The Dordogne

I was so excited because we were going to the Dordogne, which is about six hours away from my house in Mormoiron. We took off early in the morning for Roquefort, which is famous for its blue cheese. When we arrived we went into one of the best Roquefort cheese stores, Papillon. We went on a tour through the cellars where they mature the cheese. To make Roquefort cheese, they get a special loaf of Roquefort bread and they bake it until it burns on the outside. They then leave the bread in the cellars to collect mould. They then scrape the mould in the form of penicillin, off the bread. When they have done this, they test the penicillin to make sure that it's the special Roquefort penicillin. Meanwhile the ewes of the valley are milked.They sprinkle the penicillin over the processed sheep's milk curd. The final cheese disk is then placed in the caves, at a constant thirteen degrees celsius, to mature for a period of ninety to two hundred and forty days. It has been regarded as a special cheese for hundreds of years. For example, in 1411 Charles VI liked it so much that the cellars that stored Roquefort cheese were turned into a protected landmark. We saw a map on the tour that showed the area where you can call your cheese Roquefort. It was only 2km long and 300 metres wide! At the end of tour when we came out of the cave, we had a taste of the blue cheese. It was delicious, so we bought a large piece. When we left Roquefort, we bought a loaf of bread and sat at a lookout whilst eating the cheese and bread with enthusiasm!

After the Roquefort cheese visit, we drove to Le Viaduc de Millau. This bridge crosses the valley of the river Tarn and is 2460m long and 245m metres high. The bridge is thirty metres taller than the Eiffel Tower and thirty seven metres shorter than the Empire State Building. We exited off the highway, after we had crossed the bridge, and stopped at an information centre. From there we hiked up to a look-out on the hill where we looked at the bridge itself! It was amazing! There were white poles coming out of the top of the bridge and thick suspension cords slanted towards the base of the bridge.

We arrived in the Dordogne later that night where we were greeted by friends and a fantastic dinner of spaghetti carbonara. We stayed in the town of Thenon.

The next morning we went to Sarlat which is a town close to Thenon. There were huge markets on with products ranging from food to art. I bought myself some churros which are straight shaped doughnuts. I scoffed the whole bag! They were fantastic. We were walking along when we approached a square were a crowd was gathered. We pushed our way to the front and saw that a man was manipulating a soft snake over his hand. It looked quite amazing! We bought our own and were soon doing the same thing. The trick is that there is a see-through string connected to your waist and you could manipulate the snake without others seeing! Ivy and I

played with them all the way home.

That afternoon we went to the River Dordogne were we sat and tore a hot chicken to pieces with a bread stick. Ivy and I dipped our feet in the water and fed the ducks while Mum and Dad bought boat tickets for a tour on the river. We hopped on to the boat and left with a loud ring from the boat's bell. As we floated along the river we saw four châteaus and a bridge built in Roman times. The sun was baking down on everyone, so the staff wound out sun-shades.

The next day was very exciting with a trip to La Roque Saint-Christophe. It is a huge rock face, one kilometre long and eighty metres high, were people used to live in indentations in the rock face. People lived there from fifty-five thousand years ago until the Religious wars in the fifteen hundreds, when a lot of it was destroyed. We walked along, and inside the rock exploring the different parts of the village. My favourite part was seeing the "squirrel lifter" operate. A man got inside a wheel and ran! He looked like a guinea pig on an exercise wheel! As he ran, a load was lifted up and when he ran the other way, it went back down. The sight is unique because of its size, its age and the length of its occupation by man.

After that, we drove to "Les Jardins de Marqueyssac" which was an amazing château with gardens and hedges fashioned into swirls and shapes. We went for a walk to the peak of the gardens where there was a beautiful view over the Dordogne valley. Ivy and I enjoyed the numerous playgrounds while Mum and Dad strolled along the paths together. I really enjoyed the maze where Ivy and I had races in and out of it. When we got back to the start of the walk we saw a man carving things out of wood! He made spin-tops, cups and more. I had a vanilla and caramel ice-cream with hot coffee and cream drizzled over it with Ivy. It was absolutely delicious!

The next day was the last, but the most exciting day of all the days we spent in the Dordogne. We went to the Gauffre de Padirac. It is a huge cave system and crater which was formed by the collapse of a cave. The huge crater measures thirty five metres wide and one hundred and three metres deep. There were two lifts from the surface to the bottom of the crater. From the bottom of the lifts, we walked eight hundred metres into the cave where there were boats waiting for us. Our guide paddled our gondola across the water and told us about the caves. My favourite bit was when he rocked the boat. At the end of the boat ride, we were taken on a tour in the caves. There were quite a few stalactites and stalagmites and the "Grand Cathedral" was spectacular. We walked one kilometres on the bottom and we climbed up four hundred and sixty five steps to get back to the base. The cave was discovered in eighteen ninety and was opened nine years later. They have explored twenty kilometres of the caves and nine kilometres in they found human, mammoth and cave bear remains!

Au Revoir

Cowboys in Provence

We went to the Camargue region and what a different part of France this was. The Camargue region is a large area of wetland to the south of us and west of Marseilles. We first went to the Pont-de-Gau bird sanctuary. It was amazing! There were all different birds flying around the park. My favourite was an owl who sat in the same spot for the whole day. We got quite a surprise when we came around a corner and saw huge numbers of pink flamingos walking about together in a very shallow lake! When they spread their wings and flew, they were fluoro pink with black underneath! We went for a two hour walk on paths through the marshes and saw the birds in their natural habitat. There were numerous viewing towers and hide-outs where we could see the birds interacting.

We then drove to a small town on the coast called Saint Mairies de la Mer, where we walked along the promenade. We changed into our togs and went for a swim in the Mediterranean Sea. The water was very cold! I swam to a buoy, climbed on to the rocks and walked back to the car with Mum, Dad and Ivy.

We left the beach and went to a horse riding farm. There were numerous ones along the road to choose from. We got to ride on the horses for an hour and a half! My rear was very sore afterwards. My horse, Maligne, kept stopping along the path to eat and then gallop to catch up with the group. My favourite bit was when we rode through a lake. My horse splashed me quite a bit. When I arrived back at the stables, I got off and hobbled from stiff legs. Was it just me or was everyone else sore, too?

We then went to a town called Salin de Giraud, which is the centre of a large salt industry. Flat shallow lagoons fill with sea water which then evaporate in the sun leaving behind salt deposits. There were very large piles of salt to be processed. The machines were huge and the conveyor belt systems extensive. We arrived home at ten o'clock that night!

On Thursday we went to explore Marseilles. After a two hour drive with a long traffic jam at the end, we finally arrived. We went for a walk around one of the oldest ports in Europe. It has been continuously inhabited for 2600 years. The highlight was the Cathedral de la Major because it was very grand and throughout was decorated with frescos, coloured marble arches and jewel encrusted religious artefacts.

We then took a ferry boat ride to Château d'If which is on a small island off the coast of Marseilles. On the way out of the port we passed two big forts one on either side of the entrance. One was built to protect the port from invaders and the other one was built to ensure peace in the city. When we arrived at the island we climbed up to the château. King François I built it in 1516 to ensure the protection of Marseilles. A few years after it was built, it was turned into a prison. It was on an island therefore nobody ever escaped.

Parents whose sons were troublesome used to send them there. They could choose to have extra luxuries, like a fireplace and even a window!! Alexander Dumas wrote a book called 'The Count of Monte-Cristo' about a man who escapes in a sac from Château d'If and swims to land. He finds his dead cell mate's treasure and becomes The Count of Monte-Cristo. Alexander Dumas also wrote 'the Three Musketeers'. The legendary man in the Iron Mask is also reputed to have spent time here.

That weekend was very exciting because I went with Ivy to Pascal's house for a sleep over. We went for lots of swims in their pool, even at one stage getting up at two o'clock in the morning and all of us - the whole family - swimming in the pool with Pascal! By the end of the weekend my eyes were so red that you couldn't see any white in them from all the chlorine in the pool! We finished the weekend off by watching the soccer world cup final with my parents and other friends whilst enjoying pizza and lemonade.

See you next week!

Sean :-)

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!

Rock Climbing in the Dentelles Montmirails

We started the week with a visit from Mums' cousin. His name is Ruben. His hobby is rock climbing. He came down to Provence to take us rock climbing in the Dentelles aka Sawtooth. The drive was about thirty minutes from Mormoiron. On the road into the place where we would climb we encountered many holes and bumps. We were thrown around in the car a lot!

When we arrived, Ruben showed us how to use the equipment and how to climb properly. He then climbed up the slope and attached a rope to a strong tree. We changed into our climbing harnesses. We were ready to go! When it was my turn to climb, I looked up to see the challenge that lay ahead. There was a thirty metre slope with quite a few hand holes and a "chimney" at the end with no hand holes to climb up! At points in time, I was relying on small indentations in the rock!

After fifteen minutes of hair-raising climbing, I arrived at the chimney. There were no hand holes through this part of the climb and I had to use my feet to lever myself up to the final point of the climb. The first slope that I climbed was rated 4a and the second I climbed was rated 4c. The difficulty of the rocks are rated from 1a being very easy to 10c being almost impossible. When we packed up I saw all of Rubens' gear. He had a lot of harnesses and clips. He had a belt that he climbs with in case he gets into a sticky spot and it weighed a tonne!

We had a barbecue that night with Pascal, the girls, Christine, Serge, Isabelle, Raphael and Elisa. Ruben was also present. We hung out in the gym down stairs, listened to music and swam in the pool. The pool was very cold!

We woke up late the next day to go to Banon with Ruben which is well known for its goat's cheese and a large bookshop. We arrived and walked through the markets which were very interesting. The book shop is huge! It's three stories high and full of English and French books. I found a book and had a read for an hour whilst the others browsed. We finished our day in Banon by climbing up the hill to the top of the village. We got a view of all the villages and mountains around us.

On Wednesday I went to Aqualand with my school! It's a water park near Cassis which is a harbour on the Mediterranean Sea. We arrived at ten o'clock and were let into the park. There were lots of slides and pools. My favourite ride was called 'the wave'. If you've been to Wet 'n' Wild, it's like the cyclone. It's a big U shape and you sit on the edge and you get pushed down. I liked the slides because you flew out of the chute into the water at high speed.

Today is Friday and it was my last day of school, before two months off for the summer holidays. I will move on to 'cinquieme' grade when I return.

Au Revoir

Le Mans race week.

I had been waiting for this day to come for weeks! We were leaving Mormoiron to go to Le Mans. Le Mans is a huge race where they drive around a track for twenty four hours and try to go around the track more times then the other competitors. From Mormoiron we drove to the AIRBUS factory in Toulouse which is half way to Le Mans.

We were given a tour of the plant and the construction facility. We started at the shop and were taken into a room in which they showed us the first launch of the A380 plane. The tour was in English but the launch video was in French. The pilots were very relaxed because they had spent one thousand hours in the simulator each, prior to the first flight. There were three people in the cockpit and three engineers in the main body of the plain making notes and sending information to ground control. From there we took a bus to the plant where they build the planes. On the ground level they gave us a presentation about the factory and where they get their parts from. They have 1200 suppliers.

We then went upstairs and saw them preparing the planes. After we did that we walked outside and looked at the planes sitting on the tarmac ready to be delivered. There were two QANTAS planes and one Singapore airlines plane. The final part of the tour was an inspection of the main body of the A380.

We then drove for a couple of hours to a small town called Mauriac in the Bordeaux wine region. We checked in to our quaint bed and breakfast and Dad asked if there were any wine tasting places around. The woman said 'yes' and gestured for us to follow her. We hopped in the car and followed her to a château only five minutes away called Château Gaury Balette. We were greeted by the owner Geomme.

We went over to the grapevines where he explained about the different types of grapes he grows. They included Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. From there we went inside to the huge vats where he showed us how they produce their best wines. We were shown how they pack the boxes and how they put on labels. We went outside and saw a Lamborghini tractor! I got lots of photos. Lamborghini were a tractor company before they made super cars! After the tour we went to have dinner in the village. We had a nice pizza followed by a strawberry mousse!

The next day, we woke up early and travelled to Malucorne, a small town south of Le Mans. This was to be our base for the Le Mans 24 hour race. We left our bags at the hotel and went to the race track. It was about thirty minutes to the track but we were kept amused by watching all the super cars parked and driving on the road. We saw Ferraris, Porsches, Lamborghinis and a McLaren F1. We arrived to a race track with people everywhere! We walked down to the pits where we were allowed to see the cars and the drivers. We were at the very end when we saw one of the Audi drivers sitting in the pits having an interview. From there we drove to the drivers parade which was being held in the streets of Le Mans. This was my favourite part of the trip because we saw all the drivers and cool cars and because I got lots of signatures and they were throwing freebies into the crowd.

The next day was exciting because the twenty four hour race began. We arrived at the track at eight o'clock to see the lead up races before the main event began. At twelve o'clock we went over to the little amusement park that was set up for the weekend. I got on a ride called the bungee thriller! I was strapped into a ball. My tummy started to turn backlips as the ropes tightened. A mechanical voice started to count down. When it reached zero I was flung up into the air. I was so scared. When the ride slowed down and I got off, I had wobbly legs! After that we returned to the stands to watch the start of the race.

The Peugeot team were favourites and the Audi team were second favourites. There was an electric build up to the start and the competitors took of with a lot of revving which received much approval from the crowd. When we left at ten o'clock, the standings were 1st, 2nd, 3rd to Peugeot and 4th, 5th and 6th to Audi.

The next morning when we arrived at the track, I was amazed to hear that only half the cars remained in the race. The rankings were Audi, Peugeot, Audi, Peugeot, Audi and Peugeot! Throughout the day, one by one all the Peugeot cars blew up and had to retire from the race! I wasn't very happy seeing this because I was supporting them. Ivy and Dad were going for Audi so they were extremely happy! The race finished with all the three Audis coming 1st, 2nd and 3rd. They received wreaths, and they did the traditional thing of spraying champagne all over each other. After the race we walked on the track and then caught the bus home.

We drove from the hotel we were staying to the town of Malucorne. We had a fantastic dinner of crab terrine, scallops in a cream sauce and mango and rhubarb pie with Marzipan ice-cream.

The next day, we drove to Vichy which is famous for its thermal medicinal waters. We went to the park and took a small train around the city. We saw all the old buildings and spa baths. We went across to a spa facility next to the hotel we were staying in, to see if we could swim, but it was for medical purposes only.

The next morning we hit the road again to make the final stretch to home. We went to a spa along the way called Royatonic. It was very nice with hot baths, warm baths and freezing cold baths. There was a big pool and an outside pool, too. There were lots of showers and a sauna. We relaxed in the pools for an hour and a half before we headed home. We arrived at six o'clock that night.

Au Revoir

Party!

We started school again that week. I had a bit to catch up on because I had been away for the previous 3. My French is improving dramatically and I can express myself quite well.

On Saturday afternoon, we had Pascal's birthday party. It was huge, with friends from around the country coming to see him. It went for all Saturday night and again Sunday until very late. The banquette was huge and we bounced on the trampoline a lot with all the other children. I learned how to play a rift on the drums by one of Pascal's friends. I also had my first taste of Escargot. Escargot is cooked snails. I didn't like it. The dessert was great because we had strawberries and whipped cream.
The water in the pool was too cold to swim in because it was soooo windy. The Mistral wind, the wind we get here, lasts for three days, six days or nine days. Strange huh? Pascal's brother has three sons. They were older than me but I enjoyed their company. One of them could do Jackie Chan flips! There was also a very funny man at the party. He had wide rimmed glasses which he made use of by spraying whipped cream in between his eyes and his glasses. He also got champagne glasses and put them over his ears.

That week on Monday we had Christine's brother's birthday party! Yes, there are a lot of parties here at the moment. He had a huge platter of cakes and tarts that could feed an army! Yum yum.... Yesterday we went to the Bedoin markets to buy some fresh produce. From there we went to Gordes which is the biggest hilltop village and has been voted one of the most beautiful villages in France. Gordes was an amazing village because of the view from the other side of the road because of the sheer cliffs all the way down through the village.

Today is Monday and there is no school because of a bank holiday. Mum is going for a cooking class with her friends tonight. On Wednesday afternoon we are going to Pascal's house again for Constance, Raphaelle and Charlotte's birthday party. They are combining it because their birthdays are close.

I'll see you next week :-)
Au Revoir, Sean

Tripping through country France

We travelled for six hours from our chateau in the Loire to the north-east of France, just east of Troyes. Our next hotel was a hunting lodge in a small town called Lesmont. On our first day we had Dads' birthday to celebrate! We went for a huge bike ride through the surrounding towns. By the end of the day we were extremely exhausted after the forty kilometer bike ride. That night was very nice with a big meal in a fancy French restaurant to settle our rumbling tummies.

We drove five hundred kilometres the next day to Belgium to meet my Mum's cousin and her family. Her name is Ria and her husband Peter. They have three children, Stephie, Florien and Tristan. We jumped on the trampoline a lot of the time. That evening was quite exciting with more cousins and children coming over to their house. I got on very well with a boy called Wouter. He was the same age as me and had the same interest as me. He is my second cousin.

We drove up from Belgium to Holland and met my great-aunty and great-uncle. They are very nice and are very energetic. We went on a bike ride with them around a local village which was very nice but my favourite part of the ride was when we stopped at a paddock with many different animals including deer, goats, sheep, chickens and a big, proud turkey. He was doing a funny dance to show off to his girlfriend! At that time there were a lot of tulips blooming. We stopped along the way to pick some of them and to take photos. The day after that was exciting with a trip to a monkey zoo called Apenheul. We saw little monkeys and huge apes, all running freely throughout the zoo.

That weekend was one of the highlights of the trip because I was able to meet my second cousins called Lisa and Thijs and Lise and Tein. Thijs was very good at table-tennis and table soccer. The reason we were at a hotel was because it was my great-grandfather's 90th birthday. We celebrated there with all the family. My favourite part of the weekend was when we went to a nearby zoo. My favourite animal was Fred the shark because he was staring intently at us as we walked past.

We drove three hours, the next day to Germany or more specifically the Nurburg Ring! Dad hired a Renault sport R26R which had been enhanced and took it for a spin around the ring. We also had a look around the shops and Dad bought some clothes and a mug.

We drove a few hours from there to a village called Villeferry, which is back in France. The hotel that we stayed in was a 14th century house which had been renovated. From there we drove to a nearby village called Flavigny which is the village where the film "Chocolat" was filmed. Flavigny is also famous for its aniseed lollies. We were given a tour of the lolly factory and bought some lollies. Just down the road from Flavigny there is the Fontenay Abbey. It was founded in 1118 by Saint Bernard. He was the son of a rich family but then was sick of wealth, built a huge abbey with his money and became a monk.

After a month on the road we finally arrived home safe and well, but extremely tired it was great to be back to the comforts of home.

Au revoir