It turns out that I have this super amazing life which allows me to spend a week visiting Julien’s family, in France. This time, we decided to drive from coast to coast in one single day, because we are silly. So from Gruissan to Biarritz! 

 

Biarritz in spring is absolutely lovely, full of hydrangea and the beach is largely deserted except for brave surfers and people walking their dogs. One pupper decided our cheese looked like the BEST thing, and so made a beeline for it and got it all in his face. He didn’t grab the saucisson, so we were cool. We were cool anyway, he was a great dog. 

The atlantic from the other side! It’s quite a sight, I highly recommend it. 

Same trip, we also did a jaunt through the Pyrenees, which is positively littered with roadcows and roadhorsies. We stopped in this meadow and had a picnic. Their bells were absolutely wonderful, it was like being in a movie.

Shadow Selfie in Aigues Mortes. Aigues Mortes was fine. Quite touristy for my taste, but there is real history there. We got some wonderful flavours of ice cream and took a walk around the perimeter, and then headed off to do a tour of the salt .. fields? flats? Of the Baleine: 

 

This was SUPER fascinating and I would recommend that everyone go. There’s a salt museum and a petit train that takes you around all the collection areas and the water is SUPER pink and it’s magical. Magical. 

 

The roof of the salt museum. These colours have not been edited. 

Aigues Mortes from the petit train. Again, real colours. Can you imagine? It is amazing. These bodies of water are also full of FLAMINGOES!! REAL FLAMINGOES! Ah! Some Flamingo facts: 

 – their colour comes from the tiny creatures they eat! (same with the water) 

 – they can drink boiling water

 – their feeties can be frozen overnight when they stand and then unfrozen, and they are totally unharmed by this.

I learned a lot about flamingoes from Every Little Thing. Great podcast, great topic. 

Road vineyards on the way to the Chateaux Lastours, which is a hike, I don’t mind telling you! We made it up and down in about 3 – 4 hours and on our way back down when we made it back to the entrance, I declared “WE MADE IT!” and a lovely German couple was like “It’s that bad? Is it worth it?” It’s totally worth it. It’s totally that bad.

From across the gorge, the Chateaux at sunset.

We tried to go to the Grotte de Limousis, but it being France on a Tuesday, it was closed. Everything in France is closed all the time. Instead we went for a drive around, and ended up in this gorgeous meadow. The jauniers were in full bloom and it was incredible.

I have a photo of this same non-house from our trip in October. It looks super different, but the same. 

The canal du midi, and a boat off in the distance (a Le Boat boat). We watched them go through the locks, it was dope. 

So instead of the Grotte de Limousis we went to the Gouffre Geant of Cabrespine, which is a giant gouffre. I think they’re missing an opportunity there to sell giant waffles from a food truck (Les Gaufres Geants de Cabrespine, patent pending). 

 

 

 

 

 

Inside the Gouffre. We had a superb guide both at this one and at Limousis, which we finally made it to in October. 

Julien appreciates art. 

This is the Abbaye de Fontfroide, and I am certain the Scarlet Monastery or whatever it’s called in WoW is modeled after it. I literally knew there was going to be a room behind this one before going in due to that map. 

This is where in the Scarlet Monastery the ghosts are. There’s a pat that runs around the perimeter. I didn’t find them, in this RL version, weirdly. 

 

Who?