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!

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.

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 ;-)

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?

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

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!

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!