8 months

the yellow in this field is blinding

That's how long we have been here...8 months today.  We arrived in Paris October 1st with 2 bikes in their carrying cases (big rolling things), 2 dogs in their crates (remember one of our dogs is an 80 lb. golden retriever and his crate is huge) and 2 large bags.  Getting to the rental car was hell. 

It's now 8 months later and we haven't had a fire in 2 days and that was only in the evening when it was raining (which it has been for a week!), we have had 2 visit from family and friends, we went to Belgium, Bordeaux and Beziers (didn't realize all the b's).  We have made many trips to Toulouse (mostly to visit notaries), we've ridden about 2500 miles and seen many villages, towns and cities, breathtaking.  We have made new friends, reconnected with friends we met when we were here last year and Bruce reconnected with an old friend from high school who lives with his lovely wife and his 2 boys in Bordeaux.  I still take french lessons 2 times a week in Villefranche and we are finally at a point where we can understand most of what our old neighbor says.  Well, Bruce can understand most of what he says, I'm about 50%.

We had a lovely February and March (especially because my family visited), April was so much fun, going to Belgium and Steve and Lisa coming over.  Thanks to Steve Bruce started climbing again (first time in 6 years).  

Steve and Bruce getting ready to climb

Bruce on his first route in 6 years

And then there is the rain, argh!  I know that it rains here (that is why everthing is so green) but it's been really hard for us.  I really didn't realize how much you take the sun and nice weather for granted when you live in Los Angeles.  Sure, some days are cloudy and usually smoggy but it rains maybe 1 week a year.  It's May 1st and it's a beautiful day and the weather says nice for 12 days.  Ah, please let a rain-free spring be here...or better yes pre-summer as we want to open the pool.

We were going to go to Italy to see the Giro d'Italia but have decided against it for financial reasons.  Remember we are not working here!  We are OK with it, it will be nice to stay around our area and ride and relax.  In June we are heading up to Paris for 4 days (to celebrate Bruce's 40th and see my sister and brother-in law), that should be really fun.  I hope to meet up with Leesa and Barbara while I'm there too.

July is going to be crazy and I can't wait for it.  Tour de France, riding Mt. Ventoux, our great friends K&E coming over, it will be a wonderful month.  

We are truly happy here and love it more every day.  It's wonderful to wake up happy and content.  It's a bit crazy that we are now on month 8.  It's gone so fast.  Right now it gets dark around 9:00 pm...it seems like yesterday when it was getting dark at 4:30.  That was when we didn't have a television and we had CD's we'd put on and open a bottle of wine and listen to music.  There are a few songs that will always remind me of this time, right when we arrive in France in our little house in the woods with nighttime arriving so early.  Those are good memories even though I cursed the wood burner every day.

We have a few things up our sleeves, but too early to talk about them now.  Things are in the works and we hope they will work out for us.  Right now we'll just enjoy every moment we are here and thank our lucky stars that we were able to come here and have a year in France.

One cool thing is that we have had 3 sanglier sightings.  This morning was our 3rd, we have been hearing a boar in the woods at dusk a crazy cry/snort/growl, but this morning I was out with Dashell at about 7am and in the meadow was a boar, not huge, but not a baby.  It was super cool...don't get that in Los Angeles.

this isn't the one that was in our yard, but same size

A visit to Montauban

cool statue made from scraps

Last week it was raining so we hopped in the car and took a trip to Montauban, it's about 50 minutes southwest of where we live. It's always hard driving into a new city, you have no idea where to go, where to park, but we have found that it's best to head for the Office of Tourism, there are signs for it everywhere and once you find it, there's ample parking. Then you can pick up a map of the city/village and you are off.

We really liked this city. Can't call it a village, it's too big, I think (52,000). But it was beautiful. Actually the building that housed the office de tourism was amazing. Bruce wanted to go to visit the Musée Ingres as Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres is one of his favorites and Bruce and many others consider him on of great draftsman (drawer). His pencil drawings were unbelievable.  I was more amazed with the building. The museum is located in a building that once served as the residence of the bishops of Montauban. The structure belongs chiefly to the 17th century, but some portions are much older, notably an underground chamber known as the Hall of the Black Prince (Salle du Prince Noir). It was where people were tortured, getting down to it was creepy and once you reached it it took your breath away. In the back were cells where people where held and there were some of the old torture devices down there.  A renovation carried out between 1951–1958 made Musée Ingres a modern institution according to the designs of the time, equipped with additional inventories.

The museum had some amazing pieces of art in it but the lighting was horrible, just horrible. Nothing like having a piece on the wall with so many lights facing directly on it that you can't even see it because of the glare. Not sure why nobody has ever noticed this before. Maybe it was just us and Bruce's picky eye.

We wandered around Place National, which is an arcade with a big open square in the middle and arches all around with shops in them.  Then went to lunch at an Indian restaurant at the corner of the Place National. Oh my it was so good. We haven't had indian since we left Los Angeles, on a cold wet day it was the perfect choice. Then we were for a bit of clothes/shoe shopping, although we didn't buy anything. I'm a horrible shopper, I much better internet shopper, where I can take my time. We then went for coffee at a really cool place called Le Cozy. The space was great and we met the owner and his daughter (it was Wednesday so she was not in school), we would love to go back for dinner.  Very warm and cozy!

On the way out we stopped at a bike shop (of course) and purchased some winter booties to cover our biking shoes, because when we were riding our feet were freezing. We also stopped at a store called Decathalon, which is a sporting goods store, great prices on sweaters, layering stuff and fleece. We purchased some good there to help keep us warm.

Montauban is the capital of Tarn-et-Garonne département in the Midi-Pyrénées region in southwestern France, it is located about 30 mi (50 km) by road north of Toulouse. It lies on the banks of the River Tarn, 53km from Toulouse, close to its junction with the Aveyron. Its history goes back to 1144 when the count of Toulouse decided to create a bastide here as a bulwark against English and French royal power. In fact, it's generally regarded as the first bastide, the model for those rationally laid-out medieval new towns, and that plan is still clearly evident in the beautiful town centre.

Montauban has enjoyed various periods of great prosperity, as one can guess from the proliferation of fine town houses. The first followed the suppression of the Cathar heresy and the final submission of the counts of Toulouse in 1229 and was greatly enhanced by the building of the Pont-Vieux in 1335, making it the best crossing-point on the Tarn for miles around. The Hundred Years War did its share of damage, as did Montauban's opting for the Protestant cause in the Wars of Religion, but by the time of the Revolution it had become once more one of the richest cities in the southwest, particularly successful in the manufacture of cloth.The early 14th-century Pont-Vieux still bridges the Tarn. Next to it on the right bank stands the 17th-century episcopal palace that, in the mid-19th century, became the Musée Ingres, housing 4,000 drawings and several paintings of the 18th–19th-century French painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, born at Montauban in 1780, as well as other contemporary works. The “Vow of Louis XIII,” by Ingres, hangs in the cathedral. The church of Saint-Jacques, a fortified church dating from the 14th and 15th centuries, dominates the town. Montauban, was founded by the counts of Toulouse in the 12th century and was a principal bastion of Protestantism in southwest France during the 16th and 17th centuries.

It was a great day in a new city. Fun to explore and see new things and to just go for it. We never have a set plan, just wander around and see what you see. Here are a whole bunch of shots from the day. If you are around this area, it's a nice place to visit.

the courtyard inside the musée Ingres

statue in courtyard

me heading down to the tourture chamber

the tourture chamber

Bruce heading down

Pont Vieux (old bridge)

place national

columns all around the place national

A day in Figeac

Today we decided to drive up to Figeac.  A lovely village 30 km north of Villefrance-de-rouergue (our nearest village).  It was a cloudy day, no rain though and Bruce wanted to visit the Emmaus.  The Emmaus is basically like Goodwill in the US and many villages have them but they are only open on specific days, Wednesday is when Figeac's was open so we figured we'd head up there, have lunch and then visit the Emmaus.  Bruce was looking for a table for his studio.  Nothing special, just something that he can put his paints, brushes, supplies on and not worry about getting it dirty or covered in paint.  He also needed some palettes for painting and maybe some sweatshirts that he can wear during the winter and not worry about getting them covered in paint.

We left about 11 am and it took about 30 minutes to get there, a lovey drive through many beautiful villages.  The landscape/countryside is so amazing I wish that I could describe how beautiful it is, but you have to see it.  There are a couple houses that I love on the way - I call them, my houses.  We arrived in time for lunch and walked around a bit (I do love Figeac) and found a place called Le Sphinx.  They had a prix fixe menu, which is the best deal.  We decided to try it.  So for 13 euros I had the following.  Potage de légume d´hiver (winter vegetable soup), which is out of this world and I immediately came home and looked up a recipe for it and have to make it in the next couple days (I'll post it when I make it, because it's a wonderful soup).   That was my starter and then for my entré I had porc curry with basmati rice.  It also came with carrots and zucchini (our friends crack up at the word zucchini).  Then I had lemon meringue tart, which was so  so good...and red wine.  Bruce started with the Salad dé Quercy and then Poulet (chicken) with Rouquefort sauce and ended with tiramisu.  Ah, trés bon.  It was lovely.  Before we left we spoke with the owners about where we were from, they were so surprised that we were from America and California (being so far away) but they were lovely and warm and we will go back very soon.  The food and service was amazing.

We then found the Emmaus.  It opened at 3:00 and it was 2:00, but there was a huge group of people waiting outside. We decided to go have a café and come back at 3:00.  When we got back it was packed and I know why.  There are some amazing finds in the furniture area.  There was this big old farm kitchen table for 80 euros and of course it was sold.  Bruce asked the man about the farm table and he said it sold 1 minute after they opened.  The people waiting 1 hour before it opened were smart!  We didn't find any sweatshirts - don't think they wear them here in France, might have to consult Old Navy and have my sister send them over.  He did find 4 trays that he'll use for his palette for 2 euros and a table for 10 euros, not bad!

It was a great day and I really like this village.  It was a bit nippy and I'm sure I'll like it better when my teeth aren't chattering. Perhaps, I'll have to go back in the spring.

(sorry for the tiny pictures, I'm really not sure why they are so tiny....double click and they will get larger)

60 mile ride, but totally worth it

getting ready for our ride

how cute is he

someone's house

at the cafe having lunch

ruins in  peyrusse

On Wednesday we went for a ride with our friends Jacques and Fabrice.  Of course they told us they would be chez nous at 9:00 am, but didn't arrive until 10:00 am.  But we have realized that is Jacques, he's like the mayor of every town and loves to talk to everyone, so he's rarely on time...he also tweeks his bike every minute he can, alas.   We had no idea where we were going we just followed Jacques.  We took the road to VilleFrance-de-Rouergue and then up through a pretty little village called Villeneuve.  Then we headed a bit east a village called Peyrusse le-roc.   The hill up to the village almost broke me though...at that time we had already road 30 miles, i was starving and it was extremely steep.

We road into the village and stopped at the first Cafe/Aubergue we came too.  The owner and his dog were standing out front and immediately struck up a conversation with Jacques.  He told us they had a great lunch, so we went in.  The daily lunch special - beautiful pork chops, mac & cheese (the french way), bread, water, red wine and dessert.  10 euros each...it was so amazing and tasty.  The owner and his wife were very friendly and the man behind us also got into our conversations.   I find the people here so incredibly friendly and warm.  For dessert we had french toast.  At least that was what it was to us, day old french bread, with egg and powered sugar.  They called it something else.  I'm sure Betty or Loulou knows what it is called. It was a great lunch and after an hour or so we were ready to head home...at least we thought. 

When we arrived in Peyrusse le-roc and went into the cafe we noticed all these postcards, pictures and books about this ruin called Chateau Inférieur which was built around 761.  We had to go and look at it, but it was down these very very steep cobble stone streets so we had to leave our bikes, take off our bike shoes and walk down the hill.  Oh my god...that's all we could say.  Stunning and beautiful and amazing.  There are even ladders that will take you out to the ruin.  We had to laugh because there are just tiny rails that keep you from falling.  We said that would never fly in America, wouldn't be safe enough.  We didn't go out to the ruin, since we didn't have shoes on, but we'll come back to visit when we are not on the bike.

We headed back down towards VilleFrance and I was spent.  Bonked is the word we use.  It's just that these hills here are so steep and long and I'm not used to them and the speed the guys ride is fast and I wanted to keep up and not slow them down.  We stopped and I had some chocolate and voila I was better...just needed a boost of sugar to get me home.

We all arrived home tired, but we all agreed it was a bon route.  4 hours in the saddle (60 miles), yesterday was a jour du repos, marché day in Villefrance.