2018-05-19 Pezilla de Riviera

I am heartbroken to leave the Hotel Bernis, an oasis in the middle of Nimes and the raucous Feria.

Today, we drive to Pezilla de Riviera to meet up with Cathy at her old friend, Thierry, at his home. We will spend the night and leave the next day for Les Saintes Marie de la Mer.

The drive is uneventful. Pezilla is located on the “frontier” of France which means it is 20 minutes to the Spanish border and Andorra. It is small town outside of Perpignan. By the time we see the signs for Montpellier the Mediterranean peaks over the landscape on our left. The land is more arid than I imagined yet wildflowers abound in all colors. It was a rainy spring here.  This is the land of the Mistral Winds. Signs on the highway (A9) warn that they can blow caravans (campers) off the road. The winds can blow up to 50mph – higher for gusts.  Windsocks appear along the road at intervals, something I am only used seeing at airfield.

Thierry's home

Thierry, though a farmer lives “in town”. He lives in his mother’s 3-story home, which he inherited after her death. He laughs and says he was born around the corner, 2 houses down from where he lives now. 

He has created a fabulous, farm-fresh, French family meal for our arrival. Like farmers around the world the main meal is lunch. I ask how many other people are going to be served given the amount of food he has on the table. Baked vinegar chicken, multicolored sliced tomato’s off his farm-sprinkled with herbs de province, green bean and spinach salad with candied walnuts and chevre cheese. A gigantic bowl of mixed vegetables (roasted fennel, garbanzo’s etc) fresh bread, and red wine.

After lunch, with nothing put away (how very French – “we can do that later”) we take all 3 of our vehicles to the train station in Perpignan. Ours needs to be returned and Thierry is picking up his daughter Juliet, who has been in Indonesia finishing up her master’s Degree in education.  The whole trip is like the 3 stooges return a car, but we get the job done and Juliet comes home with us. 

Thierry’s girlfriend is coming over to watch the closing ceremony of the Caan Film Festival. She has a friend who is presenting. We whoop and holler when we catch a glimpse of the friend on the runway. Then we make fun of the stars who are attending. By this time, there are 10 bottles of wine and appertifs on the table in front of us and still, lunch has not been put away.

Now that we all have some liquid courage, it’s time to debut “ Le Catastrophic” our new band name. We all howl with laughter because we are so very bad – add to that tipsy. Thierry takes out his guitar which he hasn’t played in some while.

We play and drink till it’s time to eat again – around midnight.  Very French indeed.