Enjoy our vino boys

Pete bought a bottle of Chateauneuf-du-Papes at Lyon aeroport on the way to London.  Lovely bottle and will look great with a candle sticking out the top.  Alas it was confiscated on our way through security between one Heathrow terminal to another - because the seal ON THE BAG was open. Arggghhhh.  I hope they enjoyed the wine.

Here's one we tried earlier.....

Those pesky possessive apostrophes

Hmmm.  Too hard for the French.

The toilet dilemma

Isn't it funny:  When you're busting to go to the loo, you look for the closest pub/café AND ORDER A DRINK!!!!


All just to use the loo.


And then you'll be looking for another loo in an hour and have to do the same thing all over again.


So you may as well just stay in the pub, I say.

An attack on the olfactory senses

Wow, walking pretty much anywhere in the Provence country-side is an attack on the olfactory senses in a really good way.  

Just walking a long and taking in a big long sniff is beautiful.  It's clear, perfumed and quite unlike what we city-dwellers experience these days.

And if it's not the smell of sweet floral perfume, it's the smell of yummy food emanating from kitchens and restaurants.

St-Remy de Provence

Wednesday, 13 June

After leaving John and Marianne, Pete and I once again put our trust in our friendly GPS gal.  She's had many names thrown at her along the way, most of them unrepeatable, but 98% of the time she gets it right.


So we arrive in St-Remy which is a small but v trendy village in the Bouches-du-Rhône area of Provence.  There was a bit of a stuff up with the hotel we were due to book into so they sent us to their other hotel.  It was a bit of a blow, because the original hotel was right in centre ville close to everything.  Great views out the back for this four star hotel.  The hotel they plonked us in to was 10 mins walk from town but it was a five star hotel at no extra costs.  So far so good.


The Vallons de Valruges was really good.  It had a 1 Michelin star restaurant there, but it was a bit too rich for us and all the clientele were older couples (sorry John and Marianne) and Americans.


Our first meal was at Le Bistrot de Marie and recommended by the hotel desk.  It served really good Provençal food and we sat outside under the grape vines on a warm balmy evening.  We drank vin rouge and laughed with the owners as we bumbled our way through the menu.  The great thing is; no English menu translation, you're on your own.  We didn't ask for much explanation, just curious to see what we'd end up with.  And it was all delightful.  Not lots of seasoning but heaps of à l'huile d'olive.  My main came with a potato bake.  Unexpected and one of my favourites.  I must admit, I pretty much make mine like theirs, so hopefully I'm doing something right.  Here were our choices:


Me

• Entree - Chichoumaille recette gitane legumes confit (wee pot with eggplant and tomatoes).
• Plats - Souris d'agneau braised avec purée maison à l'huile d'olive (lamb and potato bake)

Pete

• Entree - Petite fillets de sardines 
• Plat - Cannellonni cuit à l'ancienne dans son poelon, brousse de brebis, épinard, oignons confit, coulis de tomate, emmental, soupçon de créme légè 

We shared a scrummy raspberry dessert.  Yumbo.  And again, really reasonably prices.  I think this cost around €60 which is about $75.  Not bad for all the food, a bottle of plonk and a couple of beers.  I love the strong Aussie dollar.

And then there was the 15 minute walk back to the hotel that may go to some way to balancing the calorie ledger.  (Doubt it).

My aubergines (eggplant)

Pete's sardines

Bumping in to best friends

As luck would have it, we were in the same place (well, almost) at the same time as our wonderful friends (hell, not friends, they're family), Marianne and John Davies.  They have been in Birmingham celebrating with John's mum who recently turned 100!  Struth - I remember going to her 80th birthday and I remember I couldn't keep up with Mrs Docherty way back then.


John and Marianne have spent the last couple of days in St Remy de Provence which is where we're heading.  They're on a cruise up the Rhône so we made a cunning plan to rendezvous along the way.  And Viviers is where we found them, which is just south of Lyon.  Should be easy to find!!!


Our hire car (a Mercedes no less) has a GPS and the lovely lady will be able to guide us.  Surely.  However, small problemo - there are multiple Viviers en Français.  Merde.  We got so bloody close and then our navigational friend had us heading back on to the motor way in the wrong direction.  Well, arguments ensued and I must say, once we arrived in Viviers and met up with John and Marianne, it took quite a while before the old boy and I spoke to each other....  


And I thought GPS's were supposed to stop all arguments.  Ha!


Here are some photos with us having lunch.

Au revoir mes amies.  See you back in Australia....  

Photos from Lyon

Waiting for train to Lyon at Charles de Gaulle airport

Carosel in Lyon

River Rhône

Aux 3 Cochons

Here at last - what a blast

At last we arrive at our first city after about 30 hours of travel.  Brisbane, Sydney, Singapore, London, Paris and finally Lyon.

The trip was long and not that exciting.  Probably the most exciting thing was hearing Goyte's "Somebody That I Used to Know" piped out at the TGV station at Charles De Gaulle  airport.  

Je suis très fatigue.  

Lyon - no small town.  No small town at all.  Could be the second largest in France, we reckon and is just under 500km of Paris.  We were originally just going to pick up a car here and drive further south for a couple of hours, but after all the travelling, we figured it wouldn't be a good idea.  


I'm glad we did stop.  When you get away from the train station, it's a beautiful city built between the rivers Saône and Rhône.


So the thing to do as far as eating goes in Lyon, is eat at a Bouchon which are restaurants only found in Lyon.  They are usually small and family run.  Literally translated, bouchon means:  nm. cork, cap, cover, stopper, plug; bottleneck, hindrance to the clear flow of traffic; traffic jam, caravan of traffic vehicles that cannot advance.


The bill of fare is usually a set menu and it's pretty reasonably priced.  I ordered for both of us as the menus were all in French, but as is typical in France, everyone speaks English.  Mind, I didn't ask for any translation or explanation of the menu, so we had no idea what was going to come out.

So here's what we ate tonight at Aux 3 Couchons:

Pete 

entree - Terrine de queue de boeuf "maison".  Beef terrine of the house.  V nice.

main - Saucisson chaud, cervelle de canut, pommes vapeur.   Slices of sausage with a creamy sauce, a speciality of Lyon and steamed potatoes.  And half of my dinner.

dessert - mousse au chocolat was served in un petit jar.  Cute!

Me

entree - Oeuf en meurette - which was like French onion soup with boiled runny eggs.  Yum.  

main - Parmentier de queue de boeuf "maison" which was pretty much cottage pie and I'm truly not a big fan, however, seeings as it was cooked and served very close, it was yummy.

dessert - Gateaux au Lyonaise (when in Rome).  Yummy with apples and praline.


As far as the local tipple, our aperitif was a Communard which is the Lyonnais style of kir.  Kir is creme de cassis served with white wine, whereas here it's beaujolais and creme de cassis.  Very nice.  We also had a carafe of vin rouge.  You just go with the house red, which is what everyone does, and it was perfect for the meal.


Cost was €55 so approx $A70.  That's pretty good value for a three course meal.  


Thank goodness we had a bit of a walk to try and shift some of the food.

Seriously folks, after little sleep between Monday morning and now Aussie time (31 hours travelling with bugger all sleep) I'm done in.    

Bonne soirs mes amies.

Escargot....

Here we go - off on another adventure.  Tomorrow Pete and I say goodbye again to our Pusskittens, Milo and Socks, as we take off on a two and a half week adventure to Provence, France and Hong Kong.  Cos let's face it; you're bonkers not to go via Honkers.

Itinerary - Brissy to Lyon, then whizzing down to St Remy for a couple of nights.  After there, we're off to Aix en Provence.  Then to Honkers and finally home.  


I hope you enjoy the blog and some photos along the journey.