Blogs from France, Europe - page 1232

Hey there gang, Well here I am in chamnix and it seems we have lived a lifetime since the last blog, so perhaps the best place is to begin at the end and work from there. So I find myself here in Chamonix, the famous ski town in the French Alps bordering France and Italy... and it's a cool place ! - but not literally, Wal and i think it might be the warmest place we've been since Hawaii which for me is very welcome. Some may say it's practically tropical here at the 5 degree mark ( mental note must reduce clothing to include only TWO layers of thermals prior to applying enormous fur lined jacket) but as you can imagine the weather is not so great if you're searching for good snow. I know ... read more

A weekend of new events. Saturday lunchtime: photo call up by the church for Laroque Autrement, a Gauche Tout! to launch the 23 candidates onto the political scene. Apparently, parties have to produce 23 candidates for local elections - neither more nor fewer - and Mal is now on the list. Bit of a barney about which of the two of us it should be: in the end, Mal’s better French won out against the fact that the list now has 9 women against 14 men, and my presence could have made it more even. What has he got into? We shall perhaps know more after Tuesday evening and the next meeting…. Oh, and after that we went off to Limoux. Their Lenten carnival lasts from early January and into March, so I imagine everyone in ... read more

At the invitation of our neighbour Lulu, we went on another organised walk yesterday, with some rather older citizens of Lavalanet and Laroque. Dun , the village we started from, is a pretty community set among the rolling hills between us and Pamiers and Mirerpoix- a little more distant from the Pyrenees than us, but quite 'English' in its gentle appeal. We walked along country tracks, through ancient hamlets, and near the ruined castle of Dun, enjoying the comapny of quite a varied group of people. We have learnt nothing about hiking in France. We really should have known by now..... Abiout 2 and a half hours into the walk, our leader suddenly said 'This place'll do', and sat us down in a tree-lined spot, for...well, we supposed a rest. But no! There were a dozen ... read more

Yesterday was Mal’s birthday, so we celebrated by joining our walking group in a healthy walk. It should have been walking with raquettes in the snow, and a new experience for us-, but …… no snow. So an alternative meant driving over to nearby Foix and taking it from there. The Walking Club is a fun group. About 25 or so regularly turn up for the Sunday walks - not always the same people, but you can count on Roger the President, a likeable and jolly retired fireman: Nicolas, who likes to yodel and whoop on mountain walks in such a way that his voice echoes and reverberates round the surrounding slopes - we met him in Lavelanet market last Friday as he is one of the council road sweepers: Andrée is a retired teacher, with ... read more

Actuaaaally, we dodged Paris, but believe it or not, there are still other places to go in France! From Venice we took the train to the city of Montpellier in the south of France to meet up with Kristena's friend Jordan ... and we pretty much spent the time just visiting and seeing bits and pieces of the area. We hunted for a man painting a picture in a beret and red and white striped shirt, fumbled through some pathetic french sentences, chomped on a baguette, sipped cafe au lait from dinky shot glasses, and ate copious amounts of lunch meat smothered with cheese! The ladder is known as "Raclette," it is a traditional French meal served mostly in the winter, and is similiar to cheese fondue, but with wine and potatoes too. From the south ... read more