Last view of Paris

We packed our bags and headed out to check out the last thing on our list- the Marches des Enfants Rouge. It's a covered market a few blocks from our apartment. It has everything meat, fish, produce and lots of different ethnic foods, much of it cooked and ready it eat.

The Moroccan place featured a chicken tagine you buy by the kilo. There was a huge couscous pyramid as well. 

We missed the big feast on our street.

It featured this guy 

rotating on a big spit. Eat your hearts out all you BBQ fans.

Back stage culinary adventures

We went on a boulangerie tour and learned all about bread-traditional baguettes verses Parisian baguettes. And how to make croissants and fancy pastries. This bakery runs two shifts a day and makes over a thousand loaves a day. 

They also make over a thousand croissants at a time.

Their raspberries come from California.

Here are all the kinds of bread we tasted at the end.

Then we went to the famous cookware store where Julia Child bought her supplies.

Watch out for the girl with a big knife.

Alec would like one of each of these copper pans.

Paris here we come

Here is our home in Paris. It doesn't look this neat anymore. It's a pretty big studio but thre isn't much spare room for 3 suitcases.

That white thing is an air conditioner, yeah!

This is Hannah with her friend, Natalia from Columbia via Vancouver. Natalia is studing in Paris.We went for a blowout fancy dinner at a restaurant called Julian. It is decorated in art nouveau style and is really beautiful inside.

                 

Debbie had flaming creme bruile. I can't wait to try this at home-Duncan, don't drink all the whiskey

       

We had a big walk around today, tea at my favorite place Marriage Freres, and a great bargain at my favorite store Eva Tralala. I bought a really hot and heavy red boiled wool coat.

France's national "Fete du Musique" - and ANOTHER picnic!

In every wide spot in the road in France on this saturday night it was "Fete du Musique" a big party featuring music of all sorts. Our village used a 12th century church field for it's Fete and it was a pot luck. Becky brought a lentil/salmon salad and her other favorite - Jamie Oliver's red cabbage, apple and fennel salad.

We got there at 7:30 and got a primo parking spot and we hiked behind the church to lay out our goods and listen. They had a "Renaissance Faire" group of Grateful Dead types doing juggling, drums, penny whistle and ancient guitar - and they had to compete with a frog pond nearby. Last night must have coincided with the annual frog mating night - they (frogs) were not bothered at all by the crowd or music and singing because they (frogs) were singing their hearts out as they (frogs) tried to jump the bones of every and any frogs in sight. And they competed very well against humans.

When we say "Pot Luck" we mean it - everything from pizza to go to luscious clafoutti to home made pates to watermelons - you name it and the tables had a sample. Chow down

Their finale, that started at 11:00 - was fireworks of a sort. The Deadhead performers got out the hose and watered down the grass field (and kept it nearby) and had a fire show. Juggling with flaming torches, baton twirling, even a Chinese New Year influenced dragon helped close down the place with - perfect - more fireworks.

And I loved the grass smell in the evening - lots of great memories. Lots of <10 year olds running around through the horde of grown-ups. Nothing between the ages of 10-30 - this was impossibly boring to those age groups and they have better (read "more exciting") things to do in Agen - the big city just down the road.

Thunder and Lightening at Pont du Gard

One of France's  most important sites is the Pont du Gard - the bridge over the Gard river. It's actually a Roman aqueduct that brought water 50 km. from the hills to the town of Nimes. When Becky and I saw it - and played in the river - in 1974 it was a nice sleepy spot in July with very few people around. Fast forward to 2014 and WOWZER! - It's got a museum, theater to show construction techniques, snack shop - all the modern acoutremonts of big time tourism. And then - they have a "Son et Lumiere" show 4 times a year. We hit the June show date and brother - this was thundering sound and brilliant light. Our old light shows at the Fillmore and Avalon ballrooms are very distant cousins to these elaborate displays. They have enormous projectors that use the bridge and hillside as their screens. And PA systems that could curdle milk -heavenly.

 

A few hardly adequate words - AWESOME! Spectacular! and the always correct DUDE!

  

 

Part of the show, which started at 10:30 in order to get enough darkness to present the bridge properly, featured 6 guys wearing illuminated suits - and they were prominently featured walking, climbing, shooting Roman Candles (oh yes - fireworks were just one of the highlights) and fishing with their illuminated rod and fishing line

 

 

 

 

 

We had a huge picnic catered by Julie and her partner Thomas - Julie was one of our French exchange students and works for the government now in Environmental cleanups for the mining industry - and is expecting their first baby next month. We may get a chance to drive back before going home and seeing her baby boy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We hit the Atlantic Ocean.

IWe have a full complement of guests. Debbie and her daughter Hannah arrived by plane on Tuesday, Coralie ( another former exchange student) arrived by train on Thursday. We loaded ourselves and bags of stuff and headed off to the beach west of Bordeaux. 

The French are really serious about the beach. Lots and lots of people but the water was not as warm by a  long shot as the Mediterranean. We did brave the chilliness and make the most of it until we we driven out by a massive swarm of flies. There were also lots of light yellow butterflies flitting about. The water is very shallow and you have to walk a long way out to get even knee deep.

 There is a takeaway pizza place in the next town .We had an Agenois pizza with duck, olives, and mushrooms( they were out of prunes). Paysanne with caramelized onions, bacon and special savoyard  cheese. And Basques with chorizo, olives, peppers, and onions. All on a really thin crust and really good.

We watched France beat Switzerland in the World Cup 5-2. Lots of beer helped the pizza go down.

Pomegranate

We've had this anemic bush planted in our front yard for 5 years now - totally choked out by the roots and shade of the big horse chestnut trees in front. It should be a pomegranate bush but has NEVER looked like this one. Becky is thrilled to show me what we ought to have growing in our front yard, if only circumstances were different

Last port in Italy and final thoughts for today

These IKEA dudes may have some good ideas. Putting the dish drain system directly above the sink

Makes LOTS of sense and I think we'll incorporate that into Becky's new kitchen. that's coming in the future, like 2016 or so

We were heading for a cave in Italy and the GPS said go straight ahead. But Dudes, they're 

Having a market day right in the street! So.......had to make a little detour and while we were backing 

up we saw the ladies in the rotisserie trailer. That's a nice pigs head in the left center

There are times when some of us are the beneficiary of higher intellects. I remember when 8 year old Duncan told me I didn't have to carefully tear the top of my to-go coffee styrofoam cup in order to drink it. "Just flip that piece up there, Dad". That was an instant brain blast - it never occurred to me. It happened again today. "Becky, do you have a pen and some paper? I want to write down this info about the Tour". Turns out she didn't have the equipment but she sure did have the brains. "Why don't you take a picture of it." Duuuuuuuuh! 

A little catch-up from Italy and the Sud

Cararra was an enormous enterprise - huge pieces of equipment that create massive blocks of

Marble, 3,500 feet up in the "Alpi Apuana". And then you have to get this stuff down the mountain so it can get further trimmed and made into exportable sizes.

And if you're a marble worker, burning tons of calories - you'll need some specialized food. Check out this item in the center of the plate - this is "lardo" - straight from the porkers. It's salted, dumped into marble tubs for 12-24 months - and then thin sliced into edible strips. And the other ham slices were pretty decent, too. 

And you thought Lamborghini's were just super cars? pal, we can put you onto the water with

2 - 12 cylinder Lamborghini motors. And then you can get out into the Med and blast off in the

Open water. Dude!

Fun with Jean Paul et Jacqueline

We basked or baked, here in very hot weather in the south of France. We stayed with the parents of one of our exchange students. They have a lovely house. In Baleruc, almost in the country, near the Mediterranean.

 We went to Roquefort the home of  "real" blue cheese. It was wonderfully cool on the cave. There was lots of cheese in various stages of doneness on display.

For lunch we had a octopus tart and mussel tartlets. I  going to try to make the octopus one at home.

we also had another specialty of the area, a very fancy cake with marshmallow fluff.

Good food time all around.

Got to jump  in the pool to cool off.

Tom has unpacked for the last time.

We are all unpacked and settled in. We have a 3 story house with a entry and cellar on the ground floor, the first floor (second floor to you Americans) has a open plan kitchen/living room/dining area, a bedroom and bathroom with a separate wc. Second floor had an open attic area with a bed a tiny bedroom and bathroom. More than big enough to suit our needs. 

The village has a tiny store for bread in the morning and lots of other stuff.

Tom and I bought bikes yesterday and went for a ride this morning. Boy, am I out of shape. The village we are staying in is at the top of a respectable hill. I expect I'll be doing a lot of walking my bike for only a little while I hope.

 

Our landlady Claude took us to the big market in Agen on Sunday, great fruit and vegetables. They had huge pans of paella to go. I will try that too.

I cooked my first duck breast last night, the first of many, I hope. 

Pont du Gard- Avignon

Yes, we did walk to the very top. Good thing I did some stair training before I came. The Pope's garden was a great place to hang out, the weather's been hot! 

Then we went to Pont Du Gard. It's really changed since I was here 40 years ago. Well the bridge hasn't changed but now there is a really nice visitors center and museum. Lots more people and more people swimming in the river. Wish I had brought my suit.