Gourdon

On our third day in Gourdon, we got up early and went to the local farmers markets. Sallie had to buy some food there so we tagged along. I really love going to markets. Especially food ones. There is just so much to see, and everything is so colourful. We really get ripped off back home, fruit and veg here is so much cheaper and so much nicer! Harrison and I tried some strange dried salami stuff that the Gourdon area is apparently well know for. I'm not too sure how I feel about it. It has a very strong taste.

Later in the day Sallie and Ian took us to a market in a place called Sarlat. The market was really amazing! It was absolutely huge and had all sorts of different stores. We were there for an hour and really only saw half of it. We walked around the markets and found an ice cream store and got some ice cream. Harrison tried violet flavoured ice cream, it was different. The French sell some weird things at their markets. Like duck livers and other strange meats that you just would never think of eating. The market was amongst the streets of the town, which is very similar to Gourdon. The town in itself was so beautiful, and the markets really made it come alive. You walked down the cobbled streets and passed beautiful old houses, turning into small alleyways and discovering a whole new part of the markets. The air is filled with all these amazing smells as people make and sell their food. There is music and people talking and vendors trying to sell you their things. It's so busy and full of life. It was really an amazing market, I loved it!

After the markets we went to this MASSIVE store (that I can't remember the name of) in search of something to replace our hard drive. The store sold everything from electronics, to food, to clothing. It was so huge. We managed to find a fairly cheap tablet with an SD card slot, so I will be able to upload pictures again! When we got home Sallie made an incredible lunch (as she does everyday, we are so lucky!). Apparently lunch here is a really big deal, they see it as their main meal of the day. In Gourdon the shops actually close from 12-2 so that the shop owners can go home for lunch. So our lunches are always amazing.

Today we had a late morning, which whilst travelling we get very few of. So it was really nice to lay in bed for a bit extra and not have to stress about being late for anything. Later in the afternoon we went to the caves that are just outside Gourdon - the Grottoes de Cougnac. You can go on tours of the caves so we had decided that would be a fun thing to do. Luckily there was lady on the tour who spoke both English and French, so she was able to translate what the guide was saying. The first cave we went into was a prehistoric cave that had cave paintings on the walls. It was possibly one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. The cave was so incredibly beautiful! I've never been into a cave where they actually let you walk around in the cave. I have been to the Jenolan Caves back home, but there you are kind of just restricted to the sidelines, on a path with a railing. You don't actually get to go into the cave properly. In this cave though, whilst there was a path, it wound through the middle of the cave and had no railing. Sometimes you had to duck to get through an entrance, or squeeze through a small crack. It was really cool! Once we were well into the cave, the guide showed us the cave paintings. They started off as just lines, finger prints and geometric shapes, and then progressed to paintings of mammoths and people and other animals. It was really amazing to see! Unfortunately in this cave you weren't allowed to take photos, so I can't show the paintings. But know that they were amazing. An unreal experience.

The next cave we went into was much bigger, and we were allowed to take photos! 

This one didn't have any cave paintings, but was just as beautiful. We started out in a really big area of the cave where the guide spoke about the stalactites and stalagmites and the history of the cave.

After that we were free to wander around. We went deeper into the cave, the space for us to walk getting smaller and smaller. After squeezing through the final gap we came out in another really big room of the cave. It was beautiful! The roof was covered thin stalactites and some of the walls were glittery, it was magical. 

We also saw a tiny bat! It was asleep, hanging off one of the stalactites. It was so cute!

We leave Gordon tomorrow which is kind of sad, I really love it here. It's such a beautiful little town.  

Paris and Gourdon

Our third day in Paris started pretty well. We had decided to walk around and find some of the famous markets that are all around the city. I was really excited, as I love markets. The first market we arrived at seemed to only have less than half of its stores open, which was disappointing. We looked around for a bit, but there wasn't all that much to see so we moved on. The next market we arrived at was just completely shut! I had checked on Google what days the markets were open, and it had said that they were open on Tuesdays. So I was (and still am) really confused and disappointed that they were closed. 

Our day had been a bit of a failure in the sense that we didn't really make it to any markets, but we had a good day nonetheless. Searching for the markets we were given the opportunity to explore more of Paris. I definitely think the best way to see a place is to just walk around it. You get to see so much you might not see by bus or car. We both loved walking around the streets, not really knowing where we were going, discovering new things. Near the end of the day we found a small crepe vendor on the side of the road and shared a crepe. I love crepes. I don't know what I am going to do without them when we leave! We decided to head home. We stopped in at the hostel to grab our books. We bought a bunch of cherries from the local fruit shop and headed to the park nearby to sit in the sun and read and eat cherries. It was a pretty great afternoon!

However, it started to go downhill from there. When we were walking back to the hostel at around 5:30pm, we noticed a big police van parked in the street of the hostel, with police wandering around the street. We thought this was a bit weird and wondered what had happened. When we got back to the hostel, no one was there. Not even the owner and after 5 she was always there. Even weirder her bedroom door was open, which it never was. We started to worry at this point. We thought something might have happened to her. Harrison wandered upstairs to grab his DS, only to discover it was no longer where he left it! By now we were both in a bit of a panic. Harrison's DS, my IPod and the hard drive were gone. We frantically searched the hostel, thinking maybe we had left them somewhere and just forgotten. No luck. We had no idea what to do! It was then that the owner returned back to the hostel in quite a panic. Three men had broken into the hostel, while she was inside. At first when she heard people she said she thought it was just one of the guests returning. However, she became suspicious when they were weirdly quiet. She came out of her room to see who it was, and was confronted by one of the theives coming out of the girls dorms. He threw what was in his hand at her and bolted up the stairs, where the other two were already. The three of them left through the upstairs window and escaped over the roof of the apartment. By this time the owner was hysterical and ran into the street screaming for the police. 

She had just finished talking to them when we arrived. Apparently the thieves had gotten into the whole apartment block. They took the stuff of ours I mentioned before, and a Korean boys notebook laptop. We were devastated. Although I had (luckily!) been backing the photos up, I hadn't done all of them. So we lost more than just electronics. I also won't be able to post camera photos until we find something to replace the hard drive. I will take a few photos on my phone every now and then. 

Fortunately there was a girl staying at the hostel who spoke French, and she came with us to the police station to file a report. We are so incredibly greatful she was there, as the police didn't speak any English. 3 hours later we were done at the police station. We headed back to the hostel and all sat together, with all the doors and windows locked. We were all pretty shaken up. We had dinner and wine together. We were sad about the things we had lost, but were thankful that no one got hurt. It could have been so much worse. 

The next day we were still feeling pretty down about the previous day, but decided to go to the Louvre. However our first stop was to a pier which we had seen the previous day. The gates of this pier are covered in love locks! We had had a lock engraved for us back home, and were looking for somewhere to put it as the original bridge had just been taken down. So we were pretty happy to find the pier. We locked our lock onto the gate and threw the key into the water! I know, we are so lame. 

When we arrived at the Louvre we were greeted with the longest queue I think I've ever seen to get into anything. We joined the end of the line and begun our wait. It was so extremely hot. 

An hour and a half later, we finally made it to the front and into the Louvre. Firstly, I'd like to say that the Louvre should definitely invest in an aircon. It was so uncomfortably warm in there! You can understand under the glass pyramid it would be warm because it's in the sun, but the rest of the galleries were just as hot! It made the day kind of unpleasant. And come on, it's not like they can't afford it.

Secondly, the Louvre is beautiful. The building is absolutely amazing! It's so huge, and so beautiful. Blew my mind. We spent most of the day there looking at all sorts of different things. We saw the Mona Lisa from a distance. There were so many people crowded around the painting, it was kind of ridiculous. Like being in an art style mosh pit. After a while once we had seen a lot, we were just too hot and decided to leave. We went down to the beautiful park by the Louvre and had another crepe.

Later that night we were due to catch a train to Gourdon. So we headed to the big train station that the train was leaving from. We had dinner at the station and sat around and read until our train was ready to leave. We left at 10:40pm. The seats reclined, so I managed to get some sleep. Since it was a night train they don't announce the stations, so poor Harrison stayed up the whole trip so we didn't miss our stop. He is truly amazing. We arrived at Cahors at 5am and had to wait an hour and 40 minutes. We didn't know that the night trains didn't have anything to buy food and drink wise on board so by the time we arrived in Cahors we were so thirsty! And nothing was open. It was a very long wait. Luckily a little shop opened up around 6 and we were able to buy a bottle of water. The train to Gourdon was only 30 minutes, and we arrived there at 7:10am. We are staying with Sallie and Ian, who are my grandmas friends. They live in the most gorgeous house. We arrived at their home, had breakfast and went to bed! We were exhausted (especially poor Harrison). 

After a bit of a nap we got up and were greeted by the most beautiful lunch spread! There were cheeses and ham and tomatoes and cherries and baguettes!

 It was amazing, and so delicious. After lunch we headed out to explore the town. It is such an incredibly beautiful town. It's an old medieval village, and all the buildings are still from that time. It's amazing and I absolutely love it here. It's so tiny and quaint!

 We wandered around exploring for a while and then headed back home. For dinner we were spoilt to a home cooked roast dinner! It was delicious and amazing to have proper home cooked food. 

Today Sallie and Ian took us around some of the other villages close by. The first one we went to was Domme. It was the same style of buildings as Gourdon and was beautiful. We walked up and down the little winding streets, looking at all the different small shops. We went to a view point where you could see for miles! You could see all the old buildings and the fields and rivers. It was so beautiful.

 We had lunch at a small pizzeria. It was so yum! I had the best homemade walnut tarte. Absolutely amazing! Next we went to Beynac. Part of the town is built into a cliff! It's really incredible. 

We wandered around the town and along the river. We saw a whole family of ducklings! It was adorable! After a while it started to rain so we had to go home. We've spent the rest of the day lazing around, reading and listening to the rain. I love it in Gourdon, I don't think I want to leave!