See The World

with BILL'S EYES

Spraying the vegetables.

Poppy's and a stoic gate seems appropriate this close to ANZAC day.

The Provence homeware shop.

One of the many tree lined roads into and out of towns along the way.

Day 14 is a day of not much traveling and shopping of the necessary kind. Very late start this Saturday but with full intentions of doing some shopping as on Sunday the shops of France are closed. The day begins with rain and a dour atmosphere so a shopping day seems appropriate anyway. We cannot traipse about in cities and country towns every day.

Our first stop is a shopping outlet near Roman not far from Valenace and the first shop we enter is devoted to vegetables, fruit, meat and cheese. We spent a lot of time looking at what was on offer and we bought lots of nibbles (three types of cheese) and staples (meat, fish and vegetables). Seems that l'epinard translates to l'epiard but looks like spinach and that you can buy snails and muscles by the packet, and that the French take their cheese very seriously.

I also like the way they kept the appearance that the vegetables were fresh by spraying cold mist over them.

Next shop is a more traditional supermarket - seems we have visited more supermarkets than wine tasting rooms. I have noticed a number of differences to Australian supermarkets which I record as a matter of interest. 

We could not find any Chocolate powder for making your own hot chocolate but almost half of the breakfast cereals had chocolate in them, even some of the muesli had chocolate included and of course many of their pastries have a chocolate centre. 

There are almost always wine and spirits on offer (and we took them up) but I couldn't find any tonic water to have with the Gin. I also notice that all the vegetable goods on sale indicated where they were sourced from and the list that follows is necessarily incomplete, as it is from memory: Mexico; Egypt; Lebanon; Greece; Italy; Morocco; Spain; and Thailand and of course France. 

There seemed to be no dry biscuits to have with the cheese - I presume that bread is the go. Oh and while mentioning bread I note that there is little or no sliced bread or bread with fruit but there is loads of bread with chocolate. It seems to be a French thing to buy your bread fresh, typically a baguette. Of course there are different baguettes: the thin one and a restaurant one which is wider, which we prefer as it suits us to cut diagonally and use the slices for our cheese and other spreads. We also notice that if there is sliced bread it is provided in air tight plastic wrap and seems to me, must have lots of preservatives, since it is not in the fresh food area of the supermarket, which confirms to me that daily fresh bread is the norm in France.

As I use the word 'fresh' - milk comes to mind. We are yet to find fresh milk in any store. It is what we know as UHT (long life milk). You buy it in 1 litre and 750 ml plastic containers that are stacked like bulk products. I presume the milk producers are happy since production can be supply independent but I yearn for some fresh milk.

However, I do like the emphasis on passticeries. They tend to have a vast array of yummy delicacies and the pictures following are just a 'taste' of the variety.

Just to show that we are not hitting the heights everyday one of our pictures shows that we had lunch in our van in the carpark of a shopping center right next to a highway. However, the lunch of baguette slices, cheese, ham and chorizo slices along with foie gras, followed by pomme tatin (apple tart) and apricot beignets was compensation enough.

We had to make some kilometers before we settled for the night so we took a tollway towards Orange but then the vehicle GPS took us via some very Country Roads of France including some very narrow roadways and we have ended up at an Aires in Ludon-L-Ardoise about 20 kms South East of Orange. It may be our base for some exploration of Provence and is very near Uzes.

A pretty country homestead that took or fancy along the way.

Lee particularly liked this wisteria arrangement which will provide many more beautiful pictures as the season develops.

The gathering place in Uzes but not many there today.

Uzes Main Street.

A quaint view of French/Italian pride and practicality with a great background view.

A French letter box.

Me trekking up the unknown path.

Countryside views a plenty between towns.

A picture of Pont du Gard does not do the structure justice.

Local rugby and many locals in attendance.

These are living streets.

Our view at lunch time.

Almost to our over night destination.

An aqueduct we passed along the way.

Raspberry tarts to the right and an undecided Lee to the left.

Lunch treats. Do not worry we took out a fourth beignet to have.

The yummy produce of a pastry shop Best to zoom in to appreciate the variety and begin salivating.

A typical street scape.

Rabbits ready to make into a tasty French delicacy.

Mussels to the left and snails to the right.

Our resting place tonight.

Uzes back streets that you only find by taking a turn without knowing what's around the corner.

A map of France. Showing the provenance of the different Cheeses.

Day 15 is the 1st of May and April is gone. We wake to the news that Adelaide United our local soccer team has won the premiership cup a great story with a first time coach Gui Amor who was a legend as a player from Spain and now a legend here in Australia. The team did not win a game for the first two months of the season and then finished the season at the top of the ladder and for them to take out the final premiership match is a well deserved outcome. Enough of home town news and on to the activities of today.

Uzes was a very short trip that soon found us walking the streets. When we drove through the town they were semi-busy and once parked and walking about they were abandoned but the restaurants were busy, it was cold so I would expect them to be. The main street had many shops (mostly closed) but one in particular, which was open, was a home decor and accessories shop that Lee adored as the content screamed Provence style. We spent some time wandering the rooms full of nick-nacs, whitewash wooden furniture, cushions (have I told you Lee has 60 cushions at home and bought one at Moét & Chandon to make the total 61), and a great looking clock with the tenths of the second, second, minutes and hour all displayed at the same time as LED digits each with a valve radio type enclosure of their own. We were tempted to purchase it but getting it home was the problem.

When we returned to our van a local rugby match was about to start and I can see the advantage in having essentially shopping free Sunday's as that allows whole families to enjoy a day together and for local sport to have everyone involved. I also noted that today seemed to be a bocce day as there were at least three areas we passed where this game was being played. Great to see the locals getting together for a social activity.

Then off to Pont du Gard a Roman aqueduct which is taller that the Eiffel tower from the river level. However, just before getting there we saw a collection of vehicles on a side road which Lee thought must mean that there was something worthwhile seeing nearby. So we make a u-turn at the nearest round-about and head back to find a spot to park our beast. After a little bit of indecision and backing up into a wooded canopy we finally de-van (my term for getting out of the van).

I think that it is great that Lee is exhibiting this explorative tendency and I very willingly look forward to what we might discover. Well we walk and walk and walk and then come across a Roman Bath. None bathing at the time, nude as I would expect, but none the less impressive. We then read the signs which indicate that Pont du Gard is some 3.7 kms walk from our location so we are less inclined to proceed much further, but the path looks so inviting we venture forward anyway. The path turns into homes and streets so we return along the same path and when we get back to the collection of cars we note that one of them had been broken into. Pity for the owner and we are glad that our van is not one of the targets. On then to Pont du Gard by vehicle we go. As it turns out the collection of vehicles was not far from the entrance and the reason they were parked there was to avoid the payment of the parking and entrance costs to Pont du Gard.

This world heritage site is amazing on a number of levels. It looks impressive but from my perspective I was amazed at how the Engineers ensured that the route of the water being transported by the aqueduct flowed from one side of the river below to the other side with a slope that was just right to ensure water flowed at the appropriate rate. Again we walk a fair distance to take the whole site into view and take some great pictures. Seems that we have walked 6.6 kms today which is just as well as the pastries we bought and consumed in Uzes needed to be worked off.

Now we have done what we wanted to, it is off to Nimes but only for a drive through since once there we decide to go off in the direction of Avignon and end up at a lovely Aires in Comps by a river and lovely views as I write and looking forward to the coming days in Provence.

The Roman Baths. Can't you just imagine the officer soldiers and leaders taking advantage of this luxury after a hard days slog conquering the hordes.