Closerie Falaiseau, France, Loire Valley, Paris, Travelling

Beyond the Eiffel Tower: An Insider’s guide to Paris with Frugal First Class Travel

June 10, 2013 Rosemary Kneipp Leave a comment

Regular readers will already be familiar with Jo Karnaghan and her Frugal First Class Travel blog from my Wednesday’s Blogger Round-up series. She recently asked me if I would agree to an interview and here is the result. And click on some of her other posts while you’re there – Jo has some wonderful suggestions and information for those who like to “travel in the most luxurious way we can afford, at the cheapest price – spending money on the things that are important to us, but saving money on the things that are less important”.

BEYOND THE EIFFEL TOWER: AN INSIDER’S GUIDE TO PARIS

Hi Frugalistas!

Do you wish you had a best friend who lived in Paris? One who could fill you in on all those places that only locals know about? Or are you someone who is terrified at the thought of tackling Paris on your own? Either way, help is at hand! Rosemary of the blog Aussie in France agreed to an interview with me recently to share some of her favorite secrets with we Frugalistas. Having lived in Paris since 1975, Rosemary is the perfect person to help us find the best of Paris beyond the Eiffel Tower and I was delighted she was willing to share her experience with us. Read more

Architecture, Loire Valley, Loire Valley châteaux

Monday’s Travel Photos – Château de Villesavin

June 10, 2013 Rosemary Kneipp 3 Comments

Château de Villesavin, which isn’t really a castle, is an hour’s ride on horseback from Château de Chambord and was actually a glorified worksite hut built at the beginning of the 16th century by Jean Le Breton who was François I’s minister of finance and in charge of construction of his “hunting lodge“. The inside of the building isn’t particularly interesting, except for the “try-out” for the monumental staircase at Chambord and the kitchen, which has a few original features. Photographs of the interior are not allowed, unfortunately. More interesting is the 19th century wedding museum with its large collection of wedding dresses, headdresses and globes!

Chapel on left of Villesavin with Florentine vasque made of Carrare marble in the centre

French customs, French language

Friday’s French – cloche

June 7, 2013 Rosemary Kneipp 5 Comments

One of the most significant differences between French and English technical vocabulary is that the French terms often describe appearance while the English terms refer to purpose or use.

A prime example is cloche. It’s original meaning is bell, as in church bell, with clochette used to signify the smaller version. Church bells live in clochers, there being no distinction between the pointy ones (steeples) and the square ones (church towers).

However, it is also means the lid used to cover a plate to keep the contents hot or to cover a cheese platter, because it roughly looks like a bell.

This has given rise to derivatives such as déclocher, to uncover a plate.

There is a verb clocher that actually has nothing to do with cloche and derives from low Latin clocca, whereas clocher comes from the popular Latin cloppicare meaning “to limp”. It has given a series of familiar expressions meaning that something isn’t right.

Qu’est-ce qui cloche? = what’s up ? what’s gone wrong ?

Il y a quelque chose qui cloche (in which someone is saying) = Something’s not right. That doesn’t make sense.

Il y a quelque chose qui cloche dans le moteur = There’s something wrong with the engine.

Yesterday we were visiting Château de Villesavin near Chambord and came across another type of cloche or globe in the bridal museum.

At first glance, I thought they were graveyard flowers, which seemed an odd thing to collect, but Jean Michel said his grandmother had one so I took a second look. They were used to keep the bride’s headpiece after the wedding and have a high symbolic content.

It was the bride’s mother who designed and gave the globe to her daughter.

Nearly all of them had mirrors. A mirror means sincerity, only reflecting what it sees. The large mirror in the middle is the marriage mirror, the reflection of life. The small rectangular mirrors are the number of years the couple courted. The small losenge-shaped mirrors are the number of children wanted I (don’t know who decided that though, the bride or the bride’s mother!)

Inside the globes, doves are the symbol of peace, ivy leaves of attachment, grapevine leaves of abundance and prosperity ; oak symbolises strength, love and health, linden fidelity (which is why linden trees are often planted at the entrance of a property), clover means happiness, a sheaf of wheat is to remind the husband that he has to work every day of his life to keep his wife and children happy and daisies are the traditional flowers of lovers.

Does these exist in English-speaking countries?

Dieting, Food

Intermittent Fasting – for better health and less fat!

June 5, 2013 Rosemary Kneipp 22 Comments

You know those people who get carried away with new ideas and can’t seem to stop talking about them? Well, I’m one of them. It’s part of my enthusiastic nature I guess. For the more naturally cautious – like Jean Michel! – it can seem a bit overwhelming and give the impression that I have no discernment.

But I do! So be reassured. I have given due thought to what I am about to embark upon.

Last week, I told you about Dr Saldman’s natural appetite suppressants. The second chapter is about stimulating your organism. First he talks about the importance of physical exercise – no breaking news there – followed by a section on fasting, intermittent fasting, to be more precise.

Back in the days of cavemen, our ancestors had to face periods during which they didn’t have enough food so our body is programmed to draw from our stored fat when we don’t eat. Intermittent fasting is based on this principle.

When I posted about appetite suppressants, I got a lot of clicks from a site called 52fastdiet.co.uk, so I went and had a look. What I discovered set me thinking. First I watched a BBC TV programme called Eat, Fast and Live Longer. Then I bought the book written by the author of the programme, Dr Michael Mosley, and a nutritionist called Mimi Spencer The Fast Diet, the simple secret of intermittent fasting: lose weight, stay healthy, live longer.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xvdbtt_eat-fast-live-longer-hd_shortfilms

I’m obviously not going to condense an entire book and a one-hour TV programme into a short post. The idea is that you can lose weight (and considerably improve your health in relation to diabetes, cholesterol, heart attacks, cancer and many more) by eating normally for 5 days a week and fasting for two non-consecutive days. Once you reach your ideal weight, you can reduce the fasting to one day a week.

Fasting technically begins when you haven’t eaten for 6 hours. Fasting in Michael Mosley’s programme means consuming about 25% of your normal calorie intake i.e. 500 calories for women and 600 for men, during a 24-hour period, usually in one or two small meals, with lots of non-calorie fluids throughout the day (water, tea, coffee without milk or sugar obviously).

I find this much more appealing than having to continually limit my calorie intake every day for the rest of my life! During the diet that led to my losing 20 kilos eighteen months ago, I changed my eating habits and totally stopped snacking. For a year, my weight stabilised, then 5 kilos gradually crept back on.

It was very discouraging because I don’t ever snack, but it’s not always easy to regulate meals, particularly going back and forward between two houses . We began having a glass of wine with our meal more often and an aperitif a couple of times a week. After working in the garden or cycling, we’d have a couple of biscuits with our tea.

I went back to my initial diet two or three weeks ago and the weight has been slowly coming off but I feel deprived and, in particular, not very enthusiastic about having to watch my weight all the time.

I was slightly hesitant about the idea of skipping meals because I have always been told that your body then goes into fast recovery mode and stores more fat for the next missed meal. However, both Dr Mosley and Dr Saldman assure readers that fasting does not have that effect.

So yesterday, I went on my first fast. I had breakfast about 7.30 am (a boiled egg, yoghurt, fromage blanc and a small glass of orange juice). As I had slept badly the night before, I decided to have a short nap about 12.30 and woke up two hours later! I didn’t feel at all hungry but at 3 pm, I decided to have a small serving of cooked octopus, a little oil and some spinach to make up my 500 calories as I had to drive over the other side of Paris and back and was worried about being hungry while stuck in peak hour traffic.

In the evening, Jean Michel and I went to the movies so that we wouldn’t think about food. He had been to a retirement party at work at lunchtime so was happy to skip dinner as well. I didn’t start feeling hungry until about 11.30 pm, and even then, I felt a little lightheaded rather than hungry but the sensation disappeared and I went to sleep.

During the night however, I up woke several times (as I always do), but each time with a headache. I finally took some aspirin but when I woke this morning at 6.30 am, the headache was still there so I decided to get up and have breakfast. Surprisingly, I didn’t feel particularly hungry. The headache disappeared after I had eaten. It seems it may have been due to dehydration, though I thought I was drinking a lot of water.

At lunchtime, I couldn’t eat the amount of food I usually do and it was the same at dinner. I certainly didn’t feel like eating anything extra. I’ve scheduled my next fast day for Monday. Anyone else willing to give it a try?

Other posts on dieting

The Natural Skinnies and Us

How I lost 20 kilos after 50 – for good: Part 1

How I lost 20 kilos after 50 – for good: Part 2

How I lost 20 kilos after 50 – for good: Part 3

How I lost 20 kilos after 50 – for good: Part 4

How I lost 20 kilos after 50 – for good: Part 5

How I lost 20 kilos after 50 – for good: Part 6

How I lost 20 kilos after 50 – for good – well, almost: Part 7

Where do all those extra kilos come from?

Appetite suppressants anyone? Some natural solutions

Intermittent fasting – for better health and less fat

Closerie Falaiseau, France, French customs, French language, Loire Valley

A Neighbourhood Party – New French Words – Holidaying in the Loire Valley

June 4, 2013 Rosemary Kneipp 1 Comment

For this Wednesday’s Bloggers Round-up, I’ve chosen a description of France’s neighbours’ day by Phoebe from Lou Messugo, the latest French words to be included in the Larousse and Robert dictionaries by Stéphanie from Blog in France and, to finish up, a guest post I wrote on visiting the Loire Valley for Carolyn from Holidays to Europe. Enoy!

A Neighbourhood Party

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

It was around 9 o’clock on a lovely sunny evening at the end of May when four young Singaporeans appeared at the end of the lane, dragging heavy suitcases and dodging the potholes in the gravel. It was an unusual sight as 40 or so of us were enjoying an outdoor aperitif. Our lane is not made for suitcase dragging – it’s barely made for 4 wheel-drive cars – and nobody ever attempts to navigate it on foot with large luggage. That was from our point of view. As from these strangers’ point of view, I imagine they didn’t expect quite such a public arrival at Lou Messugo nor so much going on in a quiet village street. Yes, these were the latest guests turning up several hours late and without their car right in the middle of the annual neighbourhood street party! Read more

New French words

by Stephanie, the Llamalady, from Blog in France, an Irish llama and alpaca breeder living in the centre of France, who also runs a carp fishery and a holiday gite

The 2014 editions of Le Petit Larousse and Le Petit Robert will be coming out in early June and here are a few of the new words you’ll find in them.

chelou: this is the verlan (French slang that reverses the two halves of a word) for louche = shifty, seedy, weird

choupinet = cute, sweet

flash-mob = well, flash-mob ie a group of people who organise via the internet or mobile phone some sort of display in a public place

Googliser = to use Google to find information

nomophobe: great word this! It describes someone who is addicted to their mobile and can’t cope with being without it.

textoter = to communicate by text

by Rosemary Kneipp guest posting for Holidays to Europe, an Australian based business passionate about sharing their European travel expertise and helping travellers to experience the holiday in Europe they have always dreamed of

Chenonceau, Chambord, Chaumont, Cheverny. Do these names mean anything to you? They are just four of the many pleasure castles or châteaux in the rich undulating landscape of the Loire Valley, just 200 kilometres south of Paris, many of them overlooking France’s longest river, which runs from Ardèche in the Massif Central to Saint Nazaire on the Atlantic seaboard.

The Loire, with its many sandbanks, is no longer navigable and much is untamed. Because it easily overflows its banks, a long dyke runs along each side, with very few constructions. Charming villages dot the countryside in between larger towns such as Amboise and Blois each of which has its own château. Read more

Art, Flowers & gardens, France

Monet’s Garden and Signac on a Rainy Day in May

June 3, 2013 Rosemary Kneipp 2 Comments

We had set the date to visit Monet’s garden well ahead, in the hope that the weather would be more promising. It turned out to be cool and occasionally sunny but mostly overcast.

Clematis in Monet's garden — Clematis in Monet’s garden

The drive from Paris takes about 1 ½ hours and we went directly to the parking lot next to the Musée des Impressionismes, which is an offshoot of the Orsay Museum today and holds special exhibitions. Signac was on the programme.

We bought our combined tickets for the museum and gardens, thus avoiding the inevitable queue to the gardens and house, and set off for through the village to the gardens, going in by the special “group” entrance down a side street. You can also jump the queue at the main entrance which takes you through the shop.

Each season has different flowers. In my last post on Monet’s garden, it was July, when the famous nympheas are in bloom. This time, there was wisteria over the famous green bridge, pansies, irises, gillyflowers, clematis and columbines in every size and colour imaginable.

I just love columbines (aquilega) and we don’t have any in our garden in Blois at all so I’m looking forward to choosing several different varieties.

Nymphea pond with the famous wisteria-covered bridge in the distance

For once, we didn’t get distracted by the shop on the way out. There are so many wonderful things to buy! Don’t you just love the Monet silk scarf a friend gave me for my 60th birthday?

My silk scarf of Monet's nympheas — My silk scarf of Monet’s nympheas

We walked back through the little town of Giverny with it’s charming houses and many restaurants to the museum where we were able to visit the Signac exhibition without jostling with the crowds we would have experienced in Paris.

We just had to keep away from one of the very loud guide whose comments were hardly worth listening to. Who really cares that Signac painted a cliff path whose existence can still be traced today? I was much more interested to hear another guide taking about the importance of picture frames particularly as we agonised over the right frame recently for our John Modesitt painting.

Signac is what is known as a neo-impressionst. He started painting in the early 1880s. He and Seurat developed the pointillist style. Signac painted a lot of coastal Mediterranean scenes (St Tropez, Collioure, Avignon) as well as the industrial areas of Paris, often in muted blues.

Monet's view from his bedroom window — Monet’s view from his bedroom window

The exhibition is on until 2^nd July, so if you’re planning a visit to Giverny, make sure you combine the two.

How to get to Giverny : http://giverny.org/transpor/

Architecture, Basque country, Restaurants, Spain, Travel photos

Monday’s Travel Photos – Hondarribia

June 2, 2013 Rosemary Kneipp 1 Comment

The Basque mediaeval walled city of Hondarribia (Fontarabie in French and Fuentarribia in Spanish) which has been guarding Spain since the time of Charles V in the 16th century, is built on a little promontory facing Hendaye over the Txingudi bay. There is nothing in particular to visit but even on a rainy day, it’s interesting to wander through the narrow streets laid out on a grid plan with their wrought iron balconies. Afterwards, you can walk along the seafront into the old fisherman’s quarter on the west shore of the mouth of Bisasoa River, which has a much better selection of eating places.

Archway leading to Guipuscoa Square

14th to 15th century palace which is now a hotel

Terrace café seen through a wrough-iron gate

Taberna Atetxea in the fishermen's quartier where we had lunch on the top floor — Taberna Atetxea in the fishermen’s quartier where we had an enjoyable lunch on the top floor and ate gulas

French language

Friday’s French – comme une vache espagnole

May 30, 2013 Rosemary Kneipp 10 Comments

Susan from Days on the Claise published a post recently about a florist shop called Vachement Fleurs. She also mentioned in a comment that her neighbour once told her she spoke French comme une vache espagnole – like a Spanish cow. What an insult! But it set me thinking about vache and its variants.

Vachement Fleurs (photo by Susan Walter)

Vache espagnole (1627) probably comes from Basque espagnol which is more understandable though still rude.

I have a French friend whose favourite expression – I can hear him saying it as I write – is “Oh, la vache !” which is his empathetic reaction to anything unpleasant.

When you speak of someone as a vache as in quelle vache ! – it’s very close of our “what a sod/swine/cow/bastard”. Vache or grosse vache (fat cow) was also used in the past to designate a prostitute.

Vacherie was originally a herd of cows but now means something nasty or bitchy. Dire des vacheries means making nasty remarks. Quelle vacherie de temps could be used very appropriately to describe the horrendous weather we’re having to put up with at the moment in France. Il m’a fait une vacherie means that he played a dirty trick on me.

The adjective vachement developed along the same lines and was originally negative but now is simply used for emphasis. You can say il faisait vachement mauvais (it was really awful weather) just as easily as il faisait vachement beau (it was really good weather). A very common expression is vachement sympa which means “really cool”.

Jean Michel says he never uses vachement, that it’s not very elegant, but I’ve heard all sorts of people use it and I’m sure he does too.

The first time I heard the word was in Noumea back in the early seventies when I was still at university, in the expression vachement chouette, roughly meaning “it’s pretty good”, which is very strange because a chouette is an owl (the sort without those pointed tufts on their head called aigrettes in French – otherwise they’re called hibou) . Afterwards, we all used to go around saying “it’s cowly owl” and laughing uproariously. We were very young and silly in those days …

I checked the origin of chouette but nobody knows why it started to be used in the early 1800s to mean something pleasant. Rabelais used it to describe a loose woman. A connection maybe?

Incidentally, vachement fleurs doesn’t appear to have any particular significance. I don’t know whether it’s connected to Vachement Fleur, a chain of florists in Belgium, but they don’t have an “s” on “fleur”.

Dieting, Food, French customs

Appetite Suppressants Anyone? Some Natural Solutions

May 29, 2013 Rosemary Kneipp 15 Comments

I’m not a newspaper-reader or a TV-watcher, but I do listen to the radio in the morning. France-Info is perfect for me because it’s an all-day news station which means that if I tune off (as I tend to do), I get a repeat fifteen minutes later. That way, I know what’s going on in the world – well, almost. They also have cultural and other snippets which is how I learnt about a book called Le Meilleur Médicament, c’est vous, by Doctor Frédéric Saldmann.

Lots of books have been written on being your own best medecine, but what Doctor Saldmann was saying in the interview about diet and sleep immediately struck home. So I downloaded an extract of the book onto my new Kindle Paperwhite (now I can read in the dark) and started reading the chapter on excess weight.

It seems that one person out of three in France is now overweight and that the world statistics are one in five. He goes on to talk about how detrimental excess weight is to our general health. Nothing new there. He then points out, to my dismay, that most people who lose weight put it back on again within two years. Ouch. Then comes the interesting bit: a sub-chapter called Appetite suppressants that combine pleasure and effectiveness. I nearly stopped reading because I definitely do not want to use appetite suppressants.

“There is no secret about it: to lose weight, you have to eat less”, he begins. “The difficulty is therefore reducing our appetite. There are two solutions. Either you accept being hungry for the first few days … or you find ways of gradually getting used to having fewer calories. Here are a few ‘appetite suppressant’ ideas that I’m sure you’ll find useful.” OK, that sounds better.

So what are his suggestions ? The first is 100% dark chocolate which, it seems, is miraculous. I’ve never actually seen 100% chocolate but you can order it on the internet. Studies have shown that people who eat 30 grams of dark chocolate (over 70%) per day show a significant reduction in appetite afterwards. It also seems that people who regularly consume dark chocolate are slimmer than those who don’t! No one has found an explanation yet.

You know, I have already noticed this. The French are the highest consumers of dark chocolate in the world – six times more than other countries – but have only half as many heart attacks as the Americans, for example. I know people who eat dark chocolate every day and are still slim. I had worked out all sorts of theories about how they did it but none of them seemed to apply. Now I know. I’m not sure I should tell Jean Michel this though. He’s one of those chocolate eaters that can’t stop until there is none left.

The next thing on the list is saffron which apparently contributes to feeling satieted. It can be added to rice, vegetables, meal and fish. OK, why not? It definitely seems less dangerous than chocolate!

We’re also supposed to drink lots of water, particularly before and during meals. Dr Saldmann suggests having a large glass of water before starting an apéritif or meal. I am already a large water drinker, so that isn’t going to create a revolution but I’ll try to remember to drink a glass systematically before I start eating or drinking alcohol.

The next suggestion on the list is the most convincing and very easy. If you pause for 5 minutes during a course or between courses, your body has time to register how much you’ve already eaten. This is particularly important before dessert. It seems that many restaurants have realised this and ask you to order your dessert at the beginning of the meal because by the time you’ve finished your main course and your plate has been cleared, you may no longer be hungry enough for anything else!

Salt is definitely to be avoided as it whettens your appetite and he suggests eliminating it altogether. However, chilli and pepper apparently have the opposite effect and improve digestion into the bargain. They also burn fat.

The next on the list is having a dessert for breakfast which apparently keeps you going until lunchtime without feeling the slightest urge to snack. He does say, however, that you should then abstain for dessert at night, replacing it with green tea which will keep you feeling satieted for an extra two hours after the meal.

The last suggestion is to savour every mouthful and make it a moment of pleasure, so you’re not just automatically putting food into your mouth. After all, there’s nothing worse than eating extra calories and putting on weight for something that you don’t even take the time to enjoy!

And, by the way, I’ve lost my first kilo despite two restaurants during the weekend (but no dessert). How about you?

My other posts on weight loss:

The Natural Skinnies and Us

How I lost 20 kilos after 50 – for good: Part 1

How I lost 20 kilos after 50 – for good: Part 2

How I lost 20 kilos after 50 – for good: Part 3

How I lost 20 kilos after 50 – for good: Part 4

How I lost 20 kilos after 50 – for good: Part 5

How I lost 20 kilos after 50 – for good: Part 6

How I lost 20 kilos after 50 – for good – well, almost: Part 7

Where do all those extra kilos come from?

Art, France, Paris, Sightseeing

Acting French in Paris – Creating the French look – Chateau de Mery and Auvers-sur-Oise

May 28, 2013 Rosemary Kneipp Leave a comment

On this Wednesday’s blogger round-up, we have Wendy Hollands from Le Franco Phoney giving us tips on how to make the most out of a visit to the Eiffel Tower, Jill from Gigi’s French Window giving her interpretation of French decorating styles and Abby from Paris Weekender describing a visit to Méry and Auvers-sur-Oise, where Van Gogh lived his last days before taking his own life. Enjoy!

Acting French in Paris

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 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

One of the great things about living in the French Alps is that it’s so totally different to life in big French cities. When I go to Paris, I’m a tourist: loud noises grap my attention, the Metro is confusing, and I need a map to know where I’m going.

If this alternative angle photo of one of the world’s most recognised landmarks doesn’t already give it away, I spent the weekend in Paris with the French in-laws who live there. Read more

Creating the French look

by Jill from Gigi’s French Window, French ponderings from an Australian who must have been French in another life

At the moment I’m working my way through a book titled Creating the French look by Annie Sloan, which covers eight different french decorating styles, inspirational ideas and 25 step-by-step projects. A great read.

I purchased it because I was curious to see which would stand out to be MY favourite style, but as it so happens , I appear to have a ‘mélange’ of french tastes. I should have known it wouldn’t be as clear cut as that! I mean to say, there are EIGHT different styles……and none are exactly what I would choose??? Let’s have a look together, and you tell me which style resonates with you :). Read more

Château de Méry and Auvers-sur-Oise

by Abby from Paris Weekender, an American living in Paris who offers suggestions for Paris weekends, either staying put or getting out of town

This weekend, I was invited to the beautiful wedding of two close friends at the Château de Méry in Méry-sur-Oise, located about 30 kilometers or 45 minutes north of Paris on the SNCF (local train) in the Parc Vexin. With its traditional château and chapel and ultra-modern hotel on the château grounds, this made for the perfect wedding venue. Congratulations, my friends!

As the wedding was in the evening, a friend and I decided to take advantage of the first sunny day in the Paris area in three weeks, so we headed to the Val d’Oise (Valley of the Oise River) in the morning. After leaving our bags at the château, we walked about 15 minutes through the town of Méry and across the Oise River to Auvers-sur-Oise, famous as the residence and final resting place of Vincent Van Gogh and his younger brother Theo. Read more