France Part II

I ended the last entry in Avignon, a nice city. We attended an interesting event Friday night - a bull fight in a Roman coliseum where gladiators fought to the death. I was expecting to leave quickly after the first bullfight (is it one word or two?) BUT I came to appreciate it for what it is. I don't know very much about the history of bullfighting but there is a lot of tradition and pageantry. I was reminded that this tradition originated in a day when life was dirty and nasty. People died all the time simply because they didn't brush their teeth.. (abcesses...) Anyway, if we were to imagine ourselves ranching in a hot, dry place 200 years ago, perhaps a bullfight held significance other than what we may consider today. It was actually interesting. The crowd loved the second ranked bullfighter in the region (or perhaps the world, for all I know). People were wildly jumping with excitement during the 'fight' and threw shirts, hats, flowers and other varied objects into the ring. I noticed a system - if the audience was happy with the round they waved white handkerchiefs. When people were unhappy about the bull suffering or whatever, they'd whistle and yell.



The next stop was Marseille. We visited Notre Dame de la Garde on the highest point in the city.



Everywhere we went, there were celebrations and parties. Feria Whitsuntide in Nimes, league title soccer match in Marseille, Grand Prix in Monaco, D-Day Anniversary in Normandy (well, we were a couple days early) and the French Open in Paris. It made finding accomodation difficult. In Marseille, we were lucky to get the last 2 rooms in a hotel downtown for a reasonable price since our previous B&B hostess (Andree Roustan) knew the hotel's owner's parents. (Did that make sense to you?) The rooms were small - not much bigger than my bathroom. BUT at least we had a place to stay. For the second time, I could not visit Chateau D'If off the coast of Marseille. It was too windy. How many times do I need to visit Marseille before I can actually get to this island? Chateau D'If was a place to hold prisoners - The Count of Monte Cristo was written/supposed to be there. I did do something in Marseille that I'd missed out on last time - eating bouillabaise. Here it is -



YUMMY!!!

Next stop was ... Menton. Menton is past Monaco-Monte Carlo but just before the Italian border. It is a beautiful town without as many of the flashy cars. The first night, our waiter actually poured us shots. After much protesting, I challenged him to drink it (I wasn't going to). We went to an Italian restaurant the second night and I had the best gnocchi of my life!!! After eating it, I wondered why we hadn't thought of making time to take a train into Italy for a day. Ah well, another time. Menton was beautiful, though. Monaco was good too.





Ok. That's all I can write tonight. Thanks to Grandpa Jakob for stopping by tonight to eat ice cream. Happy Father's Day to my dad. I don't have his new phone number yet which probably sounds horrible but it isn't really. Oh - and for those who heard of my plight in the garden (well, one of many), I don't think that I have marijuana growing after all. I'm not sure whether it will end up being cherry tomatoes but at least I'm not raising illegal cash crops in my back yard.

France, In Retrospect

So, here's a rundown. I travelled with a friend of mine, Jessica Lee Wen. We actually travelled really well together and are still good friends. We flew into Paris on separate flights, met up, and travelled by train to visit with Angelina Luigi Booth's family in Castelnau Montratier (near Cahors, near Toulouse). Jessica got a kick out of the idea that you need to PAY to use the toilets in Europe. We arrived in Cahors where Henri (Angelina's mom's boyfriend) came to pick us up. They live in a beautiful part of France, surrounded by forest and farms. We had a great meal at their home - charcuterie, pate and cheese.

We spent the next day lazing about and eating great food. I loved the fresh cherries everywhere. Eric would've been in heaven, picking fresh fruit from the trees and eating it. We had such a feast that night. More family came bringing quiche, more homemade pate and we contributed with a flan and tarte aux pommes for dessert. We left the table at 11:30pm.



We travelled to Nimes and Avignon the next day (Thursday). We stayed at a fabulous Bed and Breakfast 'Beaupertuis' where Andree Roustan welcomed us and helped us plan some of our trip. On Friday, we explored more of Avignon. It's a beautiful city. We toured the Palais des Papes and the Pont Benezet (or more commonly known 'Pont d'Avignon'). We danced on the bridge at the request of Jessica's kids. We danced and we sang... I felt a bid self-conscious but we did it.

Welcome Home!

For those who are anticipating fabulous pictures or stories of the food in France, you'll be waiting. After travelling for a loooong time on Monday, I finally made it home to the Ottawa airport. On the drive home, we were in a car accident. The kids were fine, Eric was fine. I was turned looking at the kids when Eric slammed on the brakes so I have some soreness and bruising across the neck, chest, etc. I'll be in physio 3 times per week until it's better. I've generally been feeling pretty tired and spacy - whether it's from jet lag or after-effects from the accident, I'm not sure.

Not to worry though, you'll see photos in a couple of days.