So East it's Ouest

Ducks are so nice.        I love ducks.      They      are  delicious.   S outhern France how I love your love of duck.  Foie gras (inh umane I kno w, a discussion for another time) , cuisse de canard confit, magret du canard, oscillicoccimum, parmentier au canard...etc etc.  The south west especially is known for their love of chicken's more classy and dignified (noisy) water cousin the duck or canard { kaa-nar} in French.  Try duck and you will taste the difference.  Duck has much more dark meat and a richer flavor and a much thicker layer of fat under their skin.  It also has to be cooked well in order to be nummy (or nummy nummy nummy), if it's overlooked it will be tough and chewy. In the southwest however they take duck to a whole 'nother level.  They feel that duck fat is healthy for you.  In fact they swear by it.  Say what?!  The people in this area have much better cholesterol than even the average French person and as a result less heart problems,

Hiking or randonée is much more interesting in France than the USA because of how stress free it can be.  A friend told me that there are nearly 90,000 kilometers of state maintained foot paths in France.  Hiking is interesting in that sense because nearly all paths are marked and mapped, it's like being in a statewide park basically.  It's very easy to find a 5 hour long hike and not get completely lost while doing it.  Sometimes French people get the stereotype of not being outdoorsy which is not really true, lots of people go on hikes on the weekend but usually they like to be well equipped when they do aka hiking shoes, walking poles, French picnic supplies, and the zip off hiking pants getup.  But I have a secret I think I might have just done the best hike in France, and not very many people know about it.   If you've been reading the blog you'll know that I've lived near Avignon before and that I have a thing for the Mt. Ventoux region.  Well this vacation I