Our 2012 travels: The official opening of the tromp d'oeil

Thézan has two Tromp d'oeils (essentially three dimensional wall murals). The second, which is a minute away from us is the more recent and came fifth out of 96 contenders in a Tromp d'oeil competition (I'm not joking!), so naturally, this had to be celebrated. At the same time, we were told that the recipe for the village cake, pastesa was to be unveiled.

When I went down to the boulongerie for today's baguette, La Pastesa, was on show, so we had some for breakfast.

The ceremony was due to start at 10.30, so we left the house in good time in order not to miss the excitement. Events here never start on time unless seating for a meal is unreserved when people arrive early to grab their places.

10.28 We leave the house
10.29 We arrived at the Placette de Rulladou

This is the mural which shows a village scene very close by.

This which shows the route to the real archway shown in the mural. It isn't possible to see both at the same time.

This is the real archway

Here you can see the real clock tower and also the clock tower in the mural

Two little boys are hiding in the shadows, the identity of the boys is known. Both are dead now, but their family is here at the ceremony. This shows them more clearly

10.30 The Elus (essentially the village's elected councillors) were present together with the person who was to officially cut the ribbon to inaugurate the Tromp d'Oeil.

10.37 The ribbon arrives
10.39 The cake arrives under police guard.
10.40 The pizza arrives (by now we were guessing that a bun fight would follow)
10.41 The mayor arrives
10.43 Two little girls install the ribbon

10.45 A microphone appears
10.48 We all move back so that photos of the crowd can be taken for the Midi Libre newspaper.

10.50 The speeches start
11.00 The cutting of the ribbon (the little girls have been holding the ribbon all this time and are too far away to have heard the speeches). The mayor and some Elus are in the photo together with the family of the little boys. I think that the little girl on the left holding the ribbon is also family.

11.05 Photos are taken of the families beside the mural
11.07 We are all invited to the bun fight at the school which is 20 seconds walk away
11.10 The cake speech and signing of the cake document

It seems that tourists to the village have been demanding something that's typically Thezanaise. All the villages around here have their own version of a cake called La Pastésa, which is typically eaten at Easter. There has not been an official recipe before, but many families have their own version. The Mairie have collected together the various versions and reached a consensus with the help of the local baker. The cake was available for the first time today. The Elus signed a document that accepted the recipe as the official Pastésa of Thézan and bound the boulanger to keep secret the recipe..