ear Confolens in the Charen
te region, a sort of home from home! So off Bec and I travelled, via first class on the TGV (très impressionnant, it has to be said) to Angoulême. We were greeted by my Grand
ad and he d
rove us back to his house - oh, how I have missed the luxury of being driven in a car and not relying on public transport! We stopped at the Resistance Memorial at Chasseneuil (I'm bit of a history geek) and took some photos! The F
rench are very proud o
f their Resistance during the Occuption in the Second World War and it really is a fitting tribute.
Saturday evening we had a scrummy Chinese meal in St. Junien (real, hot food... ahh) and I went to bed very full, happy and content!
Sunday, we went out for lunch and had a 4 course roast dinner, cooked by English people, and it was simply divine. It's not until
you eat these foods
again that you realise how much you do actually miss them... and I don't even have roast dinners at home that often! Later that afternoon, we visited the Lacs de la Haute Charante, stopped at Chabanais by the Vienne river
s to say, lots of photo ops!, needles
I have visited my Grandparents a few times in France but on Monday we visited somewhere I have never been before... Vallée des singes! It
's a monkey park and some of the monkeys can run around your feet and jump from tree to tree above your head, it really was a great day. It had a bit of an educational twist
too when we listened to the anima
l keepers talk about the monkeys etc, who said learning can't be fun? ;) Some of the little monkeys were so cute, I have loads more photos on facebook - so take a look there if you fancy it!
On the Tuesday, we visited Oradour-sur-Glane, which is a martyr village. As I said earlier, I am quite interested in history and the story of Oradour is so sad and tragic that it stays with you for a very long time. If you want to know more, take a loo
k on the wikipedia page, it explains it there better than I can. The village has been left how it was when over 600 of its residents were massacred by the Waffen SS. It really is very interesting but terribly sad. I have visited
before, but wanted to go back and visit the exposition there. Poor Bec probably didn't realise she was coming for a history lesson when she said she'd like to come with me!
And today I returned back to Pau, having enjoyed myself immensely! Not sure what my plans are for the rest of the holidays but since my Erasmus grant is expected within the next few days, perhaps a bit of shopping... Hurrah!
