From winter lair to spring at Valence
We had a wonderful Christmas. As you perhaps know we are celebrating the 24th of December with our Christmas Dinner and gifts. Besides our own dinner we had to prepare some dishes for next day. The “French team” – Boaters from the harbour trying to learn some French – had decided to have a Christmas dinner together with our teacher Mireille and Maurice who has invited us into his house for the lessons and the dinner.
It became a wonderful day. The food was a mix of French and international dishes.
Around New Year some of our friends from Denmark visited us. We showed them Valence and the surroundings. We would have gone to the Alps but snow had closed some roads. It was a cold period but our friends had warm cloth so there were no problems. It was so nice to have them around.
Right now we are sitting looking at “our” mountains/rocks in Ardèche at the other side of the Rhône River. They are beautiful, robust and fascinating. All the time they are changing character depending of time of the day and the weather.
Valence is a nice and living town; not a dedicated tourist town so all year round you have market twice a week and a lot of small shops.
The main sights are an old roman cathedral and a very impressive park with pools, fountains, statues and monuments.
On Sundays the town is very quiet – in fact there are very few people in the streets. At that time we love to walk around looking at the buildings and when it is sunny we are having a cup/glass outside a café.
Close to the harbour we have supermarkets with every thing for the daily use so it is easy to shop when you have got your car. It is also a possible to go to bowling and outside the harbour you will find 3 to 4 vans with initiative dark ladies in minimal costumes, it seems there are costumers most of the time. – But never on Sundays. J
Together with our English neighbours we have had a tour to the Alps; a wonderful tour through Gorges and charming little villages.
We are having our French lessons once a week and besides the education and the talks about society; the social aspect is a good thing.
The spring is just around the corner. Daffodils and other flowers are looking at the sun and the trees have buts. Sometimes it can be a bit cold in the night but since late January we have had no frost.
We have been feeding the ducks and swans in the cold months. Now we have a duck couple coming every morning to be feed by the hand. If we are too slow the “she duck” walks to our pantry window and tap at the window.
In the morning 100 – 200 cormorants are fishing around and under our boat; they are making a lot of noise. They are catching some big fish – they don’t know it is forbidden to eat fish from Rhône River because of the pollution.
In February the Monte Carlo Rally had the base at Valence and the week after the Monte Carlo Rally Historic. It was fun to see the historical cars. Some of them have participated for several years.
Last week we drove to Carcassonne in order to check out the harbours on our summer cruise starting late April. We stayed at a Guest House in an old castle from the 11th century; if you going to the Corbières hills we can recommend this guest house.
http://www.lerocsurlorbieu.com/index.html
On the 18th of March NUSER II will be taken out of the water. We have to inspect the anodes and paint it below the water line. We also have to paint the railing and the engine room.
We
have been taking about why we still are enjoying this kind of living. We
don’t have much clothing; we can wear the same sweater for 5 days (we
are having a bath every day
J).
Some days we are having new experiences other days we are just lazy. Of
course we are doing the normal daily things – cleaning shopping etc. The
essential is that we have chosen freedom.
We are enjoying every day; meeting people you wouldn’t have met in
Denmark hear their stories etc.
We think we are having a wonderful life.
Love
Jytte and Rudy
Valence
3rd of February 2008
Updated the 03.03.2008