And that time has now come

And so we come to the final words in this blog, at least for the time being. We came to France for this much extended time to test ourselves in this culture and to explore areas where we might like to spend a lot more of our time. We will go home to Canberra in a few weeks time knowing a lot more about things French than we did before and grateful for taking advantage of the opportunity we made for ourselves. We have found a couple of places we like and we have also resolved to return again all things being equal. We have also resolved a few things about what we might do next in this challenging time of our lives. Who knows just what has changed in our lives as a result of this experience?

Allez Wallabies

In the previous week, we met up with about 10,000 other Australians in Montpellier to watch the Wallabies play Fiji. This was not much more than a good training run for the Wallabies but the atmosphere was great and centre ville Montpellier was buzzing afterwards. As it turns out, the Fijians surprised most by beating Wales to make the quarter finals but I do not think the Sth Efricans are too troubled by the thought of playing Fiji. I am not too happy that the French press is approaching the coming quarter final of France versus All Blacks with the best attitude. My view is that, the All Blacks might be a pressure game short this coming weekend and therefore as vulnerable as they could ever be to crumbling a bit. I would like to see France do the right thing by the Wallabies and Sth Efrica and topple the All Blacks but it might help a bit if the local press could see the game as an opportunity and not the threat they seem to be reflecting. For our part, we will now travel to Paris this week to see Argentina play Scotland. Yvonne is for Scotland whilst I would like the Argentinians to go through to the final.

Sth Efrica Versus George W

This last weekend we travelled back to Montpellier in mid evening to see the last of the first round Rugby World Cup matches, this time between Sth Efrica and the USA. We were expecting (and in some ways hoping for) a very one sided game as we all know that Americans cannot play much of any sort of football. Surprisingly and although the final score was lopsided, this was a very enjoyable game. The USA did turn on one of the best tries of the tournament thus far making the Efican wingers look decidedly as slow as Randall is these days.

Abbey -Chemin de St Jacques

Late last week, the weather dived again to deliver the first snow to fall at this time of the year in the nearby hills for over forty years. And we were wondering why we were suddenly rugged up in our warmest clothes. We did manage an interesting visit to a ruined abbey but we quickly lost interest in exploring yet another small village and headed home for the day with just a few snaps and a couple of bottles of local red to help digest dinner.

We have visited Sete twice now and, weather permitting; we hope to have our last lunch there.One of the noticeable things to us in France is the obvious sense of community in most places. Like bush towns, everyone knows everyone and what they are up to most if not all of the time. It is nice to see the old folk having a chat with their mates and there are lots of pictures for the artistic minded around the fishing boats and the port area. We also visited Adge and it’s port full of pleasure boats but Adge has a different feel and was not to our liking. In some way the bars, cafes and restaurants at Adge seem to be a lot tackier than the those at Sete. We also like the port areas of Meze and Marsaillan along the coastline near Sete

Sete Harbour

The other town that has caught our interest here is Sete. Sete is a large fishing port and is second commercially behind Marseilles as a Mediterranean port. It has picturesque waterways, canal system, beaches and great shoals of fish restaurants and cafes.

We are trying not to over indulge but what is life for and we have come all this way so we might as well enjoy a few moments in a restaurant here!

Canal de Midi

After our own lunch in a nearby guinguette (snack bar), we spent an hour or so walking along the canal and enjoying the last of the sunny days. A few days later we returned to another part of the canal system to enjoy another walk. There are quite a few pathways/bike tracks along the canal de midi and it would be an enjoyable boat trip to do with family or friends one day.

Canal de Midi

We revisited the Canal de Midi last week and enjoyed several hours just watching the tourist traffic going through the 8 lock system of the Ecluses de Fonseranes. We are now towards the back end of the tourist season but there were quite a few boats either going through the system or waiting their turn. Boats generally go in one direction for 2 to 3 hours before the system starts to operate in the other direction. Of course, like almost everything else in this culture, the whole operation stops for lunch.

Hmm, what do I do now

Touring these places is something we like doing and this one is one of the better ones with a great audio guide to help us along as we wandered up and down through the place. We were not sure that it would have been a great posting for the 25 or so troops that were assigned to duties there so long ago. But they did not pay taxes and jobs were handed down through families so that must have kept a few people occupied. It is a fairly popular place these days with a steady stream of visitors whilst we were there.

Chateau Peyreteruse-Cathar Country

Early last week we went south towards Spain and climbed up into Chateau Peyretertuse. This old chateau was one of the “five sons” of Carcassonne guarding France from Spanish counts of Aragon until the Treaty of Pyrenees was executed some centuries ago. Although well into Cathar country, it was not part of the heretic troubles a long time ago. Today it is a very interesting ruin commending great views of the surrounding countryside.

This Country Grows on You

We are finding that the countryside down here grows on you. Somehow the harsh stony environment has its’ own attractions. We like the little villages often set on hilltops surrounded by grapevines. At the moment, as the vendage has just finished, it is probably at its best with plenty of action around the place and the vines have plenty of green on them. So we wonder what it must be like here in the winter when the skies are grey and the hillsides bare. There are buckets of English speaking people in most towns and villages and it looks like most places are growing.