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The Chateau
This place is awesome!! Ok so I missed a couple of days and am on my way to Spain, so I'll backtrack...
The Chateau was awesome!! We were in the heart of the beaujolais wine region. So so gorgeous!! It's an endless see of rolling green hills. The Chateau is from the 15th century, give or take a century. Right out the front door is a place to lounge, with a view of the countryside and a fenced in pool (which people jumped into the first night). It's like a big dorm, even though...I've never actually been in a dorm lol. The bathrooms and showers were unisex and communal.
When we first got there, as with every stop, we were supposed to throw the rep off of her speech. Mecha got the guys to sit in the front seats in only their underwear. It was so funny! After we got settled in (squeaky bunkbeds!) we did wine tasting. We got a little talk on how they make the wine there and how you are supposed to drink it. People had a chance to order some bottles to take home. I got one for the evening and for the picnic the next day.
Wine Region
It really is beautiful here. Supper was awesome- and served to us. We got fries, ribs, veggies, salad and chocolate cheesecake!! Yum! The cheesecake was mostly frozen so all you could hear were people's spoons clunking onto their dishes. Simon, Mecha, and one of the reps had a 'no hands' eating contest to see who could eat their cake the fastest.
We had a free night so everybody kept drinking after the wine tasting, and what a long night it was! It had already seemed like we had been on the tour forever, oddly enough. They have a bar in the basement called the Cave- cheap drinks! 1.60 for a glass of wine. I basically carried around my wine bottle and drank that. Not many people were hanging out in the cave- I found a lot of people talking in the hallway outside of the showers. Some people had braved a shot of the snake drink (a really really strong wine, and one bottle that they showed us has a huge snake in it- gross!) I went to bed around midnight.
We got up and had breakfast- yogurt, cereal, hashbrowns and toast. We were then set free with maps and picnic baskets to
It Pays to Get Lost
Missed out on the top of the world, but this road was a dream! hike to the 'top of the world'- the top of a hill with a 360 degree view of the wine region.
What a hike it was! Talk about a workout. Karen and I ended up getting behind everyone because we stopped to take breaks - my shins were killing me! We basically ended up going a km further than necessary- seen some big assed ugly slugs. After about an hour and a half, walkin on pavement for a while, and walking by some houses we started to wonder if maybe we had made a wrong turn somewhere. A lady in a car finally stopped and told us we were way passed it. On our way back we met the last group coming down. It was really steep the rest of the way up and we were tired, sweaty, blistered, and rained on so we kept going back. I totally wiped out on a steep rocky slope going back down as it is. I hurt mostly my ego but also got some cuts and slivers in my hand.
I had a shower and a nap, wishing that I had just stayed back at the chateau and wrote in my
Party Time!
My roomates from Paris- Karen, Gloria and Charlotte. book. When I went back outside there were quite a few people out visiting and drinking. I decided to hold back since I had missed out on the lunch since we didn't make it to the top of the hill. Supper was potatoes, chicken, veggies, salad with huge pieces of lettuce, and sorbet for dessert.
After that it was basically drink, visit, and dance down in the Cave. Lots of fun! It was actually a Rubrick's Cube party that night, which meant everyone was supposed to dress in different colours and end up in the same colour that night. Most of the girls in our tour group weren't that excited about swapping clothes, mostly beacuse we weren't the only tour there that night. I had been looking forward to some other parties I had read about with Contikie, like a 'Shock Your Mother' party. People seemed to have a lot of fun though, which is all that matters!
We left the chateau this morning at 7:45. Lots of hangovers and rumours and people dressed in the same clothes as last night. I slept a bit on the coach (its a coach not a bus, I guess). We stopped
Pont d' Gaurd
Those Romans could build. to see Pont d' Gaurd (an ancient Roman aqueduct that I vaguely remember from my university Art History class). It was cool. Now on to the Barcelona campsite!!
Later that day.....
Back again! Sitting in our cabin in Barcelona!!!! Talking to Karen and Gloria. My feet are SO swollen. My ankles are now cankles. Lovely.
Our camp here is at a public campground so the cabins aren't too bad. Maybe a bit smelly. We at least have regular sized bunk beds. There are also a lot of public showers, that are hot and you don't have to keep pushing the button to make the water come like you did at the chateau! The toilets are interesting- you have to grab toilet paper from the dispenser BEFORE you go in to the stall. Interesting. They have a decent bar here, and its right by the ocean!! I haven't seen it yet though.
And yes, it is raining in Spain.
I got online tonight, which is cool. There are a lot of computers here, which is nice. It's good to read emails from home. I'd really like to talk to people but nobody seems to be around when I call. The 8 hour difference makes it hard to call at a good time.
We are getting up at 6:30 tomorrow. We are going into town to do as we wish, I think. I would like to take photos and buy some kewl stuff. Gloria is cuddling Karen again haha. I keep having brain farts. It's 11:40 and I can hardly think, so here I go....
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