Les Baux De Provence - March 5, 2011



The blossoms are better this week!

Arles Market

Arles Market



Chateau Les Baux De Provence

The rock formations around the chateau are unbelievable!
Val d'Enfer (Infernal Valley)

Chapel on the grounds of the Chateau

Catapults!!  We tried to put one of the kids in them but
they ran away

Scene from the Chateau - on the other side!

See the person on the top of the rock - gives a little
perspective :)

The Citadel

Hi Nathan!

Val d'Enfer (Infernal Valley)

Hi Adam!

One of the shelters around the citadel

Mrs. Schloenbach and Mrs. Lute - THIS one's for YOU!

He ran, but we caught him!

Yes Neil, I will clean the house better next time!

That'll be the last time he's grumpy!

The only way to keep her off of the computer

The ruins of the whole Citadel

Another living area

Nifty looking door!

Home on the vineyards of Chateau Beaubois

Victor (2 yrs) and his papa showed us around the wine
cellar - 110 year old winery and vineyard - still in the
family after four generations!



This was the first of two weeks that the students in France have vacation for winter break - our kids, on the other hand, were working diligently on their Hoover homework!  On Wednesday evening, our favorite relocation angel, Marie, arranged for several families (from Chicago, San Diego and Costa Rica), including ours, to go bowling.  Bowling in France, suprisingly, is just like bowling in the U.S. with the exception that it costs about twice as much - 5.50 euros per person per game --- so we only played one game but had a nice time and enjoyed the company of fellow english speakers - I really don't know where we'd be without Marie!

Friday night we relaxed and watched The Hulk movie that we found at the bookstore for 3 euros -- we figured out why it was so cheap about 1/2 way through - Andy and I agreed that the weekly T.V. series from the 70's/80's was much better - Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno were great in comparison!

Saturday morning we were up and outa the house by 10:15 or so and headed for the Arles Market again - we like that market!!!  We were in search of fresh spices/herbs which are readily available there.  We were able to have a nice chat with the herb lady and purchased fresh curry, a pizza spice mix, and more herbs de provence.  We also left the market with a new bottle of olive oil, some olives, apples, croissants (10 for 2 euros!).  Adam was looking for a watch but the watch guy who Andrew purchased his watch from a few weeks ago wasn't there - we will look again in a couple of weeks.

After the market, which the kids were thrilled to walk around (NOT!), we headed for Les Baux De Provence, an area that Andrew and I drove through/around a few weeks ago when we had our Saturday out without the kids and were in search of the wineries.  Les Baux is named for the Bauxite that was found all around, and mined, in this area for years.  The Bauxite now, however, is almost gone and France has been importing it (I have no idea what one does with Bauxite - that's a question for Andrew!).  The rock formations are truly amazing and known as the Val d'Enfer (Infernal Valley)

Les Baux de Provence is home to another deserted Citadel. The ruined castle and old houses overlook the Invernal Valley as you can see in some of the photographs above (more on Facebook!).  According to our handy dandy tourism book: "In the Middle ages Les Baux was home to powerful feudal lords, who claimed descent from the Magus Balthazar.  it was the most famous of the Provencal Cours d'amour, at which troubadours sang the praises of high-born ladies."    Louis XIII ordered the destruction of Les Baux in 1632.  The areas that were once used as homes for families were interesting and complete with seating areas, places where various household items hung and we saw evidence of where ropes were once used to pull buckets of water up with pullies to supply water to the people who lived there.  The audio tours for the citadels, walled cities etc... that we are touring are packed full of information about, not only the particular building or city, but the area surrounding them as well.  It would be nice to find an audio or video to bring home and watch or listen to later when there aren't so many distractions.

We treated the kids to some cookies at a very sweet shop in the village before heading home for the day.
Of course it's hard for us to just "go home" so, after getting turned around a couple of times, we found our way back to the road where we noticed a few wineries along the road!  We only stopped at one - Chateau BeauBois (beautiful woods) . As we drove up the loooong driveway a couple of dogs greeted us with their welcoming barks which also serve as the alert to the owners that some folks are there to taste some vin!

The first person we saw come around the corner was little Victor who is two years old and soooo adorable - he looked at us and smiled, then ran back to where he came from and onto his papa's leg where he clung until he was comfortable with us.  Victor's papa (we didn't catch his name) spoke some English, poured the wine, talked about the vineyard, answered our questions and gave us a tour of their 110 year old winery.  This vineyard has been in his wife's family for four generations,  His wife and her brother (Fanny and Francois Boyer) are the fourth generation of winegrowers to run the vineyard.  We liked the wine, bought a bottle, and Andrew wowed Victor's papa so much that he was given a nice wooden box with "Chateau BeauBois" engraved on it as a gesture to maintain the France-American wine relations :)  yea us!

What do the kids do while we are in these wineries drinking you ask????  Usually, they sit in the car - they are invited in - Nathan comes occasionally, but Emma and Adam choose to stay seated and comfortable and don't complain about it.

We came home, I fell asleep on the couch and Andrew cooked dinner while the kids loaded pictures of our days events to their facebook pages.  We rested up for Sunday's trip to Sete.

Les Analyses Sensorielles 2011 - Montpellier!

Several weeks ago I received an e-mail from Andrew stating that his boss, Veronique, suggested that I might be interested in participating in a sensory analysis program that takes place at INRA.  The program involved evaluating various wines based on sight, scent, and taste - "I'm in!"  I stated emphatically!   After making sure that my lack of knowledge of the French language would not be an issue, I reserved my spot on the panel. Amelie sent me some information including the official invitation and a list of the variables the we would be evaluating.  Of course, as expected, it was all in french.  I grabbed my laptop and started translating the various words to construct my own little "cheat sheet" so I knew what I was supposed to be looking/tasting/smelling for.

The sessions take place every week or two (it varies) and the first was today at 10:00 am.  Being the paranoid, nervous nellie that I am, I went to INRA with Andrew yesterday after lunch to ensure that I knew where I would be going today (I believe I developed this sense of overprotectiveness from working at and preparing for trials with TPMR).  Andrew had mentioned that the panel met about 10m (meters) from his office, I assumed he meant 10m from his building but he truly meant 10m from his office - out the door, down the steps and in the other door - very easy!  As I checked out the situation yesterday, I realized that I wasn't in for a bunch of "Napa style" tastings.  The room was comprised of several rows of desks/cubbies complete with a chair, small sink, computer, bottle of water and light on the top.

This morning, I woke up and prepared myself for a morning of serious tasting!  Andrew met me at the gate of INRA to let me in and we walked to the building.  As I entered the room, about 10 people turned and looked at me so I introduced myself and met Marie (the person in charge of the project) and Amelie (I assume Marie's assistant).  Marie walked me to my station (#1!!) and explained the system to me.  She asked if I understood what the words on the computer meant so I pulled out my handy dandy cheat sheet and she seemed very impressed :)  She reviewed my english version of the words and approved of them and then told me that we would be tasting 2 blancs (whites) (Chardonnays) and 15 rouges (reds)- each glass was labeled with the number of the sample.  Holy Cow-17 samples?  It's 10:00 in the morning!  I looked at Marie and said "and then we will all be very happy!"  -- she smiled and nodded. I was to taste the wine, answer all of the questions on the computer screens, dump the wine when I finished the evaluation, push the little button to illuminate the light on my station and wait for someone to bring me my next glass - wahooo!  what a life!  I entered my name and e-mail address on the first screen - and clicked on "ecran suivant" or "next screen", I was ready.  I had a bottle of water and there was a whole basket of sliced baguettes in the front of the room to cleanse our palates.

The analysis of these wines was amazing - I had never given so much thought to what I was drinking before.  Here - I had a glass of chardonnay (I doubt if it was oaked because it was not "buttery" at all - and I don't like oaked chardonnay - I did like this one).  The first sensory analysis - sight - we needed to evaluate the intensity of the color and whether the it was more yellow or orange.  Next was scent-the 7 olfactifs - intensity of the aroma, quality of the aroma, fruitiness, floralness, vegetal (?), and mineral and then whether it was "hot".  Next -Gustatifs (taste) - Our first analysis was to determine the "eating quality" (which I believed meant the drinkability), then: acidity, sweetness, boldness, alcohol taste, bitterness, persistence or aftertaste, and the presence of CO2.  Lastly we evaluated the overall quality considering the combination of the smell and taste - and the defects. I enjoyed both whites.

The red wines, however, were very different from each other!  We evaluated many of the same qualities in the red wines with the addition of: tanins, dry in the mouth, spiciness and coat color (couleur de la robe - violet/rouge/maroon). There were several very fruity wines that smelled delicious and several where the scent was really bad.  One eye opening point that I found was that in many of the wines where the scent was bad, the flavor was actually good!  That suprised me! There were a couple of wines that were bad for smell and for taste but looked beautiful - hummmm - remember that old saying "don't judge a book by it's cover"?? Well, it goes for wines too!

When I was half way through I had already comprised my letter of resignation to Lee Plakas, my boss at home: "Dear Mr. Plakas, I reget to inform you that I will not be returning to TPMR afterall, I have found my true calling here, in Montpellier, in a little room, tasting wine.  I don't get paid anything, but am feeling pretty relaxed and happy - the true meaning of a nice life.  Sincerely...."  I was having a great time!

My favorite overall was number 747 - the color was beautiful, smell was fuity and pleasant with some spice, taste was wonderful with a little tanin and dryness but not too much (I don't care for a big dry wine).  I gave #747 my highest ratings :)

After I was finished, I jokingly asked Marie how I could purchase a bottle of #746 - she waved her hand and said "follow me" - I said that I was only kidding but she just smiled at me and let me outside to a van where, in the back, was a box of approximately 15-20 skinny bottles of wine - she did a little digging and then handed me a bottle of #747 - a Syrah with a bunch of coding on the research label :)  I was/am very excited-What a bonus!  Marie told me that if I was interested in participating again, to let Amelie know via e-mail.  I will certainly be e-mailing Amelie.

Avignon France - February 27, 2011



 

Avignon France - Town Square

Building in the square across from the Papal Palace

Elephant doing a trunk stand!

Papal Palace Square

Front of the Papal Palace - part of it anyway - it is huge!

Inside the Papal Palace

The kids loved the broken gargoyal!

Pictures were forbidden in the Papal Chambres - this was
all I could get - the painting, however, is still on the walls
as seen in this photo!

Cool door/stairway

 

Picnic in the Papal Palace Square

Proof that I was there too!



Carousel from 1900 - Adam and Emma rode on the
upper deck-In the town square

Chapel next to the Papal Palace

Pont Saint Benezet

On top of the Pont Saint Benezet - drawbridge

Walking or blowing across the bridge

Chapel built in honor of St. Benezet on the bridge

Crossing the Rhone for a nice walk back to the city

From the other side

Nice Small Museum

Sisley - Winter Scene - 1884

Cezanne

Van Gogh

Degas

On Sunday we were headed to Avignon France, approximately an hour northeast of Montpellier in the Provence & Cote D'Azur region.  We were hoping to see a lot of beautifully blossomed trees and flowers and, although we did see a few pretty pink almond trees, most have not actually burst into full color yet - we will continue to try to catch them!

The trip to Avignon was pretty good once we got to the highway - getting to the highway was a little tedious but after turning around (only once!) we figured it out. 

Avignon is another walled city in the south of France.  The Rhone River flows next to the walled city and down to Arles. One of the main attractions of Avignon, however, is the Palais des Papes which I was excited to see.  The Palais des Papes translates to: The Popes' Palace and was constructed during the 1300's when the Papal Court moved here from Rome (from 1309-1377) due to political problems in Rome and the scheming of Philippe IV of France.  Seven popes reigned over the church during the years that the Papal court was located in Avignon. The Palace, from the outside was amazing - huge, ornate, beautiful. The inside, however, was a bit disappointing. Apparently, over the centuries due to looting or destruction, much of the contents of the palace are gone.  All that remains is the shell of the palace, along with some broken pieces of walls, statues (some whole, some broken), paintings (amazing that the color is holding up!) and some of the doorways.  The rest of the Palace is very commercialized and geared toward tourists.  After seeing some of the other walled cities and treasures around France, Andrew and I agreed that we were both disappointed in the palace and the touristiness (my own word!) of it.

After touring the palace for 1.5 hours, we grabbed a table in the square while Andrew headed back to the car for our picnic lunch complete with sandwiches, a baguette, cheeses, dried fruit, trail mix and lots of water.  While waiting for him to return,however, the kids and I treated ourselves to hot chocolate and coffee - yum!

From the Palace, we walked to the Pont De Saint Benezet, a bridge that was constructed by St.Benezet after he was told by God to do so.  The legend says that Benezet was tending sheep in a field when he got the instruction from God to build the Avignon bridge and he tried to convince the townspeople that this was truly an instruction from God.  Of course, the townspeople laughed at him and told him that if he could lift a boulder that had not been moved previously, due to size and weight, they would believe his story and help build the bridge.  Benezot walked over to the boulder, heaved it up to his shoulder and carried it to the river where it was layed as the cornerstone of the bridge. Alas!  With the help of the townspeople, the bridge was constructed and eventually, a chapel was added to it to honor St. Benezet.  Unfortunately, due to floods in 1668, a portion of the bridge was destroyed so it is now, as you can see from the pictures above, a bridge to the middle of the Rhone River!

During our trip, all five of us touched the Rhone for the first time!  Nathan lead the pack and the rest of us followed.  We then jumped on a boat to cross the Rhone and walked back to the walled city along a lovely walking path.  Once again, we had a beautiful, sunny, albeit windy, day!

Emma and Adam were excited to ride the double decker carousel in the town square so they did, and had a blast!  I didn't know a carousel could be so much fun to ride - going around and around....

Andrew and I were interested in going to the Musee Angladon - a museum that had some paintings and creations by Degas, Cezanne, Van Gogh and Picasso.  We gave the kids some cash, told them to tour around and have a treat and meet us at the carousel in an hour.  Andrew and I took off to find the museum!  The museum had been the home of two artists from Avignon who were married to each other and whose works are also on display there.  The Great uncle of the male artist (I forget his name) was a successful fashion designer in Paris and upon his death, the nephew received his estate complete with a lot of money and his art collection which included the Van Gogh etc... The museum was small, but nice and we liked the history.

We met the kids and headed home for the day!

Funny Story:

I haven't written about our (my) bathroom adventures in the blog yet.  The trip to Avignon, however, supplied us with one so I will add it here.

After we parked the car and were heading on our jaunt around Avignon, I announced that if anyone saw a bathroom, I needed to use it.  Keep in mind that during our other trips when we were looking for a bathroom, we were only able to find those that we had to pay for or a urinal on the side of a building - in the middle of all of the action (poor Adam!)

We only had to walk about 20 yards from the car when Nathan said "hey mom" and pointed at something that, to me, looked like a space capsule.  This "bathroom" was in an oval shape and half covered with cement strips (hard to explain, I wish that I'd taken a pix!).  One end of the oval was metal and looked like it should open - there was a picture of a little man and woman on this "door", however, I could not find a handle.  On the side were four big circles - red, green, and 2 plain buttons.  Nathan pushed one and we heard a whoosh and noticed that one of the plain circles was now yellow and said "occupied".  I knocked on the door and pushed it aside - it opened!  Hurray - time for some relief.  The family agreed to be my lookout since we couldn't find a lock and I entered the capsule "bathroom".  Now, upon examination I didn't really know if I was in a bathroom constructed for a woman - but the picture showed a woman, and we could only find one door, I must be in the right place so why is there only something that looks like a urinal in here???  I made due, finished up and tried to flush - no flusher - the one button that was possibly the flusher was actually the "sink" and dripped water on my hand - that's it!  I was outa there!  I didn't care if it flushed or not!  When I came out, Nathan informed me that it was a self cleaning bathroom and washed itself after every use - flushed, cleaned the seat etc.... - hummmm maybe this is a space aged thing after all!