27 May Perpignan

    Ah, the mountain is in view this morning!  After a relaxing breakfast we were off to see the center area of Perpignan, I would say "old town" Perpignan.  There is one very old section of the city wall that remains, but that is all.  There is shop after shop of anything you could possibly want from salt to formal wear.  I did find what I was looking for, the Porro to bring home.  Then we walked all around the city looking in interesting shops.  My favorite shop was a kitchen, fabric, and garden shop.  It is the same shop where René and Odette got the fabric used on their patio area.  It is a very heavy cotton fabric, almost like canvas with any color combinations you can think of. I wanted to buy something  but I was overwhelmed with the choices!  I would love to bring a lot of things home from that shop, it were 3 or 4 levels of all sorts of things.  It would have taken hours to choose and then calculate US to metric system to know how much fabric was needed!  I will have more time in Avignon for this and that was my plan to begin with. 

   Today we were able to take our wonderful hosts to a restaurant of their choice.  Odette chose a delightful French Cafe where we had a delicious three course lunch.  Odette has promised she will not prepare and evening meal if we have a big meal for lunch.  We had Caprese type salad with mozzarella tomatoes basil and lettuce, pork (galtes de porco) with vegetables and rice, and creme Catalan for dessert.  All of this was delicious.  With it was the house wine Dom Brial brand!  There is a story behind the name of this wine.  The people who own the vineyards and winery do not carry the Brial name, nor are they related in any way.  However, they chose this name because about 15 generations ago there was a Brial who was a priest and became a famous historian in his time and was called Dom Brial.  They chose this name because it is a well-liked, respected person and good to sell the product.  Incidentally, the wine was also good!  After lunch entertainment was René and John helping fellow push a car to start it...I am ashamed I have no photo to show of this event!  Sadly they were not successful but it was fun to watch!   

   While eating we noticed posters for Byrrh (pronounced "Beer") hanging on the walls. We asked about this and of course after lunch we went to the nearby town of Thuir and toured the Byrrh Caves (cellars) and had another wine tasting.  They have a cast that holds over 1M liters!  Again, René did a wonderful  job of translating all important things for our benefit.  The wines they sell are more of an aperitif.  I hope the bottle we bought does not break when we bring it home!  It has an apricot fragrance and taste and can be consumed as it is or in champagne.  I forgot to ask in what proportion to use it with champagne but I will try to ask René later. 

   I probably have not mentioned that every village and town in Europe has a war memorial.  On these memorials they list the names of men who have died in war, any war.  The small village of 45 people where our Rick Steves guide now lives has a memorial with just one name, but the Europeans take the losses very seriously and have a great respect for the lives lost by both their own and other countries.  Anyway, I say this to tell you that as we left the Caves Byrrh there was a memorial with the name Joseph Louis Brial who died in WWI.  René does not know of this  Brial but he was certainly some relative.

   After leaving Thuir we went to see Odette's brother  and wife, they are also near by in Baixas.  They have a lovely home neighboring on vineyards and have a small olive orchard right in their yard.  You can see they grow giant asparagus!  I am just kidding, of course it is cactus but it very much resemble a giant asparagus!  They also have a yard full of pet turtles,which their delightful granddaughter showed me when we arrived.  What a kind and gracious couple.  We didn't stay long and then we returned  to pack our bags and think about the trip for tomorrow.  René was kind enough to confirm for us with the hotel in Avignon and also to make sure the train was indeed running again since apparently there had been some sort of strike. 

   Odette also prepared a "small" evening meal for us if foie gras, fig, salad and a delicious sweet wine sort of like sherry to drink in a small amount with the meal. It is now time for bed and thinking about all we have done for the last three days and the kindness of René and Odette is overwhelming.  We will leave with the hope that we will see them again one day.