october 2.  2012

tuesday-day 23 of our adventure-

dang, we are enjoying our schedule-less life!  we slept in late, got ready, and figured out we would go to the zoo and aquarium in montpellier, an hour away.  except!-we were about out of gas.  two things that are an unpredictable occurrences here in france.  gas stations, and water closets(potty’s).  one never knows when they’ll find one.  we find and pull into a gas station that’s only automatic payment, and it won’t take my cards.  we called both banks to let them know we would be out of the country, and they love shutting them off when they feel like it.  so i’m stranded, can’t call anyone because i don’t have a french sim card, and also, no signal.  we had seen one other gas station up the road, so we decided to try that one with about 16 miles left of gas in our tank, and thankfully, there was a person there who not only took cash, the sweet older woman filled the car for me.  so nice!  by then an hour had gone by, so we decided to stay more local, and try and visit the chateau de cassan a second time since, but once again, they were closed.  we walked around the lovely vineyards and area, went to the grocery store again!, and headed home for dinner.

i did get out by myself for the first time in over three weeks, and walked and walked and walked up, down, and all around our little village on the hill.  it’s beautiful.

-a little about france-they love their time off, not working more than needed.  sundays-closed.  most everything closes at 5:00pm if it is open.  lunch is from 12:00-2:00.  school is closed every wednesday.  in the fall, some things are only open on weekends.  they take off five weeks a year, usually at least the month of august.  smart.  we work too much in america, and the easiness of technology has only made things crazier and busier.  why don’t we slow down?

p.s.-don’t you love when you get to have a picture all together, and your eyes are closed, and your daughter’s braces looks like she has black teeth?