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Published: October 9th 2006
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Our 2 lovely hosts Gabrielle & Emmanuelle
Gabrielle is 3 years old, and Manu is only 4 weeks! 6th September 2006:
After the longest & hottest train journey known to humankind (oh yes, 9 hours without air con in a cabin of 6), we arrived in the south of France in beautiful Nimes to visit Carey, another great friend from my student days. We were both AFS exchange students in Strasbourg 13 years ago! After returning to Texas to finish high school, Carey went on to university and was granted a scholarship to study in Marseille. She subsequently met Thierry, the local Frenchman who captured her heart, they married a few years later and had 2 gorgeous girls Gabrielle & Emanuelle... and here we are!
We spent most of the first evening drinking the local red wine, catching up on each others' lives and enjoying the entertainment that can only be provided by a 3 year old with a new baby sister...! Georgeous. Carey & her family live in the town of Moussac, about 20 mins north of Nimes surrounded by vineyards and agricultural pasture land. Their house is actually in one of the old walls of the town - their address is "rue de la Tourette" as the tower of the town wall is actually part of
their house - in fact you can get naked in it! (Well, it is the bathroom...).
We took a tour of Nimes with Carey as our local guide, stopping off at La Maison Carre (the Square House), one of the oldest Roman ruins in France, complete with decorated pillars and dog pee. Next we went to visit the Arena where Roman gladiators used to fight (just picture Russell Crowe in a tight leather outfit...) but now it is used for the much 'tamer' sport of bull fighting?!?! For the uninitiated, there are actually 2 types of bull fights: the regular stab & kill method you often see on Spanish TV, and then the highly popular French bullfight where the matador has to pull tiny ribbons off the horns of the stampeding bull (much more skillful and dangerous) and the bull lives to see another day. Don't get me wrong, the French like to 'stab & kill' as well, and they even sell it as the daily special in many of the restaurants around central Nimes for a hefty price (no, we didn't try it!). It was truly a beautiful arena, like none we've ever seen as it is almost
totally intact. And did you know, the first female bullfighter was French and she did her thing at this very arena?!?! There you go.
On Saturday, we got up early to drive to Marseille with Thierry. He had a seminar that day, so Scott & I were forced to entertain ourselves... and how hard it was (not!). The first thing we saw was the Saturday morning fish market along the waterfront at the port. There was even a huge swordfish with its head cut off to show people it was fresh and to entice them to buy a couple of fish steaks for dinner. The regional dish is Bouillabaise... a fish georgeous stew, so the 14-odd fish related ingredients required to make this specialty can all be bought here for Sunday lunch.
Scott & I then decided to go for a boat trip to the Chateau D'If, home of the Count of Monte Cristo. This is a totally desolate, rocky island in the heart of the Marseillais harbour. Unfortunately, much of the info sheets and signs etc were in French (even though almost all of the tourists spoke either English or Italian) so not such a good 'value
for money' attraction for Scott, and I found it a little boring. Other than the prison, there's not much else to see on this remote island so we caught a water taxi to the next island which was much more interesting.
We took a walk around the next island which was one of the fortifications used to protect Marseille from attack, right back from the time of the Greeks, the Romans, through Napoleon and even WW2. It is also a desolate, rocky island but with several touristy restaurants etc. After all this hard work walking around the island (damn it was hot) we had to find a little beach just for us to cool off at, and go for a dip in the Mediterranean... in every other cove there were people weekending on their yachts & speedboats, the playground of the rich. But all this swimming & lazing about brought on a mean appetite so what could we do but try one of the local delicacies - Southern French pizza with Corsican sausage & local sheep's cheese. Mmmmm.
We caught the afternoon boat back to Marseille and walked through the bustling streets. Last time I was here, I
enjoyed walking through the 'markets' (read 'black markets') buying cheap ciggies and electrical applicances (?!) but this time we decided to drink our afternoon away and rehydrate after all that sun. I forgot about the southern French accent - twangy and jumpy as if it were being spoken by a native Spaniard rather than a Frenchie. I had trouble understanding almost everyone and unintentionally tried to rip off our waiter (7 euros? I thought he said 5 euros, I swear officer!). All in all, a well deserved sleep that night!
The next day we were treated to another tour of the Nimes landscape and villages, on our way out to the Pont du Garde, the massive Roman aquaduct built to transport water from one side of the valley to the other. Napoleon then got on the scene a few hundred years ago and reinforced it by doubling the thickness of the walls, so there is no way it is going to topple. There are still bricks marked with the initials of the masons who carved and lay them 2000 years on. Bloody amazing. We walked across it and down to the banks on the other side to watch the
cheeky locals jumping off the cliffs into the river - just like the cheeky locals jumping off the Maraetotara Dam back home! Heheh.
Our last day in Moussac was the funniest yet. We went wine tasting at Chateau Campuget... at 11 in the morning! This region is famous for its shiraz (syrah), grenache, mouverdre and several white varieties we'd never heard of (VERY dry and lip puckering). As we were supposed to be flying out to London within the next few hours, so we did our best to taste everything, as it would be rude not to. But unfortunately we couldn't carry too many bottles home with us as Ryan Air have a strict 20kg limit and any excess baggage is charged at 8 euro a kilo (ouch). We settled for 3 bottles of the best shiraz we've ever tasted (sorry Australia) at only half the price, and we WILL be sharing these with the next visitors to London! So come on over kids!
By the time we left, we think we'd generously tasted about 10 wines and my lips didn't work properly. Carey & I were talking Franglais (Frenglish?!) and we had 20 minutes to make our
check in. But as usual, our bags were overweight which meant the obligatory re-pack at the airport to lose 5 kgs each from our luggage (or pay the 80 euros, I don't think so). Don't worry, we kept the wine. Do you know Scott's shoes are so big that each pair weighs at least 3.5kg's?! True story, we weighed them at check-in!
We were really sad to get back to London after such great adventures, and are so greatful to all our friends and family for their hospitality. Carey, Thierry & girls: nous vous souhaitons bcp de bonheur avec vos projets familiaux en particulier le demenagement a Vermont. Ca nous a fait bcp de plaisir de vous rendre visite, et j'espere que ca ne va pas durer 6 ans de plus avant qu'on se revoit! Peut-etre aux Etats-Unis ou meme en Nlle Zelande?! Carey, j'adore les filles, elles sont adorables 😊
Lots of love to you all, and thanks for the messages you're sending us on the blog. Can someone please send us some photos of Mike & Steph's wedding, we'd love to see them!!!
Next update: London.
Sarah & Scott xx
PS: The
The irony of Marseille...!
Marseille is a city rich with tourism and the business tycoons of the Mediterranean, but it is also full of poor, mostly African immigrants and a thriving black market. The gap between rich and poor is quite marked... In the background is the Cathedral of Marseille (Cathedrale de la Major). newest member of our world family has just arrived! Grace Louise Bawden, 30 September 2006, 4lb 3oz. Mum and baby are well, but apparently Dad is exhausted after chasing crays somewhere off the Te Atatu Peninsula (?!). Very exciting Margot & Richard, well done! Can't wait to meet you Grace ;-)
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Fran
non-member comment
hello there
Sounds like you guys are having a great time! The photos are awesome. I miss you both so much. xoxoxoxoxoox