Finn's Got Braggin' Rights This Week

This past week four important things have occurred in Finn's world:

1. He got a solo part in the Christmas carol service which will be held at St. Edward's on the last day of term;

2. He received a Silver Award on a recent nationwide maths exam. To put this into perspective, I think six kids in year six got silver and only three got a gold award (all were boys) out of a total of about 90 kids. At first, we thought he had received a bronze award, but when his certificate came home, it said silver and silver it truly is;

3. He received the French award for the week for "improved effort and concentration";

4. He was officially accepted into St. Edward's Senior School for the 2009-10 year and beyond - not that we were worried, but he did have to pass an entrance exam.

I think this move was a good idea.

Also, he lost a tooth and his birthday is next week.

Tour de France Stage 5: Castles and Forts

It is a sunny day but absolutely FREEZING outside so I am blogging my heart out while watching One Tree Hill, The OC and The Gilmore Girls wrapped in a blanket, trying to catch up on our adventures. It's taken so long because my camera battery died in France and I had to buy a disposable one and then use all the photos and then get it developed. So I finally have photos on CD and shall begin.

Fort de Salses

Fort de Salses was about 10 minutes away from Claira and a very welcome nearby daytrip. We arrived around noon to find out that the fort is closed between the hours of 12-2 PM for lunch! Good thing it was nearby! When we returned, we were treated to a tour completely in French which bored the kids a bit, but luckily we moved around and there was lots to see.

Built by the Catalans at the end of the 15th century, the fortress guarded the former frontier between Catalonia and France. Its layout and architecture, innovative for the time, present a rare example of the transition between medieval castle and the fortresses of the modern period. It is situated in a spot smack in the middle of the coast and the foothills. Travellers were basically forced to pass it on their way.

Finn brought his sketchbook and was a drawing madman!

The little door inside the ginormous door is acually where a person could enter.

Carcassonne

We first saw Carcassonne from the highway as we were heading south to Claira.

Carcassonne is a fortress and simply spectacular. As you enter the castle, it is like entering a maze of shops and restaurants and looks probably just like it did 1000 years ago except with modern items inside the shops. The castle is in the center. I am just going to post a ton of the pictures we took and you can see the magnificence for yourself.

Gorges de Galamus and Peyrepertuse

Author's note: My camera battery died on this day, so all of these photos are copied from a variety of Internet sites, but I chose ones which looked exactly like what we saw. A lot of the prose is also borrowed from Wikipedia, but with my own flair.

In keeping with our castle explorations, we travelled about an hour away to see the Cathar castle, Peyrepertuse. Since we are never ones to get to a site directly, we went up and around and through a very interesting, beautiful and knuckle whitening gorge called Le Gorges de Galamus. The entrance was beautiful with a nice view overlooking l'Hermitage de Saint Antoine. There is also a short trail to closely view the hermitage, but we were eager to see the castle.

I should have pushed for the hermitage trail because the drive through the gorges scared the life out of me. Please note that Craig (not Kris) was driving the somewhat large Pilot down this very narrow cliff-hugging path that is barely wide enough for automobiles, but seemed to be a well-used route for transport. We had a few tight squeezes, but the road was well-equipped to allow for passing. My husband is so much braver than I am because I never would have even considered this way. I did keep my eyes open the entire time though because it really was "gorge"ous - couldn't resist that one!

The road is to the left in this photo.

Time for Wikipedia: "Probably the finest of the 'Cathar castles of Languedoc', Peyrepertuse is situated in a very dramatic location atop a very high, thin rocky needle. The castle appears almost invisible at first, so closely it resembles the rock on which it is built and we can only wonder at the incredible feat it was to build a castle in such a location." The location is very remote and the road to the castle very windy and steep. After arriving at the parking area, we had a quick picnic and proceeded up the dramatic trail. This place was well-worth the trip!


"Peyrepertuse is a ruined fortress and one of the so-called Cathar castles located high in the French Pyrenees. The name of Peyrepetuse is derived from the ancient language called Occitan and means Pierced Rock. The lower portion of the castle was built on a strategic location along the French/Spanish border by the kings of Aragon in the 11th Century and the upper portion by Louis IX later on. The two castles are linked together by a huge staircase. However the castle lost importance as a strategic castle when the border of the two countries was moved in 1659. It was abandoned. Unlike many other castles in the region was never subjected to siege, instead it was handed over to the French government in 1240."
It is also known as one of the "five sons of Carcassonne", five major castles which were used to protect the border. As we drove back home, we were able to see another "son", Quéribus, atop its mountain and it was also impressive. That castle can be seen easily, but most of the castle is actually situated underground.

Okay, time to vacuum!

Oops!

I just realized I must have deleted this photo of Evan in front of the fortress as I was editing some text. Sorry, Ev!

Tour de France Stage 4: Torrières & Collioure

We took it easy the next day and went to the beach at Torrières about 15 minutes away. The beach was completely empty mainly because it was chilly but the sun was shining. The kids got into the water, but Craig and I didn't even attempt it. We searched for shells, played boule and had a picnic. We did have a very interesting experience with what seemed to be a homeless and crazy gypsy woman. Far off in the distance, we saw a figure approaching and dragging something. As it came closer, we saw it was a woman pulling a basket on wheels along the coastline. She stopped directly in front of us, mumbled something, started playing in the sand looking for something, stood back up and continued on her journey. Then about 25 feet away from us, she sat down and rested for about 15 minutes, got back up and continued on her way and eventually disappeared. Just one of those kooky things. Craig and I couldn't get over the amount of energy required to drag that wheeled basket along the sand.

The next day we planned to go into Perpignan to see a fortress and the big city. We entered the city and found our destination but could not find a single place to park! Sooo, we decided to keep going south to a small town called Collioure and what a fantastic decision that was! Sometimes things are just meant to be. The town was simply charming and picturesque as you will see in the following photos. We played in the sand, shopped, toured around the Templar castle which jutted out into the water. Matisse and especially Picasso spent a lot of their time painting in this town (Picasso was born very closeby). We had a very enjoyable day.

Nous aimons Collioure.

The patenque or boule court

There were probably 5 or 6 games being played simultaneously. The man in the baseball cap is holding a string with a magnet on the end and uses it to pick up his ball. The trees have hooks sunk into them at shoulder height to hang your boule bag and equipment.