Taunted, a second time ...

Having only been to gay Paris previously and having heard from many that the Parisian experience was vastly different from the rest of France. Now that the admiring of the funky Gaudi-ness of Barcelona was complete, there lay an opportunity to test this theory out and sneak over the border to visit the fabled "south of France".

There was a fleeting thought to go via the tiny principality of Andorra for shits and giggles, but in the end more time in France itself won out. That and backpackers typically have no need for Andorra's mystical tax haven powers right now. Actually I don't even know how that place classes as a country ... Luxembourg and Lichtenstein, yeah I am looking at you too!

Anyway.

The second French adventure most certainly was different. The weather here is simply perfect and the locals have a much more friendlier and happier outlook on tourists and life in general it seems. They also have a love affair with brilliant seafood, salad, bread and wine (which seemingly 99% of the countryside is dedicated to growing). When summer is in full swing the region really comes alive too, it felt like there was a fair or festival in every town visited - this equated to a lot of food tasting and drinking.

In terms of food highlights, any seafood cooked from "La Plancha" is brilliant, sea snail Escargot is amazingly good, and our great friend Francois offered an invite to his parent's house in Carcassonne where THE most amazing cassoulet ever was ready and waiting. This is easily the best French travel food and it is made a little differently from region to region but is normally comprised of haricot beans and meats such as duck or sausage. This is then stewed for hours and layers of breadcrumbs continually added over time. The end result is to die for and likely to interfere with normal locomotion for hours.

Speaking of Carcassonne, this place has a very cool castle that invokes all the right medieval clichés. The name apparently derives from a famous siege of the fortress where the besieged and hungry inhabitants decided to launch their last bit of food, a pig carcass, over the castle wall at the enemy forces (who were pretty damned hungry and low on food too). The attackers believed the defenders must have so much food left that they could afford to give them a whole pig that they gave up and left. It's a nice trick but unfortunately the castle is now under siege from tourists and even a flying pig can't stop these hordes!

Amusingly, the sport of choice in Carcassonne amongst the soldiers on the battlements (and teenage boys in modern times) was to drink yourself silly and then begin urinating against the inner castle wall whilst running along the length of the wall. The man who leaves the longest trail along the wall wins. Rather obtuse but certainly a sport I can seen the entertainment value in. How it is not an Olympic sport I don't know.

Petanque seems to be the sport of choice here amongst men nowadays though. If you have never seen it, it is a game where men throw heavy metal balls along the ground trying to land closest to a little wooden ball that is thrown at the start of the game. I have played this game with friends in Australia many times before however the key difference is that in French Petanque you play on a flat area of dirt whereas our Aussie version seems to have degenerated into a quest to find the shittiest piece of undulating terrain possible; the more tree roots, rocks and general debris in the way, the greater the challenge. The French have a lot to learn from us I think, it's just too easy to play on flat ground!

It really was a wonderful voyage through this realm. Picnics in the dark on mysterious wetlands, adventures in saucisson, house parties on top of mountains in the middle of nowhere, Two Unlimited dance music being played on a piano accordion and joining in singing "The Lost Cities of Gold" theme song in French; all great memories of a place that knows how to celebrate life, love, music and food.