Les Montagnes

This last weekend was a beautiful one: I went up into the Pyrénées Mountains with my host-parents and stayed in their family cabin on Saturday and Sunday. The drive up on Saturday morning was absolutely gorgeous as there wasn't a cloud in the sky and the mountains were crystal clear from the time we left to the time we arrived. The cabin is small, but can house several families -- My host-mom's father designed and built the house when she was young, and she has been spending weekends, weeks, and summers there ever since. As the family grew up and expanded with their own children and spouses, her father built another room and, just recently, a completely separate cabin for all of the kids.  

Cabin on Sunday morning after the snow.

The back porch has a beautiful view of a snow peaked mountain (no big deal), and to the right is a stream of snow-runoff. It really is the most beautiful location. There is also a small, old church up the hill a ways, which is where my host-parents got married (aaw).

My pictures can describe the rest of the scenery for me:

View from the porch (the small cabin on the left is the other cabin; oh, and there is the pool). 

Close-up of the mountain in the above photo.

It was a really old village.

City sign. 

Church where mes parents were married.

Another old, overgrown shack.

The town, as I mentioned is incredibly old, and my host mom told me little tidbits as we walked in the snow: the house next to theirs was a hiding place for Jews during WWII and the curator from the church would pick them up there and help them cross the mountains into Spain. Most of the small shacks that we saw were the cheese houses; it was where they would let the cheese set in the winters before there were regulations for sanitation. :) Johnny Depp has a cabin not far from them. It's a great town!

We visited one of their family friends who raises goats and makes "chevre" cheese. Here's a picture of a goat:

My host-dad looked at them and said, "You all make wonderful cheese! Thank you!"

I tried many things this weekend: Escargot (sooo delicious!), froi gras (also delicious), several wines (I couldn't tell you the names, but they were good), and boudin (also known as blood sausage...I was not a fan. I wasn't sure of what I was eating until I looked it up later...).

Yum.

It was a wonderfully relaxing weekend, and it only solidified the yearning in my heart to live secluded in the mountains with nothing to do but reading, hiking, chores, and snuggling with my dog.