i miss driving. a lot. and in france was the first time i was in a car that was not a taxi, and it was beautiful. we did a lot of driving, and saw a lot of garden gnomes (they were all over the french country side! amelie doesn't lie). and this really random bridge decorated with bright paint and old bicycles.
and on this drive it suddenly seemed very much that i was back in southern illinois driving the wine trail. really, it probably didn't seem at all similar. but i realized that i missed home, and it was beautiful to be there for a moment.
and then we turned the corner, and there was this huge castle looking building in the middle of nowhere. you just can't beat that.
so, what exactly did we do besides drive through vineyards and past castles that end up just being expensive places to rent for the weekend?
1) i bought some shoes to replace the ones i lost in the canary islands. but apparently france doesn't believe in tennis shoes. so i ended up buying the most expensive pair of converse currently in existence. but my feet weren't cold anymore.
2) we went to les tours, which is this amazing place where there are ruins of 5 huge towers/castles that were built on the top of mountains. it was really pretty, but we didn't end up hiking up...somewhat dissapointing, but it was still gorgeous.
3) move on to a crazy cave, that is pre-lit with timers for the tour and everything. it was ridiculous in a sad/funny sort of way. the tour was in french, so the only thing i understood was when our guide answered questions for a group of spanish people at the front. regardless of the extreme tourist factor of the cave, it was pretty great. first, there was this random mary figure stuck in the corner of one of the "rooms". 
second, apparently the towns people used to have town parties and dances and such in the cave. who wouldn't want to take part in that?! third, it ended with a light show to music by mark knopfler. it was so ridiculous and amazing all at once. and to end, tessa and her dad discovered smarties push ups. good goodness.and then return home for a nice homemade meal with good wine. tessa, want to open the wine? what do you say? you can't get the cork out? you broke the corkscrew? in the cork?!
it was a bad situation, and we were sent on a mission to rescue the wine. and so tessa and i went strolling through town searching for a way to open the wine bottles and for a loaf of bread. after three closed bakeries, and complete lack of corkscrews in any open store, we were saved. peter the crepe man. i owe him. he even gave us a cork to replace the one that had gotten torn and unuseable (we returned it to him the next morning with a note and the present of some candy)
we had wine just in time for dinner. and it was a good dinner, with no ham or fried substances. yum. at one point tessa decided she didn't want her wine (as she sits with a completely full glass), so i ended up double fisting it for the majority of the night. monkey face in front of parents is just not appropriate (thanks tessa).
the next day we drove back to spain, spent a day in figuerres with our friend salvador dali and inside his intense mind, and then tessa and i caught the train to barcelona.
spring break over. (ah!)
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