thursdaysd

"the winkles and the welks"

That makes sense. You usually get six hot snails. And they're called escargots.

Gretchen

We have had the "seafood plateau" and yes, cockles and welks, and tiny little grey shrimp!! And other good stuff. It takes perserverance to eat it!!

annhig

we were in a harbourside restaurant in Brittany a few years ago, and had ordered a medium sized plateau, which was quite enough between four of us, and then some. so we were surprised and impressed when a family at a near-by table [i think there were 5 or 6 of them] had a huge plateau brought out with much ceremony and lots of bowing and scraping from the chef.

Being of a curious bent, I kept and eye on them as they cracked munched and chewed their way through this enormous pile of shrimps, prawns, whelks, winkles, oysters, crab and lobster. it was amazing that they could eat so much.

Eventually they finished it. there were shells and claws all over the place.

And then they brought out the second one!

StCirq

Snails simply aren't served cold. They are almost universally served hot with garlic/parsley/butter in special dishes that hold a half-dozen. It must have been bulots...or winkles and whelks.

annhig, I once saw a family go through a three-tiered plâteau de fruits de mer in Honfleur in about 10 minutes. It must have been 10 lbs. of seafood. Amazing!

bilboburgler

Bendigo I finally got it

Cavallo is horse and of course mare is a female horse but in italian "frutti di mare" is a reasonable translation of "Fruits de mer"

Took me ages to work it out, must get out more

crazyfamilyof4

well they sure looked like snails to me! but yes more like sea snails then garden snails if that makes sense ..whatever it was it was NOT what we get in Australia and I tried one and did not like the cold rubber taste!

anyway . . onto todays adventure.

Today we adventured into Avignon!

We decided we would take the local bus . .however the downside to this was it left either at 8:40 or 1:30pm.

Fitting in with the children we ended up with the 1:30pm and then they had there sleep on the bus (1hr) however, what this meant was we had no time to do any real site seeing. We basically got lunch, wandered the streets, went for a ride on this amazing two story carousel, went to the tourist centre, onto the central train station to book these train tickets . .thankfully because we did this we saved a wee fortune (aound a little over 100euro in comparison to rail Europe and about 50 euro in comparison to the tgv site. We were also able to select our seats and get a train I didn't know was available.

Anyway, we are going to need to go back to Avignon so I can go to the Palace of the Popes and see the half bridge and wander through the old streets.

It's funny though, after spending this time in Uzes I felt like we were in a big city so imagine how Paris is going to feel for me!

I am really glad that Avignon is a day trip and not my base. Unless I am mistaken it seems really busy and one thing I am loving about Uzes is that the lack of traffic allows my kids to run free through the cobbled streets laughing and dancing and just enjoying life. Today I just seemed to be telling my 4yr old to constantly jump onto the back of the stroller as it was way too busy!

So the plan for tomorrow . .morning should be markets here ...time to get some more fresh cheese and other gourmet treats! The plan is we will buy some items to pack a picnic to then go to Pont du Guard for a picnic, play and paddle in the water . . although I have read it says NOT to swim in it but then I have also read that children love to paddle in the water. Either way bathers will be packed and we will see how we go.

The prices here really are so much cheaper then Australia. I am loving everything!

Till tomorrow good night!

annhig

Cavallo is horse and of course mare is a female horse but in italian "frutti di mare" is a reasonable translation of "Fruits de mer"

Took me ages to work it out, must get out more>>

lol, bilbo, I didn't even get that there was something to get!

glad you're enjoying the South of France, crazy.

TDudette

I know folks will "yell" at me but the Pope's Palace is almost empty and they wanted money to get on the washed-out bridge! My hub and I enjoyed walking around Avignon very very much but were lukewarm about about those 2 things.

Sur la Pont d'Avignon, l'on y danse...One of the few things I remember in French I.

Looking forward to more of your trip!

Jean

What about... Frère Jacques, frère Jacques, Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?

crazyfamilyof4

Today has been a wonderful day. We woke to rain and the sound of the stores below winding out their blind things to stop the rain getting onto their items etc the rain had stopped mid morning so off we went by bus to Pont du Guard ... Wow!

I never thought I would be so impressed by a bridge it was a great day ... We started by getting ice creams as we did the walk.

We then ad lunch at a little restaurants there ( not sure why but we didn't ave any markets today )

Then went down to the children's playground/rope thing and then walked back.

We lasted about 3hrs! My son just loves running his feet through the stones and my 2yr old daughter loves drawing in the sand with a stick... So they were easy to please!

If my kids were older I would have gone up to the top level but as I had the stroller I didn't do this (that and also my legs are still recovering from the tower climb )

From here back to Uzes we came. We decided tonight to et some freah salads and savoury pastries for tea ... We plan on doing a big day tomorrow in Avignon so I wanted a somewhat earlier night for kids.

Looks like I may be able to squeeze in either Arles or nimmes .... Either worth going to for a coupe of hours or do they require a full day?

Night everyone

bilboburgler

Crazy, a bridge? Nah, surely it is a water conduit, for carrying water? It is amazing though.

thursdaysd

Well, wiki calls it an aquaduct bridge, but I always thought of it as part of an aquaduct, it was used to deliver water from Uzes to Nimes.

grandmere

If you've already spent some time in Avignon and have seen the two main attractions, I'd suggest dividing a day between Les Baux de Provence and Arles.

StCirq

Well, it would have been hard to build an aquaduct that didn't have to cross over water and look like a bridge, now, wouldn't it, given the most obvious trajectory of the intended delivery of water, but you're certainly right that it isn't a "bridge" and was never intended as such.

Les Baux deserves at least a couple of hours. It will take at least an hour to drive (if you're driving - I've lost track) between Les Baux and Arles and find parking). Arles has dozens of attractions and can take several days. Do you have a guidebook so you know what you'll be seeing?

pavot

My 4-year-old son loved Les Baux; it was one of his favorite things in a month-long trip.

I hope you'll consider it -- it had something for everyone in our three-generation group!

(I'm loving this trip report; I'm in awe of your energy.)

surfmom

I think it is awesome how much you are enjoying Uzes - sounds like you are doing one of the fun things about staying in an apartment - making it feel like home.

keep going....

kerouac

I'll be in Avignon as of Sunday for the start of the "Off" festival... as I have done every year for the last 15 years.

bilboburgler

I think its the "pont" => "bridge" term that confuses people, the correct term would be aquaduct or "aquaeductus" or "aquagium" in the original

mpprh

Yesterdays rain should be the last for at least 10 days. Forecast is sunny, max 35C.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2990363

Interesting to read your reports - I live quite close !

Heimdall

I think its the "pont" => "bridge" term that confuses people, the correct term would be aquaduct or "aquaeductus" or "aquagium" in the original

No confusion, really. Pont du Gard is a bridge that was designed to carry water. It is even described as a bridge on the Pont du Gard official website: http://www.pontdugard.fr/en/ancient-work-art. Crazy needs to stop spelling it "Guard", though. ;-)