La Grandeur de Rome

Pumped up on Provencal wine and heading into Arles, we stopped by the perfectly preserved Roman aqueduct – Pont du Gard. Apparently it was built about 20 years before dates went from BC to AD (whose idea was that?), and get this…it was part of a 30-mile canal that dropped only 1 inch for every 350 feet and supplied about 100 gallons of water a second to the big city of Nimes.

Most of this aqueduct was at ground level or below, but here it spans a bridge that crosses over the Gardon River. Think of all the floods it’s withstood. No mortar is used between the 4-6 ton stones which were quarried upriver and floated down on barges. Too cool those Romans. Plus they wore togas.

Boneless Rabbit Leaps Tall Aqueducts!

Tourists...There goes the neighborhood.

Next, back on the bus and we napped, snored, drooled all the way to Arles – home of a Roman Arena that sits outside my hotel room window. Beat that.

That evening we had a lovely dinner together at a local restaurant. We all made a toast to my dad who passed away 10 years ago today. I miss him.

Later,
Caroline

And Now a Message From Our Sponsors

We only stayed in Carcassone for one night so today we were on our way to Arles in the heart of Provence. Cool. First up, a visit to a local winery, Château des Hospitaliers. Now, I’m always happy to taste the local wines (hello?) and this family estate was beautiful. The lovely owners were very kind and warmly welcomed us with the obligatory winery tour.

Those of you who know me understand that if I see another wine vat or barrel room in my life it will be too soon. Can’t we just go straight to the tasting? Apparently not.

These are grape vines.

Wow, Grape Vines...

Can we slip away to the tasting room while they continue to talk about...grape vines?

Oh cool...vats.

What's inside the vat?

But we were polite and did not throw stones at the people who asked “and what kind of wood are these barrels made of?” It’s France people, what do you think they are making them out of…American Pine? Help us!

There was one unique thing on the tour that was a treat and I had never seen before. The owners created an awesome building which included this courtyard with plants growing on the walls (something about “green” which apparently does not include burning Styrofoam). It looks like he had put fabric on the walls with holes or little cups to insert plants and it had a drip irrigation – some sort of wall hydroponic system. Where can I get one of those?

Their beautiful vineyard included lots of cats to play with and a pond with frogs on Lilly pads. Happiness.

So after stuffing ourselves with homemade tasties, sampling local wine, and purchasing 3 bottles plus 10 liters of box wine…

we decided the best thing to do was wander around in the hot sun. Great idea. And we’re off next to see ancient Roman ruins.

Restez à l'écoute,
Caroline

The Pinnacle

Left Sarlat and headed for Carcassone today. But first, we stopped along the way to have our picnic lunch on a barge while meandering on the Canal du Midi.

All Aboard

The couple who ran the barge were great characters – he was German, she was from the Netherlands. He was a lot like Captain Ron and accepted many glasses of wine from Ted.

We ate mega-sandwich that we made yesterday and generally had a great time meandering down the canal. Beautiful trip...

Our Hot Bus Driver - Olivier. All the ladies want to take him home, oh yes.

Opening the canal lock

 

France is beautiful.

Ted, our Cruise Director, keeping the wine flowing as usual.

Boneless Rabbit got a little sea sick on the barge cruise and had to be carried off by Ted.

Back on bus and we headed into Medieval Carcassone – a really cool 13th century walled fortress which is unfortunately wall-to-wall tourists and the tacky tourist traps to match. This is where they filmed Robin Hood Prince of Thieves with Kevin Costner. I looked but didn't find him. Drat.

The group took a walk, more like ran the gauntlet, of the inner old city. Personnaly, I felt the need to make lots of Monty Python references and Boneless Rabbit played the part of the Killer Bunny of Caerbannog. She should get an oscar. If only we'd had some fake blood.

Bring out your dead!

Cool Basilica St. Nazaire - I love gargoyles. Wonder if we can get some on our house...

We split up and scouted out a restaurant for dinner. I had done some prep-work to find some good eats and made my case for Auberge des Lices, a little place hidden down a quiet lane. It was away from the tourist traps and had that awesome Basilica as a backdrop to the peaceful courtyard.

That evening Marolyn, Bob, Betsy, Ted, and I had a fantastic classical Languedoc (this region) French meal. Entrees included this fresh asparagus mousse which all the others had and I tasted. I shouldn’t have been so afraid of asparagus which I usually hate – because the flavor was nothing like I’ve ever tasted before. I had a salad that was ok but nothing like theirs.

For the main course we all ordered classic Cassoulet de Languedoc. It was thick and rich, with complex meaty flavors, lots of beans and delicious fat. I pushed aside the big hunks of pork fat but mopped up every other morsel with fresh rolls. Ah…

I added an extra cheese course of fresh goat cheese with honey. This is a treat not to be missed. Such a great combination of flavors. Have I told you how much I love fromage de chèvre? I have to figure out how to bring some home.

Finally for dessert we got different things – several of us had a strawberry construction – fresh framboise on top of a flaky crown of phyllo surrounded by a heavenly strawberry syrup concoction and accompanied by a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I wanted to roll in it, absorb it, lick the plate. Ted and Bob had chocolate cappuccino with sponge cake and ice cream. All this was accompanied by some local Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir.

The whole meal – an over 3 hour affair – for all 5 of us including extra tip and taxes came to 150€. What a great deal.

We missed the evening tour with the group but were very happy with our meal so we just meandered out through the old city and back to the hotel and bed.

Bonne nuit.

Caroline