Alex's space

Pudding

meet Pudding, the latest addition to the family – already stealing tennis balls from Treacle!

More Course Landaise - Minoan Bull dancing

This Years photos from Course Landaise in Marciac – for more information see this post

PS this is a humane spectical and not bull fighting!

Airbus A380 making of

found these videos initially via BoingBoing (i think)! but they are awesome. Showing the assembly of the Airbus A380, and most importantly to those poor visitors to my family home in France, this video has footage of the wings travelling from the UK to Toulouse via the new roads in the Gers (Gascon) countryside. As I usually go to great lengths to explain the route / reasons etc to any visitor that is unfortunate enough to share a car with me from Toulouse to home!

Link to video -Making of the A380
Link to video -First Flight

Link to a collection on Google video

Skiing in the Pyrenees - PEYRAGUDES

Peyragudes , is probably the closest Pyrenean resort to home for us and it is very easy to get to.

View of Peyragudes from Col de la Flamme

It is a combination of 2 resorts Peyresourde and Les Agudes joined by high speed chair lifts and wide open blue pistes.

It has a good beginners run close to the main restaurants and base and most of the skiing is easy blue cruising.

There is plenty of easily accessible off piste and depending on snow conditions some serious fun can be had on mainly wide open sections off piste.

The guys at Pistehors.com have made a very useful off-piste map here which shows the major accessible off piste routes.

Over all it is a good resort for a day or two however the ski lift pass prices are starting to increase in price, a day this year (high season) costs 27 Euros + 2.70 Euros for insurance.

It also forms part of the NPY ski pass scheme which covers several resorts in the Pyrenees, to be posted soon.

Useful info: if you drive up there it is quicker and better to start on the Peyresourde side, continue past the first section of the resort and follow your nose to a large carpark at the bottom of the slopes.

Lunch costs about 11 euros for a menu in the ‘expensive’ restaurant and about 5 euros for a chicken and chips in the cheaper restaurant.

Ski hire is from Sarat sport (the same guys that are at the base in St Lary) and you can get brand new equipment if you want, they had Seth Pistols and Rossignol Bandit B3 / B2 s available the price for a days hire is typical of the Pyrenees from 12 Euros to 25 depending on what you take.

Factoid 1: the Peyresourde side has a mountain top runway and it was used for the opening sequence of the Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies

Factoid 2: the Col de Peyresourde is often used during the mountain stages of the Tour de France, it is considered to be one of the easier climbs (ha)! And links the towns of Arreu and Louchon

French Farmer's Daughter's Wedding (jul04)

Was in the Gers last weekend for a fantastic experience.

Our Neighbour (a retired farmer) invited us to his daughter’s wedding, it was held in the local vilage of Gazacs where the Mairie, Church and Village Hall were all arranged around a green.

Josef and Patricia

In France (I have now learnt) you need a civil wedding, performed by the local mayor, and a religious wedding performed by the local priest (our local one ravels around the Gers like a madman covering loads of churches).

The Mayor was the Brides uncle so it made the process all the more familial.

Mayor of Gazax at Patricia's wedding

The day was pretty much free form and you could pop in and out of any part of the ceremonies at any time.

Food was all local fare, so fois gras, duck kebabs, local wine etc, and was all prepared in the kitchen of the village hall, which was a full on pro kitchen (I like the fact that the French see these things as important).

the Party went on till 6 in the morning with the Bride and Groom leaving last, suffice it to say I was suffering all day Sunday.