29th September, Pétanque

 Pétanque is an important part of French and importantly French village life and Saint Albans de Varese has its own lively Pétanque club and "courts" facility. 
Yesterday the club held an open day and players from other clubs and the locals were out in force for the challenge. We went along merely to have a look, to join in another phase of village life, meet some more people and to try and understand this fascinating game. We appeared to be the only "outsiders" and our limited knowledge of the language didn't help. I think we were asked if we wanted to play but we declined and said we merely wanted to watch the game,and were directed to some benches along the edge of the courts from where we watched.  We were still none the wiser after an hour or so.

Pétanque players examining state of play.

After a bit of "googling" we now understand a little of what it's about.