Second Honeymoon

Today we set out to relive some memories of our honeymoon in Provence a little over 23 years' ago.

First stop was Uzes which we visited many times all those years ago.  And Wednesday is market day (not as big as the Saturday market but very good just the same).  Uzes doesn't seem to have changed much in all those years and we recognised many of the streets and buildings and had no trouble making our way to and from the market place and our car parked on the outskirts of town.

We bought the usual bread, tomatoes and grapes along with some morilles (morels - wild mushrooms) and a fabulous cheese from the region which we think is called Edel de Cleron - and it's fabulous of course - and then we sat at one of the many cafes surrounding the market square for coffee with entertainment from one of the many busking musicians who were there today.

Then off in the car to revisit Saint-Siffret, the village where we stayed with our three children and Brian's nephew Michael who was travelling the world for a year as part of his 21st birthday celebrations.  

We couldn't recognise the village at all. What was once a simple little French village with dusty cobbled streets on the top of a hill in the middle of rural France, with one tiny shop, village people, children, goats and chickens now looks more like Double Bay! Expensive cars everywhere, restaurants, a hair dressing salon, the old buildings all renovated, and the surrounds are now well-kept wide roads and a housing estate.  We could however see the building where our apartment was - in what was once part of a 14th century castle - but we couldn't get close because it is now surrounded by a large unwelcoming fence and gate with a sign forbidding entry.  We have such fond memories of sitting on the roof terrace for pre-dinner drinks every afternoon with bowls of freshly cooked artichokes, olives, cheese, bagets, unsalted butter and Sigrid's smuggled jar of vegemite! And long games of canasta and Michael's new card game called Indians, around the big kitchen table.  

Then to Pont du Gard, a picnic spot for us at least 2 or 3 times during our stay.  We all loved it so much.  We drove in along a dusty narrow road, parked in a rough limestone carpark, there were a couple of rough looking men with carts who sold bottles of water and sweet drinks (we forbade the children from having any).  We would walk along the river's edge, under the pont, and have a picnic on the rocks by the edge of the river.  There were very few other people there, the children all swam and Michael and the 2 boys would spend what seemed like hours collecting flat pebbles and skipping them across the water.  And we all climbed right up to the top of the pont and walked across it.

Today there is a wide, tree-lined entrance road with roundabouts, a formal parking area that accommodates hundreds of cars and tourist buses (cost 18 euros for us to park there), a shopping mall with boutiques etc etc. We couldn't walk along the water's edge because it is fenced off and had to clamber down steep rocks to get near the little beach where we used to have our picnics - and no-one is able to walk on the top of the pont anymore (not that we were even slightly interested in doing that). And there are thousands of tourists everywhere!  Anyway, it is still absolutely amazing, our picnic was fabulous and I collected 3 flat pebbles and skipped them across the water (only 2 bounces each I'm afraid) for the boys.




Then to complete our Cotes du Rhone tour from yesterday, we drove north to the gorgeous little village of Chateauneuf-du-Pape where Brian tasted and bought a few more wines.

Another simple dinner tonight.  It's been a lovely day of reminiscences. How quickly time flies...