Saturday, December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas to Everyone

We are going to cook a goose on the barge today, in our small oven! Indeed, when we bought the goose at the 'live poultry market', we measured it to make sure it would fit in our oven! I also think we will be having 'goose' left overs for the next week or so. The smallest goose we could find was 3.75 kgs (8 3/4 pounds).

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, health and contentment.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Back on the Barge in southern France.

Peter and I are back in France on our barge.

Yesterday, we drove to Andorra high in the Pyrannees on the border. Andorra doesn't seem to belong to either France or Spain, although they speak 'catalan'. PV and I wondered how they were able to maintain their principality throughout history! Maybe it wasn't worth conquering by the different factions? Anyway, everything is duty free, as we discovered! So we spent lots of money on wine, clothes, gifts, and exotic food. We had great fun.

We even bought a whole parma ham for 19 Euros!!! (That is a whole ham for about $A25.) I now have to learn how to slice it very thinly. It is supposed to last about 6 months!! So we thought with a little effort, and some help by our friends/guests, we could eat it all by next July.

The weather was strange up there. As we climbed the mountains, the temperature started climbing and got up to 10°C (50°F), and it was raining. But then the more we climbed, the colder it got and the rain turned to slush, then huge snowflakes falling softly. It really felt like Christmas! (I have a hard time relating to Christmas when I am in Australia and we go to the beach on Christmas Day!)