Here we are, Week 9--one more week to go before "Re-entry"! Can't believe it! We've just finished a lovely week, full of new experiences & old friends. Can't beat it!

Thursday, August 15 was "La Fete de La Vierge", a holy day that's also a national holiday, & serves as the official reminder that summer is almost over in France. Although this holiday floats with the date, it is very similar to Labor Day weekend for the States, where families gather for barbeques and lament that school has already started (how did this ever happen?) & summer is over. We were invited to spend the day at the country house of our friends Benedicte & Michel, in another province called L'Aveyron, about 2 hours north of us. Benedicte was our "jeune fille au pair" when our daughter was 2 and our son 5, many many years ago, & we've kept in touch with frequent visits to see them at La Ferriere in L'Aveyron as well as at their full-time house in Mudaison, near Montpellier. Both houses are fabulous, & totally different in style. She's a successful artist (abstract) & he is a consultant for Johnson & Johnson.

We arrived around noon, & were immediately given our aperitifs & a little hors d'oeuvre before we sat down "a table". The setting is incredibly beautiful (vistas of hills, trees, blue skies, & endless fields) from their high (1000 meters) perch. The house was built to house an overnight school run by nuns. Local boys had to board there (on what is now the second & third floor bedrooms) because the snow was so treacherous they couldn't come daily. The property was charming when we saw it over 25 years ago, but has morphed into downright gorgeous since then. Along with bathrooms & updated kitchen, they have added a porte-cochere, a platform for the long outdoor table (where we had dinner), & all kinds of plantings, steps, little lookout spots, etc, Nearby was a chapel & a home for the priest which they now own. We can't wait to see what they will do with that!

Benedicte is an excellent cook! See the pictures on our album labeled Week 9 to get an idea of how well we ate, & how much we all enjoyed our meal. All local food, prepared with the basics of southern France--lots of vegetables & tons of olive oil. We enjoyed seeing 2 of the 3 children, some sisters & their families, & an aunt & uncle, as well as a couple whom we've never before met. We always meet someone new at Benedicte's! And this year, Les was able to communicate so much better with everybody. He has made great progress with his French. Check out our album & you'll see him chatting away with a smile on his face.

The schedule never varies. Arrival, hors d'oeuvres, dinner, dessert, coffee in a lounge chair under the trees, & then, Une Ballade (a walk). This time we drove to our walking spot, a very large loop through a forest, full of beautiful things: ferns, wild strawberries, mushrooms (not eatable kind yet), herbs, poisonous plants, & anthills. One of the women collected the wild strawberries for making jam: can you imagine doing this in the US?

And, as usual, around 6:30, after repeated suggestions that we spend the night, Les & I get in the car & head home. This means going by way of the Millau bridge, a spectacular creation that cuts the trip by at least 6 hours. This is about twice as incredible as the Cooper River Bridge in Charleston, which is quite impressive & very appreciated by we Charlestonians.

Friday morning found us at the golf course again, & Friday evening at Villeneuvette, a former "manufacture royale" under Louis XIV. It was here that they made royal cloth until the Revolution, then even Napoleon used the "tissu" from there for his soldiers' uniforms. Abandoned & in ruins in the 1900s, it's now been designated "ville classifiee" since 1995, & contains rental units for tourists in what used to be a Pullman-like model city in the late 19th & early 20th century. The entrance actually has a motto which says "Honor in Work". See a few photos on Week 9's album, & if you are really intrigued, there's another album created last year called "Villeneuvette". We actually went there to see "Le Magician d'Oz", but alas, the Wizard was late! We decided not to wait the 3 hours until he would arrive, & headed on to dinner.

On Saturday, we decided to brave the horrific A9, the main east-west highway in southern France, full of cars on Saturdays, which is "changeover day" for the weekly rental trade. Our destination: Barjac, a city that hosts a huge antique market, the "Brimfield" of southern France. Beautiful things at very good prices, the dealers' booths went on & on. We looked, but the only thing we bought were new sunglasses for Les. But the experience was lots of fun.

From there, we headed to Uzes, a city that is a bit out of the way, above Nimes, in Provence. What a way to spend a sunny warm Provencal afternoon--walking around a medieval walled city. This city's history is complex & intriguing. The first "duchy" of France, the duc was 1 of the 3 powers who ruled the city & surrounding region. The other two powers were the bishops & of course, eventually, the king. Each power has his own palace & tower. We loved the "jardin mediovale", behind the duke's tower, & we loved the beautiful shaded "Place de la Fontaine" in the city center. Once again, see our Week 9 album for pictures of this new favorite city we finally found.

Back to Lamalou-les-Bains for dinner & a "nostalgie" concert. This was free event in the "Place du Casino", where about 500 people listened and sang along with a very energetic troup of young people who interpreted the songs of the 60s. Our favorite was "Itsy-Bitsy-Teeny-Weeny-Yellow-Polka-Dot-Bikini, and I downloaded a very short video of it because it was so cute! We were happily surprised to recognize many of the songs, but we had never heard "Mon petit Gonzalez" before & it was a tremendous crowd-pleaser for those around us.

Sunday was a quiet day--off for a "balade" (walk) at a familiar spot, which, alas, isn't a good place to walk anymore! They've changed it all around, & Mother Nature has been replaced by a formal running track & outdoor theater. We did manage to find the River Orb for a lovely picnic by a waterfall.

As we start our 10th & final week, we are finishing up a few things on our "get-done-before-we-go" list. We still have one final art exposition in Montpellier to visit on Saturday, & intend to try out the operetta option in nearby Lamalou on Sunday. Things are quieter here, & we're looking forward to seeing our children, grand-children, & families in Chicago on the way back to Charleston.

We hope your August is going well, & that you too are looking forward to autumn. It's a beautiful time of the year.

Love,

Elise & Les