Europe Week 2: On the road, or curse you roundabouts!

I've decided I'm just not a big fan of France. It may be the language thing, or remenants of negitave memories from when I was 13ish and came to grenoble with CISV and stayed with local Family, or it could smply be the complete terror I experiance in Paris..

Whatever the reason, after 2.5 days wandering about I decided to get back to the U.K.

Reflections on driving in Great Britain.

- After learning to drive standard in the madness of Paris, driving on the "wrong" side of the road is a treat, a pleasure even.

-Their contry roads are so small and overgrown with shrubbery that I felt like I was driving through a small fuzzy green esophagus.

-The warning deer crossing signs look suspisiously like warning jackalope crossing signs

-The Autobon with its "Variable speed limits" is at first a bit much, then all kinds of fun. 150km per hr the norm? Sign me up.

-Roundabouts are a plauge on humanity and shouldbe done away with. Seriously I have GPS on the car, and the only thing it said to me in its plesent british ladies robot voice was "cross the round about, then after 200 yards, cross the round about, then, cross the roundabout."

But Im getting ahead of myself, I wanted to talk about an interesting experiance I had in a small french village.

I was on my way back north to get out of France, and while slowly cruising through said village, I notice some very cool caves in a small white cliff wall. Seeing as how I have a perverse enjoyment of anything secret and forbidden like caves, or rooftops, or abandoned anythings, I pulled over to get a closer look. Unfortunatly the enterances were quite effectivly bared up. After pulling on the bars somewhat ineffectivly I took a look around. It seemed as if the caves, (which looked ever so cool inside, with ancient pillars carvedout of the rough stone) kept going deep into the hill the were situated in, this hill being mostly covered in a lovely little wood, so I decided to investegate, and scrambled up into the wood.

I assumed that there must be another enterance somewhere that had been overlooked by the safty commision and been left open somewhere amidst the trees. I clambered my way to the top of the hill, and after finding only an old overgrown road and a corn feild at the top, slowly walked down the abandon road feeling only midly defeated, but mostly enjoying the fact I was doing something else other then driving. Towards the bottom of the road, as I rounded a turn, II was greated with a sight that all adventures long for. An ancient abandoned set of buildings, complete covered in vines and undergroth. Cheeking the door, my heart skipped a beat. It was open! My efforts it seemed, were being rewarded. However upon entering the first building, all I found was a jumble of old pipe works. The next building seemed a bit more promissing. It was a round building, with walls that came out of the ground and immediatly turned into a low slopping roof. After walking around and not seeing an enterance, I gazed to the top and noticed a good old fashioned hatch. Climbing atop, (after checking to make sure the roof was solid) I made my way up to the hatch.

It was open! And glory be if there wasen't a iron ladder leading into the darkness. It without a doubt was my way in!

"Damnit" I muttered to myself. For suddenly the realization came crashing down on me. There was no way I was going down there.

I told myself it was because I was alone with no phone and if something happened to me I would be stuck down there, and that I didnt have a light, so stumbling around in the dark would be usless. But I have to wonder, was the real reason I wouldn't allow myself to enter the dark tunnel of mystery due to my understandable worries, or was it really because I was turning into a dredded boring adult?

I left the buildings of myster with my head hung low, yet with a slight feeling of satisfaction. Hopefully some local wreckless kids, still feeling invicible in their youth, knew of the secret buildings of adventerous mystery, and enjoyed running wild amidst the tunnels in the hill. For me however, my days of care free running-amuckary are numbered if not finished. I was worried about falling down and hurting my hip in the cold wet dark, and thats the sum of it.