Weather was overcast and rainy. Today we are driving to the house of one of our former au pairs. She and her family live in the little town of Milhas, across the border in France, in the Pyrenees Mountains . No border crossing checkpoint. We stopped and got some French Francs. It rained heavily for most of the drive. French countryside was very green and lots of corn fields. No photos due to the rain.
We got to the town but did not know how to get to Emmanuella’s house, so asked several people. We saw most of the village during our search for Emmanuella.
Jessica speaks a bit of Spanish and one of the French people we talked with also spoke a bit of Spanish so between the two we got a bit of information. Once we were directed to a phone booth, but it required a card which we did not have. Asked some other people and finally the last person we asked was her husband, Serge!
They live in an interesting old schoolhouse.
The view from their second floor living area. We dubbed it Emmanuella's Mountain.
Their two children, Baptiste and Louis, are quite charming. They have a big yard with a garden and chickens.
And a stream that runs through their property. The town itself is very small, no store and only one bed and breakfast, where we stayed. Emmanuella cooked us a dinner of omelets, rice, potatoes and carrots, bread, a salad from their garden, and a fresh apple tart. Was good to have a delicious home cooked meal.
Baptiste is apparently a major handful. Josh actually ended up playing with him a lot. Louis, the baby, is charming with a gorgeous smile, incredible eyes, and an easy-going personality.
We are staying in the only small hotel/hostel in town. Our large room had two double beds and the bathroom in the corner, with shower curtains around it for privacy.
This evening we went to the castle in Saint Bertrand to see a pageant and the illumination. After Emmanuella and Serge asked around where to go for the best views, we were pointed to a hill where many people were already gathered. It turns out that there was a pageant about the history of the hunt on another hill. We could see the stage, but far away. We waited because people said the illumination was after the pageant. Lots of horses galloping around, back and forth across the stage…2 ¼ hours later the pageant ended. Then they had a short laser show that we could sort of see. Then the illumination – the castle light up green, the church red – it looked like the church was on fire. Then 5 minutes worth of fireworks. All in all, kind of a bust. Emmanuella and Serge were very apologetic, but we all had a really good laugh about it, and the illumination part was good. We did not get back to our B&B until 1:30 am.
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