Bastille Day

Monday 14^th July is a public holiday so we duly obliged by taking the day off (we worked the previous day, a Sunday, instead) and did some local sightseeing. Our host, Helen, is away for a week in the UK and has left us the keys to the house, wine cellar, and Landrover. Luckily summer has started to return; we have had warm but very changeable weather of late which is quite unseasonal. By this time of the year it should be very hot day after day, hiding from the sun in the afternoon and eating out late each evening. Sadly that has rarely been the case.

Old buildings are everywhere

Taking the Landrover for some exercise (it is quite a challenge driving a large right-hand drive vehicle, on the right, down little, wobbly, country lanes - though probably not as scary for the people in normal-sized cars coming in the other direction!) we headed to a pretty local town by the name of Airvault. Being a holiday it appeared abandoned, but there were quaint streets to meander down, lots of old buildings, the remains of a castle, and a medieval church to investigate. Like all the villages around here it is somewhat drab, all the buildings are shades of cream. Some are still stone, a few are half-timbered, but most have been rendered over all in a similar colour. At least all the towns are very tidy, clean, and well decorated with flowers. Totally un-Greek!

One of the better residences in Airvault

Covered market areas are quite common

Over-doing the flowers in Airvault

Airvault from the castle walls

Old farmhouses in town

Sadly at this point my wide-angle lens gave up on me so there won’t be as many images appearing until it has had a little trip back to NZ for repair.

Summer in France ...

Forget that little event called the [soccer] World Cup! Being in France and being Bastille day there was no better way to relax than sit back and watch the Tour de France ( on telly). Even if you don't like the cycling, the live coverage always includes spectacular French scenery, and plenty of sunflowers! Unfortunately there are no stages anywhere near where we will be so I have to rely on the telly.

After dinner we drove half an hour to Bressuire, the nearest large town in this region. It has a nice Chateau surrounded by old fortifications – and this was the backdrop to the ensuing fireworks display we had come to see. There were a couple of food tents, a dreadfully loud disco/rap with no one paying it any attention, a dirty-looking and smelly public shared toilet trailer, and a grassy hillside to sit with about 2,000 others waiting for the display to begin at 11pm when it was deemed dark enough. Despite the “attractions” the actual fireworks show was probably the prettiest we had ever seen. Some great old French music (and some not-so-old English!) and a 15 minute display.

And we mustn't forget the frog!  Yes - I said 'frog'.  A little brown guy, about five centimetres long, decided to take a hop through the throngs on this most auspicious of evenings.  We're not sure he made it through the evening, and would be surprised if he did!