Sunday, July 24, 2011

Périgueux




Coup de coeur pour la ville de Périgueux

L'anxiété, résultat de mon départ imminent pour Montréal, on cherche a me distraire le plus possible. Nous regardons souvent des films ces derniers temps mais je ne crois pas que ce seront "MR73" d'Olivier Marchal ni "La Route" de John Hillicoat qui appaiseront mes angoisses. Et pourtant, ce sont les films que Martin a choisi pour nous distraire. En revanche, je le fais payer en regardant "10 things I hate about you" et "The Breakfast Club".
Hier, n'ayant pas trop le goût de rester branchés en avant de la télé, nous avons décidé d'aller a Périgueux pour une visite touristique. A priori, on avait décidé d'aller a Brive-la-Gaillarde, mais je doutais fortement de l'intérêt qu'on en tirerai. Finalement, nous avons opté pour Périgueux.

Coup de coeur! Périgueux est une tres jolie ville contenant différentes strates de l'histoire avec son quartier du 2e siecle, son quartier plutôt médieval/renaissant et finalement un quartier plus moderne. Ses rues, quasi-labyrinthesques, aboutissent sur des tres jolies places intimes avec des petits bars ou restaurants. On prend le temps de boire une biere et hop!, c'est reparti dans le circuit médieval ou on se faufile d'un bout a l'autre du quartier a la recherche d'un autre petit coin charmant.
C'est donc rassasiée d'une belle visite touristique, et un peu plus sereine, que je suis repartie avec Martin hier soir. Belle distraction!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Pentecôte

No one can really explain what the Pentecôte is anymore, save that it is a religious holiday, adding an extra day to the weekend.
Pentecôte weekend for the Bolze family is a great moment for one of their family reunions, sadly on the brink of extinction in many other families. However, there was some trouble in the air during this family reunion with the possibility of it being the last, or one of the last, at the great-grandparents's domaine in the south-east of France. The domaine is known to the family as Le Deven. It was purchased by Louis Bolze quite some time ago, where he and his wife raised his children. Now, it is family home but hardly ever used and run-down for lack of continual upkeep. The family is looking to sell for the house represents too much work to renovate and maintain, considering the number of times it is used in a year.
The selling of the home has struck a cord in many, of course. One look through the living room is enough to see how replete the house is of memories. There are pictures depicting no less than six generations of the Bolze family, complete with names and years. You can trace down the lineage from Louis Bolze's father (b. mid-1800's) to one of the last arrivals, Ines, a little girl adopted from Columbia in 2006.
I am glad I got to see the house during a family reunion this past weekend. Though I understand how much work the house needs, I can also understand the sorrow of the family's militants who, despite all the costs and work, desperately wanted to keep it so they could see their children enjoy it on hot summer weekends.