Word Of The Week

far

Another food-related word this week. Watch your calories !

The Mont-Saint-Michel sits just off the coast very near the border between Normandy and Brittany. As the story goes, the Couesnon river slides along the west side of the island putting the Mont officially in Normandy.

That doesn't stop one from enjoying the products of both regions while you're there. Fine Norman calvados (apple brandy) can be served up after a hearty meal of Breton galettes de sarrasin (buckwheat crêpes). One specialty of Brittany is the far breton, a kind of flan with prunes baked into it.

According to the Petit Robert, far comes from the breton and old French fars, which derives from the latin farsus, itself the past participle of farcire, meaning to fill or to stuff.

So un far breton is a Brittany flan stuffed with prunes. It's also very tasty...

Image from : frenchentree.com/france-brittany-restaurants-shops

I'll Solve, Pat !

Kitchen Collection took the day off. It'll be back next week !

Arles

About 50,000 Arlésiens call this spot on the Rhône river home. Its location at the northern limit of the river delta made it an important place from which to control river traffic. The place was settled by the Greeks, who were already in Marseille, around the sixth century before our era.

This is the amphitheater in Arles - the image is one I captured from Google Earth. On the right side you can see the parking lot from where I took the photo that's down below.

When the romans took Marseille in the first century before our era, they also took Arles and made it into a proper roman town with a gridded street plan, a forum, amphitheater, and baths. The city's location on the river made it an important trading post and Emperor Constantin made it his home for a while in the fourth century of our era. The city prospered under roman rule.

Park your chariots here ! There was bullfight in progress in the ancient roman arena when we drove up.

The amphitheater, like its sister arena in Nîmes, was cannibalized and used as a fortress in the middle ages. It became a town within a town, the vestiges of which have been cleared away leaving only what's left of the original roman arena and three medieval guard towers. In its heyday, 20,000 spectators could fill the seats inside.

Shutters the color of lavender remind you that you're in Provence.

Without getting into too much history, the city declined with the decline of the roman empire, and was invaded and occupied by Ostrogoths in the sixth century. Through the middle ages, Arles remained an important point for river trade, but the development of railroads in the 19th century did the place in.

A back street in old Arles.

Arles is also known for one if its famous inhabitants : Vincent Van Gogh lived there toward the end of his life in the late 1800s. He painted several of his well-known masterpieces in Arles, including Starry Night Over the Rhône and Café Terrace at Night, and many of his sunflower paintings.

Arlésien rooftops.

Ken and I didn't spend much time in Arles at all; we essentially drove through, stopping briefly here and there. I'd love to go back some time to explore more of the roman sites and really see the city.

Lunar Eclipse 03-03-07

Last night there was a total lunar eclipse. The full moon passed through the earth's shadow and the event was viewable here in Europe just before midnight. We were lucky to have clear enough skies to see it. There were some high clouds that made things fuzzy at times, but the view was great and it was a relatively warm night.

We watched a movie on tv most of the evening, then I set up the tripod out on the front deck with my little digital camera and got these shots :


Not great, but pretty cool for me. Those white dots in the last shot are actually stars. I watched until the moon was covered, but it was too dark for photos, so I went to bed. I was up again briefly at three in the morning and the bright full moon was back, although by then it was on the other side of the house.

I think this is the first total lunar eclipse I've seen - at least I don't remember any others.

Winter Flowers

Technically, it's still winter. But when you consider how mild it is and the fact that the flowers are up in our back yard, it feels more like spring. To wit :

Daffodils, jonquilles in French, are blooming, although recent rain has beaten them down a bit. If we have a good sunny day, they'll perk right up, I'm sure.

Above, young hyacinths, jacinthes in French, are poking up. I divided these bulbs and moved them to their new location in the back yard two years ago. Below, established jacinthes near the house.

And then there are the primroses, or primevères in French. There's a spot on the north side of the house, very close to a large blue spruce, where the primevères come up every year. There is a variety of color out there and it looks like a colorful carpet.

We also have cyclamen that blooms in late winter - its purple flowers are up in many places out back. Also, the forsythia is starting to bloom. I'll have photos of that and the flowering trees very soon. Ahhhh, spring.

Les Baux De Provence

Not far from the Rhône river, a little south and east of Nîmes, lie les Alpilles, a range of small mountains of calcaire, or limestone. Barely 400 meters high at their highest, these chalky hills look more impressive than they really are. On one of the rocky outcroppings clings the medieval city of Les-Baux-de-Provence with its ruined fortress at the top.

The southern flanks of Les Alpilles are covered with olive orchards.

These days the place is pretty much a tourist trap. The old buildings have been lovingly restored, but drip with cuteness and are plastered with postcards, gaudy pottery, and ceramic cigalles, all for sale. Ice cream vendors abound.

The village of Les Baux.

In 1989, it seems that Les Baux wasn't yet discovered by the American hoards. Peter Mayle's A Year In Provence was published in Britain that year but not until 1991 in the US; the television miniseries premiered on PBS in 1993. Still, there were plenty of tourists when Ken and I visited.

The ruins of the medieval fortress atop Les Baux.

I went back, again in 2001, with our friend Sue, and the place was totally different. More restoration, more shops, more kitsch for sale, and many, many more people. Parking was a nightmare, and the access road was lined with parked cars for what seemed like a kilometer in each direction from the main lots at the base of town. Don't even talk about the tour buses. The photos here are from the 1989 trip.

One of the main streets of Les Baux winds up the hill from the parking lots below.

It's a neat place to see, and it's in great surroundings, if you can stand the crowds. My advice : go off-season on a cold day.

Pont Du Gard

The bridge level, where tourists can still walk across from one bank to the other.

The Pont du Gard is an aqueduct, or what's left of an aqueduct, that carried water to Nîmes from about fifty kilometers away to the north. It was built by the Romans in the first century before our era and provided about 20,000 cubic meters of water per day to the city.

A long shot of the aqueduct with people walking on the upper level.

The pont, or bridge, is an engineering marvel, built without any mortar, that has stood for more than 2000 years. It crosses the river Gard (also called the Gardon), hence it's name. It was maintained as a working aqueduct through the fourth century of our era and continued to provide water until it was eventually abandoned nearly 500 years later.

In 1989, tourists like me could still venture out onto the top of the aqueduct. A bit scary, but worth it. At certain points you could climb down into the channel where the water once ran.

Back in 1989, when I first visited it, tourists could still climb up and walk on top and inside the portion where the water once flowed. So, Ken and I scrambled up. There were a few other people up there, too. No railings or other safety features kept you from tumbling off, but no one did, at least while we were there. It was quite exhilarating.

The three levels of the aqueduct span the Gard river, all put together with no mortar and still standing after more than 2000 years.

I went back to the Pont du Gard in 2001 when we were in Provence with our friend Sue and the area around the monument had been transformed with a new parking lot, a museum and shops. The worst change is that people are no longer allowed to climb up onto the top of the bridge. Such is progress I suppose.