I Don't Want This to End....

Impossible! In the last two weeks there has been so much happening... I forgot to tell you that our pigeons , living in the hole on the wall outside our apartment , have laid eggs, hatched them and have two perfect offspring who are about to fly.....

We have photographed nearly every dog in Uzes...

Found the perfect resting place for the afternoon where tapas and wine can be had

Eaten a thousand olives...
Spoken in French and even conversed........
Bought too many clothes for summer time..
Wished a million times that this would never end.....
PLanned how to return......
Wonder how to buy a house in France...
Can I become a fruit picker?
Can I really go back to winter and cold?
Is it time to change directions?
What do I want to be when I  grow up?

So easy ,when in the calm and long days of vacation, as you have time to ponder and consider...... what would be really possible to do?
All this as we have our last day in Uzes today.. last ice creams, baguettes, tapas, saucisse,... no more buying Italian linen dresses...... no more little conversations ....... no more basking in the hot hot sun..... turning brown...
It really is nearly done.... tomorrow we drive back to Avignon and return the car. Will be catching the TGV to Lyons then train across to Perigueux for a few days in the Dordogne. So today is a day of reflection and contemplation... and making sure that we can fit all into the cases!
I will make another offering this evening.... it is morning now and cool. Yesterday was really hot and the stone buildings and paths are absorbing all heat which radiates ..........

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Finally... I met Geoffrey....too late!

It might seem unreal to many folk and also highly improbable, but one can wait forever for something to happen......... for that right meeting, for that right moment....

Today was my moment!
Thousands of years ago, Mme Zazusch showed me a picture of the Camargue and the horses that are an integral part of that area....... she spoke of the freedom and the wildness of these creatures....... she showed me a photo of these amazing white animals, racing through the water. It spoke to me of beauty and freedom, of possibilities and joy............. and I remembered that wonderful French teacher of mine as she spoke of the Camargue.....

I met Geoffrey.....................
That white dashing steed............. splashing through the Camargue waters... taking me into flight...............

Here we are... Geoffrey( alias Mimi) and me......... see the modern boring flats in the background? Well worn road? Murky water to the left?

I whispered words to Geoffrey.............. How does it feel to be carrying just another tourist over the same old same old road, Geoffrey? Don't you hate it when these hopeless riders get on your back and you just plod out, walking and hating it.... how can you like this?

I wondered where the free horse of the Camargue had gone..... around this area there are many many horse riding places cos everyone wants to ride a horse on the Camargue....

There was a sadness and resignation to the horses.............. I don't believe that they actually roam free anymore........ in Iceland the horses are let loose every night.......

Here there is too much value in the tourism industry and the poor animals are slaves to that.............. the whole town of Les Saintes Maries de -la-Mer is in the clasp of the tourist dollar........ totally and blatantly...........

There was no free wild horse of the Camargue......... I guess this was so for the people too............ they were enslaved...............

This pink flamingo looked like it had been parked for the day!!!!!!

The Mighty Dollar and the ghastly muck for tourists..........

Found a lunch place in the back streets

The Meditteranean ....


When I said goodbye to Geoffrey, I wondered what his future held...... is this the fate of all older white horse of the Camargue? Slaves of the tourist dollar?

But I have been and I have seen and I can now make a statement.................... poor Geoffrey and the Camargue..........................

Roman in Orange

All French roads have a number..... too bad if you don't know what number means you are somewhere! BUT.... we coped!
Today it was a day to Orange.... and the odd Roman ruin or two.... fair trip BUT

We extended it by half an hour.... why? Because we missed a turn on the roundabout and nearly got back to Avignon! Vigilance saved the day! Blue beast turned around and back on the right path.... and so we came to Orange.............

The aim was to view the Antique Theatre a Roman....

And indeed we went there.... stupendous! Here was a theatre over 2000yrs old , that had been restored to its current state so that opera and other productions could be held here.... Imagine hearing the music of Carmen in a theatre with perfect acoustics... designed 2000yrs ago! Very soon , the Pahntom of the Opera is to be he'd here and they are currently setting up the stage..... the stage is enormous...... huge....

It is so so Roman

And we climbed the amphitheatre... Vertigo! OOOOOHHHHHH! I couldn't look back at all these floating thousands of rimless seats...... great relief when we could leave at the top. This theatre had been sacked and burned by the Visigoths,,, rebuilt and burnt again,.... at one stage the people had built a township backing onto the theatre wall! It wasn't until the 1800's that the little village in the theatre was removed!

Thelma and Louise soldiered on

Phew.......

More roman ruins at the Arc de Triomphe

Equally archaic
Then .....
we decided to head of to Chateau Neuf Du Papes! So you think you like that one?

And we did find outs way home...... but it was nice to get back to the square...... and tapas and pastis!

Loving France......

Sun, Sun, Sun .... and dogs!

Quiet and easy.. that was Saturday! Market was on and that is busy. I can watch people from the window. Everything is being sold- snails, goats cheeses, tapenades, pigeons (with heads)..... clothes everywhere...... pottery, flowers, nougat, fruit, vegs.... fish.
Afternoon spent at Remoullins, at the river there... well I was and Roya went off to see the town......

Nougat for sale!!!!!

Castillon de Gard- looking into the school yard

River at Remoullins

Dog's eye view of market day.

Dogs everywhere in Uzes. People take their dogs into restaurants and put them on their knee; or they sit quietly with them; dogs roam around everywhere and there is little concern.... it is accepted that dogs are part of your life and so are totally included. The variety of dogs is amazing.....

Toreadors , Hermits, Thelma and Louise...........

Done being photo oriented... done looking at wise paces to go............ no more... I have better things to talk about..
Let me start....... American students partying until 4 a.m an leaving me sleepless........ under my window,,, HOw did Roya sleep through it all? she has the room with only one window!!!!

Adventures? We have BIG adventures and one of those is the fact that we had been unable to procure a decent map of th earea so whatever happens is by feel............... So off to Les Gorges de Gardon. Yes this was the day to again lie in the sun and observe antiquity! Would have been great if we could have actually found what we were looking for!!!    !Instead... after coffee at an unknown town

Came over the hill
Wobbly folk ahead on bikes
Red headed woman squeaks," Look at those old people!"

Blonde , terribly young driver says," Probably the same age as me!"
Red headed woman says," they are wobbly... and I am a pensioner!!!!"

Where is the age? And the bike riders wobbled off into the distance... after I passed them!

Soldiered on.... drove through areas of the Gorges... and they are wonderful.. no pics as I was driving..........

Finally , as we had decided the night before , we were headed to the ancient ruins at L'Abbeye de St Roman.... only problem was how to find them.

OK.... we did find Le BO et Zing!!! Yes indeedy! And met our very first Toreador!!!! Ha ! I can see you thinking .. how did those phenomenal women meet a toreador>... answer is easy cos we happened to dine at the Dad's restaurant! Fabulous info at Beaucaire... which is in le Midi de France.. right n the canal.

Owner of restaurant and daddy of toreador!

Off now, on the road again!!! But here were no signs that we could see... seeking L'Abbeye? Ou est ca?????? Roya is a fine seeker of information and willingly puts herself at risk to accost strangers... I like to see someone doing this as it means I don't have to!.. That said, she did find how to get to these amazing ruins we had read about....

We found them
To describe such age, such spirituality , life, relic, ,.... I don't know how to do that. We climbed through groves of trees up to a limestone hill in which was carved thousands of years of life..... somewhere there were the relics from 60,000yrs ago.... the first humans here...... then cam the hermit... the troglodyte hermits .............
Their lives are all carved into a huge mountain- an abbey, a castle, a cell...... they were once fabulously decorated when the monks came....

Before the monks , it was a place of security and peace.... but before that it was a place of safety and vision......... and people in Europe had settlements . we have nothing like this in Australia................

Inside L'Abbeye

View from the top of the hill

Two folk from Brittany who gave us so much information

Thelma and Louise

So the girls got moving again!
Must say that though that I knew I was onto a good thing when Roya was going to accompany me!!!!!! She speaks such great French that everyone loves it.... and they all want a chat! I just bask n the afterglow!
This place though was amazing and we could see all across to Avignon. The Cathedral Des Papes could be seen!
Then the batteries on the camera went flat!!!!!!

Tired now... long day and had to offset it by observing the shopping regulations of Uzes........  hehehe!
I am totally in France......

All Things Paleolithic and Roman....

Pont du Gard... it is huge! Walking on an aqueduct helps to appreciate the actual size of the structure and the skills of the builders..... Climbing above the aqueduct makes me appreciate the benefits of flat land!

From Uzes to Nimes, the water flowed. Roman usage was some incredible number of gallons per day and their demand for water was so great that they had to draw it from as far away as Uzes and the only way it could be obtained was throughout he construction of various aqueducts.... this one at Pont du Gard is in excellent condition and is classified as a world heritage site.

Th tourist horde was only partly there... 6 busloads and only a few cars in the carpark... The Blue Beast could relax!....
We wandered onto the site.... and even though we were out early, it was hot! and the area radiates heat too........ beads of sweat across womanly brows....... skin softened .........
Graffitti is not new either..... this bridge is covered in the record of lives from 1700's and the 1800's....... random French people who were immortalised on the Pont du Gard!

Suddenly the very happy cries of flocks of school children of the very short variety...... scary to hear! Frantic to find seclusion, away from childish energy.......... we did..... and lunched on the bank of the river, roasted in the sun.....

A story with no pictures........ no not really, it is a theory with no pictures..........  it is my observation that men"of a certain age"( cough), choose black budgie smugglers over any other form of bathing attire and wear them with pride.... isn't that a nice story? I saw them out today... I think if I had stayed for longer my vision would have been a massive blackness.... pleased we left........
The tourist hordes began just as refinished lunching and began the arduous task of snoozing......... only to be woken by a loud brash group of American students, obviously of the football bonding variety.... who announced their presence to the world( very thoughtfully as we might not have noticed them)

This area is one of the sites of the discovery of very ancient humans..... in this area there is evidence of humans living over a million years ago!Is that right? Where we were, it was during the Upper Paleolithic Period that humans lived and sheltered in the cave near the river...... there was art work but that has since been removed to safety........

And we cooked and overheated!

As the area filled , we left! Drove back through a tiny little ancient village..

But you need to see some random shots