Prepare yourself… this post is looooooong.

I feel like it’s always the holidays here, they are just so close together! I spent easter weekend at my friend Floriane’s house and like the good lasalian characters we are, we went to church at the cathedral of Bordeaux 😀 It was absolutely amazing, the place was bursting with families, there was also a choir and a massive organ which accompanied them. I didn’t consider before going that the mass would be held in french, so it was very weird to here all the familiar lines said in french. When it got to the “peace be with you” part of the mass, instead of shaking hands everyone started kissing each other, like how you would when you greet someone.

Floriane and I spent the afternoon trying out boxing with her sisters gloves (as you do…) and it ended up turning into into a very serious pillow fight and building forts – turns out language barriers aren’t a barrier with friends. We watched Anataysia in french and stayed up way too late talking, it was just your typical fun sleep over but knowing that I had made a friend who actually wanted me over despite knowing my language was meh made it that much better and I felt so giddy the whole time. The day after we went to Bordeaux again and had lunch with her HUGE family – all the cousins, aunts, uncles and grand parents – it was a great laugh.

The rest of the week was absolutely fantastic! Monday: Zoe’s birthday, my 100th day in France, and the day my epipen expired. My host family and I left for Calviac to spend the week in caving country (Lascaux, Gouffre de Padirac…). Before we left we had an Easter egg hunt, and I found a package for me filled with 6 bars of milka chocolate! Unfortunately they had hazelnuts so I gave them to Louise, safe to say she was thrilled. After a 5 hour drive we arrived at Calviac and had dinner with some family friends – crepes for desert!

On Tuesday we visited Gouffre de Padirac. I’ve copied a segment from the brochure because it summarises what we did nicely .

“The Gouffre de Padirac, the most famous cave in Europe, is considered as one of the most interesting geological sites in France. After a vertiginous descent, by lift of stairs, of 103 metres, you embark on a boat trip along the subterranean river with spectacular views on the galleries. That’s when you discover the “Grande Pendeloque” – a gigantic stalactite of 60 metres high – hanging by a string, it appears to admire itself in the “lac de la Pluie”. You then walk towards the “Lac des Hours” with it’s 94 metres high vault. A breathtaking sight!”

Everything about Gouffre de Padirac was amazing, like I’d stepped into another world – from walking down the stairs and looking up to see the open cave, to going into the actual colossal cave itself and floating on the glass like stream. It was just like a dream, or straight out of harry potter. If anyone knows when Harry Potter found the fake horcrux with Dumbledore in the cave by the sea, it was a bit like that! This will definitely be one of my favourite memories in France.

I’ll stop the blog here and leave the rest for next time, if you lasted to the end – CONGRATULATIONS 5 points to Gryffindor! Once again, I’m having trouble with downloading the pictures onto the blog, but the second I can, I will. If not just google Gouffre de Padirac, it’s super cool.