Tuesday, December 14, 2010

C'est fini

Well, today is my last day in Clermont-Ferrand. This morning I woke up and went to work like I have done for the past 4 months, but today just wasn't the same. This weekend I started to say my goodbyes and it continued until I walked home from lunch. I said my goodbyes to my favorite restaurant owners, the people I buy bread from every day and the people who I work with. The interesting thing about saying goodbye to some of these people is that I didn't know if I'd get the chance. For example, yesterday I went to buy a baguette from a guy that I have bought them from for the past 4 months. He wasn't there! I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to say goodbye, but I saw him at his bakery while I was walking home, so I stopped in and said goodbye. Then there is a random person on the street that I have seen mulitple times a week and we exchange cordial hellos. I hadn't seen him for the past week, but randomly today as I was about to turn a corner, he was coming around the other way. I stopped and said goodbye to him. It is strange saying goodbye to people when I know I will never see these people again. They have been a part of my life for a year. I have seen them on good days and bad days and all the days in between. They will be what I remember most about Clermont.
As with finishing any adventure in life, my feelings are a bit bittersweet. I had no idea what this year was going to bring when I left the States on Jan 5. It has been rewarding, challenging, motivating, disappointing, glorious and unforgettable. I will never have another year like it. I'm proud of myself. It may seem like a strange emotion, but it is one of the overwhelming feelings that I have had in the past week as I prepared to go home.
One of the tough parts about going home after a year like this one is trying to put into words for other people what this year has been. I went to new countries and new cities, I visited friends, I ate animal insides, I drank more wine than I will for the rest of my life and I lived in a language and culture not my own. There is no way to recount all of the adventures for other people. I hope this blog has done that to an extent and given a snapshot into the daily life I lived in France. I'm signing off from France for the last time. Au revoir la France!

Monday, December 13, 2010

Bûche de Noël

When I was little and went to a summer camp to study French they told us about all the traditinoal French foods at Christmas. One of those was a cake called a Bûche de Noël. It is like a huge swiss roll for those of you who know what that is. I had completely fogotten about these little cakes until the other day when I was walking past our local patisserie and saw the little pasty Bûche's in the window. I didn't buy one at the time, but I made a mental note to buy one sometime this weekend before I left France. Well I went on Sunday to buy one and guess what? they were all out. boooo. So today, at lunch time I went to a patisserie in the place by work and bought a chocolate petit bouchette. I didn't know that they had all different kinds. The ones that I have had in the US were all chocolate and vanilla. I ate the bouchette tonight and it was a great last dessert.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Last Weekend in Clermont

Hard to believe that it has been almost an entire year, but the past weekend was my last in Clermont-Ferrand. I started the weekend on Friday night with a few beers at one of the best bars in Clermont. It is bar called Bertrom and it was decked out for the holidays. I wish I could have captured a good photo of the place, but it made me wish I had gone there all the time. If it weren't on the other side of town I might have. There was a Christmas tree, lights, fake snow, elves on the windows and it was happy hour, so beers were half-price. We had a couple of Beglian beers and then headed to our favorite creperie in Clermont: Pescajoux. The owners are super nice and we had a great final crepe meal in Clermont. We closed the place down drinking cider with Vincente and Bruno.
Saturday we were all over Clermont. We started by buying some bug spray (for Costa Rica) at the pharmacy I frequented while in Clermont because the pharmacist is so nice. Then we had a lunch of croques, with chevre on top. The rest of the day was spent wandering around Clermont looking for souvenirs and enjoying a busy winter day in town. We stopped in a great coffee shop that I wish we would have taken advantage of earlier. We went to a hidden museum that I had read about, but that was a bit more difficult to find than we expected. Then we ended up at the market to buy the last of the smoked bacon for breakfast on Sunday morning. Dinner on Sat night was a bit more difficult than expected as we went to five restaurants before finding a place that had room for us, and conveniently we ended up at the second place we ate in Clermont. It was good, but after a filling dinner and some wine it was time to turn in.
Sunday I got up and went to my final mass at the cathedral before heading to the Michelin Adventure. It is essentially a museum of the history of Michelin and how they have grown. Since Michelin is the heart of Clermont, I felt I should go. It was time well spent. Sunday afternoon was my last rugby game. I didn't go, because it was freezing cold, but I did go to the Irish bar The Still and watch ASM bring home a winner in a close game. I drank my final Carslburg on tap, and thought about my brother the whole time.
I have by no means done everything there is to do in Clermont, but my time and year was well spent. The final weekend was just an accumulation of it all.

Souvenirs

Here's the thing about trying to buy souvenirs for people, and myself, from France: There just isn't that much that is really, truly French that you can't get at home that isn't stinky cheese, hard to transport (heavy and oddly shaped) wine, bread, pastries or an assortment of other foods (dried meats, mustards). Everything else is either really expensive or you just buy it over the web and have it shipped to you. There also is the struggle of determining what French things are perfect for the people at home. The other challenging part of the purchasing decisions is that there is only so much room in the suitcases. I'm not going to take you through each of my purchase decisions because of course the people haven't received them yet, but boy, it is hard with all this globalization going on ;-)

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Updates

With a grand total of 5 days left of walking to and from work, my life is much safer now. Why? you ask.
There is a major street that I have to cross every day that is right in front of our boulangerie. The street I live on empties into the middle of this street so for the past 4 months I have been waiting for breaks in the traffic, or for street lights to hit just right on the two roads that merge into one about 40 feet to the right of where I cross. There is also a road street directly opposite where I cross where I have to dodge cars turning right onto the street while I am crossing. Each day there are probably 20 people with me each time I cross. Sometimes I let other people walk closer to the merge, nicely figuring that if cars come flying around the corner and decide not to stop, at least I won’t take the full impact. You know a street isn’t safe when you are considering the options of not getting ran over and they include letting someone else get run over instead. The traffic is at its absolute worst when I walk home from work, and when it backs up it can sometimes take 3 or 4 light changes to get across the road.
In a development that has been slowly progressing for about a month now, there is now a crosswalk. They added a light literally 20 feet after the merge so that the cars stop at the fork, then they stop 20 feet later after they merge. It is a logistical nightmare. The good news is that now that the crosswalk exists I don’t have to worry so much about cars flying around a blind corner and taking me out. The only problem now is that the crosswalk isn’t in my regular walking path so I have to go out of my way 20 feet. Sheesh, the things we do for safety.

In other Clermont news, remember me telling you about a gym being built across the street from school that I hoped was going to be finished at the beginning of August? I’m proud to report that it still isn’t finished. Ha. I walk by it each day and lately there is more exterior work going on like siding and stucco, but still dirt and no parking lot and no finishing touches. Not exactly biting at the dust to start exercising now are we?

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

So....American

Working in a French office environment has been quite interesting. There are a bunch of similarities between American and French workplaces, but there are some interesting perceived differences as well.
One day about a month ago, a guy that works down the hall from me came into the office that I share with two other women dressed in a suit and tie. One of the women asked him if he had a meeting with the Americans or he was just trying to look like one. I was a little confused at first, because I have seen men in suits in the office, but then I realized that it was the fact that he was wearing a tie that did it. The business attire here is pretty laid back. I have worn business clothes every day, suit pants and a sweater or dressier shirt. My boss wears suit pants every day and has a suit jacket with him at all times. Everyone else runs the gamut from jeans and a button down to suit pants and sweaters. I think it just depends on what they feel like wearing that morning or who they have a meeting with that day. Wear a suit and tie though and you’re teased for trying to look American.
Also, when I first started, no one really told me the hours of the office. On the first day it said show up at 8:30. I have shown up at 8:30 every day since then. Also on the first day, I asked when to be back from lunch, they said any time between 1:30 and 2. I make it back generally around 1:30, sometimes closer to 1:45. I didn’t really ask what time to leave the first day, I just left at 5 and have every day since. I learned later that this is a truly “American” thing to do.
Apparently the French work “long hours”. The come in between 8 and 8:30 and work til 6 or 6:30. This isn’t everyone, but it is the salary people. There is a host of other people walking out of the building at 5 with me. Now the French will tell you that they work longer hours than Americans and hint at that meaning that they work harder. At that I just shake my head. Here’s why. Let’s calculate. Let’s say the day starts at 8:30 and goes til 6. That is 9 ½ hours. So take out 1 ½ for lunch. 8 hours. Take out 15 minutes for coffee from 8:30-8:45 (yes, in the morning, after you have just arrived). Take out 15 minutes for coffee from 10-10:15ish (that’s a wimpish break) Then take out the 15 minutes for coffee from 3-3:15 and, well if it has been a long day, take out the 15 minutes for coffee from 4:45-5 (yes, an hour before you leave). Add that all up and you have… 7 hours of work spread across 9 ½ hours. (I didn’t take into account the “chat” time that randomly happens when someone gets bored). Now, I am in no way saying that coffee breaks and chat times don’t happen in American offices. I know they do, but, the insinuation that Americans don’t work hard because they leave the office at 5 and are finished with work is just misleading. I know plenty of Americans who work 60 hour weeks or leave the office at 5 but spend another 2 hours each day working at home.
Another note on the French “work time”. Most salaried people work 40 hours a week while the non-salaried work 35. If you work 40 hour weeks in France? You get 8 weeks of vacation. Only working 35 hours a week, you slacker, 4 weeks of vacation for you.
Man America, get with the program.

*disclaimer…this is a blog written from my experience in the French office environment, I’m sure, that like everywhere, hours, breaks and vacation allotments change depending on the employer

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

It's beginning to look a lot like...

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas here in France. They put up the lights over the streets and on the light posts, so it is pretty festive walking around. There is a restaurant that I walk by every day that has a Christmas tree and a neon light wishing everyone “Bonnes Fetes” or “Happy Holidays”. In one of the main squares that I walk by each day on my way to work, there is normally a little flower market that is enclosed, so it is there all year round. This week the flower market became a Christmas tree farm and lots of live trees are out there for the picking. The trees here are all the same and they look a bit like Charlie Brown Christmas trees. There is lots of room for hanging ornaments! There are big trees and little trees, but they pretty much all look the same.
In Place de Jaude, the huge square in the center of town they have erected a Ferris wheel just like the one that was here last year when I arrived. I’m not sure the appeal of riding a Ferris wheel when it is negative degrees outside, but my roommate did it and had a grand time. She’s trying to get me to go back. Next to the Ferris Wheel is a massive Christmas tree with ornaments on it.
I have gone to both masses in Advent and while the Cathedral is much too big to decorate fully, there is a nativity scene in the back of the church that is pretty decorated. I didn’t say prettily decorated for a reason, but it is there. You know who is still missing though.
Right outside of the Cathedral is a Christmas market, where vendors sell their wares out of little wooden huts. You can find sweaters or toys or wooden games. You can also find truffade (the local dish with potatoes and cheese), Canadian pancakes with maple syrup and any kind of cheese or dried meat you desire.
Bars around here have started serving Bier de Noel. The one we had on Saturday was the Delirium Christmas Beer and it was bitter and tasted like coffee. Not my cup of …..er…beer.
There are Christmas concerts going on around town and lastly, the stores ARE OPEN on Sunday. It is the first capitalist thing I have noticed all year. Welcome to the season kids!

Monday, December 6, 2010

trash

Our trash is starting to get really interesting at our apartment. As we wind down to the final weeks, we are starting to get in the mode for getting our lives for a year into two suitcases and a backpack. This means there will significant things left behind. And other not-so-significant things thrown away. Today it was socks, leggings, a sunglasses case, and finished up bottles of a variety of products. I'm sure it is only going to get more interesting in the next week....

new word

About a week ago, the woman who sits across from me was telling me a story. She speaks like 400 miles a minute and half of the time I catch about 2/3s of what she is saying. Sometimes it is significantly less than that. During the progression of this story, she said a word a few times that I didn't know so I went to google and put in variations of what I thought it was to try and figure out the word. I do this about 10 times a day when I'm listening to a conversation. I'm a visual learner, so knowing how the word is spelled generally helps me remember it better. This word that she was saying had two possibilities, it was either "quand meme" or "comme meme". I decided it was "quand meme" by the context of the way she was using it. I found out that "quand meme" means "anyway" and now I can't stop hearing it. I was a lunch with my landlords and one of them said it multiple times. Then I was walking home from work and walked past a kid telling his friends a story and heard it in his conversation. It is everywhere! I think of how often I use the word anyway and I'm sure I'd be saying it a lot too, but it boggles my mind that I have been here 11 months and never picked up on such a popular word before now. Hey, at least I'm still learning something new everyday!

Sunday, December 5, 2010

C Kiki Conduit?

Admittedly I haven't been to American bar in over a year, so I'm not sure if this is common practice at bars now, but the other night we were at a nicer (for Clermont) restaurant. It was Friday night, and we went for dinner. We got there around 8:30pm and settled in for a meal. About 9:15pm, while I was eating my entree (in France, really the first plate) four bacardi reps came into the bar. After a man juggled some fire-lit bottles and another man played the bongos, a lady came around and offered us free Bacardi mojitos. Never one to pass up free drinks, we agreed. She left us a few things, one being a mint crusher, another being a silver packet that asked "C kiki condiut?" (Who will drive?), and a post card with this phrase on it as well. After receiving our free drinks, we decided to figure out what was in this packet. We asked our French friend that we were with and he told is that it was a portable breathalayzer test. How random is that? It was an individually wrapped packet that has a bag that you blow into and then it tells you whether you are legally over the limit to drive. There is a whole social commentary to go along with this, but I guess it is a good way to promote sober driving, or at least driving without being over the legal limit.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Ice

The other day I wrote a lovely blog about snow. It snowed again here last night, so the weather and I are friends again. Why were we periodically not so cordial? After the big snow a few days ago, the sun came out and warmed things up enough to start melting some of the snow that is on the streets and sidewalks, the problem is a lot of this snow had been tromped down by the hundreds of people walking to and from work and school, so the packed down layer was probably 2 inches thick. As the snow started to melt, it created a nice layer or water on top of this treaded snow. Unfortunately the days are pretty short here, so the sun doesn’t have ample time to get through all those layers. Also, the streets are in between buildings, as I live in a city. So, when the sun is up, it is useful, until the buildings shade the streets or sidewalks again. Once the sun goes away, the temperature drops and a nice thick layer of solid ice greeted everyone. I felt like I was ice skating with a bunch of people that I have never met. People were clutching each other, cars, light posts, street signs, whatever they could to keep from falling. Needless to say it took a little longer to get home than normal. Thankfully, and I hope I’m not jinxing myself, there were no wipeouts. There was quite a bit of high-pitched screeching as girls around me slid all over the place, but I didn’t see anyone eat it, so that’s good.
One of the most treacherous parts of my day is arriving and leaving work. There is a significant hill that I have to walk up and down. In dry temperatures it is hard enough because it is at a pretty good grade, but in snow it is a bit more difficult. In ice this hill is perfect for luging (well besides the fact that it is paved and leads right into a busy street). I could go around and walk about 5 extra minutes to take the safer route, but might as well live on the edge. I take the paths with new snowfall and hold onto the wall.
As I had a lovely tribute to snow, I’ll finish this post with the times that I like ice. I like ice in a big glass of water. I like ice when I hurt myself and need to not feel the injury. I like ice when it keeps my beers cold in the cooler. I like ice when it is 110 degrees outside and I feel like I’m melting. I like ice when I’m ice-skating or playing hockey. (Admittedly, I don’t play hockey, but you get the idea.) I like ice when I want to build an igloo (also admittedly, not that often. Or ever.) Ok I’m stretching here, as we have learned from this exercise, ice is way less loveable than snow, but enjoy yours in your drink. I haven’t seen a drink full of ice in about a year.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Snow

It snowed here for the first time of the year on Friday night/Saturday morning, so when I woke up there was a light dusting. By 10am it was all gone. Yesterday though, it started snowing around 10:30 in the morning and was on and off all day. The weather forecasters were predicting that we’d get over a foot Tuesday night, but in true meteorological fashion, they excitement, build-up and frenzy was all for naught. While we did get a few inches more, we were nowhere near a foot. Using my best estimation skills, I’d say in total we got 4 inches. The nice thing about this amount of snow is that it makes everything pretty. It isn’t so much that it brings things to a standstill, but it is enough to make it really feel like winter. There are many negatives to snow as well of course, but we’ll not dwell on those right now. What we (yes, you the reader and I) will do, is pose some fascinatingly debatable points on the topic of snow.
1. Boots. Here is my letter to French females mostly between the ages of 13 and 25
Dear French amies-
While I will give you that the name of the apparatus on each of your feet is indeed called a boot, I would like to inform you that while this name suggests to a casual observer that your footwear will be more compatible with the necessities presented by snow, your boots do not, in fact, meet these necessities. Your boots are very chic. You’re in vogue. I applaud your efforts at walking through 4 inches of snow on the balls of your feet because your 2 inch stiletto heel isn’t exactly a sufficient base for treading on ice. Furthermore, your careful selection of brushed suede, camel color leather and ample side buckles does make your boot pretty to look at, and you wear it well. Sadly, the snow and slush do not agree. This precipitation is a mean and ugly menace that strives to make your foot coverings look dirty, wet and atrociously insufficient. The snow is winning. For the love of chestnuts roasting on an open fire can you please find some decent snow apparel?

On the subject of snow apparel: It is negative degrees outside. How do we know this? It is snowing. When it is negative degrees outside your hair looking coiffed and perfect should take a back seat to your ears possibly being missing because you lack the sense to put on a hat. I know I look funny wearing a hat, but I care little. I like my ears. I plan to keep them.

Please consider these thoughts as you continue through this winter.

With sincere hopes that you don’t break an ankle, bite the dust and eat some snow or lose your ears,

Me

2. I will admit that I do not understand in the least why people do not use umbrellas when there is a downpour going on outside. Sure, I’ll grant the possible excuse that the umbrella was forgotten, broken or the person is so happy that playing in the rain just seemed fun, but for the rest of the people walking around without an umbrella, I don’t get it. Here’s the debate though. Do you use an umbrella for snow? I don’t. Do people walk around thinking the same things as above about me when I arrive with snowflakes dusting my eyelashes and a coat depositing clumps of snow on their floor? I’m a staunch non-user of an umbrella for snow. I think it makes people look funny. I mean it is just snow. It isn’t like it is soaking you to the bone or anything. You simply brush off the flakes and move on. Does this make me a hypocrite? Boy, I sure hope not. No one likes a hypocrite.

I am very fond of snow. I like it when I’m sitting in front of a fire in the fireplace drinking hot chocolate. I love it on Christmas morning. I like it when I’m skiing. On snow. Not water. That would be cold. I like it when I’m making a snow man. I love Christmas cards with pictures of snow. I took an amazing picture in the snow when I first arrived in Clermont (I know, modesty is my strong suit). Doing donuts in the snow is fun. Snowball fights can be downright joyous. I’m really looking forward to sitting in the hot tub while snow falls around me and drinking some warm cider.
We all know the havoc snow can cause, and it very well might in my near future, but for now, let’s enjoy it.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Winner! Winner!

For the last few months my roommate and I have been helping a thirteen year old French girl with her English. My roommate and I were walking down the street one day, talking like normal and a woman stopped us in the street. Having heard us speaking English she wanted to know if we, or someone we knew, would be interested in giving her daughter English lessons. Her daughter takes English in school, but it is different having people to actually talk to. We agreed and called her up the next week to begin the lessons. We go twice a week for an hour each time and it is a fun way to help the girl learn English. We talked about shopping and jewelry and trips to other countries. We played Uno, which is an awesome game for learning numbers in another language. What is most interesting though is the phrases that stick. Somewhere in the early weeks we were learning opposites and came across right and wrong. At some point I used the phrase “I’m always right” and for the next two weeks our little pupil decided this was her phrase. While it can be quite annoying when someone who knows that phrase says it all the time, it was a bit more endearing coming from her. Sometimes I wondered if she knew what she was saying, but hey, it is a good phrase to repeat no matter what.
Then a few weeks ago we were playing a game and I won. (yes yes, I know, like normal) Well I was gloating a bit and said “winner winner chicken dinner!” She picked it up and loved the little sing-song voice that goes along with it. Problem was she couldn’t for the life of her remember the order of the words. The next week we came back and she did something correctly and said “winner winner dinner chicken!” My roommate and I busted out laughing and told her to try again. ““winner winner dinner chicken!” We repeated the phrase in its true form again. She got it and was singing it as we went out the door.
The next week we came back and the phrase came up.
Here’s how the conversation went :

Our French amie: “winner winner” ………uhhh… “dinner chicken!“

Stares from us

Our French amie: “no no, winner winner” pensive scrunched face…… “DINNER chicken!”

More blank stares

Finally she says, “ok, ok, winner. Winner”…wheels turning…… “DINNER CHICKEN!”

We had a laugh and once again reminded her it is “winner, winner, CHICKEN dinner”
As we were leaving she was repeating it to herself. We’ll see who’s the winner this week.

Soup

I’m going to give you a little heads up if you ever come to France and want to eat soup. If you look at the menu and it says that you’re getting vegetable soup with tomatoes, zucchini, mushrooms, beans, spinach, etc… and you don’t like one of those ingredients…then consider not getting the soup. The reason? All soup here is puréed. The only soup I had eaten puréed before I came here was tomato. I bring this up today because I made chicken noodle soup last night. I chopped up the carrots, turnips, zucchini, onion and mushrooms, threw them in the pot, boiled the water, cooked the chicken and put in the noodles. Then, we eat. If you don’t like celery? You avoid it. I told the people I work with that I was going to have chicken noodle soup for lunch. They’d never heard of it. I explained how it was made and they were dumbfounded. Soup that isn’t puréed? Weird. You now have fair warning that if you want some nice chunky veggie soup, it isn’t going to happen in France. Find yourself some beef bourguignon stew instead.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Thanksgiving Take 2

As you know we had to work on the real Thanksgiving, so we celebrated this weekend instead.
We went to the market on Saturday morning in search of a turkey. We didn’t find one. What we did find, and decided on getting, was turkey breasts. I didn’t want to sit at my landlord’s house all day on Sunday and babysit the cooking turkey, and I’m not a huge fan of taking meat off bones, so we went the easy route and got big fat turkey breasts.
Later on Saturday my roommate made a sweet potato pie because it was just about the easiest thing we could make. Initially we were trying to make a pie without an oven, but that turns out to be a bit difficult. Once we decided to borrow our landlord’s oven, it became a bit easier. We oculd have had apple or cheery or peach, but sweet potato was the closest we could get to pumpkin so that was it. My roommate also made a batch of stuffing. I realized as she was making it that stuffing recipes vary across the spectrum. At my house, we have stuffing that goes in the turkey and stuffing that doesn’t. We have it with and without celery to accommodate the many different taste buds. I found our that our family recipe does include sausage, but that’s never been in my stuffing as long as I can remember. Well the stuffing my roommate made had apples and sausage and turnips. I’m no food snob though, so I enjoyed it immensely.
Sunday afternoon we began the entire meal preparations. I got all the potatoes peeled and in the water to boil and put the turkey in two different pans sautéing in butter and spices. While all of that was going on our stuffing was in the oven across the way cooking and the fruit for our version of waldorf salad (apples, pears, bananas and whipped cream) was prepared. I let the turkey simmer in chicken broth for a while and then started the gravy prep. I didn’t know how to make gravy before coming here. Mom always does it, and I just never bothered, until this year, when gravy is needed for many dishes. I improvised off of my remembrances of her making gravy and it turned out pretty good each time. This time I thought it was great. It got to thickening a little and the stuffing came back to our apartment. We were ready. The wine was poured, and football was on my other roommate’s computer. We shared our meal with a Portuguese friend who we had to explain all of our traditions to. The meal was great and I ate too much like I do every Thanksgiving. We all went around the table and said what we were thankful for before dessert and enjoyed our pie. Chalk this one up to a Thanksgiving in France success!

Sunday, November 28, 2010

L'Isle Sur La Sorgue

The last city on my parents' visit was L'Isle Sur La Sorgue, a little place to the east of Avignon. Some of the guidebooks call it the Venice of France, but I'm convinced these people have never been to Venice. Sure, it has little canals that run through it, as it was once a city who lived off of miling, but Venice is just a tad more grand than LISLS (abbreviated because the name is too darn long). The city was cool though, don't get me wrong. It was a fine place to spend our last two days because it was calm and interesting and located close to a pretty drive through the Luberon hills. We got settled in the hotel and headed to the tourist office to find a map. After picking up the map from the office we decided to take the little tourist circuit around the city just to get our bearings and find out what there was to explore. I can't say the walk was all that exciting. They had us walking down some pretty boring streets, but we did see lots of waterwheels! These were used in the city's milling history. We saw the old church, that was built in the baroque style, which dad was not fond of, but it was a bit different than the rest of the churches we had seen on the trip, so interesting none-the-less. After searching for a restaurant on the first night we ended up at a little place that had a delightful dinner of beef canneloni. The one thing about French restaurants is that they all serve the same thing (beef, duck, fois gras, salmon, entrecote, etc..) this canneloni was definitely new and scrumptious. Mom had a dessert that she about died for. It was a house dessert with three little desserts made from orange. She couldn't stop saying how wonderful it was. Chalk that place up to a success!
The next day we decided to take a Rick Steves drive through some of the little towns around Provence. We drove though one of the most beautiful towns in France, Ménerbes, but it was pretty deserted, so we just walked through the town a bit. Then we made our way to Vaison la Romaine which has an "upper" city and a "lower" city. The upper city is the old medieval town, whic the lower city is the modern day town, still old, just not as old as the upper city. We walked across the old Roman bridge and through the medieval city, but it was also pretty dead. It must have been the time of year that no one (aka tourists) really inhabit the city. Finally we stopped in Suzette for a meal at a Rick Steves' recommended lunch place. After inconveniencing the owner to make up a table for us, we proceeded to have an unplanned 2 1/2 hr lunch. We tried to be patient and enjoy being on vacation, but we're American, we get antsy after sitting and waiting for food for an hour. At least it was good!
Back in LISLS we did some walking around town and checking out the antique shops, part of what makes LISLS a destination. That night for dinner we went way different and ate at a modern little chinese place. It was packed, which is usually a good sign. The food was good, and very different than our cuisine from the rest of the trip, so a nice change up.
The last morning of our vacation we woke up and headed out into the town to partake in the markets. My mom and I had expected just antique markets, but there was good, and clothes, and dogs, and cassettes, and mattresses, and soaps, and well, just about anything you could want. It was festive and entertaining, but a bit draining. We decided to head off to Lyon early, but wanted to grab some lunch. We stopped at a place and were the very first people in the door and placed our orders before anyone else arrived. An hour and twenty minutes later we got our food. There was serious discussion as to whether dropping 40 euro on the table for our entrees and leaving would have been acceptable. Unfortunately this long lunch pushed our whole day back, but we made it to our desitnations and got on trains, me heading to Clermont for 4 more weeks and mom and dad to Charles de Gaulle in Paris for their flight home the next day.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Pont du Gard

There is a site so renowned in France that it made it on the Euro 5 note. Since you probably don’t happen to have a 5 euro bill sitting around, I’ll just tell you that the site is called Pont du Gard. I thought it would be best not to leave France without seeing this site, so on our way from Carcassonne to L’Isle sur la Sorgue, we stopped and took a stroll across the old aqueduct. It was pretty amazing. It was built in the first century to help water travel between cities and eventually became a toll bridge to cross the river. It was maintained for many years and would not look as grand as it does today without some repairs, but it is still quite neat that it is standing. It made us wonder how long it will stay standing?
One small outrage. Rick Steves said that parking at the Pont du Gard was 5 euro. When we went to pay for parking it was 15!!! 15 euro to spend an hour seeing a marvelous site. Tourists, your money is much appreciated. Boo.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving in France isn’t exactly the same as it is in the States. By that I mean it is not celebrated. Obviously. The French don’t so much care about the discovery of America. Or America in general for that matter. Everyone that I work with though knew that it was Thanksgiving so I was explaining to them that we were going to try and make something traditional for thanksgiving, but there is one big problem. We don’t have an oven. They have much more turkey here than we have at home. At least more turkey breasts and the like for making on the stove top, so that isn’t a problem. They have all the vegetables that we need, we’re going to make stuffing and gravy, but we’re going to have to miss out on the pies. We investigated making a no-bake pumpkin pie, but there is no canned pumpkin. There is also no corn syrup, pecans or molasses. I’m sure they are available somewhere in France, but not readily available in Clermont, so our search ended quickly. At this point we’re at a loss as to how to celebrate Thanksgiving desserts without those ingredients, so we’ll make due. This weekend we are going to make a Thanksgiving meal because unlike at home, we have to work all day here. I can honestly say it is the first time, and I hope the last time, that I have to work on Thanksgiving.

In other news, when I got to work this morning, one of my co-workers wished me “Happy Fete” because Thanksgiving this year is also the Feast of Catherine of Alexandria. She was a noted scholar in the 4th century and apparently appeared to Joan of Arc several times. She was a martyr who was supposed to have died by the “breaking wheel”, an old form of torture, but according to legend, the wheel died when she touched it, so she was beheaded.

Happy Turkey Day!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Carcassonne

Carcassonne was the next town on the trip. This is the place that I really wanted to go to before I left France. I had heard nothing but good things about it and wanted to check it out. Apparently in July it is jam packed with tourists. By jam packed, it literally gets full because it is a walled medieval city. There are about four hotels in the walls, and one of them has suites that go for 1600 euros a night. Not exactly in my price range. Thankfully, in November it is much easier to get a room at a reasonable price, and while the city was not deserted, it wasn't too crowded to enjoy. We were there on Nov 11, which is a free day for the French. This had virtually no bearing on our stay except that the castle was closed and a few restaurants were closed, but it didn't stop us from enjoying the city. We didn't really do much except explore. There were no "must-see" sights, so we wandered the city walls both during the day time and at night, we saw the church, we shopped in the little stores and we had a drink at the 5-star hotel. The had a really neat bar area in a library. Their restaurant was open on Nov 11, but the meal was 130 euros. Right. We ate across the street and it was scrumptious. The best part about Carcassonne was that we just relaxed and enjoyed being on vacation.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Albi

We left Clermont in the rain and pops drove in it all the way to Albi. We were without a GPS on this trip, I'm convinced they aren't necessary, as I haven't had one for any of the road trips I have taken in France. The trick is that you can't expect to drive straight there. You have to teleport yourself back about 3 years when you actually had to read a map, and sometimes stop and ask for directions. Really, if you just put yourself in the mindset that it might take slightly longer than the 4hrs and 2 minutes that mapquest says, it really isn't that bad. I haven't slept in the car yet, and manage to find my destination every time. It is part of the taking a chill pill and being on vacation. Anyway, we found our hotel after a few looks at the city map on the placard in the main place and a "beer stop" which had a dual purpose of buying the tired driver a beer to help him unwind from the drive and to ask the owner where the heck our hotel was.
Sadly it was still a bit rainy in the morning, but nothing horrible, so out we went to see Albi. The main attraction we went for was the Toulouse-Loutrec Museum. If you don't know the name, he's the guy that did the poster for Moulin Rouge back in the day. He has a really excentric style and was quite the character. I'll just tell you he died at 36 from complications of alcoholism (he's said to have created the drink "earthquake" half absinthe and half cognac) and syphillis. I quite enjoyed some of his paintings, he did some really cool things with colors and brushstrokes. The rest of his work was interesting too, as it mostly centered around prostitutes and actresses.
After we finished at the museum we walked to the cathedral, but it was closing for lunch, so we went on a hunt for a place to eat lunch. Using our trusted Rick Steves, the first place we found was on annual vacation (bien sur), but the second place was absolutely marvelous. It is called Tournesol and is completely vegetarian. I had falafel, mom had couscous and dad had lasagna that he wasn't sure he would like, but did! It was delighfully perfect. Then came dessert. A brownie for mom that she coveted and kept commenting on the "lightness" of and a piece of apple tart for dad. I, of course, could not let them enjoy their sugar fixes alone, so ordered up a third spoon and partook in the enjoyment.
Before heading to the Cathedral, we went down to the river and crossed the bridge to the "wrong side of the river". It is where the working people lived in the old times when the Cathedral side was for the clergy and nobility. The views were absolutely lovely. The water and leaves and bridges were great.
Finally we made it to the Cathedral. Interesting note about the cathedral in Albi, it is made out of brick. I can't tell you another church that I have seen in Europe that is as old as it is (built starting in 1282). Apparently it is the largest brick building in the world. Another point to note is that it still had its screen. Most cathedrals used to have the choir screen to separate the clergy from the normal folks. During the back and forth religious affiliations of royalty back in the day, at some point most choir screens were removed from Cathedrals, but not in Albi. They still have theirs and it is neat. It is really detailed and looks like it took a bunch of work. Also, the ceiling of the Cathedral is neat because it has never been restored, but the colors are incredibly vibrant. Finally, initially the church had this huge painting of the Last Judgement behind the altar, but during some renovations the middle was cut out to build another part onto the church. Interestingly, the part that was cut out of the painting was the part where Jesus appeared in the work. So, now there is a painting of the Last Judgement, without Jesus. Unfortunately we didn't get to see this painting because it was behind scaffolding. Dope!


Sunday, November 21, 2010

Parents in Clermont

After getting back from Chambord, I unfortunately had to work for Monday and Tuesday of that week. My parents had originally planned to take a train to Lyon for Monday night to see that city, but as this trip was more about relaxing and enjoying being on vacation, they decided to stay in Clermont and just soak up what there is to see here and relax a bit. There were many great parts about having them here, but one was showing them some of our favorite restaurants in Clermont. We took them out for fondue, which was very different than the first time I had fondue in France, this time there was meat and potatoes involved, and we used wine to cook the foods. It was yummy as usual. Then on Tuesday I got to take my parents to my favorite creperie in France, Pescajoux. We had a great lunch, surrounded by artwork of female busts!
My parents went exploring one day and went to one of the churches in Clermont, not the big cathedral because it was closed for some work, but Notre-Dame du Port. My mom noticed that there was a statue of the Virgin Mary breast feeding and noted that she'd never seen that depicted before. Interesting. My parents also went and did the Michelin Adventure. It is a little museum that tells about the history of Michelin and how it evolved. I haven't even done that yet! It is on the list to be done before I come home though, so maybe next weekend.
Sadly the weather wasn't ideal while they were here, as there was a lot of rain and chilly temperatures, but we endured and enjoyed the time in my city.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Interlude

After leaving mass at Chartres, my parents and I drove to a little town called Blois on the Loire River. I had quickly visited this city earlier in the year, but it looked so cute I wanted to come back. I failed to mention to Mother Nature that I wanted to return with sunny and decently bearable weather. She failed miserably. It was raining and chilly, but we braved on. Following Rick Steves' guide we headed to a little restaurant at the base of the chateau...that was closed. Instead we walked through the pretty Sunday-deserted town and found our way to a little restaurant open for business. My dad had cassoulet, which I had thought was a cheesy potato dish like the one I had on my birthday, but really cassoulet is a dish with sausage and beans and, as I found out the following week, duck. We enjoyed our meal and off we went to Chambord.
I have visited Chambord before on my day of chateaux, but as it is a massively-huge place and pretty famous, Mom and Dad wanted to check it out. It was on our way from Chartres to Clermont-Ferrand so we made the quick stop. As was with Fontainebleu, the sheer wealth of the castles of the royalty back in the day is just astonishing. One of the features of Chambord is that there is a fireplace for every day of the year. The neat part about this trip is there were actually fires in some of the fireplaces! This castle is nowhere near as decorated as most are, but mostly because it has so many rooms. Also, this castle was just a hunting castle for the king, so all of the furniture was mobile. When he wanted to come, his people were sent along ahead of time to put in the furniture, when he wanted to go elsewhere, they packed it all up and sent it along before him. Interestingly this castle fell into ruin and as the years went on and people died it was literally gifted away because the swamps it was built on contributed to horrible mosquito infestations in the summer and the area of France where it is located is prone to horrible winters. Eventually it was unlived in for a while until someone "stumbled" across it while hunting and, as a piece of royal property, it was once again gifted to someone who was willing to invest even more money and energy into the place. The state of France bought it in the early 1900s and turned it into a tourist attraction and money-making machine. Well, congratulations, you got me twice and it was worth it both times.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Beaujolais Nouveau

As everyone knows, France has a small industry related to wine. By that I mean they have the second largest total area of vineyards (behind Spain, go figure), produce 7-8 billion bottles of wine each year and in 2005, French wine sales accounted for 17.6% of world exports (thank you wikipedia). You get the picture, a lot happens around wine here.
Last night was a little celebration of wine centered around a wine called Beaujolais Nouveau. Apparently every year, no matter when the gamay grapes are harvested, the new wine is introduced on the third Thursday in November. Bars have bands, there are specials on the wine, and some French bars have...gasp!...FOOD. Significant of course because usually you can't eat and drink at the same establishment if it isn't lunchtime or dinnertime. (I'm looking forward to some chicken nachos with a beer while watching a football game, when I get back to America, when you can eat whenever you want.)
We decided to celebrate the new wine at a little place that had a tent set up on the street and hay on the sidwalk for everyone to stand (and smoke) on. Smoking while standing on hay didn't seem all that safe to me, but whatever. The bar was selling hot dogs for 3 euro and everyone was bundled up drinking a red wine that had hints of banana. They told us it was raspberry, but I kept tasting banana bread. We did find out that while the wine is introduced every year at the same time, there are many diffiferet producers of the wine, so different bars have different bottles. The distinction is in the type of grape and the region of France. While others proclaim they sell Beaujolais Nouveau wine, unless it is from a specific region in France, it is an imposter. It is notoriously not that smooth, but we had no problem with two bottles, so thumbs up on Beaujolais Nouveau Thursday!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Chartres

One of the places my dad definitely wanted to visit on this trip to France was Chartres Cathedral (officially Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres). It is said to have some of the most magnificent stained glass windows in the world and is a ridiculously old place. It was built between 1193 and 1250 and according to our friends at wikipedia, is in an “exceptional state of preservation”.
We arrived in Chartres on a Saturday afternoon at the high point of one of the day’s rallys revolving around the retirement age. Of course the main area of the town is around the church, so after attempting to find our way to parking, we decided to come back later in the day. But, it was raining later in the day, so we decided to stay in the town where our hotel was, about 25 km outside of Chartres. There were two restaurants to choose from in Illiers-Combray; we picked the one not at our hotel and had pizza and calzones. We hoped that the skies would clear and we’d have bright sunlight in the morning for mass at the church. We were disappointed.
The next day it was at least not raining, so we were able to walk around the cathedral and see its “exceptional state of preservation”….or not. It was really one of the most deteriorating cathedrals I have seen in Europe. I guess it has been standing since the 13th century and maybe the deterioration is a testament to the fact that they haven’t had it redone or anything, but it was not in top form. Sadly though, while we were there, there was scaffolding covering the main entrance into the church and the famous rose window was covered up. Bollocks you scaffolding! We attended a Latin mass in the church, which I’m pretty sure was in French with just Latin songs, and patiently waited for the sun to come out. It didn’t. the stained glass windows were impressive and huge and I can see how the place would be pretty spectacular on a bright sun-shiny day.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Fontainebleu

My parents made their second trip over to France this year and we decided to hit some of the places that they didn’t see the first time they were here in May, and that I haven’t seen in the year that I have been here. One of the places tops on my list was Fontainebleu. Depending on who you ask, it is either the second or third most-visited chateau behind Versailles. As you have seen if you read the blog much, I love French castles, they happen to be one of my favorite parts of the country. Ridiculous wealth being spent just for the heck of it is absolutely mind-boggling to me, but they did put up some pretty nice buildings surrounded by some beautiful gardens. I have to think that castle building and maintenance was the #1 trade of back-in-the-day. I would have wanted to be the vegetable gardener. You get to be outside, don’t really have to deal with the royalty and if you get hungry, you can just discretely pop a carrot in your mouth. But I digress. On to the castle.
Unlike some of the other castles that I have visited, this one sits right on the road leading into town. In fact, the night before we visited, when my parents picked me up at the train station, we were driving back to the hotel and drove right past it. I saw it and exclaimed “What is that!” Quickly I realized it was the attraction for the next day.
The castle was one of the best I have visited in France (thus the reason so many people go and visit I’m sure). The entry price was reasonable, I think 6.50 or so and we got an audio guide to boot. We went at a great time of the year because there weren’t really any other big groups. There was one, but they were just walking through so we let them pass and continued on with our journey. We saw some spectacular rooms with intricate tapestries and well decorated apartments.
My favorite room in the house was definitely the library. It was in a huge barrel room and had books lining the sides in cases, but had natural light coming in from skylights on the sides of the room. It wasn’t exactly a comfortable sitting room for reading books, as one could probably have a ball in the space it occupied, but I liked the way the room created interest.
The audio tour pointed out an interesting feature of some of the chairs in the rooms with fireplaces. One arm of the chair was lower than the other so that the person sitting in the chair could be exposed to the fire warmth on one side, but guarded from the colder air on the other side. First time I had heard that description in conjunction with furniture.
When we were finished with the castle, which took about an hour, we walked the grounds a little bit. Nowhere near the size they were back when Francois I lived there, there was still ample open space for walking and admiring the colorful fallen leaves. As my dad said, “It must have been good to be king”.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Chateau du Commarque

On our way back to Clermont we decided to stop at one of the Chateau that was on the way back. This chateau ended up being totally different than the majority of the other chateaux that I have visited while in France. Notably, it was in ruins. It was originally built in the 12th century and was more than just a castle. There were certain areas for the nobles and then areas for the servants. There was an oven room and numerous towers to see the lands that the nobles possessed. We were the only two people there, so we got to explore all we wanted without interruption from other tourists. It was a bit pricey in comparison to some of the other castles, but we decided after hiking to the top of the highest tower that we paid for a day at the gym. The view from the top of the tower was pretty cool though because the leaves were the same colors as the stones.
One funny moment at the castle is when we got to the ticket counter we saw another castle like looking building on the other side of the valley. My roommate asked the guy working the ticket window “What’s that?” pointing across the valley. The guy’s response? “Another castle”. Thanks buddy. Apparently thought people actually live in the other castle. It didn’t look to warm or too inviting so I hope they have done some work to the inside!

Bergerac

Our last night of the road trip we stayed in a little town called Bergerac. When I called home while we were planning our trip and asked my mom if she had ever heard of the place, she said sure, you know, like Cyrano de Bergerac. Sure, I know him. Nope. Only recently I had the story recounted and figured out what he was all about.
Anyway, we had a lovely little walking tour through the town on the day of the Dead (Nov 1). There were flower markets set up in front of the church. Sadly, the church had scaffolding all over it, so it wasn’t a great sight, but it confirmed what we have learned about little French towns; they are all built around churches.
We walked down to the little square where we had eaten a not so delightful meal the night before and my roommate had her picture taken with Cyrano himself, well the statue version of him anyway. We walked through a little square with some very cute bed and breakfasts, where we should have stayed, but when I was booking places I didn’t realize chambers d’hotels meant they were bed and breakfasts, so oh well. My roommate realized that she would have been a little tall for the past few centuries and navigating the small doors into the residences would have been a bit interesting. We walked to the old port and marveled at the colorful leaves on the sides of the buildings. We completed our tour in about…30 minutes. The town just isn’t that big. Then we were off to the east and headed home, but not without a few stops on the way…

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Wineries

When in France, a trip to the actual wineries is a must at some point, so while my roommate and I were in the southwestern part of the country, we decided to stop by a few places and check out the wine. I’m not a big red drinker, and we were in red country, but I decided if I was going to drink red wine, I might as well drink some of the best. We got a map from the local tourist office in St. Emilion and a list of the wineries that were open and were able to take people who didn’t have reservations and we set off into the French country side.
The first place we came to was right outside of St. Emilion and didn’t need reservations so we stopped and rang the bell. The guy came out and told us he’d be with us in a couple of minutes. While we were waiting, a couple from the most-western part of France showed up. They had a reservation so got some very specialized attention. By that I mean the owner talked to them the whole time and barely even bothered to make eye contact with us. He told us about his small winery and how he didn’t try to compete with the marketing operations of the bigger ones. The lady asked 100,000 questions and we took a tour of the wine cave which was about 60 feet long and 30 feet wide. It wasn’t exactly a huge place. Forty minutes after we started the tour we began moving to the wine bar where the wine was actually going to be tasted. He pulled out the first bottle and talked for 5 minutes. Then the lady asked a question and he talked for 5 more minutes. Finally he opened the bottle and poured the couple their glasses, we were getting excited as ours were in the row next. Then the lady asked another question. Ugh. As a true Frenchman, this guy gave 3 parts to every answer. He first gave you his answer, then said “that is to say…” and gave you another version of the answer, then ended the response with an example of what he was talking about. ENOUGH already. Pour me some wine! We tried 4 different big reds and of course progressed to the most expensive bottle, which turned out to be 40 euro. Right. Moving on.
The next winery we stumbled upon that didn’t need reservations, we came in a bit late to the tour, but the man was nice enough to let us join the 12 people already there. The man giving the tour was nearing 80 and I think had a permanently stained red mouth from all the wine he has drunk through the years. He told us there were actually 4 senses you use when tasting wine instead of the three normally regarded ones of taste, smell and sight. For him, the sound of the bottle being uncorked was also very important. I should have known at that point that this was going to be interesting. The session ended up being more of an example how to taste wine than the actual tasting of the wine. This man went all out. He was taking a sip of the wine and taking 3 deep breaths before swallowing it. He was halting his breathing mid breath, he was using his hand to summon the oxygen from his feet to his palate, he chewed, he spat, he called cats while the wine was in his mouth. I honestly have no idea how the other 12 people in the group kept a straight face. I had to turn around twice to laugh because I just couldn’t hold it in anymore. At one point he encouraged everyone to follow his lead, which ended with spitting the wine in the vat. He invited everyone to try it with the warning: “Be discreet, not all of us can be champions at spitting” uh huh.
The big reveal came when he showed us the kind of wine we had drank 1/2 ounce of: a 2007. He then gave us pamphlets on his other wines and asked us what we’d like to buy. Unfortunately for him, we didn’t think the wine was purchase worthy, especially after we only drank ½ ounce of it. So we were on our way.
We came to the decision that the best next step was to drive to the next town, buy a bottle of wine and drink it. Sometimes you just have to do things yourself.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

St. Emilion

Our second night was spent in a little town called St. Emilion. We ended up staying in the only hotel in another town called Coutras, which was about a 20 minute drive to St. Emilion. St. Emilion at night was pretty neat. It was the night before Halloween which was pretty fitting because the town seemed to be deserted. It was built in the 13th century in a dip in the countryside and the first thing we saw was just a huge wall which looked like it used to belong to a cathedral. Apparently it was bombed way back in the day. We parked quite easily and headed into town. The first place we saw was a hotel that had rooms for 625 euro a night and an 8-course meal for 130 euro. We considered staying there, but then thought we might want to have rent money for the next two months, so we moved on. Walking through the town was kind of spooky because everything was closed and the streets were lit with orange lights. It gave it a bit of an eerie feeling. It was dinner time, so we stopped in the place that had the best menu. The woman asked us how many, we said two. She asked if we had a reservation, we said no. She promptly firmly replied: NO MADAME and turned around in a bustle and left. My roommate and I were both pretty stunned at the rudeness, so I thanked her for her cordiality and peaced out. It was a good thing too because the other place we found was great. I randomly ordered something off the menu. Ok, I say that but just because I didn’t know what it was. I was 80% sure it was a white fish and it was. It was also really really yummy. There were some interesting side dishes, but dessert was a strawberry tart that was yummy.
We returned to St. Emilion the next day and the first thing we did was get the key to the bell tower. I went to ask about climbing it and the lady at the office gave me the key and told me to lock the door behind me! It was neat because we climbed up and got to explore the place and take in the views all alone. No words can do the beauty of fall in this area justice. It was absolutely stunning. We perused the wine shops of the town a little after that without finding anyone who wanted to sell us wine. Strange I know, but we kept going into places and people were just kinda hanging out, not really engaging customers or getting them to buy anything. I guess people usually do their own leg work with finding good wines. We had a very good lunch in a little cave and learned that Paris macaroons and Bordeaux macaroons are two different things. Paris ones are two cake like things with a frosting or jam in the middle like a sandwich. Bordeaux macaroons are just cookies. We had another Bordeaux area treat called a canelé, which was a cake with an interesting flavor (I just wikipedia-ed it, the flavor was rum). Our adventure in St. Emilion complete, we headed out to the vineyards surrounding the town.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Dunes

On the recommendation of my roommate’s boss, we got up earlier than we would have on Saturday to head to the Atlantic coast of France to see a dune. I had absolutely zero expectations for this dune, but it had a write up in the book and national signs pointing to it, which is usually a good sign. This trip to the coast would also complete my exploration of each of the French coasts. I did Normandy on the North, the Cote d’Azur on the south and now Arcachon on the west. We had no trouble finding the dune and after a bit of a walk I was quite taken aback with a massive sand dune. It really did look like the Sahara. We climbed up the stairs to the top and walked in the foot prints of the adults, dogs and children who beat us to the dune. Thankfully the sand was a bit wet so not flying all over the place. You know how much me and sand get along, but I just took a deep breath and told myself that it wasn’t my car that I was driving, so it didn’t matter how much sand ended up in it. After spending a bit of time walking along the dune, we decided to take a bit more of a fun descent. No, we did not roll down the side of the dune like logs, although that was thoroughly considered, but we did walk down the side of the dune which was really like skiing. Not slip sliding down it, but each step was about a foot deep in sand and slid a bit til the sand packed down enough to stop the foot. It was quite fun. I thought about hiking up the stairs to do it again, but then thought not. We ventured into the nearby town of Arcachon and walked out onto a pier over the bay to fully absorb the huge beaches and the Atlantic coast. We stopped for a quick coffee break where I royally pissed off an already grumpy waitress by ordering something by saying I didn’t want anything (I don’t know, she heard me wrong, or just assumed what I said, but I didn’t order anything, she thought I did, rudeness by her ensued). Our quick stop at the Atlantic complete, we jumped in the car and headed back east. Five hours later my roommate found stored up sand saved in her pant cuffs. Just a little treasure from a huge dune in France. Happens all the time.

Bordeaux

While in the US we celebrate Halloween, in France, they celebrate the Day of the Dead. Essentially the same thing, the difference is that the French get a day off on Nov 1 for this day. I have all confidence that each and every French person is honoring their ancestors on this free Monday, I’m just not as sure that they all went to church to do so, thus the necessity of a day off is….? No complaints from me though. 3 day weekend for me! My roommate and I decided about a month ago that we wanted to spend this weekend in the Bordeaux region as it is a part of France neither of us had been to. We had a little wavering when the strikes were happening because our plan was to rent a car and the strikes were making shortages of fuel. Cars without fuel don’t work too well. Thankfully the striking subsided enough and the Ministry of the Interior went around all the strikers anyway and imported fuel from Russia and Italy before breaking up the blockages in the French distribution system, so we had plenty of fuel to get to Bordeaux. We left Friday night after work and drove mostly in the dark to get there. Not that interesting…until we actually drove into the city and then it was awesome that we arrived at night. Bordeaux does a great job of lighting up its city at night. The buildings have great architecture and the bridge over the Garonne River is illuminated and looks really neat. The Gambetta theme of this trip started in Bordeaux and by that I mean that in every city we visited in the southwest there was something named Gambetta. In Bordeaux, it was the place in which our hotel was located just off of. (I just wikipedia-ed for you and he was a French statesman who came to prominence after the Franco-Prussian war. Consider yourself educated.) I either haven’t been paying very good attention or he is really just popular in the southwest, because I have never heard his name before this trip. He was with us every step of the way on this one though.
Despite the rain we walked around Bordeaux a bit when we arrived and walked to the Esplanade to see the fair that was going on. It reminded me of Oktoberfest if no one had gone. Really it was just like any other fair at home with horribly-bad for you food and over-priced games. Interesting to walk through it in France though and feel like I could be in a Springfield somewhere in the US.
The next day our culinary opinion of Bordeaux did not get the proper introduction I’m sure, because we waited 30 minutes for sandwiches at an outdoor that were absolutely awful. I was hoping for something about 400% better, but good food can’t be found with ease all the time, so we’ll chalk that one up to just a bad choice by us. We did get to enjoy the sunshine and some intriguing people watching. We saw the funny looking cathedral, I say that because the spires are on the side and not at the head of the church. It is always nice to see interesting twists on standard church designs. We attempted in vain to use the size of Bordeaux and its abundance of shopping, to find my roommate a pair of boots, but had to move on without a purchase. While I wasn’t in Bordeaux for a significant amount of time, I really enjoyed the city and its exuberance.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Crunch Crunch

If you thought those were words referring to me doing sit ups, you were sorely mistaken :-) It is actually the sound my clothes make in the last few months since we have gotten our own washing machine. One thing that I'm not sure that I took for granted, but that I never gave much thought to (which I guess could be the definition of taking something for granted) was a dryer after to make your clothes 1. dry and 2. soft. Sure it just takes a little breaking of the fibers to loosen the clothes up and make the socks not harsh on my feet, but I'm reminscing about the days when my towels were put in the dryer directly before they were wrapped around me after a shower. Ah...those were the days. (yes, you're right, I wasn't an under-privileged child) Interestingly, this thought not only came from our lack of a dryer, but also because we have a heater in the shower and our towels hang directly above it, so when I do wrap myself in a towel after a shower it is somewhat heated. Livin the life huh?

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Wake UP Sun!

As winter approaches here in Clermont-Ferrand, the days are getting much shorter. In fact, this morning I woke up at 7:25 and the sun had about 40 more minutes to sleep. I really have issues with this. Not that it makes me angry or anything, but why does the sun get to sleep til 8:10 and I don’t? I’m really no good at getting up in the morning anyway, and before the sun is just cruel. Plus, I’m not sure if it is a life-long necessity of having to get up at 7 something or what, but I am really much better at getting up when the time starts with either a 6 or an 8. Well then, you are saying, why don’t you get up at 6:55? I’ll tell you, because what in the world would I do at that hour? I have no TV, everyone else I know is sleeping or going to be shortly and I’d be giving up 30 minutes of sleep. Instead I’ll just wait as patiently as possible for 2 more weeks and daylight savings time to kick in here in France. We’re a week behind the states on this, so I’ll only have to calculate 6-hour differences for a week. Whoa people, prepare to be confused.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Wine Festival

A few days ago while randomly flipping through a magazine at happy hour, I saw and ad for a festival of wine. Yesterday we scored some free tickets and headed off to the convention center to partake in one of France's greatest attributes. Now obviously everyone knows this is a bad idea. I mean how can anything good come of tasting wines from about 80 different wine makers. It can't, and as anticipated, the wine worked its magic. We were a little overwhelmed at first because there are just so many stands that it is hard to know which ones to visit. Plus there is the added pressure of actually looking like you might buy some of the wine you are tasting so as not to be a complete free-loader. You know where I'd want to be at this wine convention if I were trying to sell some wine? In the third row. I wonder if this is tactic or if there is any kind of strategy when setting up a booth at one of these things. Here's the thing about row 3 of 4. In the first row everyone is kind of warming up to figuring out how to ask for wine and being polite and well, to be frank, is still sober. Row 2 things start to loosen up a bit, as the wine is flowing a little better and there are fewer qualms about asking to try wines. Row 3 is where the winds catch the sails though. At that point, we'd tried about 10 wines (don't freak out, it is literally just a taste test), but we were indeed feeling a little less inhibited. We had only bought one bottle of wine before row 3 and came out of row 3 with 4 more. Now sure, that could be because the wines were better, but I doubt it. Poor row 4 we didn't even get to attempt. We were a little wined up and some friends who weren't big wine fans were tired of waiting for us while we tried to figure out if the flavors were dirt or trees or cherries. As to be expected, the night didn't stop there and somehow I woke up this morning with a bruise I don't remember being inflicted with. Right. Well done wine exhibition, you took my money (hopefully for good wines), got me toasted and somehow phantomly wounded. Wine Festival 3, Kate -3.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

12 Hours in Clermont

When a friend of mine came to visit a few weeks ago, she brought with her a blog that was written by a native Parisian that chronicled what she would do in Paris if she had just 12 hours. We followed some of the advice and it was a great way to have a different kind of experience in Paris. When she got back to the states, my friend then wrote her own chronicle of what to do with 12 hours in her home city of NYC.
I am going to go out on a limb and assume that this has never been done for Clermont-Ferrand. I could Google it, but that wouldn’t be any fun, plus it wouldn’t be my version. So, after living here for almost 10 months, I present to you, my version of “What to do with 12 hours in Clermont-Ferrand, France.”
Firstly, I’m going to assume you are American, or English speaking at least, so not native French. I’m also going to assume that it is Saturday, because that is when normal people have time for 12 hours of fun. I’m also going to paint you a perfect mid 70s day with lots of sun, exactly like the weather here was last Saturday. Start your journey at the Cathedral; it is the easiest place to find. Ready. Set. Enjoy!

10am – Make your way to Marche St. Pierre. You’ll walk down the lively Rue des Gras and you can see what will become an awfully bustling little street as the day progresses. At the market, wander around and marvel at all the colorful fruits and vegetables and, if you aren’t used to such things, gawk at the meat counters displaying fowl with their heads still on and rabbits skinned, but otherwise completely in tact for your discerning eye. Since you ate such a small breakfast (I know this because you are in France), you’re going to stock up for a lunch-picnic in the park. Wander over to the fromagerie and pick out some cheese to enjoy. Stop by the produce stands and pick out some interesting fruits that you’ve never had before. Try figues, quetsch, and a host of other interesting fruits. Then make your way outside to the square and find the chacuterie shop. Get some variety of sausages to enjoy. Hold off on purchasing bread though, there’s a better place for that!
11am – Now that you are loaded with some delightful lunch fixings, there are a few more items to pick up before you make your way to the lunch location. From Marche St. Pierre, walk back up Rue des Gras, and marvel at how many more people have emerged in the short amount of time that you were perusing the market. Make sure to train your eye above eye level at some point to take in the marvelous view of the Cathedral. When you get to the Cathedral, follow it around to the left and to the other side and take Rue de Port down to Place de Lille. In Place de Lille, stop in the artisan boulangerie and purchase some macaroons. They are big, and you will want to share, so don’t go too crazy.
11:30 – Your next stop is for wine. Make your way to Au Petit Bercy at 31, rue Ballainvilliers. If you speak English or French, good! If not, well French wine is never bad, right? Choose a bottle of wine and head off to Jardin LeCoq, but first a quick trip to the boulangerie for your bread.
12 - Descend Boulevard Lafayette one block to Au St. Laurent de la Patisserie. Don’t know what all the choices are? Grab a baguette viennoise and a baguette ordinaire and you’ll be set. Now make your way to the park.
12:30-2:30 – At this little oasis of delightfully landscaped gardens, you are going to enjoy a leisurely lunch in the park. Don’t think for a second that this is a stuff-your-face-and-run kind of outing. When in France, if you aren’t eating between 12-2, you aren’t going to be doing anything else, because, well, everyone else is eating too. Relax and enjoy. Maybe sneak in a little nap.
2:30 – After enjoying your time in the park, you’re going to head back up to the Cathedral, but this time you are going all the way to the top of the towers to enjoy a great view of Clermont, Montferrand and the line of volcanoes in the distance. When you get to the Cathedral, first take a look around at the black rock, pulled from the base of the volcanoes, and take in the sheer magnitude of the monstrous building. When you’re ready, head to the west side of the building. Next to the exit door you’ll see a wooden door that gives you passage to the tower. Pay your fee and head up the steps to the top. Take your time and soak in the majesty of the view.
4 – Your next destination is thankfully right at your exit from the Cathedral. There is a rugby game at 4:30 (if there isn’t, it probably is at 2:30, in which you switch the Cathedral viewing until after the game). Have a seat outside in the square at Café Pascal, order yourself a demi-peche: a half-pint of beer mixed with peach sirop. You won’t find anything like it in the US, so savor the taste and if you must, swear you’ll never do that again. But at least you now know how a large percentage of French men drink their beers! Voraciously try and understand the convoluted rules of rugby, or just enjoy the locals yelling at their favorite athletes, but mostly just people watch and assess the fashion sense (or seemingly lack of it) that you’ll see around you.
6:30 – Ecstatic about the ASM (that’s the rugby team’s name if you happened to miss it) win and feeling pretty good about life in general, it is time for you to begin preparing for dinner. I’m going to give you the option here of heading back to your hotel to “clean up” for dinner, but if you don’t need that, then head over to Café de la Mairie and ask for a bottle of the Gamay wine. It is a regional red and smooth, yet tasty. The café is small and intimate, yet a great place for seasoned locals and if you are lucky there will be live music.
8 – At this point you are ready for dinner, or if you aren’t, I am, so that’s your next stop. You’re in route to Pescajoux on Rue du Port. You’ll be greeted by Vincente and Bruno is in the back whipping up your meal. The place has atmosphere and usually interesting local art on the walls. My favorite galette is the Popeye, but only have it if you adore spinach! Make sure you drink some cidre with your galettes like the “real” French do, and never pass up dessert crepes. My favorite is the After 8 because I get ice cream and Chantilly with chocolate. Life could be worse. Please do finish your meal though, there is ear twisting involved if you don’t. There is virtually no way that the meal will take less than 2 hours and if it does, relax and have a coffee to top off your night.

Congratulations, you’ve spent 12 hours in Clermont. Sure, there might not be anything flashy to do, but you’ve had a pretty genuine day-in-the-life Saturday experience. Bien joué!