Now that you've heard Clair's tale of how we GOT to Laroque des Alberes, here is the rest of the story, in photos, about what a very nice time we had once we finally arrived. Click here.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
2010 Adventures - #3 Laroque des Alberes Part 1
Special from Clair - We’re back in town after a nice trip to the south. Here’s an update on how we got from Paris on Wednesday, July 14, to Perpignan, not far from the Mediterranean, and to our hosts’ home in Laroque des Alberes at the foot of the French-Spanish Pyrenees.
The distance from the Perpignan train station to the town of Argeles-Sur-Mer was about 30 or 40 km. From there it’s about 9 or 10 Km.- 5 ½ or 6 miles to Virginie’s home in Laroque des Alberes. We were met at the train station by Virginie. She was with her bike. I thought maybe her husband, Bernard, was in the car, maybe an SUV or a station wagon, etc, Well, no. In a few minutes it dawned on me & us that we were going to walk. Well, okay. Our luggage consisted of a backpack, my “Go Bag” which I carry over my shoulder wherever I go which normally contains a paperback, my French pocket dictionary, a ballpoint, some change, my wallet, sunglasses, some paper to write on, my journal, a metro pass, etc. Tiffany is carrying her dainty little pink backpack. So off we go.
It’s close to 1 o’clock when we start. It’s a warm day. The route is mostly gradually uphill. It’s 5 or 6 miles (9 or 10 kilmeters) and it comes to feel like 50 or 60 miles. We stopped along the way once to look at some cork trees. Tiffany’s blog will have a photo of that. We finally came to a town which Virginie said was just a couple of km. from her town and so we wended (wound?) our way off the road into a neighborhood which had a little outdoor café. We had a cold beer and got pumped up for the last short km. or so.
I wondered the entire way how Tiffany & Virginie could have come to this particular solution for getting from the station to their house. I found out the next day when Tiffany reconstructed their telephone conversation that had taken place when we were still in Paris and were making arrangements. After she walked me through their conversation, it came to sound plausible. Virginie and Bernard have not owned a car since she was about 25. So in the conversation they had between Paris and Laroque des Albere (2 or 3 conversations, actually) Virginie said she'd come and pick us up. Well, of course, that didn't mean by skateboard, roller skates, motor scooter or motorcycle. Of course, it meant by car. Maybe a Citroen, a Renault, a Mercedes or maybe we'd settle for a Smart Car. She was a high school teacher and now just retired and Bernard worked for a government water agency, I think, and retired about 5 years ago. They own their house in Paris and this 3 story house in Laroque des Albers. They don’t have any kids. So in their conversation, they were definitely talking past each other with their 2 separate mindsets (realities; Tiffany and I do that often so I can relate). Thank heavens the rest of the week had no whiff of the Bataan Death March.
Once arrived, we of course had to see the town, and go up, up, up to the old chateau and back. Virginie put on a very nice dinner later on that evening - sangria and hors d'oeuvres, tuna steak grilled right behind us on their terrace, a delicious zucchini loaf, 3 kinds of cheese for the 3rd (?) course and then apricots for dessert. A fine way to end our day-as exhausting as it was-having ridden almost 6 hours on the train, etc. I’m hoping our bed is comfortable. And then, at 11:00 after we finished up with our dinner, Virginia announced it was. time to go downtown (10 minutes away) to a dance. This was on July 14, Bastille Day, the French independence day. Okaaay. I can do it.
There were 50 -75 people there, some standing in front of the stage and some sitting in chairs further back. A really good band (from Spain-not too far away) & loud of course with 2 excellent female singers, 2 pretty and curvaceous gals bouncing around and coming and going with different costume changes for a total of 10 performers in the show. We danced a little-taking our lives in our hands on the rough dance “floor”. We finally left, getting home by 1:00. Most of the people remaining were 30 to 50 years our junior, I would imagine, and I’m not sure they’d walked 10 kilometers to get there. This e-mail may be feeling like the Bataan Death March to you so I’ll be signing off for now. I’ll try to finish the Laroque des Alberes story later.
Please forgive any grammar spellings. I’m wiped out.
The distance from the Perpignan train station to the town of Argeles-Sur-Mer was about 30 or 40 km. From there it’s about 9 or 10 Km.- 5 ½ or 6 miles to Virginie’s home in Laroque des Alberes. We were met at the train station by Virginie. She was with her bike. I thought maybe her husband, Bernard, was in the car, maybe an SUV or a station wagon, etc, Well, no. In a few minutes it dawned on me & us that we were going to walk. Well, okay. Our luggage consisted of a backpack, my “Go Bag” which I carry over my shoulder wherever I go which normally contains a paperback, my French pocket dictionary, a ballpoint, some change, my wallet, sunglasses, some paper to write on, my journal, a metro pass, etc. Tiffany is carrying her dainty little pink backpack. So off we go.
It’s close to 1 o’clock when we start. It’s a warm day. The route is mostly gradually uphill. It’s 5 or 6 miles (9 or 10 kilmeters) and it comes to feel like 50 or 60 miles. We stopped along the way once to look at some cork trees. Tiffany’s blog will have a photo of that. We finally came to a town which Virginie said was just a couple of km. from her town and so we wended (wound?) our way off the road into a neighborhood which had a little outdoor café. We had a cold beer and got pumped up for the last short km. or so.
I wondered the entire way how Tiffany & Virginie could have come to this particular solution for getting from the station to their house. I found out the next day when Tiffany reconstructed their telephone conversation that had taken place when we were still in Paris and were making arrangements. After she walked me through their conversation, it came to sound plausible. Virginie and Bernard have not owned a car since she was about 25. So in the conversation they had between Paris and Laroque des Albere (2 or 3 conversations, actually) Virginie said she'd come and pick us up. Well, of course, that didn't mean by skateboard, roller skates, motor scooter or motorcycle. Of course, it meant by car. Maybe a Citroen, a Renault, a Mercedes or maybe we'd settle for a Smart Car. She was a high school teacher and now just retired and Bernard worked for a government water agency, I think, and retired about 5 years ago. They own their house in Paris and this 3 story house in Laroque des Albers. They don’t have any kids. So in their conversation, they were definitely talking past each other with their 2 separate mindsets (realities; Tiffany and I do that often so I can relate). Thank heavens the rest of the week had no whiff of the Bataan Death March.
Once arrived, we of course had to see the town, and go up, up, up to the old chateau and back. Virginie put on a very nice dinner later on that evening - sangria and hors d'oeuvres, tuna steak grilled right behind us on their terrace, a delicious zucchini loaf, 3 kinds of cheese for the 3rd (?) course and then apricots for dessert. A fine way to end our day-as exhausting as it was-having ridden almost 6 hours on the train, etc. I’m hoping our bed is comfortable. And then, at 11:00 after we finished up with our dinner, Virginia announced it was. time to go downtown (10 minutes away) to a dance. This was on July 14, Bastille Day, the French independence day. Okaaay. I can do it.
There were 50 -75 people there, some standing in front of the stage and some sitting in chairs further back. A really good band (from Spain-not too far away) & loud of course with 2 excellent female singers, 2 pretty and curvaceous gals bouncing around and coming and going with different costume changes for a total of 10 performers in the show. We danced a little-taking our lives in our hands on the rough dance “floor”. We finally left, getting home by 1:00. Most of the people remaining were 30 to 50 years our junior, I would imagine, and I’m not sure they’d walked 10 kilometers to get there. This e-mail may be feeling like the Bataan Death March to you so I’ll be signing off for now. I’ll try to finish the Laroque des Alberes story later.
Please forgive any grammar spellings. I’m wiped out.
Monday, July 12, 2010
2010 Adventures - #2 Ile Saint Louis
We've settled into our studio apartment on the magical Ile Saint Louis, in the middle of the River Seine, in the middle of Paris.
Click here to open Album #2. You can also view Album #1, our Marseilles trip, by clicking on June over in the Blog Archive section to the right.
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