Jeannine & Roger's French Cheese Odyssey

Montélimar - 1st May

Today we packed up and move house to our next destination of Montélimar, 2.5 hours south west of Bourgoin Jallieu (via the slow roads). Before we left we needed to make one last visit to town because it is the 1st of May, International Workers Day (Labour Day). It is essential to visit town for many reasons:

1. Unlike NZ there are supposed to be no shops open, not even supermarkets or petrol stations. So we took a chance that one food shop would be open and found a rebel bakery. The town centre had market stalls but none of them sold food, however you could park your husband at the beer tent at 10.00am [Ed - Not compulsory unfortunately]
2. Labour Day is more commonly known in France as Annual Labour Demonstration Day. People turn out en masse to protest against anything government related, which today included: raising of the retirement age, the covid crisis, climate change and any other reform President Macron has or may propose. People carried signs, musical instruments, even pots and pans with utensils as drum sticks.
3. 1st of May is also when you buy a very small sprig of Muguet (Lily of the Valley) for good luck. The kids nicked them off the roadside yesterday (we saw them) and make a good profit at 1 or 2 Euros each. Although the tradition is believed to be medieval, it became official in 1561, when King Charles IX gave all the ladies in his court flowers to mark the first of May.

The photo of the Muguet on the back of the car shows our number plate. Most plates have a white background; ours is red because it is a "temporary car in transit". The car manufacturer in France does a deal with the car lease company to sell new cars to non-European tourists for 180 days or less on the premise they buy them back later and register the car properly within six months. Somebody gains from tax/duty relief and we get a brand new car to drive for the same price as a rental.

Our first stop on our transition to Montélimar was Saint Marcellin, famous for cheese as per the photo below but as the shops are shut we will revisit that another day. We did however find that the town’s Labour Day protest had ended and they were selling gourmet sausages in baguette with mayo.

Cheese Experience No.10 Cheesecake As we had exhausted most of our food supplies and were concerned that because of Labour Day there would be no shops open in Montélimar we took the opportunity to grab a bite at another rebel bakery. Roger got what he considered a great pain au raisin and I got the strawberry cheesecake made from cream cheese, no further explanation needed.

Our Montélimar apartment is in the old town, tiny streets, many stone stairs to our level, but as a bonus the toilet isn’t the most interesting feature. This time it is the doorway lintel into the bedroom which is a foot lower than Roger stands.
We went out to explore the town and find somewhere, anywhere, that sold food. The choices were: unknown goods from a Jamaican store, kebabs or crepes from the pub. We settled in the end for 2 beers from the pub and 2 kebabs further down the road. I went for the gourmet kebab which had white meat, red meat and chicken nugget sized cordon bleu, yip just like Cobb & Co: Ham and cheese wrapped in chicken and crumbed. There was barely any room for the salad and the sauce came on the side, with chips and a drink, all for NZ$16.50

Below is a photo of the bar we stopped for a beer where every table had somebody sneezing or coughing. It could have been the pollen trees nearby, or the smoke ash (yes everybody still smokes in France) or it could be Covid. France has a population of 68 million and there are 24 million active cases at the moment. Chances we get covid from here are looking good, I should have taken my lucky Muguet to dinner.

Essence of France Photo Challenge #5 - Asterix is believed to be the most beloved character in French popular culture because he represents republican values of liberty, equality and fraternity. He uses his resourcefulness to fight any form of oppression, and does it all with simplicity, humour and pride. I have mentioned Asterix now because a) he was on the can of drink and b) because he made me think of the protestors today, fighting with pride against reforms that they believe are oppressive, but to me it was simply good humour; seriously how can the raising of the retirement age to 64 be oppressive?