Angie’s the man. Yesterday she convinced us that the Indian Forest Perigord would be so much fun. The title didn’t exactly scream “loads of so much fun” so I was skeptical. After our daily swim, and another beauty detour (getting lost) we finally arrived. As we pulled in I noticed some other cars. Good sign. We piled out of the car and wow! High ropes, low ropes, nets, ladders, zip lines and best of all - Risk. After talking with the energetic host we determined that there were 4 levels or colors and our kids could go on the first two, jaune and blanc. Angie and I signed up for the same kiddie colors and after getting strapped we headed for the trees. I silently cursed for wearing my pants, not only did the straps ride wayyy up they created unsightly pant bulges in places you don’t really want bulges (or do you? Nope you don’t, says Ang.)
After a quick Frenglish safety course on how to fasten your safety clasps clips metal thingies and an even shorter course on how to fasten your pulley as you zip line 10 metres in the air - we were on our way. Seriously, NOT ONE LIABILITY FORM not even for the kids. All the dude said was “I’d recommend you keep your eye on her, maybe one parent in front the other behind.” Ha Ha?? For the next 2.5 hours the kids did all their own clasps, clips, pulleys and zip lining (we helped Lex in the beginning but by the end she was calling for her mother to hurry up). When they weren’t zip lining they were walking across swinging bridges and logs (think Indiana Jones) and even climbing upside down as the line carried them into the trees. The day went amazing well and I’m proud to say Angie was right, loads of fun was had by all. The last course was too intense for Lex and since we were all 20ft above her when we realized it we told her to, uh, hmm, take pictures with mom’s expensive camera? Check them out below.
Today we let mom rest again (as great as our cottage is, its bed hasn’t been kind to Angie) so we took off in no particular direction (hmm, in no particular direction, great book title). We ended up on the road to Lascaux, the site of more cave paintings. Instead of going we decided to find our own cave. After an hour of thistles, scratched legs and steep cliffs we headed back for the car. We ended up stopping off in St.Genies, a typical France village. We walked through their beautiful medieval church and then headed for the boulangerie (not the silky sleep wear, its French for “bakery”). A few swallows later we were back on the road headed home, excited to have fresh boulangerie bread for lunch.
As I write this the kids are outside checking out some bulls that have made their way up to our property. Lex just burst in all excited because one bull was climbing on another in some sort of game. I suggested it might be piggy back and she looked at me nodding like “how do you know?
Three days left in France. We leave for the Cinque Terre (Italy) Saturday night. Our first overnight train experience.
John
2 comments:
Oh man, Im so happy to be reading these and in a way going along with you guys. It's obvious this was well worth the selling of your house and quitting your job for you and all of us too. I miss you guys. See you after the journey of a lifetime! Angie you are the man.
Love, Bonnie
Caught up on your blog tonight. I'm suffciently jealous. Who knows where the Lonard's might end up because of the Close's inspiration. The zip line thing looked like so much fun. How on earth did Angie find out about these places?!?!?
Hugo is doing really well. We got him some dogfood for sensitive stomachs. Hope keeps asking me how his poop is. Well, in case you wanted to know- it's solid!! WOOHOO!! Success. Makes is so much easier for the boys to clean it up in the backyard.
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