Saturday, May 5, 2018

Day Tripping in France (Perpignan)

Our final week in Cerét, France found us doing some day trips exploring some familiar places and discovering some new sites. 

This morning after Monsieur Honey made his morning stroll to the neighbourhood “boulangerie” for our fresh bread, croissant or “pain au raisin”  whatever our selection was today; he announced we were going on a road trip. 
This was much to my surprise after our busy time on the cruise. 

Today’s (September 25th, 2017) road trip took us back to Perpignan.  We parked near the beautiful park and walked the Allée Maillol into the Center. 
Our plans weren’t too ambitious ... maybe a little shopping, strolling the streets and a coffee break. 
Being a Monday several shops were not open, so we admired the different architecture, strolled in some new to us areas of the city and did some window shopping.





              

                         

We saw lots of “nice” things in the shop windows and the beautiful architecture. 



The large department store  “Galeries Lafayette” was open and here we had a good look around. 
Our highlight was coffee at the recently opened rooftop terrace with long views of the city. 
It was an overcast day with the sun playing peekaboo, so my photos from high above taken with my iPhone 6 are on the hazy side. 







In the park, the war memorial is one of Gustave Violet’s works. It is a tribute to the Perpignan men who died during WW1. 
This plaque describes the structure. Gustave Violet is a Roussillon sculptor, born 1876 in Thuir. 
Unlike his father and uncle who made their fortune inventing the aperitif  “Byrrh”; Gustave studied in Paris to become an artist, sculptor, architect. 
He was in the war himself from 1915-1918 and returned physically and mentally scarred. 
After the war he was commissioned to design, construct memorials in several towns, villages in the South of France. 









Our drive back to Ceret included a “Supermarché” stop at the Intermarché, for a quick look around and pickup. 
We checked out the seafood counter and the “spirit” aisle to compare some prices of various aperitifs. 


Then back home for the rest of the day ... early evening the mist rolled in over the mountain tops.





Come back for more storytelling in a few days, I’m still trying to finish last year’s posts. 

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