A Jewel Named Corsica

I was excited that we were going to Corsica because it was some place new and I'd never heard of it before. We took an overnight ferry ride from Toulon to get to Corsica so we arrived early in the morning and slept until the afternoon. There were many beaches to swim at and the water was so blue and clear you could see everything! Dad and I went to the house where young Napoleon Bonaparte lived. It was big and full of old furniture and paintings. We saw the most incredible cars in the city square because they were on a car rally all around Corsica. I've never seen so many Porsches in one place before.

We traveled to the mountains in the middle of the island and stayed in another amazing Airbnb near Corte. Our host Isabelle had a heated pool that we swam in every day. I loved the view and Isabelle's delicious breakfasts. We went driving through the mountains on a very windy road where we were close to the edge almost all the time. Dad went for a hike while Mom and I stayed in the valley and I climbed around the rocks a bit.

Our next stop was Calvi and we stayed at an amazing resort. It had a heated pool too and there were cats everywhere! One morning Dad and I went for a drive through the mountains to see towns hanging off the mountainsides and then we picked up Mom and went to a small beach we had seen the previous day. It was at the bottom of a hill and we had to walk down. There were lots of fish in the water and we stayed there until supper. On the morning we left, all the kittens came and sat on our table and watched us.

We drove to Bastia where we stayed in a nice hotel by the port. We walked through the narrow streets in the evening and found a small harbour where you could see the church above all the buildings. The ferry we left on was covered with Looney Toons characters and there were plastic models of them throughout the ship. I enjoyed Corsica a lot but I can't wait to go to Tuscany to see our friends in Tavernelle!

France - Castles, Dogs, and Cigarettes

Paris was great but it was time to leave. We walked around Monet's Garden in Giverny but I couldn't wait for Mont St Michel which is an island because of the tides. When the tide goes out, there is a wasteland of mud that people cross every day. Dad and I walked around on the mudflats which were very gooey. We attended a church service at the cathedral on the top of the island which was boring because it was all in French. We wandered through the shops and I wondered how much it would cost to live there. By the way, I loooooved our Airbnb.

When we were in Tours, we stayed in a renovated wine cube with our host Claire. We drove around the countryside and visited several chateaus built by influential people. My favourite was Château Villandry where I saw extensive gardens and a fish in the moat around the garden that was missing its top jaw. At the market in Amboise there were alot of different stalls but my favourite was the crêpe stand where I got a ham and cheese crepe. I wonder what it would have been like to live in those massive chateaus in the 1600's?

Bordeaux was enjoyable because the Airbnb we stayed in had a pool that Dad and I had fun swimming in. Thank you Frederic! We wandered through the historic downtown and even had lunch at an 'historic' McDonalds. When we visited the Mirror Pool, we couldn't see anything in it because the water had evaporated. We were surprised when the pool started to spray a fine mist which filled the shallow pool so it could reflect again. It was fun exploring the castle in Carcassonne.

We stayed in an Airbnb in Provence that had a pool and a massive patio. It gave me something to do when we weren't driving around the countryside. We drove through some remote little towns in the hillsides which were tucked out of view. These towns had windy little streets and lots of cats. I had fun running through the alleys and narrow streets in each town. We spent a lot of time by the pool because we needed to rest. Our hosts Alain and Veronique had a big dog named Neagal who visited us each day. One night we had supper in Roussillon where I think they forgot to remove the pigskin from my hot dog and gave Mom and Dad pizza that was still frozen. Aside from the poor food, we had a very nice view of the valley. I enjoyed Provence very much and I want to come back when I can drive the car around the windy hills myself.