Monday, October 23, 2006
Home sweet home!
Well Im home now the journey is over.
Last couple of days were hectic and tiring. We stayed in a
couple of awful hotels in France, following a journey from
Valladolid, through Pamplona (famous for the bull run
through the streets) and up and over the Pyrenees.
Pamplona was a traditional kind of Spanish town, but there
was an unusually high number of pharmacies in the town
they must have been every few hundred yards! My dad
suggested that on the day of the bull run, they probably
do a roaring trade, but it did seem like overkill for one
town.
After filling with fuel (at the first ever petrol station
I think Ive ever been to where someone filled the tank
for me), we went off across the Pyrenees and into France,
Bordeaux to be more precise. The hotel was horrid. The
room was tiny, the TV was miniscule, the sheets were made
of nylon and made me itch horribly. The food wasnt much
better, and it didnt help that I had a complete memory
loss when it came to any French words, and I mis-read the
menu in the restaurant, and was led by my dad picking the
soup, which unfortunately turned out to be a fancy
cheese-on-toast. The main course was lamb, or possibly
beef, Im still not sure, but it was very nice. The
dessert was, however, inedible. I still dont know what it
was, or what the alternatives were!! I went back to the
room and had an apple or two in an attempt to fill up!
Friday saw us make our last big trek of the holiday up to
the northern province of Normandy. We stayed in the
historic town of Bayeux, which is perhaps more famous for
its tapestry which depicted the Norman conquest of Britain
in 1066. We did go to have a look at it, but after
arriving at the tapestry museum at 5:30, we discovered it
was closing at 5:45 and would have cost us 15 to get in!
We gave it a miss and instead went to find somewhere to
eat!
To hotel room in Bayeux was not any better than the night
before. The blankets on the beds looked like someone had
been sick on them they were a disgusting colour! The
sheets were again like nylon and the towels were grey and
hard! We were glad to get away the next morning and head
off to Le Havre to find a supermarket (in order for my dad
to stock up on wine), then it was off to the ferry back to
Portsmouth. The crossing was rough, and even I felt ill at
one point (which is very unusual for me to get travel
sick), but we made it to the other side, and following a
high-speed journey home, I made it into my own bed for a
good nights sleep just after midnight.
Overall, it was a great trip and I will take away some
fantastic memories. I dont think Ill ever undertake a
journey like it again, but Im definitely glad I did it
well worth all the effort.
