Blog by Shirls
Just outside of Millau we make a stop in Roquefort-sur-Soulzon for a tour of the caves where for centuries the famous blue cheese has been made. The tour was typically French – fixated on food, lots of detail and pretty weird.
If you would like to recreate the tour in your own home, just follow this handy do-it-yourself guide.
1. Ensure you have a printed translation of what is going to be said on the tour. This is because the man taking the tour is going to speak French, very quickly, and you will have no idea what he is saying. Selected parts of the translation should make no sense.
2. Set up your environment to be dark. Perhaps try to grow some lichen on the walls. Set the aircon to 10 degrees and breezy.
3. To start the tour proper, you’ll need a room with a model of a mountain which will collapse to a soundtrack of morning birdsong. Then move on to a different room and project pictures of ghostly ladies on to the walls – here the soundtrack should be French men talking. And then on again to a bigger room where you’ll play a video showing pictures of sheep being milked and the master cheesemakers taking an awfully long time to sniff their cheese.
4. Finally, you are ready to move to the cheese room. Recreate the smell by bringing a wet Labrador into the room, as well as at least 5 pairs of smelly shoes.
How can it be that cheese that smelly tastes so darn good?
Have just returned from a two day conference and one day shopping in windy Wellington. Interesting that you should be considering converting your basement as a tourist attraction and thanks for the tips. Perhaps on your return we can set up a tour. They could visit your basement and then come to ours. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I am reliably informed by an English gentleman (maybe that is an overstatement) about 20 odd years ago that if the French don't understand just yell louder. I never found it profitable but maybe you might.
Keep the stories coming. L S
LOVE IT!
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