Its been a while since I went back to France to visit family, so when my folks said they were planning a trip I figured I may as well tag along for 2 weeks. My time would be split between spending a week in Toulouse where most of my family lives and a week at the family beach house in Port La Nouvelle.

My time in Toulouse was rather uneventful. It started off with my folks taking me to 2 different nursing homes to visit extended family with trips to 4 different cemeteries sprinkled in. I hope they aren’t trying to give me hints or something. The rest of the time was spent eating at fancy restaurants, tagging along as my folks met up with their friends, and trying to escape the insane heatwave that was ravaging Toulouse. The pool at my uncles house was definitely welcomed as AC is not common in French homes.

The only really eventful event that took place while in Toulouse was me waking up at 3am to use the restroom only to find a bat hiding out in the restroom. Given the heat and lack of AC I had opened the singular window in my upstairs living area. I guess the bat flew in at some point while I slept, got lost, made its way into the restroom, and chilled there until we scared the shit out of each other when I turned on the light. I wasn’t entirely sure what to do so I left the lights off and doors/windows open with the exception to the door separating the upstairs living area to the rest of the house, and went downstairs to sleep on the couch. The bat was gone by the time the sun came out. We weren’t sure if I should get the rabies shots just in case, but didn’t because the 2~3 doctors we contacted were surprised at our question, weren’t sure what to do either, said they would call us back, and never did. Some internet searching also revealed there was only one confirmed case of bat transmitted rabies in France since the 1920s.

Toulouse and Port La Nouvelle are only a 2 hour car drive away but my uncle lent me his Yamaha “Scooter” so I took a more scenic route, going through some of the Corbieres region. The roads varied from rolling hills full of farmlands and small woods all the way to some nice twisties in these small canyons. The first ride going to the beach was brutal since the heatwave was still blasting southern France in 40ºC temps. I had to stop every 30~60 minutes to drink and try to cool down. The second ride coming back to Toulouse was much nicer since it was only 25ºC this time and there were clouds and a nice breeze.

One of the benefits of flying in and out of Toulouse is the chance to see the Beluga planes in Airbus’s fleet. I lucked out on my flight leaving Toulouse and saw 3 of the 5 Belugas and even one of the 6 XLs parked in a row! I even saw one lifting off which looked hilarious but sadly I wasn’t able to get a picture of that.

My dad’s family has basically always had this house in Port La Nouvelle, a small beach town in the south of France, near the Spanish border. Ever since I was a kid we would go there nearly every summer. I was really looking forward to this week at the beach given how long its been since I last went there and how hot things had been in Toulouse. As luck would have it the heatwave dissipated the day after we got to the beach and in rolled some light rain coupled with Port La Nouvelle’s famous never ending wind.

On our last night there the moon rose in a blood red color over the Mediterranean. I rushed to the beach with my DSLR and had fun taking pics until there just wasn’t enough light left.

One of my cousins plays Bass and saw that I made my own bass last year and wanted one of his own! Since he actually knows how to play we didn’t just get the cheapest DIY bass kits online like I did and instead we got some pretty nice components to build his dream bass. We also spent about 2 to 3 months just working on the design and figuring out which woods to use. I then spent another 2 to 3 months building out the body. We quickly realized the bass neck would be way too big to fit in any of my suitcases. It was cheaper and easier for me to buy one neck to make sure things fit correctly and for my cousin to also buy the same neck than it would have cost in extra luggage fees to fly to France with the neck I got. Expect a much longer, full write up soon, but for now enjoy these final pictures I got before my cousin left with the bass.

From Port Le Nouvelle we made 3 notable day trips. For the first of these trips we went to the remains of an Immigration camp that was used starting before the second world war and only shut down in the 60s. It wasn’t to the level of WW2 German concentration camps, but it sure didn’t look like a great place to be. The place was more moving than beautiful so I did not really take any pictures worth sharing.

The second trip was to this amazing villa owned by friends of my folks. They operate a Bed and Breakfast out of the villa, apparently famous with Motorcyclists thanks to its proximity to a great many moto roads in the Pyrenees. The house is styled in a northern style, which is very rare for southern France, but the person who built it was an Architect from the north so that might answer a few things. Any downsides are instantly redeemed with the back yard and its splendid view of the mount Canigo.

The last trip was to the Grand Buffet in Narbonne. Think of a Vegas style buffet but slightly smaller and full of the fanciest of fancy French foods. Buffets are generally rare in France so this is a one of a kind. We got there at 12:45, left right before 4, and did not stop eating at any point between those times. Words cannot do this place true justice so I will let the pictures do that work for me.