While David's Away...

Just what do I, Anna, do while David and his four buddies are out on their bikes?  Well, first of all, Lyon is just a lovely place!  It’s a great place to explore, and it’s very pleasant just to stroll through the various neighborhoods.  But, the big event this year was a day-trip with the Neveu family. 

(Just to bring everyone up to date on who the Neveus are…Estelle is our French daughter - she stayed with us on an exchange MANY years ago, and we’ve remained close ever since; Laurent, Estelle’s husband, has warmly welcomed us into his family; son Paul just celebrated his 18^th birthday and is planning to rule the world in partnership with me; Victor who will be 16 in November is a Jr. Firefighter and an incredible mechanic.)

(L-R) Laurent, me, Paul



Victor and Laurent

Estelle’s colleagues at work schedule a day-long family outing each year around Mothers’ Day.  This year it was on Saturday, May 21^st, and I was invited to join the Neveu family.  So I caught the B Metro in time to meet the family at 7:45 AM at the Gerland station, we all got on a chartered bus, and off we went.

La Cité du Chocolat Valrhona 

The itinerary this year included a trip to La Cité du Chocolat Valrhona in Tain l'Hermitage. (Yes, they do make wine in the area, but we’re talking CHOCOLATE here!) For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of tasting it, let it be said that Valrhona is absolutely the best chocolate made.  We had tickets to a self-guided, information area – with samples, of course.   We learned about  everything from the history, cultivation, etc. of chocolate to Valrhona-specific information about choices of specific regions and plantations and blending of flavors.  We moved on to a special presentation about creating delicious chocolate starting with seed pods, including handling closed and open seed pods and raw and processed cocoa beans.   Then we moved on to the store.  So much chocolate, so little time!



Inside the store

Laden with our bags of chocolate, we got back on the bus and drove to Tournon-Saint Jean where we ate our picnic lunches and then boarded the Train de l ‘Ardèche for a trip to Colombier le Vieux – Saint-Barthélémy le Plain and back.  The train has open carriages pulled by a steam engine, and the views were spectacular!  We traveled through the Ardèche gorge and seemed at times to be clinging to the mountains as we chugged along on trestles that sometimes hung over the river.  Quite impressive!  We also learned a bit about steam engines – we all wore little black specks from the steam and fuel at the end of the ride.

A view of the train and the gorge.

Our train ride over, we all climbed back into our bus for our ride back to Lyon.  The return trip was a bit quieter than the outbound one – we were all feeling a bit tired. 

Estelle and Paul at the end of the train ride

It had been a very fun, enlightening day, but also a long one.  I caught the B Metro for my trip back home, and walked in the apartment door at about 7:30 PM.  And, ate a little chocolate, of course!

End of the Year Gathering for Papilles en Éveile

On the evening of July 1^st, twenty-eight of us (members of Papilles en Éveile plus spouses) gathered at the Picandet home for an end of the year pot-luck dinner.  And, what a dinner it was!   [A couple of quick reminders:  Papilles is an group of women who get together once a month to prepare and enjoy lunch and each others' company; Brigitte Picandet is the founder and leader of the group.] 

First there was a table full of “amuse bouche” dishes or appetizers (mouth pleasers).  Because we are in international group, the dishes were varied, interesting, and, of course, quite tasty.  The appetizers were accompanied by a border-line lethal sangria.

The amuse bouche table

Then we cleared the table and brought on the “entrées” or first courses.   We finished off the sangria with this and continued eating as we moved on to the variety of wines contributed by many in the group. 

Getting the entrées ready
to bring out to the table

Thankfully, French meals are eaten at a relatively slow pace, over a period of time, and accompanied by lots of conversation because a variety barbecued meats soon appeared to add to our plates.

A view of the table (with David about to sit down)
 with the serving table in the background, under the awning

Then it was time to clear the table once more and bring on the desserts.  Again there was a wide variety of absolutely delicious dishes.  

A view of some of the happy diners

Then came a huge surprise.  Anna was somehow maneuvered to the head of the table, and Brigitte appeared, carrying a very large cake complete with sparklers and candle, and the whole crowd burst into the “Happy Birthday” song.  Anna was totally surprised and quite touched by the celebration.

Brigitte bringing out the cake

Making a wish and blowing out the candle.

But, you need to know more about that cake!  Brigitte had made it, and it was a work of art.  Two large layers of sheet cake with a custard and strawberry filling, covered with a delicious frosting, frosting decorations, and strawberries.  And, it tasted as good as it looked.

By the time the celebrating was over, it was pushing midnight (we had started at 7:30).  Everyone helped take down the tables and chairs, remove table cloths, clean up the kitchen, and generally restore the Picandet yard and house to some semblance of normal.  Then we all gathered up our belongings and headed home. 

Quite a wonderful end of the year party for Papilles en Éveille, not to mention a rather spectacular birthday surprise for Anna!

Anna, David, and  the cake

Canal du Midi - Sixth Day

The next day, we needed to go a few miles to Agde to buy train tickets as the station at Vias was closed - in fact it was bricked up!  The train only stopped if someone was getting on or off.  We were in fact not sure whether we would have to board at Agde at 6:45, and also whether our bikes would be allowed at commute time.

Arriving at the Agde station the next morning, we sent in Gerard, our resourceful Frenchman, to do the talking and ticket-buying.  Not to worry, he came out with tickets to Toulouse, from Vias, with our bikes allowed!

Gare at Agde

On the way to Marseillan

 We then biked to the end of the canal at the Thau pond, and went down to Marseillan-Plage to find a lunch spot.  It turned out to be almost identical to Vias-Plage, with wall-to-wall tourist places.  We found a seafood restaurant with no difficulty and enjoyed a leisurely lunch.

The other three pushed on to Sète, about 20km distant, while I decided to return to Vias to locate the railroad station for the next morning, and to relax a bit.

Proof they got to Sète!

 Locating the station proved to be somewhat of an adventure.  I cut through the walled city to get to the other side and got lost in the narrow, twisting little streets and alleys.  I asked two different women where the station was and one said there was no station, and the other said she did not know.  I finally went back to the hotel, got re-oriented, and found the station about a mile away.

The round trip ride from Marseillan-Plage to Sète was 40+ km, plus 17 back to Vias, so the rest of the group returned about 7PM, cleaned up quickly, and we all went into the old walled part of Vias for dinner.

We found a great restaurant in an old cellar.  Unfortunately for the owner, other than a young family of three, we were the only ones there.  Apparently, he does not get much trade from the locals.  That will make it difficult to survive, since the tourist season is only 3-4 months, and most tourist activities are going to be beach-oriented, at Vias-Plage.

We still had a good meal, with a nice local red blend wine to go with dinner. 

David's Supreme de Pintade

 

                     See attached video above, with sound, of our dinner in Vias!

We wandered back to the hotel, finished packing, set the alarms for 5:15AM, and grabbed some sleep.  35km for the day for me - 75km for the others.  292km total for me.

Canal du Midi - Fifth Day

We started off down the canal path the next morning, after a breakfast of coffee, fruit, yogurt, croissants, and homemade jams.  The weather became a bit warm, and the wind in the AM was at our back, but in the PM it shifted until it was in our faces, but we persevered.

After a bit, we left the trail for the roads as the trail was in very poor condition, much like just before Carcassonne.

We went up a hill into the old town of Bezier for lunch. [It is thought by some to be the oldest city in France, with construction by the Greeks dating to the 6th century BC.]  It was quite a climb, long, but not too steep.  We found the town square with a statue of M. Riquet, and several restaurants open.  We selected one and had a pleasant lunch, with beer in order to better hydrate.  Roger had fish, the rest of us bacon cheese burgers, with choice of cheese.  Tom and Gerard had Reblochon, a soft white cheese, while I stuck with cheddar.  The French version of burgers is usually interesting, but good, with different condiments or sauces that add a little variety.

Cathedrale Ste-Nazaire in Beziers

Statue of Riquet in Beziers

13 of the remaining 18 kilometers of the trail were asphalted, so we made good time even with the afternoon head wind.

[Unfortunately, we then missed a couple of engineering sites on the canal - one where a cascade of nine locks had to be built to lower barges 25 meters in a length of 350 meters.  The other was a tunnel that had been controversial at the time because it was felt that it would be too difficult to dig.] 

We finished in the old walled town of Vias in a decent small hotel run by a pleasant gentleman who went out of his way to assist us.   We stayed here two nights as Roger wanted to go to the town of Sete the next day and had not been able to get a hotel there.

David in front of hotel in Vias

 This area of France is interesting as it is a big summer vacation spot for the French.  Just outside of Vias is an enormous amusement park called Europark, which is open only three or four months per year.  A mile or so south, towards the Mediterranean, is the ‘new’ town of Vias-Plage [plage=beach] with wall-to-wall restaurants, motels, trailer parks, etc, That evening we headed for Vias-Plage as Roger wanted to have dinner at a beach restaurant. 

 

David and Tom at dinner on the beach

Beach at Vias-Plage in the evening

We found one and enjoyed the view while we ate.  After dinner, I remembered the lights on my bike did not work, and headed rapidly back to the hotel before dark.  68km for the day.

Canal du Midi - Second Day

We arose early the next morning, breakfasted at the hotel at 7AM, and set off down the canal.  The first 50 or so kilometers were paved with asphalt, with much of the route shaded by large trees.  Because of a math error, we all thought we needed to do 90km the first day, so we tried to maintain a good pace.  Plus, rain was forecast in the afternoon.  We found a grocery store and bought a few items for lunch so we could save both time and money.

Gerard, Tom, and Roger - Ready to Leave Hotel in Toulouse

Leaving Toulouse - Down the Canal

Leaving Toulouse - Looking Back Towards Gerard & Roger

Leaving Toulouse - Looking Back Towards Tom

Lock House with Typical Plaque with Distance to Next Lock

David at Lock House

Roger, Gerard, Tom

We realized early in the afternoon that we had a shorter distance to cover, so that took some pressure off.  With rain predicted for the late afternoon, we pushed on hoping to avoid getting wet.

End of the Pavement

I was in the lead as we neared our stop for the night.  We had chosen Castelnaudary because it is renowned as the home of Cassoulet, a bean, sausage, and duck confit stew that we were eager to try.

I stopped just outside of town, at about 3:30 and waited for the rest of the crew to arrive. The wind began to gust strongly, and it became obvious that rain was on the way.  I dug out my plastic poncho and put it on, as the others arrived and also donned rain gear.  As we started into town the rain began to fall in sheets.  Unfortunately, we turned the wrong way and had to go back about 100 meters, but soon arrived at the hotel.  68km for the day.

Water was running in rivers down the street, and anything not covered was soon soaked.  For me, that meant from mid-thigh down.  I discovered that my saddlebacks are not waterproof, I had my spare clothes in a plastic bag, so no serious damage was done.

We got the bikes stored in a hotel across the street [whose basement was soon flooded, and pumped out], checked into the hotel, went up to our rooms, and dried out as best we could.  We then sat in the upstairs lobby and enjoyed beers and glasses of wine, brought to us by our charming serveuse.  [There is something utterly charming about a pleasant attractive French woman who brings drinks, and when profusely thanked, responds in French, ‘avec plaisir’.]

David and Glass of Wine

After a suitable period, we retired to the dining room, where Tom, Gerard, and Roger enjoyed cassoulet from a large bowl in the middle of the table, while I allowed myself to be tempted by beef tenderloin with Bordelaise sauce, perfectly prepared and presented. I sampled the cassoulet and found it excellent, an opinion shared by the rest of the group. I ordered a bottle of the wine I had had before dinner, a local red blend called Corbieres.  A really great wine that turned out to be one specifically recommended for Cassoulet, and also went very well with the tenderloin.  For dessert I had a fabulous take on profiteroles, with a separate pot of chocolate, and decorated with red berry coulis.

David's Tenderloin in the Hotel in Castelnaudary

Great Red Wine!

Anna Tried to find this wine in Lyon - no luck!  No doubt a very small winery.

It was really an amazing meal in a pleasant small hotel in a small town in southern France.

Canal du Midi - First Day

Once again the four intrepid international cyclists – Roger, Gerard, Tom, and David, planned and executed another week-long bike adventure in France.

This time we chose the Canal du Midi, a 17-century engineering marvel designed to shorten the distance between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.  The canal provides a link between the City of Toulouse, on the Garonne River, and the ëtang de Thau, a lagoon of the Mediterranean.  The Garonne River flows through Bordeaux into the Atlantic, so the idea was that barges pulled by animals could go from the Mediterranean, through the Canal du Midi to the Garonne River, and then down the river to the Atlantic.  The barges could load and discharge cargo at any of the many cities and towns along the way as well.

Pierre-Paul Riquet 1609-1680

The canal had been a dream since antiquity, with the existing canal the brain-child of Pierre-Paul Riquet.  M. Riquet was wealthy retired tax-collector who, at the age of 58, and with the help of influential people in Toulouse, secured the financing from the court of Louis XIV.  The project would take 14 years, employ up to 14,000 workers, and require financial assistance from M. Riquet himself. The canal was finally completed in 1681, unfortunately about 7 months after the death of M. Riquet.

A number of engineering problems had to be solved, including sources of water for the canal, crossing over or under several rivers, etc.  With ingenious ideas, solutions were found, and the canal was built. Over the years it was improved and even parts of it re-routed.

It proved a success, and carried cargo barges until the 1970’s.  The coming of the railroads in the 19^th century saw a decline in the canal’s use however.  It is now used exclusively by tourist barges and boats.

Off to the South of France!

We noted with dismay during the drive that wind was blowing strongly from the east, which would be in our faces when biking. But the tow-path is now a good place for bikers and walkers who want to follow the 240km+ canal – or so we thought!

One problem for us was the distance from Lyon – we had to get four men and four bikes transported by car to Toulouse, the western end of the canal. We left on a Wednesday, stopping for a bad lunch at one of the restaurants on the Autoroute The trip took a day, so we stayed overnight at the Hotel Alizë in a neighborhood only about a half-mile from the canal and about a mile from the railroad station.  We visited a bar for a beer on arrival, then walked a mile and a half into the center of town, had a nice dinner at the Café de l’Opera, and walked back to the hotel. 

David in the square in Toulouse with his 'Sign'.

Cafe de l'Opera

Exterior of Cafe

Canal du Midi - Fourth Day

Walled town of Carcassonne from the Pont Neuf

The next morning, Roger and I lead the way back to the canal, with a stop by me to mail postcards to the grandkids.


Carcassonne the previous evening

 The trail out of Carcassonne was not nearly as bad as Roger and I had experienced the previous afternoon.  Unfortunately, David discovered that he had not sufficiently cleared his camera memory, and he was unable to take more pictures.  He would be relying on the web and a few snaps taken by the others with their phones.

The group once again bought items at a grocery store for lunch.  I had had leg cramps the previous night, so drank lots of water to ward them off.  Seemed to work.

Lunch on the trail

After our snacks, the trail deteriorated again, much like the previous day.  Gerard and Tom again took to the roadway while Roger and I pushed on.  Unfortunately, while negotiating a dip in the trail, Roger caught the toe of his shoe in a protruding root and was temporarily disabled by a very painful foot.  Luckily, there was no lasting damage, and we proceeded cautiously on our way.  Roger had thought about wearing sandals that day – lucky for him, he did not!

Roger and I arrived in the town of Homps, where Gerard and Tom were waiting.  We all wanted a drink, so we went into a place where there was wine tasting, beer for sale, and an exhibit on the historic role of the canal in shipping barreled wine to market.   

I tasted a really good red blend that I bought 3 bottles of – for 6.80 euros per bottle!  I persuaded Tom and Roger to carry one bottle each with the understanding that I would share a bottle that evening.

Typical scene on the trail - David, Tom, Gerard

 We had had the wind at our backs for much of the day, a very pleasant boost to our travels.  The trail continued poor, so we decidied to leave the trail for the road. The weather was now sunny and warm and we made good time on the roads, some of which paralleled the canal. 

At one rest stop I had pushed on agreeing to wait in the next town.  I waited and no one came, so I started back.  Then I noticed that our route turned left towards Le Somail, our stop for the night.  The others obviously assumed I had turned so went on.  All of us had a list with the names of the towns and hotels, so after some adventures, I found my way to our chambre d’hôte and rejoined the group.  68km for the day.


Le Somail chambre d'hôte



 We biked a mile or so back to the center of Le Somail, which is on both sides of the canal, for a drink.  A plaque on the bridge commemorated the fact that Thomas Jefferson had traveled on the canal, stopping for the night in Le Somail.

Canal and bridge in Le Somail



Gerard and David on the bridge in Le Somail



Jefferson Plaque like the one at Le Somail



We then opened one of the bottles I had bought and all had a bit of wine.  Our hosts, a lovely couple who spend part of their winters in Thailand, then taught us how to play petanque, a Mediterranean version of boules where you try to throw steel balls so that they are close to a small white ball.  You also try to knock your opponents’ balls away.  They knew what they were doing and we did not.  Tom, Gerard, and I were skunked – Roger had the good fortune to be on our hosts’ team.  Because we scored no points, we were required to kiss the bare back side of a cartoon figure of a woman.  Luckily, Roger’s camera was late when I did it, so we only have a picture of Tom, which I did not post as he may put out a contract on me if I do.

David after paying the penalty of defeat

There were a number of other bikers staying here too, and since dinner was served en famille at a big table, we had a convivial time, with pitchers of wine, lots of bread and a noodle dish with plenty of meat, cream sauce, mushrooms, etc.

Dinner at Le Somail with our host at the far end