Meeting the locals

One of the reasons we wanted to stay in the one village, rather than travelling around, was to meet the locals and intergrate into village life. In typical fashion, Heather has done this boots and all; she has made contact with the town hall, joined us up at the library, offered to volunteer in the local community groups and help out at the library, and has been to both gym and yoga classes at the village halls. On top of this, now the kids are at school she is meeting many of the local mothers before and after school for drop off and pick ups. I have taken a more relaxed approach to meeting the villagers. Yesterday, it looked like my approach may have paid dividends as two delightful young ladies (Helen and Esther to be exact) popped their heads over the fence to say "bonjour" (note that the picture displayed is indicative only...but not far off!). Heather was out, so I did my best to engage in conversation. It was all going very well (they spoke very good English thankfully) when they hit me with the line... "what part does God play in your life?". They pulled out Watchtower and pointed to the relevant parts! Jehova's Witnesses!! To be fair, for the first time ever, I didn't just shut the door in their faces and nodded politely as they pointed out some passages I might want to consider. Vive La France!

What a life

The last two days have been our hottest so far - temperatures in the high 20's with no wind (we can only imagine what it will be like in June/July!). Sun is certainly less harsh than NZ however; no one at school seems to bother with hats and we've had no problem with sunburn. The kids have been home from school for a swim at lunch time both days, and after school again today. So the pool is certainly proving a hit. I even managed a dip this afternoon.

Second day of school went well and the kids seem to be enjoying themselves and finding their feet. So that's a big relief. Communicating with their new buddies gives them a real incentive to learn French; won't be long before they're doing better than their Dad!

A l'ecole!

A big day in all our French lives today – the kids started at school (photo is of Heather and kids walking down the lane from our house this morning). I’m not sure who was most nervous; them or us. Starting a new school is a big thing at any time; but doing it in a new country, where you don’t speak the language is all the more daunting. School here starts at 9 and ends at 4.30, but with an hour and half for lunch (12 – 1.30), during which time most of the kids stay at school and eat at the cafeteria. The kids also have Wednesday off (this is the day when most sporting and extracurricular activities are held). Fortunatley (for all of us!), it all seemed to go reasonably well. When we picked the kids up at 4.30 they were exhausted but had smiles on their faces. They all commented how the other kids gathered around them and asked lots of questions (most of which they couldn’t understand). But they seemed to meet a few new friends (although Sarah said “don’t ask me their names. I don’t know!). Some first impressions:

Caitlin: “I hope they don’t all gather round me all the time! It was a bit annoying” (Caitlin enjoyed the maths but found the grammar a bit hard...which is hardly surprising! She sat next to a girl who spoke some English so that was nice)

Amy: “I met lots of friends and played rugby! And the boys chased us round the playground“. (In Amy’s class was a girl who we had met over the weekend who looked after her during the day, and she came out at the end of the day holding the hand of another girl, so she is using her social skills well).

Sarah: “It was different to home because they didn’t even do the roll!”. (Sarah seemed to cope well and was happy doing lots of pictures)

Great to get that first day behind us. We can now settle into a daily routine which makes us feel less like “tourists” and more like we are living here.

Anzac Day

In Roussillon fields the poppies grow
Between the grape vines, row on row,
Reminding us of Anzac Day
Back in New Zealand, far away
Perhaps it means more , since poppies grow
In Roussillon fields.

(With sincere apologies to John McCrae – author of the original!)

What was Dali on?

Today we visited the famed Dali Theatre museum in Figures Spain (one of the most visited places in Spain). One of the cool things about being here is that Spain is only 15min drive away. It’s kind of cool saying that we’re going to Spain for the day! The Dali Museum was fantastic (...albeit a bit weird and disturbing in parts!). It was built by Dali himself and contains most of his most famous works. It is part art gallery, part museum and part fantasy park. The family all agreed that the highlights were an abstract painting of a nude lady that, from a certain angle, reveals itself to be Abe Lincoln; a mechanical artwork of Jesus on the cross; a stunning piece of jewellery that features a beating heart (still not sure how that works!) and a room painted kind of like the Sistine Chapel. Some photos on Flickr – but not sure that will really capture it.

The Train Jaune

One of the “must do” things in Roussillon is the Train Jaune – the yellow train. Nicknamed “the canary” this train runs from Villefranche de Conflent (a spectacular fortified village and UNESCO World Heritage site) at around 500m, through the Pyrenees up to a height of around 1500m. On the way it passes through 17 tunnels (during which tradition dictates that the passengers whoop and holler like crazy people), and numerous bridges including the 156m long, and 80m high Pont Gisclard. We drove just over an hour to Villefranche on Tuesday with Lance's parents, planning to take the train - only to find that the railways were on strike (...how very French!). However, we had a lovely day exploring Villefranche (which certainly is worth the visit) and surrounding mountain villages. We tried for the train again on Wednesday and had more luck. A great day out as we rode from Villefranche to Mt Louis and back.

Swimming in the Med

The kid’s first swim in the Mediterranean (...well, paddle to be accurate. It was pretty cold!). The beach is about 15mins drive from our cottage and is sure to be a frequent weekend visit once Summer rolls on. Which isn’t very far away. The weather this last week has been great!

Flats, old people and beaucoup markets

A busy few days here in France with a mix of adventures. The flat was on the car - we haven't had a flat tyre for years, but of course we had one here! Which would have been fine except we were missing the "all important tyre key" which unlocked the tyre nuts. So after floundering for some time we had to call in the local mechanic; who of course said we didn't need the so called "all important tyre key" and changed the tyre no problem (while the whole time shaking his head at the incompetence of the foreigners). The old people came in two forms - one older than the other! The oldest (450,000 yrs old to be exact) was Tautavel Man (discovered in the caves above Tautavel) who we visited on Thursday (well, we saw his bones at least), followed by a visit to the impressive Chateau Peyreperteuse. The second old people - but in much better shape - were Lance's parents who arrived to stay with us yesterday (Saturday) after their tour of Italy. We've had a couple of great days with them so far - including visiting two markets; the very pretty Ceret market (everything you can imagine) and our own Villelongue dels Monts "Vide Greniers" (literally "empty attic") where the locals basically do just that. Highlight for Amy was buying a pink handbag, which she hasn't taken off since. The weather has also come to the party with lovely spring weather. Today we returned to Collioure to show Mum and Dad around. Kids got into the spirit by joining in with some local folk dancing (some shots on Flickr).

Pyrenees Walk - Number 2

Headed back into the Pyrenees foothills today. Walked from the impressive Chateau de Valmy up to the very pretty Chapelle St Laurent, which is a 12th century romanesque church in the middle of no where. Quite why someone would build a church in such a remote place is unclear - although we did pass a number of old 'mas' en route, so perhaps it served as the parish church for them. It would certainly be an inspiring place to reflect on life! In any case, the kids did very well and we got back with no major scrapes, falls or soiled clothing!

Petit Dejeuner

The regular morning visit to the boulangerie; one of the highlights of every day. Lance pictured here with baguettes. Usual order: 5 croissants, 2 pain au chocolat and 2 baguettes. We've decided that pastries every day is a bit much (for Lance's waste line), so it's every 2nd day now! Tres bon.

A week of family sightseeing

Travelling with the family means mixing it up a bit on the sightseeing front. Tuesday we went to the famous fishing village of Collioure, home to the Fauvist artists like Matisse and Derain (read that in the guide book!), and then further down the Cote Vermeille to Banylus-sur-Mer (which is a few km this side of the Spanish border). As a total contrast, Thursday saw us visiting the African Safari Park just north of Perpignan. Fair to say that this wouldn’t have made the top list of things to do for H and I, but the kids enjoyed it (...except it was very cold!). I’d love to say that we had Lions jumping on the car, or that we had to stop to let an Elephant cross the road; but the closest we came to an animal encounter was some bird who found the car mirror intriguing and a couple of Ostriches doing the wild thing (... “Mum, why is that Ostrich sitting on the other one?”) . Then today, Saturday, we headed to Le Cite in Carcassonne –apparently one of the 3 most visited places in France (after Paris and Mont St Michel). It was very impressive; a true fairy tale castle. We had a great day exploring the ramparts of the walled city. Pictures on Flickr. Lesson for the day; make sure you pack toilet paper (...if our experience was anything to go buy the French public WC’s are sans paper much to the kids disgust!)

Randonnees in the Pyrenees

Had our first Pyrenees hike (or randonnee) today (Friday) – in the Alberes foothills behind Laroque (which is the village next to ours) – pictures on Flickr. Lunched beneath a 12th century tower and then made our way to a lovely waterfall and mountain river/pool/waterfall (nothing too adventurous for our first outing!). Beautiful weather and very pleasant all round; that is until we had an encounter with a dog (which caused the normal Amy panic).

Earlier in the day we took the kids to meet their teachers at the local school. They all seem very nice and welcoming. School starts on the 26th of April – so that’ll be a big day (for all of us). School hours are 9am – 4.30pm, but with lunch from 12 to 1.30. Lunch includes a meal in the school canteen...so that’ll be a challenge for our kids! There’s no school on Wednesday so that’ll be our family travel day.

The discerning wine buyer

Observation for the day...how cheap the wine is here!! There are literally dozens of options in the 2 to 4 Euro category (ie $4 - $8): I bought a can of Coke today which cost me 2 Euro! And for 2 Euro...they taste just fine. What's really cool is that we're trying to only buy wine from the local villages. The area is just covered with vineyards whereever you look. We drive past several on the way out of the village. Our first bottle was from a label just down the road at St Andre. Wine's a way of life here in France - and for this price it looks like it'll be part of ours as well!

Our Village

Villelongue dels Monts is our little village - you can read some more about it in the links on the left and check out some photos on our Flickr page (link also on left). It's situated right up against the Pyranees (in fact if you keep walking up our road you hit the mountain tracks). It's perhaps not the prettiest village in the area (although to be fair it has some tough competition), but it has lots of character and is very authentic. It's also very small! By the way, people have asked for our postal address so here it is: 19 Chemin del Vilar, F66740, Villelongue dels Monts, France.

The good news for today is that we have hopefully got the kids enrolled in the local school. We just need to meet the head teacher on Friday to talk things through and work out what classes the kids will be in. Suffice to say, getting the kids into school will be a good thing for both them...and us!

First Impressions

The good news is that our house does exist! It's pretty much as we imagined - very rustic and authentic, but nicely done up. It's spread over 3 floors with a bedroom on each floor (including Caitlin's little attic bedroom) - and some pretty steep staircases linking everything up. Here's a couple of shots showing the house from the road (which is up a hill from the village) and the view from Amy and Sarah's bedroom (which is quite stunning looking down to the valley and across to the Pyrenees).

We celebrated our first night here with a flash french dinner of poached eggs on toast - thanks to the shops being closed for Easter. Shopping so far has been a bit of a challenge actually. This morning Lance was sent to the local store for some washing powder and returned with some odd tissues that you put in the washing to (supposedly) stop colours from running! But he did buy some lovely pains aux chocolats and baguette from the boulangerie.

First impressions from the family:
Amy: "It feels like I'm living underground" (because the stone walls are so thick)
Sarah: "I like the chocolate chicken" (a gift from the owner for each of the kids - good to see France is making an impact!)
Caitlin: "The stairs to my room are steep but I like it" (which is true...they're more like a ladder)
Heather: "We're going to need a roster for dishwashing" (no dishwasher!)
Lance: "Who packed the gingernuts? No one!" (unbelievable).

En Route to Roussillon

Thank the Lord for airline entertainment systems! 33 hours from Wellington to Paris would have been disastrous without it. The kids did remarkably well all things considered. The only events of note were Amy throwing up on the floor of the plane toilet (but to her credit at least she (a) made it to the toilet and (b) didn't get any on her clothes!), and Caitlin sleep walking down the aisle determined to put her blanket away. That aside, we arrived in Paris in pretty good shape. The next morning we were on the TGV at 7am for the 6 hr journey to Perpignan. An accident on the line somewhere meant we missed our connection for the local train, but we still managed to only be 6mins late for our car pick up; not bad for a total combined door to door travelling time of 53hrs.

Getting into the "esprit"

The Walker girls getting into the spirit of the adventure. Amy very keen to take her beret to wear to the village school!

Countdown to Roussillon

The countdown is now well and truly on! In just a few weeks we will be arriving at our little cottage in Villelongue del Monts, just south of Perpignan, for the start of our French adventure. Of course, first we have to get there; via Akld, Hong Kong, Paris (where we overnight) and then TGV from Paris to Perpignan where we pick up our car for the short drive to "home". I haven't added up how much travelling time that all equates to - but it's over 48hrs!

With a bit of luck when we arrive our cottage will look something like this.