Below are 'spell-checked' excerpts from Denise's newsy e-mails.
(Denise is currently away to Ravenna, Italy -
for an intensive mosaics course
- so look out for news of that in a few weeks.
John is on leave so look out for not much news there!!!)
"Well it has been another wonderful week here in the South of France. There are of course the negatives...weather 80% cold and wet at present, and found two enormous scorpions in the house this week.....which gave us all a scare...luckily John home for the extermination both times, and also that Air New Zealand has very solid shoes as part of the uniform. I am sorry but jandals or slippers will not suffice for this task. As he is away (in good old kiwi fashion) I have a large 4 by 2 plank at the door.
In regard to the weather ....locals inform me that this always comes right on the 6th June ( AND IT HAS - YIPPEE!) so I have my sundress and factor 30 ready .....
Did meet our local real estate lady this week ...Sam and exchanged books for DVD's so have started our own informal library. She lives on the way to the next village and shares her site with one of the largest wine producers in the region...very handy.
We all took a day trip to one of the most slendid and spectacular Cathar castle ruins in the region, Montsegur. This 12th century fortress was the last safe haven for the Cathars in the Albigensian Holy War , of the Catholic Church against the Cathar heretics. It ended with the burning of 200 martyrs, which pretty much ended the Cathar faith. Pretty grim stuff!
The castle is about 1 1/2 hours away and the weather was a bit marginal, but we had taken Maya out of school for the day and decided to go for it. The region was gorgeous right into the Catalan mountains, and very alpine with a lot of forest. Beautiful.
In regard to the weather ....locals inform me that this always comes right on the 6th June ( AND IT HAS - YIPPEE!) so I have my sundress and factor 30 ready .....
Did meet our local real estate lady this week ...Sam and exchanged books for DVD's so have started our own informal library. She lives on the way to the next village and shares her site with one of the largest wine producers in the region...very handy.
We all took a day trip to one of the most slendid and spectacular Cathar castle ruins in the region, Montsegur. This 12th century fortress was the last safe haven for the Cathars in the Albigensian Holy War , of the Catholic Church against the Cathar heretics. It ended with the burning of 200 martyrs, which pretty much ended the Cathar faith. Pretty grim stuff!
The castle is about 1 1/2 hours away and the weather was a bit marginal, but we had taken Maya out of school for the day and decided to go for it. The region was gorgeous right into the Catalan mountains, and very alpine with a lot of forest. Beautiful.
We passed the 'Rennes le chateau' which is famous for the Priest Sauniere (the Da Vinci Code) and his mysterious rumoured involvement with The Knights Templar and the Priory of Scion, as well as his renovations of the Church of Mary Magdalene in this village in the late 1800's. This village is gorgeous and we will return to explore this further on another trip.
On arrival to the site of Montsegur some 3000 ft above sea level, we could not actually see the castle as shrouded by cloud. Unlike most modern day tourist attractions these days, we actually had to walk up the mountain to the castle...I can understand now why the Cathars built here as this is not an easy climb...there are no nice tidy steps up this mountain...and some areas just rocks. Add 4 days rain, mud and a 2 and 4 year old and you may start to get the picture. Glad to have left the scotty dog with low under carriage in the car. Luckily we had another set of hands as Kayleanne with us, phew! and also lucky at the ticket booth half way up the mountain lollipops provided for children.
The climb took about 20minutes...but worth it. We were the only people there and the whole castle was enveloped with cloud and mist.Although no view of the countryside below it was truely mysterious, and errie, and when looking out the ruins of windows or doors looked out into the heavenly oblivion of cloud....could almost hear and feel the matyred souls amongst us.
It started to rain on the way down ...another 20mins, but we were too awed and invigorated to care. A great day.
John left us for London and LA the next day....and sadly did not take the weather with him....................
On Saturday Kayleanne, the kids and I headed for an Australian Animal park near Caracassonne, we have found that many of these local attractions do not open until after 2pm, which was the case here. A little difficult when you have a child that is grizzly and requires an afternoon nap at this time. So instead headed to a local park and then decided to go to the Castle and Citadel for a cassoulet lunch and wander around which did not disappoint.
Sunday aka "Vide Grenier day" was in fact SUN day, and weather hot and gorgeous. The market was in the Minervois, a small region north of the Aude, in a village called Siran Minervois. It was very touristy, with several busloads of english speakers about, hence the price of everything was very high- which we had not previously experienced.
On arrival to the site of Montsegur some 3000 ft above sea level, we could not actually see the castle as shrouded by cloud. Unlike most modern day tourist attractions these days, we actually had to walk up the mountain to the castle...I can understand now why the Cathars built here as this is not an easy climb...there are no nice tidy steps up this mountain...and some areas just rocks. Add 4 days rain, mud and a 2 and 4 year old and you may start to get the picture. Glad to have left the scotty dog with low under carriage in the car. Luckily we had another set of hands as Kayleanne with us, phew! and also lucky at the ticket booth half way up the mountain lollipops provided for children.
The climb took about 20minutes...but worth it. We were the only people there and the whole castle was enveloped with cloud and mist.Although no view of the countryside below it was truely mysterious, and errie, and when looking out the ruins of windows or doors looked out into the heavenly oblivion of cloud....could almost hear and feel the matyred souls amongst us.
It started to rain on the way down ...another 20mins, but we were too awed and invigorated to care. A great day.
John left us for London and LA the next day....and sadly did not take the weather with him....................
On Saturday Kayleanne, the kids and I headed for an Australian Animal park near Caracassonne, we have found that many of these local attractions do not open until after 2pm, which was the case here. A little difficult when you have a child that is grizzly and requires an afternoon nap at this time. So instead headed to a local park and then decided to go to the Castle and Citadel for a cassoulet lunch and wander around which did not disappoint.
Sunday aka "Vide Grenier day" was in fact SUN day, and weather hot and gorgeous. The market was in the Minervois, a small region north of the Aude, in a village called Siran Minervois. It was very touristy, with several busloads of english speakers about, hence the price of everything was very high- which we had not previously experienced.
The village was lovely with a very high end hotel and an old chateau, across from this is a modern amphitheatre, where we had our picnic lunch and the kids enjoyed a run around, drank local wine, enjoyed the sun. Headed away and drove through Trause Minervois where one of the English women we recently met lives- very nice. And then to a large village called Caunes Minervois. There was a gourmet and arts festival and so of course we had to stop.....was very buzzy and saw some inspiring garden art. This village backs onto a mountain range called the 'La Montagne Noire" did manage to loose myself a little in the forest on the way out, but worth it for the scenery.
I have decided that the word 'Minervois" in french must mean "residence or holiday home of wealthy english speaking person over 50 " as this area dominated by this demographic group. I think this term could be applied outside of France.....Lake Taupo Minervois, Wanaka Minervois, Sunshine Coast Minervois, Florida Minervois..etc...etc
The rest of the week filled up with the routine of life, Maya's school, horse riding in Ginestas, drives to airport etc...
Tomorrow I am off to Ravenna Italy to do the mosaics course I have been hoping to do for several years. Can't wait. Kayleanne is coming to Ravenna on Wedneday. On Friday we have a night in Venice and then fly to Girona where John and the kids will meet us and we will spend the next couple of days doing Barcelona...so will have lots of news and stories after this..
I have decided that the word 'Minervois" in french must mean "residence or holiday home of wealthy english speaking person over 50 " as this area dominated by this demographic group. I think this term could be applied outside of France.....Lake Taupo Minervois, Wanaka Minervois, Sunshine Coast Minervois, Florida Minervois..etc...etc
The rest of the week filled up with the routine of life, Maya's school, horse riding in Ginestas, drives to airport etc...
Tomorrow I am off to Ravenna Italy to do the mosaics course I have been hoping to do for several years. Can't wait. Kayleanne is coming to Ravenna on Wedneday. On Friday we have a night in Venice and then fly to Girona where John and the kids will meet us and we will spend the next couple of days doing Barcelona...so will have lots of news and stories after this..
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