Our Saturday morning was a little different this time around. Instead of doing the rounds of the market stalls then sitting down at Bar Pablo for a coffee, we rugged up in NZ gear, complete with our small Silver Fern flag and made our way to Cafe de France. It is the nearest thing to the local sports bar, and was featuring the All Blacks vs France on its big screen. We sat at one of the tables, but given it was 9:30am and market day, there wasn't a huge audience on deck to watch it.
However, we had a lot of fun. The first half was pretty close, with France having scored the first try, and the sides only separated by one point at halftime. However, the All Blacks then romped ahead, crossing the try line seven times in the second half. We were of course happy, but feeling a little embarrassed as time went by. The French guys around us stayed cheery and kept giving us the thumbs up in recognition of how well the ABs were playing. All the same, we slunk away as quietly as possible after the game finished. The two teams are set to meet again for each of the next two Saturdays, so we are not sure whether we might watch the next game at home, or possibly at Bar Pablo, where there will be a smaller audience.
Sunday was a hoot. After a quiet day we drove halfway out to the coast, to a small town only 20 minutes away. The couple from Luxembourg who are going to rent our apartment here for 4-5 months during winter had invited us to apero. They have recently installed themselves at the camping ground and were planning to live in their 10m (!) camper until they move into our place. The campground is only a few kilometres from where their house is being built.
They are an absolutely delightful couple and, as when they came to apero at our place a few weeks ago, we talked very companiably for three hours, before realising that it was starting to get dark and time to think about dinner. We had arrived when the temperature was around 30 degrees, a rarity for the current weather pattern. But, true to form, the clouds soon returned and it started to rain again. By 8pm it was cooler and wet. So much for sitting outside under the awning and having a cool refreshing drink. We had a quick look through their camper. It is definitely high spec, and very well made. We knew they had towed a car on a trailer behind the camper, all the way from Luxembourg, but didn't realise it was a rather nice Mercedes convertible. They have recently bought another car to use here in France and at some stage will drive the Mercedes back to Germany, where they live more of the time than Luxembourg. Needless to say, they travel around a lot. John and I find it really interesting listening to their views on all sorts of things, and getting insights into the French and German mentalities, e.g. how the Germans felt about themselves and their country after WWII. Likewise, they find our impressions of France, Europe and other places and things really interesting too. Daniele is French but worked most of her life in Austria and Serge is Luxembourgish (retired doctor) but worked in Germany.
We just picked at a few things for dinner when we got home and slept well, getting up the following morning for our usual walk/sprint session before breakfast. These sessions should be becoming easier as we get more under our belt, but somehow our legs aren't playing ball. Maybe we are too old for this game. I don't think so and we are determined to keep at it. We're feeling pretty fit and keen to continue with plenty of serious walking when we get the chance.
On Mondays many shops are closed in the towns and cities in France. The same is the case in Spain. Hence, our planned trip to get our haircuts over the border in La Jonquera was put off from Monday until Tuesday. We've done this trip a few times now. Hairdressers cost a lot in Ceret. For the same price, we can hop over the border, both get a haircut, have a three-course lunch and still have money over to pay for the car's diesel. We also usually call in at one of the huge supermarkets on the border and stock up on groceries. This is another big saving. It makes for a good day out, and this time around proved no exception. In fact, it was the best yet.
After the normal haircuts we went to a restaurant we'd been to before, and was highly ranked on Tripadvisor. We decided to order one menu de jour, plus an a la carte main dish. The waiter had brought out a magnificent slab of fresh tuna to show us, and the chief also came out to enthuse about it. Ok, we went with it, and it was indeed sublime. In fact, when a French couple sat down at the table next to us, we highly recommended the tuna to them. They both had it. We ended up chatting together for probably an hour, mostly in French, and, for the Frenchman, very animatedly. It was a whole lot of fun.
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| Massive tuna steaks, baked potato and charred peppers |
We got a whole load of recommendations for a visit to the Tarn area, as they lived near Albi. We also spent quite some time discussing wine. The Frenchman was adamant that you couldn't possibly have, for example, good sauvignon blanc or pinot noir outside the regions they came from originally, i.e. Burgundy and Bordeaux. I don't know where that leaves countries like Australia and New Zealand which never had grapes to start with! I understand that we can't do a proper Burgundy in New Zealand, but we can sure do a decent Pinot Noir. A lot of fun, and such a treat to be able to have serious discussions in another language.
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