Poissons et moutons

The longer I'm at the Chateau, the more I have to go to places I've been before (obviously enough). But along with a few old favourites, I've been to a couple of new places with my group over the last two days. Neither of them were stunningly exciting, but there you go.

Yesterday, along with a bakery and Saint Omer, we went to a cheese farm. Not the dairy farm I've visited before, but a sheep farm. Highlights included patting a baby lamb (so soft!) lowlights included watching a video of a sheep giving birth bleh. Just when you thought it was over, it popped out another one, although by 'popped out' I mean it was yanked out by a burly gentleman. We got to taste the cheese and it was quite nice, although the whole place stank once again.

Today we spent the morning at Boulogne market/shops (I got an English book hurrah!) and then went to Nausicaa for the afternoon, supposedly the biggest sea-life centre in Europe or something like that. It was okay, the fish were pretty cool, but it did go on a bit, all with a super earnest conservational message about how we CAN save the oceans before they bring death and destruction to us all. I also got to pat a couple of fish - felt sorry for them in the patting tank, I hope they get rotated out of the front line every now and again. One was sandpapery and one was slimy. And I learned that tuna are mahoose! I always pictured little things skipping about, not great beastie man-eaters! Then I tried to buy a sprite at the cafe and didn't have enough money on me, which was a bit embarrassing, but come on - 2€ that's extortionate! Everywhere else it's a euro for a can of drink!

The group is pretty cool, even if one of the kids asked if New Zealand was "really a separate country, or is it just part of Australia?" and their teacher told them NZ was Australia's poo - oi! Last night the party leader (who's French) was telling the kids how good they'd been all day - "you were fabulous in the bakery, you were really good at the cheese farm, and last night you were brilliant in bed" ha ha! Luckily everyone else cracked up as well cause I couldn't hold it in!

Tomorrow I get to go to a sweet factory, cool! Told you I will learn the manufacturing process of every conceivable product of the north.