Photos

Here are some photos that were taken a long time ago but I recently found on Alison's computer. I am trying to construct a visual record but as I didn't take/save (m)any pictures, I am using the ones I find in her labyrinthine "My Pictures" folder.

There are three photos of our apartment. Top floor in the first photo, then views to the left and right of the building. Then there is a view from the door with the post office and a Tudor style house across the road.

Finally, there is one of my bike.

Bike Trip: Bougue

There is a cycle path called the "Voie Verte de Marsan et d'Armagnac" that supposedly runs from our town, Mont-de-Marsan to a town called Gabarret in the Armagnac region, 55 kilometers to the east. Unfortunately, while it supposedly exists, I can not seem to place it on a map. The "cycle-only" path only runs 18 km to the east to a town called Villeneuve-de-Marsan. I will possibly make this 36 km roundtrip today. Halfway to Villeneuve (9 km) is a village called Bougue and Alison and I rode out to it on the first nice day that early summer brought us. The path leaves Mont-de-Marsan, running behind backyard trees in a pleasant suburban track that three times crosses roads that cars cross so care must be taken. After a few kilometers the path leaves the confines of settlement and winds through sandy, shady pine and fern forest. Here are some photos from the trip, the town of Bougue, with its old, yet still inspiring church.

Cercles de Gascogne

I have decided that in an attempt to write in this more, I will write shorter entries, but hopefully the small "taste" will still be appealing. Also, I have been alerted to the fact that there may be typos and badly worded sentences in these entries (thanks Alison), but I am not going to fret too much.

Tonight, the Cercles of Gascogne.

These establishments, born after the Revolution of 1789, were meeting places for politicians, local elites, lawyers, and other officials of towns and regions as an informal place to discuss political matters, drink, and share company. They all bear names that evoke some of the founding principals of the revolution; Cercle de l’Union, Republicain, des Democrates, des Citoyens (citizens), Ouvrier (open), des Travailleurs (of workers), de la Concorde, de la Paix (of peace), de la Fraternite, and more. They were circles within circles. In 1860, they allowed aritsans and local businessmen to attend meetings. Children and women were not allowed and only men in their fifties or later were truly accepted. I am not sure how long this exclusion lasted.

Today, everyone is welcome and often these establishments host cultural events and concerts. On the website for the National Park of Landes of Gascogne, where most of them are located (about twenty in all), they invite everyone to come in and experience the conviviality of these establishments. They are somewhat hidden, old-looking establishments where you will not "find any posters for the latest beer", the floor will be stone or dirt, and the walls, ceilings, and support poles may be original.


A good bike tour of the national park should include stopping at one or two of these bars if you find them. From personal experience, I have only seen them in towns, but it was a Sunday and everything was closed. I imagine the atmosphere is not as welcoming as they would suggest. There are probably a load of old men that will stare you down if you don't look like you belong there, but such is the case with so many places in France. There is a place in Mont-de-Marsan called Le Cercle de Citoyens but I doubt it is an original structure and it looks fairly nice inside. I learned of these places by seeing a promotional brochure advertising a series of concerts they were holding at all the cercles from April to June. Unfortunately, most of them are in towns that can not be reached by train and the bus system schedule is not good enough to get you to a town and back in a single day. If I do travel around the park on my bike, I will be on the lookout for some of them.