France was something different for us. Two out of our four stops we would be staying with friends so we'd get a look on the inside of how families live in France rather than just visiting sites, so we were pretty excited about that & to have someone speak French for us was plus!

Our first stop would be the amazing city of PARIS! We were off to a shakey start after we caught the 'wrong' train to get to Paris... However it wasn't so much wrong as it was just better, we got their 2 hrs earlier! Whoops. The journey to find our hostel was entertaining as ever. Lost in Paris with 'directions' that only tell you half the story is always handy. Our hostel was literally 50m from a metro station and we were about 200m for the Sacrè Cour which was awesome! I booked a night bike tour through Fat Bike Tours as soon as we settled in to make the most of our time in the beautiful city. The tour started at the Eiffel tower & to be honest when I first saw it I was a little bit disappointed, I think expected something a little more but she grew on me & the Eiffel tower would soon become a daily must see for us!

The tour was supposed to go for 4 hrs and include a bateaux cruise down the Siene river, try 5hrs! Carl our tour guide was a cute & enthusiastic young ginger boy from Normandy who majored in Parisian history, he straight up gave us all the basic need to knows about Paris and the native a*******s who inhabit the beautiful city. The tour was really great, gave us a basic understanding on where things were and helped us decide what we wanted to go visit in more depth over the next few days.

We decided the easiest way to get to the sites would be if we did a hop on hop off tour from here we visited Norte Dame Cathedral, Lourve, L'arc de Triomphe, shopping streets, Eiffel tower & more. We also happened to be lucky enough to be in Paris when Kael's cousin was their so we felt that it would only be appropriate to have a picnic & drinks under the Eiffel tower on our last evening which was really cool.

We had an early start for our journey to Cap Feret & after all our near misses we decided to be early so we would have plenty of time to get on the right train.......... Except we went to the wrong train station. We had 25 minutes up our sleeve and a 20 minute ride on the metro to get to the right train station.... Have you ever ran while carrying 22-25kg?? Well we made it to the train, it literally left as we stepped on it! I think for us getting from place to place is the true art of traveling, it never seems to be straight forward!

We had an afternoon in Bordeaux before we caught our bus down to Marion's in Cap Feret so we made the most of it & had lunch & did some shopping. Cap Feret is a little beachy fishing village famous for its oysters, dinner consisted of raw oysters, Peri winkles, sea snails & prawns.. Now prior to cap Feret I didn't like oysters let a lone raw oysters but these ones are so fresh they literally pull them out of the water before they serve you (I think they were actually still alive) & they were delicious! Peri winkles we're too bad either!

Marion was really great taking us to all her local family beaches she's been visiting since she was a little girl really giving us a feel for what it's like to live & grow up in France with her family. In the morning we rode to the market to pick up the fresh baguettes for the day then we'd go to the beach and come home for lunch.. Eating with the family was really special, even though we really couldnt understand what was being said it was a beautiful ritual to be part of. Very different from Australia it felt like a Christmas lunch having all the family around everyday & the food was so tasty & fresh!

From Cap Feret we would have one night in Bordeaux & then head to Gaillac which envolved me driving a hire car from Toulouse! s*** if only they put big neon flashing signs on top of those things 'AUSTRALIAN, LOOK OUT!' I don't know if I've ever been so nervous. It was ok until I got to an intersection & then perhaps I would end up on the wrong side of the road.. Ooppsies! My bad. I was pretty dam excited when we pulled up at Mas De Sudrè the bed & breakfast that would be our home for the next 4 nights.. Inside awaited my long lost friend that I hadn't seen for 10 months! :D

Ned & Amz had the next few days all mapped out & planed for us & it was heaps of fun, we went to a bush concert one night that some friends of theirs had put together which was fun & we went on lovely drives through the country side to quaint little villages that had very special views. We also visited their favourite bars and restaurants and had some very tasty meals, drank lots of beer & had good catch ups. Gaillac was truly beautiful & our accomodation was perfect, views over the rolling hills in the country side of France while sunbathing by the pool.. we felt very spoilt! Ned's parents Pippa & George were very accommodating of us & very lovely, we will be recommending everyone to stay with them in the future Mas De Sudrè is one of France's hidden treasures.

We saw a different side to France that we probably wouldn't have if it weren't for our very generous friends & we really enjoyed it, more than we thought possible!

Merci beaucoup xx