We spent our August holiday weekend (the 15th is a holiday in France) in Millau with Marie-Elisabeth & David and Chantal & Philippe Paccard. The reason for going was to watch the huge pétanque tournament, although Sylvain might have been more excited about riding there in Philippe's porsche and driving it back! They take their pétanque seriously in Millau. The tournament is huge. It takes place over four or five days. Each competition starts around noon (with over two thousand teams registered) and keeps going until the 1/16th finals are finished (sometimes not until 6 am!). Then the play starts back up again the next morning with the 1/8th finals. And in the early afternoon another competition starts up again. There is one-on-one, three-on-three (the most prestigious, I guess), two-on-two, precision competitions, women's competitions, kids competitions ... All of France's best players are present. This year the sensation was a team of two young boys aged 12 and 13 who were wreaking havoc even among seasoned veterans. Sylvain and I watched them play in the 1/8th and quarter finals on Sunday morning. The first match only took three rounds and lasted 10 minutes! 4-0, 7-0 then 13-0 and game over! They didn't miss a single ball and were the first to advance to the next stage. Granted, they come from big pétanque families and practice all the time. But it was still very amazing!
We didn't spend all of our time in Millau watching boules in the 38°C heat. When we weren't in the park, we were eating! Millau is in the Aveyron département near the Larzac plateau where Roquefort cheese comes from. Roquefort is made from sheep's milk. So they have lots of Roquefort and other sheep's milk cheese and lots of dishes of lamb and mutton. We ate at several good restaurants, but our favorite dining experience was at the Château de Creissels. We had our own private little part of the vaulted patio overlooking Millau with a nice view of the famous bridge.
We brought back three kinds of cheese and two other local specialties. A gâteau à la broche which is a cake they make by slowly pouring batter over a turning spit. It comes out like a tower, hollow in the middle. The texture is similar to that of a waffle and it's flavored with vanilla and rhum. The other is a candy - Pralins de Millau - which reminds me of a Butterfinger, minus the chocolate. Pretty tasty!
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Pétanque Patrol
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4 comments:
Sounds like a fun time -- except for the 38 degrees. That's pretty cold for August over there, isn't it?
The one showing the house is from the back yard. The house that shows most is the downhill neighbor. You can see just a bit of the back steps on the right of the picture.
I'm confused ... what picture of a house? The links on Tanya's post were for a hotel, bridge and cake.
Dad - Tanya used units on the temp (38C=100F). While that temp might not be fun, it's not because it's too cold!
Ok, that's why I was confused. I thought it was their house and couldn't figure out where the photo was taken from. Thanks.
Yes, 38°C is actually hot for this time of year over here. Average temps are in the high twenties, low thirties, I think. Sorry to force you to convert (but that's what we have Ev for) but I can't think in Fahrenheit any longer ...
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