Holiday’s are funny things. You wait for them to arrive with excitement and expectation. The travelling is usually exhausting and takes a couple of days to get over. You then spend the rest of the first week trying to unwind and forget about all your cares and concerns and just as you reach that state of holiday ‘nirvana’ you gotta start thinking about packing it all up and doing the process in reverse…especially if you have to check in for a 6.30 am flight at an airport 150 kms away……
Actually only some of the above was true for out trip to South West France this month, and I have returned more relaxed, slightly sun tanned and ready to set about the Autumn.
Some thoughts and observations, just to cover the time it takes me to write something serious in here!
The French are friendly, open and welcoming outside Paris…we both speak a smattering of French but found that once that was exhausted most folk happily spoke a smattering of English. We were greated on the street warmly and can recommend the Drome area fully.
Fresh fruit, vegetables, bread and meat is an absolute joy..the processed rubbish most of us eat pales in comparison.
Strong European coffee is just amazing and with fresh pastry its even better!
The roads in the mountains are mind blowing!
It does rain in the South of France…but after its fallen the country becomes beautifully lush and green and the smell of life and growth is a reward beyond compare.
Ancient architecture…the beauty can move me to genuine tears. If you get to the South West get to Orange and go to the ampitheatre….stunning.
Quaint hill top villages and Romanesque churches can get boring….but quiet never does.
And that was the thing that touched me most – the peace and quiet of the rural place is so rewarding, so healing. We are surrounded by background noise at all points in our urban settings, even in the middle of the night, and true quiet is very rare. I believe that we need to get away from the noise of life regularly, find a quiet place and then sit in that space for as long as we need to let some of the tensions and frustrations of life pass away.
September 22, 2009 at 2:28 pm |
So glad that you guys had fun. And I KNOW, the coffee/ espresso over there is amazing!