Tag Archives: food and drink

The ‘Teaser’ Parade for Autrefois Le Couserons in St. Girons, France

The light was thinning as we left the house on Friday night. We hadn’t realised that there would be an opening night parade — a teaser — prior to the multi-hour Autrefois Le Couserons spectacle that was scheduled on Saturday morning. But we were fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time once again.

Three generations of a French family watch the small opening night parade for the Autrefois Le Couserons festival in St. Girons, France

Up and down the streets of St. Girons, people gathered in the windows overlooking the small parade and they followed it on foot in some cases. The night was fast approaching, the temperatures were thankfully dropping, and there was an air of excitement all along the route of the parade.

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Come back soon for another slideshow from the hundreds of photos that I took over the weekend.

Coming up next? Tractors and farm vehicles from all eras!

Autrefois Le Couserons: Extended Coverage On The Way!

Hundreds — seriously — I took almost 200 photos last night (in spite of the people and cyclists who stepped right in front of my proposed shot again and again!) and well over 600 today. So I have a lot to wade through! Those numbers don’t even take into account the several hundred photos that Mark took, too.

Musicians in traditional dress at the Autrefois Le Couserons festival in St. Girons, Midi-Pyrenees, France

It’s been a glorious two days of vintage vehicles, traditional music, and people in historical costume and we are all quite relieved that the weather stayed clear and bright. As the parades went through St. Girons on both days, people clustered high above the street in front of their windows to watch the spectacle pass by.

Watching from above as the Autrefois Le Couserons parade passes through St. Girons, Midi-Pyrenees, France

I think I’ll create a couple of slide shows of the (turn down your volume if you don’t want to hear the music track on this link!) Autrefois Le Couserons festival here in St. Girons in the Midi-Pyrenees of France. This is an annual celebration of traditional rural life in the Couserons.

Shepherd on horseback with his dog tucked into his arms at the Autrefois Le Couserons parade in St. Girons, Midi-Pyrenees, France

We now live in such a fascinating place with layers of history and settlement over the centuries since its pre-Roman origins.

Stay tuned for more pictures from this activity-packed weekend!

Money Saving Travel Tips: Have a Pique-Nique in Scenic Surroundings

Lime green plates and red handled cutlery rested snugly alongside the cups, glasses, chef’s knife, and other kitchen essentials in the snap-lid container. And that container was safely tucked beneath the hatchback of the car. A quick trip to any supermarket in Europe and we were ready to eat both inexpensively and in style!

We had assembled the contents of that snap-lid container in England before driving onto the overnight ferry from Harwich to Rotterdam and beginning this adventure. So, along with the food that we have purchased in each country, it has certainly assisted in our budget-saving strategy in the Netherlands, Germany, and France.

A particularly picturesque stop was in the town of Tillieres in the Pays de la Loire where we stumbled upon a marked picnic ground adjacent to a moulin (windmill) on the grounds of a vineyard.

Late 1800s moulin (mill) in the town of Tillieres in the Pays de la Loire, France

Shady picnic hut in Tillieres next to the moulin

Making lunch in the shade on a hot day in France

View of moulin (mill) from the vineyard in Tillieres, France

Yes, we love those wonderful French plat du jour meals that I described in Lovely Lengthy Lunchtime In Lisle Sur Tarn — but unless you are independently wealthy, making your trip extend for longer than a typical vacation period of a few weeks will necessitate some savings strategies.

Picnics are one of your best money-saving measures since the fresh ingredients you need will cost a fraction of what you will pay in a restaurant — even if it is a plat du jour special! For a grand total of under €7 instead of €20-28, we each had a healthy lunch that included crunchy dark bread, deli meat, gorgeous French cheese, sliced tomato and cucumber, and a pot of yogurt for dessert. If you are lucky enough to be travelling by car, you too can pre-assemble a plastic box or carrier bag full of essentials and be ready for a roadside picnic pretty well anywhere.

My last picture below was taken outside the walls of the fortified medieval chateau at Fougeres and it’s pretty unbeatable for gorgeous eating spots. You won’t always get this lucky, but Europe certainly has some remarkable places with picnic benches or seats just waiting for your own fresh and breezy pique-nique.

Mark assembling a sandwich outside the fortified chateau walls at Fougeres in France

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Lovely Lengthy Lunchtime in Lisle Sur Tarne

They do it well in France — the lovely, lengthy lunchtime. Almost all businesses are closed from noon until 2 PM so that the employees can have a proper sit-down lunch and then digest their food properly. It is an oh-so-civilised break in the day.

Plat du Jour — plate of the day — is the lunchtime special and it includes your choice of a main course, bread on the side, a carafe of wine, dessert, and sometimes your after-dinner coffee. And the average cost of this all-inclusive meal is usually well under €10 per person. How brilliant is that!

The central square in Lisle Sur Tarn in the Midi-Pyrenees of southern France

We stopped for our lunchtime break on this particular day in Lisle Sur Tarn — a beautiful medieval town in the Midi-Pyrenees in southern France. The hot sun was broadcasting both heat and an intensity of light that made removing your sunglasses painful on the eyes. The only place that was, thankfully, cool and comfortable was beneath the brick-arched overhanging arcade that stretched around the square. And right there was where we chose to have our own plat du jour alongside some of the local folks.

Lunchtime in Lisle Sur Tarn in the Midi-Pyrenees of southern France

We had a brief ramble through the town for about an hour after lunch and were charmed by the combination of architectural styles and the tipsy buildings leaning into the narrow streets in many places. And we found as many of those cool and quiet arcades to walk beneath as possible in that heat.

A narrow street in Lisle Sur Tarn in the Midi-Pyrenees of southern France

The cool brick arcade in Lisle Sur Tarn in the Midi-Pyrenees of southern France

Lisle Sur Tarn — a definite stopping point for your own driving tour through the Midi-Pyrenees!

Street corner in Lisle Sur Tarn in the Midi-Pyrenees of southern France

Posted on 19 June 2011