Well bonjour everyone :) As this is my last night in France with certain internet access I'd send a wee message back home :)

I'm currently sitting in the town of La Ciotat in the south of France, between Marseilles and Toulon... and it's just perfect. France could be the one thing that could tear me away from my love of Scotland.

I'll start at the start... I arrived at the port of Santander in northern Spain on Thursday 1st after an overnight drive from Edinburgh to Portsmouth and a very pleasant 24 hour ferry journey. From Santander we made our way down past Zaragoza, Barcelona and Tarragona to the town of Miami Platja where the house we were renting was located. It was the first time we had been south of Barcelona and did not know what it was going to be like... The house was brilliant and the residential area it was situated in was really nice. The town of Miami Platja itself wasn't as nice, it seemed to be heavily aimed towards Dutch and German tourists (I'm not really a fan of touristy areas) But there were some brilliant times round about such as Cambrils, L'hospitalet and Salou. However, there were miles of beautiful sandy beaches and coves and the sea was the most brilliant blue colour. Most of my time was spent just travelling around the towns around and sightseeing. Also a nice wee time killer was hitting the bars on the nights of the two Spain games which was just an unreal atmosphere! On my 2nd last day in Spain (Thursday 8th) We grabbed an early train and went to Barcelona which was amazing, spent a full day and saw all the sights such as Gaudi's museum and Las Ramblas. I loved Barcelona and it was great. The heat has made it tiresome though! (since I got here it's never been bellow 30 degrees during the afternoon time!) - And yes, I spoke lots of Spanish, more than I thought I would!

So then we drove north from Miami Platja up to Barcelona and north into France, round the 'corner' past Marseilles and to La Ciotat where I currently am now. The area is a really nice port town. I have had a truely relaxing second week to this holiday, most of my time has been consumed by French culture: sitting in cafes and restaurants talking to people and just relaxing... to the extent where I got up at 3pm the other day :P I've spoke so much French and it's been really satisfying putting the class work to use. Anything from getting some bread to a 20 minute conversation with a pharmacist about the best thing for your dad's bites... I've visited more lovely beaches and seen nice places it's just great.

Now my journey will take me from La Ciotat 750km up the road to Strasbourg where I shall be for two days, then on to Amsterdam for the final two days before getting a ferry from Amsterdam to Newcastle!

Au revior et bonne journee!

(I've tried to upload a picture of the cove I was at today...)

"Les Calanques" at La Ciotat