Lights, camera ...

E had the afternoon off school yesterday (it was a surprise to me, she just appeared wearing her backpack with the news that her teacher had gone to Montpellier and they could go home if they wanted to). So we spent a couple of happy hours making this nativity set out of toilet rolls, and some paper.


And of course today, the first day of Advent, the Wise Men have begun their trek around the room, on their way to see the Infant Jesus!

While we were at work, we heard a bit of drilling and banging from outside, but thought nothing of it. Renovations are ongoing in these old village houses, and even the vacuum cleaners are pretty loud. However, when we opened the french doors onto the front balcony to get a breath of fresh air, we discovered a much more interesting reason for the noise. A Municipal Christmas Decoration!! Attached to Our House and stretching across the street!! And here it is!!


Here's the view down the street from our balcony - some of our neighbours got a Municipal Candle (bougie - what a cute word that is!!), and another neighbour has lit up their balcony with a climbing Santa.



Despite the fact that there really are very few shops here in Aniane, the Mairie has got into Christmas decorating in a big way, and we are going to go for an evening walk tonight to check out the decs!

Randonee

Randonee. The French word for 'hike' according to my dictionary. But it sounds like so much more ... I like the English word 'ramble', with all the images of setting out and not really knowing what the walk will bring, being prepared to stop and look, or take a different path, or just walk off in a random direction...

Anyway, my friend Marianne and I went on a randonee today, up to St Guilhem le Desert, to walk Les Fenestrelles trail - 10km, 3hours and 30 minutes. Woohoo!! Al did the lunchtime school pickup and drop off, so we were free to walk where we would!! Actually we followed the trail, which was clearly marked. The vegetation was low and fragrant, pines, rosemary, thyme, different types of small oaks, and other shrubs. The ground was well-drained and stony, no mud at all!!


See this huge ship-like rock? We walked around the base of it, past the other outcrop behind it, and over the top, so we ended up looking down on the two ship rocks. The tracks were zig-zag mule trail types, so it wasn't too steep, but we were amazed at how high we were. So high we could breathe clouds!! And we could see as far as our eyes would let us. I love to stand on top of the world. THIS is why I came to France!!


Looking back at the ship rock after passing around the base of it.


Looking back down the valley from whence we came.


Oh Yeah! On top of the world!! Looking down onto the top-most ship rock.

Navacelles

We went up to the Cirque de Navacelles recently, north of here near the Cevennes mountain range. It was spectacular, really extraordinary. We didn't really know what to expect, and I'm sure the photos don't do it justice, but what you will see is basically a wide gorge, carved by the river Vis. The river had originally routed around a promontory but had subsequently worked itself a direct route, leaving a crater-shaped gouge with a small hill in the middle.

Here's how we first saw it. We are up on the plateau, looking down. The village is a the top end of the hill in the middle of the 'crater'. By the way it's not snowy - that's the colour of the local rock.



Don't fall off ...


Now here's the view looking back up up from the road at the bottom that you can see in picture # 1 - the white strip across the green 'moat' leading to the central hill. I stood way up on the plateau to take picture #1.


Here's a zoom of the village from the other side of the 'crater', so you can see it a bit better. If you squint hard you can see the river that caused all of this, passing by the village.


Look at the pretty autumn colours...

Lodeve

I've got a bit behind so I'll just post pictures of this pretty Languedocien town.


No parking when submerged ....uh, ok ....


We saw a cute French rat under this bridge.


All over this part of France are memorials to people who died in the War.


Lodeve has a beautiful cathedral. Here are some of the magnificent windows, along with lavishly painted stations of the cross on each side.


Reflections of the stained glass on the cathedral walls


This is why people rave about the Languedoc, I guess ...

The perfect day

Saturday was Armistice Day here in France. All over the region, ceremonies were held to remember the war dead. In Aniane, people were to assemble in front of the Mairie at 11am, and loud, stirring parade music started blasting out from the Mairie speakers at 10.45. I grabbed my camera and we tried to blend in with the locals although I don't think anyone was fooled. There was one military-looking person, beautifully uniformed in beige, two dress-uniformed gendarmes and a full complement of Sapiers-Pompiers (firefighters) including several women.


Lots of village folk joined as well as we processed behind two standards, out to the War Memorial on the outskirts of town (all of 5 minutes slow march).


Wreaths were laid at the memorial, two delightfully short and to the point speeches were given and then we jumped into the car and headed for Nimes (that's the three of us, not the whole parade!).

Nimes is an ancient city. In the middle of town is a 2,000 year old Roman arena, one of the largest and best-preserved still in existence. And even better - it's STILL IN USE!!! Bullfights (yes, I know) and bull-running are held there on a regular basis.



Bullfighting, the corrida, is the spectacularly gruesome pageant that we all know with the matador and the cape. Bull-running, or Course Camarguaise, looks like more fun, for the bull, at least. It involves white clothed young men testing their skill by attempting to remove a garland from between the bull's horns, while the bull tries to toss them out of the ring. The bull is not killed in Course Camarguaise. I've never seen it but they showed movies of it, and it looked pretty wild.



It cost 21 euros for the three of us to enter the stadium and take the self-guide audio tour, but it was money well spent. We spent the afternoon exploring and listening to the vivid descriptions of the Roman tournaments that were held there.

It was dusk by the time we tore ourselves away and Nimes was starting to liven up. Two beautifully decorated and lit-up carousels were open for business at opposite ends of the plaza and cafes were bustling. Em stopped for a ride on one of the carousels (note there are TWO storeys!).


On the way back to the car we found a Chinese restaurant that looked quite good. We picked up some takeaways - the first Chinese food I had had since San Diego. What a treat!

The sun was setting as we left Nimes and we drove back under skies the colour of ripe persimmons (nacho cheese orange, said Em). The sunset lasted so long and got so red that I thought we were being invaded by Martians but eventually it got dark, and then it was time for the All Blacks vs France game in Lyon, thoughtfully broadcast to the nation by one of the public television stations, France 2. What a great end to a perfect day.

A Famous Author, a couple of All Blacks and the Old Bill

London was fun but rather tiring. We stayed at a 'serviced apartment' in Victoria, close to the station and lots of other things too. The location was brilliant, but the walls and floors were paper thin, and every night when our neighbours rolled in at 2am, crashing and thumping and shouting, ... well, you can imagine, we were desperate for a good nights sleep by the time we got back to France!

Still, we packed as much as we could into our week. We did some touristy stuff, some educational stuff, some shopping and caught up with old friends. And we ate curry every day!!

For edification we visited the Houses of Parliament at Westminster - the line to enter the building wasn't long, so we decided to brave the security check and have a look inside. The security check was thorough but courteous (US border control could take some lessons!) and we spent half an hour or so watching Chancellor of the Exchequer's question time from the public gallery. The chamber was full of MPs, and the debating was quite vigorous, with interjections from Mr Speaker and lots of bobbing up and down as the MPs vied to be chosen to speak next. We also took a peek at the House of Lords, but here the atmosphere was more dignified, not so entertaining.



We also spent a day at the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum. The NHM didn't seem to have changed much since we last saw it 10 years ago, but the building itself is so beautiful that it's always worth a visit.



The Science museum was huge - comprising a 'transport and technology' section with exhibits including the original DNA double helix model and spacecraft from the 1960s, among other things (many other things ...), and a 'hands-on' section that kept Em amused for what seemed like days ...

And of course we went down to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guard. It was very cold the day we went and after an hour or so of watching a bunch of guys stamping and shouting and not seeming to do much else (how do they see where they are going with those bearskins on their heads?) we dragged our frozen selves off to the shops.

Kind of educational but also fun was the London Eye. This is the massive ferris wheel-type structure that used to be called the Millennium Wheel. It's not roller-coaster-ish in any way but you do go up jolly high, which can be a bit spooky if you don't like heights, especially for the ascent, but it's worth it for the 360 degree views.




The London Aquarium was small but interesting, and we did one of those all-day, hop-on, hop-off bus tours as well.

We had a lovely dinner with my old friend Anita and her family, including her Dad, and our friends the Bensons. Many years ago, when Anita and I were but girls, slips of things, really, she introduced me to that bastion of the British culinary heritage, the curry, at the Taj Mahal in Upper Richmond Road, Putney. I always remember their Rogan Josh as the best I have ever tasted (big pieces of tomato in every bite!) and have benchmarked all subsequent curries to it. Well, it's still there, and I'm happy (amazed actually) to say that the food is as good as I remembered. It was a really good night.

It was also great to see my old friend and flatmate Gillie and her man Kevin, and Claudia who I worked with for the last 4 or so years back in NZ, who arrived in London recently. And of course we bumped into someone from home in the street - a Quarantine Officer who I had worked with back in Auckland, and who had been taught by Al. What a place, London, eh.

You probably want to know who the Famous Author is -= well, it was Alexander Mc Call Smith (aaaaaah!!! ahhhhaaaahhhh!!) and he was dining at the table next to us in an Italian restaurant in Piccadilly. We are all fans of his books, including Em who reads the childrens' ones, but were too New Zealandish to do something as bold as ask for him to sign something for us!!

Al spotted the All Blacks while I was poking through the racks at Zara in Regent Street. He was waiting outside, then suddenly rushed in gasping 'Ma'a Nonu! Ma'a Nonu!'. Sure enough it was him, with possibly Richie McCaw, although I was too overawed by the beauty of the dreadlocked one in person to be sure ... They sauntered through the womens wear down to the men's shop in the basement but again ... too shy ...

I'm not scared of the Old Bill though, not any more. Turns out an old friend hit the big 40 and decided, nope, I don't want to work in an office any more, I'm going to be a Policeman. She's quite short, but the Police had recently reduced their height requirement and she was accepted for training. After five months live-in training at Hendon with all those young lads (doesn't sound too bad actually ...) with just weekends at home with hubby and daughter, then 2 years probation, she just found out that she had been accepted as a permanent officer in the Metropolitan Police. She was stationed close to where we were staying and we bumped into her one night on our way home from dinner, in her uniform, kevlar vest, handcuffs, the whole thing. Wow. She's SO COOL!!

We bought lots of books while we were there, and my arms still ache from dragging our heavy suitcases off and on trains and trams and through the streets to the car. Still, we all now have a nice pile of interesting things to read, except for Emily, who read things as fast as we bought them. She's almost finished 'Wintersmith' by Terry Pratchett, which was the last one in her pile ... and is very good, incidentally.

She's back at school now, and things are getting back to normal. Strangely I am finding speaking and understanding French easier now after speaking English for a week. It's definitely autumn, we have the heating on in the evenings, but the days are clear and sunny, and not too cold. The vine leaves have all turned brown and are falling off the plants, and the smell of woodsmoke is in the air ...