"No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers' dirty looks"

Six months of French classes are over. My last class of students reminded me very much of an old American sitcom called Welcome Back Kotter. We had these four young lads who really weren't interested in learning French even when they did show up to class. We also had a stereotypical "ditzy" kind of gal, a girl from Japan who really struggled with the language and then a few older, more mature students. Our skillful prof really earned her money with our motley crew. 

As you know, if you've read my blog, I've had my ups and downs at school. I'm pleased to say that despite my last class of students, I ended on a positive note. I think I made some headway with the language in the last couple of weeks, but I am far from fluent. In retrospect, and I wrote this in my evaluation to the school, I think I would have done much better if I had had a more solid foundation upon which to build. The formula of moving students from one level to the next after six weeks whether or not they were ready did not work for me. Had I remained at the beginning levels to really master very elementary, but essential competencies, I think I would have done much better. However, without basics like the French alphabet, numbers, pronunciation, how to ask questions etc., I struggled. New students every week and frequent changes in profs didn't enhance my learning either. I think a more consistent environment with like minded students would have been beneficial too. Regardless, it was a wonderful experience even with the struggles. I met so many interesting and different people from all over the world. I've written about some of them in previous blogs and here are a few more.

This is Maria and yours truly in front of one of my favourite spots to have lunch. Maria is a lovely girl from Bogata, Columbia. She was also an excellent French student and may return to the Sorbonne or one of the other universities in France to study engineering.

Every Thursday, I would meet Sarah (second from the right) to practice my French. She was originally from Martinique, but has lived in Montpellier since she was 15. Jeffrey is from England and he was in one of my classes before Christmas. He is now working in Montpellier. Adele is a student at ILA and comes from Zambia.

Jonathan and his wife Sheena are from Scotland. Both of them were students at ILA in December and have returned to Montpellier to live for a couple of months. They plan to hire a private tutor to pursue their language learning.

James from England and my good friends Maija,(left), originally from Finland, now living in Montpellier with her husband and Marianne, from Finland.

Last, but certainly not least, Patricia and her cousin Carole seated here on a little terrace a minute from where we lived. These two women have become very good friends. On a side note, I saw several movies at the Cinema Nestor Burma in the background.

After my last class, Keith and Brian arrived by train from Paris and I met them at the station. I can't tell you how  good it was to see them after all this time!  We spent the afternoon showing walking the streets of the old city taking in some of the highlights of this beautiful city. including a beer on the patio.

That night, we took Patricia out for the "last supper". Our last night in Montpellier.

Tomorrow, we are off to Provence. Stay posted.

La Couvertoirade

On the way back from Roquefort, Patricia made a short stop in a small medieval village dating back to the 12th century called La Couvertoirade. It is one of the villages on the list of "les Plus Beau Villages de France". Originally, it was owned by the Knights of Templar and was an agricultural centre for grain, breeding horses and raising sheep. Over the years, as with many other villages in the Larzac, the population has dwindled significantly and it is now inhabited predominately by artisans. From what I could gather, it is a very popular tourist destination beginning sometime in April or May when the weather is better. The day we visited, all the restaurants or cafés were closed and only a few of the artisan shops were open. Despite that and the inclement weather, I can certainly see the appeal, especially on a warm and sunny day. It would be a lovely spot to spend a couple of hours. Here are a few of my pictures of the village. 

La Tour

Hôtel de la Scipione

Les remparts 

Église Saint-Cristol

Moulin de Redounel

It is now Tuesday and I have only three days of school left. I can't believe how quickly the time has passed. My wonderful husband Keith and our dear friend Brian arrive on Friday after my morning class. They/we will spend the afternoon exploring some of the highlights in Montpellier followed by a good-bye dinner with Patricia in a lovely restaurant that night. Saturday morning, we leave for our vacation in Provence. Between now and then, I have much to do. It will be difficult to leave. I have made so many friends and acquaintances from around the world. It will be especially hard to say farewell to Patricia who has become such a close friend, but say farewell I must. 

Roquefort

I happen to be a big fan of Roquefort cheese and was keenly interested in visiting the caves where it is made. Roquefort is a small village in the department of Aveyron and difficult to get to without a car. Patricia hadn't been there for years and her cousin Carol had never visited the caves. On Saturday, we decided to "make a day of it" and go and explore the caves and some of the nearby villages. We climbed into Patricia's car and drove northwest taking some of the narrow and windy roads off the main autoroute. In my opinion, the countryside to the northwest is more interesting and beautiful than some of the other areas I have travelled to since I've been here. There are rolling hills, rock formations, mountains, plateaus, terraces of vineyards, fields of crops and patches of scrubby vegetation. Patricia told me that in the next month or so, flocks of sheep and goats would be grazing, but right now it is still too cold. When we left in the morning the sun was shining and it was quite warm, but as we got closer to our destination, it became more cloudy and the Mistral moved in making the temperature much cooler. Luckily we had brought our warm coats and scarves to wear. After about an hour and a half, we arrived at the village of Roquefort. 

There are seven producers of Roquefort cheese in the village, the largest of which is Société des Caves de Roquefort responsible for 60% of the production. The following pictures are taken from the terrace of the Société overlooking the village and the surrounding countryside.

Following our picnic lunch, it was time for a tour of the caves. You might be wondering how Roquefort, a tangy and "smelly" cheese, came to be. Legend has it that a young shepherd who was minding his sheep in the hills of Roquefort saw a beautiful young maiden in the distance. He left his dog to mind the herd and put his lunch of bread and ewe's milk curds into the nearby cave to keep cool. After several days, he returned tired, hungry and without the girl. When he went to retrieve his lunch, the bread and cheese were moldy, but he was so hungry that he took a bite and found that it was delicious. So that was how Roquefort cheese was discovered.

The tour of the caves was led by a French guide, but fortunately I was also given some notes to follow in English. The village of Roquefort came to life following a natural disaster when part of the Combalou mountain collapsed. The collapse resulted in natural faults, called fleurines and caves which are now cheese cellars. The cellars have a constant temperature of 10 degrees C and a relative humidity of 90%. There is a constant air renewal because of the fleurines which are small tunnels that run from the cellars to the mountainside and can be as long as 1km. The fleurines have been fitted with doors and windows that can be opened or closed as determined by the master-ripeners.

A fleurine.

The Société des Caves owns 15 cellars and some of them are 11 stories high with fleurines on every story. Each cellar is unique in terms of size and shape, type of rock and ventilation and each produces its own line of characteristic Roquefort cheese.

A picture of the rock on the side of the cave.

Although we didn't see the cheese being made, we did learn about the process in a film. From January to July, milk is collected from ewes of the Lacaune breed. The milk is then curdled at the dairy and cultured with Penicillium Roqueforti, a microscopic fungus that gives the cheese its blue/green veins. The Société produces all its own penicillium and researchers have created 3 distinctive strains. Before the cheese is taken to the cellar for ripening, each cheese is placed under a board fitted with long needles 3 mm. in diameter. These needles create small cavities in the cheese allowing for aeration. Salt is also added added to the surface. The cheese is then placed by hand vertically along the wooden shelves with a small space in-between. Depending on the strain of the penicillium used and the cheese you want to obtain, the ripening stage can take anywhere between 14-25 days. The penicillium grows slowly from the centre of the cheese outwards. This natural fermentation causes the temperature of the cheese to slowly rise and melt the salt on the surface causing it to penetrate into the heart of the cheese.

Once the ripening stage in the natural cave is complete, it is important to stop the microbial growth. To do this, the cheese is wrapped in tinfoil by female workers known as cabanières. Apparently skilled cabanières can wrap up to 100 loaves a hour. That's impressive! The cheese is then left in a cold chamber to mature 3 to 12 months to acquire its special flavour. Once the maturation stage is complete, the cheeses are taken to the packaging room where the foil is removed and the cheeses are cut and packed by machines in aluminum or plastic for distribution.

At the end of the tour, we had a chance to taste three differents types of Roquefort: Société de1893, Cave des Templiers and Caves Baragnaudes. Yum.... I bought a package with all three. Not only is Roquefort excellent on its own, it pairs well with a sweet fruit or spicy bread or adds some punch to salads. A good red or sweet white wine brings out its flavours. I bought another package of a Roquefort from a different proprietor called Gabriel Coulet. The vendeuse there suggested that you pair it with a sweet white wine. Regardless, I love Roquefort!

Next blog....La Couvertoirade.

L'Espagne - Final Day

On my last day in Barcelona, I decided to go to Park Güell which is a garden complex designed by Antoine  Gaudi and built between 1900-1914. The land on which the park stands was purchased by a wealthy Catalan industrialist, Count Eusebi Güell i Bacigalupi. His initial idea was to create a private housing project on the hill El Carmel for wealthy residents to live away from the pollution and noise in the heart of the city. He hired Gaudi to design the infrastructure for the development. However, no one came forward to purchase the plots of land on the property. Only 3 homes were built on the property -one for the Güell family, one for his lawyer and Gaudi lived in the third. Finally, in 1922, it became a public park as it is known today. 

To get there, I took the tram north from Las Ramblas. On the way, I met a nice gent from New Zealand who was staying at one of the local hostels. Together (and I use that term loosely because he was way ahead of me) we made the steep climb from the tram to the high point of the park. There were occasional escalators to assist with the ascent, but you still had to put in a lot of effort. This is a picture of the street we climbed to get to the park.

At the Park's high point, you had a panoramic view of Barcelona and the bay. 

La Sagrada Familia is is the middle of this photo with the 3 cranes on top.

We wandered around the park for a bit and then found out that we had to pay to enter the "monumental zone" which included the tiled works and the main entrance. That required standing in a queue for the ticket and then another queue to enter the zone at a specified time. Once again, I was struck by Gaudi's designs. The main terrace on top is surrounded by this long, tiled bench in the form of a serpent. It is supported by the doric columns which open to the stairs leading down to the main entrance. You might want to take a look at the Internet for better pictures than I have here of the serpentine bench and terrace.

The columns and the tiled ceilings are found in the Sala Hipostila or Doric Temple.

The colonnaded footpath under the roadway viaduct was pretty cool.

These two gingerbread houses flank the main entrance. One is a gift shop and the other is ..... 

...the Casa del Guarda which houses videos and posters about Gaudi and his work.

There are some lovely gardens in the park. The house in this picture is the Casa Marti i Trias Domenech -  Güell's lawyer's home.

A photo of a tree in full bloom. 

Gemma had agreed pick me up at the Park so we could have lunch, collect my suitcase and get to train station around 3:45 p.m. On the way to the restaurant, we passed by a square filled with people dancing to some very catchy music. Gemma thought it might be a local dancing group. Everyone was having such a good time and it was really fun to watch. I think I enjoyed this serendipitous event as much, if not more than the Park Güell. Unfortunately, all the tables around the square were taken, so we couldn't have lunch there, but I did manage to take a couple of photos.

My time in Spain was just about over, but not before a nail-biting experience. I am definitely the type of person to arrive on time or early for just about everything, in particular, planes and trains. Gemma is not 

so much like that. By the time we finished lunch it was 3:35 p.m. We still had to go by moto to "my place" to pick up my suitcase and then get to the train station because my train was leaving at 4:20 p.m. Those two trips were going to take at least 45 minutes. Gemma drove at lightning speeds through the streets of Barcelona taking short cuts and blazing through red lights. I just held on tight and shut my eyes. I thought for sure I would miss my train especially when she stopped to ask for directions to the train station. We screeched to a stop as we parked the moto and she grabbed my suitcase and ran toward the station. I followed in pursuit pulling off my helmet and fishing through my bag for my ticket. The suitcase and backpack had to be xrayed and then I ran down to the platform. I made it to my assigned seat and car with 45 seconds to spare! It was just a little too close for comfort for me, but then again, I didn't have to wait around, did I? 

Once again, thank you so much for a fabulous week-end Gemma. I hope that you will come to visit us in Canada some day.

L'Espagne Day 3

Gemma told me to be ready to leave about 10:00 a.m for an outing to a coastal fishing village. Knowing Gemma, I figured I had plenty of time to wander down to the end of my street to sit in the sunshine and enjoy a cup of coffee and croissant. What a wonderful way to pass the time. Eventually Gemma called and she and her boyfriend, Xavier, picked me up for the day's excursion. We only made it as far as the Platja del Bogatell (one of the beaches) in Barcelona before Gemma suggested we stop for a coffee. It was a good idea to bask in the sun for awhile.

The view from our table looking out onto the Mediterranean.

On the road again.... this time we drove northeast through some beautiful countryside to the small coastal town called Calella de Palafrugell. It was small, charming and smelled heavenly - clean and fresh. 

We spent the first hour or so just sitting on one of the large rocks overlooking the water watching the people, boats and fish. The water was clear and you could see the sea urchins just below us on a rock ledge.

Several people were gutsy enough to go swiming and snorkelling in the frigid waters - not me!

View of the village from the vantage point on the rock.

After awhile, our stomachs began to complain, so we looked for a restaurant on the water's edge to enjoy a mid afternoon meal of good seafood. Gemma ordered the sea urchins and the small fried fish. I must admit I couldn't bring myself to try one the sea urchins. Xavier liked them, but Gemma wasn't as keen.

However, she did like the shells as eyewear.

I ordered the sea bass which was excellent and Xavier had the Dorado which was also superb.

This was the bottle of wine we enjoyed with our meal as recommended by Xavier - a delicious blend of garnacha, syrah and merlot. We spent a couple of hours in the sun simply enjoying the scenery, food, wine and one another's company. It really was one of those "bon moments". 

Once we were replete, we got back into the car and went inland to the small medieval town of Peratellada which literally means "carved stone". It dates back to the 11th century and is known for its stone buildings, passageways and rutted streets. I thought it was just beautiful. You can decide for yourself as you look at the pictures below.

This picture is of the Keep which includes the tower and the wall built to defend the village.

Needless to say, we stopped here for a beverage in the small town square before walking back through the village to the car.

Night was drawing near, but my companions wanted me to see the city centre of Girona. Girona is the capital of the province of Girona in Catalan. As we drove into the outskirts of the city, I was not impressed by what I saw. However, once we parked the car and walked into the centre of town, I was absolutely gobsmacked. It was stunnning by night. Unfortunately, my camera does not capture great pictures at night, so you will just have take my word for it.

The Cathedral of Girona 

The photo below is of one of the pedestrian streets in the city centre. As you can see, it is a "happening place". Wouldn't it be nice to see downtown streets in Edmonton lined with outdoor cafes, restaurants, independent shops and filled with people?

By this time, we were all pretty worn out and it was time to head back to Barcelona. Again, I had a terrific day! Thanks Gemma and Xavier for making it possible.