Who's up for le Sud?

In brief this post is about: Tarot (the game not the fortune teller), Bergers, 4 hour hikes, 56 year olds dancing to M. Jackson, and making it...just in time to eat.

So, l'Angévine has made it back safely to the northern part of France. What's that you say? You didn't realize I had left the north? Ah yes, the trip to le Villaret, which is a small village in the south of France, lasted for one week. (The last one in October) I drove down with Tiphaine, and Ella (Who is a gal from the French house, and is studying in Strasbourg). We arrived in Montpellier on Sunday evening to pick up Allie, and then made it to le Rieu just in time for dinner. Le Rieu is the name of the house where we stayed. This house is deep in the Cévennes mountains, and uses Solar energy for light and gas for cooking. (For heat it's a good old fashioned fire place or blanket) Just us four girls in the mountains? I think not. We stayed with Tiphaines parents and her parents' friends. We were 20 in all, and man did we have a good time. Getting to know each other, having long meals, dancing, singing, hiking, visiting a shepard...you name it, we did it.
Zo, Day 1:

We wake up, bright and eary, but without any real concept of time. Tiphaine decides to take a bath in the waterfall just below the house. (Yes, it was cold) After having breakfast and getting cleaned up, we headed out for a one and a half hour hike to the Shepard's house. Why? Why not. He's a real Shepard and it might be kind of neat. So we met, Alfred. Great guy, offered us a glass of wine at 11:00am. (Homemade wine...not as great as you might think...we're not talking homemade chocolate cake here: now that sounds delicious)

We had back to the house for a lovely lunch. An apérotif to start and then lovely fooood. Don't remember what, just that it was good.

By evening time we all gather in the dinning room for some games. Tarot and Scrabble to be exact. Not just any Scrabble but FRENCH Scrabble. (I am not as good at French Scrabble as I would like, but I DO like to make up words..."But it LOOKS like French!"

What's Tarot? The closest thing I can think of is Uker. But it is not Uker, only similar to Uker. Kind of like how the French and the Americans are not the same but they are still part of Western culture. ;)

Day 2: 4,000 marches

Wake up time = 5:30am to be at the bottom of the hike by 6:30am. Woot! Who's ready for some walking? Climbing? Tiphaine, Ella, Allie, and I all head for the monumental 4,000 marches, which is a hike that ends at a meteorological lab on top of a mountain. So we drive to the starting point (approximately 30 min from le Rieu) we get out of the car and start to follow Tiphaine. There's the sign "4,000 Marches" we keep walking straight. At one point Tiphaine says, "I think we should have turned in front of the church"

She says it so casually, and with clear intention to continue going straight, that I wasn't sure if she was joking. So I say, "Really?"

"Yep, pretty sure" She keeps walking straight.

"Are we gonna turn around then?"

"Yep" She keeps walking straight.

"Um...when?"

"Now"

So we turn around, and away we go. We did the hike in 4h15min, which isn't bad. (Although we were surpassed by at least three hikers all much older then we, and when asked how long it had taken them they would reply with numbers like "hour and a half" Us flat Bowling Greeners aren't used to these here mountains." )

We get back home for another lovely lunch, which included Jean-Luc dancing like Michel Jackson (Jean-Luc is a 56 year-old dad...one of his daughters was present, the poor dear), and the three Americans singing the Beetles for everyone. Ahhhh...l'amour. After that?! Bathing in a celestial waterfall.

Day 3: A day of rest after a taxing hike

BUT we did make dinner. And we made a potato salad using sweet potatos. Most of our French friends there had NEVER EATEN A SWEET POTATO!!!!! How crazy is that?

Day 4: Into a town, into a town, and out of a town, and home BEFORE dark?

We decided to get up kind of late (8am), pack a picnic lunch, and then head to the gorge to eat it. We drove down, down, down, and then waded through a river to eat onTOP of a waterfall. THEN we head up, up, up to meet our French family in a tiny medieval village. We walked around the village, taking our time, soaking in that authentic FRENCH air. about 4:30 we decided, you know... we want to get back before dark, so we should probably go now. (It's not very fun to drive down our driveway at night...the driveways in Appalachia are very similar)

No problem though, we are no more then 30 min. from home, and sunset is about 6pm. We're only 30 min. from IF the road we want to take isn't closed. We had to drive back through the gorge, down, down, down, then up, up, up...it took us almost two hours to get back. HA. And the darker it grew, the more difficult it was to drive any faster, so we ended up just taking our time, and getting home...eventually. This was not without ridicule from the family of course. What road had they taken? Why were they home before us? They went another way, through another town. They had known the way we had taken would be blocked...and assumed we also knew. Bof. We made it home, again just in time to eat a fabulous dinner, and share a game of Tarot with the girlies.

Day 5: LAST DAY?!!!

We ended our trip by going to the most amazing Marché and hanging out with our new French family.

Present DAY: Now, I am back in Angers, it has been over a week. I'm studying for the GRE, and trying to do lesson plans. Not much else to report. Thinking of going to the Opera next weekend, which would be a nice treat. I suppose I did go to Tours last Saturday (the 7th of Nov), and hang out with the BG kids in Chinon, and Samur. Perhaps that should be another blog. Ta ta for now, Bekah