Fun in the sun with wine and cheese!!
Wednesday 30th July 2008
We have had a great two weeks catching up with the family. Life in the Samoussy Maison Forestiere is different from our travels on the road but provides us with a great insight into the rhythm of life in country France. Marie-Claude is always busy and seems to be able to survive on very few hours of sleep. Her days are consumed with washing, ironing, cooking, food preparation, shopping, gardening (she grows her own veges), tending to the animals, transporting children and supervising homework, and in the midst of all of this she organised a family barbeque to celebrate Romain’s eighteenth and success at achieving his Bac, Anne’s twenty-first and Dominic’s mum’s seventieth. This was on Sunday and was held in the backyard on an unusually hot summer’s day (the mercury reached 32 degrees!) We had a lovely day and it was interesting to note the differences and similarities between a French and an Aussie barbie. The first difference: as the guests arrive everyone kisses on each cheek (Natalie finds this a bit overwhelming!). Second point of difference: everyone sits around a large table and the drinks and nibblies are not served until all the guests are seated and everyone eats with knives and forks from a plate at the table; no hamburger buns and no balancing on the lap! Third point of difference: Cheese is served following the meal (YUM!) before dessert. Point of similarity: the wine flows freely and everyone chats, laughs and has a good time!
Philippe spends his days in the forest but is always back at the house for the midday meal which is mostly hot and comprises three courses. Dinner is never before 9.00pm so there is plenty of time for afternoon activities. The other day Philippe challenged us (Dominic and Alison) with an 8 kilometre walk through the forest. It took three hours and we had no stops for rest. We managed it well but were puffing and sweating a good deal more than Philippe for whom it was an afternoon stroll!
The medieval city of Laon is close by (9 kilometres) and is a on a hill (the only one for miles around). It is surrounded by ramparts and entered by one of three gates, which are like a narrow tunnel under a bridge. In the centre of the city is a beautiful Cathedral that can be seen on the horizon from a great distance. The city has many old buildings, tiny cobbled streets and atmospheric bars. We found ourselves in one such bar one very hot afternoon to quench our thirst with a draught beer (Natalie had icecream). Summer has hit with a vengeance. Quite a few days have reached into the thirty’s but worst of all the evenings are so hot that sleep is almost impossible. Houses are well equipped for the cold with heating but there is no provision for the heat; no fans (not even of the pedestal variety) and certainly no air conditioning.
On Monday we had the wonderful opportunity of visiting a French farm. Marie-Claude’s two brothers share the running of the family farm and Sylvie (Marie-Claude’s sister-in-law) very kindly offered to show us around. We rode in a wheat harvester and also a tractor which was pulling a machine for rolling the hay into big balls (this tractor was being driven by Sylvie’s 15 year old son, Guillaume). Natalie was amazed that a boy could drive a tractor! We saw the cows and their calves and all the animals at the farm house- an old horse, a rabbit, a ferret, two dogs and a collection of pigeons.
Yesterday we took Dominic’s mother to a Specialist’s appointment in Rouen which gave us the chance to briefly revisit the Cathedral (of Monet fame) and the memorial to Joan of Arc (in the place where she was burned at the stake). We have been spending a couple of nights each week at Nana’s place which has been lovely for us all. There is only one more week of this family leg of the trip and it is amazing to think how quickly the time has gone considering this was the ‘laid back’ section of our trip. This time next week we will be on the road again heading towards the Atlantic Coast.
A bientot!
