As cheap as wine???

I heard wine was cheap in France but I didn’t realise it until I took a good hard look in the wine aisle of the supermarket.  Shocking…

This high end bottle costs a glorious Euro 1.93 which, I suspect, also includes tax.

Now we start getting into the classy stuff at Euro 1.15 (or Euro 1.59 if you dare…)

And the best for last, our prime house blend at Euro 1.09.  Amazing…

Technorati Tags: France,Wine

Carcassonne: Disco Lives Here

 

A city which reads like a formulaic romance novel sometimes opens it’s cover to reveal pages formed from square disco ball mirrors.  As the light reflects, you gaze amazed at what you see.  I arrived at Carcassonne expecting a simple wine festival but I got a lot more.

The festival was held in a small square in the downtown core of the city, away from the hypertouristy citadel of UNESCO notoriety.  The stalls circled the open area and were filled with a local wine – a wine celebrated each year during it’s harvest.  Bottles ran from a ridiculous 5 Euro to a whopping 8 Euro.  Wine, as you can see, is as cheap as chips.  By glass number three, I was already hearing the disco in my head.

Disco rained through the event.  First, it came from one stall and the crowd lovingly congregated around the deep funky sound waves, huddled around wine barrels used as tables and freely uncorked.  Then, without notice, the Docteur arrived.

There is nothing more I can say about Docteur Groove that the video cannot.  Truly, the tuxedo with tails lined in zebra print are an expression of their awesomeness.  I cannot imagine anything more incredible than an 8 piece brass band with added electric guitar and percussion playing James Brown and other funk classics.   

 

My time in France has been about French food.  I may never have another time to experience this food and so I have been engorging myself in all the French culinary experience possible from the bizarre french fry and duck fat sandwich to the charros to the beef bourgneon.

I had never heard of the Gibson Brothers before but they are apparently quite big here.  The sing in English, Spanish, French and in the greatest language of them all – DISCO.  With hips shaking, two massive drum solos and an abundance of audience participation, the disco rang large from the Brothers with two versions of CUBA.

Charlotte is a friend of mine whom I met many years ago in India.  She took a small trip to Carcassonne away from her English home to meet me for the festival. It was wonderful to see her. 

Sorry for taking so long to post.  This was all done last weekend but it has take me a while to get my YouTube videos uploaded.

Technorati Tags: Carcassonne,France,Wine,Music,Concert

Toulouse: A European City

I have been to many European cities.  I have lived in Europe for two years in two separate cities (London and Prague) and travelled through many more.  Toulouse feels like a very European city.  The six story building with their ancient architecture , a central main square and undefined sidewalks which blend into roads detail everything I remember from many years of travel through Europe.  Toulouse has a typical quaintness to it.  I didn’t take too many pictures as you can find millions of these all over the internet. 

I headed to Toulouse to get my vaccinations for Africa – Yellow Fever, Typhoid and Hep A/B.  Taking the train there, I got to see the magnificent Southern French landscape and, every once and a while, I get hit with the idea that I am in France – a warm glow envelopes me and I realize that my adventure is just beginning.

I got to do some very typical French things in Toulouse which I can’t do while staying at the gite.  I ate a crepe with sugar (though I regret not getting it with Nutella – France’s national nut-infused chocolate spread).

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Then, I had a very small coffee with Nutella in it.  In typical French fashion, the coffee flavour was well burnt and the Nutella unremarkable even though I did order a ‘Noisette’.  It was a 30 cent experiment.

I did find what made Toulouse unique.  It appears that Toulouse is the home of the French alien communication center as can be seen by the satellite dishes in their main square though it is also possible that these could be for some sort of rock concert/festival but I choose to let my unjustified illogical assumption of alien communication be correct.  Also, I may have heard someone say in French “I can’t wait to get off of this god damn mostly-English speaking ball of mostly water” though I may be wrong as my French is VERY limited.

Also, I noticed that the French have a hard time fully understanding the concept of a grilled cheese sandwich.   Either these are to be used to appease their alien overlords or they need to send a sandwich ambassador over to Canada to see how to make a truly awesome grilled cheese sandwich.

For those interested, I got all my vaccinations and even got a Polio vaccination added to the mix just for the hell of it – it was free!

Technorati Tags: France,food,Nutella,Toulouse,aliens