Opa and Oma's Visit and Aix en Provence with Sam

We started the week with a visit from my Oma and Opa. They arrived in the afternoon with a huge camper van. It was so cool! There were two plush seats in the front and two behind it for relaxing. In the back there was also a bed, toilet and cooking facilities!

The next day was quite exciting with a visit to Château de Tarascon. It's a grand fort with the Rhone river flowing beside it. When you walk in, there is a moat. A few thousand years ago the river was directed into the moat. It was really scary up top because there was a one way path leading around the top of the roof and on either side there was a forty centimetre grill and then the wall. The gargoyles were quite scary! At one point two people came around the other way and we started joking about who would go on the grill. The funniest part was the toilet. It was a small hole on the the second floor of the château. It dropped down at least sixty metres! We also went to Isle-sur-la-Sorgue where we saw a lot of antiques.

We went to Sault the next day which is famous for its fields of lavender. We stopped in a patch and took lots of photos. We went to Gordes after which is voted as one of the most beautiful villages in France and the largest village that cascades off a mountain. We stopped at the lookout and saw all of the houses slanting down the hill.

Just down the hill from Gordes, there is an Abbey called Abbeye de Senanque. Whenever you see a postcard with an abbey and bright purple lavender, the chance is high that it's this abbey. There, the monks are not allowed to talk unless they are in the chapter-house. Here they would gather around the main abbot to listen to him reading the benedictine rule.

Oma and Opa took us all to a local restaurant called Dolium. My starter was a spiced aubergine guacamole with dried basil and bread. My main was duck and epeautre. My dessert was a lemongrass mousse with raspberries and raspberry sauce. It was all delicious.

On Saturday we went to Aix-en-Provence to see my friend from Australia's sister sing with the S Margaret's Anglican Girls' School choir. Before the concert we met with my friend, Sam and his parents and had dinner at Les Deux Garcons. This restaurant has been in Aix en Provence since 1792. I had my first taste of Escargot. Escargot is very common in France and are large snails, presented on a plate as oysters would be, usually drizzled in a butter, garlic and parsley sauce. It was really nice. After dinner we went to the Cathedral S. Sauveur to see the choir performance. They were fantastic. My favourite song was 'True Colours' by Cindy Lauper.

On Sunday I went to the Paul Ricard Car Racing Circuit to see the GT1 World Championship. It was so hot! We went in our Porsche because it was just Dad and I. When we arrived everyone was being directed to a car park but we were directed to a different car park. We were unsure why but just followed the men's directions. When we arrived we were stunned! There were about a hundred fancy cars. We were in the VIP parking lot! We spent an hour walking around and checking out the other cars.

There were four races on that day. There were the GT4's, the GT3's, the GT1's and the Lamborghini Cup. My favourite was the Lamborghini cup. There was an orange Lamborghini who a little too enthusiastic! On the final lap, about a hundred metres away from the finish line, he ran out of fuel!

That's it for my week. See you again soon :-)

Au Revoir!