farmerDawn

A dear friend commented that there were no photos of us on the blog, and she was right, we rarely take photos of ourselves! But we managed to find a few............ read more

We have just returned back to Nîmes from a week in Switzerland. We were fortunate to get a ride there with Silvio and Beatrice; train travel is very expensive and it was great to have the opportunity to spend more time in their company. I’m sure for most people it would take about 6hrs to drive to Geneva from Nîmes, but Beatrice is a Formula Ford race car driver (how cool is that!) and so it took us 4.5hrs! I was a bit anxious anticipating the drive as I really don’t like being in fast cars in lots of traffic, especially in France where they drive like maniacs as far as I’m concerned. However, my angst was for nothing. It turned out that I was more comfortable cruising at 160km/hr (and sometimes 180km/hr when there was ... read more

January 1, 2011 Today Elian and Francoise picked us up to share a meal with Elian’s 87 year old mother and his sister Giselle who live in a small village in the mountains of the Cevennes. Elian’s family have lived in this village for hundreds of years. Half the village it seems are uncles, cousins, brothers etc. This place is unbelievable – I fell totally in love with it! The village is on one steep side of a long narrow valley. The steepness means that any farming has to be done on terraces; you can see that the terraces used to go almost to the top of the mountains. However, most of them have now been abandoned as people have moved away to the cities, and those few who do come back are not farmers. The ... read more

Yes, there is the wondrous, cultivated land, the tastefully and fashionably dressed women (and men), the ancient towns and their castles, the lingering old country life, the art, the presence everywhere of history. But what is France if not food? Is there anything more gratifying than walking briskly home from the boulangerie with a still-warm baguette under your arm? tearing it open and dropping yet another new variety of cheese onto it? sinking your teeth into this banquet, and washing it down with a delicious 2 Euro bottle of Cote du Rhone? Yes, sometimes there is. Yesterday we drove to Montpellier to spend Christmas Eve feast day (and overnight) with friends Elian and Francoise, who served us (as they called it with some chagrin) a “light” Christmas dinner. It went like this: Scotch Guacamole Olives stuffed ... read more

December 19th 2010 Here we are in Nimes, France. We have been here four days now (we were in Montpellier for two days with Paul’s friend Elian), and are still adjusting. The apartment that Elian’s family has loaned us is nice, has everything we need, except for a comfortable bed! The uncomfortable bed, combined with jet lag, plus the very cold weather we are experiencing, and the lack of internet, telephone or tv is making us second guess our decision to come to Europe in the Winter! However, we have explored the city several times and are delighted with the Roman ruins, the Jardin de Fontaine, some of the wonderful tiny backstreets, and especially the boulangeries – I’m sure to come home 10lbs heavier than when I left! The apartment is about a 15 minute walk ... read more