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We’ve landed in Tuscany, in the small village of Trequanda (population 600).  I found this place on Airbnb and it seems like a perfect spot from which to explore some of the bigger towns and the wine region. The village seems quite prosperous and contains one of almost everything (butcher, baker, hairdresser, tourist information, pharmacy, gas station, news agent, mini mart, post office, bank, upscale restaurant, pizzeria), plus three churches and THE bar – above which is our apartment!
        
The bar is really the heart of the community, except on Sundays when it’s the church!  People come here in the morning for coffee and it seems to stay busy throughout the day.  Then around 5:30, they set out a modest spread of snacks and people come in for ‘aperitivo.’ We’ve taken to this custom with ease and are trying each bartender’s version of the Negroni. We see many of the same faces each evening and, though we really can’t communicate with them much beyond ‘buona sera’ and ‘grazie,’ we get a lot of smiles.
We are the first Airbnb guests to stay in this apartment.  It was recently renovated by Ludovic, our host, whose grandparents lived here until a few years ago.  (The wifi password is ‘nonnatina’ – Grandma Tina…) He has thought of everything and the place is quite comfortable.

We did have one glitch when, on the 4th night, we discovered that there was no water!  We texted Ludovic, who sent a friend of his father over the following morning and things were rectified pretty quickly.
I’m sad to report that it isn’t much warmer here than it was in Colmar!! But I won’t complain.  I know that a lot of you reading  this are in much colder places dealing with mountains of snow.

This has turned out to be an excellent place from which to take day trips to the hill towns in Tuscany with more familiar names. As we have seen, when we visit these places, they are much more difficult (or impossible) to navigate in a car than Trequanda, where we park 50m from our door.  Staying in Cortona or Siena or Assisi would probably require us to park in a lot on the outskirts of town and schlep our suitcases up stone streets to wherever we were sleeping.  It’s much better to drive there for the day and return to our comfortable little village.

Cortona. We started by driving up above the town to Basilica Santa Margherita. She isn’t the city’s patron saint, but she’s the favorite of the residents, so her church is considered even more important than the cathedral.  Unfortunately, the church is closed on Mondays, so we only got to see the outside. I remember walking up here on a trip in 1996…it’s still a long hike, even by car!

Automobile traffic within the city is very restricted so we parked outside the walls and walked through the town following a map we picked up at the TI on the Piazza Signorelli.  The Via Nazionale is essentially the only level road in the town (Many of the others are stairs or just very steep.)
        
We enjoyed great views from Piazza Garibaldi, and were able to climb the altar in the San Francesco church to get a good look at the reliquary that holds a piece of the cross of Christ.
    

Assisi. This picturesque hill town is most famous as the home of St. Francis (of Assisi…).

We visited the Papal Basilica of St. Francis using the Rick Steves’ audio tour on my phone and Rick’s iPad.  It was a wonderfully detailed way to visit and appreciate all that we were seeing in both the lower and upper basilicas
       
and the tomb of St Francis below the main altar.

The frescoes that cover the walls represent all the schools of Italian painting from the 14th to the 17th century.
We followed this with a walk through the town, which is built into the hillside (as you can see from the picture above). Rick had figured out that if we parked at the lower end of town (near the Basilica) and then took a bus or taxi to the upper end, we could walk downhill and end up at our car.  That taxi ride was some of the best money we have spent so far!
It was a really cold and windy day, and we were both pretty frozen by the time we reached Piazza del Comune (about halfway down), so we stopped to eat and warm up.  We happened on La Bottega dei Sapori, which does mostly a take-out business.  However, they have a couple of small tables inside among the racks of wine, and Fabrizio and his son prepared a great plate of meats and cheeses for us which we happily washed down with a half bottle of Assisi Rosso.
         

Siena:  Our visit started off rather badly when we followed the GPS directions and turned left through a Porta into the city.  We soon ended up in a restricted driving area and had a hard time finding our way out, turning this way and that on tiny little streets and down dead ends (one of which ended in a 300-foot escalator!!). Rick finally identified a local who appeared to be driving out of the city. We followed him and, Voila!  We then found a parking lot and got on that 300-foot escalator to reenter the city.  We followed Rick Steves’ walking tour and saw the highlights beginning with Il Campo, a large square in the center of the city.
        
Twice each summer, Siena hosts the Palio horse races on this square, where 10 of the city’s 17 neighborhoods (Contrada) each sponsor a horse and square off in this hotly contested race.  Pictures and videos that we saw indicate that this is a wild time in Siena…Il Campo is like the infield at Pimlico during the Preakness, and the area around it is ringed with bleachers (I guess the cafes are closed), and people in the surrounding buildings sell the perches in their windows for a premium!
A real highlight of Siena was the cathedral.  It is constructed of alternating layers of black & white marble (inside and out) that give it an unusual striped appearance…maybe this was the original inspiration for MacKenzie Childs (Ha!).
     
The interior has marble floor panels depicting biblical scenes, and the busts of 172 popes look down from above, keeping an eye on the tourists.  The cathedral library houses some brilliant, and never restored, frescoes along with a series of illuminated music scores that you can get right up close to.
       
Our final stop in Siena was the Fortezza (fort) where we had been told we would find an exhibition of Tuscan wine.  Climbing down to the underground cellar we did, indeed, find many wines from all over Italy…sitting on numbered, lighted shelves.
       
But there was neither a person nor a brochure that could provide us with any information about what was there. The bartender in the restaurant on the ground floor offered to give us a taste of a few wines but even she knew little about what she had to offer.  Oh well…

We have much more touring to do in Tuscany, but this is enough for this post.  Stay tuned…

We left Colmar in frigid temps (-2°C). Roadside views of snow and white frosted trees stayed with us for 2 hours. It was as if the palatte of colors included only white. (Pictures taken later in Les Echarmeaux, high in the French Alps because stopping on the roadside for pictures didn’t seem like a good idea…).

As we got further into Beaujolais – our first stop – the trees were still white but the fields were green and lovely. The mountainous drive was winding through Burgundy into Beaujolais but afforded some great views.

For 2 nights, we stayed at an old stone farm house about 5km from Chauffailles.  Hosts, Roland & Elaine, live in the other half of this ancient stone house. Our part is the original house and theirs was once the barn, which they have transformed into a sleek modern interior while maintaining the outside (with the addition of some critical infrastructure and a few large windows).

It is still very cold here. Roland had set a fire for us before we arrived so the place was cozy and warm.  In the morning, before we were even awake, he started the fire again so the downstairs was warm when we got up!

We only had one day to explore the Beaujolais countryside – Régnié, Fleury, Morgon. Many places are closed this time of year…even the Tourist Information office in Beaujeu won’t reopen until March 1!  The bulk of the wine in this region is Beaujolais and Beaujolais-Villages, the simple ‘vin ordinaire’ that is widely available in the US. But the best wines from the region are the cru Beaujolais that include Morgon, Moulin-a-Vent, Fleury and seven others. We happily lucked into an open winery – Domaine Dominique Piron – where the oenologist, Jean, was happy to let us taste anything in his catalogue.  We tried the lighter Fleury and Brouilly, but we had our socks knocked off by the Moulin-a-Vent and his Morgon Coté du Py! They rivaled many of our favorite Burgundies in complexity and flavor, at half the price.

It snowed overnight and our drive out of the mountains was pretty dicey.  After about 2 km of slip-sliding on a snow-covered mountain road, we returned to ask Hélène if there was an alternate route.  She said there was not, but offered to lead us down to the first village.  The roads were still dicey, but having her in front of us made us feel so much better! As we drove on to Nice, the temps continued to rise and, by the time we arrived, it was a whopping 54°F!  It didn’t stay that warm during our day and a half there, but it was certainly an improvement…and the sun shone both days.
Our apartment in Nice was very well-located, a block from the Mediterranean and an easy walk to the center of the city.  We stashed our car and used our feet to explore. Of course, we strolled the Promenade des Anglais along the beach.
     
It’s easy to see the attraction of this place…it’s a bit reminiscent of South Beach (Miami) with old beautiful buildings sandwiched between modern (and mostly uninspired) hotels and apartment buildings. Add the sunshine and beautiful blue sea…what’s not to like?
         
Nice holds a big market – beautiful and inexpensive flowers, produce, meats, fish – every day. This is held on the Cours Saleya, a broad and long plaza in Vieux Nice (old town) that is bordered by shops and sidewalk cafes. the market takes up the middle in the morning and, once the vendors go home and the city cleaners come through, the cafes expand to occupy the space under the awnings for the rest of the day.  We had a wonderful late lunch of Bouillabaisse in one of these cafes…perfect to have fish this close to the sea.


A visit to the Museé National Marc Chagall was high on our list.  This lovely space holds the largest collection of Chagall works – paintings, sculpture, mosaic, stained glass – in the world. The audio guide gave us a new appreciation for how the Old Testament inspired these vibrant colorful works.
                 

We’re off to Tuscany!  This is our first trip outside of France since September.  More from there…

We chose Colmar as our next long stay several years ago when we visited in the late Fall, and the Christmas decorations were just beginning to come out.  (We’re here for 3 weeks – from mid-December until January 3.) It seemed then like a perfect place to spend the holidays, and it has definitely been that!  The feel of the place is certainly French but with a lot of German influence.  The half-timbered houses with their pastel stucco make for a charming city that, at least for Christmas, is largely pedestrianized.
                       
We found a great Airbnb that has the biggest kitchen so far, and a garage(!) which is essential during the time of the Christmas markets when the town is packed with tourists.  Our host even left us a Christmas tree!

The Christmas Markets are the draw this time of year and Colmar is certainly decked out for the holidays.  Our apartment is within 100 yards of one of the five markets in Colmar. The weather was very cold at first but has gotten progressively warmer with Christmas in the 50s! Lots of looking but, sadly, no buying…no room in the suitcases for ornaments.
    

Alsatian cuisine bears a strong German influence.  Lots of sauerkraut, potatoes, smoked meats, sausages and onions with names like Choucroute Garni, Baeckeoffe and Roesti.  We’ve also enjoyed Tartes Flambée, which is essentially a very thin crust white pizza with (you guessed it!) sausages, onions, lardons (bacon to us).

Our Christmas dinner (at home) was Poulet aux Riesling (Coq aux Vin made with Riesling instead of Burgundy). Kathy did  a fine job of recreating a local specialty.
There are also lots of sweets available to tempt Rick’s sweet tooth…things like nougat (Kathy likes this, too), gaufré (waffle), crepes, and even churros!

Berawecka is an Alsatian fruit cake that is good by itself or as a ‘cracker’ for foie gras. and Kugelhopf is a lighter cake with some fruits in it that is fabulous with ice cream!  Kathy’s favorite treat is Vin Chaude Rouge …think piping hot Sangria …great to warm your insides on a cold day.

We’ve visiting many of the surrounding towns – Ribeauvillé, Riquewihr, Kaysersberg, Éguisheim, Niedermorschwihr, Hunawihr – all charming and many with their own Christmas Markets.

We were also able to get in a few tastings (Dopff & Irion and Albert Boxler) and a wonderful winery tour at Hugel in Riquewihr. We’ve been enjoying the local Reislings and Pinot Blancs, and the Crémant d’Alsace (sparkling) is delicious!
    

We took the train into Strasbourg one very cold day after their Christmas markets had closed.  Used the tram and buses to get around – plus our feet, of course.  It, too, is a charming town with lots of history.  We weren’t able to visit the Alsace Museum, unfortunately…closed on Tuesdays… but did see the impressive Cathédrale de Notre Dame with its amazing Astrological Clock, and the delightful area called La Petite France that encompasses three canals and many bridges.

One final trip out was to a marvelous castle – Château du Haut- Koenigsbourg – 2500 feet up on a ridge of the Vosges Mountains. Once parked, we walked up to the castle that looks like a fortress from the outside but like an Alsatian village on the inside. It was started in the 12th century, rebuilt in the 15th century, and completely renovated 100 years ago.  The painted ceilings and stone work are impressive.
     
Every room in the living quarters contains a ceramic stove for heating. (They were not on that day!) Each is more beautiful than the last.  And in the garden was the most unusual Christmas tree we’ve seen so far…composed if moss, pinecones and other garden debris mounted around the trunk of a large deciduous tree.
                          

We’ll be heading south soon and are hoping for some warmer weather.

 

We’ve seen a lot of Christmas as we’ve traveled in France this December.

We began seeing Christmas decorations go up in Narbonne in mid- November, but the lights weren’t turned on until Dec 3.  There was a small Christmas market on one side of the Canal de la Robine and, on the other side, a sort of carnival midway with rides of all kinds.  I’m not sure that a Haunted House (Le Chalet Hanté) fits with Christmas but who am I to judge??

In Arles, the streets were lighted subtly.  Their Christmas tradition that was most impressive was a display of the work of Santonniers (les crechists). These are artists that make miniature scenes of village life, including créche (nativity) scenes.

We arrived in Lyon on the final day of the annual Fête des Lumières.  Talk about lights! This was an impressive, and crowded, festival of lights that took in many of the main areas of the city, celebrating Christmas and the feast of Notre Dame de Fourvière.
                            

Of course, we’ve seen Christmas trees for sale in each city.  And lots of live trees are used for decoration around the towns.  One thing I’ve noticed is that each tree comes with a ready-made stand – an X or circle of wood or a mount made of a larger piece of wood. And none of these seem to allow for watering the tree as we’ve always done.  I guess it’s cold enough for the outside trees to survive anyway!

The center of Beaune is filled with lovely pedestrian streets that are, of course, lighted for the holiday.  The shop windows are also tastefully and beautifully decorated.  And the flowers on the street!  Hard to imagine that they are so lovely when it’s this cold!

Now we are in Colmar – a Christmas paradise! During most of our recent travels, we’ve been aware (and happy) that we’re there in the off-season.  Well, not here.  Christmas is THE time to be in Colmar!  There are no fewer than 5 Christmas markets in different sections of the town and the streets are crowded with people who, like us, decided that this was the best place to be at Christmas. I’ll share more about Colmar in a later post, but here is the Christmas version in pictures.

As for our Christmas shopping…we did much of it on line and all of it WAY in advance.  Every child and grandchild has received a present and, we trust they’ve been kept hidden until next week. We’re giving each other the gift of this adventure and asking our children to give us the gift of their time when we return to the States in March.
I did buy one trinket to decorate our Colmar house – a paper garland that fits right in hanging from the stairs…  And – one special Christmas gift – here is a picture of Owen’s stocking – stitched lovingly by me, carrying forward the tradition begun by my mother (and appreciated by all of HER grandchildren…)
   

We wish you all health and happiness this holiday season.

Rick here…Kathy has done most of the writing so far, but I have some comments about our car and driving in France.  We’ve now logged almost 3000 km, about 1900 miles.  As Kathy said in an earlier post, we leased a car through the Peugeot Open Europe program. What we have is a 308…one step up from the entry level 200 series.  We were upgraded to “Select” from basic because that’s what was available.  We were told that the difference was a sun roof. We can always spot our car because it’s the only one we’ve seen in three months that has a red license plate!  We’re told that this indicates that we’re not European and hopefully locals would exercise restraint on their horns and  middle fingers!

The car is equipped with a user friendly GPS in English (a nice British female voice who doesn’t sound scolding, even when she’s saying, “At the next opportunity, make a U-turn.”).  It has front and rear proximity sensors which display on the monitor, but also four corner sensors which have proven quite helpful on the narrow streets and tight parking spaces that we encounter quite frequently.  We opted for the higher fuel mileage stick shift diesel (45 mpg) which is quiet and plenty powerful.  It handles surprisingly well–fairly tight steering, short throw shifter, good brakes and no torque steer from the front wheel drive.  The cruise control will even slow you down if you approach another car too closely!   The dashboard digital display shows the posted speed limit beside our actual speed in either mpg or kmpg as does the GPS screen.  For the automotively challenged, the car will suggest that you shift up or down when it determines you should–actually helpful since the car is so quiet that we don’t get the usual auditory signal to shift gears.  Our four carry-on size bags fit neatly into the trunk.

In much of Europe, traffic circles or ’round-abouts,’ as they are called here, occur at many intersections instead of traffic lights.  They facilitate a smoother flow of traffic once you learn how to navigate them.  Except in ‘Centre Ville’ most or round-abouts are two lane affairs.  If you are exiting at the first opportunity,  you enter in the right lane with your right turn signal on.  If you are going further around, enter into the inside lane with your left turn signal on.  Then flip your turn signal to the right as you approach your exit.  Once in the circle you have the right of way.  Being alert and using the turn signals ensures smooth sailing.

I’ve been doing the bulk of the driving as Kathy tends to freak out on the narrow streets of towns and she’s not crazy about the roundabouts, either.  She’s not a bad navigator, though…helped, of course, by our trusty GPS gal.

Well, we’re on the road again (isn’t there a song about that??). We are evolving a pattern of choosing one area in which to spend an extended time just about every month. October was Paris; November the Languedoc; December is Colmar; January will be Tuscany, and February will be Barcelona (now you know the plan, come join us!!) In between each of these destinations, we take a road trip where we spend a few days in several  places along the way, sometimes scouting them out for future long stays and sometimes just using them as a stop-over.

So now we’re on our way to Colmar, and our first stop was Arles, an ancient Roman city in Provence where Van Gogh produced the bulk of his work (187 paintings!) in only 2.5 years. Throughout the city, there are replicas of his works in the location they depict, and tourist shops sell postcards of his paintings. But when we visited the Fondation Vincent Van Gogh, there was only ONE of his paintings on display! The rest of the museum was taken up by works of a single artist who was apparently inspired by Van Gogh, but it was hard to see the connection.


Our Airbnb hosts in Arles were the BEST!  The house was like a miniature of our old Patterson Park House – wine cellar in the basement (stocked with local wines!), well-equipped kitchen on the ground floor, bedroom on the second floor, and a bonus room with a wonderful terrace on the third floor.  We felt so at home that we’ve made plans to return there next October for several weeks.

In addition to the Van Gogh (?) Museum, we visited several monuments of note in Arles.  Probably the most impressive was the arena that dates from Roman times and still hosts bullfights (but in France, they don’t kill the bull; the razeteurs pluck ribbons from the bulls horns as their prize).

Our next sop was Lyon.  Our apartment here was TINY but functional.

We were in town for the last of the 3 nights of the Fête des Luminéres that happens around Dec 8 every year.  Because of the bombings in Paris last year, it was cancelled.  So this year it was even bigger than before. We met the couple seated next to us at dinner and learned, through them, that the Metro had been closed making it difficult to get to the site of the Fête.  They offered to drive us and bring us back, so how could we turn that down??  [I hope that we would be so gracious to some newcomer to our town…]

Lyon is set on the banks of the Saône and Rhône Rivers and its neighborhoods rise high on all sides.  A number are reached most easily by funicular and our apartment in Croix Rousse was thousands of stairs above the center city (easy enough to descend, but you really wanted a Metro to take you back!). Even the walking street was named “Montée!”


We also visited the awesome Basilica Nôtre Dame de Forvière.  Pictures couldn’t capture the beauty of this church!

Lyon is a very foodie town, but we were there such a short time that we opted to save our food experience for the drive from Lyon to Beaune.  Guy Lassausaie is a Michelin 2 star about 30 minutes north of Lyon AND they are open on Monday!  We made a reservation for lunch and had a fabulous meal with impeccable service.

Our final stop was in Beaune, in the heart of Burgundy. Out gîte was a compact but functional space in ground floor of centuries old home about .25 miles outside the Beaune ring road – too far for walking in the bitter cold weather.

Fortunately, Beaune has numerous free carparks around its periphery.  We spent some time searching for the TI and finally found it right across from the Hôtel Dieu staffed by a lovely and helpful young lady. With her help, we 0ver-scheduled ourselves for the day and a half we had for touring.  We visited the only remaining mustard factory in the region (a great tour where the guide accommodated us in English even thought tour was technically in French, the Hospices de Beaune, and a tour of the cellars at Bouchard Aîné et Fils.

Next stop is Colmar.  We’re ready for cold weather because we’ve had a fair amount of it in Lyon & Beaune, and we’re really ready for Christmas.  Colmar should provide both.

 

Between our three bases – Durban-des-Corbieres, Paraza and Narbonne, we’ve spent more than 5 weeks in Languedoc-Roussillon.  It’s been a real change from Paris, but a lovely stay.

We made a short foray north to Béziers on a rather cold and windy day.  We made it to the TI (Tourist Information) just before they closed for lunch and picked up a map that was somewhat helpful and a booklet that was in English but told us no useful information at all!  We visited the impressive cathedral and grabbed a sandwich before heading to our next stop.

We did find one other thing worth a photo in Béziers, though – a mural on the side of a building that really made you stop and look.  Are those guys really out on their balconies painting on this blustery day?!

We continued south of Narbonne to Peyriac-de-Mer and then around a body of water (a very large ‘pond’) to the lovely hilltop town of Bages. Along the way we encountered a partially closed road with this sign:
I
I pulled up Google Translate on my phone and found that this meant “Road Flooded.” There was not a lot of traffic so we decided to press on…figuring we could always turn around.  We saw evidence of recent flooding (wet grasses washed onto the road), but the only water we had to ford was quite shallow.  And, while I was taking this picture, a car coming from the other direction made it through just fine!

Bages was worth the trip.  It is a small village (aren’t they all?) that crawls up a hillside at the edge of the water. We found a place to park and walked to the top of the town where we had a view all the way to Narbonne (about 5 miles away).

A remarkable sight was this sundial atop the old port into the city.  Still accurate today!

On a rather rainy Monday afternoon, we ventured about 10 miles out of Narbonne to an ancient Cistercian monastery – Abbaye de Fontfroide, built during the Middle Ages and saved from ruin by a wealthy person who bought it and restored the abbey and its wonderful gardens.  It is still in private hands and very well-maintained.  It’s also one of the few places that is open EVERY day (even Monday)!

One remarkable note was this stained glass window, one of several made in the 20th century from fragments of ancient stained glass windows, mostly from churches in northern France that were bombed during the First World War.

On November 29, we celebrated our 14th (!) wedding anniversary.  Hard to believe we’ve been married that long.  We’re both grateful that we share so many common interests, like wine & travel, even while we continue to argue about politics.  We enjoyed home-cooked Duck a l’Orange that night – delicious!

Finally, we had a chance to see our new friends again before departing.  Joanne (from Durban) came for lunch when she was in Narbonne for a massage and, on our last day, Marie-José and Harry invited us to Paraza for lunch – their incomparable moules & frites!  What a nice send-off!!

We’ll now undertake another short road trip – Arles > Lyon > Beaune – on our way to Colmar, where we’ll be for Christmas. Stay tuned…….

We are almost 3 months into this adventure so it seems like a good time to reflect on some of the pleasant and no-so-pleasant realities of living in France.

Good wine is everywhere and it’s cheap!  We feel like we’re splurging if we pay more than $10, and often we can find a really nice bottle for under $7! Even on restaurant cartes du vins, prices seldom exceed $20.  We’re happy!!  And, speaking of restaurants, we’re getting used to the fact that no tips are expected.  The bill is service compris and waitstaff are thrilled if you leave a few euros in acknowledgement of an extraordinary experience.

It is easy to have Foie Gras every day! We’re learning, with pleasure, to differentiate between frais, entier, block, mi-cuit, paté, mousse and parfait…and haven’t yet found one we don’t love.  We’ve found wonderful mi-cuit (half-cooked) in the Narbonne market and have served it with sautéed apples, onion confit and, last night we had it served to us in a restaurant accompanied by a confiture du thé.  Yum!

Every boulangerie sells baguettes, but they’re not all the same.  We found the most consistent quality in Paris.  Elsewhere, some have crunchy crusts while some are more chewy (my preference); some are more dense while others are airier inside…bigger ‘holes,’ less bread (again, this is what I look for).  And, have I talked about the butter?!  We are spoiled forever by this demi-sel raw milk butter with actual salt crystals in it.  Have to figure out how to bring some home!

Many French take their primary meal at mid-day and EVERYTHING shuts down (except cafés and restaurants) from noon to 2 or 3pm. Children go home from school and work stops! and everyone, from bankers to construction workers, sits down to eat and have a glass or two of wine.  Most businesses close on Sunday and Monday; and restaurants close after the mid-day meal Sunday until Wednesday.  We’ve learned to plan for home-cooked meals Sunday through Tuesday and, if we eat out, make reservations for other nights, since many places (outside of Paris) are small and can’t take you without a reservation.

Who knew that I’d have to learn my ABCs all over again?!  While French uses the same letters as English, they pronounce them differently, which I found out while trying to spell out my email address over the phone. K_A_T_H_Y = kah_ah_tay_ahsh_eegrek.  You get the idea.  But, on the positive side, I never have to spell my last name when I make a restaurant reservation…everyone can spell Sabatier, and no-one mispronounces it!  Numbers are a similar challenge. Fortunately, most shopkeepers are patient when I ask them to repeat the amount due, or they just hand me a cash register tape when I look at them blankly. I’ve started to count my reps at the gym in French as a way of practicing, but my ear is not trained yet…

I always think of French women as glamorous and well-groomed.  And they are.  So why is it impossible to find a pedicure anywhere? There are plenty of hair salons – I’ve had my hair cut twice and been happy with the result – and a few lovely nail salons, but they only do fingernails.  I’ve asked women who live here and they just shrug.  Guess I’ll have to wait until we’re back in the States for painted toes!

One final thing that I miss is radio, specifically Public Radio. At home, Morning Edition played while I showered and dressed in the morning and All Things Considered kept me company while I made dinner.  Here, the radio speaks in French, of course, and even the music stations we find in the car are elusive. I do have an NPR News app on my iPad and I’m getting used to taking it into the kitchen with me.

Rick knew he would miss TV, so he planned ahead.  Most of our accommodations include TV, but we’re lucky if we have access to more than one English news channel.  Rick has found tricks to allow us to watch US television on my laptop. He moved his Direct TV box to his daughter Ginny’s basement and installed a Slingbox there that allows him to control the DVR from here! So the Redskins and the Terps games are recorded, along with the PBS NewsHour and several favorite series (Blue Bloods, Madam Secretary, Black List).  It’s almost like being at home, but the screen is much smaller…

Thanksgiving in France is just another day.  And, though there is plenty of fowl (chicken, pintade, duck, goose) in the markets, we haven’t seen any turkey.  We celebrated by taking a day trip to Perpignan and eating out at a little Italian restaurant around the corner from our apartment in Narbonne.  We gave thanks, even without the traditional meal, for our families and friends who’ve supported us as we pursue this (crazy?) adventure.

We are now settled into our second long-stay Airbnb in Narbonne, France on the rue des 3 Pigeons. We’ll be here for 3 weeks.

Narbonne is a medium sized city (huge by comparison to where we’ve been the last few weeks!) that is near the Mediterranean coast in southern France. Our apartment is ideally located within walking distance of everything, including a wonderful indoor market that is open every day (but only until 1:00).

If you’re lucky enough to snag a stool, you can even have lunch inside the market – charcuterie, shrimp, baguette, and, wine (of course!) – but only on a day when you haven’t had much breakfast!

The apartment is bigger than where we stayed in Paris, but not as well-equipped. We improved the kitchen by buying a small skillet and sharpening the knives with this handy tool that we bought on our Spring trip to Japan.  It doesn’t take up too much room and I knew it would come in handy!!

We enjoyed returning to Perpignan.  The drive from Narbonne is less than an hour and mostly highway.  This town (as I mentioned in an earlier post) is close to the Spanish border and evidences a lot of Catalan influence.  It is also home to the most enthusiastic Tourist Information office we’ve found, and has extremely helpful signs that not only tell you what direction to go but how long a walk it is to the next sight.

The most important sight in Perpignan is the Palais des Rois de Majorque – Palace of the Kings of Majorca. This part of France was once part of Spain and the center of the Kingdom of Majorca.  The castle is impressive and the history is so interesting.

On the way back to Narbonne, we stopped at the Fortress de Salses built by the Spanish king Ferdinand to protect what was then the northern Spanish border. (Roussillon was part of Spain until 1659.) This impressive structure was built in less than 10 years and housed 1500 soldiers and 100 horses.

Another day trip took us to Collioure, even farther south and right on the coast.  It is a beautiful town, that must be bustling during the summer. The foundation of the church is actually in the sea and its belfry doubles as a lighthouse.

The homes are colorful and the flowers are abundant.  I had to take a picture of a lavender ceramic drainpipe that has a face with an open mouth at the bottom!!

In the last few days the winds have been strong and mostly from the south. I don’t know if that accounts for the dramatic skies we’ve been seeing, but they are remarkable.  I had a hard time choosing among the many pictures because they are all so beautiful!
 

 

We have been busy as we continue to explore Languedoc-Roussillon.  The people we’ve met here are fond of the place they have chosen to live and they describe it as “the REAL South of France.” Most people outside of France think first of Provence when they conjure up the South of France. Languedoc is less fashionable but more authentic than Provence, according to the locals, as well as Rick Steves.  Once we’ve had a chance to do our own comparison, we’ll decide if we agree.  But I will say that we’ve been so impressed with the friendliness and hospitality of those we have met.

Our explorations in the last week or so included a 2 hour drive northwest to Albi, located on the river Tarn.  It is a lively city where most of the structures are built of brick, rather than the stone we have seen so often.  The cathedral, which looks rather like a fortress, is the largest brick church in the world(!) and has a remarkable interior that is best appreciated through the use of an audioguide. Next door, in what was once the bishop’s residence, is the Musée Toulouse-Lautrec that contains the world’s largest collection of works by the artist – from his early paintings of horses to the more familiar posters of Parisian chorus girls. It took us a few hours to see it all.

Between the museum and cathedral is a lovely formal garden and a beautiful view over the river.

Our host, Harry, has taken us on several drives through the countryside to places we appreciate so much more because he is with us. He is an excellent driver on these narrow twisty roads.  Rick, too, has become quite skilled at negotiating the roads (despite occasional gasps and squeals from his terrified wife in the passenger seat).
One of our recent forays into the countryside with Harry took us to Rennes-le-Chateau where, some say, there is treasure – and maybe even the Holy Grail – hidden.  This place consists of a church and residence where a legendary priest named Bérenger Saunièr lived.  He and the legend figured in Dan Brown’s book, The DaVinci Code.

The drive to Rennes was beautiful, with some spectacular views (those windy roads get you to some high places!).

On our way back from Rennes, we stopped in Termes, another of these small, beautiful villages that seem to be everywhere.  In this one, there was water flowing through channels on the roadside, apparently from a mountain spring.

One interesting note related to all this driving up and down mountains…  My tendency to get carsick (and need to premeditate with Dramamine) seems to be gone!! I’ve even been riding in the back seat (when Harry was driving) and haven’t had a problem.  Now, that would be a great condition to ‘grow out of,’ wouldn’t it?

On November 11, Veteran’s Day, it seemed that every village we drove through was gathered at the local war memorial to honor the citizens of that village who had ‘mort pour France.’ In one village, they were flying not only the French flag, but the British and American flags, too.

On many monuments, the names of the fallen soldiers are carved, and there is often a Sabatier among them…

We experienced the first problem with our car this week – a flat tire! Fortunately we discovered it just as we were leaving our Chambre d’Hôte (Bed & Breakfast) for a day’s excursion.  Rick and Harry changed the tire in the driveway while I called the Peugeot emergency assistance number.  They instructed us to take the car (and the bad tire) to the closest Peugeot dealer, which happened to be about 10 miles away.  There we were given an estimate to replace the unrepairable tire and Peugeot paid the whole tab!

As you would expect, we are drinking and enjoying the local wines.  Two are worth noting. Blanquette de Limoux is a sparkling wine made around the city of Limoux.  The story we were told was that Dom Perignon was  a monk an abbey near there and noted the methods they were using to produce this wine.  And, the locals say, he stole the idea and carried it with him when he moved to Champagne.  The wine is very good…with more fruit than many sparkling wines, but not quite a Champagne, in our opinion.

The other wine is a red blend – Messaline Rouge – that we enjoyed for its taste AND for its racy label!  Apparently, the winemaker was forbidden from exporting it to the US unless he agreed to make a different label (aren’t we such prudes…)

I’ll end here with two beautiful pictures – of the recent full moon and a sunset the next day. Ahhhhhhh…..