Day 2 - Friday 8th August - Meximieux

Either it’s cooler, or I’m getting more used to the heat.  I think maybe I’m getting acclimatised (or wise - I’ve learned at least to stay on the shady side of the street).  It’s just as well.  Last night, I was beginning to wonder if I’d made a big mistake.  I couldn’t breathe and the thought of doing anything strenuous (like standing up or crossing the bedroom) appalled me. Today, the heat was still fierce, but I enjoyed my day enormously and I’m typing this without panting.

I went to the mediaeval walled town of Pérouges today (or Péroges or Péruges – even the fluid spelling is authentically mediaeval).  The place was just a delight.  There have obviously been huge efforts to restore it and keep it unspoilt, and everywhere I looked there was another picture begging to be taken. Cobbled streets, stone walls, wattle and daub, weathered timber frames full of woodworm and rusty nails, rotting doors and leaded windows, everything was a joy.  The only incongruous elements were all the bright t-shirts and shorts of the tourists, but the place was hardly crowded and it was easy to wait a few moments to get a clear shot if you wanted one.  It surprised me to discover that by lunch I had taken over 100 photographs - (Not that surprised really).

I had a long and interesting discussion with an abstract sculptor who was exhibiting in one of the buildings.  Amongst a host of fascinating  shapes, the one that I immediately latched onto was called  “écoute”.  It was a swirling form that beautifully captured the essence of an ear, both internal and external (3-dimensional cubism).  It was wonderful, but at 450€, way beyond my means.

Lunch just had to be at the tourist honey-pot of a mediaeval terrasse overlooking the main square (where a magnificent lime tree resides – it is apparently a “liberty tree”, planted in the 1790’s to commemorate the successful Revolution).  This square was used extensively in the filming of the French version of The Three Musketeers and the terrasse looked absolutely the part. No two chairs/stools were the same and all of them wobbled.  Even the waitresses were dressed up in traditional serving maid costumes and I expected de Richelieu’s men to turn up at any minute.  I had a traditional omelette aux champignons avec pommes dauphinois and two traditional bottles of Evian (very thirsty work pounding the cobbles all morning).

I drove to Pont-de-l’Ain in the afternoon, for no better reason than to spend a bit of time in the air-conditioned car and to get more familiar with driving in France before setting off on the harder journey tomorrow.

My expectations of French intellectual prowess are obviously too high!  I went into a bookshop and set the assistant a problem.  I said that I had studied French classical literature and had a masters in “Modern French literature”, but that I had scarcely read a French book written since the war.  There seemed to be a huge gulf between Sartre, Camus and Malraux and the present day.  So, I asked, who she would recommend as “the” French author not to be missed from the past 50 years.  Someone who writes books that you just can’t put down.  First, she showed me a shelf of Corneille and Racine, so I patiently explained again.  At last, with a beam, she rushed to the shelves and brought forth a book by Mary Higgins Clark.  I said that the name didn’t sound very French and that  I suspected she actually wrote in English, so with a great frown, the assistant went back and returned with a biography written by a Polish woman.  I thanked her politely and left.  Whatever happened to the land of Racine and Voltaire?

Another excursion into the restaurant this evening – a slightly more expensive menu. (37€).  
The small bowl of cold soup was apparently their standard palate clearer.  I followed it with a salad with cured ham and foie gras (not the pâté, genuine sliced foie gras).  Then sea bass (bar) with tagliatelles, mousse aux épinards, et légumes mixtes.  A tarte à la praline with crème chantilly and glace à la verveine followed this and then fromages (way too many on offer to cope - I ended up with camembert, brie and lait de chèvre (fraîche).  All this topped off with warm petits fours et un café.

Tomorrow, the Beaujolais …

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