That's all folks!

One final blog post from Disneyland...and then we'll be signing off. The Roussillon Adventure comes to a close today when we board our plane back to NZ. Have had 4 fun days here at Disneyland, doing all the Disney stuff. Kids have surprisingly proved to be adrenaline junkies with their favourites being the high speed stuff (Splash Mountain seems to have been the most popular of the highlights). We've had to carry Sarah and Amy home each night (after the obligatory Disney show/fireworks) - totally exhausted. Today, we're hiring a car and driving out to the beach for a few hours before making the journey to LAX.

The other night we canvassed their opinions on highlights of the whole 4 months - but that proved to be a hard ask. I think for Heather and I the highlights are less about the sights we saw and the places we visited; it was more about the experience we had living in Villelongue. Right from the start we wanted this trip to be about "living" somewhere rather than just "visiting" it and I think we largely achieved that. The last 5 weeks tripping around France, London and now LA have been great fun, but the highlight will always be the 3 months in our little cottage in our little French village of Villelongue.

And on that note I'll say au revoir for the final time. Thanks to those who have read, commented and emailed. Look forward to catching up with you all soon.

P.S Flickr all updated with photos.

Last days in London...and in Europe

On the 1st of April four months sounded like a long time...but now here we are, our last day in London, last day in Europe. Tonight we will be packing once again before leaving for LA tomorrow.

Yesterday we caught up with one of our old Upper Hutt college friends, Rick Brown, and his wife Helen (and young Harry), and rather unexpectedly, another member of the gang - the Stock family who are over here for a few weeks. Had a lovely brunch together out in the Kew area (followed by a swift half at the village green as above), before catching a boat down the Thames (something we’d never done) to Hampton Court.




Today it was a bit of trip down memory lane for Heather and I as we took the kids on the 14 Bus down Fulham Road and out to Putney Bridge to show them the flat that we lived in with our friends Heidi and Grant and some of the surrounding Fulham area - that's it in the photo on the right (not sure the kids were all that interested, but we enjoyed it). We then headed back into town down the Kings Road on the other bus we used to catch, the 22, before wrapping things up in Covent Garden (one of our favourite London spots).


To make it up to the kids for all of this reminiscing, we took them to the Rainforest Cafe for a final London treat!

Raining on our Parade

We don't have a lot of luck when it comes to weather and parades. Yesterday morning we headed to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard. Unlike Bastille Day, we did in fact see most of the formalities (guards in, guards out etc) which was nice. But then, almost as soon as the last red coated guard marched out of the Palace, it rained. And I mean it bucketed down. We hadn't seen so much rain since, well, since the last time we watched a parade in Paris!

It did fine up a bit in the afternoon however, so we ventured out again to look at the Westminster area (Big Ben, Number 10 etc) including of course Westminster Abbey. For some reason (divine intervention?) one of the Vergers took a shine to our kids and started chatting to us. Coincidentally he had lived in Auckland for a number of years. Having made that connection he took us behind the roped off area to show us where the Queen sits when she comes to the Abbey, and allowed the kids to sit in her seat (much to the jealousy of other onlookers), and also the seat of the NZ High Commissioner. Very much the highlight of the day. Sadly you can't take photos in the Abbey so none of this was captured on film.


Today we went up to Camden Market (which isn't that far from us) where the kids got to see some canal boats passing through the locks, and then onto Kensington Park where we checked out the Diana Memorial Playground. Only built in 2000 this is a very cool playarea all themed loosely around Peter Pan (big pirate ship, wig-wams etc). The kids had a great time, while we read the Daily Mail and Independent over a cup of tea.


Final visit for the day was to Knightsbridge and Harrods...to look, not to shop! (For just 2000 pounds we could have left the shop with the bear the kids are pictured with, but decided against it)

Loving London

We're loving being back in London - really glad we saved it until last. The kids are probably bored with our "when we were in London" stories...but too bad! Yesterday we did a bit of sightseeing - new and old. First off the "new" London Eye, courtesy of the Upper Hutt College gang who bought us tickets for our 40th. Thanks guys - was very cool. Then we wandered down the Southbank to the "old" Tower of London - where we did the Beefeater tour (always good fun) and saw the Crown Jewels (which was the highlight of the day for the kids).

Today we had a couple of London "cultural" experiences. Firstly, shopping on Oxford Street (you can see the results!) and secondly going to the Open Air theatre in Regents Park to see a production of "the Scottish play" (my favourite Shakespeare). It was an afternoon show and produced to appeal to kids, so lots of blood and guts (a bit of a splatter version actually, Peter Jackson style). The funniest part was when Macbeth had his head cut off...less so for the head cutting and more for the expression on Sarah's face (she was convinced it was real and was horrified!). She also seemed to think that they had stuck it back on since Macbeth recovered for the curtain call. Very funny!

And now to old London town!

Arrived in London yesterday afternoon...having carted our 6 heavy bags on both Paris and London metro's as well as Eurostar. Very sore shoulders! But great to be back here. Is all familiar to us... and quite nice to be speaking English again. Our apartment is just north of the Soho area in the centre of the West End, just near the BT Tower off Totenham Court Road for those who know London. Fair to say that it's a bit of a come down from our Paris accommodation...but we were buying on price and location so we were kind of prepared for that. Even so, it doesn't quite meet the description on the web!


For our last day in Paris we were very Parisian. Spent a good part of the day at the Jardins de Luxembourg, which are just fantastic for all the family. The kids hired some old fashioned wooden toy yachts which they sailed in the massive round pond in the centre of the park (very cool), then we lunched on one of the two small strips of grass where you can actually sit (see the sign above), which is very rare in Paris. We walked home down the Seine. It was probably the best weather day of our week in Paris (which had been a bit mixed) so was a great way to end our time in France.


We arrived in London on Matt's birthday which was of course sad but also kind of nice given that he had spent so much of his adult life here in London (about 9 years we think). We went to the Savoy to show the kids where he worked, but couldn't go in as its closed for renovations, and then ate at one his favourite haunts, the Haagen Dazs icecream restaurant in Leicester Square, before waddling home through Soho.

Doing the Paris sights

The last 3 days have gone by in a whirl of sight-seeing. We did the obligatory Louvre trip on Thursday. The problem with the Louvre is that, while being a fantastic art collection in a wonderful building, it's just too big and overwhelming (..and crowded). Given that half the people there only come to see the Mona Lisa, they'd probably be better to put the smiling lady in a separate building to reduce the crowds. Altogether more satisfying was our trip the next day to the Musee d'Orangerie, the highlight of which is two oval rooms in which hang Monet's 8 huge water lily canvasses (Monet himself designed the rooms to highlight the paintings). Having been to his garden and seen the lily's in their pond, it was brilliant to see the paintings. What I hadn't realised is how big they are.

We also ticked off two of the Paris must do's - a trip up the Eiffel Tower (right to the top this time, something we hadn't done before) and a visit to one of my favourite parts of Paris, the Montmatre area. Amy was particularly taken by all the artists sketching portraits - so much so that she has been sketching portraits of people ever since.


Today we headed out to Versailles, another thing that we hadn't done on our previous Paris trips. On Saturday's during summer all of the garden fountains are in action (accompanied by music) so we picked a good day for it (us and about a million other people). I'd always wanted to see the famous Hall of Mirrors and it lived up to expectations. That said, you can see why the peasants were so keen to rise up and crush the nobility back in 1789. A fair bit of opulent decadence on display in the palace!

Tomorrow is our final day in Paris so we're planning to take it pretty easy before packing up once again and catching the Eurostar Monday morning for the trip across to London. Hard to believe that after more than 3 1/2 mths we'll finally be leaving French soil.

Paris on Bastille Day

I can now say that I have stood on the Champs Elysees in Paris on Bastille Day, when the combined might of the French armed forces parade down the famous cobblestoned, tree lined boulevard. It would be nice to also be able to say that I have seen the combined might of the French armed forces parade down the famous cobblestoned, tree lined boulevard. But sadly, all I saw were the backs of the people in front of me, along with the occasional glimpse of a coloured soldier’s hat or raised gleaming sword. The kids saw a little more, perched as they were on our shoulders. We did manage to see the impressive air force formation fly past (since that was, needless to say, above us). But anything at ground level was obscured by the throngs. And then it rained. Any boy did it rain. We hadn’t seen much rain for several weeks. But Bastille Day morning in Paris made up for it. It bucketed down. This presented us with a dilemma. We could hold our ground and take advantage of the fact that some in front of us would seek shelter (allowing us to sneak forward), or we could high tail it back to the nearest Metro and escape back home. The first option would result in us getting soaked to the skin; the second might mean that we missed some of the spectacle. We gallantly chose the first option....but only for a short period of time (rain got the better of us). Then we gave up and trudged our way back through the puddles to the Metro.


Fortunately the weather improved later in the day so we made it across to the Champs de Mars in front of the Eiffel Tower (along with millions of others!) to watch the traditional fireworks display. With dusk not falling until 11pm (and hence the show not starting until then) it made for a late night out – in fact we didn’t make it back to the house until 1am (after spending more than an hour on the underground due to the crowds). Needless to say the kids were a bit jaded. But what a great thing to be able to say that we’ve sat in front of the Eiffel Tower watching the Bastille Day fireworks.


Yesterday we checked out one of my favourite parts of Paris, the Ile de Cite (which is really where Paris began) and the Ile St Louis. We toured Notra Dame and the streets of the old town, then took a boat ride down the Seine (something we’ve never done before) and saw many of the “highlights” before chilling out with an icecream in the Jardin de Luxembourg.

We've made it to Paris

Made it into Paris today...after a bitter experience with Paris traffic. Last 10km took us nearly an hour. But we're here at last, and have said goodbye to the car which has served us so well (we travelled nearly 9000k in the 3 1/2 mths). From now on it's walking and the underground (I suspect more of the latter given the kid's stamina in the heat!).


Yesterday we went to Rouen, visiting the cathedral that Monet painted and checking out the place where Joan of Arc was burnt at the stake. Walking around Rouen is a bit like walking through a medieval theme park - the houses are so perfect (thanks partly to a huge rebuilding/restoration effort after the war). Not that we did much walking. With Amy recovering from her illness we relented and did the incredibly tacky (but surprisingly informative) tourist train. So far no one else has caught "the bug" although we were all feeling a bit under the weather today (just tired I think as it has been full on since leaving Villelongue).


Here in Paris we are staying at the house of the French family who stayed at our place in Wgtn last year. It's a beautiful house split over 5 floors. But quite frankly after 16 days under canvas anything would seem nice! Not sure I could have done another night on the stretcher bed with the mice scurrying around and the guy snoring in the tent next door (not to mention the rooster who seemed compelled to crow at 5.30 each morning). Ahead of us is 7 days soaking up Paris. Very exciting to be back here again.

Normandy Part II

We have now traversed across Normandy to be near Rouen. En route to our final campground we stopped off at the D-Day beaches near Arromanches (where an artificial harbour was created to land the heavy equipment – the remnants of which can still be seen in the photo above). Amazing to think that so many of the villages that we pass through in this area (and remark how lovely they are) were just piles of rubble 65 years ago.

Our campground is off the beaten track in the heart of rural Normandy, surrounded by lovely medieval villages (many of the buildings being in what we would call Tudor style).


Today we travelled to Giverny to see Monet’s house and garden. Caitlin studied Monet at school so it was a bit of a pilgrimage. The garden, which inspired so many of Monet’s famous works (such as the lily series), is very beautiful (as indeed is the whole of Giverny). The gloss was however taken off somewhat by Amy throwing up in the car (just a few km’s short of our destination). To her credit, she got most of it on the car seat and floor rather than on herself, but it wasn’t very pleasant (especially with temperatures in the low 30's...so the smell seemed to intensify as the day wore on). Initially we thought it was just car sickness, but a later vomiting episode (in Monet’s Garden no less!) suggests that it might be a bug. Hopefully she’ll keep that one to herself! Time will tell.

Now in Normandy

Travelled from Loire to Normandy, via Mont St Michel – another repeat visit for us but it was on the way to the campground so made a great stop over. It’s supposedly the second most visited place in France (second only to Paris)...and there were certainly plenty of people here. I guess we’re coming into the peak holiday season now. While we’d been there before I’d forgotten how impressive it is – a massive church perched on a rock outcrop that at high tide is surrounded by the sea (although not completely now thanks to the causeway which links it to the mainland).


Today we visited Bayeaux to see the famous 1000 year old tapestry depicting William’s battle over Harold at Hastings. Hard to believe that at one point in its history it was used as a cover on a cart that was transporting stuff to Paris! We then took the kids to the largest of the Commonwealth D-Day cemeteries. Unlike the American’s, who buried most of their dead in the one cemetery, the Brits buried them near where they fell. Also unlike the Americans, the Commonwealth cemetery includes Germans (who, it’s easy to forget, actually suffered far greater casualties during the D-Day battles then the combined Allied forces – over 200,000 died in fact). There are 4000 odd graves at Bayeaux and its hard not to be moved by the sight of all the marble gravestones lined with military precision. What’s most poignant of course are the ages – some as young as 16 and 17. I’m not sure the kids totally appreciated what it was all about, but I feel better for at least trying to make them understand!

Loire Towns

Visited two of The Loire’s towns over the last two days – Amboise and Blois. Both have the obligatory chateau – although we decided to just admire them from the outside (a bit of chateau overload). Instead, we visited the former home of Leonardo de Vinci in Amboise, where he spent the last 3 years of his life (during which time he left his influence on many local chateau’s). His former home has been turned into a museum and park featuring many of his inventions reproduced both as working models and life size representations which you can have a play with (including his helicopter, tank, plane, car, parachute...and so on). It was quite remarkable to see what he had come up with. His greatest impediment was that all his inventions required man power rather than having motive power (which was of course still to be invented some centuries later).


Then today we went to Blois – a city which we had visited last time we were here. On that occasion Colin had taken a photo of Heather and I which was one of my favourites from that trip. We searched desperately for the same spot so we could take a “14 years later” shot for a “then and now” comparison – but without the original photo for reference it was a bit of a lost cause. Every corner we turned seemed as if it may have been the spot...but we really had no idea. In desperation we took a couple of photos in different places (or in fact the kids did). The one above was from Caitlin (which wasn’t a bad effort as it happens). In any case, we had a great walk around the old town before returning to the camp for a lazy afternoon by the pool before we pack up again and head to Normandy tomorrow. The camp has worked out well – although we get visited nightly by mice who scurry around the tent (amazing how loud mice can sound on a canvas floor in the dead of the night). Last night there were joined by pigeons who landed on the roof...so it wasn’t the most restful of sleeps!

Return to The Loire

We visited the Loire in May 1996 when travelling with our friend Colin so it was familiar territory for us when arrived on Thursday. We’re even staying in a similar area, just outside of Blois near Chateau Chambord. So what does one do on their first full day in the Loire? Go to a Chateau of course. We chose Chateau Cheverny – which we had visited last time we were here. Built in the 1600’s, it’s notable for being the most magnificently furnished of the regions Chateau’s, and for being the hiding place of the Mona Lisa during WWII. But more than all that (much, much more in fact) it was the inspiration for Marlinspike, home of Captain Haddock in the Tintin stories (something which you are made very aware of thanks to all the Tintin stuff you can buy in the gift shop). You feel a bit like a big kid, but there is nothing cooler than walking up to the front door of the Chateau just as the Captain and Tintin did!


On our second day...yep, more Chateau action, this time the most famous (and largest) of them all, Chambord. We took in a "horse riding spectacular" first off (knights jousting, trick riding, that kind of thing...for the kids of course!) then did our best to get round as much of the Chateau as we could. But after several hours we were all a bit over it (despite not getting around the whole thing) and headed back to camp. Today was also our first day of inclement weather for many weeks. Massive thunder storm in the early hours of this morning (but the tent stayed dry luckily), and humid and overcast today (although no rain).

Dordogne Days Part 2: Sarlat and Cycling

Two more sweltering days in the Dordogne – followed by thunder storms overnight (actually quite nice as it makes the tent bearable). Our days are therefore structured around a morning/lunch activity, then back to the camp to sit in the pool for the afternoon. Yesterday we went to one of the most attractive of the Dordgone's many medieval towns, Sarlat la Caneda. Spent a lovely morning (with plenty of others!) wandering around the cobbled streets and snaking alleyways, admiring the honey coloured stone buildings (reminded us a bit of the stone in the Cotswolds).


Then today we hired some bikes and did a spot of cycling around the local area, from Chateau Castelnaud to Daglan. It was a round trip of a little less than 20k – a journey which took us about 3 ½ hrs (including a stop for lunch). So it was pretty leisurely stuff, but great fun – and just beautiful. We cycled down the back roads through fields of wheat, fruit trees...and other crops which we couldn’t identify, and probably saw only a dozen cars the whole time (which is just as well as we took up most of the road at times...including me towing Sarah). We only had one accident, when Caitlin ran into the back of Amy (who had stopped a bit abruptly). She chose to do this of course in the only town of note that we were riding through, so narrowly avoided being mashed by one of the few passing vehicles we encountered. But no major damage – just some skinned knees (although you would have thought she had broken both legs).

Tomorrow it’s off to the Loire Valley where we are staying near Chateau Chambord. Suspect we might have Chateau overload before too long!

Dordogne Days

After a big day of travel on Saturday we kept things pretty close to the campground on day 1 , with a visit to the Jardins de Marqueyssac and the local bastide town of Domme. The gardens, which are a national historical monument, are part of a private estate that dates back to the 17th century. They sit nearly 200m above The Dordogne River, providing spectacular panoramic views of the river valley (including other Chateaux). The gardens, and the Chateau they are associated with, fell into disrepair in the second half of the 20th century, and were only restored and reopened to the public in 1997. Our only disappointment is that we went to the gardens with a fully laden picnic (including obligatory baguettes hanging out of our bags) only to be told that we couldn’t eat in the gardens! After lunch (eaten in the picnic area outside the gardens) we headed to the bastide (or fortified) town of Domme. Set on a promontory high above the Dordogne it retains most of its 13th century ramparts and is certainly very pretty...as is everything around here (it seemed to be the word of the day; “pretty village”, “pretty river”, “pretty road”). It’s quite a change from the Mediterranean/Catalan (and vineyard) scenery we’ve had for the last 3 months. Much greener, more rural and, in some ways, more typically classic French.

Day 2 we got even closer to The Dordgone with a canoe trip down the river – H in one with Amy and Sarah, and me in the other with Caitlin. Not sure who got the best of that arrangement! Was a fantastic way to spend a morning, paddling down the slow moving river past high limestone cliffs, old riverside villages and under 3 stone bridges (one of which you can see in this photo).

Our first Eurocamp experience

Arrived at our first camp ground, Moulin de Paulhiac, just a few km north of the charming Dordogne village of Daglan. We’re staying with Eurocamp – which basically means the tent is all set up for us, including a couple of bedrooms with camp stretchers, and a kitchen with fridge, gas cooker, cupboards and all the pots, pans, utensils etc we could need. Back home we’d probably scoff and call it Camping for Lazy People! But given that packing our tent wasn’t an option, it’s ideal for us. Most importantly the campground has a pool – especially important today with the temperature today soaring to 36 degrees!

Magnificent Millau

We decided to take the long route to the Dordogne – via the famous Millau Viaduct. It added a couple of hours to the trip but was well worth it. Designed by Norman Foster and opened at the end of 2004, it is the world’s highest multi-stayed viaduct (whatever that means) at 343 metres. For those interested in details, it has a total length of 2.46km, has a deck area of 65,000m2 and took 3 years to build at a cost of 400m Euro’s. All I know is that it is stunning to look at from every angle (...I wonder if it will still be standing in 2000 years from now, like the Pont du Gard?).

Last Day in Villelongue

Final full day in the village. Morning spent cleaning and packing, the afternoon spent at school for their end of year festival. Each of the kids classes did a performance (dance and singing), followed by a typical school fair (stalls, chicken wheel, cake stands etc) in the courtyard. Lots of goodbyes to school friends (and promises to keep in touch).

We finally trudged back up the hill (for the final time) after 6pm - very hot (in fact it was so hot today that we could barely sit outside). Pool put to good use throughout the day!

Tomorrow we head off for the final phase of our trip - 3 weeks of camping (Dordogne, Loire, Normandy), then a week in Paris, week in London and a few days in LA on the way home. Sad to leave Villelongue, but excited about the travel ahead.

12 weeks, 32 different vineyards

All local to our village. We had a policy of only drinking locally produced AOC Cotes du Roussillon wines - 68% of which are reds and 28% rose (so whites aren't big here!). To qualify as Cotes du Roussillon the reds are required to be no more than 60% Grenache, with the remainder a mix of others, often Syrah. Of course we only just scratched the surface - there are 200 wineries in the region. In all Languedoc–Roussillon is France's largest wine producer (producing 1/3 of France's wine output).

Sunsmart

Very hot week here in Villelongue this week - nice way to finish our time here. Today we headed back to Paulliles beach and spent the day there - all of us managing to have a dip in the Med (although in H's case it was rather brief!). We realised this evening at dinner (when the kids took their tops off as it was so hot eating outside) just how brown they had become; a nice set of tog strap marks. Caitlin and Amy in particular are looking forward to showing off their tans to their friends back home. Before anyone (our Mothers in particular) starts shaking their heads, the sun here is very different to home; you don't seem to burn much at all, even with very little sun screen.

Poi-e

We started our final week here in Villelongue by doing a presentation to each of the girls school classes on New Zealand (facts and figures, differences to France, that kind of thing). Or to be more accurate, Heather did the presentation (all in perfect French - very impressive) and I held up the props. My only other contribution was to perform the Haka - which was a bit of a highlight for the French kids (and a source of embarrasment for ours...although I did at least keep my shirt on unlike when I rehearsed it!) Heather also made some poi's (a dozen in fact) which went down a treat. That same day we had a couple of Caitlin's friends round and the poi's came out again (in this photo they are twirling them to the Patea Maori Clubs Poi-e.) So hopefully we've left a little bit of kiwi here in the village.

The final week

There are moments in your life which will stay with you for ever. Tonight was such a night. We hosted Alexandra, Patrick and family (Swiss/Belgians), Albane (Paris), and our neighbours from England to a dinner of tortillas and H's famous Pear Strudel. It wasn't the best weather we've had since being here; in fact it was blowing like a Wellington Northerly. But we still ate outside and enjoyed many glasses of wine. It didn't matter who we were or what we did for a job; it didn't even matter that we conversed in a mix of pigeon English and pigeon French. It was simply a great night of bonhomie that reaffirmed why we had taken the time out to do what we were doing. When we leave Villelongue in just 5 days it will be very sad. We will all leave behind many friends and many, many great memories.

On the wine trail

Headed out for a bit of wine tasting this morning at two of the local vineyards, both of which typify many in the vicinity of Villelongue: Domaine Sanac and Mas Rous – in the neighbouring villages of St Genis-de Fontaine and Montesquieu des Alberes respectively. Both are family run vineyards with long histories. Mas Rous was started by Michel Bizern in the 19th century who, because of his blond hair, came to be known as Miquelo Ros (Michel the Blond) and the house he built was El Mas del Ros (the home of the blond one, in Catalan); hence Mas Rous (in French). The winery is now run by Michel Bizern’s great grandson. Domaine Sanac has an even longer history, the family Sanac having grown grapes in the region since the 17th century. We purchased a few bottles of Cotes de Roussillon from each – and ended up drinking one this evening as we recovered from having a couple of the kids friends over after school (plus 16 month old Yannac who Heather was looking after all afternoon for her friend Alexandra). We’ll be drinking a few bottles more this Sunday evening as we have a few friends over (adults and kids this time) for our farewell dinner.

A new beach find

Who said you can’t find a deserted beach in the South of France in the middle of June?!! On the advice of some of the locals we headed today to Paulilles (about 25mins drive from Villelongue, situated between Port Vendres and Banyuls sur Mer), where there is a lovely little beach situated (rather oddly) on the site of one of Alfred Nobel’s old Dynamite factory’s. It’s now a park and marine reserve, so the kids enjoyed checking out some of the fish who were swimming close to shore. Best thing was that there was only a handful of people there, as opposed to the main beaches closer to Argeles which are now filling up with the summer tourist deluge.

Return to Barcelona

We last visited Barcelona (sans Children) in 1997 and loved it. So with the Catalan capital only being 1 3/4 hrs drive from Villelongue we booked it in for a 3 day weekend - hoping it would be just as good the second time. And it was! We rented a little apartment smack in the middle of the gothic old town (which was great...except that it was very noisy; we had a rock band playing outside our window until after 1am. Added to that H and I were sleeping on the fold out bed in the lounge; so, in summary, not much sleep). We did all the usual Barcelona things - lots of Gaudi, lots of parks, lots of walking. We did the tourist bus on the first day to give the kids a good feel for the city (and reacquaint ourselves), and on day 2 did Gaudi's Parc Guell in the morning and met up with some old Playcentre friends (Michal, Xander and their 3 boys) for lunch in the afternoon (ie 2.30pm...Spanish lunchtime!). We then took the amazing red gondola ride across the harbour and had a late dinner (well, late for the Walker kids, 8.30pm kick off) on the famous La Rambla strip (Tapas of course). Tomorrow we will be doing a little more sightseeing before heading back to start our final two weeks in Villelongue. All in all a great weekend; wished we had more time to spend here. Lots of photo's on Flickr.

Conquering Madeloc

One of our aims before we left Villelongue was to walk to the Tower of Madeloc, a 13th century watch tower which sits 650 odd metres above Collioure and Port Vendres. We had attempted the supposed 2hr walk with the kids some weeks ago, but in the allotted time we had not even got close to the summit. We had a suspicion that we may have taken the wrong path! So, sans children, we gave it another shot on Friday. We departed from the same point...and confronted the same problem. We were doing a good job of circumnavigating the Tower, but not actually getting to it. So, with the spirit of the explorer coursing through our veins, we dispensed with the guidebook and took any trails that led up - eventually getting to the summit. From this vantage point we were able to determine our mistake; we had started from the wrong point on both occasions (something which, to be fair, H had believed was the case - but I had overruled). Still, it was good to tick this one off.

The local wildlife

Seen crossing the road outside our cottage this morning (in fact we almost ran over it in the car). We weren’t quite quick enough to get its head in the photo (it clearly had stage fright when H pulled the camera out). Suffice to say we won’t be walking around in any long grass with bare feet!

Wining and dining on the cheap

Generally speaking France is quite expensive. The guide books always say that if you’re going out for a cafe or restaurant meal the most economical option is one of the set menu’s. We can confirm this after our lunch at Al Duende, a little cafe in Ceret that we stumbled upon in the back streets of the old village. For 12.50 Euro (about $NZ 23) we signed up to the 3 course Menu du Midi – a little unsure as to what we were about to receive. It ended up being a salmon salad followed by a protein (and cholesterol) heavy main of sausage, steak and bacon (with lashings of roast potato, no doubt generously aided in their cooking with plenty of duck fat), and finishing with (what we think) was a kind of soft cheese with raspberry coulis (all washed down with a ½ litre of Rose). Bottom line is that for $23 each it was a generously portioned (even over portioned!), very tasty meal. Backing us up in our choice was the fact that everyone else in the restaurant (including the locals) ordered exactly the same thing. The only problem was that we were so stuffed that we had to discard our plan of visiting some vineyards in the afternoon.


Speaking of which, as I’ve already observed, wine is very cheap. Here’s an example of the way the locals buy it – by the litre (in the way that we might buy beer by the fill your own flagon). Cheapest we’ve seen is 1.30 Euro a litre (...I just can’t bring myself to take my empty Sprite bottle down to the local grocers to give a try). In Ceret we saw this sign at one of the local wine shops. I’m not sure that I could ever envisage buying 10litres of wine in one go (that’s about 13 bottles) – that’s assuming I had a vessel which could hold 10 litres - but at 27 Euro ($NZ50) that equates to about $NZ3.80 a bottle so is certainly worth consideration (and Mas Rous is a very nice drop from a vineyard close to our village).

Caitlin parle le Francais

School continues to go well for all the kids (school lunches aside - where we have good days and bad). They have all made friends and seem to communicate well enough (most of the time). There's still some frustration that they can't understand all that is being said - but they are doing their best. Over the next 3 weeks they have sports days to attend and a school festival (where they are dancing). Heather is also planning to go into their classes (Caitlin and Amy's at least) and do a presentation on New Zealand. And then that'll be it; the school adventure will be over.

Today, as an indication of how well Caitlin is getting on, she had to learn by heart and recite a French poem. She did very well - scoring 19.5 out of 20 (losing 1/2 a mark for forgetting to cite the author). Here's the video.

The beach is the place to be!

Three back to back VERY HOT days here in Roussillon. In fact last night it was still 30 degrees at 7pm! So today (Saturday), we headed to the beach - where it’s actually cooler thanks to the wind coming of the sea. Our beach of choice is Le Racou which is a little less touristy than the main beaches at Argeles.


It’s been a social couple of days; Thursday night we had a pre dinner drink with near neighbour Bruce (a retired policeman from England). “A 6pm aperitif” he said; we ended up leaving around 8...then had to think about dinner (by which time we weren’t much up to eating after several beers and wines). Then Friday, H and I went to her friend Alexandra’s 39th birthday. It was a dinner party – but had an 8pm kick off and we didn’t actually eat until after 10; normal practice here in France but tough on us kiwi’s. But it was a great do – we were outside until the early hours of the next morning, eating under the stars on a balmy, clear night, entertained by a duo of guitar playing Spaniards. What was most striking was the mix of nationalities present – Irish, English, Spanish, Swiss, German, Dutch (and French). And of course they all spoke multiple languages, with conversations starting in one and morphing seamlessly into another. H held her own – but it was nice to be sitting at a table with an English and Dutch couple (who spoke English well). Given we didn’t get home until 1am, and Caitlin had to be up at 6.30am to catch a bus to Toulouse for a school trip we were a little jaded today. That and probably one too many glasses of vin rouge!

The half way point

Half way through another week – and half way through our time here. Hard to believe that it’s been 2 months since we arrived. We’ve got little more than 3 weeks left here in Villelongue before we start 5 weeks of travelling that sees us finally arriving back in NZ at the end of July. The next 3 weeks are going to be pretty busy with a lot happening at school (sports days, trips and school festivals) as well as our last opportunities to trip around (including a 3 day visit to Barcelona).

With the kids off school today (Wednesday) we had a lazy morning then went to visit the Gorges of Fou near the village of Arles sur Tech. This is supposedly the narrowest gorge in the world, with the 200 metre high steep sided rock walls only a meter apart in some places (hence the attractive hard hats). Whether this is true or not, it is certainly spectacular. The gorge stretches for about 1800m, 1500m of which is walkable via a metal pathway suspended above the stream that has done all the gorging work over millions of years. Then it was back home for the mandatory swim; something which will be in high demand over the next few days with the temperatures set to remain in the high 20’s.

The other major event happening this week comes on Friday when we have been invited to Heather’s friend Alexandra’s 39th birthday – an event which will certainly put our French to the test. It’s an adults only event so the kids French will also be put to the test with the non English speaking Babysitter we’ve got coming round to look after them!

A double celebration

Today was Caitlin's 10th birthday party. For the first time ever she got to have a summer birthday - so of course we had to have it outside! She had 4 friends from school who got to experience some kiwi party games (like the one where you have to dress up to cut the chocolate bar with a knife and fork) as well as having a swim in the pool. And of course we had chocolate cake (Great Nana's recipe). We sang Happy Birthday in 4 languages - French first, then English, Spanish and Maori. The kids also got to go home with a party bag that included a NZ flag tatoo, and a tiki necklace.



It was also Mothers Day here in France today. So before Heather started slaving over the oven cooking up cake, pizza, choc-dipped strawberries and so on (in otherwords, during breakfast this morning!) she got some gifts from the kids - most of which had been made at school (supplemented by a few things from the village store).