Where to from here?

We do not like the obstinate need to follow eating and drinking protocols. (No, it is not possible to have breakfast/lunch/dinner just now - you are 2 minutes too early/late monsieur). There are too many smokers, especially women. There are too many dogs and cats on show. There are too many towns needing a cleanup (Grafitti, bums, rubbish). And business hours need to change, especially on Mondays and in the middle of the day.

But these differences, good and not so good, are what we are drawn too. And so we will be back again-soon.

These last two months have been a great adventure. Our month with George and Yvonne in Scandinavia was eye opening and extremely pleasant. Our month revisiting France has been entertaining with each day bringing new experiences. We have had fantastic weather all of the time and we are very grateful for that, even if it looks like climate change is at least part of the reason for our luck. But all things come to an end and we need to move on-again. We may finish our tour with a few days in Lyon, a city that beckons but which we have never seen. We are just as likely to pass the last few days in Switzerland, enjoying autumn and the last of the sunny weather for the year. But which of these we complete is probably of little interest to most readers. We have had a great time on the move but it is time to stop for a rest and to reconnect with our birth culture, as indifferent as we are to aspects of that.

We have a few other trips in mind too and a few more discussions over a wine or two if we are to radically change our lifestyle. Just how, and if, we balance out our quest for a meaningful living and our obligations to community and family still remains a challenge to be solved.

Long may she reign in Briancon

This is a now good point to wind down the blog and all these tales of indulgent travel by a couple of boomers. As we prepare for the last week of our European search, some of you will note that we have still not made any decisions for a real project here in France. We continue to visit and to have our emotions aroused most times positively and other times negatively. We continue to enjoy the sights, smells and culture of this non Anglo country without being game enough to leave family and friends and to create at least half a life here. Maybe it is better to leave the situation as it is.

We like and enjoy the little nuances of day to day living here; the importance of presenting a perfect front to the world with homes of good presentation, even though if you look beyond there is a host of rubbish hidden from view. There is a cultural need for endless small talk; despite traffic behind you; despite the lengthening supermarket queue and despite the time of day. The daily community lives with boules for the village elders or non workers each afternoon; and the endless trail of people of all ages going to and from the boulangerie for their daily baguette and a chat. There is an apparent lesser focus on earning more euros than the next person to get a bigger car, house, boat etc. And then there is constant, almost child like, sense of humour as they converse with one and all.

Recalling the Revolution at Vizille

On Wednesday we visited the Chateau de Vizille which played a notable part in the French Revolution. We checked out the museum of the Revolution (interesting) before driving deep into the Alpes past l’Alpe D’Huez and into Briancon; one remote part of this great geographical wonderland. A revolution to get rid of the ruling classes seems not such a bad idea at times. From our distant European viewpoint I could support rolling out the guillotine for most Australian liberals except hey, they seem to be doing such a good job on themselves at the moment. Save from the factor that they are using my taxes so poorly.

A day testing GPS in the hills

From St Remy we moved on through Gordes and Rouissillon to our next stop near Apt. Rouissillon was by far the most interesting spot; great little galleries on winding medieval streets and an active central square with mainly French day trippers enjoying their Sunday. The next day we wandered through the small village of Saignon before reluctantly heading north towards our next planned stop somewhere around Grenoble. Our GPS began to regularly fail when we were deep in the gorges and we missed a road deviation so we visited Pont en Royans twice in a couple of hours looping through it at various levels before arriving in our selected logis in the almost hidden valley of Lans en Vecors.

Last picture before she fell from hiding

Two things then happened; first one of the bulls decided being fenced in by about 6 horses whilst being harried by young men as they all raced along the street needed some variation and second several spectators, mainly men suddenly decided to join Yvonne in the planter box. Before this happened and the bull was on the other side of the street looking for victims, Yvonne took this picture. And after being dislodged from her perch, damaging her camera and her pride, she had suddenly lost interest in hanging around. But we did, as there was no way out now unless we could outrun a few animals and people.

Bull fighting preliminaries-French style

However as we were strolling back to our car after a light breakfast on Sunday morning, we were intrigued to see that a few of the streets were being fenced off and some horses and riders were gathering in the streets. Signs nailed into trees talked of Toros and something about a giant paella in the main city square later in the day. Then the public loudspeaker system began to issue warnings in four languages and encouraging people to stay behind recently erected barriers. Yvonne said that we must hang around to see what this was all about. First a group of horse riders cantered their horses up and down the rather short run of about 200 metres; quite elegant it seemed.

As Randall continued reading L’Equipe and the details of all of the weekend rugby games, Yvonne decided to be safe by standing on the top of a nearby planter box and using a street light pole for added support. We were very strategically placed on a bend in the street and able to see both the beginning and the end of what was about to happen; a French version of the running of the bulls.

Where are you now Vincent

I am sitting in our small hotel at Lans en Vecors in the mountains outside of Grenoble. The sun has begun it’s march down the hills in the valley opposite the hotel and it will be another good day for a spot of discovery. But, without getting too far ahead of myself, perhaps we need to bring you up to date with our current research.

On Saturday, our voyage of artistic discovery took us to St Remy de Provence, not too far south of Avignon and a town where Van Gough, an inspiration for Yvonne, did a spot of painting some time back. After settling into our Logis de France accommodation, we went looking for evidence of the Master, but despite looking in all the many attractive galleries in the town, we could not find Vincent.