Well, there are some pictures for you. 1st) is of the castle, it was huge. like 30 rooms. there were 41 of us who stayed there for the weekend, and everyone had a bed! i slept in the tower. 2nd) is of me in front of the largest Huguenot church in France. it is in Anduze. they made it in somewhat of a rebellion to the way cathedrals were being made at the time. 3rd) is the view from my castle window!! it was an awesome sight to see the sun come over the mountain to the left and burn off the fog that lays over the village below. 4th) is a huge cave about 10 of us hiked to. it is where the protestants had their secret meeting while being persecuted in the 17oo's. it was quite a hike straight up this mountain, with little to no real trail to follow. 500 people could easily fit in here. it was quite an amazing feeling standing in this place. 5th) is from the Musee du desert. this is one of the ways the Huguenots were torchered. it is in front of a list of of pastors who parished trying to further their values in religion. it was a great history lesson.
but i did have a blast on my castle weekend. we spent two nights there. it completely made me want to keep pressing towards my dream of one day owning a castle in France. Or maybe building one in america, and creating a small French-like village to rule over. lol. but it was a lot of fun. i think the best part might have been just being with families again. there were about 6 families on the trip, parents and kids, and then there were like another 15 university students. So i already knew most of the college age students, so i really focused my attention on the rest of the gang. It was great getting to talk to moms, and dads, and watch the little kids play. the atmosphere was always a happy one for the whole weekend. I felt like i was part of all the families.
and then we also went on the excursion to the cave. now that was interesting. there is no real path to this cave. so of coarse we got lost a bit on the way up. but i was actually the one to find the cave, it was a couple hundred feet (70 meters) from where everyone else was looking. so that was some good boy scout intuition at work. it was a really cool cave. and the acustics were amazing. some of the girls sang some old hymns for us. it was just a really cool thing to see.
i hope to get to visit the castle again in the spring. you really cant beat that experience for just 30 euros.
this week i hope to go and explore marseille a little bit for the first time. i need to get some clothes shopping done there too. Aix is about 4 times more expensive for everything than the rest of France. so wish me luck on that endevor. it is about time i start looking more French.
also i am planning on going to the coast some time this week. and hiking the calanques which make up the area between marseille and cassis. not all of it, but enough. they are finger-like cliffs that jet out and lead to some of the coolest beaches, with the bluest water on the limestone rocks. so hopefully these plans will come to fruition.
as always, i hope everything is well back in the USA, and i would love to hear from you!
2 comments:
Sounds like a great trip Caleb. Is the language a problem when you travel or is it between your french and they know a little english. I'm sure the dollars to euros makes shopping kind of tough. You said you need to dress more like the local people. Whats different, styles, colors? School sounds like a great experience. I guess you will be fluent in french by the end of the school year. We love reading you blog. More later. Love Pa Pa Don
hey, yeah it was a great trip. the language really wasn't a problem on this trip in particular. we were in such a big group of english speakers, and a couple people in the group are bilingual already. but we really just hopped in some cars and drove out there. but i think i have got enough of French now to travel. that is what i am going to find out tomorrow and this weekend, when i get on the bus and head out on my own. yeah the price for clothes is way cheaper outside of this city. i pretty much live in the 2nd most expensive part of France, next to paris. and the style here is different. First off you don't see any bright and flashy colors. it's all black, gray, and browns for the most part. And a lot of the people just dress really nice everyday. i hardly ever see just a tee-shirt and shorts. and now that it is getting close to winter i definitely need some more cold weather clothes. all i have now is my big "bright red" completely American jacket. so i am planning on spending around 100-150 euros tomorrow and getting some French style. lol. but yeah that takes the place of a trip i was planning on doing this week, but i think i need the clothes more right now. and plus i still got to stay in a castle, when i know nobody else who has ever had that opportunity. so wish me luck, and i hope i get on the right bus!
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