France part 2 - Languedoc-Rousillon

Following the adventures in Paris, I went to join my parents who were visiting the South West of France. Caught the train from Paris to Perpignan very early. It has to be said that the French train system is the best I've ever come across. Clean, fast and comfortable. They should be very proud of themselves.

Met the folks at Perpignan. Thankfully, mother didn't embarass anyone by bursting into tears or song at the sight of me. Quick stroll through Perpignan to look for some food. By that stage it had been at least 3 hours since the last meal (a hurried croissant on the train) and my stomach was beginning to digest itself. The food in France was so good, so very good, it was impossible to stop eating.

The stroll through Perpignan gave me a good impression of the place. In particular, I was struck by the number of very good looking women on the streets. So much so that the question 'which city has the best looking women in the world' has been answered by Perpignan. Perpignan, like Barcelona, is essentially a city full of Catalans, and I wondered whether or not this amazingly good looking women thing was going to be typical of Catalonians. Sadly, was brought back to earth with a shock a few days later. Read on, after you've admired these bells from a castle at the edge of Perpignan.



The folks had, once again, chosen very wisely. We ended up in a wonderful house in the middle of an old town named Prades. Same sort of thing as last year really, old stone house with character to burn. Tuesday was market day. It was very difficult not to walk up to each stall and say "I'll have one of everything please". Mum went out during the day and purchased Languedoc casserole, a dish which essentially consists of beans, duck, bacon and onions. It was delicious. I don't eat beans very often. Baked beans are served with just about every meal here, I don't really get the attraction. It strikes me as more student food than anything else. These beans were different to baked beans, but the effect was very similar. I'm pretty sure that the old stone foundations were shaken to their core that evening.

(Thankfully, there's no photos of that. This is one of the church in the centre of town)



The ruins which existed around that area were amazing. Special mention goes to the small 9th century abbey close to where we were. The monks who lived there made wine which they sold for 3 euro a pop. Nothing will really beat the value of the 1 euro wine from Hungary which was drank in Rome, but for sheer effort, this was admirable. This picture is for them.



Carcassone was very impressive, a large medieval city with a well maintained castle in the centre. It was huge, and almost impossible to take a photo of. So I didn't. But I nicked this one off someone else.



Bizzarely enough, a short drive away from Carcassone was the wonderfully named Le Parc Australien. Yes, that's right, an Australian theme park. Sadly, as mum and dad had only recently left Australia, they wouldn't be coaxed into being reminded about it. No matter, despite the fact that it is in French, I think the website probably speaks for itself.

http://leparcaustralien.free.fr/index2.htm

For the purposes of this blog however, the highlight of the trip was definately the day we went to one of the smallest countries in the world, Andorra. It wasn't the fact that mountains of beans had been consumed the night before, although that didn't help my poor mother and father who had to share a small Peugot with me. It wasn't the fact that the drive there was along tiny roads through the Pyrenees, although that being said, the drive itself featured some amazing scenery.



I am a bit of a facts and figures geek. In all seriousness, I used to spend quite a lot of time with an atlas looking up stats for things like smallest and largest countries. The existance of places like Andorra, Liechtenstein and San Marino were intreguing, and I had always wanted to visit them. Andorra has it's own flag, is the only country in the world where Catalan is spoken as a first language and is a burgeoning place for cheap ski resorts. In fact, the entire country appeared to be under construction. This was a bit of a shock to the system. After spending a few wonderful days being surrounded by beautiful, ancient buildings, it was a bit unnerving to see rampant commercialism all around.

Andorra does have one thing going for it, namely that it is a tax-free zone. As a result, the thing that strikes you upon entering the Capital city of Andorra la Vella, is that the city is stuffed full of duty free shops. It is quite a spectacular setting for a city, surrounded by mountains all around, however there was little to recommend. Andorra has a football team which plays in European and World Cup qualifiers, however our quest to find a replica shirt of the national team came to nothing. Much shrugging of shoulders and shaking of heads.

After lunch, the three of us split up for an hour to do our own things. This was not a good idea in retrospect, because Andorrans take siesta between 1:30 and 4. Quite a sensible idea for the average worker, but disasterous for the tourist. Further, and without wanting to sound too cruel, the ladies of Andorra were nothing to write about. We headed home, a little underwhelmed.

Thankfully, that didn't spoil the trip, which was wonderful. I really, really like France. Special thanks must go to the olds who chose to come out and hire such a wonderful house, making it much easier for me to see them. You guys rock.

France part 1 - Paris

Once upon a time many years ago, I visited Paris for the weekend. I had no money at all and survived the weekend on a diet of baguettes. The treat that weekend was a dinner at McDonalds on the Champs Elyeses.

This time, the trip was with money, and it made all the difference.

The weekend held the promise of something special and delivered from the first minute. Stepped off the Eurostar and into the main station. Spotted a rather large French man struggling with his luggage, namely a large bag on wheels, two shopping bags he was carrying and an ice-cream, which was precariously placed on one hand. You know what happened next. He missed a step, the ice-cream fell off the cone and landed on the ground with a plop. He uttered a rather loud merde, everyone else got on with their lives with a little smile on their face.

Friday was the day to do all of the things I wanted to do last time, but couldn't afford to, namely Notre Dame and The Louvre. Both were fantastic. Got completely lost in the Louvre, which suited me just fine.

Saturday was a different day. I was staying with my twin cousin Nell, who had promised me the 'non-tourist' version of Paris. She was as good as her word, I was dragged around every homewares shop in Paris in search of a new sofa for her flat.

Sunday was back to normal. Big breakfast, big building with a panoramic view of paris, trip to Napolean's tomb (big coffin for a little man), snooze under the tower and a big dinner to finish. A lovely city.

One of the things I really enjoy doing on trips is to visit supermarkets or local stores and seeing what they have for sale. It was absolutely impossible not to be impressed by the wall of cheese and yogurt that hits you as you walk through even the smallest of local shop doors. The yogurt, I assume, is to assist with the digestion of the mainstay of French food, the baguette, which is taken very seriously. There must be a bakery or boulangerie within x distance of any point in Paris. There must be a pharmacy as well, which goes a long way to explaining why there is a pharmacy on every street corner. Not your average chemist with shampoo and shower gel, but a pharmacy which only sells drugs.

As for the boulangeries, if you order a baguette, by law, you must receive a baguette containing 3 ingredients only, flour, yeast and salt. That's it. None of your fancy, remaining fresh for longer than 3 hours bread, but the most simple of breads designed to always be fresh. What's more, the price is regulated, won't cost you more than a euro. And for those of you who are concerned about the rise of mass production, fear not. The ingredients in your baguette are not allowed to be mixed by machine, by law. All of this has been designed for your average corner baker to compete with the supermarket chains who commit the unspeakable sins of adding preservatives or mixing ingredients by hand. Still, a French baguette is a work of art and probably should be preserved.

To sign off, I'll leave you with a french lesson. Baguette in French means wand or stick. If you're in a Chinese restaurant and want some chopsticks, you would ask for les baguettes. Them Chinese must have some really big gaps in their teeth...