West of the Town

Friday 29 April 2011

Royal

So THE wedding is just over, but the party is still going. We popped back to Narcay to see the British version of the coverage. We got in at 2am having left the food June had prepared behind until we remembered just after joining the motorway. Why is it always so very far to the next turning?
There was a strong smell of old cat food to greet us from the back room, and a month's growth of grass and weeds. All cleaned and mowed now, but it feels quite daft to have 3 homes to run. What would we find at Domazan?
Well, we found the grass cut, the potager weeded, and the front door locked- it is new and we have not picked up the keys yet! Jacqueline helped me off with the new shutters and we put them in the garage and came back home.

Sunday 17 April 2011

Champagne

A Friday afternoon off, and time to visit some tourist locations.
The Trois Puits Abbey (3 wells Abbey) is a very peaceful and ancient garden area. You can't visit the house or the old ruins, but the garden is large, with very old statues, and a lovely place to relax. It is a sun-trap and we started to overheat!
Close by is the town of Bar de Duc. We turned in at the "high town" and discovered this part was built on a cliff. The houses are ancient. There are loads of them designated as "heritage sites", and loads of views over the valley and the rest of the town, as long as you have no fear of heights!
Saturday was a visit to Champagne country. To see the old towns and the abundant "Champagne Houses" which you can visit and discover the brewing process. We contented ourselves with a glass of champagne outside a bar in the shade. And as the tourist office informed us that Don Perignon lived further up the hill, off we went to find him.
The Abbey at Hautvillers is not open to the public, nor visible over the high walls. But then is was mostly destroyed in the revolution, as was a lot of France's heritage. What we did find was a lovely old hillside village with superb views and a very pretty church; in which was laid the man himself.
The sun shone. The pace was slow. The champagne was cold. A perfect day.

Sunday 10 April 2011

About Time

It is about time I wrote something here. But it has all be a bit fraught what with moving up to Vitry just 5 weeks ago...
The biggest alteration in out life has been joining the small local fellowship here in Vitry le François. Impressively we appear to be the response to prayer- the pastor had prayed for someone from Colin Urquhart's church in England to join them. That was our church for 10 years just before we left for France. But this one is all in French, so we could not have coped until now, now that our French language abilities are just capable of keeping up. The pastor is very kind, and does check from time to time if we understand. Not the French jokes I'm afraid. I have not yet worked out the French sense of humour.
Lac du Der - the causeway across the lake
Then there is the opportunity for more tourism on our part. The Lac de Dur is the largest in Europe we are told. It was blisteringly hot yesterday (Sat 9th April 2011) as we explored just 1 corner of it. On the way home I bought a hat. A bit late for this visit but essential for next time.
Later on we will revisit the lake and explore some of the camping available (for visitors, not us) and the sailing, and possibly the swimming too.
Pirates were spotted early afternoon
Our grandson will be interested in the flags. These pirates were spotted near our place. We managed to avoid them and eat all our picnic ourselves but next time?
Then, of course, there are the champagne houses. We are determined to explore these so that we can take our visitors to the best of them. However, we have not visited them yet.
We have visited Reims cathedral. Very impressive, and rather cold- dress warm, there is a lot of stone and huge ceilings. When we tried to tell our French friends they could not understand where we had been. "R-ee-m-s" we said. In the end they worked out we meant "wR-a-m". Silly us!