Uh, je ne comprends pas?

Our weekend trip to France went a bit awry. Instead of Grenoble, we accidentally arrived in Rodez, which was not at all close to where we wanted to be. But that was okay. We hitchhiked to Séverac le Chateau, which was kind of in the middle of nowhere, and by the time we got there, and due to the lack of outward bound traffic (and therefore no more hitchhiking) we ended up having to stay the night there. We initially couldn't find a place to stay. But while searching, Andrew and Juliette walked into a hotel at about 11pm and found a key to a room just sitting on a desk by the door. It was pretty sketchy, but we were desperate and considered just taking the key and the corresponding room for the night for free. There was no reception to talk to of course at this hour, and the lobby and halls were completely dark.

Instead, we walked along a back road and found a hotel and bought a room for the night. Not nearly as cool as sneaking into a hotel room at night, but it was more legal.

The next morning when we left, a random donkey came up from a hill beneath to greet us.

We all harass the poor donkey with our cameras.

Our hotel, the donkey on the left, and Séverac le Chateau, which this town is named after, back in the distance.Nice was nice.

With a few hours to kill before taking us to Montpellier where we could catch the main railway, we went uphill and eventually to the castle. There was a splendid view.

Lost, France.

Atop Séverac le Chateau. Click and drag to rotate 360 degrees.

Another location from atop Séverac le Chateau. Click and drag to rotate 360 degrees.

St. Martin Vésubie in the French Alps. Click and drag to rotate 360 degrees.

Food Diary: Day 4

Saturday 10/4/08

Another day of traveling and not a ton of eating. We left the small French town we were in Séverac le Chateau at 1pm but not before grabbing an apple tarte for myself from a Pâtisserie and a bottled water. We ate outside in the cold as there was no eating room in the shop, and we really didn’t have anywhere else to go. Although not the ideal health option, baked sweets like this apple tarte put me in a good mood, countering the negative mental effects our various travel difficulties were placing on me. All my comfort foods seem to be unhealthy. I do have quite a sweet tooth, so a tarte like that is certainly comforting in that regard, and also I’ve never had any visible negative health effects from eating baked sweets, ever. To go a bit more in depth, I can recall having donuts and bakery items of the sort throughout my life. I enjoyed them more than candy or salty snacks and there was always something home-like about them. My mom had always, from time to time, made cookies and other sweets like apple and pumpkin pies in the oven, so it’s easy to associate baked goods with comfort, without a doubt.

Sadly, that was the last time I ate that day besides some pita bread that we managed to take with us into France from London. Airport security threw out our peanut butter and jam at the airport.

Food Diary: Day 3

Friday 10/3/08

Today I left for southern France with a few friends. We left early to the point where I had no time to grab anything to eat, though I did pour a glass of water for myself. After traveling plans went very awry, the next thing we ate that day was an apple tarte and a small cheese and ham pie/tarte, both of which the three of us shared. This was when we were in France, and between all of us, we only had so many Euros with us, not having found an ATM yet. Water was the beverage of choice, as we already had some on us.

After more traveling incidents, the final thing we ate that day was a pizza we bought in a small French town (cheese, tomatoes, beef and onion). It was that good. The beef sort of ruined it, but due to a language barrier, we felt better selecting that specific pizza than choosing one where we couldn’t properly translate the toppings. Although not too great, pizza was a welcome food as it was very cold outside and we needed something to warm us up. We shared the pizza and a pitcher of water.