Most Sundays, Tim and I are out of town and if not, we explore a different Paris neighbourhood. This morning, I took my yellow caddie and walked to the Champion grocery store a few blocks away. I expected to find few people there but there were still line-ups at the counters. The most amazing thing was that the shelves were almost bare. There was a note apologizing for the shortage of liquids (water, milk, liquor) because there had been a mistake in ordering!! That still does not account for the empty shelves elsewhere.
There were people lined up out the door at the bakery as I walked by. Lining up (faire la queue) is a national past time.
I experience a lonely feeling at this time of the year in Paris. Many people have already left for holidays. The butcher, the florist, the drycleaner and many other little shops have signs in their windows saying “on holiday”. I wonder about all the clothes still hanging within view at the drycleaners (le pressing). People will now have to wait one month before being able to get their clothing. Despite the activity in the grocery and the baker, the streets were relatively empty and there is very little traffic.
On my way home, I passed at least six legal parking places. That is like winning the lottery! I have never looked at parking places with longing before but it normally takes me about 45 minutes of circling to find a spot.
Yesterday, in the very touristy area of St. Germain some stores and restaurants were closed for holidays. La Cremerie, a little wine bar is closed for six weeks!
The only thing left to do is leave town too.
Sunday, 22 July 2007
A weekend in Angers (Maine et Loire)
Thursday, July 12, 2007
The hardest part of our trips by car may just be the beginning. First I have to get the car from the garage (a 15 minute walk) and then I have to find a parking place near home in order to load up. On Thursday, I drove around for 45 minutes before finding a legal spot. The “meter maids” are without pity here and will ticket you – 35 € - and then have your car towed to a compound if you are in an illegal spot.
Now, for regular people, loading the car should be easy; one suitcase each perhaps? But we only take one suitcase between us. Then, we take a cooler to hold items we buy at markets and for our picnics and water. Then, we each have a knapsack, in case we decide to hike. We have another bag with shoes and a bag for carrying wine…just in case, and, well you get the picture. Enough of packing and on with the trip!
I picked Tim up at work around 17H on Thursday and we headed out of Paris through Suresne and St. Cloud. We marvelled that we had never seen these pretty suburbs of Paris. Traffic was heavy until we hit the A-11 autoroute. I had booked a chambres d’hôtes (B&B) near Le Mans , about 160 kms from Paris, to keep the drive short and allow time for a nice dinner. Tim was concerned that the place would not be up to par since it was out in the middle of nowhere and the road that led to it was not even on the GPS. It turned out to be delightful, with beautiful gardens and a huge room.
We drove to the nearby town of La Ferté Bernard and walked around before dinner at Le Perdrix. We had a very good meal and drank a Chinon 2000 that was elegant with good fruit but Tim thought it did not have enough structure or acidity. For most of the evening, we were the only two people in the restaurant. The décor was very 80’s with pink wallpaper. The owner was dressed in the same period in a black and yellow top with huge shoulder pads.
Friday, July 13, 2007
The day dawned warm and sunny which was a treat since it has been rainy most of the summer. Our objective for the weekend was to explore the city of Angers and surrounding area. Friends had said it could be an ideal place to live in France. We wasted no time getting there. The Château d’Angers looms over the city and is impressive on its own but it also houses the famous Apocalypse tapestries, made in the 14th century. They are 338 ft long. It was such a beautiful day that we decided to see them another time and did a walking tour of the city instead. Angers impressed us with its interesting history, architecture and cleanliness. People were friendly.
Near lunch time, we passed a small café (Le Canaille). A client dining outside told us it was very good so we reserved an outside table and came back later for lunch. We enjoyed it and the menu (entrée, main and desert!) was only 11.25 € per person.
We left Angers and stopped in Pont de Cé to buy wine. We passed the towns of Coutures, le Sale Village (I love that name – the dirty village) and visited Gennes. We took the D751 along the Loire to Saumur. Saumur looked appealing but was very crowded so we decided to return another time.
We crossed the Loire and passed through Les Rosiers sur Loire on our way to our chambres d’hôtes in St. Mathurin sur Loire. There was a nice looking restaurant called La Toque Blanche in Les Rosiers.
La Bouqetterie - the chambres d’hôtes….hmm. When we arrived we had a suspicion that our long string of successes with chambres d’hôtes might be about to end. The house was large and probably quite elegant at one time. It overlooked the Loire with the main street between the house and the river. It had a big garden that was once quite lovely, I am sure but was now overgrown. We were in a building attached to the house on the garden side. I had booked for the table d’hôtes (dinner prepared by the owner) and that was a big mistake. She arrived about 10 minutes before we were supposed to eat and said, “What can I give you!” We had salad and little triangles of filo pastry filled with something. This woman was spaced out and totally distraught over her teenagers.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
The next morning, as we were preparing to head out, she stuck her head out the window, still in her terry towel bathrobe and said, “Mais vous êtes matinals”. “My but you are early birds”. It was 8:15. We passed up breakfast and headed to Angers to “assess” the market. It was fabulous! There were hundreds of vegetable stalls (it is a very agricultural area) and the meat and fish were fresh, appealing and about half Parisian prices. We were now in desperate need of coffee and something to eat but it wasn’t easy since it was July 14, Bastille Day; the National Holiday in France. We eventually found an excellent little pastry shop that served coffee too.
We hadn’t planned to do wine touring on this trip but as we were passing the Maison des Vins d’Anjou Tim suddenly remembered he had tasted some impressive wines from an Anjou producer a few months before. Despite the fact that this tiny producer was not on their official list, the young women at the Maison des Vins were extremely helpful. While he wasn’t easy to find, they searched the internet and through some obscure links, finally came up w a phone number. They warned that he wouldn't likely be open on Bastille Day. I called and fortunately he was there for a while so we headed to La Grange aux Belles in Mûrs-Erigné. Marc Houtin who has been making wine for only four years was delightful and we spent almost 2 hours talking and tasting his wines. He was so pleased that we loved them but even more pleased when we loaded the car up with seven cases of his wine. As thanks, he offered us a bottle of his very best dessert wine and set us up with a local real estate agent.
We had planned to picnic and hike a bit but it was now too late for that. One of our Guides recommended a restaurant in St Jean de Linère, 15 minutes away, so I called and we headed over to Auberge de la Roche. Everything was good except there were too many attempts at fancy vegetables that did not work. The chef/owner and his wife were very warm and welcoming and after our chat they gave us a copy of a local cookbook that we had seen for sale earlier.
Continuing on, we drove along the Loire through many little towns and headed back to our room for a rest before going to for dinner.
We took a leisurely and circuitous route back to our room to explore more area villages. We went through Chalonnes and Brissac-Quince which has an unusual looking, 7 storey chateau that is the tallest in France. Le Thoureil had many power boats moored along its dock. Turquant has a windmill and Candes-St. Martin was very pretty. There are troglodyte houses built into the tuffeau stone between Montsoreau and Saumur. Some of the caves are now being used to grow mushrooms. Along the highway, we passed a war memorial flying a Canadian flag.
Saumur was jammed with traffic and people. We stopped briefly to pick up information at the tourist office and continued on to our room where we changed and headed out again for dinner.
We crossed the Loire on the bridge that was already down to one lane to prepare for the July 14 fireworks. We returned to Gennes to explore the village and pronounced it liveable. We had a nice dinner at L’Aubergade in Gennes and I drove back to the chambres d’hôtes. The main street was closed so I had to use back roads and a small lane to access the place. Darkness was approaching so we quickly walked into the village to experience the celebrations in a small town. There was a band set up on the church steps and everyone was out. Tim and I sat on the edge of the wall along the Loire and waited for the fireworks. The street lights were bright and I commented that it would be so much better if they were turned off. At that moment a man arrived, unlocked a box on a pole and with the flip of a switch, the town turned dark! The fireworks were wonderful and lit up the night and the water. It was fun! As soon as they ended, the street lights came back on and we headed home.
We had to put the electric shutters down for privacy in our room. The shutters covered the windows and the door. As they completed their descent, there was an ominous noise. Tim tried to raise them but nothing happened! Since it was about 1:00 a.m., we decided to deal with it in the morning, in the hopes that it was a temporary problem. It did not feel good to be prisoners, though.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
At 7:45, we were still imprisoned and I started calling our dizzy host, but only got the answering machine. We were packed and ready to leave but could not get out. I finally called her mobile phone and she answered. She came down in her white terry robe and said that we had broken her shutter! She could not understand. They had worked perfectly for 10 years. We threatened to call the Pompiers (firemen). Eventually, we broke the shutter down to escape. We were happy to leave the place.
We stopped in Saumur for the Sunday market. It was pitiful but the town looked interesting and we did part of a walking tour up to the chateau.
We stopped at the market in Montsoreau and bought our picnic and our dinner. Tim found a nice spot to stop for lunch in a forest after which we decided to head back to Paris. We ended up on a brand new highway A-85 that was not on any map we have, nor on our GPS system. Unfortunately, it was headed in the wrong direction and there were no off-ramps for kilometres! We eventually got turned back around and except for a very bad accident that narrowed the highway to one lane and then closed it after we passed, to allow a helicopter to land, we had clear sailing all the way home. Despite the distressing accident and the bad chambre d’hôtes, it was a good weekend.
The hardest part of our trips by car may just be the beginning. First I have to get the car from the garage (a 15 minute walk) and then I have to find a parking place near home in order to load up. On Thursday, I drove around for 45 minutes before finding a legal spot. The “meter maids” are without pity here and will ticket you – 35 € - and then have your car towed to a compound if you are in an illegal spot.
Now, for regular people, loading the car should be easy; one suitcase each perhaps? But we only take one suitcase between us. Then, we take a cooler to hold items we buy at markets and for our picnics and water. Then, we each have a knapsack, in case we decide to hike. We have another bag with shoes and a bag for carrying wine…just in case, and, well you get the picture. Enough of packing and on with the trip!
I picked Tim up at work around 17H on Thursday and we headed out of Paris through Suresne and St. Cloud. We marvelled that we had never seen these pretty suburbs of Paris. Traffic was heavy until we hit the A-11 autoroute. I had booked a chambres d’hôtes (B&B) near Le Mans , about 160 kms from Paris, to keep the drive short and allow time for a nice dinner. Tim was concerned that the place would not be up to par since it was out in the middle of nowhere and the road that led to it was not even on the GPS. It turned out to be delightful, with beautiful gardens and a huge room.
We drove to the nearby town of La Ferté Bernard and walked around before dinner at Le Perdrix. We had a very good meal and drank a Chinon 2000 that was elegant with good fruit but Tim thought it did not have enough structure or acidity. For most of the evening, we were the only two people in the restaurant. The décor was very 80’s with pink wallpaper. The owner was dressed in the same period in a black and yellow top with huge shoulder pads.
Friday, July 13, 2007
The day dawned warm and sunny which was a treat since it has been rainy most of the summer. Our objective for the weekend was to explore the city of Angers and surrounding area. Friends had said it could be an ideal place to live in France. We wasted no time getting there. The Château d’Angers looms over the city and is impressive on its own but it also houses the famous Apocalypse tapestries, made in the 14th century. They are 338 ft long. It was such a beautiful day that we decided to see them another time and did a walking tour of the city instead. Angers impressed us with its interesting history, architecture and cleanliness. People were friendly.
Near lunch time, we passed a small café (Le Canaille). A client dining outside told us it was very good so we reserved an outside table and came back later for lunch. We enjoyed it and the menu (entrée, main and desert!) was only 11.25 € per person.
We left Angers and stopped in Pont de Cé to buy wine. We passed the towns of Coutures, le Sale Village (I love that name – the dirty village) and visited Gennes. We took the D751 along the Loire to Saumur. Saumur looked appealing but was very crowded so we decided to return another time.
We crossed the Loire and passed through Les Rosiers sur Loire on our way to our chambres d’hôtes in St. Mathurin sur Loire. There was a nice looking restaurant called La Toque Blanche in Les Rosiers.
La Bouqetterie - the chambres d’hôtes….hmm. When we arrived we had a suspicion that our long string of successes with chambres d’hôtes might be about to end. The house was large and probably quite elegant at one time. It overlooked the Loire with the main street between the house and the river. It had a big garden that was once quite lovely, I am sure but was now overgrown. We were in a building attached to the house on the garden side. I had booked for the table d’hôtes (dinner prepared by the owner) and that was a big mistake. She arrived about 10 minutes before we were supposed to eat and said, “What can I give you!” We had salad and little triangles of filo pastry filled with something. This woman was spaced out and totally distraught over her teenagers.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
The next morning, as we were preparing to head out, she stuck her head out the window, still in her terry towel bathrobe and said, “Mais vous êtes matinals”. “My but you are early birds”. It was 8:15. We passed up breakfast and headed to Angers to “assess” the market. It was fabulous! There were hundreds of vegetable stalls (it is a very agricultural area) and the meat and fish were fresh, appealing and about half Parisian prices. We were now in desperate need of coffee and something to eat but it wasn’t easy since it was July 14, Bastille Day; the National Holiday in France. We eventually found an excellent little pastry shop that served coffee too.
We hadn’t planned to do wine touring on this trip but as we were passing the Maison des Vins d’Anjou Tim suddenly remembered he had tasted some impressive wines from an Anjou producer a few months before. Despite the fact that this tiny producer was not on their official list, the young women at the Maison des Vins were extremely helpful. While he wasn’t easy to find, they searched the internet and through some obscure links, finally came up w a phone number. They warned that he wouldn't likely be open on Bastille Day. I called and fortunately he was there for a while so we headed to La Grange aux Belles in Mûrs-Erigné. Marc Houtin who has been making wine for only four years was delightful and we spent almost 2 hours talking and tasting his wines. He was so pleased that we loved them but even more pleased when we loaded the car up with seven cases of his wine. As thanks, he offered us a bottle of his very best dessert wine and set us up with a local real estate agent.
We had planned to picnic and hike a bit but it was now too late for that. One of our Guides recommended a restaurant in St Jean de Linère, 15 minutes away, so I called and we headed over to Auberge de la Roche. Everything was good except there were too many attempts at fancy vegetables that did not work. The chef/owner and his wife were very warm and welcoming and after our chat they gave us a copy of a local cookbook that we had seen for sale earlier.
Continuing on, we drove along the Loire through many little towns and headed back to our room for a rest before going to for dinner.
We took a leisurely and circuitous route back to our room to explore more area villages. We went through Chalonnes and Brissac-Quince which has an unusual looking, 7 storey chateau that is the tallest in France. Le Thoureil had many power boats moored along its dock. Turquant has a windmill and Candes-St. Martin was very pretty. There are troglodyte houses built into the tuffeau stone between Montsoreau and Saumur. Some of the caves are now being used to grow mushrooms. Along the highway, we passed a war memorial flying a Canadian flag.
Saumur was jammed with traffic and people. We stopped briefly to pick up information at the tourist office and continued on to our room where we changed and headed out again for dinner.
We crossed the Loire on the bridge that was already down to one lane to prepare for the July 14 fireworks. We returned to Gennes to explore the village and pronounced it liveable. We had a nice dinner at L’Aubergade in Gennes and I drove back to the chambres d’hôtes. The main street was closed so I had to use back roads and a small lane to access the place. Darkness was approaching so we quickly walked into the village to experience the celebrations in a small town. There was a band set up on the church steps and everyone was out. Tim and I sat on the edge of the wall along the Loire and waited for the fireworks. The street lights were bright and I commented that it would be so much better if they were turned off. At that moment a man arrived, unlocked a box on a pole and with the flip of a switch, the town turned dark! The fireworks were wonderful and lit up the night and the water. It was fun! As soon as they ended, the street lights came back on and we headed home.
We had to put the electric shutters down for privacy in our room. The shutters covered the windows and the door. As they completed their descent, there was an ominous noise. Tim tried to raise them but nothing happened! Since it was about 1:00 a.m., we decided to deal with it in the morning, in the hopes that it was a temporary problem. It did not feel good to be prisoners, though.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
At 7:45, we were still imprisoned and I started calling our dizzy host, but only got the answering machine. We were packed and ready to leave but could not get out. I finally called her mobile phone and she answered. She came down in her white terry robe and said that we had broken her shutter! She could not understand. They had worked perfectly for 10 years. We threatened to call the Pompiers (firemen). Eventually, we broke the shutter down to escape. We were happy to leave the place.
We stopped in Saumur for the Sunday market. It was pitiful but the town looked interesting and we did part of a walking tour up to the chateau.
We stopped at the market in Montsoreau and bought our picnic and our dinner. Tim found a nice spot to stop for lunch in a forest after which we decided to head back to Paris. We ended up on a brand new highway A-85 that was not on any map we have, nor on our GPS system. Unfortunately, it was headed in the wrong direction and there were no off-ramps for kilometres! We eventually got turned back around and except for a very bad accident that narrowed the highway to one lane and then closed it after we passed, to allow a helicopter to land, we had clear sailing all the way home. Despite the distressing accident and the bad chambre d’hôtes, it was a good weekend.
Thursday, 28 June 2007
Summer Sales
The summer sales started yesterday and run until August 4. Having shopped in many countries, I can say that the French sales are the best. Since summer weather has not really started here, there is still lots of good merchandise in the stores.
The sales are regulated and here is a little more information about how that works. The dates of the sales must be clearly marked at the store, as well as the nature of the merchandise. An item can only be discounted if it has been in the store for one month or more. More items cannot be brought in during the sale. The price tags must clearly show the original price, the sale price and the percentage of the mark down. This is the only time when an item can be sold at a loss. There are 500 inspectors who work seven months of the year. They check prices before and during the sales and ensure that the merchants are following the rules. If they are not, the fines run from 1,500 € to 180,000€. Yes, 180,000€!! That must be for stores like Louis Vuitton.
The sales are regulated and here is a little more information about how that works. The dates of the sales must be clearly marked at the store, as well as the nature of the merchandise. An item can only be discounted if it has been in the store for one month or more. More items cannot be brought in during the sale. The price tags must clearly show the original price, the sale price and the percentage of the mark down. This is the only time when an item can be sold at a loss. There are 500 inspectors who work seven months of the year. They check prices before and during the sales and ensure that the merchants are following the rules. If they are not, the fines run from 1,500 € to 180,000€. Yes, 180,000€!! That must be for stores like Louis Vuitton.
Friday, 22 June 2007
La Fête de la Musique
Didn’t we have fun!
La Fête de la Musique is a huge musical “party” that has France movin’ and groovin’. (Doesn’t that sound old fashioned?) It was initiated in 1982 by the French Ministry for Culture and is now held in hundreds of countries on the first day of summer each year. All musicians play for free and the genre runs from classical to techno.
Let me tell you how we enjoyed it. First, we decided to stop in at one of our favourite little bistros for a glass of wine at the bar. On our way, we encountered a French horn group. There must have been 20 of them and we stopped and listened a while. At Le Petit Verdot, we had our drinks, promising to return later for dinner and headed out into the streets of our neighbourhood again. We meandered listening to a Jamaican band at the Southwest Café, a rock group at Dada Café, a trio singing English pop at Place Ternes and a techno group at Place Tristan Bernard. At this last place, free tins of Pringles Gourmet Thai Sweet Chilli and Lemongrass flavoured chips were being handed out. They were good. It was around 9:00 p.m. and the streets were full of families with excited children who were having great fun dancing. Heading back to Le Petit Verdot, we heard several other groups including jazz and the French horns again who were moving about the neighbourhood. Most bands were set up on the sidewalks.
On our way home after dinner, we passed several more bands but headed back to the Jamaicans. There was a crowd of adults dancing in the street and we joined in and danced until midnight. Continuing our walk home, we stopped in at Stephane and Patricia’s, a little Italian, family-style bistro run by a brother and sister. The name of the place is actually Parigi Val di Taro! They had moved all the tables aside and were dancing to taped music. We had a quick dance with the owners and this time, we really went home. As we walked, I said, “J’aime mon quartier” – “I love my neighbourhood” and a couple walking ahead turned around and said “Nous aussi”- “So do we”.
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Monday, 18 June 2007
June 18, 2007 - Paris & Normandy
June 18, 2007
A week in and out of Paris
On Tuesday, I spent the entire day at La Défense where Tim works. I was helping with the election for the board of the cultural association that we belong to. Well, there was a little lunch and coffee drinking thrown in there too. I also paid a surprise visit to Tim.
The same day Tim had a late night with his wine-tasting club in Levallois. It was a beautiful summer night so I decided to cross the street to Edouard's for a glass of wine. Many of our local friends were there and I had a nice evening chatting and sipping champagne.
On Wednesday, we were in Levallois (two metro stops from home) at La Fermerie, a wine and cheese shop owned by a good friend. He was having a soirée Corse. All products came from Corsica. We tasted a donkey sausage (saucisson d’âne) and it was good. Âne translates as “ass” but…
We thought we would stay home on Thursday and planned a light supper and early night, but stopped for a glass at Caves Saint Vincent (aka Edouard's). A winery owner from the Côtes du Rhône stopped by with his wife, on their way to a light, early dinner in the neighbourhood; we know him but have never really talked much with her. Then Chloé, Edouard's wife arrived; she and Edouard had planned to have dinner somewhere together that night after the store closed. Chloé had never met either Jerome or his wife Josiane. This seemed to be an ideal opportunity for everyone to get to know one another and furthermore, Tim and I were hardly going to eat at home if everyone else in the neighbourhood was going out. Off we went to Chez Ly, the best local Asian restaurant for what turned out to be a pretty late night. It got even later when Jerome was called into another local restaurant by the effervescent owner Alexandre who insisted on opening a superb little white burgundy for us. Chloe and I had actually walked ahead and were nearing home when she received a call on her mobile to return to Balthazar. Very late indeed, but fairly typical of so many nights in the 17th. “
Friday – Edouard catered a déjeuner d’agneau au bitume (lamb cooked in tar- it is wrapped in tinfoil first). An event reserved for those who work on road construction and I'm not sorry! A glass at Edouard’s and then we really did have a quiet supper at Parigi Val di taro. Our friend Jackie joined us.
Saturday - another trip to Normandy. We had planned it as a beach day and one hiking day but the weather has not been very cooperative lately. While we have had some warm and even stickier-than-usual weather, summer has yet to arrive. We explored Houlgate and its bizarre houses in light rain. They are huge villas that look like they were designed by many different architects. You will find, brick, stucco, carved wood, colourful ceramic tiles forming all kinds of designs and more on each house. More often than not, there is a ceramic cat on the porch roof. When it started to pour we ran for cover in the first restaurant that looked suitable. We have yet to have a decent lunch in Normandy. The service was polite but slow and the Normands are simply not able to cook fish or molluscs. More exploring by car in the rain in the afternoon. Arrived in Honfleur in late afternoon; despite the rain, we, and thousands of other tourists, walked the quaint village streets. The history, shops and especially galleries were all impressive. A largely decent dinner of some modern French food that night and a walk up the steep street to our chambres d'hôtes finished the day.
We decided to cut out our planned, long hike on Sunday to opt for a tour of Honfleur in the promised sunshine. It is one of my favourite French towns, directly across from Le Havre at the mouth of the Seine. The very impressive modern Normandy Bridge has a span of 2,141 metres across the Seine. A good view of it is from the Côte de Grâce, a hill that has the Notre Dame de Grâce Chapelle tucked away on its summit. This chapel has one transept dedicated to the French who left for Canada from Honfleur. We searched for a Parent among the names, but found none.
Heading back to Paris, we meandered along country roads noting places to return to. Beuvron-en-Auge is listed as one of the prettiest villages in France and it truly is, with more flowers in bloom than you can imagine. Pont Audemer is another beautiful town. We headed back to Paris in the rain and in very heavy traffic but arrived in time to watch the results of the general election.
Just a note on elections
France votes twice for the election of its President and it seems that everyone is truly interested in this, since there is an over 85% turn-out.
A few weeks later, there is a vote for the members of Parliament or députés de l’Assemblée Nationale. If there is no clear winner in a constituency in the first round, there is another vote two weeks later. By this time, I think that people are tired of voting and the turn-out is around 60%. It is all over for another five years.
A week in and out of Paris
On Tuesday, I spent the entire day at La Défense where Tim works. I was helping with the election for the board of the cultural association that we belong to. Well, there was a little lunch and coffee drinking thrown in there too. I also paid a surprise visit to Tim.
The same day Tim had a late night with his wine-tasting club in Levallois. It was a beautiful summer night so I decided to cross the street to Edouard's for a glass of wine. Many of our local friends were there and I had a nice evening chatting and sipping champagne.
On Wednesday, we were in Levallois (two metro stops from home) at La Fermerie, a wine and cheese shop owned by a good friend. He was having a soirée Corse. All products came from Corsica. We tasted a donkey sausage (saucisson d’âne) and it was good. Âne translates as “ass” but…
We thought we would stay home on Thursday and planned a light supper and early night, but stopped for a glass at Caves Saint Vincent (aka Edouard's). A winery owner from the Côtes du Rhône stopped by with his wife, on their way to a light, early dinner in the neighbourhood; we know him but have never really talked much with her. Then Chloé, Edouard's wife arrived; she and Edouard had planned to have dinner somewhere together that night after the store closed. Chloé had never met either Jerome or his wife Josiane. This seemed to be an ideal opportunity for everyone to get to know one another and furthermore, Tim and I were hardly going to eat at home if everyone else in the neighbourhood was going out. Off we went to Chez Ly, the best local Asian restaurant for what turned out to be a pretty late night. It got even later when Jerome was called into another local restaurant by the effervescent owner Alexandre who insisted on opening a superb little white burgundy for us. Chloe and I had actually walked ahead and were nearing home when she received a call on her mobile to return to Balthazar. Very late indeed, but fairly typical of so many nights in the 17th. “
Friday – Edouard catered a déjeuner d’agneau au bitume (lamb cooked in tar- it is wrapped in tinfoil first). An event reserved for those who work on road construction and I'm not sorry! A glass at Edouard’s and then we really did have a quiet supper at Parigi Val di taro. Our friend Jackie joined us.
Saturday - another trip to Normandy. We had planned it as a beach day and one hiking day but the weather has not been very cooperative lately. While we have had some warm and even stickier-than-usual weather, summer has yet to arrive. We explored Houlgate and its bizarre houses in light rain. They are huge villas that look like they were designed by many different architects. You will find, brick, stucco, carved wood, colourful ceramic tiles forming all kinds of designs and more on each house. More often than not, there is a ceramic cat on the porch roof. When it started to pour we ran for cover in the first restaurant that looked suitable. We have yet to have a decent lunch in Normandy. The service was polite but slow and the Normands are simply not able to cook fish or molluscs. More exploring by car in the rain in the afternoon. Arrived in Honfleur in late afternoon; despite the rain, we, and thousands of other tourists, walked the quaint village streets. The history, shops and especially galleries were all impressive. A largely decent dinner of some modern French food that night and a walk up the steep street to our chambres d'hôtes finished the day.
We decided to cut out our planned, long hike on Sunday to opt for a tour of Honfleur in the promised sunshine. It is one of my favourite French towns, directly across from Le Havre at the mouth of the Seine. The very impressive modern Normandy Bridge has a span of 2,141 metres across the Seine. A good view of it is from the Côte de Grâce, a hill that has the Notre Dame de Grâce Chapelle tucked away on its summit. This chapel has one transept dedicated to the French who left for Canada from Honfleur. We searched for a Parent among the names, but found none.
Heading back to Paris, we meandered along country roads noting places to return to. Beuvron-en-Auge is listed as one of the prettiest villages in France and it truly is, with more flowers in bloom than you can imagine. Pont Audemer is another beautiful town. We headed back to Paris in the rain and in very heavy traffic but arrived in time to watch the results of the general election.
Just a note on elections
France votes twice for the election of its President and it seems that everyone is truly interested in this, since there is an over 85% turn-out.
A few weeks later, there is a vote for the members of Parliament or députés de l’Assemblée Nationale. If there is no clear winner in a constituency in the first round, there is another vote two weeks later. By this time, I think that people are tired of voting and the turn-out is around 60%. It is all over for another five years.
Wednesday, 13 June 2007
Elections
It seemed as though the election of the President of France lasted forever. Nicolas Sarkozy was campaigning unofficially in April 2005 when we arrived. I think he started campaigning the day he was born. He won and has put together a Cabinet of 15 Ministers (8 men and 7 women) from all parties. In France you do not have to be elected to be a Minister. Perhaps this is a good thing, since the choice is not limited. Also, you can be a Minister and hold other jobs. At the moment, Alain Juppé, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Environment, Ecology, Sustainable Development (with responsibility for Transportation) is also the Mayor of Bordeaux and he has no intention of relinquishing that post. The elections for members of the Assemblée Nationale are in June. First they elect the President, who appoints a Prime Minister, who names a Cabinet and then they have the general election. Neither the Prime Minister nor the Cabinet Ministers need to run for seats in the Assemblée Nationale but as a demonstration of their belief in Democracy, 12 of them actually are! This is a break from tradition. It is all very different from the Canadian system.
Another shocking break from tradition
It has been the practice for a new President to give amnesty to all outstanding speeding tickets and parking tickets. Our friends in the neighbourhood have been holding on to their “PVs” (or Proces verbale – that's what they call any kind of a ticket here) for months now, expecting that they could just throw them out. Surprise! Sarkozy is a law and order guy and he was elected under a promise of “Rupture” from the past. There will be no amnesty. This has been front-page news for several days and people are still going around shaking their heads in disbelief.
Dieppe
We visited Dieppe on the weekend. It is a small city of about 35,000 people on the Atlantic; a two hour drive from Paris. Once we arrived, it felt like it took two hours to find a parking place. They need to do something about that. Otherwise, we found it charming. We were there in time for the Saturday morning market held in the pedestrian streets. The best part though was the fish market on the wharf. The fish was straight off the boat and when Tim asked if they would fillet a sole, he was told politely that they were fisherman and not “poissonier”. So, we bought sole and bar (a kind of bass I think) at a fraction of the price we'd pay inland. We also bought all kinds of vegetables (the white asparagus is still in season), a huge head of fresh, purple garlic, which we were told to roast with parmesan. We did and it was great. Luckily, we planned for this shopping and had a cooler with us. It had frozen bottles of water in it because it is almost impossible to buy ice in France. It seems funny to me that they sell coolers but not ice.
We walked across a metal swing bridge built by Eiffel in the late 1800’s and had lunch in a fish restaurant (Le Mélie) overlooking the basin. It was amazing how many times the bridge swung open to let boats through. Considering how old the bridge is, it works very well.
We never made it to the beach or the cliffs that are on either side of Dieppe, although we did have a view of them. It really made you wonder why anyone thought that it was a good place for our Canadians to land on August 19, 1942. One thousand young men died that day. There is a small museum that we visited dedicated to that day. It is called, “Le Musée du 19 août 1942”. It is in an Italian style theatre. It has very deep boxes and is very ornate with gold gilding and beautiful carvings. However, this theatre is in dire need of restoration and will either be torn down or renovated. That made it all the more poignant. We sat on metal chairs on the main level (I think the other levels were unsafe) and watched a video on a small ancient television. The video told the story of what happened on that day. Men who survived told their stories. The rest of the museum (all in the same room) contained uniforms and other memorabilia. There was a copy of the Hamilton Spectator. It cost 2 cents. An older gentleman and a distinguished looking older lady, both very French, were on duty at the museum. They obviously have dedicated a good part of their lives to ensuring that the Canadian effort is not forgotten. The man remembered the day of the Canadian landing and took Tim around the room to point out some details. Amazing.
Céline
Céline Dion is coming to town…in May 2008 and there is advertising all over the place already. She has put out her first French album in nine years. I think she has a great voice but I am not a fan. I just mention it because I find it surprising that the advertising starts a year ahead of the event.
Paris events
They do some incredible things in Paris – like dumping tonnes of sand along the banks Seine every year and turning it into a beach (“Paris Plage”). Here is a new one:
For 10 days, beginning June 1, there will be an artificial lagoon at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower. The base of the tower will be in water, according to the report. There will be photos of fish on the bottom of the lagoon and the idea is that you can go scuba-diving and look at fish. The only catch is that you have to be 8 years old or under.
Bicycles
Beginning in June, Paris will have 20,600 rental bicycles at 1,451 bicycle stations. The system is designed to facilitate short trips. The idea is that you can pick up bike at one station and drop it off at another. There will be several stations near us. You pay a modest fee to join the service (5€ a week or 29€ a year) then the first half hour is free, and thereafter it costs 1€ per hour. I was surprised to read that there are 371 kms of bike paths in Paris.
It seemed as though the election of the President of France lasted forever. Nicolas Sarkozy was campaigning unofficially in April 2005 when we arrived. I think he started campaigning the day he was born. He won and has put together a Cabinet of 15 Ministers (8 men and 7 women) from all parties. In France you do not have to be elected to be a Minister. Perhaps this is a good thing, since the choice is not limited. Also, you can be a Minister and hold other jobs. At the moment, Alain Juppé, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Environment, Ecology, Sustainable Development (with responsibility for Transportation) is also the Mayor of Bordeaux and he has no intention of relinquishing that post. The elections for members of the Assemblée Nationale are in June. First they elect the President, who appoints a Prime Minister, who names a Cabinet and then they have the general election. Neither the Prime Minister nor the Cabinet Ministers need to run for seats in the Assemblée Nationale but as a demonstration of their belief in Democracy, 12 of them actually are! This is a break from tradition. It is all very different from the Canadian system.
Another shocking break from tradition
It has been the practice for a new President to give amnesty to all outstanding speeding tickets and parking tickets. Our friends in the neighbourhood have been holding on to their “PVs” (or Proces verbale – that's what they call any kind of a ticket here) for months now, expecting that they could just throw them out. Surprise! Sarkozy is a law and order guy and he was elected under a promise of “Rupture” from the past. There will be no amnesty. This has been front-page news for several days and people are still going around shaking their heads in disbelief.
Dieppe
We visited Dieppe on the weekend. It is a small city of about 35,000 people on the Atlantic; a two hour drive from Paris. Once we arrived, it felt like it took two hours to find a parking place. They need to do something about that. Otherwise, we found it charming. We were there in time for the Saturday morning market held in the pedestrian streets. The best part though was the fish market on the wharf. The fish was straight off the boat and when Tim asked if they would fillet a sole, he was told politely that they were fisherman and not “poissonier”. So, we bought sole and bar (a kind of bass I think) at a fraction of the price we'd pay inland. We also bought all kinds of vegetables (the white asparagus is still in season), a huge head of fresh, purple garlic, which we were told to roast with parmesan. We did and it was great. Luckily, we planned for this shopping and had a cooler with us. It had frozen bottles of water in it because it is almost impossible to buy ice in France. It seems funny to me that they sell coolers but not ice.
We walked across a metal swing bridge built by Eiffel in the late 1800’s and had lunch in a fish restaurant (Le Mélie) overlooking the basin. It was amazing how many times the bridge swung open to let boats through. Considering how old the bridge is, it works very well.
We never made it to the beach or the cliffs that are on either side of Dieppe, although we did have a view of them. It really made you wonder why anyone thought that it was a good place for our Canadians to land on August 19, 1942. One thousand young men died that day. There is a small museum that we visited dedicated to that day. It is called, “Le Musée du 19 août 1942”. It is in an Italian style theatre. It has very deep boxes and is very ornate with gold gilding and beautiful carvings. However, this theatre is in dire need of restoration and will either be torn down or renovated. That made it all the more poignant. We sat on metal chairs on the main level (I think the other levels were unsafe) and watched a video on a small ancient television. The video told the story of what happened on that day. Men who survived told their stories. The rest of the museum (all in the same room) contained uniforms and other memorabilia. There was a copy of the Hamilton Spectator. It cost 2 cents. An older gentleman and a distinguished looking older lady, both very French, were on duty at the museum. They obviously have dedicated a good part of their lives to ensuring that the Canadian effort is not forgotten. The man remembered the day of the Canadian landing and took Tim around the room to point out some details. Amazing.
Céline
Céline Dion is coming to town…in May 2008 and there is advertising all over the place already. She has put out her first French album in nine years. I think she has a great voice but I am not a fan. I just mention it because I find it surprising that the advertising starts a year ahead of the event.
Paris events
They do some incredible things in Paris – like dumping tonnes of sand along the banks Seine every year and turning it into a beach (“Paris Plage”). Here is a new one:
For 10 days, beginning June 1, there will be an artificial lagoon at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower. The base of the tower will be in water, according to the report. There will be photos of fish on the bottom of the lagoon and the idea is that you can go scuba-diving and look at fish. The only catch is that you have to be 8 years old or under.
Bicycles
Beginning in June, Paris will have 20,600 rental bicycles at 1,451 bicycle stations. The system is designed to facilitate short trips. The idea is that you can pick up bike at one station and drop it off at another. There will be several stations near us. You pay a modest fee to join the service (5€ a week or 29€ a year) then the first half hour is free, and thereafter it costs 1€ per hour. I was surprised to read that there are 371 kms of bike paths in Paris.
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