France certainly has it all. The most beautiful city in the world, a coast on the Mediterranean, the picturesque Alps and of course, cheese to blow your mind!
I have arrived in yet another amazing place called Monetier which lies in a valley in the Alps. The place is famous for its hot springs but being Summer and around 30 degrees everyday I doubt they would be very pleasant. I am still with the two girls, their grandparents, two of their cousins plus another boy staying in the family's chateau that could be out of a movie. Of course it would so much more amazing if it was winter as the skiing here is apparently very very good! Some of the mountains are still capped with snow but at ground level the heat is nearly unbearable.
So far we have spent our days swimming in the pool, taking hikes and the last two afternoons me and the kids have been rock climbing. The first day we climbed a huge cliff using tiny metal steps to help us. The view was amazing (see pics), looking straight down the valley that is scattered with little villages that are all incredibly old, some which look like they're starting to fall apart. Yesterday we just did abseiling which was fun but not challenging enough!
It all feels quite 'olden day' here as the houses are very old and everyone eats from their gardens and plows their fields by hand. There are no traffic lights and barely any proper roads. I almost feel like I am in the novel Jean de Florrette, without all the rabbits of course.
In France it would seem that meals are integral to one's day. Lunch and dinner take anywhere between 45 minutes to 1 and a half hours with at least three courses (main, cheese and dessert), a long time compared to the simple sandwich lunch most people eat in Australia. Dinner is eaten incredibly late, around either 8:30 or 9:30, sometimes later which is actually fine as I'm usually still recovering from the food onslaught at lunchtime. I know I'm definitely going to miss the food here when I go back home, especially the baguettes and cheese. I'm sure the French would scoff at what we Australians consider good bread and cheese. Here no one eats simple cheddar cheese: instead every fridge in France is I'm sure stocked with compte, Gruyere, Parmesan, Swiss, mozzarella and my favourite: goats cheese (that's to name a few). I can totally understand why an entire course at mealtime is dedicated to this heavenly food.
Lesson learnt= one must love cheese to be french!!
No comments:
Post a Comment