It should really be épouvantable épouvantail but WordPress (the blog template I use) doesn’t deal with accents in titles well, so I try to avoid them.
An épouvantail (épouvantail à oiseaux, in its full form) is a scarecrow, from épouvante which means terror, from the Latin expavens, entis, fear which also gave the Italian spaventare. I can’t think of any related English words, which is most unusual with all the French-based borrowings due to the Norman invasion.
The adjective from épouvante is épouvantable meaning dreadful or appalling. Quelle histoire épouvantable means what a shocking/appalling story.
And, of course, a film d’épouvante is a horror film and a roman d’épouvante a horror story.
I thought a post on épouvante was sort of appropriate considering that yesterday was Halloween! And if you’d like to know more about Halloween in France, you might like to click on the post I wrote last year.
It’s almost Halloween. I’m dressed in black from head to toe as instructed and standing in line to buy my entrance ticket to the museum in order to participate in a Treasure Hunt at the Louvre by THATLou. “Hi”, says a voice behind me. I turn to see Sylvia from Finding Noon in this stunning purple witch’s hat and skull necklace.
Sylvia from Finding Noon in her stunning witch’s hat
We join Daisy de Plume, who’s running the show, at the meeting point and the other participants soon arrive. I am introduced to my team mates: Elodie from the Paris tourist office and Amanda and her 17-year-old son Eric. They’ve already done a hunt before, I’m pleased to hear, while Elodie and I are newcomers to the game.
At 7 pm sharp, Daisy starts explaining the rules and we’re given our clue sheet. We have one and a half hours to find as many treasures as possible out of a total of 32. There are points for finding each treasure (10 to 80 depending on the difficulty) and bonus points buried in each explanation. Photographs of the team in front of the treasure will prove it has been found.
Finding the first treasure – you can see the highlighted map of the Louvre in Eric’s hands
Each member of the team of three to four people (there are seven teams tonight) is assigned a role. I’m the photographer (though sadly, my iPhone lets me down and a lot of the photos turn out a little blurred), Eric is the map-reader, Amanda the main clue reader and Elodie is the able assistant. In addition to taking photographs, I have to keep my eyes peeled for the treasures.
The first thing is to devise a search strategy by assigning each treasure to an area on the museum map highlighted by Daisy to indicate the sections of the Louvre involved in the hunt. It’s a very large museum so we don’t want to be rushing from one end to the other in just any old order, particularly as we’re not allowed to run or split up during the hunt.
Pointing at the worms and looking very cheesy for the camera!
Eric is champing at the bit, eager to find our first treasure. We start in the French mediaeval sculpture section with Death St Innocent* where team members are to be photographed pointing to worms. There are also bonus points for finding how many unicorns there are in the room. Amanda spies one on a bas relief. “Devious”, she says.
The team is too busy concentrating on the next treasure to look at the camera!
Once we have found all the treasures in one section, we move onto the next. In front of a painting of Christ resurrected, we’re instructed to represent the hand positions of the figures behind us. Elodie cleverly winds a shawl around her in lieu of a wall.
Replicating the hands in a 15C Provençal Resurrection of Christ
As time marches on, the pace picks up. One section turns out to be unexpectedly shut but thanks to Amanda’s determination, we find the treasure anyway. The team pauses in front of Ingres’ Grande Odalisque to win 10 bonus points by looking over their shoulders.
Mimicking La Grande Odalisque by Ingres
Only once do we come across another team, towards the end of the hunt. Time is running out, we only have ten minutes to get back to the starting point or we’ll be docked two points for every one minute late! We haven’t found all the treasures but Daisy has already told us that it’s impossible to do so.
As we hurry back, we make up a limerick** to go with the Raft of the Medusa – there’s a separate prize for the winning rhyme. We make it just in time. We sit down to tally up our points and catch our breath. Daisy was certainly right to tell us to wear comfortable shoes!
The final tally – making sure we have all our points!
Then we all head to L’Imprimerie for a drink and dinner. We’re given the answer sheet so we can tally up our bonus points. There’s an extra 50 points and a separate prize for inventing a team name***. We choose the Skeltering Skeletons. Everyone votes for a winner and WITCHLou, which I have to admit is better than ours, takes the prize.
By the time our meal arrives, Daisy has finalised the scores. The Skeltering Skeletons win with 1150 points out of a total of 2000, more than 400 ahead of the runners-up. We all cheer and share our winning coasters of paintings in the Louvre. The other teams receive their prizes****. As it’s a little noisy, we can’t read out our limericks but they will be posted on THATLou’s blog so we can vote for the winner.
Amanda showing our first prize: a set of Louvre coasters and a postcard of the Louvre each
We all agree we have had a wonderful time and seen parts of the Louvre and art works we would never have known about otherwise. Our attention to detail has been sharpened. I attribute our win to the excellent organisation and friendly cooperation of our team and the fact that we read some of Daisy’s posts beforehand. Having an enthusiastic teenager certainly helps as well!
Elodie says she’s going back another day to find the other treasures on the list! I might just join her.
* EXAMPLE OF CLUES – TREASURE 1DEATH St INNOCENT (La Mort St Innocent)Alabaster, H 1.20m x W .55m x D .27m – from Paris’s Cemetery of Innocents16th Century French Sculpture (end of Middle Ages)
The plaque at Death’s foot reads “There is not a single being alive, however cunning and strong in resistance, whom I will not slay with my dagger, & give to the Worms as their Pittance!” Quick take a whopping thirty points for a photo of your team pointing to these worms (and just look at what they’re doing — Talk about appropriate for this gruesomely ghoulish death hunt!). So our friend Death was originally kept in the Cimitière des Innocents (CDI), which was found smack dab in the center of Paris – abutting the market place of Les Halles. The CDI accepted its first denizens in the 12th Century, as a perfectly orderly graveyard, with a space per individual. But as the city grew, the small swath of CDI (just 130 meters by 65) did not. When space ran out mass burials began to be conducted – up to 1500 dead could be buried in one pit before a new one was dug. Just think about the stench as you’re marketing right next to this grisly pit of death. Horrible. No one moved CDI from the center of town (thirty points for why this is) until Louis XVI passed an edict in 1780 that no more burials should take place. Six years later Mr Skull and Bones here was moved first to St Gervais then to Notre Dame, where he’d be unveiled with his ominous (now missing) dagger only one day a year. Which was? Oh boy, you get another ten points for the correct answer to that! And congrats on your last-minute Louvre prep! POINTS: 80
** Our limerick
Poseidon the god of the sea
Rarely took time for a pee, but
He pulled down his trunks
Screamed “you are all skunks”
And did it before all who could see
***Team names:The Skeltering Skeletons
WITCHLou = Witches in the Chateau du Louvre
Tri’Eiffel Insane
Catwomen in the Louvre
Cape Coders
Dead Funky Unicorns
Winning Witches
****Prizes:
1st place = coasters because you deserve a drink and PCs to write home
2nd place = Game of cards to try another game
3rd = Louvre rulers to measure their mediocrity
4th = Mona Lisa Nail Files to buff up on their Louvre finds
5th = little toy cameras with animals, because they should look at animals not art
6th = bookmarks to read up on the Louvre
7th = stickers of the Louvre’s greatest hits to stick to their memory and chocolate coins to bet on another game
This Wednesday, Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris takes us to the newest shopping centre in Paris, Beaugrenelle, which even has a Marks & Sparks; Daisy de Plume from THATlou Treasure Hunt at the Louvre whom I will be joining on the evening of October 30 for her Death Hunt, introduces us to the Dance Macabre; while Genie from Paris and Beyond, who has a photo blog about Paris, takes us to the famous Rue d’Aligre. Enjoy!
Beaugrenelle Paris, the newest shopping center in Paris with FREE shuttle boat service from the Eiffel Tower!
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
My neighborhood isn’t trendy like the Marais, exclusive like Saint-Germain-des-Prés or charming like Montmartre. It’s a residential area that attracts families who need an extra bedroom rather than hipsters who want to be close to the newest, latest, hottest spot in town. But thanks to the opening of Beaugrenelle Paris, my part of town is on the “must-see” list of Parisians this week.
For the first time since I’ve lived here, I walked out the front door of our apartment, strolled along the Seine, crossed the Pont de Grenelle and had easy access to stores like Guerlain, Baccarat, Michael Kors, Sandro, H&M, Zara and Desigual. I didn’t have to hop on a bus or fight the crowds in the metro. When it started to rain, I didn’t have to worry that I had forgotten my umbrella (again!) because I was safely inside the newest shopping center in Paris. Read more
Trilogy of Death – Part II
by native New Yorker Daisy de Plume, who has lived in Paris for nearly a decade and created THATLou to share her passion for art and her unique approach toward making the museum experience fun and accessible to all.
So yesterday we spent a sunny Sunday pondering the dead at the Cimitière des Innocents (CDI), once Paris’s largest and oldest graveyard smack dab in the middle of town (where the Renaissance Fontaine des Nymphs, aka Fontaine des Innocents** currently is, near the RER Les Halles station). We had just touched on how when space ran out, mass graves of 1500 cadavers per pit were filled, before they were closed off and a new one of equal size was dug. But we haven’t yet considered the business of death. Read more
Rue d’Aligre – un Café
by Genie from Paris and Beyond, who lives in Mobile and has loved Paris, its people, its architecture and all of France since she was eight years old. She has a photo blog about Paris and occasionally other places in the world.
Taken on a busy market day (Marché d’Aligre), there is scant room for café table and chairs.
Still, the pastries and a coffee (or thé) can be enjoyed as the market vendors shout out the quality of their wares.
One thinks that the price of the coffee and pastry is small for this front row theatre seat.
Click here to see the photo which I haven’t reproduced as a small photo would never do justice to the original.
I’ve already written extensively about my love of mushroom picking here on this blog but following a recent comment on Facebook by Judy McMahon, I wrote a guest post for MyFrenchLife on how to pick mushrooms safely.
How to pick mushrooms safely in France: 4 secrets
by Rosemary Kneipp, writing for My French Life – where you can discover France beyond the cliché with other curious, savvy francophile & French members.
If you’ve never picked mushrooms, you are definitely missing out on one of life’s great pleasures! You probably think that’s an exaggeration, but you only have to look at the ecstatic expression on my Aussie friend’s face when she found her very first wild mushroom in the Loire Valley to see what I mean (pictured right).
Maybe it’s our scavenging instinct coming out, but searching for, finding and eating mushrooms create an incredible feeling of wellbeing and satisfaction. While you’ve got your mushroom eyes on, you don’t think of anything else. It’s wonderfully relaxing – particularly if you live in the city. And when you suddenly spot one, usually trying desperately to blend in with the vegetation, you feel exultant. Read more
An Australian friend asked me recently exactly what bonne femme meant and whether or not it’s derogatory. A French friend of hers seemed to be using it all time and told her it has no real significance. Well, maybe that’s so in his vocabulary, but frankly, I wouldn’t like someone to call ME a bonne femme.
So why, you may ask, would being called what ostensibly means a “good woman” not be welcome? Well, I guess it’s because you don’t refer to people as bon in French in the English sense of “good”. To say, “she’s a good woman”, you’d have to say c’est quelqu’un de bien. You could also say C’est une femme bien but there is a slight nuance, more the idea of being nice rather than good. Des gens bien are nice or decent people rather than good. Un type bien is a nice guy or a nice bloke.
“She’s a good secretary” would be expressed as elle est très bien comme secrétaire. “He’s a good chap” would be c’est un brave type. C’est une brave femme could also mean “a good woman” in the sense of someone who overcomes obstacles, is hardworking and well-meaning.
So I asked Jean Michel about bonne femme, since he’s the Frenchie, but I didn’t get very far.
If you say sacrée bonne femme, he tells me, you’re referring to someone who’s annoying – or quite the opposite! Otherwise, he doesn’t really know.
C’est la bonne femme qui travaille à la boulangerie would seem to indicate that the person has a lot of character.
Perhaps calling someone a bonne femme is not particularly polite but isn’t exactly derogatory either. What do you think?
My friend then asked about nana, nénette and sacrée nana. No problem here. Nana is simply slang for girl, about the same register as chick. It can also mean girlfriend. Nénette is just an diminutive while sacrée nana can be negative or positive depending on the context.
And while we’re on the subject of women, we might take a look at some other expressions use to describe the fairer sex.
The first time I heard c’est une belle plante, I thought it was horrible, but I suppose it’s no worse than “she’s a fine specimen”. It refers to her figure rather than her face. It’s definitely positive in any case.
Gonzesse, on the other hand, is definitely derogatory and vulgar and saying that a man is une vraie gonzesse means he isn’t virile enough. It can also mean prostitute and a woman who is easily fooled.
Today I did something I know I am going to regret for the rest of my life.
Closerie Falaiseau, main house
A little background first. Our house in Blois, Closerie Falaiseau, where we will be moving permanently in October 2014, was built in 1584, just like a similar house on the left (the houses were built by two brothers). Apart from the main house, we have a barn, a former pigsty, an open sheltered area and a workshop on the left, and another barn and a little house, built much more recently in steps and stages, on the right.
The barn next to the pigsty; the little house is on the left
For the moment, we have divided the main house into two, upstairs and downstairs, and we are renting out the bottom part as tourist accommodation until we move. After that, Jean Michel is going to demolish the unattractive half of the little house, leaving the other half to form a double garage. He will then convert the barn behind it into a gîte (vacation rental).
The back of the little house on the right and the barn that will be renovated on the left
On the right of the little house, there are three modern homes, all built along the same lines, on quite large plots of land. Our neighbours are not keen gardeners and the area closest to the little house is rather unkempt. We recently had to ask them to lop part of their weeping willow which is threatening to damage the roof of our barn. There is an old wooden lean-to up against our barn inside their property.
They have a wire fence and a somewhat incongruous, expensive remote-controlled gate that was installed last year.
The first two panels erected between the wall of the little house and the neighbour’s gate
When we arrived last weekend, we were surprised to see that two panels of wood had been erected along the fence on the side near the stone wall of the little house. We initially thought they were going to continue the panels along the entire fence.
The enclosure, with the lean-to on the right which is up against our barn and the house that is going to be pulled down to form a garden for the gîte
But no, the panels were then continued at right angles to the first, ending at the lean-to. Strange. Then next thing we saw a wire fence WITH A GATE on the other side, forming an enclosure, the sort you keep poultry in.
The side panels seen from inside our property where the garden of the future gîte will be. Unfortunately they are higher than the stone wall which will be renovated and continued as far as the barn
Great! A chicken yard, just next to the future garden of the gîte. Noise, smells, etc. Not to mention the eyesore created by the wooden panels. How is this going to affect the popularity of our rental accommdation? We tried to find out more but the workers claimed they didn’t know why they were building the enclosure.
Looking down the street from the neighbour’s house towards ours
This morning, after phoning the local authorities and being told that there are no regulations about keeping poultry unless there are more than 50 birds, I decided to go and have a look. And lo and behold, the enclosure now contained a goose and a few chickens. The neighbour’s three children were standing watching them.
That is when I committed the fatal error. I took a photo of the poultry. For the blog. As I did so, I heard someone shouting, “What are you doing? You can’t take photos. It’s private property.” The mother marched down to the gate, repeating the same thing.
When she arrived, I explained that we were worried about having the poultry yard next to our future gîte. She said everyone else in the street had poultry yards and it was for the children. I said that I perfectly understood but wondered why it was on our side, when they had such a large property.
It seems the lean-to was originally built for that purpose and that they have had poultry cooped up in there for the last month. They’ve already lost two ducks. Well, they might all just die off, I thought.
Then she started on about the photo again, so I proceeded to take it off my camera. The problem was that I couldn’t really tell her I had taken it for my blog ! She told me that she herself was a very calm person but that her husband had a terrible temper and would be furious if he found out I was taking photos.
She also complained that the dormer window in the barn, which unfortunately for us fronts onto their property, prevents her from walking around in her nightie in the yard. Considering there’s only a wire fence, you’d wonder why that would matter! In any case, I apologised and said I hadn’t intended to offend her in any way.
I then went off to tell Jean Michel about the incredibly stupid thing I’d done. He said it was a pity but I shouldn’t worry. I went back to my planting and suddenly heard shouting. The neighbour’s husband was upraiding Jean Michel over the fence at the back of the house and threatening to go to a lawyer to stop me taking photos.
My heart sank. After he stormed off, I suggested I go and apologize but Jean Michel said I had nothing to apologize for. It wasn’t as though I was on his property or taking photos of his children. I could have kicked myself for being so stupid. “Don’t worry. C’est un caractériel“, he said, which roughly means he’s totally unstable.
But when we came home after shopping in the afternoon, the neighbour had parked his car in one of the two parking areas that Jean Michel has cleared in the vacant lot across the road that is non-constructible because it’s next to the Loire. Warfare has been declared!
This Wednesday, we’re staying in Paris. Australian blogger Jo Karnaghan from Frugal First Class Travel, whom I had the great pleasure of meeting up with during a recent trip to Paris,shares her latest find – three new shopping streets in Paris; well-known foodie Wendy Lyn from The Paris Kitchen, which I have just discovered, gives us ten excellent tips for reserving a restaurant in Paris, while published author Tom Reeves from Paris Insights takes us on a chocolate tasting. Enjoy!
THREE GREAT NEW SHOPPING STREETS IN PARIS
by Jo Karnaghan from Frugal First Class Travel, an Australian who loves to travel – especially in Europe – and who has gradually learned how to have a First Class trip on an economy budget, without missing out on anything!
When visiting Paris recently, I was keen to get out and discover some new places and experiences – all about making familiar Paris seem brand new. Part of that was exploring some new and different shopping experiences. I found three great shopping streets I’d never visited before that I’d love to share with you. Whether you are a serious shopper or just love a bit oflecher la vitrine (window shopping), I hope you find my finds as interesting as I did. Read more
Top 10 Restaurant Reservation Tips for Paris
by American “insider” Wendy Lyn from The Paris Kitchen™ , one of the ten top food guides in the world, who gives savvy, globe-trotting foodies local introductions and an off-the-beaten-path experience of Paris’ food scene.
Calling for restaurant reservations can feel intimidating with the language barrier and time difference, but it doesn’t have to be.
While it is do-able to walk into a cute little corner bistro without reservations, if you are headed this way on a mission to eat through your list of Paris’ top spots, reservations are essential – even for a casual dining.
Thank you to all the Facebook fans, restaurant staff & clients who helped me create this top 10 list for making reservations in France.
One of the questions I’m most often asked is, “Why is it so hard to get a reservation? I don’t want anything fussy or expensive.” Read more
An Evening of Chocolate Tasting with Les Amants du Chocolat de la Couronne Parisienne
by Tom Reeves from Paris Insights, whose love of French language and culture inspired him to create Discover Paris!, a travel planning service that caters to Americans interested in cultural travel to Paris and to write Paris Insights – An Anthology
One of the advantages of blogging about chocolate tastings is that one meets people who invite you to…more chocolate tastings!
“This is the best dining experience we’ve had in the Loire”, says Laszlo, halfway through the meal, and I breathe a sigh of relief.
Anda and Laslo
It’s always tricky choosing a restaurant for overseas visitors and I wasn’t sure which of our other favourites in Blois our lovely American/Hungarian/Romanian friends Anda and Laszlo had already tried. My Aussie friend Jane and I enjoyed eating on the terrace at Auberge de Launay in the summer of 2012, but Jean Michel and I have never been there together. It’s located about 20 minutes from Blois and 10 minutes from Amboise, just off the highway that runs along the Loire.
Auberge de Launay in the summer
The light, airy dining room is nearly full when we arrive, which is a good sign. The staff are very pleasant and keep coming back to take our order as we are so busy catching up that we don’t seem to be able to get round to even look at the menu.
Tasty nibbles
We finally order our drinks from a list of local fruit juices, wines and spirits. They come with some tasty little nibbles – a sort of puffy cheese stick and a light verrine.
John Dory tartare
For starters, we choose John Dory tartare and avocado purée, game pâté and wild mushrooms, and rillettes, a first for Laszlo. Rillettes are made with meat, usually pork or goose, finely chopped and cooked and preserved in fat. They are a speciality of Le Mans and Tours. I had the fish tartare and it was delicious.
Lamb shoulder
Our main courses are duck with aniseed and celery purée, suckling pig trio (ham, rillettes, fried pig fat) with Brussels sprouts (Jean Michel’s choice but a little rich!), and lamb shoulder with aubergine caviar. I am a little disappointed in the lamb because I didn’t know that effilochée means that the meat is shredded.
Cheese platter
Jean Michel and Laslo are having cheese. The platter of local cheeses all matured by Rodolphe Le Meunier at La Croix de Touraine, is very tempting. Laszlo is served first and chooses a blue-vein cheese. “You can have at least three”, I tell him, so he orders a couple more. Jean Michel proceeds to choose FIVE (my husband is a true gourmand!) so Laslo selects another one.
Ganache au chocolat
Anda and I are having dessert. We choose dark chocolate ganache and fig tart, both of which are very tasty.
At the sommelier’s suggestion we choose a bottle of saumur-champigny as everyone wants red.
Terrace in the summer
A little extra point to mention – free wifi, which we appreciated because Anda was able to show me some of her lovely photos on Laszlo’s iPad. I’m waiting to see her Loire Valley collection now particularly if they are like her Amboise at sunset!
Auberge de Launay, 9 rue de la Rivière 37350 Limeray, 33(0)2 47 30 76 82, info@aubergedelaunay.com
Closed Sunday, Monday lunchtime and Saturday lunchtime
Lunch menu:
Entrée of the day + dish of the day + coffee : €19
Entrée, dish and dessert of the day: €20
Dinner menu:
Main + dessert: € 22
Entrée + main: € 23
Entrée + main + dessert: € 27
Entrée + main + cheese: € 30
Entrée + fish + meat + dessert: € 39
Cheese platter: € 8.50
The history of Plovdiv, Bulgaria’s second largest city after Sofia, spans 6,000 years and includes periods of Thracian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman occupation, all of which can be seen in its attractive architecture. The old town has been extensively renovated with many painted façades, particularly from the Bulgarian Revival period in the 19th century. Here are just a few examples.
Oriel windows are very common in Plovdiv, to provide maximum lightPetko R. Slaveykov HouseThe tower of the church of Saints Konstantin and ElenaThis house in Strumna Street has a series of oriel windows, making maximum use of light in a narrow streetHere you can see several different types of façadesAnother oriel window on the house of Louka BalabanovLamartine, the French poet, lived here for a short timeHindlyan house, one of the oldest and most richly decoratedThe ethnographic museumThe blue house
