behind the house.

Goodbye my dear friends.

Looking for Love... in Swinton?!

Click here!

I wanted to share this article for two reasons.

A) The girl is bonkers!!! She's moved halfway across the world to Swinton!? Of all the nice places in England she chose Swinton?! Even if she's looking for a rough diamond she's in for a tough job, she's more likely to find a dirty lump of coal with a drinking problem, 8 illegitimate kids and a history of unemployment and drug abuse.

B) Aside from the fact that she clearly didn't do her research prior to boarding the plane, her words struck a cord for me:

"That's kind of strange because isn't love the best reason to uproot yourself? Isn't it the best reason to stay somewhere or change your life?"

Made me think, would I actually stay in England for the right guy? Would I stay on the other side of the world for him and leave all my friends and family for good? Guess I'll know when I meet Jason Statham...

French Munch Part II

Stinky Cheese & Steak Tartare
I've already mentioned the importance given to the cheese tray at home here in France, there's always a massive selection of cheeses, and its brought out every evening after the main meal. Well, I promised myself that before I left here I would strap on some balls and become truely French by tasting the greenest smelliest mouldiest cheese in the tray. Well girls and boys, tonight I am truely French! I ate some Roquefort. It was disgusting.

I also recently ate a 3 year old cheese! It wasn't green or slimey, it had just been "maturing"... it was quite nice although the concept of it being 3 years old was a bit disgusting.

Whilst on the subject of fromage, the French find it very bizarre that we English bring out the cheese board after dessert. Here cheese comes before pudding... which [although it pains me to say it] makes sense, why would you want to go savory - sweet - savory?

Yesterday I was making beef burgers for the kids for lunch (the best pure mince meat obviously not the "chemical" stuff - the super health concious mum says everything is chemical, chocolate is the devil etc...) and I was just about to fry the burgers when Charlotte the eldest came over saying "oh please can I have mine raw, please please please"... Raw beef burgers... WHAT?! So I let her make Steak Tartare with her mince meat. I was horrified. I've seen people eat it before but it this time it really freaked me out, you just dont eat raw burgers, you just dont! She mixed the raw meat with raw egg, salt and pepper and ate it all cold. And then she had the cheek to call me weird for putting cheese on my cooked burger!

Here she is tucking in... appetising huh?

Antibes & Cannes

Giulia, Christoper et Moi

First weekend back in France and I'm off exploring. Giulia (Italy), Christopher (Germany) and I spontaneously decided to go visit Antibes. We set off Saturday morning and went to meet our couchsurfing host Cloe (France). She lives just outside the city center in an apartment. She cooked us lunch and then we went into the city center to have a look around. It's very nice, busy compared to Sanary where we live, yet still quiet by Manchester standards. We walked around the port, went on the beach and then wandered through the old town, it's all narrow cobbled streets and quaint little shops. The weather was lovely too, which always makes a place seem nicer. We went to the 'provencial market' which consisted of little stalls selling pottery and other handicrafts, and we went to the Picasso Museum but it was closed!


The Port

We headed back to the apartment and had pizza for tea, then Cloe invited us to go to her friend's house party with her. Apart from the fact that it was chav-themed and we were the only ones dressed normally, it was really good, everyone was super friendly. We stayed for a few hours then went to a bar at the port, it was called Hop Store and it was full of English people!! It turns out Antibes has a huge English population (all middle class southerners). There's even an English grocery store and I bought baked beans, supernoodles and chocolate!!! I was so excited. It was a great night, we talked to loads of English people, made lots of friends and got pissed on corona at €7 a bottle!

On Sunday, after a hangover-curing McDonalds, we went to Cannes. We parked up and walked the length of the huge main road called La Croisette, it goes right along the coast for 2km and finishes at the Palais de Congrés, where the famous Cannes Film Festival is held. It was a lovely stroll, the beach and the ocean on the left and all the designer shops and expensive hotels on the right. We stopped and had coffees on the beach and people watched, even saw two old dears going for a swim! It was nice weather but it's still January! Far too cold for swimming if you ask me!


Les Dames going for a dip

We got back to Toulon around 7pm and finished off a fantastic weekend with a Chinese all you can eat buffet! I'm not too fond of the French's take on Chinese food, everything's in caramel sauce! However their version of Spring Rolls is fantastic!!

Jelly

Jelly, that beloved wobbly thing we eat in England, to the French is the epitome of why English food is disgusting. They HATE it with a passion. So naturally I brought some over to make them like it. Yesterday I made some with the boys. They were quite intrigued and enjoyed making it.

Their verdict: it doesn't have much flavour, it's texture is horrible but it's fun to eat. They ate one bowl between four of them and then didn't want any more. The Dad looked mildly disgusted and I dread to think what the Mum will make of it! She thinks chocolate is a drug and sweets are chemicals...!!!

So my mission to spread the love for jelly has categorically failed. But not worries, more for me!!!

Bonjour 2011

Happy New Year Everbody!

Well I'm back in France after two wonderful weeks at home. It was great being back in Manchester, after 4 months away I'd really started to miss my friends and family. When you're away it makes you appreciate home a lot more, it makes everything at seem fantastic and beautiful. I spent the holidays havings drinks, lunches and coffees with my friends, playing on the Wii with my parents, lounging in my pyjamas, scoffing British food (mainly bacon butties!) and working in my pub. It was splendid!

Getting back here was a nightmare, as usual! I don't know why I keep travelling, I always have the most horrendous luck! I set off from home at quarter past 8 at night on the Sunday to catch the train to London, only to be told I'd cocked up my train reservation and had to buy another ticket - £45 down the drain!! I then spent three hours on the train, followed by a taxi ride in which the cockney driver mocked my northern accent, followed by a 2 hour bus ride to Stansted. I don't know how they get off claiming Stansted is a London airport, it's bloody miles away and a nightmare to get to! My flight was at 8.30 in the morning and I got to the airport at 2am, planning to get some sleep on a bench. However when I got there there were loads of people sleeping on the floor in the check in hall... turns out security isn't open at night!! So I joined the rest of the refugees and got comfy on the floor. At first I chose WHSmiths doorway as my bed for the night, as there was no one else there, however I soon learnt why there was no one else there... the cold metal shutter! So I went and settled under an information board. I'm fairly certain I was the most comfortable person in the airport at that time because being the hardened traveller I am, I prepared for the worst: I had my earplugs, which I take everywhere with me - useful for blocking out noisey hostel dorms or, in this case - idiots hooving the airport floor at 2am! I had a eye mask to make it dark, and my best purchase yet - an inflatable quilted pillow!! By far the best £5 I have ever spent!! I was definitely the envy of the airport! I managed to get quite comfy and get a couple of hours sleep, although it was cold, and I regretted not taking my sleeping bag.

When we finally boarded a whole 12 hours after I left home, I was welcomed back into French living my the French people flying back to Marseille - pushing and cutting in front of my in the queue to board. I got quite annoyed but I had the last laugh when they had to pay excess baggage for their three items of hand luggage! - This is Ryanair, not AirFrance! Clearly not frequent budget flyers comme moi!

When I landed in Marseille we queued for 45 minutes to go through passport control. 45 minutes stood up with a very heavy backpack (full of tea bags!!) I went and waited for Sophia who was arriving from Munich shortly after me and we got the bus together to the train station, then the train to Bandol, and then Sophie (the mum of my family) came and picked me up and took me home. I finally arrived home at 4pm Monday - 20 hours after leaving home in England! I had a quick shower and then started work! EXHAUSTED!

So I'm starting the New Year in France, with my finances in disarray thanks to the fiasco getting home, and my love life is non existent at best, but at least I'm in fairly good health (if we don't count the binge drinking and the the 18 kilos of chocolate I consumed over Christmas!)I haven't come up with any worthy New Years resolutions yet, any suggestions are welcome!

Hello Manchester

I'm finally home!! 1 plane, 2 trains and a tube cancelled but I made it home in time for Christmas. Should have been back Saturday night but my flight was cancelled because of the snow.

So I left my house in France at 4.30am and arrived at my house in Swinton at 5.15pm. One hell of a journey!

Here are the highlights:

At 5.30 in the morning I met a hilarious drunk Scottish man at Marseille airport, who followed me around until I got on my bus at Stansted! He explained to me Boob Theory, metaphors about vanilla, and he sang me a song about meeting a girl at the airport.

I had to beg my way onto the coach to London, but luckily I'm charming so I got the last seat.

I made friends with a very posh business man on the bus to London and we chatted about the wonders of Britain.

Every single mode of transport I attempted to get on was cancelled. And I didn't get one minutes sleep.

It was fun though. Another adventure.

And I am SO happy to be home!!!!