Montpellier

May 25, 2019 and we are off to Montpellier for our last night in France.  Since we didn’t have far to drive we decided to drive down to Arles to check out the old Roman Coliseum and Amphitheater, but when we got to town a bunch of the main roads were shut down for a huge market.  We managed to park the car and decided we would check out the market before looking for the attractions.  Well, holly market, it was huge, and covered about 15 blocks, with vendors selling everything from beds, bras, underwear, clothing, jewellery and pretty much anything else you can think of.  Then at the other end of the market was all the food, such as cheese, produce, meat, herbs, spices, paella, cooked meals and live chicks and duckling, again pretty much anything you can think of.  Susan wouldn’t let Ken buy any duckings even after promising to feed them and love them and call them George.

At the end of the market was a carousel for the kids to ride.  Once we had made our way though the market we looked for the attractions which we had intended to visit in the first place.  We never did find the attractions so we visited the local cemetery instead.

Well, Ken was getting a bit hangry and wanted a cold drink so we went over to a little store, like a 7-11 to get a drink.  Ken ended up also getting a couple of pre-made sandwiches, bacon and tomato.  So now remember there is a 15 block market with all kinds of produce, fruit and hot meals, but we buy a sandwich from a corner store.  Turns out the sandwich was totally gross and soggy, I tried to eat one half and couldn’t even manage that.  (Ken: seriously, Ive never seen her gag on food). After we walked away we kinda realized our mistake and I am sure at some point in the future it will provide a good laugh, we are such tourists!

Then we headed of to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer to see what was going on with the Gypsy Festival.  As we approached the beach area we realized that most of the roads were closed, every parking spot was filled and there were people everywhere!  We did a bit of a pass by and as we were leaving town found a parking lot with a few empty spots.  We parked and Susan decided she wanted to go for a bit of a walk and check out the beach.

The beach was beautiful and there were several large rock breakwaters that went out into the water.  There were lots of folks on the beach some with sweaters on and other with no tops and everything in between.  As I have said before Ken and I were melting in the heat and others seemed to find it cold.

From Wikipedia: Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer is the capital of the Camargue in the south of France. It is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department by the Mediterranean Sea. Its 2012 population was 2,495, though it can swell to 500,000 during the summer holidays.

The area is beautiful with white horses everywhere, flamingos and lots of farm land.  Along the roadway there are fruit stands, hotels and little places to stop for a bite to eat.  As we made our way to Montpellier I once again stopped so I could take a few pictures.  All over the south of France we have seen bright red poppies growing everywhere.  I even found one growing right out of the gravel at the side of the parking lot.

I then ran across the road to take a few pictures of the horses, most of the places rent out the horses and you see folks riding them all over the place.

Once again on the road we headed for the hotel in Montpellier, which Ken had booked so we were near the airport for our flight in the morning to London.  The hotel was very near a busy roundabout, which it seemed most folks honked as they entered, honked on their way around and honked on the way out! Yes, there was a lot of honking.  We had requested the quiet side of the hotel, so when we got into the room and I realized we were right next to the roundabout, I went down to the front desk.  We ended up moving across the hall, but I have to say I don’t think there is a quiet side.  All in all France was amazing and we had a great time.  Yes France has its moments and some of the basic stuff such as somewhere to plug your phone is can be a bit tough when your room only has one outlet, but the food can be amazing, the sights are fantastic and the people are great.

Off to London in the morning and yes I know the blog has been a bit behind, I will explain in the next post.

Camargue Natural Regional Park

May 24. 2019 we headed out at a reasonable hour, after eating both chocolate and regular croissants. We wanted to stop at Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert on our way to the Camargue area, which is where Saintes Maries del la Mer is located.  On the way to Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert Ken found a park which we used as a pit stop to stretch our legs and have a bit of a walk about.  The park is Le Pont du Diable (devils bridge) and it is basically a bridge over a gorge, associated with the devil.

From Wikipedia:

The Pont du Diable on the Hérault River is one of many bridges in France with this name (it means Devil’s bridge). Constructed by Benedictine monks in the first half of the 11th century, it provided a link between the abbey at Aniane and the Gellone Abbey at Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert. Though subsequently widened and raised several metres around 1770, it has retained its original shape. Vehicular traffic is now catered for by a newer bridge, from which splendid views may be had of the original bridge and an aqueduct that takes water to the vineyards of Saint-Jean-de-Fos.

I have to say one of the best little gems we have found on this trip was Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, the town was amazing.

Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert is one of the Plus Beaux Villages de France (“The most beautiful villages of France”), and the Abbey of Gellone, along with the nearby Pont du Diable were designated UNESCO World Heritages sites in 1999.^[2]

A part of the cloister of the monastery was moved to The Cloisters museum in New York City.^[3] A new sculpture museum, containing stone works from the abbey, was dedicated on June 26, 2009. In coordination with this event, a weekend of music and a colloquium was organized in large part by the Camerata Mediterranea.

If we had known about this gem before booking into Lamalou we would have spent the night in the area as we could have spent more time exploring the town.

In the short time we were there, we managed to have lunch, a ham and cheese sandwich (almost a whole loaf of bread) for Ken and an ice cream for Susan (Chocolate, coffee, chantilly cream, whipped cream, vanilla). We also got talked in to buying some cured sausage. It seems to be the norm, we always end up buying sausage. The sausage sellers are the best! This time we got Mushroom, Truffle and Original. Not my choice, the vendor said “you have to have these ones.” OK, C’est Bon. 10 euros please.  We also checked out the streets of the town and the cemetery.

Ken has helped out with the driving this trip which is really nice, cause I have to say some of the roadways are a bit on the “oh my god” side.

The roadway pictured above is 90km until you come to the bend then it is 70km, and if you are doing the speed limit or less you will be passed!

After leaving Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert we headed off for the next hotel stop which was Auberge des Plaines which was located inside the Camargue Natural Regional Park.  This area has a very noticeable Spanish influence to the point that our host at the hotel only spoke Spanish.  After some confusion and the help of another employee we got settled into our room, before heading off to look for flamingos. We decided to go down to Beach Piemanson which was about half hour away.  The car ride out there took us through salt beds and a protected nature reserve where we were able to see lots of flamingos.  Of course all the flamingos were a long way from shore as the area is very shallow and they seem to avoid getting too close to the roadways.

Dinner at the hotel was a bit of an oops. Ken said menu instead of a la carte. So we got whatever the daily menu was. It ended up being basic but delicious. A green salad with eggs, white asparagus, a main course of rotini with a delicious local sausage and a desert of creme anglais with a homemade marshmallow. Wine of course. After dinner, more wine, a cigar, then bed.  In the morning we head off to Montpellier for our last night in France before heading off to London to see Kyle.

 

Lamalou les Bains

May 23, 2019 started off early as I was awake at 6:30 am, and since Ken had consumed an entire bottle of wine the night before I figured I better let him sleep for a bit.  Once Ken was up and about we decided to get an early start and take a bit of a scenic route to Lamalou les Bains, partly to avoid the toll roads and we didn’t have far to go.  Jean-Luc helped us get the car out of the tiny garage and we were on our way.  The drive was very scenic with miles and miles of vineyards and very impressive wineries along the way.  Bright red poppies are scattered all over the place and all along the roadway massive tress lined one or both sides of the road creating a shaded “tunnel” you drove though.  Since the day was very hot, 27 C the shaded sections were very welcome.  What is truly amazing is the French are still wearing coats and sweaters in this weather, while Ken and I are melting and drinking gallons of water.  Since we constantly seem to need something cold to drink we stopped at a gas station to refill and to our surprise the gas station also had a grocer, butcher and fresh backed goods.  Drinks and croissants in hand  we resumed our journey.

For anyone that has read my posts from the last trip to France about driving in France I have to say there are just as many roundabouts, crazy signs, prioity sections and fast driving cars this time as last.  Also there is more traffic and tourists which just adds to the chaos,

Once we arrived in Lamalou les Bains, which by the way is known for its thermal healing baths, we realized there isn’t much else here to see or do.  There is a circus coming to town, but it doesn’t start until tomorrow evening and by then we will be off to the next pit stop.  The town has a few neat old buildings such as an old Casino a theatre as well as a church.

There were a few shops in town, a local butcher and a bakery.  The bakery has a bread vending machine out front so even it the store is closed you can still get a baguette!

Our hotel is basic, but in an old building which is pretty impressive and the rooms have fairly modern facilities, such as updated bathrooms and the rooms are clean.

Lamalou-les-Bains is located 53½ miles west of Montpellier in the Orb valley of the southern Cévennes. The village lies at an altitude of 200 metres and offers commanding views of the rivers, lakes and mountains situated in Haut Languedoc.

The town is in the Herault, at the confluence of Bitoulet and Orb, Lamalou-les-Bains is also a popular spa and operated since the thirteenth century. Unlike most of its counterparts, it is not of Roman origin, and the appearance of its thermal springs puncture mining galleries in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

The waters, which are both hot and cold, are used in cases of rheumatism, sciatica, locomotor ataxia and nervous maladies.

Basically it has a feeling of Lourdes where all those looking for the cure, to whatever ails them, come and pay big bucks to soak in the baths and get different treatments such as massage, mud baths, and water therapy.  The aim is more about medical treatment rather than spiritual healing of Lourdes.

We ended up eating lunch and dinner at the local restaurant/pub which served up pretty good food.  Lunch was a hamburger which was pretty good and for dinner we each ordered big salads as we seem to be missing greens of any kind over the last few days.  Of course we had to finish the meal with a scoop of ice cream which by the way is amazing!

When we went for dinner a guy was playing music and folks were dancing.  The funny thing was some of the songs he was singing in “English” which was fairly broken and mixed with some french.

In the morning we are off to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer to check out that area.  We do have a few things to check out on the way so we will let you know how it goes.

Carcassonne

May 22, 2019 we drove from Andorra to Carcassonne and I have to say the roads out of Andorra were as crazy at the roads into Andorra, but downhill which just meant everyone could go even faster!  Speed limits on the curves went down to 70, 90 in the strait aways. The views were amazing as we made our way down.

We spent the day in Carcassonne and sadly the walled city was a bit of a let down.  When you enter the walled city you are instantly hit with a ton of little ticky tacky shops and lots and lots of tourists even for this time of year.  Now don’t get me wrong the day in Carcassonne was amazing in other ways…we are in the south of France for Pete’s sake.  When we arrived in Carcassonne we found our B&B pretty easily and I managed to pull the car into a small parking area below the Fort.  Ken went over to get us checked in for the night, I stayed with the car so we wouldn’t get towed.  The owners of the B&B were amazing, first off the owner, Jean-Luc tells Ken to just park the car in his garage, so Ken yells at me to bring the car over.  Now let me explain that as easy as Ken yells bring the car over I am not totally sure at this point that he realizes that the street is ONE WAY and I would have to turn the wrong way to get to the garage.  So I get into the car and as I am getting ready to back up a city truck starts to move, so I wait to let them go by me, polite Canadian that I am.  I pull the car out of the parking spot start to drive out of the lot and realize the city guys put a post up in the middle of the roadway and I am stuck in the parking lot!  Jean-Luc comes over pulls the post out of my way and I am able to leave the lot, then Jean-Luc tells me to pull out onto the street, going the wrong way, then pull into a roadway with a big gate and Do Not Enter sign and then back across the one way street and into his tiny garage.  Sure NO PROBLEM!  LOL Ken and Jean-Luc stop the traffic so I can do all that and next thing you know I am squeezed into the tiny garage with the big car we had to take from the rental agency because we had to have a GPS! An inch to spare on each side of the mirror. Glad Jean-Luc had his garage doors widened recently.

We got our stuff out of the car and Jean-Luc showed us upstairs to our room which was very nice with a small outdoor patio, big airy room full of light and a great bathroom with a fantastic shower! When we asked about a Laundromat, which we knew was nearby Jean-Luc said oh just use our machines!  Total score I now have some clean clothes!  Even though B&B’s are not alway our first choice this place was great.  We did some wandering around the walled city and played the tourist for a bit, then that evening we went to dinner just down the road from the B&B.  We sat outdoors in a courtyard with large chestnut trees all around creating a canopy of shade and the grill was a large wood fire pit where the meat for our meals was cooked.  After dinner we took a look at the walled city all lit up for the night.

All in all a great day in Carcassonne!

Next stop Lamalou Les Bains.

Andorra

We left Lourdes about mid morning on the 20th of May to drive to Andorra.  The roads heading to Andorra were all switch backs through the mountains. Stopped for a pee break and found this cool old phone booth converted into a self serve library.

Andorra is a small country that sits along the French Spanish boarder and is Duty free, so needless to say a lot of Spanish and French shop here.  The town we are in which is the capital sits in a bit of a valley so we are surrounded by fairly high steep mountains and the main theme of the area is skiing in the winter.  There is a large shopping strip called the mile long shop and all your brand names are there.  Reminds me of the outlet malls we have where everyone is fighting over last years stock at reduced prices.  Here we found that the prices were not overly reduced on everything you just don’t pay the duty, but some stuff is cheaper then home, so you just have to know your prices.  The biggest discounts we found were on Tobacco and Liquor which makes sense since we pay so much duty on those items.

As dogs here are considered family you see lots around and the shopping mile is set up with poop bags and pee stations which give your dog a treat for using the “toilet”.

The hotel room is really nice, much nicer then what we had in Lourdes.  We have a king sized bed, huge nice bathroom with a big tub and the room itself is fairly large.

Ken even found he can wash his feet while sitting on the toilet.

We pretty much spent what was left of the first day in Andorra checking out the shopping mile ( it is amazing what you can buy here). Glass AK-47 full of vodka with a matching glass grenade anyone?

We stopped for a drink and Patatas Bravas (which are basically deep fried potatoes with sauce) which are very tasty.  We picked up some amazing cheese, meats, bread and fruit for dinner and just enjoyed! Ken wanted to buy a ham, but we didn’t think we could eat it all!

Today, May 21, 2019 we had a pretty lazy morning and then checked out the rest of the shopping mile.  Oh and a tidbit, that once again we didn’t seem to get is most stores close from about 1PM until 4PM.  The restaurants work opposite you can get lunch from 1 till about 3:30 and dinner at about 8 PM.  So we decided that we would have a nice lunch and then just eat up the remaining meat and cheese for dinner.  We ended up in the restaurant right here at the hotel and Wow what a great meal!  It was a 3 course meal with at least 5 choices each for appy, main and desert.  Ken had veal cheeks and I have lamb, Ken’s veal was so tender and tasted amazing.

Ken had a local beer he found which is pretty good and I had my usual Vodka and coke.  When the waiter brought the drinks over he had a small glass bottle of coke, a bottle of vodka with about 4 oz left in it and a glass with ice.  He poured the vodka, stopped half way, looked at what was left in the bottle and just poured the rest into my glass!  He then added a bit of coke, best part the vodka was $3 and the pop was $2.  After lunch we had a bit of a nap and then headed over to the spa for a soak and a massage.  The spa was amazing with several different tubs, one with crushed ice, one with grapefruit floating in it, saunas, outdoor heated pools, light shows and water sprays overall the place was huge!  In the morning we are off to Carcassonne France to check out the medieval Fort in the old city.  We will keep you posted.

IMP 2019 May 17-19

Well, we are almost at the end of the weekend in Lourdes and it has been a pretty amazing event.  Tonight we will finish off with dinner then an early night as the last couple of nights have been pretty late 2 AM Friday and around midnight on Saturday, so I am going to try to get a good nights sleep before we hit the road to Andorra in the morning.

Yesterday (Saturday May 18th) we explored the Chateau Fort de Lourdes which originated in the Roman times.

The Fort was besieged a number of times over the years and after the French Revolution was used as a jail.  It has been restored and set up as a museum since 1921 and offers amazing views over Lourdes as it sits up on a hill.

After a bit of a walk though town we had lunch at the hotel with the group.  Ken used the afternoon for a bit of nap and I went back down to the Sanctuary to watch the sporting event.  Each country competed in an obstacle course while pulling an “injured man” in a single wheeled cart.  Canada’s contribution to the course was a log sawing station.  After dinner we all went to the Sanctuary for a candle light mass and procession past the Grotto where Bernadette saw her visions of Virgin Mary.  Bernadette saw the Virgin Mary 18 different times over 5 months and it wasn’t until she told the story to Father Peyramale that she was believed.  Again the sight of all the Military Members and their families with candles moving along the walkway was amazing.

Today (Sunday May 19th) after breakfast we had some free time so Ken and I checked out a place just up the road called Petite Lourdes.  It was a miniature replica of Lourdes during the time Bernadette saw the Virgin Mary.

I know sounds a bit ticky tacky, but it was pretty cool and has all been built by the Grandfather (over a 55 year period) of the guy running the place.  There was a recorded walk though which gave a great deal of history and told the entire story of Bernadette as well as some of the history and stories from that time.  The owner said his Grandfather had done a lot of research and built everything to 1/20th scale, in a separate room he also had a full model of the Upper Basilica right down to the exact stained glass windows.  This was handmade from over 2 tons of plaster.

After lunch we marched down to the Sanctuary for the closing ceremony which was held in the underground Basilica.  I know it is confusing, heck I am here and I am still confused, it seems all the different gathering places are called Basilicas and there are many.  The Closing Ceremony was similar to the Opening Ceremony but had a much lighter upbeat vibe and wasn’t as crowded as the Opening one.  Bands from several countries marched in playing music and they were followed by the colour parties.  There was some signing, some prayers and at the end the candle which had been lit during the Opening Ceremony was extinguished.  All the Canadian members had a short meeting after the ceremony and then we all marched together back through the town to the hotel for the last time.

Once again I have to say, still no camera cord so a few pics from the cell phone, including Ken’s amazing view over Lourdes from the top of the fort.

OH My Lourdes!

Well, we made it though Friday and wow just wow so amazing to see so many countries come together and share the experience.  Started the day with breakfast then the entire Canadian group marched down to the Sanctuary for our welcome meeting. After the meeting we explored the Sanctuary, even managed to see a French Soldier with a Bald Eagle on his arm, Ken read that they train the birds to take out drones.  Yes, I took a picture, but no I didn’t remember to bring my camera cord so all pictures will have to be added later.  Yes, I have kicked myself several times as this now means I will not be able to download any pictures off the camera to make room for more. I have been working on a plan and I will see if I can find another canon user to borrow a cord.  Until then you will just have to use your imagination!  Of course it has done nothing but pour rain since we arrived so the pictures are not that impressive so your imagination may be a better route to go anyway.  The afternoon was pretty much free time so of course Ken used that time to have a nap and I used the time to wring out my pants and hang them to dry.  Remember it is pouring rain!  Dinner was interesting….or sad. What can I say usually the French are known for their great food, not so much in Lourdes.  I guess with the masses of folks in each hotel it is quantity over quality at this point.  Turns out over 40 nations are represented and the locals are saying that the IMP (international military pilgrimage) is one of the largest gatherings they see at one time.  Anyway after dinner at about 8 PM we all once again marched down to the Sanctuary for the opening ceremony, but this time every nation went down at the same time and we entered the underground Basilica which holds about 25,000 people and I think it was pretty much full tonight. Once we were all inside each nation marched in their colour party and a rather large candle was lit.  All in all pretty dang impressive to see.  Just seeing all the different uniforms and hearing the marching bands and songs as different countries move around the town kinda makes you stop and think…

PS OK a few photos from the cell phones just to keep you all happy.

So it Begins..

God love Ken and yes I do to, he is so good about letting me do my thing and make the plans which he happily follows along.  He needs to remember the years are catching up on me and maybe the mind isn’t as sharp as it used to be so when I am off in left field he needs to pull me back on track.  Turns out when Ken gave me the time for the airport, I thought he was giving me the time of our flight, nope he was telling me the time we needed to be at the airport.  So I added two hours and set up our ride.  We arrived at the airport no problem (thanks Mom and Dad) and did the self check in.  Well, since we are now pros at this travel stuff we figured we could just fly through the check in on the self serve station, heck we didn’t even check on our seat assignments.  Oh well so after breakfast at the Victoria airport we set off on the first leg of the trip.  Once in Vancouver we didn’t have a lot of time before they started boarding our flight to Paris.  Now remember how we didn’t even check our seats, turns out yes we were in the same row, but Ken was on one side of the aisle and I was on the other.  So I had a rather large man sharing part of my seat with me all the way to Paris which made it a bit tough to get any sleep.  I do have to give Air France a big thumbs up though free meals we got dinner and breakfast, free blanket, pillow and best of all free drinks?  After Paris we got on another flight to Bordeaux and picked up the rental car.  To tell the truth when we landed in Bordeaux I wasn’t even sure what city I was in, but all in all not a bad trip over.  We took our time driving from Bordeaux to Lourdes with a couple of stops along the way to nap and rest and get some food.  We arrived in Lourdes got checked in and had some dinner with the Canadian group.  After dinner we walked around town a bit and it is so amazing seeing all the different uniforms from all over the world.  Right now I am sitting in my room with the window wide open listing to the cheers and songs of all the different groups as everyone has a drink or two or… well you know, might be an interesting parade tomorrow.  For now I think we will just try to get a good nights sleep so we can enjoy all the events tomorrow and Sunday.

Let the New Adventure Begin

The new adventure begins in just a few days!  We fly out of Victoria on May 15, 2019 to France.  We will spend some time in France and then we will fly up to London UK to visit Kyle.  Kyle has been working in London since Sept 2018 so it will be great to see him and catch up.  We will try to keep you all informed as we make our way around France, but with any adventure you never know what is around the next corner.  Hey I should be pretty good at getting us around France by car, but this time we will have tolls to deal with and who even knows if the GPS is in English or French!  LOL

Sept 18, 2017

Well we didn’t have far to go today so we decided to take the longer coast route and just enjoy the rain, wind and ocean view.  As we headed out to the roadway we came across a set up on the side of the road.  It was so good even Ken who was driving decided he had to turn around and go back for a picture.  The set up as shown below…

had a recliner, TV, table, remote control, slippers, light, coffee, coke and I think even a pizza box.  Yes the chair was soaking wet and for the rest of the day I had to wear my wet jeans, but man it was so worth it.

Later along the way we saw farm houses along the coast, mountains and lava fields.

It was an easy drive for the last full day in the camper.  We had decided that we would drive ourselves to the hotel we had booked for the last night in Iceland and drop off all our stuff.  We were then going to return the camper to KuKu campers and then figure out a way back to the hotel.

We stopped for gas in a small town shortly before we got to the hotel and I ran in to use the bathroom.  There was a group of about 6 local guys sitting around drinking coffee and passing time.  Turns out they were very funny, the one guy I spoke to had been born and raised and still lived in this small fishing village.  His buddy tried to tell me he was a pilot for Icelandic air and he was going to be flying me home.  We chatted about life in Iceland and all in all they are a happy people with great food, low crime and a pretty good life.

Once we dropped our stuff off at the hotel we ran up to KuKu campers and returned the camper.  Turns out once we asked them about a ride back to the hotel they gave us back the keys and said to just leave the camper at the airport.  As the airport was very close to the hotel we took them up on their offer dropped the camper and just grabbed a cab from the airport to the hotel.

We treated ourselves to a great final meal in Iceland.  We had a couple of appetizers, Minke Whale and Baked Brie, Ken had salmon and Susan had a beef steak as our mains.  The meal was presented in a very beautiful way and the taste was amazing.

Back to the hotel for a good nights sleep in a real bed for the first time in several days.