FRENCH
LEÇON
#2
les cartes flash
(flash cards)
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| LA PLUIE BATTANTE.....DRIVING RAIN |
After our petit déjeuner, Niki and I packed up PETIT and departed the Chateau Beauregard, in a
DRIVING RAIN
Quelle surprise....
We were on our way east to Llafranc, Spain, to visit Gemma and Luis, Niki's friends
and wanted to take route D117 through the Pays Cathare in the Aude region. The propriétaire told me to turn right at the end of the drive....
so we did
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| Prendre la mauvaise route.......to take a wrong turn |
after about 1/2 hour we reached the petite village of BIERT, and realized we had taken a WRONG TURN and were on D618
NOT D117
not wanting to retrace our steps, and ignoring that the rain was turning to sleet
and thinking that since it was only about 60 kilometers to the D117 at Foix (Cathar santuary) and we could get there by driving through
Tarascon-sur-Ariège on this road
Tarascon-sur-Ariège on this road
we kept going.....
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| MONTER.....TO CLIMB |
past fishermen fishing for truite in the Arac, through the Parc Naturel Régional des Pyrénées Ariégeoises, past the Gorges de Ribaute
steadily CLIMBING
and then the sleet turned to *SNOW**........and still we climbed, and still it snowed
all the time nervously kissing the left side of the road, honking at every curve, praying that nobody else was as foolish as we were and coming from the opposite direction
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| snow photos by Niki! ( I was a bit busy) |
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| tempête de neige....BLIZZARD |
and just past the tree line, I glanced up from the road out into a vast expanse of white
and then I.... got....
scared
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| DESCENDRE........TO DESCEND |
Five minutes later we
reached the summit, COL DE PORT
and as we started our descent, the snow turned back to rain... then STOPPED and the
sweat started to cool
grâce de Dieu
grateful to be alive I
had
to take a few snaps of the
cimetière
auspiciously located, and I supposed filled with less fortunate crazy motorists from the D618
when all at once an IRATE française began screaming at me....
PHOTOS
sont
sont
INTERDIT!
Needless to say, the D618 was harrowing but she scared me to death and we sped out of there....
Back on track and starving we stopped in
Back on track and starving we stopped in
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| DEJEUNER...LUNCH VIN...WINE |
We had a great lunch, and an even better wine
where the resident chien presented us with the bill
and took the tip
Skies clearing, we headed for Spain
Crisscrossing our way on the D117 (which we finally found) through the vineyards of the
Languedoc-Roussillon
region and catching glimpses of four different Cathar Citadels high up on the rocky cliffs, skirting Perpignan, we finally crossed la
frontière
 |
| frontière....border silloner.....to crisscross |
and promptly got lost in Palafrugell!
Gemma and Luis came and found us and after our 8 hour trip (PETIT did great), we finally arrived at her family home in the seaside CATALAN village of Llafranc, practically deserted in the middle of March
where
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| VOLEUR DE CUIVRE......COPPER THIEF |
mortified, Gemma explained the casa had no heat.....
it seems some VOLEURS had stolen the copper heating pipes on the outside of their summer house
after surviving a wrong turn, a blizzard, the Hautes-Pyrénées,
we had to laugh
we took a long walk up the coast to Calella
returning to a warm fire in the wood stove and a fabuloso dîner
RECETTE DU JOUR
Roasted Turbot
with
Potatoes and Oignons
Green Salad
+
Next Adventure:
Le Pays CATHARE +
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| QUERIBUS |
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This past January I was commissioned to do a 4' x 5' oil painting
I worked on it for about a month, finishing about a week ago
Documenting my progress here's phase 1
