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Published: October 19th 2007
13th October 2007 - Colmar in search of a TV Juliette, Lorenza, Al, Jean and I climbed into the green bus and headed to Colmar. Our mission was to buy a plasma TV. Jean had been promised one for his 70th birthday and today seemed like a good day to get one because in the evening the French were to play the “Roast Beef” in the Rugby semi-final. Juliette and I joked that it was a bit like a day out in an episode from the Simpson’s, the whole family off shopping for a new TV.
Melissa didn’t join us for the excursion; instead she was taken by Beatrice to a hairdresser for some colour touching up. This was a brave objective when your grasp of French is reasonably limited. We wished her luck!
After studying all the technical details of various plasma TVs, Jean selected his preferred model, only to find the one they had in stock was damaged. So, we returned back home empty handed, with a promise that the shop would deliver a loan TV that afternoon so we could watch the Rugby.
It was amusing to know that in order to mount the
France v Roast Beef
Feeling ok for some of the first halfnew TV on the wall would result in having to remove two big portraits of Beatrice’s grand parents. Jean kept joking that he would take a photo of the paintings and have them displayed on the TV instead. Beatrice was not amused!
We left them to discuss their ancestors fate and went to Sélestat. Al and I spent most of the afternoon sipping beers in the town square, while Lorenza and Melissa cruised the shops. Later we went to Kaysersberg, visited the Torture House which included a very funny display of a device intended to punish bad musicians back in medieval times. The musicians fingers were clamped onto spikes on a wooden clarinet, which was locked around the offenders neck - ooouch!
Cremant Lessons Jean met us and took Lorenza and I to Paul Bleger’s place. The purpose of our visit was for Paul to show me his method of measuring the free SO2 in wine. Paul gave us a tour of his cave and even though he is retired we found he had a great set up to keep him busy making smaller batches of wine. He had some very interesting variable capacity stainless steel tanks
France v Roast Beef
half time discussion - not looking good and a huge hydraulic basket press (huge compared to my manual version). I was really surprised and honored when Paul not only explained his method for making Cremant he actually gave me a copy of the method he used. (Cremant is the Alsace version of Champagne). This may not seem a big deal to some people, but for me it was very special. After all Paul is considered a master wine maker and has won a number of gold medals in Paris for his Cremant. It really is an honor for me to get advice from people such as Paul, they are such open and sharing people. Remember, Paul comes from a family that has been making wine for many generations and for him to hand me over some of his family’s secrets is a big thing!
Naturally we had to taste some of his cremant, it is the blanc de blanc version and absolutely delicious. His wife kept topping up our glasses while we talked and ate some of her kugelhopf. We would have loved to have stayed longer with them and it was a shame to rush, but Jean had to get back to Colmar to collect
France v Roast Beef
second half - bugger! Jean-Frédéric from the train station. We said our farewells to Paul and his wife and I tucked his business card in my wallet because on my next trip to Alsace I will definitely re-visit with them when we are not so pressed for time. It is great to share a passion with people and I really do appreciate their openness.
The Roast Beef Cause Indigestion in the Rugby Back home the loan TV had been connected and following dinner we settled in to watch the Rugby. Jean-Frédéric had got over his annoyance at being fined on the TGV from Switzerland (I will not embarrass him by listing the full details of his crime!). There was a lot of tension because this was France’s chance to make it to the final of the world cup, to do so they had to defeat their arch rivals the “Roast Beef”.
We made a quick call to Florence in Arles and gave the chant “Allez les Bleus” in our Aussie accents. She was at home with a flu but glued to the TV also. We agreed to talk again at half time. Watching the match was dreadful; France really did throw that match away by playing a very defensive style of Rugby which lacked any flair or imagination. My half time call to Florence was not filled with much enthusiasm or optimism; she had to agree that things were looking grim. Full time came and I made my call to Florence to commiserate France’s loss. We told her now we have to sing another tune ....
“Allez les Afrique du Sud”
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