It is time to leave St Cyprien and  go back to the north. It is nice to go away when the sun shines. The way back was also very interesting, but when we woke up after our first stop, we saw the first rain and dark clouds.

Back to normal. Well, it is not too bad, we have some pictures, some films, and a nice tan that will be gone in four weeks from now.

We saw fishers selling their fish and we saw fishing in the sea.

I don't know if it was the same fish that was on sale.

Speedy the dog likes Castles, it must have some royal dog blood. He didn't want to sit in the chair. " Where is the pillow?" He barked.

Another pic of A.T. I never know if  the dog is pulling her or the other way round.

They both want to go to a restaurant...not a fish restaurant please.

That was for now, friends.

Wish you a nice weekend.

Humans say : The time passes by quickly;  but the time says : Humans pass by quickly.

And all the rest is memories. We have now cameras and films to help us in keeping the time still, or pretending to stop it.

One day, when it was less hot, and the sun was having a break, we decided to make a trip to visit the surroundings. I would have loved to take a ride to go to Spain, along the coast roads, but there are so many turns, and A.T. would probably not have survived it. We traveled the wine route of the 'Pyrennéén  Orientale'. All the vineyards amongst the hill sides were picturesque; the only problem was that we couldn't stop anywhere.

We reached a place named  Collioure, famous for their castle. It is sold to the tourists as a Templar Castle - after the success of the DaVinci Code all the castles are called Templar Castles. In reality, this was the castle of the King of Mallorca, in the 12th century - of course, there have been more renovations later.

The other castle of the King of Mallorca is in Perpignan, some miles away.

This King didn't stay long though, but he did his best. This was his Kingdom in the XII and XVth century.

His name in French, is King Jaume II. You can click the pic and read the story. (It is in French, sorry)

The coast around Collioure is breathtaking, beautiful, and full of flowers and birds and insects.

There are small beaches where you go rest and have a swim in the blue waters, where there are no sharks waiting to grab your legs.

There are some olive trees and cactussen, and also fig trees;  this tree had figs, but they were not ripe, the ripe figs had already been eaten by the birds.  I say " It is okay, don't worry," to the tree. He was scared I would get mad.

"One day your figs will be right, when the time comes. Today I will be happy to buy some figs at the supermarket"

The tree waved back with his big leaves.

We had a nice dinner at a restaurant in Argelés sur mére, mussels and frites, and a bottle old dry muscat to go with it. Muscat of Riversalt is a sweet wine that the people here drink as aperitief, but they have also a dry version, and I liked it a lot. Anne ate a big ice cream, and that was more than enough.

The day after we had to go to Aqualand - an aquatic park (waterpark), where the people go  crazy and go sliding all day from terrifying heights.

I will write tomorrow about it.

ST CYPRIEN

The turtle definitely likes the south and she loves the sunshine. She is a gourmet and she loves fresh fish. Moby Dick was having a good time. Once in a while she could stay outside, but not while we were gone because some sea gull could like a taste of turtle.

Speedy the dog was always ready for dinner.

This is one of my little antipasti: radishes, mozzarella and tapenade. Speedy is waiting for the rest.

You never know what can happen in these difficult times, so we had a warship watching over us.

The ship is very far in the distance, just between the two amusement park signs.

Everything went well though. No need for a warship; the seagulls took good care of us.

It was really hot, and I had to buy a hat to cover my head to try to keep my brains from frying. 

Oh well...next time I'll put a red nose on as well...to be a clown.

Not going to the beach with dog. Sorry Speedy, you may be called man's best friend, but you're not allowed in a lot of places.

What kind of people don't allow their best friend to go with them? Weird.

Not that Speedy minds not going to the beach. "Let me hide under the bed, or somewhere where it is fresh," he said. "You go the beach and get burned and don't forget to bring goodies to eat for me."

Speedy is a wise dog.

BACK TO WORK

Today I went back to work. I shut down my brains, put the automatic pilot on and a fake smile on my face, and venture back into the jungle of offices and crabby faces looking at you with their fake smiles. It is all part of the game. Welcome back pal.

I try to put my brains back to normal...what is normal? OK, I was in St Cyprien, in the south of France, sh....it is so far away now.

I have to look at the pictures to refresh the memories again. 

There was a nice market where I could by some nice food and wine. They have a very special wine - muscat - and they have it in two versions. The sweet version is for use as an aperitif, and the dry muscat is served with the meal, usually with fish /sea food. It is very special.

Here in the picture, you see some tomatoes, zucchini, melon, lemon, red onion, apricots, and the green things are fresh almonds. I love them, fresh almonds, they brought me back to my young days, when I was able to climb trees.

There was also a antique markt.

Antique Markets are dangerous things to go to, and I advise all of you to stay away from them. I did good and I was able not to buy anything to the great frustration of Anne Terri.

In front of our place there is a nice fountain and the fountain regenerates the waters of the port.

 There are a lot of palm trees. I must post this picture of Anne Terri. She loves palm trees.

I'm not finished yet. You  know, I don't take vacations very often, and you have to forgive me for posting so much of it.

ST CYPRIEN PLAGE

In the morning of the third day we woke up very early - Corto the rosella takes his job as our alarm clock very seriously...too seriously and too early if you ask me, calling like the rooster that  woke up Peter the Apostle.

 I think Corto thinks the sun is a big red bird like himself and he calls him. Perhaps he thinks he is God and he prays. Who knows?

There are some misty clouds on the sky this morning.

The streets are sleeping and silent in the early morning hour.

St Cyprien is a sea resort built up in the sixties, together with 6 other resorts in the region. St Cyprien has one of the biggest ports of the mediterranean for pleasure boats.

Their position is on the sea next to the mountains, and with a background of fertile plain land, it makes this place an ideal place for tourism.

There are 300 sun days a year (average) and only 60 days with rain: it could be true, because we didn't have one day with rain at all.

Sunday we took it easy; it was a day of rest and we did it.

In the evening we watched the soccer game - Spain against Italy - and Italy lost the game and kept very quiet, because all the people here were taking the side of Spain. (Spain is not far away and they also speak Catalan)

San Ciprià Roussillo (accent on the final o) is the name of the town in Catalan. A lot of names are in Catalan, but the people speak French with an easy south accent. It's amazing how many languages and sublanguages are being spoken in Europe nowadays.

I went out to find some groceries, and most important of all, some food for Speedy the dog. There are no big supermarkets in St Cyprien, and I went to the small local shop, but the guy told me that he didn't have dog meat, and the butcher next door was closed.  I grabbed a packet of hamburger meat, and the guy shop-keeper  was so astonished,  that he kept saying it was Christmas for Speedy. He was sorry Italy lost the game. (Actually he pretended to be sorry when I told him I was Italian).

I had a nice sized chicken for dinner and cooked it in a 'cocotte'.  We didn't dare to use the big gas oven any more, and the result was very good. Speedy was happy too with some chicken, and the Hamburger meat. He will not starve this time.

In the morning the fishermen are coming with fresh fish and selling fish at the port. One fisherman looked like Peter the apostle but I didn't ask him to go and fish for souls; he would probably would have answered that he wanted money more than souls...Modern fishersmongers. They go and fish at night, I wonder if they are not escaping the family  duties?

I bought some red mallet, one of my best loved fish. It was so fresh, that I wanted to put it back in the sea, but it was really dead.

It tasted good though. One day I'll be vegetarian, I promise, but not yet.

The terrace of our apartment was very big, and it was a pleasure to read the morning paper (Le monde) relaxing with the sun burning my skin.

Anne Terri was very busy taking care of everything and being cute at the same time.

 The beaches are huge and not crowded at all. The sea is blue and the sky is also blue.

There are rocks too, to protect the sand and the haven from the ocean waves when it gets in a bad mood.

Nice place for fishers and for cats.