Banana!

We have no internet at our house for some reason.  It was there before.  We suspect that the internet providers are on holiday.  Or on strike.  So on our to do list for the day was "find internet."  We left the kids at home and Matthew and I are now sitting in a very crowded McDonalds eating le sundae avec chocolat and watching people bisé-ing everyone they see.  I was hoping that I could avoid American fast food for at least a little while, but desperate times...

On Thursday we did a big grocery run and ended up with an embarrassingly overcrowded chariot (fancy name for cart) and an abundance of amazing food -- cheese, sausages, chocolate, pastries, and 10 baguettes.  After dinner we took a stroll around town with Charles pointing out highlights from his and Matthew's "long walk".  Our walk ended with a dark and windy hike up "The Rock" which is a chapel and what is left of a medieval chateau and just happens to be 100 feet from our house (more or less).   We then stayed up until midnight watching Charlie Chaplin movies (silent films are excellent in a foreign country) and playing games.  Then as the New Year arrived Matthew and the kids went outside to wander the alleys and enjoy the festive spirit.  There were lots of people yelling the same thing out their windows and when they came back I said, Bonne Année!  Matthew asked what that meant because that was what everyone was yelling outside.  I told him it meant Happy New Year.  Oh, they thought people were yelling banana.

Friday we stayed in and watched stupid American comedies that gained quite a lot in the humor department by being incomprehensible.  Our new plan for learning French will be to watch t.v. all day every day.  In the afternoon the kids and I went to find the sea which is only about 2 km. away, but the waterfront appears to be owned by rich people.  Miss GPS kept telling me to go on very narrow unpaved roads to nowhere, but eventually we found a 10 ft. wide location on which we watched the sunset with 15 other people.  Then we went home and took another evening jaunt up "The Rock," with the wind threatening to blow us completely away.

We basically live on this rock -- but on the other side.

This morning I took the three youngest to the Saturday market because we had run out of baguettes!  Lunch just wouldn't have been the same.  We have now purchased them from four different establishments and will soon decide which ones are the best.