Family events are not always easy, particularly when you are a pièce rapportée as they say in French. The first time I heard the expression, which literally means a patch, to describe an in-law, I was shocked. A patch indeed!
La Cigale at Place Graslin
When we finally decided that everything would be much smoother if we took a hotel room in Nantes rather than stay in the family home, our visits became much easier and we always treat ourselves to breakfast La Cigale on the last day.
The main dining room at La Cigale
This beautiful Art Deco brasserie built in 1895 which has all the extravagence of the Modern Style is the work of ceramist Emile Libaudière who mostly designed sober bourgeoise homes and religious buildings.
One of the frescoes
After becoming a listed monument in 1964, it was turned into a cafeteria until it was rescued in 1982 and restored to its former splendour. Its tiled frescoes, myriad mirrors and windows are an absolute delight.
Place Grasln is now pedestrian
We’ve noticed its increasing popularity over the years, particularly now that Place Graslin is closed to traffic but we always manage to find a table for two in the first room, our favourite. At 15 euro each for a full continental breakfast, it’s excellent value for money – two hot beverages, a mini croissant and mini pain au chocolat, a slice of brioche or cake, toast with butter, jam and honey.
The inside is very hard to photograph with all it’s windows, especially in the morning
We’ve never eaten lunch or dinner there, because of our family co, but Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris, tried it last winter when she spent New Year in Nantes.
Back in Blois for a week and loving the roses! The previous owners told us the roses on the front steps were Pierre Ronsard, but we now know they are not. We’re trying to track down their name.
Our mystery roses, which we were told were Pierre Ronsard, but no doubt a type of polyanthus, on the front steps of Closerie FalaiseauA close-up of our mystery rosesOur Saharan roses that disappointed us last year but are stunning this yearClimbing roses at the back of our house that we haven’t identified either!
There was a sign in front of our house this week saying fauchage which actually means scything or reaping. The word for scythe is faux. Obviously the council workers were not going to appear with scythes. Fauchage now also means mowing or cutting with machines.
It got me thinking about the word faux which also means false. Faux meaning scythe comes from the Latin falx falcis whereas the adjective meaning false comes from falsus, from fallere, to deceive. I was a little disappointed to learn they actually have nothing in common! I’d worked out my own little scenario.
The verb faucher has a couple of other meanings. One you often (unfortunately) hear on the news has to do with car accidents. Il a été fauché par un bolide = He was knocked over by a car going at top speed.
Il a été fauché par la Mort is a euphemism for death, since the symbol of Death is the scythe.
Faucher is also slang for steal: il m’a fauché mon portefeuille (he stole my wallet) and as a result, je suis fauché means I’m broke ! If you want to go one step further, you can say fauché comme les blés (completely broke), blé meaning wheat.
The noun fauche means thieving. Il y a beaucoup de fauche dans le métro = there’s a lot of thieving in the metro. But it’s not a word you hear often.
Fauchaison is reaping or mowing time (using a scythe, that is) but I don’t imagine it’s the sort of word you would really have much use for.
To go back to the adjective faux, it has a whole lot of other uses, all similar in meaning to false. Un faux billet is a forged or fake banknote while fausse monnaie is forged currency.
Faux marbre is imitation marble while faux bijou is fake or imitation jewellery.
Faux papiers , quite logically are false or forged identity papers.
When someone says c’est faux, they mean it’s wrong or not true not that it’s false.
If you ring a wrong number, it’s a faux numéro, which somehow makes it sound as though you didn’t make the mistake.
An instrument that is faux is out of tune and not a fake which is interesting. Elle chante faux means she sings out of tune which is think is a bit hard.
Three completely unrelated subjects for my Weekly Blogger Round-Up today. First, if you’re wondering whether to take the train or hire a car in Europe, Paula McInerney from Contented Traveller will help you to make the right decision. Next, if you’re looking for a weekend getaway idea, Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris has an excellent suggestion – Chartres. And to finish off, Wendy Hollands from Le Franco Phoney tells us all about the famous Saint Bernard dogs. Enjoy!
Self-Drive versus Train Travel in Europe
By Paula McInerney from Contented Traveller. When they are not living in Australia, she and her husband Gordon travel the world, trying out houseboats, tatami mats, cave houses and over water bungalows, with serendipity as their watchword.
There are pro’s and con’s to driving yourself or catching trains in Europe, however, we decided relatively early on that train travel is our preferred option. We have done both.
From our own experiences, we have looked at the positives and negatives of both self drive and train travel. Hopefully this will assist in your decision. Read more
Completely charmed by Chartres – A weekend getaway to the “City of Lights and Perfume”
by Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris, an American by birth, Swiss by marriage, resident of Paris with a Navigo Pass for the metro that she feels compelled to use
It’s odd how much the weather impacts our perceptions of a place. The first time I visited Chartres, it was pouring. After admiring Chartres Cathedral’s magnificent 12th- and 13th-century stained-glass windows, we quickly toured the city’s windblown streets before seeking refuge in a café. Over cups of hot chocolate liberally topped with whipped cream, we surmised that we had seen most of what Chartres had to offer and beat a hasty retreat to Paris.
Now, thanks to some blissful, sunny weather and a four-day “Vin et Terroir” tour organized by the Loire Valley Tourist Board, I realize how much I missed during my initial visit and have added Chartres to my list of favorite weekend destinations. Read more
Visiting the Original St Bernard Dogs
by Wendy Hollands from Le Franco Phoney, an Australian who writes about all things French in La Clusaz, Annecy and Haute Savoie as seen by an outsider
Did you know that Saint Bernard dogs were originally called Barry dogs? I learnt this when I visited the Barry Foundation in Martigny, Switzerland last weekend. The foundation was only set up in 2005 to continue breeding dogs like the legendary dog called Barry, who lived at the Great Saint Bernard Pass from 1800 to 1812 and saved more than 40 people’s lives as they crossed the difficult terrain. The dogs come in both the fluffy variety that we know from films like ‘Beethoven’, and also in a more labrador-like short-hair variety. Read more
The sky is overcast and we’re hoping it’s not going to rain because we’re about to attend the 8th annual bread-making day in our neighbourhood, Les Grouets. It’s all happening at a bread-oven I’ve already photographed in the past.
8th annual wood-fired bread baking day at Les Grouets
We didn’t expect to be in Blois this weekend so we’re not sure of the programme. We arrive about 11 am and things are already in full swing. The baker is busy baking, the man who sells Les Grouets biscuits on the market is busy talking, the local caterer is busy selling his wares, the local wine grower is busy pouring glasses of wine and the other female members of the Amis des Grouets association are busy selling loaves of grouetin bread and brioche.
Our neighbours talking to the biscuit maker
After talking to the biscuit maker and the wine grower, we make our way to the main tent to buy some bread. We are welcomed by the president of the association who is squeezing an endless succession of limes for the midday apéritif – for all those present, though it’s better if we buy something, he explains.
Sellng grouetin loaves and brioche
Some of our neighbours arrive to buy pizzas so we put in an order too. Jean Michel goes off to put the bread and brioche in the car while I continue talking to the neighbours. Then I spy the lilac lady who used to live in our “house of happiness”
The temporary baker discussing his trade
I go over to see her and see exclaims in surprise, “Oh, how lovely ! You said you wouldn’t be here this weekend. Let me introduce you to everyone.” It turns out the baker (who’s not a baker the rest of the time, just the owner of the bread-oven) is her brother.
The bread oven the rest of the year
She then introduces us to her sister-in-law and two nieces who used to live in our little house. She is very generous in her praise of us and tells them all that we are très sympathiques. We recount our lilac story and they soon start reminiscing about the little house and the middle house. We learn that their aunts lived in the house on the other side of ours as well.
Who’s for some wine? And maybe some of that paella?
We all go into the tent for our aperitif and the lilac lady insists that we stay with them. We buy some little freshly-baked bread rolls with rillettes and sardines to go with our lime, sparkling white wine and dash-of-cointreau cocktail. Better not have too many of them!
Our pizza in the oven
Somehow the pizza orders have gotten well behind but at 2 pm, we eventually collect ours and take it home to eat in the little house which has taken on a new dimension now that we have met the last people to have lived there!
And in the oven it goes!
We’re looking forward to the next event when we’re living full-time in Les Grouets – the end-of-year dinner at the little château at the end of our street. And next year, I’ll be able to take my own bread along to bake as there is little chance of our own bread oven being functional for some time yet!
A meeting with some Australian friends on a sunny day took me to my favourite café in the Tuileries – Chez Diane. On the way back, I went to see my favourite rose in the Palais Royal gardens. I don’t know what it’s called but it has the most amazing fragrance. We’re going to have another try at growing it from a cutting in August.
Sailing boats on the pond in the Tuileries GardensIrises in the Tuileries Garens with the Louvre in the backgroundFlower in the Tuileries Gardens with a cloudy skyMy favourite rose in the Palais Royal Gardens
When I first got married in France and saw our livret de famille I thought it was very neat although I didn’t realise its importance. It’s a little book in which the details of your marriage are written and which is completed with each child. When you get divorced, your livret is updated as well. If you are not married, you are issued a livret de famille when your first child is born. If you separate or divorce, you get another one.
Each town hall chooses its own cover. The Paris one is velvet!
The first thing I discovered when my children when to school was the fiche d’état civil which was a piece of paper delivered by the town hall containing the information about an individual child taken from the livret. I even needed one when Black Cat started ballet! What a waste of time. What busy mother (or father) wants to go to the town hall and sit around waiting for a civil servant to copy information by hand onto a piece of paper?
At the time, the only ID in Australia was a drivers licence or passport and children certainly didn’t need ID if they stayed within the country! Fortunately, the fiche d’état civil was abandoned in the year 2000 and the carte d’identité became compulsory and free even for children.
Inside the livret. If you’re not married, it starts with the mother’s or father’s details of birth. If the parents are separated or divorced, each can have a livret. The one on the right shows my divorce details.
So what exactly is a fiche, you might be wondering (état civil = civil status). It’s one of those funny words that has several meanings and no satisfactory translation usually because we don’t often have an equivalent concept.
The fiche d’état civil was a flimsy bit of A4 paper. A fiche can also be made of stiff paper or cardboard such as a fiche-cuisine which is a recipe card. Those cards we used to take notes on and put in a filing box in the old days were called fiches. Index cards, if I remember rightly.
At the doctor’s, you might be asked to fill out a fiche which I guess we would call a form. But there is also the word formulaire. I asked Jean Michel to explain the difference between fiche and formulaire. “Bonne question”, was his typical reply.
Its seems that a fiche is used to contain basic data whereas a formulaire is used to make a request, such as a passport or enrolment formula (fiche d’inscription).
Another popular fiche is the fiche de paie or pay slip which you are supposed to keep for your entire life if you want to get your pension.
A fiche technique is a specification sheet or spec.
A fichier is a set of fiches and therefore a file and that includes computer files which are also fichiers. If you want to be specific, you can say fichier informatique. Although ordinateur means a computer, the word informatique is used in most other contexts: informatique = computer science; il est dans l’informatique = he’s in computers; l’industrie informatique = computer industry. By extension fichier d’adresses is a mailing list.
And to go back to livret, when else do we use the word in French? A livret de caisse d’épargne is a savings bankbook (pretty rare these days), and a livret scolaire is a report book, though I don’t know if they have those any more. Livret can also be used to describe any booklet and even a catalogue for an art show, for example.
An opera libretto is a livret d’opéra.
Perhaps you know other meanings of the word fiche?
This week’s Blogger Round-Up starts with a post by Judy MacMahon from My French Life who shares 4 secrets spots for hot chocolate – I shall be the first to try! Next Phoebe from Lou Messugo takes us to visit the Blue Church in Bratislava – I’m so jealous because I didn’t know of its existence when I visited the city last summer. Anda from Travel Notes and Beyond then tells us the good and bad of Istanbul which will stand me in good stead when I go there in September. Enjoy!
Paris off the beaten path: 4 secret spots for hot chocolate
by Judy McMahon from MyFrenchLife, a global community of French and francophiles connecting like-minded people in English & French
The French know their chocolat chaud like no one else: it’s how they begin their day! After all, there’s nothing quite like a proper French hot chocolate – except perhaps drinking said French hot chocolate in Paris…
There are the classic, well-known spots to sip a hot chocolate in Paris. And then there are those little cafés that the Parisians would love to keep for themselves; but secrets have a way of getting out. Read more
The Blue Church, Bratislava
by Phoebe from Lou Messugo, a traveller, francophile, expat, mum and foodie now living in Roquefort les Pins where she runs a gîte after many years of travelling and living in Asia, Eastern Europe and Australia
After two years of writing exclusively about France, mostly about the area where I live and French culture, I’m diverging into wider pastures, so this, my friends, is my first offering not about France. I’ve been itching to write about other places I’ve been and having just returned from a trip to Vienna, Budapest and Bratislava I’ve decided it’s now or never!
Bratislava, the tiny capital of Slovakia, is only an hour’s drive from Vienna, making it perfect for a day trip. I had done a little research about the place and knew that I wanted to see the Blue Church, no matter what. And in this case the “no matter what” was a big black cloud and rumbles of thunder coming from the general direction of the church. Read more
The Good and The Bad of Istanbul
by Anda from Travel Notes & Beyond, the Opinionated Travelogue of a Photo Maniac, is a Romanian-born citizen of Southern California who has never missed the opportunity to travel
It is difficult to judge a city of the size of Istanbul after a 5 day trip, but if I were to describe the little that I saw of it in just a few words, I would say: huge, crowded, majestic and unique. Huge, because the city boundaries cover almost 2,000 square kilometers, while the metropolitan region, or the Province of Istanbul, covers 6,220 square kilometers. Crowded, because everywhere you go in Istanbul you walk almost shoulder to shoulder with thousands of other people. Read more
After visiting Erasmo and having lunch in Treporti, we are on the vaporetto to Burano along with a lot of other people. They all get out and we join the throng. I didn’t remember it being this crowded seven years ago.
Crowded streets in Burano near the vaporetto
We enter what looks like a very expensive lace and household linen shop and see a lady making lace by hand. Burano claims to have the oldest tradition in Europe for embroidered/needle lace which was created in about 1500 using a needle and thread.
Lace making in a shop in Burano
When we come out, we take the first turn to the right and find ourselves surprisingly alone. This is the Burano I remember from seven years ago, with its gaily coloured houses and quiet streets.
Gaily coloured houses in the back streets of Burano
We wander around the back streets for a while then down to the lagoon and back through the canal until we rejoin the main square Piazza Galuppi. I want to visit a shop we went to last time that has a lace museum inside but we can’t seem to find it.
One of the canals in Burano
On the right there is a sign for the Venetian Museo del Merlotto housed in the historic palace of Torcello which houses the Burano Lace School from 1872 to 1970, but it’s not what we’re looking for. All I can remember from last time is that it was about midday and was very hot!
Burano lace museum
I decide to ask so we go into a shop called Dalla Lidia Merletti and I explain what I’m looking for. Yes, the museum is down the back of the shop! Cabinets containing lace line the long corridor and at the end is a room full of more lace ncluding lace dresses.
A lace dress made of traditional Burano lace
At the top of a wooden staircase is another part of the collection, including French lace. In the 1600s Burano embroidery became increasingly complicated and it soon spread through the rest of Europe. France imported Burano lacemakers to work in the lacemaking areas of France, particularly Normandy. We see an example of French lace.
French lace
Back in the shop, we are asked in French if we want to buy anything. I would like to find a piece of local lace to make a fabric panel to use as a bedhead in Blois. A table runner would seem to be a good solution. We finally settle on a very expensive piece but Jean Michel easily manages to bring the price down by one-third! The shop is not very busy and we are soon talking about home exchanges with the entire staff.
We walk out very pleased with ourselves and make our way back towards the ferry. A crowd has gathered around a band of gondoliers with accordeons and other instruments, all singing very loudly, particularly one man in ordinary clothes wearing a gondolier’s hat. At the end, the gondoliers all applaud and he walks off into the crowd. He was just a passer-by!
Another canal
An ice-cream seems a fitting way to end the day while waiting for the vaporetto to go back to Venice.
You can’t think of Venice without bridges and the ones at canal-level all humpbacked to let the gondolas and other boats through. I loved them all! These are a few of my favourites.
The iconic Rialto Bridge on the Grand CanalOne of the smallest bridgesImagine walking out your front door onto a bridge!Two bridges side by side. The one in the foreground is private of course and has its own little gate.Washing over the canal.There are fewer overhead bridges that you would imagine – it’s a tight squeeze for the gondolaA market boat with a sail!The bridge at Campo Santi Giovanni e PaoloI was surprised to see so many parents with strollers rather than baby carriersLook, no railings!Another gondolier on his cell phone!Bridge in the old ghetto quarterA favourite resting place for gondoliersThe Bridge of Sighs from the canal sideThe greenery on the right is wisteria. Unfortunately it was no longer in flower when we were there!
