Adeles house

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We arrived in Perigeux to find Adele, her family and mum waiting to meet us. We had missed our train that took us to Perigeux so Dad, Sophia and I ended up spending a few hours at the train station before the next one came. It was nice to see Adele again after a few years. It was also nice to finally meet her family. Adele hasn’t changed much and still looks the same although I am now taller than her. Adele drove us back to her house which was about half an hour away. Her house was nice and big although it was in the country. We put all our stuff away and then sat down quickly for something to eat before going to her end of year dance show. Their dance shows are different to ours, theirs was just in the schools gymnasium, halfway through they stopped to have a break where crepes were available to eat and it started much later than what they would at home (9-11pm).

On Sunday Adele’s mum had organized a garden party for us with some of their friends. Before they came Adele and her dad took us to have a quick look around Bordeilles which is the town nearest to their house. The garden party was another thing different but I suppose we don’t really have garden parties at home. It was nice how everyone all sat down together for lunch. There were some girls there that were a few years older than me. It was hard to communicate with them as we spoke different languages although we were able to say a few things to each other. After lunch all the men played Petanque which is a popular French game while the woman sat down for tea and coffee. After we had all finished eating some of us went to one of Adele’s families’ friends’ holiday house to go for a swim in their pool. By the time we had got back to Adele’s house it was time for tea. So we just had what was left over from lunch with all the people that were still there.

Monday Adele and her dad took us to Perigeux to have a look around. Adele had to go to the doctors so while she was there Thierry – her dad took us to have a look at an old Roman grain silo which had extremely thick walls and some remains of a Roman city that was once there. While in Perigeux we also had a look at the church there which was actually quite big, we had a look at some shops and then we sat down to have a nice lunch in the sun. That afternoon we went with Adele and her mum to have a look at the castle of Bordellies before having one of Adele’s mum’s good friend - Carroll and her family for tea.

On Tuesday all nine of us (Ours and all of Adele’s family) went to have a look at the caves in Lascaux. It was a bit of a drive but we eventually got there. While waiting for our English tour we went to have a picnic lunch that Adele’s mum had prepared earlier by one of Frances many castles. Despite the temperature in the caves being half of what it is outside it was still a really good tour. The Lascaux caves were full of paintings from cave men hundreds of years ago. The paintings were made out of minerals from the ground mixed with animal fat. Thierry also took us to have a look at a pre-historic village built up in a hill. It was first used by cavemen in 55,000 BC right through until 1953. It was amazing to see how people lived and would do things then compared to nowadays.

Wednesday was our rest day apart from going to Brantom to have a look at the Abbey which was built into a rock wall as well as some caves next to it which the monks used and were also built into the rock wall. For lunch we ate at Françoise’s friends restaurant (the friends who came a few nights ago for tea) their restaurant was quite a flash one and it was the best meal I have had on this holiday. We were there for hours and didn’t end up leaving until 3 or 4pm. Of course by the time it came around for tea we were all full so we ended up just having a few snacks for tea.

Thursday it was another bit of a drive this time to two pottery shops and factories. The first shop was massive. We also did a tour of the factory there although it was in French. The second one wasn’t as big and we didn’t get to see the factory. On the way home we stopped and had a look around a village where Prince William and Kate came just after their wedding to stay with some friends. It was a really picturesque little village and wasn’t really a touristy place although they would have gotten a few since William and Kate have been there. Once we got back to Adele’s Françoise took us to one of her friend’s sheep farm to have a look at and see if they’re any different to the ones back home. For tea we went to a New Zealand restaurant a few villages along. It was nice to have some New Zealand food after having different cultures food for so long.

Friday we went to one of the weekly markets in Brantome. It was a really good market and had a big variety of things to buy. We got some important items needed for the lunch that Francois was making us like bread of course. In the afternoon dad left with Thierry and Jean to go and see le Tour de France. Saturday we didn’t do much apart from watching the Tour. We tried to spot dad but it was impossible to find him. On Sunday we went canoeing down a river near Adele’s house which was so much fun although there was no current so it took forever to get to the end. We left Adele’s on Monday which was very sad knowing we may not ever see them again although they’re hoping to come over here in a few years time.

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