Vive la France!!

IF IT’S FRANCE……………………

Ransaville is in his element!!!

The train from Barcelona to Montpelier was apparently run by a combination of the Spanish and French and as such, was not nearly as elegant as those trips we took in Spain. We held off breakfast expecting the warm cloth to wash our hands before being served some sumptuous for travel food. No such luck! By mid-morning we found our way to the snack bar - three cars up. Rance had a baguette with 3 scrawny slices of ham and I settled for a bag of bar-be-cue cheetos in the form of little soccer balls! Needless to say, the beverage of choice was wine.

In Montpellier, we rented a car and after spending a “certain amount of time” finding our way out of the city, drove to our little city of Uzès. Once here, we met our landlady in front of La Poste and she led us (50 second drive) to our new home for 8 days!

The Princess in her tower!

It’s hard to tell you how delighted we were to walk up one flight on a winding staircase in an 18th century tower and enter an incredibly charming apartment which overlooks one of the city squares. If we can we’ll try to attach a video of our apartment, but in any case we will definitely attach the view from our window of the Saturday market as well as a view of little entry door and window – which we keep open all the time we’re “in residence”. Since we’re so happy to be in this lovely apartment, let us begin by describing it: in addition to the natural delight we found on entering it, we quickly discovered that it is mildly famous in its own right. On our second day here we took a self guided tour of the old town and found that our building is #2 on the official city tour – so other tours stop and stare up at our window (or maybe they know it is us!). The apartment belonged to the Mayor of Uzès in the 1700’s – is now one of just three apartments in the building - and belongs to us for a week! It is located at the base of the Duché walls, and just outside the Bishop’s tower. As I write this, the bells are sounding the hour – the only other noises are the walkers going by on the street below and Jacqueline Du Pré playing the cello on my computer, which I love playing in these surroundings (or anywhere else, for that matter!). No sounds of traffic, since there is nothing but a walking area all around us.

Just chillin out in our apt

It is hard to capture what a wonderful oasis of calm and joy we have found here – everything we had hoped, and more!! HOWEVER, regarding the hourly bells – although they only ring from 7:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m., they do ring the hours with a strange constancy; i.e. 7:00 a.m. or p.m. is announced by 7 rings. Then about 3 minutes later, they ring that same number again. We finally questioned our waitress about it last night as we ate outside at about 8:00 p.m. and heard them ring – and then ring again! She told us what we had suspected all along. They ring once – and then again for those who may not have paid attention. Easy as that! OH! And there is another noise we have come to recognize – just before the 7:00 a.m. bells, some old guy goes up the cobblestone street by our bedroom with a wheelbarrow carting something to one of the stores on the square. Kind of a fun way to be awakened!

Since I speak no more French than “un vin blanc, s’il vous plâit” and “merci”, Rance has taken charge of all our adventures – from restaurant ordering (naturally) to getting information on drives to Côte du Rhone from the Tourist Bureau to all the hunting and gathering involved with in-house food and drink to getting our laundry done by the sister-in-law of the lady who owns the shoe shop just down the street. We’ve also acquired tickets to hear The Messiah in the Cathedral and bought toenail clippers in the local pharmacy.

As usual, Rance will give you more of the in-depth historical information on the city and the buildings here. I will say that we have both enjoyed tremendously being in Uzès. We have poked in hidden alleyways, hidden little gardens, lots of wonderful shops full of potpourri, soaps, ceramics, linens, and took a long walk down and out of the city along the Alzon river, a stream the Romans used to provide water for the aqueduct they built to supply Nîmes around 70 BC – very cool. Well, I poked in the shops; Rance has enjoyed the walks and going each morning for the International Herald Tribune and the fresh croissants. This has been absolutely the right place at the right time for our adventures.

We really didn’t want to do very much here, certainly no “4 AM Peruvian tours”, or having to change hotels etc. We just wanted to chill out in a delightful quaint little town, filled with beauty, charm, restaurants, hikes and no American tourists – in fact, most French people were amazed that we found this place. So for the first three days we never even went near the car but just hiked all around. There is a lot of history, here, too, which pleases me – the original three towers in the town were built in the 12th Century, and over the years with the religious wars, revolutions against the king, etc. they became known as the towers of the King, the Bishop and the Duché . The family of the original Duke of Uzès still owns this Duché - his tower and its many times renovated beautiful residence. We hiked to the top of the tower for a wonderful and windy view of the manor, town and surrounding area – called the Uzege - and then toured the manor. It is a wonderful castle/manor home, used by the family when in residence and open to tourists like us when not – and to think the owner can trace his roots back to the 11th Century!

Susan hangin' on for dear life atop the tower!