Home Sweet Home!

Home sweet home :) Dad and I had a nice easy drive down South; we made a slight detour to the beach just before heading home. It was ice cold and very windy but we still made time for an ice cream haha. I think my hair decided it was incredibly tasty as it had more than I did! It's very nice being home; I was excitedly greeted by my mom and sister who insisted I opened birthday presents straight away despite it being ten at night haha. I was spoilt to bits though having received such lovely gifts! I was also able to try some of shenay's 18th birthday cake which was every bit as gorgeous as it looked! It was a double layer of chocolate sponge sealed with banoffee sauce and iced with vanilla icing.

Today I just spent the day settling into home, it was nice seeing how the garden was doing. I found some beautiful flowers that I hadn't seen before. They reminded me of jellyfish haha.

Goodbye France and Homeward Bound!

I can't believe it's time to fly home already! We've visited so many places and I've seen so many new things; I've had such an amazing time! I'll be sad leaving here, although I'm excited to go home to see my family again! Yesterday evening we had such a  lovely last meal out by the canal; I had the most delicious calamari and chips! We then ended the night on a high with one last family game of scrabble before last minute frantic packing of the suitcases to cram everything in and trying to stay underweight! Luckily my case is so small I didn't have a choice! This morning we had to wash the car last minute before dropping it off so that we were able to grab a quick hot chocolate and biscuits before the flight. It was such a tasty hot chocolate! This time I made sure my camera was easily accessible so I could snap some of the traditional holiday shots before settling in to relax. Once in England, we were surprised to see a little bit of sunshine! The journey back was long though as we took a 'detour' to Chester to pick up Jake's lizards aha. It was so nice being back in Sam's; we spent the rest of the day just chilling together.

Day 13- Salses Fortress

It was the last market day today! Unfortunately it was more of a general one than the bigger more touristy ones which was disappointing; Instead we decided to visit a fortress we found advertised in a tourist brochure. When we arrived it was covered in scaffolding so we weren't sure what to expect, but inside it was very impressive! I've never seen architecture like it before, including the red brick. It was so large and open! I really enjoyed walking around, the cranes in the background really put it into scale. On the way into the fortress, we found some really decorative script 'graffiti' from years ago. It was intricately carved, it's strange labeling it as graffiti! There was a lot to explore which was fun, I liked the way they'd incorporated artists work into the fortress; There were a lot of varied sculptures and exhibits, including a photography exhibition in one of the side rooms. I particularly liked the light graffiti exhibits, I thought they created an interesting effect. 

When we first walked into the chapel, the light was flickering in a really eerie way! It was very minimalistic, but you could climb right to the top and through a little side tunnel made of bricks~

 

I really liked how many different textures there were walking around; caused by wear or natural erosion~

Canon balls!

I thought this was a very cool plant! It reminds me of snapdragons~

It was really cool as we waited extra for a guided tour, which meant that we were able to go into a whole extra area not open to the public! Unfortunately the tour was given in French so we weren't able to understand a word they said, especially awkward when they made a joke and you didn't know what you were laughing at~ It was very interesting though going up onto the roof and inside the walls~ we then headed home once it had finished and unexpectedly into a huge downpour which was completely unexpected! It was too crazy to drive in so we darted into the nearest shopping centre for a break haha.

Day 12- Canal Trip

Today was such a lovely day! We decided to go explore the little town by the canal that looked so pretty when we drove through it the other day! It was very pretty, and there were a surprising amount of things to keep you occupied~ there was a shop on one of the canal boats which was very colourful! We then got distracted by a gorgeous grey cat at the canal edge who was very friendly! After exploring the town a little bit we were excited to find a mother duck and a group of ducklings! They were too cute! 

We watched them paddle about in the water for a bit till they eventually got hassled away by the mother who had obviously had enough haha~

It was then decided that we'd hire a little motor boat for an hour or so which was so much fun! It was really fun to see all the boats along the canal and we all took it in turns at steering. It was a lot harder than it looked as the boat took longer than expected to respond! Jake and Sam made it look so easy on their turns so when I finally decided to be big and brave it didn't quite go according to plan~ let's just say I don't think I'll be steering another boat anytime soon haha! Naturally, a lot of exciting things happened on the way, as beginners we were expected to keep to the right when boats were passing, which worked until we came across a mahoosive boat! They clearly couldn't decide what to do as their boat was going around in circles, but it provided quality entertainment for the rest of us as we experienced Sam in panicked captain mode~ Jake got the bridges and when it came to my turn I got the delight of curious ducks~! It was so much fun though!

Lizards!