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).

At the Ceret Cherry Festival there were...

Cherries. Bands. Cherries. Market, craft and food stalls. Cherries. Traditional dancers. Cherries. Merry go rounds. Cherries. Street cafes. Cherries. Cherry stoning competitions. Cherries. Cherry stone spitting competitions. And cherries. (Photo’s on Flickr)

P.S Heather tested her stone spitting on the way back to the car with some success (classy girl). Now regrets not entering! May have missed her true calling.

Model Parenting

Just to show that it’s not all fun and games here in France we still have to deal with day to day stuff, like getting our children to eat vegetables. Latest strategy with Sarah is to secretly add veges to her flour tortillas (which she thinks just contain mince) and blindfolding her while she eats it (so that she has no idea what she is eating). Successfully fed her carrot, tomato and red pepper via this method. The downside is the mess when, in her blindfolded state, she misses her mouth. But effective nonetheless.

Big weekend ahead

The locals are getting excited! Two big events this weekend - the annual Ceret Cherry Festival (including, amongst other things the hotly contested Stone Spitting Contest) and the final of the Top 14 national club rugby competition, featuring Perpignan USAP (the Club that Dan Cater famously played 4 games for, before getting injured). Of course in our household the big event will actually be on Sunday when we host some of Caitlin's new friends for her 10th birthday party. We're hoping for a continuation of the current fine hot weather so we can put the pool to good use (...and because none of them speak much English so pointing to the pool and making swimming actions will be an easy way out).

That's if we make it in one piece. It's been a bad week on the health front; both Caitlin and I have had cold's (exacerbated by Spring allergies), and Amy now seems to have caught this as well. And today, Heather fell down the stairs (before school, so consumption of wine can't be used an excuse), and I tripped while out running (I could claim that this was because of the rugged terrain in the hills, but I really just tripped). Anyway, no major damage. Just some cuts, bruises, aches and pains (...maybe we're feeling our age?).

One of the interesting "traditions" at the school seems to be that the birthday girl provides cake and other treats for her class mates on the actual day (which in Caitlin's case is Monday). As a result this morning we purchased commercial quantities of sugar and flour so that H can bake up a feast of choccy cake and fudge. So we can expect a late night Sunday!

Just like the Sevens

When we decided to head for Nimes this long weekend we had no idea that it was going to coincide with their Pentecost Festival (Feria de Pentecote) – which is a 5 day event centred mostly around bull-fighting. As a result the famed Arena (the best preserved Amphitheatre in the whole of the Roman Empire) wasn’t open to visit – since it was hosting the bull fighting events. Built in 100AD it could seat 24,000 people and even had a retractable roof (...we couldn’t even manage one of those for the Wellington Stadium!). Clever lads those Romans. Arena access aside, it was great to be there for the Feria. Reminded us of the Wellington Sevens. Lots of people dressed up, bands, street bars, people getting drunk...that kind of thing. And we did manage to get to see many of the wonderful Roman ruins before the heat got the better of all us, and we flagged it for a swim back at the camp ground.

Reflection for the day: what a mix of cultures Europe really is. Today we were in a French city, famed for its Roman architecture, in the middle of a festival that celebrates bull fighting where we lunched on Paella (both of which are of course Spanish!)

Paddling under the Pont

Visited the Pont du Gard Saturday as part of our 3 day Nimes tour. The Pont is the only remaining part (albeit the most impressive part) of the 50km aqueduct that provided water to the city of Nimes. Built by the Romans (of course) in 50AD, it was the highest of its kind in the Roman Empire and would have been equally impressive if just built yesterday. Clever lads those Romans. Over the 50km length it only falls on average 25cm each km; how they got that right 2000 years ago is beyond me. Interestingly, most of the rest of the aqueduct was pulled down over the years with the stone being recycled for use in churches and other buildings. Today it is a UNESCO world heritage site. We spent the afternoon there, picnicking near the Pont, visiting the associated museums and, as you can see, taking a dip in the river.

Gloriously hot day here in Roussillon today. 32 degrees this afternoon and not a breath of wind (pool temperature also up to 23 so getting quite pleasant...even had a dip myself (albeit after a run so needed to cool off rapidly)). Forecast for the weekend promises more of the same. So perhaps the weather is finally settling down to something approaching the norm. Given the weather, the kids dined on H's home made pizza out by the pool this evening. Perfect end to the perfect day.

Return to Collioure

This time "sans l'enfants"! A lovely few days of hot spring weather here this week (which looks set to continue - hurray!) so today H and I went back to Collioure, one of our favourite spots, to do some walking in the hills (photo's on Flickr), check out a local gallery and, for the first time since we arrived, have a meal together at a restaurant (God forbid...outrageous). We had a lovely lunch and bottle of Rose to wash it down.

Rest of the week has been largely uneventful with the usual school drop offs and pick ups, a few runs in the hills, and H's now regular Tuesday squash game, Wednesday night Gym and Monday night French class. Getting into a bit of routine; just like home! Yesterday (school day off) we had one of Amy's friends (and her younger brother who is in Sarah's class) around for a play and a swim which was nice (..although teaching two kids who speak no English how to play some card games was a bit tricky). School has generally been going well for the kids; but school lunches have caused some angst. In particular we're not at all sure that Sarah has been eating much at all (...although today was chips so that was OK - albeit with no sauce). Which means that by 4.30 we have 3 very tired (and hungry) kids on our hands. C'est la vie.

This Saturday morning we're off for another long weekend , this time 2 1/2 hrs north to the city of Nimes (and surrounding area). It's the Pentecost holiday, which in Nimes means a big festival of bull fighting which should be interesting!

Playcentre pays off

Heather and Caitlin display Playcentre painting skills on the cave painting wall at the Park of Prehistory near Foix. Nice to know that 8 years of child initiated play has paid off!

Freezing Foix

Just returned from a 3 day weekend away in the beautiful area around Foix, in the Ariege (which actually looks more like Austria than France). Our abiding memory of this trip will not be the spectacular limestone caves that we visited (including Labouiche which features the longest navigable underground river in Europe (the so called “Venice of the Ariege”) and Grotte de Niaux with its 14000 year old cave drawings), nor the excellent Prehistory Park (where the kids did their own version of cave painting), or the Forges de Pyrene (where the kids baked some artisan bread), nor the fairy tale like Chateau de Foix, or even the lovely rural Gite where we stayed. No, our abiding memory will be the mind numbing cold! We were warned to wrap up warmly for our cave visits (the temperature being a constant 13c even in mid summer); but the caves actually delivered some of the warmer moments on the trip, with the outside temperature struggling to reach double figures. To be fair, we were in the mountains, but it is supposed to be Spring. Some pics on Flickr for those interested.

The travelling lottery

Travel is a bit like a lottery. Yesterday we decided to try our luck at two nearby attractions, the Cork Museum (Musee du Liege) and Chappelle Saint Martin de Fenollar (an odd combo, but a ticket to one gave you entry to the other). Rationale for the Cork Museum is that there are lots of Cork Oak trees in the hills above the village, which make corks for the local vineyards (although not that often given they are only harvested every 15 years) so we thought it might be kind of interesting. Fair to say that the Cork Museum wasn't high on our list of must do things, but it was actually quite good. Even better was the Chappel which had some 900 year old Roman Fresco's (apparently regarded as some of the best in Roussillon and of such quality that they impressed the likes of Picasso who visited in 1910).

Less successful was today's decision to take a look at the traditional Catalan Sardane dancing in the village today. We thought we would be going to watch a performance, which in part it was. But it was really more about taking part, something we were less inclined to do (picture if you will a big hall with all the seats around the outside - a little like a school folk dance but with the average age 60+ and no other children present!). We stayed for the first few dances then politely made our exit leaving the enthusiastic locals to it.

Tomorrow we are off to Foix, about 3 hours west, for a couple of nights. On the agenda is checking out some of the limestone caves (complete with their cave drawings and underground waterways). Hopefully the weather will be a bit kinder to us than it has been the last week!

Dejeuner a l'ecole

A big day for the kids today: they stayed at school for their first school lunch (at the school canteen). Up until now they’ve been coming home for the 1 ½ hr lunch break then returning for the afternoon session. But today it was a full 9 to 4.30 schedule, including the school lunch. On the menu was lettuce and cheese salad, pork (which Amy thought was chicken) and rice (or possibly couscous – kids a little unsure), and some kind of apple dessert. All 3 seemed to get through it OK, although it would appear that Sarah only ate the rice (or possibly couscous), Caitlin declined the lettuce and cheese and no one liked the apple dessert. That aside, all declared it the highlight of the day, so that was a relief!

Pictured above is the school; three classes in the primary section – Caitlin’s is on the left hand side, Amy’s in the middle and the third is for the class age in between them. They all link up with the round stone building in the background which is the library, and on the far right is the hall/gym. On left (the kind of peachy coloured building – you can just see the edge of it) is Sarah’s maternal school, which consists of 2 classes.

A short school week this week as it is a public holiday Thursday (The Ascension), and school is also closed Friday - so kids only at School Monday and Tuesday. May has been "public holiday month" with May Day 1st May and VE Day 8th May (although both were on a Saturday this year), Ascension this Thursday and then Pentecost Monday on the 24th. So we’re planning a couple of 3 day weekends away.

Heather continues to make friends in the village; tomorrow she is off playing Squash with one, Wednesday night is Gym and Thursday morning we are hosting a couple of the mummies for coffee before we all head down to the Ascension festivities in the village (exactly what this consists of we are unsure but seems to involve some dancing; watching rather than participating (I hope)).

Driving in our trusty chariot

Drinking tea from a thermos sitting in the boot of the car! Kind of thing I remember my parents doing. Even admitting to having a thermos is slightly embarrassing. That aside, the car (and driving in particular) has gone pretty well. No major “wrong side of the road” incidents – just the usual roundabout circumnavigations (ie going round the round about several times because you either (a) missed the exit or (b) just couldn’t decide which exit to take), the occasional bout of cursing and cries of alarm when we stray to close to the ditches on the side of the road, and a couple of wing mirror incidents as we drive down the crazy narrow streets (so far we have managed to hit another car and a child...but both were just glancing blows so no major damage done!)

A bit of history, culture and more walking

With the kids at school H and I have a bit more time to do some things that are less kid friendly (or would just plain bore the kids!). Thursday we went for a slightly more energetic walk in the hills (climbing quite high), which all went well until the inevitable indecision over what path to take (at the furthest point of course); a critical decision given we had to get home to do the school pick up. Modesty prevents me from saying who made the right call, but suffice to say we got back OK.

Friday we headed to Elne (bishopric of Roussillon until the 19th C), about 20mins drive away, which has a famous Romanesque cathedral (11th C) and cloister (12th C). Also boasts a very good street market and art gallery which we checked out. Had a nice wander around including coffee with the locals.

Today, Saturday, we were back on the Dali trail – this time going to his home in the coastal Spanish town of Portlligat (about 2hrs drive if you take the scenic, crazy hairpinned hill route that we took on the way there; and 1hr 10min on the motorway back!). Dali and his missus, Gala, lived there for 50yrs gradually converting a series of waterside fisherman’s cottages into a labyrinth like home that has all the Dali quirks you’d expect (like mirrors positioned so you can see the sunrise from the bed, cages for crickets (which apparently Dali liked), a stuffed polar beer in the foyer, giant snail clock and an oval sitting room with stunning acoustics). The highlight was probably his studio (including two unfinished works which he was working on when Gala died, at which point he moved out) and the outside areas including a garden topped with egg forms (Dali was quite keen on eggs apparently) and a rather phallic swimming pool with a Pirelli tyre shrine. Weird...but all very cool. Pictures on Flickr.

Spring??

Last week we were basking in temperatures in the high 20's, with the kids swimming in the pool for relief. Yesterday we were hit with one of the coldest May days recorded in the last 50 years for this region - it was only 6 degrees at 3pm! Today was sunnier - but still pretty cold. The hills above the village got a good dusting of snow, including Mt Canigou (pictured) which last week had almost no snow left on it at all. All the locals are shaking their heads (that global warming ay - mon dieu!). Wednesday today so the kids were off school (which I'm really liking - breaks the week up nicely). We went to a local artisan glass blowing place and watched them in action. Very interesting (except we had our hearts in our mouths as the kids danced around all the glass in the shop).

Les Aigles de Valmy

Just down the road from us is Chateau Valmy – which is a vineyard and old chateau converted into a hotel (we visited the vineyard with Lance’s parents and bought some lovely wine...breaking our 4 to 6 Euro rule! You can see a picture of the Chateau on an earlier post). Part of the complex is also a Falcon and Eagle show (Les Aigles de Valmy). We went to the show Sunday and it was excellent. Caitlin got to experience a Falcon landing on her arm, and the girls also fed one of the large parrots. The whole show was in French (of course), but fortunately we had our translator (ie Heather) at hand to keep the rest of us informed. After a few weeks of beautifully hot weather we are now experiencing some unseasonal rain (even had some thunder storms this morning) which look set to continue most of the week. Sadly this means the kids inter school sports have been cancelled – including Amy’s inaugural game of rugby (for which she has been training hard with her Dad!)

May Day

May Day today here in France – one of the most important public holidays which doubles both as Labour Day, a celebration of spring time (originally worship of the Roman goddess of flowers, Flora) and fertility. In France, Lily of the Valley is the symbol of May Day. This derives from 1561, when King Charles IX of France received a lily of the valley as a lucky charm. He decided to offer a lily of the valley each year to the ladies of the court. At the beginning of the 20th century, it became custom on the 1st of May, to give a sprig of lily of the valley, a symbol of springtime. It is also traditional for the lady receiving the spray of lily of valley to give a kiss in return. Sadly, I didn’t know this at the time, otherwise I would have bought a bunch for Heather, rather than just the kids!

Heathers starts school in Ceret

It's not just the kids at school! Heather has also signed up for some French conversation classes (Mondays and Friday 5 - 7). The nice thing is that it is held in a very old famous cafe in Ceret (as seen in the photo above), which is an equally famous village about 20mins drive away. So a pretty cool spot to enhance her already very good French. Ceret is one of our favourite towns. It is well known for its Saturday market, its Cherry Festival (its a centre of Cherry growing...the first crop each summer being sent to the French President), bull fighting and the Museum of Modern Art. Picasso spent many years in Ceret (amongst others) so it is a very classy, arty kind of place. We checked out the Museum yesterday; it was excellent. Included works from many named artists - including the likes of Matisse and (of course) Picasso, but also some more recent works.

Cycling the Villages

Now that the kids are at school, Heather and I have the chance to do some things which either (a) you can't do with the kids around and/or (b) the kids would find boring. One thing we haven't done together for ages is cycling (which we used to do quite a bit before kids!). The cottage has a couple of mountain bikes (which was an unexpected surprise) so a few days ago we headed out for the afternoon and visited a few of the local villages. Great way to see the countryside. Of course, we had decided to go "sans le carte" (without map) so we weren't entirely sure where we were at one point, and almost missed getting back into Villelongue to pick up the kids from school!