It's here! (but we're not)

Here it is, the Vin Primeur for 2006 from the Terroirs d'Aniane! Pretty, eh. It's a 3 litre cask, opened now, a light, slightly fruity drop, very pleasant on a warm autumn evening. A bit young, probably, for the connoisseur but it's going down nicely round here.

We're off to London tomorrow morning on the train. We're catching the TGV from Montpellier to Lille then on to the Eurostar, which goes under the sea and spits us out at Waterloo Station, London. It will take most of the day but I'm SO SICK of flying!!
We've got a bag of snacks, and I'm about to go out and buy some baguettes to make sandwiches for lunch. There is a buffet car on the TGV but our friends told us that the prices are a bit steep and the portions are very small! We've packed water bottles as well.

We're not taking our computers with us, or our cellphones so it will be an interesting techno-free holiday. We are taking a camera though so hopefully I will be able to post some photos when we get back.

L'Herault breaks loose

Remember this idyllic scene from our first week here? It's the swimming place at the Pont de Diable, a few minutes drive out of Aniane. Look at the gorgeous blue water, the pebbly beach, the gentle current and the lovely shady trees.



Here it is today. After a couple of days of rain, the river Herault becomes a torrent. The beach is gone, the pink rock in the foreground, that kids were diving off a few weeks ago, is now under water, and much of the vegetation is also submerged. Inonde as they say round here.



Here's the view upriver from the bridge, the summer version. Pretty, eh.



Here's the same view taken today. You can see the level of the water is much higher in relation to the more distant bridge. It's brown and full of bits of tree, a roiling boiling race down the gorge. Cool!

Traumatic food weekend

It's been a bit of a traumatic weekend, food-wise, for me. We did lots of lovely things and had lots of fun, but after going to bed hungry last night I am now sitting here with a lump of lard in the pit of my stomach, wishing I had brought the Eno (of course it is sunday here and all the shops are closed). It started yesterday when I visited the charming mountain town of Le Vigan, in the Cevennes mountains, about 45 minutes north of here, with some friends. It's autumn here, and the Cevennes are known for apples, and for the special salad onions that grow there, and are mostly exported to the USA. However mushrooms are also a bonus of this season, and Cepes are one of the local favourites. Lots of people go out and collect them themselves, in the forest, but you have to know where to go. A stall at the market was selling them, and, ready to try anything, I bought several big ones, under the supervision of my friend, and local connoisseur, Antoine. These are big, ugly mushrooms, and I got 800g for just over 11 euros ($22 NZ!!!).



On saturday night, after an afternoon exploring the garrigues near Viols le Fort (will post pictures separately), I carefully cut up the cepes, and prepared them as Antoine had told me. They looked pretty good, smelled good too.



But ugh!! The taste!! They tasted minerally, earthy, and it was too strong to ignore. I had a few bites but then couldn't go on - Al had to eat the lot. Which he did, bravely, manfully.

Today was a nice still sunny autumn day and we decided to head to the sea, to Meze, which is on a salt-water lagoon by the Mediterranean Sea. Lots of oysters and other shellfish there ... blech, but Al likes them, so we decided to find some lunch there. We found the sea, and a parking spot, and a restaurant that was full and bustling so we settled down with a menu. 45 minutes later someone took our order and it was all downhill from there. Al's plate of coquillages (shellfish) was quite good but the mussels were disappointing - tiny and flaccid, and he couldn't figure out how to get the sea snails out of their shells. I had a salad to start, which was okay, but my main course was the worst food I have every paid for. It was lamb chops provencal - sounds good, doesn't it. But when it came it was two of the fattiest chops I have ever seen, crumbed, and deep fried. After digging around for 10 minutes or so, I found some meat near the bone, which was quite nice and tender, but the damage was done. It feels like there is a rock in my stomach still, hours after we left.

Al had bull stew, which he said was so gamey that it was almost but not quite inedible. I notice he managed to choke it down, without too much trouble. Emily had a plate of chips, which she said were very good.

Because the food had taken so long to arrive (we were there for more than 2 hours) we didn't have time to look around Meze, because we wanted to get to the dinosaur park, which closed at 5pm. Here are a few pictures that I took on the way back to the car. The dinosaur park was pretty good - they found the largest cache of dinosaur eggs in Europe there a few years ago, and the park was full of life size skeletons and models. Cool!

Winter's a-coming

It's a dull, overcast day today, with occasional drizzle. Nights and mornings are definitely cooler, and we have put the winter duvets on the beds. Not quite cold enough to put the heating on. The pictures above are of the view from the back of our house, looking towards the storm drain. When the weather is dry, people park on the drain but when it rains, the cars all disappear - you can see why in the top picture, taken a couple of weeks ago after a couple of days of steady rain. Interestingly, the drain didn't flood until after the rain stopped - the water comes down from the hills, leaching out of the porous soil and tumbling towards the rivers.

The second picture was taken today - the creeper is fast turning red, which is really pretty.

A castle!

Perched on a hill above nearby Montpeyroux are the ruins of a castle. On a sunny day last week Al and I decided to go up there and take a look at it, stopping at the renowned Caveau at Monpeyroux for a few bottles of their excellent Totem wines.
The wine shop lady gave us directions (in French - we are getting better at understanding now) and we had a lively discussion about what you are and are not allowed to carry in cabin baggage on planes - also in French.

Anyway we turned right at the Place du Village and parked just outside the tiny hamlet of Le Barry, where the church was undergoing repairs (photo below).



Up the hill we went, for about 20 minutes, and were rewarded with beautiful views like this, looking back onto Le Barry and Montpeyroux



And this, looking up to the hills



And this, over the vineyards and orchards on the plains

Meet Lune

This is Lune, the cat who lives at our house. I'm not really a cat person, but Lune really is a cutie. She lives outside and in the garage, which suits us all, but she loves to be petted and played with. She looks like a kitten but she's about 7 years old apparently, and has even had a litter of kittens herself.

La Vache: description

That's the title of the short, slightly humourous poem that Em had to learn for school this week. The other kids in the class had to learn a longer, more complicated poem, but even so, it was quite a job for E. Anyway she practised and practised, and finally the day came. Luckily the recitation went off without a hitch, and her classmates gave her a round of applause!! The sweeties!

More drama at the gym class

They say that small town life can be dull but here in Aniane we make our own fun. When I got to gym class this morning, there was a crowd of lycra-clad women once again gathered in a worried little circle around the Foyer Rural man. What now? Well, it seems there was a rival gym teacher who had arrived early and had installed her small group of lycra ladies in our classroom and wasn't going to leave. No shouting this time, just no, I am the gym teacher here, if there is going to be a gym class, I am going to teach it. Turns out she had taught gym classes there before, and from what I can gather, she heard that a new class was starting up, and by golly, it was going to be hers. I must admit, her mannerism was rather intimidating and she was immovable. The Foyer Rural man, who had brought a friend for back up ended up backing down and we had to do our class in the kitchen. In the meantime a couple of new members of our troupe had defected upstairs as well!

Personally, I just don't get it. Our group had the room booked, yet someone else can come and take over, claiming that she has the 'right' to do so because she used to run a class there ... I've been thinking about it all afternoon and I just don't get it.

I can't imagine how this situation developed. Now we don't know if every class is going to be gatecrashed. I hope they sort it out soon, I really enjoy these classes.

The Grotte de Clamouse

Grotte de Clamouse. It sounds like something the dog dragged in - or maybe something the dog did (the dogs in Aniane are busy doing it, I can tell you ...). However it couldn't be farther from the truth. It's an underground cave, or rather a series of underground caves, only a few minutes drive from here. And what caves they are. Full of the most stunning and interesting 'concretions' - stalacmites, stalactites, draperies, crystals, we oohed and aahed our way through the whole 1 hour tour. (And I kept getting left behind because I took so long taking pictures!) Some of the formations looked edible - like pulled toffee or sugar crystals, others looked Dr Seuss-like and others just looked like Fairyland. Here are some pictures

Puechabon and Viols le Fort

Here are some pictures taken in the neighbouring villages of Puechabon, a humble but pleasant circulade, or circular village, and Viols le Fort, on a recent rainy day. The stone archways are both in Puechabon, the cross is in Viols le Fort. There are lots of these type of crosses all over the place, but I thought this was a particularly nice one.

Some trees, some exercise and a screaming row

Here's a picture I took this week from my friend's balcony, looking out over the rooftops of central Aniane towards a hill. We're both fascinated by the trees on top. She's walked up the hill, I've taken lots of pictures of it. She lives right in the centre of town, about a 3 minute walk from here.

I have done other exercise though - I've joined a gym class, which is interesting because of course it is all in French and I don't understand a lot, what with all the music and the jumping about. However I usually stand right behind the 'prof' (I think she thinks I am trying to hide) and I usually manage to keep up. It was funny at the last lesson - right in the middle of a complicated prancing about routine she asked me a question. I have to really concentrate during these routines or I totally lose it. First I looked around to see if there was someone behind me (and four and three and )- there wasn't ( and kick and turn) so i tried my standard response - a look somewhere between panic and blankness - (to the left - no, the right ..) Eventually with a bit of help from one of the other exercisers I finally realised she was asking me if my muscles had been sore after the last class (they had!). It was a bit awkward but then it was also good that she included me even though I'm still struggling with the language.

Oh, speaking of language, I'm sure there was some choice language used just before the gym class. Another dance teacher had mistakenly thought she had booked the room at the Foyer Rural (like the village hall) and her class was under way. It fell to the genial old chap who has the key to tell her the bad news. Up he went and a full-on screaming match ensued. At first I thought it was a drama class but no ... eventually he came back down again, red-faced and needing a cigarette. The other teacher took her time, and when she did appear, it all started up again! Oh how I wished I could understand, I'm sure I would have learned a lot!! After a few minutes it all seemed to be over, and we went upstairs and started our class. Quiet little town? I don't think so!

Pezenas

For the past couple of weekends it has rained, but we decided not to let it put us off from now on. After all, more than a month has already passed and we only have 7 more to go!! So despite it being a bit wet yesterday we set off with friends (English-speaking locals!) for Pezenas, about 20 minutes south of here. The guidebook calls Pezenas 'one of the most singularly beautiful towns in the French Southwest' (how do you choose?) and it certainly was pretty. However, our focus was the market. We had a quick look at some of the old town streets (no dog poop here!), then entered the 'animal products' section of the market, between a paella stall and a mobile charcuterie. There's been a paella stand at every market we've been to - even the tiny one at Aniane, and it does look good, full of mussels and big red prawny things. If only I liked seafood.

We bought lots of food at the market - saucisson - roquefort and fines herbes (that's 2 kinds), cheese (can't remember the name but it's sharp tasting with a texture like softish cheddar - you have to eat it with grapes or apple we were told - tried it last night and it was good!), a couple of tuna steaks - the fishmonger was chopping up the whole fish right there at the market, several kinds of olives (I think Al has decided that olives count as a vegetable), some dried figs and a whole rotisserie pintade (guinea fowl - free range of course). That's another thing ubiquitous at markets - the rotisserie stand (sometimes the same proprietor as the paella). A large (1 metre x 1 metre?) wall of electric elements on a barrow provides the heat. The cook threads the chickens or other fowl onto a long metal skewer and hooks it onto the front of the heat, and the birds turn and cook. As cooking proceeds the skewers are moved downwards so that the least cooked meat is on the top and the most cooked is on the bottom of the wall. This way the fat and juice from the upper birds baste the ones lower down. At first I thought this might be a bit unhygenic but these birds are wildly popular - we had to wait 15 minutes before we could buy one - and the things are constantly turning and being heated. Well, we ate ours yesterday and we didn't have any problems.

After the market and a coffee and a chat we wandered round some of the elegant old houses that date back to the 15th century, when Pezenas was the seat of the Languedoc parliament. You can enter the courtyards of some of these palaces, which are very well-preserved and beautifully designed. Every now and then Al and Antoine would just disappear from the street and we would find them in a courtyard, admiring the stones, or the architecture, or engrossed in some historical plaque.

The moon, and then Mars

Not too far away from us is the Cirque de Moureze, an area of strangely shaped dolomite pillars and outcrops. The landscape was formed from ancient seabed which has gradually been eroded by rain, and has also been occupied since prehistoric times. We decided to cough up the 10 euro for the 3 of us and visit the Courtinals, a private park run by a nice Irish lady. Being here in some ways is like being in a computer game - we never know when we are going to meet an English speaking person and when we do, we learn a lot about where to go next! The advantage of the Courtinals is that in 15 minutes you are at the top of the hill (not a hard climb) where you get a panoramic view of the Cirque and of the delightful village of Moureze (second photo)





Moureze itself has been occupied by humans since around 7000BC according to the Courtinals website. There's a copper mine nearby that was used by the neolithic inhabitants of the area - we'll go there next time. The Romans were there, and the current village originated about 900 years ago, when the remains of the old Roman fortifications were torn down and the stones used to build the church, and other buildings. According to the guidebook, it was the first town liberated from the Germans by the Resistance group the Maquis.

We had lunch in Moureze, which was notable for two things - the size of the pizzas (enormous!!) and ... Emily ordered her own lunch - even responded to the offer of ketchup or mayonnaise!! As well as being enormous, and delicious, the pizzas had a very thin crust, like a thin cracker, just enough to hold the filling and that's it. No rolled crust on the edge either. We decided we had to figure out how to make them like that. Mine didn't even have tomato on it - just fresh cheese, gorgonzola (MMMMM...), onion and an oeuf right in the middle. The egg had a runny yoke - you break it and spread it all over the pizza - oh YES!!! Al's pizza had all kinds of other stuff on it as well as the egg. Emily ? Oh, she had frites and an ice cream!!

After Moureze we decided to press on to find the Lac du Salagou, which is a reservoir which supposedly 'teems with birdlife, crabs and fish'. Needless to say we didn't see any fauna, although with a name like Salagou we did expect to find Spongebob and Patrick ....

However to get there, you pass through the village of Salasc, which is a bit strange too, because as you drive in it looks like you are about to crash into someone's front garden. Al screeched to a halt, but at the last minute, the road veers off to the left and you are in the town square (with a thumping great bus in front of you - God only knows how he got past all those pot plants without flattening them). The really interesting thing about Salasc though is that before you enter, the landscape is kind of bare and lunar with all those dolomite rocks poking up - after you leave Salasc, it becomes Martian - the soil is deep red, there are no rocks, just gently rounded curves, and the vegetation is much more lush - there are trees!! The changeover is abrupt and dramatic.





Last point on the tour was Celles, a village that was abandoned in the 1970s when the reservoir was built. The water never reached the level of the tiny hamlet though, and it has mostly fallen into disrepair, although apparently it has been bought by a man who lives there, and runs cultural and sporting events.