At the beginning of August I flew from Lisbon to Marseille to meet up with a family I had met during the ski season to join them for their summer holidays in their villa in Provence. They have three lovely kids (Ellen, 10, Molly, 8 and Joe, 5) and the villa was amazing. It's in a little village called Maussane between Avignon and Nimes. Nobody spoke English in the village; which was perfect for practising my French, the boulangerie was amazing (as were their croissants!) and the boules were out every (hot) afternoon on the village boules courts. I have to say there was a lot of eating amazing French food and drinking amaing French wine going on over the last few weeks, so now I am seriously dieting!! I think I ate enough for a whole year in the last few weeks!!! But it was just so so so good!!! Every Wednesday there was a market in the neighbouring and bigger village of Saint Remy that had the most amazing foods in it; the vegetables and fruit; breads, cheeses; fish; but also things like paella and nougat and tarts of all different shapes and sizes that were all just to die for. It also had all the local lavender products and olive oil and sun flowers as well. So beautiful!
The region was also in full swing of its summer celebrations; so on the weekends there was always something interesting going on. There was a fair that came though; an artists market, traditional dancing and music one weekend, and a version of Pampolona's running of the bull. I didn't know Provence did 'bulls', but apparently it's traditional in the south of France too. In this version; the locals line the village main street, five or six men(and boys)on horses form a 'v' shape with a couple of angry bulls tucked in between them, herding them up and down the main street while the local adolescents jump on, poke, prod, push and shove these angry bulls, then parade their bleeding and bruised legs to their friends. It was interesting to watch for a while.
The following weekend, I thought, was more interesting. There was a huge fair and market; but all in 'olden-day' style. There were heaps of old childrens fair games from, I would guess; the 19th century, the locals were dressed in costume, there were horse-drawn carraiges and traditional dancing, and demonstrating traditional crafts, trades and professions. For example, there was a little school room set up with old french text books and uniforms and a nun with a 'flying nun' hat weilding a cane. There was a blacksmith and a woman with a spinning wheel, people with farm animals and people maknig soap from lavender and olve oil. The kids loved it.
Another Provincial hi-light was the local casle. I have seen a few castles now, and in truth, are getting a bit sick of them, but this one was worth seeing. It's actually a french village sitting on top of a hill inside the walls of an old castle. The village is very pretty with nice shops and a great view, and the casle itself has a working catapult that was demonstrated to a group of nervous tourists (just a big rubber ball at a big empty space!!).
So again it was hard to say goodbye to some great people. They dropped me off at Avignon last Wednesday and I spent a rainy day there. I plan to go back to Avignon; it looks fantastic but I didn't have a lot of time there; then caught the train up to Lyon. I plan to be here for three months if I can find some work. I'm studying french at a local college and staying with a lovely french couple. My head is pounding from concentrating on understanding so much french, much less speaking it, but I have improved a lot in just the week I've been here, so that's positive!
