Last day in the house

Today is Packing Up Day.  We lock our door and catch the train to Lyon at 7:20am tomorrow.  No one wants to leave.

We were planning a trip today to Perpignan, the closest we could get to Spain, but we wasted time earlier in the week and now have too much to do, especially with the early train trip. I'm afraid I'll always regret not having just dumped the bags in the Barcelona train station and taken a quick bus trip around the city.

Getting the train tickets was a source of stress yesterday.  Because we were unable to make a decision (who, us?) about whether or not to rent a car, we had serious difficulties finding 7 seats on a train.  Initially, the train agent said it would be impossible to get to Lyon but when pressed was able to find a ride through Avignon.  It's not on the TGV so it'll be a little slow-going but we'll be there by noon.  Our next agent gave us a price of 500E for the trip to Paris; I suggested a reduction a former agent had mentioned to me but this one shook his head.  While we were on the phone with the credit card company because the card wouldn't work, the agent actually tried my suggestion and we ended up saving 160E by the time the card went through.  1. Never take no.  2. There's always a better deal.

Hopefully C will get her videos up. She's got more great pictures.

Picture trouble

So yeah. My camera got sand in it :( It wouldn't open, and when it did it wouldn't take pictures or close. But...I've gotten it to work :) Yay! All I have to do is tug on it a little when it opens, and push on it a little when it closes! And be super careful not to get any more sand on it... I'm sorry I haven't gotten any pictures up of Montpelier... I spent over an hour working on it yesterday and the day before, but when I tried to publish (aka permenantly save) it, it froze and said "not responding" I had to exit out, and lose all the work I had previously done. that's sorta dampened my spirits in the whole movie making of Montpelier... I don't really want to put much effort to do it again. I guess now I've learned to save it in the beginning and throughout the making process.

Great catastrophe

Cecilia's camera has sand in it.  We've had outrageous wind the past few days and up at the beach there was no protection.  It remains to be seen how we'll get future photos (Lyon!  Paris!) up on this site.
Today we showed Rich Pezenas and he was suitably impressed.  We also climbed the tower in the Cathedral in Beziers.  I was panicked that Tamsin would be blown off the ledge; no safety measures for kids here.
We're debating the rental of a car but the decision might be made for us: they  might not have a car big enough.  Our final trips here are up in the air because of this.
Tonight, Leigha are going to watch Flamenco dancing in the square while I kicked Rich out with the rest of them.  They're walking to the beach in search of some food because I just didn't feel like cooking tonight.

Rip-offs

There have only been a couple times here where I've felt taken advantage of because of being a non-local. Maybe "taken advantage of" is wrong in this first instance; things were clearly marked yet somehow I still feel cheated.  In the market was a breadseller with gorgeous, enormous loaves of different things but the spice bread was the most appealing to me.  I say enormous and I mean like 12" x12"x18".  I've been in search of a cake that my host family had in Lyon; a cake with the perfect blend of spices and dried fruit (I make a different fruit cake recipe every Christmas, hoping to hit on the right combination). Anyway, the first week we saw him he spoke very good English to us and I instantly didn't like him.  The next week, I just had to stop.  The bread was something like 4.5Euros/100 gms.  He takes the loaf and measure off a wedge; I consent and he cuts and weighs it.  End price: 34 Euros (around $42); I only have 20.  Long story short: he accepts my 20 and tells me I've gotten a very good deal.  Now why do I feel ripped off?  It would seem I'd gotten a bargain. There was just something about this guy (and everyone with me agreed) that made you feel uneasy, like he went home and hurt little animals.  Also, the cake was dry as a bone and every market sells a similar cake for 6Euros/cake.
Last night was another instance but I was too tired to argue.  Classic tourist trap: the taxi driver didn't set the meter.  I couldn't see it because I was crammed in the back but honestly I don't know if I would have said anything.  We took an 11pm train home from Montpellier (great town) having retrieved Rich and arrived in Agde at 11:30 to find the last two taxis leaving.  Two other girls were waiting and when a taxi finally showed up at 12:05am, I was just relieved to be getting the kids home.  He charged us double the price (and I tipped him!) and when I questioned him about how much more it was than the usual price, he said there was a nighttime surcharge of 25%.  I'm too non-confrontational but that won't happen again (and no more tipping because now I feel really stupid).
There are a couple other minor issues (the Moroccan cookie-salesman comes to mind) but for the most part people seem to have been above-board and honest. We are an easy target, though, aren't we?

Going to the beach

Here are all the pictures I took while at the beach two days ago:

I had a lot of fun there and can't wait to go there again. We saw so many fish, as well as sea urchins, sea cucumbers, and sea anemone.

Time's ticking

Well, we've reached the time in our vacation where we're shocked at how quickly time is passing.  Our first guests have come and gone and now Rich will be here tomorrow.  I remember thinking that once he comes it's the end of our trip; that can't be, can it?
We've not done much since visiting Carcassonne on Monday.  A couple beach days.  A beautiful beach evening where the crowds really thinned out and the waves were spectacular.
Yesterday we went in search of a black sand beach that previous house guests mentioned as a favorite.  Once found, it was truly beautiful.  There was a great cliff walk looking down on some gorgeous water and eroding ledges.
This afternoon we went back to Beziers to a park along the River Orb and in search of ingredients for raspberry cupcakes that Cecilia wanted to make.  We stopped at a local chocolate shop to sample a regional specialty: riquees.  Weird.  Green hard sticky stuff coating an oozy chocolate filling.
Tonight starts a weekend long jazz festival here in our village.  As you might guess, French jazz does not do much for my crowd.  Their lack of excitement was contagious and we headed home by 9.  Charades and Cecilia's cupcakes followed and it's now the end of the day.

Fun at the Beach

A couple of days ago, we went to the beach. We all brought our goggles, and I decided to go exploring. For a while, I searched along the sand for cool shells and whatnot...Then, I spotted the rock wall. Dragging Alex along, I swam over to the wall, only to discover that the water gets to be about five feet deep right next to the wall (while a couple feet away, it is merely inches) I swam over there, Avoiding the rocks right next to me, and saw fish!!! Small ones, medium ones, one foot long ones, striped ones, spotted ones, blue and green and silver ones... It was cool. The best thing we saw (besides the ones I named Bob and Boberta (although Anna named the same two Nilly and Gilly) the big blue and green ones with the stripes) was a cuttlefish! Me and Alex saw it at the same time, and started screaming (underwater) (sounds really weird) and pointing frantically at it. I saw its backside (a big fat brown blob with white flappy things on its side) and alex saw the front (two eyes and tentacles attatched to a rock) You see, I tried taking pictures of all these cool things, but unfortunately NONE of them came out. The fish (or I) were always moving. The only ones that came out were these small skinny yellow ones with pointy noses (which looked like yellow smears in the picture) Oh well. But today is bound to be even better! We're going on the underwater trail that I talked about in a previous post. I'm so excited! I hope I can capture some of the fish with my camera, 'cause they're so cool! :) If I don't post the pictures today, I will tomorrow.

au revior for now,

CC

Carcassonne

Yesterday, we went to Carcassonne, a castle from and city from the medieval times (but restored in the 1800s) It was really cool, and I got a TON of pics! Check out the video (warning, its about 9 mins long)

Bus Trip

Here are some of the AMAZING views from the windows of the bus (up there)

And down there, are some of the stops we got to:

Finally

):( I wrote a post and published it, but it didn't post (i find out just today) I guess I'll re-write it. The video from the 14th was 3.4 times too big to upload. I'll upload several videos within the video here to show what it was like:
here are the fireworks:

Visitors

Our visitors arrived Thursday so there's been a little less time to post.  We've also revisited many of the spots that we discovered in the first week.

On Friday, PopPop's birthday, we went on a 9 hour bus trip arranged by the tourist office to a few towns unreachable on the main public transit routes.  I've not read Cecilia's posts but I'm sure she has some lovely photos from Roquebrun, a town clinging to the side of a hill with the deteriorating remains of its 10th century chateau looming above.  In the next village, Olargues, we were actually able to climb through the remains of the chateau while looking down on the valley of the river Jaur which the pilgrims used to follow on their way to Compostela in Spain.

Church today (yes, in French, but it probably won't be too different from the Latin mass I had the kids attend at Easter) and then we'll purchase our tickets for Monday's trip to Carcasonne.  I imagine we'll have some great pictures and stories to tell from that trip.

On another note, I had a great morning walk the other day.  As I passed by, our baker called out "Bonjour, madame!" and our butcher did the same.  Then I ran into the man who the kids shamed into picking up his dog's mess and he, too, greeted me familiarly.  Yay!  I feel part of the local fabric; just what I wanted.

no videos yet :(

Giving it another try. The last time I tried to upload this video, it practically froze my computer! it's the biggest one I've tried to upload so far. I guess you'll figure out if it worked or not ;) Well, today we went on an AWESOME bus trip! There were so many amazing sights up in the mountain villiages that I got so many great pctures that I can't wait to show you! 'Course they're still downloading (I took a lot) but I'll try to get them into a video tomorrow. And post, if possible. Okay, after an hour, it still didn't upload. I'll try again yet tomorrow.

au revior for now,

CC

Videos!

(now) Three days ago, we went to Agde (again) in a futile attempt to find Anna (another) bag. On the way, we stopped to see the unique round lock, tho only one on the canal du midi. I took some pics (and video) of that:

Two days ago, we all rented bikes and went biking through the French countryside (well, most of us biking, for some walking bikes) After a while, Me, Anna, and Leigha split up and continued on our path, while the others went home. Here are some pics from that day:

Later that evening, we went out to a party of sorts to celebrate the 14th of July. We paraded the streets, watched fireworks, and danced. Great fun. Unfortunately, I've pushed my luck with the past two videow, and this one won't upload ( even after several hours of "uploading") I'll try later on.

Yesterday we didn't do much, just hung around the house waiting for our guests (which we didn't know were coming today instead) (oops) so no pics there...

And today I forgot my camera when we went to Beziers, and then Poppop, Grandma Lyn, and Marlee arrived.

The end. ;)

please post!!!

Argh!!!! I have three videos I've been wanting to post, but something is up with the blog! This is my fifth attempt today to get them to post! Don't think i've been ignoring you all...I haven't. I'll try again soon,
CC

Biking along the Canal (or walking it)

We decided to rent bikes yesterday just for a little something different.  If you've ever rented bikes before, you know that they're never perfect (too big, strange handlebars, stiff brakes, whatever).  That was yesterday's first hurdle.  Nevertheless, we all received our bikes and stepped outside the shop; that was the second hurdle. The streets are slanty and cobblestoned and narrow and trafficky and confusing and who goes first, who goes last?  We made it back home where we prepared a picnic lunch.  Feeling brave once more, we began our journey with Tamsin and I bringing up the rear.  All went well for a bit until we reached the canal and Tamsin quit.  She hated her bike; it hurt; she was hot, etc.  We walked the bikes until we found the others resting in the shade and stopped to picnic.  It was everything you'd want biking in France to be.  Light breeze, vineyards, large trees casting shade, boats lazily moving down the canal.  Really postcard-lovely.  Unfortunately, it was not to last much longer as Tamsin was pretty much done.  The others went on ahead and Tamsin and I pushed on for a bit, walking with the bikes.  It just became too hot and hard so we waited for the others to come back and find us. They continued on to the next town for ice cream and Tamsin, Alex and I went home.
Last night we celebrated 14 July with a parade, lanterns, fireworks and dancing.  I thought it was lots of fun.  We all marched around the town following a brass band and the mayor with our red, white and blue lanterns swinging.  It felt like we were part of the community.
Today we await our first visitors and the girls get to clean up and vacate their room.  I need to do some shopping.

Mini-Golf Californienne

It was one of those weird kind of days with a lot of waiting.  Yesterday a car drove past with a sign advertising 1/2 price at the mini-golf between 10 and 3.  When we arrived at 11:30 it turned out that the golf doesn't open until 3 (untiil 1am!) and no mention of 1/2 price anything.  So after having waited for the bus to get us there, we had to wait for the bus to get us home.  You can imagine the long faces and the discussions of "if we only had a car here" that went on while we were waiting.  We ate lunch and then went back to Agde to get a purse that Anna's been going on about.  Of course, she didn't remember where it was, or "maybe it was in Beziers?" and so we sat in a cafe waiting for the bext bus to come.  We did get to see a lock in action on the Canal du Midi, one of the only round locks in existence.

By the time we got back to the mini-golf we could only play one round before having to catch the next bus. (Anna won, for those of you who keep score)  Being someone who hates to drive and park I am entirely sold on public transport and am accepting of the inconveniences.  This trip has made all the kids convinced that they will each have their own form of private transport as soon as they are able.

We're off to a night concert on the Place de 14 Juillet now (10pm).  Tomorrow the town celebrates Independence Day.  Look out.  We'll be having fun then (no transport involved).

Pezenas

Yesterday, we went to Pezenas. Here are my pics! (well, except for the houses. Anna will do that)

P.S. review of the petit pate: Yum! tastes like a lemon cookie, cant even taste the mutton!

Not one gone. Three left.

Another successful (read: free) bus trip!  Our passes require that each time we get on the bus, the driver has to write the date and his initials on each pass.  I think they just can't be bothered.  It's working out very well.

We went 40 minutes up the way to Pezenas, a bustling little market town.  I won't share too many details; I'll leave that to my videographers (Anna shall be sharing her creative genius with us soon; please support her with comments once she gets online!).  A very pleasant town with a lot more sights to see than expected.  I'd recommend dropping in on a Saturday if you're ever in the area.

Today was a big market day and we did plenty of eating (unlike other days when we've subsisted on fries and bread).  We purchased Pezenas specialties: petit pate and berlingots.  The former - mutton and brown sugar pastries - we're eagerly looking forward to eating...tomorrow.  The latter are delicious little hard candies, weirdly-shaped.  We ate those right away.  We also bought some amazing cookies and caramels as well as vietnamese food, paella, calamari and tielles (squid pies).  We hid from the heat in the tourist office for aas long as we could without it seeming odd.  They had excellent toilets and an interesting enough architectural exhibit.

At home we celebrated the beginning of our second week with burgers ground by the butcher and those well-earned pastries from the shop around the corner.

Bribery

Yesterday's trip to Nimes went really well, surprisingly well considering there were several near-calamities.  The bus was late (nerve-wracking) but we got on free when it came and didn't miss the train (yay!).  One of the monuments was covered (waaah!) but the cheesy 3-D movie inside was the talk of the day (yay!).  It was hot and dirty but we had enough junk food to keep everyone quiet (really yay!).  There was a fire on the train track and many trains were delayed 3 hours but ours was only off by 30 minutes; we would miss our bus (the LAST bus) but Monsieur the Conducteur said he'd let us off at the stop in our town for no extra charge (merci, monsieur! yay!).

Where does the bribery come in, you ask?  Thursday had been so painful that I set up a system of black and gray "marks" doled out for poor behavior.  Three gray marks equal one black.  Five black marks and the delicious tarts at the Patisserie around the corner from our house would not be purchased.  What was the day's tally?  3 black and 1 gray.  Compared to the day before, that's miraculous.  Sadly, though, because of the train's delay, we arrived after the shop had closed.  I swore I would make up for it today. (I don't think my marking system was colored by the fact that I really want those pastries, too!)

Aside from that, Nimes is a lovely town and I'd gladly go back and explore some more.  The train (1 hour) was beautiful and clean with large windows and tables between seats so we could play cards (ace is a 1; jack= V; queen= D; king= R).

Today, a huge market.  I don't know if the marking system will work again today but I plan on keeping their mouths full of food so at least they stay quiet ;^)

Trip to Nimes

So many Roman ruins. So cool.

p.s. tip for if you're gonna be walking around everywhere on your vacation: wear comfortable shoes. I've been wearing my flat hard flip-flops the whole time, and my feet kill.

Statues and Stuff

Despite the annoyingness of the kids, the museum was cool. It had old rifles, and cannons, and buttons; keyholes, and shoes, and mud/shell/rock encrusted old swords (looked like someone poured lumpy cement on it) and that was all in the first section! Later on, it took you through pots dating back to the sixth century B.C.!!!! It's weird to think that they are that old...its weird to think that some day our stuff will seem that old...*shudder* Anyways, there were also some ceramic plates and metal basins and a bunch of interesting things. Nearing the end of the museum, there were several statue-thingy's that people had found (seriously, one was found by a fisherman dragging up his net, another two by some dude swimming) (that would be soooo cool!) One was really creepy though, it was a statue of a young child pointing with one hand to his other. Only, his other hand was just a stump. And his eyes were just black holes of nothingness. We could imagine him saying, "Moooommmmmyyyy! Look at my haaannnddd! It's just a stump! Hahahahahahahahahaha!!! *creepy laughter*" I'll have nightmares for weeks. Another was of Alexander the Great. Just saying that if I were a king (or ruler or whatever Alexander the Great was) I wouldn't want a statue of me naked. It seems, like, disrespectful...or subject for uncomfortable conversation. Ah well. After that were some cool statues and mosaics and these GIANT pots that were used to carry water, wine, and grains. I could just see some naughty kid hiding inside and popping out when the people were carrying the pots onto the boat. I wish I could have taken pictures of all this (darn you no camera signs) but I hope the description was enough.
au revior for now, CC

Maybe I should have rethought the "keeping the kids happy" part

Today was one of those days that didn't gel.  Everyone was up late and if you miss the morning bus you have to wait 3 hours which just makes everyone impatient.  We went to a museum in Cap d'Agde specializing in marine archeology.  Cool, right?  Ancient statues and pottery found off the coast by scuba divers.  There was fighting and complaining and "i'm starvings" but we did end up spending a couple hours looking at things.  No picture taking was allowed so the camera hungry among us couldn't satisfy their needs.

I took a stab at cooking on the grill which is really more like an ancient outdoor oven.  I didn't use enough charcoal so dinner took forever adding to the pleasure of the day.

New day, tomorrow, though, and we have to have an early start.  8:20 bus to catch the 8:50 train to Nimes, a town with lots of Roman stuff.  The pictures and video should be excellent watching.  Be sure to check it out and leave your comments.  Saturday will be another good day in Pezenas which has an enormous outdoor market (so I'm told).

Today's bakery selection: almond croissant, butter croissant and brioche sucre (all slathered with Nutella, of course).

Here's hoping the troops rally through tomorrow's long day!  I think I'll have to pick up a couple bottles of some fine but cheap (2Euros!!) Languedocien vin rouge.  La vie est belle.

To Maddy From Tamsin

I really miss you. I have no friends here and noone to play with.

Bread

I love bread and I love France. One of our goals this trip was to buy a different kind of bread each day.  We've succeeded so far.  I told this to our local baker and she said we should have no problem as her shop has many.  Tomorrow: brioche.  Nothing like brioche with Nutella.  Actually, Nutella has been a bit of a theme itself.  We've had Nutella beignets, Nutella crepes, Nutella ice cream, Nutella on bananas, Nutella on little butter cakes and the old standard Nutella on bread.  Gotta love it.

I am loving every minute of this trip.  People have lived in this house (pre-renovations) for hundreds of years.  This is a medieval village!  Wow.  Isn't that amazing? I am blown away by this.  We miss out on this connection living in the US.

I also love no car.  It's fun trying to figure out how to get around.  The kids are not always with me on this but I think they're learning something from this experience (experiment?).  Really, if backpackers can get all over the world without cars, I can manage around our small bit of France.

We're going to Pezenas on Saturday. The market there is supposed to be overwhelming as well as some lovely old buildings (bus: 1E for me .5E for the kids).  We also have a bus trip planned for next week to Roquebrun, voted one of the "most beautiful towns in France".  As I told Rich, the trip also includes free wine tasting; I'm hoping I get to take the kids' sample (hey! I'm not driving).

Tomorrow, I think it's time for some museums.  A couple of us have had enough sun for a bit.  I also need to do some cleaning.  Waaah.  It's not all vacation.

Beziers: Day 4

Today we all got up early (7:45) and went to Beziers (i think thats how you spell it) (you say it like bezz-ee-ay) We sorta kinda followed a map and found some cool places, including a nice park and a church where 20,000 people were massacred in!!! The houses there were really nice too, and had cool carvings and balcony-gatey things. You'll see in the pictures:

Agde pictures

Yaaay the website has yet again let me upload videos! Here are the photos from yesterday. By the way, the photos end after the credits. i dont know why it continued.

Agde: Day 3

Today we went to Agde, a city with buildings dating back to 852! The city was origionally named after Agatha Tyche, the Roman godess of good fortune, and they have a marble statue/fountain of her in the center of town with weird animals surrounding her that spit out water. Here, we wandered the streets and alleyways (one barely a meter wide) most of the time looking for a "murder hole" (???) but it turns out that it was on the other side of town. Oops. For some reason
the website isn't letting me upload the video right now :( I'll try again later.
au revior for now,
CC

Kids in France

The kids have been great at adjusting to their new living conditions.  Having no yard is kind of difficult; there's even very little open space in the village and virtually nothing green.  The long-life milk was a momentary concern but we seem to have survived.

They've all experienced ordering things on their own.  Leigha and Cecilia have been to a few stores.  Alex bought donuts (beignets) for us yesterday.  Tamsin has embraced the event and is "bonjour"ing everyone she sees.  Last night there was a concert in the Place de 14 Juillet and Tamsin was running around with a little French girl (at 11pm).

Jet lag hasn't seemed much of an issue but it might help that we stay up until midnight every night; the sun doesn't set until 9:30.  Everyone sleeps late but not as late as Leigha.  Tamsin loves waking her up.

Everyone also was excellent at the beach yesterday.  The 50yo with only a flesh-colored thong bottom was eye-opening but for the most part people were pretty clothed.  Alex only blushed a few times.

Today we're off to Agde, a 2000yo village.

At the beach

Today we all went to the beach (Vias Plage) ! The sand was white (ish), the water was clear (ish), the sun was bright and shining. The perfect beach day :) Except...the sand was SOOO hot that you had to run to the water which was sorta coldish (but at least ten degrees warmer than Madison!) The wind was extremely well, um, windy, and it whipped sand around with no mercy! We all had a good time, though, splashing in the waves, collecting shells, and taking in the glorious views.

au revior for now, CC.

Cool Trees

Oh, and I also decided to take photos of all the cool trees we saw along the way ;) so....if you're interested in seeing cool French trees, then watch the following. If not, then you're lame. (jk)

--CC

Yesterday we all took a walk to the canal du midi (in the hot and blazing sun :P) I decided to take pictures along the way. I would have uploaded these yesterday, but it wasn't working :( Oh well. Oh, and excuse the blurriness, I was walking while taking most of these pics.

--CC

Hmm, where to start?

Okay, I generally look at only positive things and I could do that right now.  I could go on about the delicious croissants and still warm baguette we had for breakfast.  Or about the beautiful flowers and quaint plazas and twisting alleys.  I could even go on about my underused brain being able to retrieve the French hiding in its cobwebby recesses.  But a story is never really as good if there's no conflict, no wondering how it will all turn out.

So with that in mind, I'll tell you about a few of our difficulties.  By the time we got to Barcelona, everyone was pretty tired.  To get our bags, we had to walk forever. And then we had to take a bus to a different terminal to catch the train to downtown.  There was no baggage area on the bus (and we had 6 bags+carryon).  The walk to the train was interminable especially in 80+degrees and with a couple children who were sick of hauling bags (there are two bags that will never travel with me again).  As with the bus, no place for bags and it was standing room only.  The accordion player who serenaded us was a nice touch.  We had a very long wait in the station (with different traveling companions I would have ditched the bags and seen the city) and we just sat on the floor because there were no seats(!).  Getting on the train was perhaps the most difficult as we were significantly crankier and someone else's bags were blocking our way.  When a crazy old coot tried to push through our crowd who could not budge and the doors of the train shut and I was stuck in my seat, I thought we'd lost one of the kids.  Fortunately, the one we lost was Leigha and she wasn't really lost but had entered through the other car. Lessons have been learned.

I assure you I am not complaining.  This is just to provide you with a few jealousy-free moments, thinking of me here.  Another honest moment: while I am now used to the house - and it is exactly as in the pictures - initially it was a little off-putting.  The village is not quite as I expected.  I've not been in villages with the eyes of an adult.  Perhaps they were always this way.  It's rather poor.  Some graffiti, dog poop, ripped screens, old people in shifts sitting just inside the doors...

There is a bus to the beach which we will take tomorrow.  I could walk it but they compain too much.  I need to get food because we were a little too late today and it's Sunday.  Virtually everything is closed. We need to get into the swing of things and find a routine.

Tomorrow you can be jealous again when I describe the beach.

To Maddy from Tamsin

Hi I am at the house. I can't watch tv.  The trip took so long.  I went to the bakery and the market to get some slushies.  They're called granitas in France.  There's an awesome waterpark but my mom won't let me go there but when my dad comes he will let me go.  Tomorrow we are going to the beach.  I miss home and I miss you.

Look At Our SLIDESHOW!!!!!!!!