About an hour before we arrived at Figueres, we stopped again. I decided to fidget with the GPS and discovered that I could indeed change up the country, so we were happy and relaxed to know that we could safely make it into Torreilles and Perpignan for the day. Truthfully, without the magic of technology, we could have NEVER made it anywhere today. The highways get more confusing across the border, many times having directions to the same town in two and three different places.
The reasoning behind France was to visit the hometown of my uncle Jean, a beloved member of our family who passed away without us being able to say goodbye. He was born in France, but spent half the year in Panama and the other half among boulangeries in the small town of Torreilles. The town is tiny, so tiny that our car barely fit in the streets, most of them one lane. We got lost, laughed, and finally found Rue Longue 10, my uncle's home. It no longer belongs to our family, but it was still nice to be there. I felt close to my uncle. We miss him loads.
After Torreilles, we went to Canet en Rousillon, right on the ocean. The day was super cloudy, and the water was rowdy. What I am sure is a beautiful beach looked menacing. No one was swimming!! We drove around and tried to find a place to stop, but again parking was a huge problem and French drivers are super rude, never wasting a second to honk or tailgate you until you pull over.
Twenty minutes later we were pulling into our hotel in Perpignan, called Novotel. It looks sketch for the outside, but it ended up being a really nice hotel. It is just outside the airport, so we were pretty far from the town center. We decided on a short break and, right as we started to walk outside, the skies opened up and down came the mother of all storms. It rained and rained for almost an hour. We waited until everything had dried up a little before leaving, planning on walking the city center. The group decision was to drive, because we were told cabs were pretty expensive.
The map given to us by the hotel was useless, the GPS is a little outdated, so that too was pretty useless at times, the US sized car did not help, and our terrible awful no good French made it even more difficult. Our adventure to Perpignan was fruitless, parking-less and we all almost died at least once due to the horrible European drivers and our cluelessness. We voted, and decided to return to the hotel and just have dinner there. It was a good decision
Tomorrow we are departing on what is going to be the tail end of our adventure together. The plan is to drive six hours from Perpignan to San Sebastián, Spain. Wish us luck!!
Bisoux,
bee
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