France Trip, Chapter 4
For those of you trying to keep track, we're now at Monday. Heh. I shouldn't tell you that, since I can see you starting to count chapters still to come! Maybe I'll have to streamline ... Well, we'll see. I meant to do that in the first place! LOL!
Leisurely morning, then off to St. Bertrand de Comminges. We took the same route we had walked the day before, and it amused us what a short drive that was!
If you're so inclined, and have the connection for it, here's a Google streetview showing some of the Roman ruins by the side of the road. Looking in the opposite direction, here's a google of the midieval cathedral on the hill,
that was made from the stones of the Roman amphitheater and other buildings below it, replacing the Roman fortress. Meanwhile, the villagers just keep living their village life over thousands of years, no matter who the new boss is.
Here's a picture looking down at the same area from the walls of the town above.
On the way up the hill ...
houses in the amphitheater.
looking up a the walled town.
Looking down at what remains of the amphitheater, with the houses nestled into it.
See the seating terraces?
Looking down from the walls:
A viewing platform:
H going to look into a walled garden:
The walled garden:
This is a stitched-together panorama taken in a high walled ... field? garden? ruined building? of the upper town.
Respect this picture! It took me forever to get it this good! :P
--
"I shall pass through this world but once. Any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any [fellow creature], let me do it now." ~Etienne de Grellet [and me]
Leisurely morning, then off to St. Bertrand de Comminges. We took the same route we had walked the day before, and it amused us what a short drive that was!
If you're so inclined, and have the connection for it, here's a Google streetview showing some of the Roman ruins by the side of the road. Looking in the opposite direction, here's a google of the midieval cathedral on the hill,
that was made from the stones of the Roman amphitheater and other buildings below it, replacing the Roman fortress. Meanwhile, the villagers just keep living their village life over thousands of years, no matter who the new boss is.
Here's a picture looking down at the same area from the walls of the town above.
On the way up the hill ...
houses in the amphitheater.
looking up a the walled town.
Looking down at what remains of the amphitheater, with the houses nestled into it.
See the seating terraces?
Looking down from the walls:
A viewing platform:
H going to look into a walled garden:
The walled garden:
This is a stitched-together panorama taken in a high walled ... field? garden? ruined building? of the upper town.
Respect this picture! It took me forever to get it this good! :P
People live in this high walled village. There are a few cafe's, at least one hotel, the cathedral with its many events, an associated bookstore/art gallery, a working blacksmith/forge.... We spent some time in the bookstore. I was trying to get a sense of the animal life of the area, and was enjoying trying to figure out some of the French descriptions. H found a map to replace the one Matt had loaned us, and which had gotten muddily squished when H fell on the muddy trail the day before. We walked through the art exhibit downstairs, and decided that the artist had cataracts, maybe. The work was all Very Highly Saturated, and very impressionistic. Hidious, actually, in a puzzling way. Why was this guy apparently so popular?
H was beginning to feel coldish or maybe allergies, so we worked our way back to the car and in search of a supermarket to do some shopping and find some allergy meds. We got a little lost, sort of, but did find a big Super U, which is a little like Fred Meyer's everything-in-one-place kind of store, and apparently a new concept to them. No pharmacy, though. We had fun wandering the aisles, puzzling over labels, noting differences in what was available. Like, ONE brand of peanut butter: Skippy's, and only in small plastic jars. Lots of canned beans or lentils with meats, like green lentils in duck oil. Big cans! 1/2 gallon size! Cheeses went on for miles, in two areas with a few outposts elsewhere. They had a good sized area of aliments de sante´ (health food), for which I was grateful. I got some canned pate´s that made my lunches a lot more interesting after that! Sadly, the produce was expensive and a little sad. People still rely on the local markets for their produce, we were told. We collected some goods (chocolate, bread, wine, vegan pate and mustard, this and that fruit and veg, I think).
We drove back to the gite with only one back track. H decided to drive around/through the village, which took us across a narrow bridge and past some locals who watched us with non-plussed expressions and gap-toothed anti-smiles. I was developing a hypothesis that the villagers at least had no desire to smile and wave at strangers, regardless of whether you smile at them. That's for the idle, tourists. Us, in that case. :)
By the time we got home and put away the groceries, had a little snack of bread and chocolate during a brief rain shower, it was a sunny, mildly warm 3:30 (or 15:30 as they say in Europe). We went out to lounge by the pool. Until it got too chilly or showery, I can't remember. Very quick changes!
I forgot to tell you that I had a mission on this trip, to collect smells for a friend who had lived for a time in France, and really missed the smells. I got a box of ziplock baggies, and was enjoying choosing things that smelled to bring to her. Not necessarily all "good" smells, but smells. I couldn't figure a safe way to bring her the smells of the butcher, fishmonger areas of the markets, but I did manage to collect a tuft of sheep's wool from a bush, various herbs, chocoloate, coffee, wine in a tiny bottle, olives... It was like collecting a smell poem she could write herself, like poetry magnets, but with smells. It was a fun way to go about looking/smelling things, with her in mind. I'll see her tomorrow. I hope the smells have survived! Some were totally illegal to bring through customs. Ack. I'm a smuggler!
Our plan for the next day is to go to Biarritz! Sounds so ritzy, eh?
~~~End Chapter 4
H was beginning to feel coldish or maybe allergies, so we worked our way back to the car and in search of a supermarket to do some shopping and find some allergy meds. We got a little lost, sort of, but did find a big Super U, which is a little like Fred Meyer's everything-in-one-place kind of store, and apparently a new concept to them. No pharmacy, though. We had fun wandering the aisles, puzzling over labels, noting differences in what was available. Like, ONE brand of peanut butter: Skippy's, and only in small plastic jars. Lots of canned beans or lentils with meats, like green lentils in duck oil. Big cans! 1/2 gallon size! Cheeses went on for miles, in two areas with a few outposts elsewhere. They had a good sized area of aliments de sante´ (health food), for which I was grateful. I got some canned pate´s that made my lunches a lot more interesting after that! Sadly, the produce was expensive and a little sad. People still rely on the local markets for their produce, we were told. We collected some goods (chocolate, bread, wine, vegan pate and mustard, this and that fruit and veg, I think).
We drove back to the gite with only one back track. H decided to drive around/through the village, which took us across a narrow bridge and past some locals who watched us with non-plussed expressions and gap-toothed anti-smiles. I was developing a hypothesis that the villagers at least had no desire to smile and wave at strangers, regardless of whether you smile at them. That's for the idle, tourists. Us, in that case. :)
By the time we got home and put away the groceries, had a little snack of bread and chocolate during a brief rain shower, it was a sunny, mildly warm 3:30 (or 15:30 as they say in Europe). We went out to lounge by the pool. Until it got too chilly or showery, I can't remember. Very quick changes!
I forgot to tell you that I had a mission on this trip, to collect smells for a friend who had lived for a time in France, and really missed the smells. I got a box of ziplock baggies, and was enjoying choosing things that smelled to bring to her. Not necessarily all "good" smells, but smells. I couldn't figure a safe way to bring her the smells of the butcher, fishmonger areas of the markets, but I did manage to collect a tuft of sheep's wool from a bush, various herbs, chocoloate, coffee, wine in a tiny bottle, olives... It was like collecting a smell poem she could write herself, like poetry magnets, but with smells. It was a fun way to go about looking/smelling things, with her in mind. I'll see her tomorrow. I hope the smells have survived! Some were totally illegal to bring through customs. Ack. I'm a smuggler!
Our plan for the next day is to go to Biarritz! Sounds so ritzy, eh?
~~~End Chapter 4
--
"I shall pass through this world but once. Any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any [fellow creature], let me do it now." ~Etienne de Grellet [and me]
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