From one home to the other.

One last breakfast down at the coffee shop (maybe 50 feet from the front door); one last market day; one last lunch (as yet unplanned) then it’s back on a train – another bout of approx. 7 hours – then I’ll be back “home”.

I really kind of circulate in between three: my own, my housemate’s and in the summer the mountain flat so travelling from one to the other is always going home.

Then there’s the family – sibling’s – homes, the close friends, the in-laws. All are variations of “going home” with the trip in between being shorter or longer.

So bye bye Argelès-sur-Mer, its artists, its scenery and its budding Spring flowers and hello HOME.

Street artists abound

La Massane

 

slowly the Spring flowers are blossoming

TPP – no not the Trade Agreement, rather

Tapas, Passing Time and Palm Sunday.

Tapas, wonderful tapas: Saturday night we, three friends, headed for Al Raparou in Argelès-sur-Mer www.facebook.com/al.raparou where we ordered a selection of tapas and washed them down with a local wine, a Mas Rous.

To the tune of much laughter, oh-ing and ah-ing and in particular ummmmmmmm….ing we proceeded to thoroughly enjoy ourselves.

Al Raparou

Tapas galore

Great little local wine

Passing Time: That time of the year that I absolutely abhor (and no it isn’t too strong a word for how I feel!) when we loose an hour during our sleep. Least said, best said.

Palm Sunday: the bells rang at 10 and I wondered then if it was for mass at the church down the street to end, or for its beginning. When they really rang at 11:30 I knew that church was out so walked the 50 steps to the end of the street to enjoy the sight of all the believers having their palm branches – in this case usually olive tree branches – blessed.

Church in Argelès-sur-Mer

Local equivalent of Palm branches

Bunches and bunches

One of the angel statues on the square

Then it was off to the harbour and a delicious lunch at one of our friend’s restaurants:

Sofi at T’Hé au Quai https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100006052279360&fref=ts where she produces some of the loveliest local delicacies.

Even the sky needed sunglasses

table settings at T'he au Quai

Hors d'oeurves

Local speciality a "Torrade" with salad

Every bit as good as it looks!

A walk along the harbour walls (we left the beach for another day as very windy) and yet more interesting cloud patterns made the day feel full – and very vacation like.

 

more interesting clouds over the harbor

"Jaws" - which number?

Village R & R or…

The (boring) story of my past two days vacation: for any of you who are allergic to the “I” or “we” narratives, stop right here.

The Canigou - photo especially for Rick who is probably homesick

Now R&R stands for rest and relaxation – and that was the main reason for coming, however I could also add F&F for Flowers and Food or 80 steps – the amount it takes to go from my housemate’s lodgings to the local cinema where we saw a film on Iceland (fond memories of our trip almost seven years ago).

Although said housemate was no where to be seen upon my arrival – it turns out that she was in the hospital with yet another oesophageal attack (but was getting out shortly according to the landlord who heard me ringing the bell) – we did recuperate the flowers that she had bought to welcome me from the doctor’s office yesterday morning.

beautiful lilies

Once these attacks have been taken care of – she has no lingering side affects (thank goodness) so once we had had our “writing session” when we saw that the chocolate tarte was part of the lunch menu we reserved seats!

Tuna steak with a tarragon sauce, rice, salad and grilled tomato

chocolate tarte - the whole "formula" was EUR 11

Sparkling water makes pretty ring reflections

After lunch in order to somewhat compensate for the calories (note I did say somewhat – I needed to have hiked 50 kms probably) I took a walk around the village and over the bridge to check out the water levels (flooding earlier this year was bad and it had rained heavily again last week). Cloud formation was fascinating as was the view towards the Canigou (local mountain).

The "Massane" river

Yes, this is the "normal" crossing - sometimes one can't.

 Of course coffee time rolled around and it was out to check the new tearoom: I approve.

Afternoon coffee and a cookie

Then we had our own little repast, including champagne as we set down to finally look at Season 5 of “The Good Wife” – I have had the DVDs for months now, but our divergent schedules had not allowed us to start. All in all the perfect holiday day.

Foie gras, cheeses, champagne - what's not to like about "nibbles"

This morning was market day – in a village in Southern France, it is always a big deal and my favourite olive guy was there so life is good. We sensibly ate leftover lentil soup and a fresh green salad from the market before I had a “pause” on the couch.  Then it was 80 steps to the cinema the film on Iceland.

Part of the Saturday market that spreads throughout the village

rain spouts are fascinating in this part of the world

Another unusual cloud formation on today's walk

Tonight we’ll visit another friend so that I can see her new flat then the three of us will go have “tapas” (the Spanish version of cocktail nibbles) in the new Tapas restaurant. I will again sleep splendidly – especially knowing that Sunday is the one day the trash pickup doesn’t take place: at 5:21 both mornings they were just three feet from the foot of my bed!

A walk, my version, plus walk 2

Having had a (very) leisurely Sunday morning at 11 I finally decided that perhaps I should go and check out the painters on the square by the music building: skyped my housemate to let her know (well actually skyped her husband and she didn’t seem to be on) and took off. Arrived at the square – big deception – no painters, but it did turn up housemate and husband together with another friend (who is flying off tomorrow, so glad I got to see her today).

They were off on a walk, including an area that I had not yet seen so tagged along.

Her account: http://theexpatwriter.blogspot.fr/2014/08/a-walk.html

Of this particular walk I only took a few pictures. Note the lushness of the riverbed (end August and I have never seen it this green!) and the blueness of the sky: a slight wind making the whole thing a great day to be out for a walk.

bull rushes, cat 'o nine tails, whatever ...

river bed on the last day of August - should be brown

the flowers, the sky - the colors are very bright

corner mirror in the village of Argelès-sur-Mer

I left them still meandering as I needed to get to the store for some sparkling water for our guests tonight, then after circling and circling wanting to drop the water off at their place, gave up and lugged it up the stairs, presuming (rightly as it turns out) that they had run into more friends and stopped along the way: even I rarely make it out the door without running into someone that I know.

After a light lunch I decided that I really should go down to the beach at least once (everyone knows that my favorite place is the mountains, but if one is near the beach, one should at least see it!) so off on walk two. This time it was the architecture and in particular, the cornices of the houses in the village that caught my attention. What a variety, what beauty.

wonder why the point? why the kind of arrow?

New Orleans wrought iron

left window - glass; right old-fashioned wood and brick

intricate patterns for the grills

fairly typical balcomney and cornices

the 

elaborateness

of times past

two separate cornices: top - wood; bottom ceramic

you kind of wonder what the builder was taking when he did this one!

Once at the beach checked on my favorite stores then caught the tourist train back to the center of the village.