It’s that time of the year, yes, Christmas time! Last year, me and Mathilde spent Christmas apart, so we decided we would definitely spend it together this time. So Angers it was then, this time. We decided to drive via Montpellier and Auvergne this time, since we quite like the motorway, A75, that goes up from Montpellier to Clermont-Ferrand. And best of all, it’s cheaper, and there’s less traffic. We spent the first night in Monptellier, which is a nice enough city we’ve stopped over at before. Our hotel was a bit outside the time centre, and a French movie “classic” (Rien à declarer) was on later on Canal+, so we decided on a quick dinner at a local eatery recommended by the nice lady at the reception. And it was a very good choice indeed, a pity we had to rush back for the movie. But hey, what could possible beat Dany Boon and Benoit Poelvoorde (of “Man bites dog” fame) playing out French/Belgian clichés?
The next day, we carried on, making a stopover in La Couvertoirade, a rather well-known fortified town (apparently?) just off the motorway. This little gem of a village dates back all the way to the 11th century, and was at one point owned by the Knight’s Templars. It’s certainly one of the most picteresque villages I’ve been to in France. Judging by all the shops, the place must be a bit of a tourist trap in the summer, but this time around, there was hardly a soul in sight (tourist or local). Perhaps due to the icy winterly wind ? Be that as it may, it was pretty much the perfect little stop-over on our trip.
The rest of the trip was eventless, as we took in the nice landscapes of Auvergne. We arrived in Angers pretty late, but well in time for dinner (that’s the main thing, right? :) ). We celebrated Christmas Eve in a rather quiet manner, just us, Joel, Francoise, Marcelle and Herquise – the food was fabulous though, as always (foie gras, some wild boar, and of course a Bûche de Noël to round off the meal.
On Christmas day, we were having more guests over, Francoise’s children and grand-children, namely, as well as Magali's parents. As tradition would have it, I spent the morning opening up oysters – I must be getting quite good at it by now one would’ve thought? The christmas lunch was, as always, fabulous again. All the children brought a bit of liveliness to the proceedings as well. Later on, we picked up Mathilde’s niece Alix at the train station, who came to Angers for a few days. And, then of course, came the time for the pressies, yippee! But, best of all, it was just really nice to spend some “family time” together, eat good food, and just relax!
On Monday, it was all about relaxing, and eating the left-overs from the previous days’ feasts – something I rather excel at ;-). We also did our traditional “round the lac de Maine” jogging with Mathilde – in rather freezing and foggy conditions (but boy did it make for good photography, just look at the picture here).
For lunch, we headed to Le Mans, to pay a visit to Mathilde’s aunt Danielle (& her husband Francis) as well as her granddad. As expected, Dani had prepared quite a feast for us (and yes, I was opening oysters again!). Two of Mathilde’s cousins also made a surprise visit, which was pretty cool.
The next day, Mathilde's nephews, Paul and Lucas (energetic as always) and little Sihem (cute as always), joined the frey together with their grandmum. We spent a very exciting, and tiring day with them.
In the evening, as a kind of climax for our trip to the west of France, we’d been invited over to Corinne for a party with Mathilde’s friends from her days in Angers. Most of the usual suspects were there, and a few surprise ones: Aude, Magaye, Aldo, Dorine, Marion, Delphine & Christophe. It was all a very good night out, I had a good time hanging out with the other lads (Aldo, Magaye and Christophe). Especially good to catch up with Aldo (who was a great tour guide to us in Arequipa during our visit to Peru, quite a few years back), it’s been quite a while since the last time we met up, in Paris. Big thanks to Corinne for organising a great bash!
The next day, it was time to head back towards the Cote d’Azur. We spent the night in Montelimar, another nice, historic town, located in the Drome (kind of “at the gates of Provence”) department. Montelimar is mostly known for its nougat. We had time for a quick walk around the old town, before having dinner in a nice-looking little bar/restaurant.
From Montelimar, it was an easy 3 hour-drive up to Cagnes, where we had a few hours to repack our bags, before heading to Istanbul for new year!
The next day, we carried on, making a stopover in La Couvertoirade, a rather well-known fortified town (apparently?) just off the motorway. This little gem of a village dates back all the way to the 11th century, and was at one point owned by the Knight’s Templars. It’s certainly one of the most picteresque villages I’ve been to in France. Judging by all the shops, the place must be a bit of a tourist trap in the summer, but this time around, there was hardly a soul in sight (tourist or local). Perhaps due to the icy winterly wind ? Be that as it may, it was pretty much the perfect little stop-over on our trip.
The rest of the trip was eventless, as we took in the nice landscapes of Auvergne. We arrived in Angers pretty late, but well in time for dinner (that’s the main thing, right? :) ). We celebrated Christmas Eve in a rather quiet manner, just us, Joel, Francoise, Marcelle and Herquise – the food was fabulous though, as always (foie gras, some wild boar, and of course a Bûche de Noël to round off the meal.
On Christmas day, we were having more guests over, Francoise’s children and grand-children, namely, as well as Magali's parents. As tradition would have it, I spent the morning opening up oysters – I must be getting quite good at it by now one would’ve thought? The christmas lunch was, as always, fabulous again. All the children brought a bit of liveliness to the proceedings as well. Later on, we picked up Mathilde’s niece Alix at the train station, who came to Angers for a few days. And, then of course, came the time for the pressies, yippee! But, best of all, it was just really nice to spend some “family time” together, eat good food, and just relax!
On Monday, it was all about relaxing, and eating the left-overs from the previous days’ feasts – something I rather excel at ;-). We also did our traditional “round the lac de Maine” jogging with Mathilde – in rather freezing and foggy conditions (but boy did it make for good photography, just look at the picture here).
For lunch, we headed to Le Mans, to pay a visit to Mathilde’s aunt Danielle (& her husband Francis) as well as her granddad. As expected, Dani had prepared quite a feast for us (and yes, I was opening oysters again!). Two of Mathilde’s cousins also made a surprise visit, which was pretty cool.
The next day, Mathilde's nephews, Paul and Lucas (energetic as always) and little Sihem (cute as always), joined the frey together with their grandmum. We spent a very exciting, and tiring day with them.
In the evening, as a kind of climax for our trip to the west of France, we’d been invited over to Corinne for a party with Mathilde’s friends from her days in Angers. Most of the usual suspects were there, and a few surprise ones: Aude, Magaye, Aldo, Dorine, Marion, Delphine & Christophe. It was all a very good night out, I had a good time hanging out with the other lads (Aldo, Magaye and Christophe). Especially good to catch up with Aldo (who was a great tour guide to us in Arequipa during our visit to Peru, quite a few years back), it’s been quite a while since the last time we met up, in Paris. Big thanks to Corinne for organising a great bash!
The next day, it was time to head back towards the Cote d’Azur. We spent the night in Montelimar, another nice, historic town, located in the Drome (kind of “at the gates of Provence”) department. Montelimar is mostly known for its nougat. We had time for a quick walk around the old town, before having dinner in a nice-looking little bar/restaurant.
From Montelimar, it was an easy 3 hour-drive up to Cagnes, where we had a few hours to repack our bags, before heading to Istanbul for new year!
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