Sunday

I had a normal breakfast today with Guilhem and Chrisitine (Lionel was working on the room upstairs), except that we had Lionel's fresh white bread instead of wheat bread. Guilhem spent some time this morning copying a picture from a book of Star Wars characters and naturally, it came out looking exactly like the photo. He also showed me a picture of C3PO that he has that's signed by Anthony Daniels- the actor who played C3PO in the Star Wars films. It says: "Guilhem- que La Force soit avec toi!"

"May The Force be with you Guilhem!" :)

After this nice, slow morning I showered and got myself ready for the day. For lunch we had another yummy pile of julienned carrots and then Guilhem and I had the last two slices of yesterday's meatloaf cold (Christine and Lionel had hamburger patties). I ate mine with mustard and though it was cold, it was still very good. With our meat we had a pile of slightly sautéed veggies: green beans, bell peppers, onions, zucchini, squash, and couscous- a very tasty combination! We finished it all of with cheese and bread, fruit (I had an apple and received a lesson in how to properly peel it with my knife), coffee, and more amazing Lindt chocolates. I am one lucky girl! After lunch, Christine asked if I wanted to go on a walk with her and Guilhem. Of course I agreed. We went on a nice, very relaxing half hour car ride through the countryside, with the windows open, taking in the fresh, nearly warm air of the day to get to the sight of our walk. Though the sun didn't shine much today, the air was very pleasant and not too cold. It was a great drive and I took pictures the whole way. When we stopped at our destination- Bélair- my breath caught: the mountains had taken a giant leap towards us and were as clear as mountains of fudge covered in powdered sugar! We walked on a beautiful country path for the next hour and a half or more just taking in the view, the fresh air, and the beauty of the day. It was fun to spend so much time with Guilhem and Christine; it always entertains me to listen to the two of them together. At the end of the walk, Guilhem pulled out a box of chocolate covered cookies from Christine's backpack and offered me one after another. I had a moment today of thinking that life can't really get a whole lot better than this. :)

Oh nothing, just the Pyrenées mountains!

Yea, just to make this more unreal, there was a crêperie along the path we took today

That's our promenade up there with the crêperie on the left, our car on the right, and the mountains in the distance!

What a gorgeous day

It takes my breath away again!

Silly boy :)

Gosh, this picture kills me

Can you not see Julie Andrews running up this grass covered hill, arms thrown out, singing at the top of her lungs? Either way, the hills were alive with something today

"Hunting Reserve"

Me with an âne

:)

A beautiful walk

At the end of the walk, we headed back to the car and unfortunately, I really needed a bathroom. Well, there weren't any toilets around but there was a lot of bathroom. Anyways, after my "tour of nature" (as Christine called it) we were on our way back home. After the drive, we had some warm drinks and then Guilhem and Christine went out to play tennis. I got online and was able to video with my parents through Skype, so I took them on a mini tour of the downstairs. I got to show them the table that I set for dinner, the kitchen with our fresh bread, our fire, etc. It was really cool to feel like they were right there with me in my French house. :)
For dinner, we started off with the rest of our carrot, onion, pumpkin, and cream soup. Then we had our main course of tortilla à la Christine- basically Christine's version of a Spanish "tortilla." It looked almost like a soufflé but there were thick chunks of potato and some onion in the omelette too. It was super tasty! With that we ate a spinach salad and the rest of yesterday's grâtin. We had a round of cheeses (I had some garlic cream cheese on my bread) and then it was dessert- fromage blanc (not natural yogurt) and raspberry preserves. I blogged for a little bit and then it was time for bed.
A perfectly lovely weekend, and I feel completely back to normal!