In about 2 hours and a half, my night shift will be over, I'll then rush home, pack (yeah I know I should have done it BEFORE :rolleyes: ), take a shower, then rush to the railway station, jump in a high speed train, and 4 hours and 450 miles later, I'll be in South West France !! :)

I'm going to Les Landes department, which is situated on the Atlantic coast between Bordeaux and the Spanish border. My roomy is from there, and his mom still lives there in a wonderful 17th century farm. Our best friends and I have been there at least once a year for 18 years. We so much love this part of France, that our best friends decided to buy a house in a village 15 minutes drive away from my roomy's mom.

I will stay at my best friends' house, which is a really gorgeous one, situated at the very end of the village, on a road where there's a car, or should I say a tractor, passing by every 4 or 5 hours !!! :D On the other side of the road, there's a farm, where the owners are very friendly and have ducks chickens and Guinea fowls. Apart from that, there's nothing miles around.

My best friends have a huge garden, with a small forrest, and you can see the Pyrénées mountains in the distance.

I will be alone till Saturday, my friends couldn't come earlier. As for my roomy, he will arrive next thursday and will stay one month. (He's got 8 weeks holidays, I've got only 5 :( )

My roomy's mom will come pick me up at the railway station, and will drive me to my friends' house. Since she knows I can't cook, she has invited me for dinner on thursday and friday evening. :) She's a real sweety !! Going to my roomy's mom for dinner means that all her neighbors will be there to say hi (I've known all of them for 18 years), that we'll have to drink Ricard on top of Ricard to celebrate my arrival, and that after she will have cooked a dinner for 250 people when we actually are 25 !! :D Besides its wonderful beaches, Les Landes is famous for its gastronomy, especially its duck "foie gras". :)

On friday, I've planned to sleep as long as I can !!! I don't wanna hear an alarm clock or a phone or whatever. When I get up, I'll have my breakfast in the garden, write Joey, then drive to the beach which is 30 minutes away from the house.

When my friends are there, we will do the exact same thing: rest, go to the beach, go eat to neighbor's or invite neighbors' for dinner and that's it. We will probably go one day to Basque Land which is a gorgeous place to visit, and we'll definitely go to San Sebastian, in Spain, on the other side of the border, to buy cigarettes and liquors which are twice cheaper than in France !! :D

On july 17th, in the evening, there will be the village party. They put tables all around the village main square, (actually there's only ONE square :D ), and all the people from the village bring food and drinks, and we share and eat altogether. There's also an orchestra, so we will dance till dawn !! :D

Well PTO family, I will see you online on 07/26, and share some pics. Until then, I wish you and your loved ones all the best. :)

Phil

adieu for now...phil...ENJOY!!

I don't understand why no one wants to be in Paris to watch Lance Armstrong win his sixth Tour de France? Perhaps because it will be a madhouse??

Well, honestly, I hate the Tour de France, and I never watch it, and I ALWAYS avoid the Champs Elysées on the day of the arrival. But, I nevertheless wish Lance Armstrong good luck, I think he derves it. :)

Phil

That sounds so COOL Phil!! Well guy, when you get back on PTO I will have spent 2 days in the Philippines. I don't have much of an idea what I'll be seeing, but it appears g/f has some plans already made ~evil grin~


Yes guy you should have ALREADY been packed! Geeez Joey is going to have his hands full just keeping you inline!! :D

Oh, Phil....that sounds HEAVENLY!!! I'll be thinking of you when I see the tractors on the dirt road on the drive to see Shawn :D

Swim a few laps for me, will you! And have a safe trip!

Gosh Phil and B-Ray both off to warmth, sun and beaches! ENJOY it for all of us you two!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you are both able to share pictures when you return and please know you'll be missed....

Deb

Enjoy your vacation Phil! And I am looking forward to those pics when you get back.

Phil, enjoy your time away! It sounds like a wonderful time... wish I were with you. be blessed-
Lisa

Oh, that sounds llike heaven!!!
*ONLY* 5 weeks holiday??? Poor thing... ;)

Send PTO postcards!!!

Have fun!! Enjoy... don't forget all us working people!!

JJT

Hey Phil! Have fun! :thumbsup:
Work will stay here and wait for you .:D
Amy

Phil that sounds wonderful :) Have a great time!

Hi PTO :)

Did you miss me ??? You better :D

I can't believe I'm back from my holidays !!! I arrived a few hours ago, and Paris is cloudy, the subway is dirty and the people are ugly !! And now, I'm at work !!! :mad:

Well, my holidays in Les Landes were FANTASTIC, but 18 days are way too short !!!! I can't believe the days went by that fast !!!

On 07/08, I got off the train at Dax around 2pm, it was warm and sunny, and my roomy's mom's neighbor was waiting for me to drive me to my best friends' house, at Castelnau Chalosse a 400 people village. The 20 minutes ride was so great through the country side, the corn fields, the forrests and the small typical villages. So much different from Paris, and so quiet and peacefull.

Once in my friends' house, I went up to my bedroom, unpacked, took a shower, put on some "holidays clothes", and decided to drive to Montfort, a few miles away from Castelnau Chalosse to a supermarket to buy some food. It was about 4pm when I entered the supermarket, and something strange happened, I was the ONLY customer !!! This has NEVER happened to me in Paris !!! So I bought some fruits vegetable beers etc, went to the cash desk, and guess what ??? The girl was actually friendly, smiling and talking !!! She even noticed I was not from here for 2 reasons: 1) my accent and 2) I locked the car !!! :D

Then I drove back home. My friends have a very big house,3 floors, 6 bedrooms, and a HUGE piece of land with an old farm that they are now restoring. So I took a beer, and strolled quietly in the garden. Later on, their neighbors came to say hi, and invited me for a welcome drink in their house. They also gave me some tomatoes from their garden, and some home made duck "paté" After a few "Ricard", I crossed the road back home and decided those tomatoes and paté would make a great dinner along with a bottle of wine. I ate on the terrace outside the house, watching the cornfields and the forrests as far as the eyes can see, and the Pyrénées mountains in the distance. The sun set, and it was absolutely quiet and silent, quite unreal. Later on as the night darkened, I could see the stars lit up the ones after the other in the sky, the milky way, all kind of things you can't see in a big city. I felt like in heaven

Then I went to bed and decided to read some. I had chosen one of the rooms on the last floor, just beneath the roof, the smallest one, but the most charming one. After I read a few pages, I put out the light, and then I heard "something" walking. :eek: I started to panic, thinking there was a spider in the room (I HATE spiders), so I put the light on again. There was no spiders, nothing, and no longer any noise. I then realized that I probably couldn't "hear" a spider walk, so I put out the light again. Then I heard "it" walk again. Now I was almost panicking, shouted "is there someone here", and started to think of some giant countryside spiders which would anyway not answer me. I didn't put the light on again, and decided to try to identify the noise. After a while, I found out it was not "in" the house, but "on" the house. Actually on the roof, just above my head. So I felt better, because even a giant countryside spider couldn't open a window or a door. After a while, I knew what was this "thing" walking over me, cause it eventually "talked": it was an owl !!!! :o So I decided to let the owl live its night life, and I fell asleep. I slept 11 hours !!! :eek:

On the next morning the weather was warm and sunny, I went down and took a yummy breakfast in the garden. The neighbor waved to me from accross the road saying "looks like you slept well". :D After my breakfast I wrote a letter to Joey, took a shower, and drove to the beach, 30 minutes away. Those beaches in Les Landes department and Basque Land are huge and quiet, and above all, they are not overcrowded, which is nice. So I worked on my tan, and played in the waves which are big, we're not far from Biarritz which is a very well known surf spot.

In the evening, I drove to Préchacq les Bains, 15 minutes away from Castelnau Chalosse, for I was invited at my roomy's mom's. Of course all the neighbors were here, and we drank Ricard on top of Ricard, and after we ate as if we were starving. My roomy's mom has a garden with her own tomatoes, green beans onions etc, and her own ducks and chickens fed with her own corn. YUM !!!

Then I went back home, it was very dark despite the stars and the moon, and as I walked from the old farm where I parked the car to the house, I saw a white "thing" running away to the bushes. I decided it was not a giant spider, and that I was not afraid, and rushed to the house, locked the door and put all the lights on !! :D

I then went to my bed, told my old friend the owl good night, and slept for another 11 hours.

The day after, I saw the "white thing" again in the garden. It was a cat. Obviously, it was a she-cat, cause she was pregnant. As soon as she saw me, she ran away. I did the exact same thing as the day before, beach then dinner to my roomy's mom's.

The day after, I went to the beach and at 6:30 pm I went to Dax railway station to pick up my friend Francis, one of the house owner. We went to my roomy's mom's for a "welcome Francis" dinner :)

The day after, I mowed the lawn in the morning. Due to their huge piece of land, my friends have a mower which is like a small tractor, so it was fun. While I was doing that, Francis was painting the doors of the farm. The afternoon we went to the beach, then back home, and the she-cat was still here, but she ran away each time we moved towards her.

2 days later, Elisio, Francis' boyfriend arrived, and 2 days later my roomy who stayed at his mom's but whom we met everyday. The holidays kept on being wonderful, with a sunny warm weather, dinners at my friends house or my roomy's mom's, one restaurant one evening in Hossegor to eat fish and sea food, restoring the farm in the morning, beach the afternoon, playing cards before dinner in the garden, along with a Ricard or a cool beer etc etc.

2 things broke that routine:

First, after one week of turning around the house, the she cat came closer and closer, and eventually let us catch and stroke her. She's a cutie with wonderful blue eyes, one of her parents was probably a siamese. Of course, we couldn't help but feed her, and we're now expecting her to have her babies !!! :)

Second thing, on July 16/17/18/19, there was the village party !! :D This is typical from Les Landes and Basque Land. From June till the end of August, all the villages have a party the one after the others. Everybody goes there, from the very young baby to the very old granny. :) During the days there are games for the children, for the grown ups, and of course there are the "Landaises cows" games. Those games are with cows, the black Landaises ones, no bulls, and it's not a corrida, the cows are not killed. The games consist of waiting for the cow to run to you, and at the last minute, turn on yourself not to be touched by it, or put a ring around its horn, or jump over it etc etc. That's kinda fun, but OF COURSE, I didn't even try it !!! :p

The evenings, there are big dinners on the village square, where everybody is eating together and talking together, and after there is a big ball where people dance till dawn. We had a lot of fun, and it was nice to meet the people from the village, since we only know the neighbors from accross the road. We partied the 4 days and went back home every morning at 5:30 !!! :eek: And we did have a lot of fun, cause everyone was very nice with us as soon as they realized that we weren't some kind of snobbish arrogant Parisians.

On the last night of the party, we were served a giant omelette with smoked ham at 4:30 am, and that was really cool !! :)

In big cities like Dax or Bayonne, those parties last 5 days, there are of course thousands of people, during the days there are corridas with famous matadors and at nights the cities are turned into a huge bar and disco. That's fun too, I did it some years ago, but the small village parties are in my opinion more friendly, and are the best way to keep a small village alive.

This morning I had to take the train back to Paris, while my roomy is staying there till 08/14, and our best friends till the end of August. Fortunately, Leo the cat was waiting for me, licking me, purring and following me everywhere in my apartment when I was preparing to go work. Our caretaker fed him twice a day, but of course he got bored being alone most of the time. So he was REALLY happy to see me.

Tomorrow I will upload a lot of pictures I took just for my PTO family :) I missed you, but had no time to look for an internet café. So now I have to catch up !!

I do hope everyone of you as well as your loved ones are fine.
Sorry for such a long post.

Phil

oh phil...that sounds like a wonderful vacation..i was gone for a month..do you want to hear about mine??? i will check your profile and see if i can email you directly...otherwise if i can't pm me your email addy and i will enlighten you to "MY VACATION"
hope to see some pictures soon.
take care and glad your home
christine/aka(samiam)

oh man that sounds like a fabulous time. I love the village party idea. In my neighborhood we have street festivals and such but somehow the French version sounds more organic and genuine

:) Sounds like a great vacation/holiday...

I'm glad you're back buddy, but it sure sounds like you had fun! I can't wait to see the pictures...

Deb

Glad to hear you are back and had a good time! I heard there are fires over there in France are they affecting you at all? Anyhow looking forward to your pics!

your description of your vacation sounds like a dream. Oh how awful it was to have to wake up and go home. It makes it sound like we were there too, just a perfect story. I am glad you made it safely home. angela

Thank you everybody for your sweet words :)

Glad to hear you are back and had a good time! I heard there are fires over there in France are they affecting you at all? Anyhow looking forward to your pics!

Actually, the fires are in the Marseille area on the Mediterranean coast. Like each and every summer :(

Phil

Wow... sounds like you had a blast!!! (Except for the scary mutant countryside spider scare! :p Yuck... I hate 'em too!) I'm glad you were able to catch up on your sleep after the week we spent together, and can't wait to see the pics!

Give Leo a kiss on the head for me! And tell the gang when you hear from them next that I said, "Bonjour!"

And tell the gang when you hear from them next that I said, "Bonjour!"

The gang called me tonight to tell me they had a wonderful warm and sunny weather on the beach, so now I HATE them !!! :p

Phil

1- Castelnau Chalosse, the main square. Actually, the ONLY square :D

2- My friends' house on the East side.

3- And on the South and West side.

4- The dining room and kitchen

5- The dining room and summer living room seen from the kitchen.

6- The winter living room with the fire place.

7- Francis relaxing on the terrace

8- "Our" she-cat, Miminette :)

9- The old farm, facing the terrace. Next year they will break down the wall on the left, and will make the swimming pool half inside the farm and half outside.

10- Francis and Elisio, lunch in the garden.

Elisio, Francis and I (right to left) wearing the T-shirts created for the Castelnau Chalosse 2004 village party, and the Landaises cows games :D

1- My roomy's mom's house in Préchacq les Bains

2- The beach at Hossegor

3- Dinner at my best friends', with my roomy (between Francis and Elisio), his brother with the yellow shirt, their mom (2nd lady on the right) and some neighbors

these pictures are fantastic!!
i have got to go on vacation!!

JJT

Thanks so much for the photos, I would be jealous but now I feel like I went on holiday myself!! :)

But COW games??? Huh??? You guys are a tad on the freaky side... :D

Thanks for sharing them... It looks peaceful and like a happy time..

Deb

Thanks for sharing the photos!

Your trip sounds so relaxing and beautiful, thanks for sharing.

Buddy

But COW games??? Huh??? You guys are a tad on the freaky side... :D

LOL qwerty :D Those are not "normal" cows, but a special breed. :) Here's a link in english which explains those games better than I do, and with better pictures, especially the ones of the "jump".

http://www.portaltaurino.com/francia/corrida_landesa.htm

Phil

OK, i get it.... Wow! Is that you in those photos??? LOL

Totally awesome pictures, thank you for sharing.

Buddy

Phil, magnificent photos....the country homes are to die for! I'm so glad you had such a great time, mon ami :)

Susan

These pictures are beautiful Phil!!!!!! I am jealous! But I love the fact I can imagine my own vacation!!!

That is the villa I dream about Phil! They have done so many renovations from the last pictures I saw...it is beyond beautiful! I am so jealous and I saw the YUMMY cheeses on the table at your roomies mom's house...now I am jealous AND hungry :D

One thing I find amazing about this trip is that YOU went to the supermarket ;)
Does that mean that Phillippe will not have to do ALL the shopping anymore?