France, Uncategorized, Wine

Sorting out the vines – Visiting some of the major champagne houses: Taittinger, Pommery and Moet & Chandon –

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This Wednesday’s blog round-up introduces a new blog from a fellow Australian living in the Loire Valley, Susan, author of Days on the Claise, explaining how to recognise the different grape varieties in the Loire. Thanks to her post, I was able to identify the grapevine at Closerie Falaiseau as gamay. Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris also explores a wine-related topic – a visit to some of the major champagne housse in  Reims – just one of her recent posts on the world’s favourite beverage!

Sorting out the vines

by Days on the Claise, a fellow Australian living in the south of the Loire Valley, writing about restoring an old house and the area and its history

On a recent visit with clients to la Domaine de la Chaise in Saint-Georges-sur-Cher the owner and winemaker Christophe Davault gave us an impromptu primer on how to tell grape varieties apart in the field.
Grape varieties are notoriously difficult to tell apart, but people like Christophe, who have worked with them all their lives, can do so at a glance. He says you need to look at the leaves and the wood. By wood he means the annual growth above the graft. Below the graft is the rootstock and will look much the same for all the varieties. He has planted examples of 5 varieties along a barn wall in his farmyard, and he explained the differences to us as follows: Read more

Visiting some of the major champagne houses: Taittinger, Pommery and Moet & Chandon

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

Just as I was dropping off to sleep last night, Stephane nudged my shoulder and asked if I was planning to write a blog post today. Rather surprised by his question, I mumbled that I was and started to return to that luxurious state when you’re just about to…. “What are you going to write about?” Jolted awake, I collected my thoughts and responded that the post would probably feature the major champagne houses. “Are you going to mention that the Cathedral of Reims is where 33 kings of France were crowned?” was the next question that he fired at me. When I replied that I wasn’t intending to write about it because we hadn’t seen it, Stephane chuckled and said that was the point he wanted to make. Read more

Travelling

Flying Across the World Today

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I mentioned in a previous post that the time it takes today to go from Paris to Sydney has shortened considerably over the last 30 or 40 years, going from 36 hours to about 20. And that’s not the only thing that has changed ! The inflight amenities have gone ahead in leaps and bounds. When I first started travelling, you got to see an occasional movie on a large screen at the front of the cabin. Sometimes there was a problem with the video and you certainly couldn’t choice your programme. You could get 7 different music channels but no TV.

Individual monitor journey map

Here we are today, on a Cathay Pacific B777-300ER aircraft, each with our own individual monitor. I have a choice of 41 different movies. I have 24 TV channels with goodness knows how many choices of programmes and more movies (a rough guess would be 300 to 400). I can play chess, solitaire or sudoku. If I were a kid, I’d have my own movies, TV shows and games. I do have to speak English of course. Poor Relationnel has a very limited choice. But that’s OK, he can read the guide book to Hong Kong instead.

Headrest with wings to lean your head on

The back of the seat has a head rest with “wings” for extra comfort though the very loud lady on the other side of the aisle has her own version of comfort. There is less leg room, regrettably, but the seat is comfortable, unlike some I travelled on when I was younger when the springs seem to have been the worse for wear. Sleeping was a challenge.

Neighbour’s neck pillow

But the great novelty today is an “outside camera” under the belly of the plane that allows us to see beneath. On the runway, we could see the wheel whizzing along a yellow line. As we took off, we could see the fields below. Now that we’ve reached cruising speed, we can see clouds beneath us. I’m hoping we’ll have this as we fly over the Australian desert on the next leg of the journey.

Outside image of undercarriage

Another thing that has changed drastically over the years – fortunately in my view – is the unlimited alcohol that used to be served on board, with the obvious excess that made travelling difficult if you were anywhere near the over-consumers. Not to mention the state of the toilets … On Cathay Pacific you get a before-dinner drink and a glass or two of wine or beer with your meal and nothing alcoholic in-between.

Outside image showing land beneath

I’ve been travelling across the world since 1975 and have had a few unfortunate experiences along the way. The worst was probably in 1980 when Leonardo was 13 months old and crawling. It took us 50 hours to go from Paris to Townsville. When we were near Muscat in the Sultanate of Oman, we had a problem with the landing gear and had to backtrack to Bahrain to get it fixed. We spent long hours in the airport , a hotel room and on the tarmac. We couldn’t land in Sydney because of the curfew so had to go to Melbourne. There the ground staff was on strike so we had to wait for hours to get our baggage. The only one not in a frazzle when we reached our destination was Leonardo ! Fortunately I was still breastfeeding him at the time so didn’t have to worry about finding suitable food and water. All I needed were enough nappies !

Our traditional gin & tonic and peanuts when flying

Time to go! Our traditional on-board gin and tonic with peanuts is about to arrive!

Travel photos

Monday’s Travel Photos – Hong Kong Island

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Three years ago, we had a stopover in Hong Kong on our way to Australia. Our hotel – Causeway Bay – was on Hong Kong Island and that is where we mainly stayed. There are very few traditional buildings left on the island now, unlike my first experience 30 years ago!

Punging view from our room at the top of Causeway Bay Hotel
View from our rooftop pool. An unforgettable experience.
Tim Hau Temple
Typical shop entrance
Lin Fa Temple
Nighttime stroll – quite a challenge
Breathtaking view from The Peak reached by funicular
Fish market near ferry to Kowloon

View of Kowloon from ferry

View of Hong Kong Island Convention Centre from ferry
Art, Food, Loire Valley, Restaurants, Sightseeing

A Tapestry Shop and a Tea Room in Blois

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I’m in the train again, going back to Paris and my shuttered-up apartment. But on Fridays, the workmen go home early so I won’t have to put up with the pneumatic drill for too long. Then on Monday, we leave for Australia for five weeks. We haven’t been for three years. Australia is a long way away! We’re having a stopover in Hong Kong on the way there and back. I can no longer do the 20-hour journey in one stretch. When I first left, 37 years ago, it took over 30 hours, with a one-hour stop in an airport every three hours so they could fuel up. The airports all look the same;  only the people behind the counters of the duty-free stores give any indication of the local population and customs. Now it’s a mere 20 hours.

Blois Castle on the street side

But yesterday afternoon I was still in Blois so I went into the city for some last-minute shopping. It was a glorious day. The beautiful weather is holding up, just as we are about to go, of course. My first stop was a little souvenir shop in the street next to the castle recommended to me by my friend Françoise, who tells everyone she found me in the street – which is quite true, as you may remember from an earlier post. The woman behind the counter and another woman who seemed to be overseeing the shop in some way kept up a constant banter. It always amazes me to see how sales assistants ignore you completely. At least it gave me time to decide what to buy …

My next stop was quite a different experience – a family-owned tapestry shop called Langlois just a few doors on. I wandered in and could see no one about but a very pleasant and helpful man soon arrived and gave me information about the tapestries. What I thought to be a very modern collection of cushion covers is actually based on details from the beautiful mediaeval Apocalypse tapistry in Angers. Another series are long Art Deco panels, selling for about 500 euros. Some beautiful traditional panels go for around 1000 euros. There are also carpet bags, purses, jewellery and ornamental items of various shapes and sizes. I could have bought a lot of things in that shop had money not been a consideration!

My last visit was to « Les Forges du Château », a lunch/tea room/cellar/local speciality shop where my gîte guests, Sandy and Will, had had a very positive lunch experience the day before. Newly opened in June, it has a a small outside eating area and an upstairs area that ressembles a private living room and looks out onto the castle opposite, a shop with many original items and produce, a cellar in two parts – one that stocks local wines (free tasting on request) and a wonderful 15th century cellar downstairs with vintage bottles behind iron grids.

The restaurant/tea room, which is open until about 8 pm, offers an interesting selection of sandwiches, salads and hot dishes, at prices ranging from 5 to 15 euros, with desserts to follow. I will definitely be trying it out when we go back to Blois in October.

Langlois Tapestries, 1 rue de la Voûte du Château, 41000 BLOIS, + 33 (0)2 54 78 04 43,                  langlois-blois@waadoo.fr
 Opening Times
Monday to Saturday 10am  until noon
& 2.30 pm until 6pm
Sunday and public holidays – by appointment
 
Les Forges du Château
21 Place du Chateau
41000 Blois
France, French customs, Sightseeing

Pigeon Houses in France

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When we were cycling in the Loire Valley last weekend, we stopped in the little town of Thenay, just in front of an unusual pigeonnier which is a place where you keep pigeons so the name varies in English according to the type of abode. It’s not really something I knew much about in the north of Australia where I was more familiar with parrots, parakeets and bower birds.

Pigeon house in Thenay in the Loire Valley

Pigeonnier is actually a more recent word in the French language and came into vogue in the 19th century. Before that, they were called colombiers although a colombe is really a dove but it comes from the Latin columbarium. It seems the Romans brought the tradition to France. Now why, you might ask, would anyone want to breed pigeons ? I naively thought they were all carrier pigeons but it’s really because they produce excellent fertilizer. When the crops were being sown, though, they had to be closed into the pigeon house to stop them eating all the seeds.

Inside, there were niches, one per couple. Now, isn’t that romantic? In some parts of France, such as Normandy and Brittany, only the nobles and clergy could have pigeon houses. But that was before the French revolution. After that, they became an important adjunct to any self-respecting farmhouse, signifying the end of feudal rights. Smooth walls and a row of varnished tiles were designed to stop rodents and other predators from getting in. When there were two stories, only the second floor was used for the pigeons.

Our first real experience of pigeonniers was in the south-west of France, near Gaillac, also home to an excellent wine. Once we had seen a couple of pigeon houses, we started “collecting” them and would walk for miles to visit a new one. That was in our pre-cycling days. As you can see from the photos, the variety is astounding. Some are stand-alone, often in the middle of a field, while others are part of the house. Some are in a state of decay while others have been beautifully restored.

There were a few safety rules to be followed. They had to be built away from large trees to keep birds of prey at bay and out of the prevailing winds. The largest could house over 2000 pigeons! We started our own little collection of miniatures but haven’t got very far.

Our nascent collection of pigeon houses
Germany, Paris, Travelling

Which Travel Money Card is best? – Getting to and from the Paris Airports – Road Trip Paris to Berlin

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On this week’s list are two very pratical posts for those who will be travelling to France shortly. Holidays to Europe looks at the question of the best travel money card to take with you while Abby from Paris Weekender explains the best way to get to and from the different airpots in Paris. And, on a very different subject, Andrea from Rear View Mirror (who is also the author of Destination Europe) and taken to living the life of a nomad, describes a road trip to Berlin.

Which Travel Money Card is best?

by 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.

I’ve written previously about the various ways of accessing your spending money whilst overseas but after my most recent trip to Europe and a report by CANSTAR, I thought it timely to provide some more information about travel money cards. Read more.

Getting to and from the Paris Airports

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

Unfortunately there is no perfect way of getting to and from the Paris airports, but below are my suggestions.  Note that for the Air France bus (Car Air France) to and from Charles de Gaulle and Orly you can now purchase tickets online, and doing so will save you 10%. Read more

Road Trip Paris to Berlin

by Andrea from Rear View Mirror (formerly Destination Europe), a fellow Australian who, after 6 years of living in France, has given up herParis apartment to live a nomadic life slowing travelling around Europe, experiencing each destination like a local.

Driving directly from Paris to Berlin would normally take around 10 hours but there are so many fantastic places worth visiting along the way that you can make a great one to two week road trip out of it or even more if you prefer to travel slowly. I took around 15 days for the trip and stopped in seven cities between Paris and Berlin. The road trip looked like this:

Paris – Trier – Bacharach – Heidelberg – Schwabisch Hall – Nuremberg – Leipzig – Dresden – Berlin. Read more

 

 

France, Loire Valley, Sightseeing, Wine

Troglodytes in the Loire Valley and Vouvray wine

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The first time I heard someone use the word troglodyte in France, I was a little surprised. It conjured up cave dwellers for me. But apparently I was going to be shown their houses – cave dwellers have houses? However, it turns out that in French, it also means a house dug out of a cliff.

Typical troglodyte cellar along the Cher River

The Loire Valley is very old and in many places both the Loire and Cher rivers are flanked by tufa hills. If someone needed a house or a cellar, they simply dug into the tufa, which is a fairly soft stone. It was then relatively easy to add doors and windows. Ventilation is a problem of course but not insurmountable. I really was intrigued when I saw them. It reminded me of Peter Pan and Wendy and their underground house.

Troglodyte house with a cellar in the middle

The photos here were taken as we rode from  Montou along the Cher River to Montrichard. Don’t you just love the details? One even has a TV antenna. And the doors are so low. They weren’t very tall in those days of course.

A troglodyte house with a TV antenna!

Another area in the Loire Valley well-known for its troglodyte houses is Vouvray, the home of a very good natural sparkling wine made with a local grape called chenin blanc. It may not be champagne but it’s still very palatable – and much cheaper. Most of the cellars have been dug out of the tufa cliffs. We once visited the most extraordinary vouvray cellar with very, very old wines, that seemed to go on forever. The label on the bottle shows the door of their troglodyte cellar. Vouvray is also a very pleasant sweet wine made with the same grape.

Sparkling and sweet vouvray from Domaine Freslier

After the visit, we went for lunch in a troglodyte restaurant, which is also a local speciality! Very atmospheric with its rough-finished walls and candles in their niches. Unfortunately, it was a few years ago, so I don’t remember the name …

Vouvray wine
Domaine Freslier Jean Pierre
90 – 92, rue de la Vallée Coquette – 37210 Vouvray 02.47.52.76.61
Egypt, Travel photos

Monday’s Travel Photos – Abu Simbel, Egypt

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The French love Egypt. They study it at school several times during their scolarity which means that they end up knowing quite a lot about it. Ancient Egypt, I mean, with the mummies and pharoahs. As a result, Black Cat had her heart set on going to Egypt so when she was about 12, I promised I’d take her there for her 18th birthday. Due to the political situation at the time, we didn’t go until the following year but when we did, she absolutely loved it.

The Great Sphinx of Giza and the Pyramid of Khafre

We started in Cairo with the Pyramids, which disappointed me a little – I found them overrated – then went to Abu Simbel which I thought was absolutely magnificent. The absolutely collossal statues suddenly appeared out of nowhere on the edge of Lake Nasser.

One of the twin temples originally carved out of the mountainside during the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II in the 13th century BC for his queen Nefertari.

However, not knowing anything about Egyptian history at all, it took me a while to soak it in. After a week on the lake which was created as a result of the construction of the Aswan High Dam across the waters of the Nile between 1958 and 1971, visiting many historical sites that had been relocated when the valley was flooded to form the lake, I was ready to go back to Abu Simbel and see it all again. But we were scheduled to go to Luxor then up the Nile to the Valley of the Kings and Queens. Abu Simbel remains my favourite, particularly in the late afternoon when there are fewer tourists. I’m sure you can see why from the photos.

A close-up of the Nefertari temple in Abu Simbel
The temple built by Pharaoh Ramesses II as a lasting monument to himself to impress his southern neighbours. I’m sure they were!
Close-up of the Ramesses II temple which along with the rest of the complex was relocated in 1968, on an artificial hill made from a domed structure, high above the Aswan High Dam reservoir.
Crops growing on the banks of Lake Nasser. From the 6th century until 1815, the temples were entirely covered by sand.
Food, French customs, Loire Valley

Bread Ovens in the Loire Valley

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Well, I shall start with my own! Closerie Falaiseau, our lovely house in Blois, has its own beautiful bread oven, unfortunately no longer in use, but Relationnel has every intention of turning it at least into a working fireplace.

Our bread oven in the kitchen with the door open

 

The day we were given the keys, Mr Previous Owner opened the door to the oven and we were able to look inside. It has a beautifully renovated inside vault which it is a pity to hide.

The inside vault of our bread oven

Among the things that Mr and Mrs Previous Owner left us are two utensils related to the oven – one for raking the cinders and the other for putting the bread into the oven and removing it. Now, the wooden pincers that you can see on the left have nothing to do with bread. Do you remember those old-fashioned woolen mattresses with grey and white striped covers that had a sort of roll around the edges? Well, the pincers were used to pinch them into shape.

Our oven utensils

I doubt if you can guess what the next photo represents. According to Mr Previous Owner, the baker used a poker to check when the oven was hot enough. He’d put it in the oven, leave it for a few minutes, then test it on the beam above! I find this a little difficult to believe because if it were true, there would theoretically be a lot more burn marks, wouldn’t there ? It’s a nice story anyway …

Burn marks on our oven

 

Mrs Previous Owner, who is one of those people with the knack for finding authentic objects, managed to salvage three bread baskets when the local bakery closed down several years ago. They were used to shape the loaf as it rose.

Bread baskets

Up on the hill behind us is a house with a lovely little village bread oven, that is, it’s not inside a house but separate. Baking day was usually once a week and all the villagers would prepare their bread and bring it along to cook because only the bigger houses like ours had their own oven.

Bread oven in Les Grouets in Blois

When we were cycling to Chaumont one day, we came across another type of village oven as we left the little village of Candé sur Beuvron. As you can see, it’s a much bigger and more sophisticated affair than the one in Blois.

Bread oven in Candé sur Beuvron

I currently make my own bread with a bread-making machine, you may remember, so I have high hopes of one day being able to bake it in my own wood-fired oven!!!

Our bread oven from the back
Food, France, Restaurants

Café Gourmand – A French Speciality

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My monthly contribution to My French Life, the global community of French and francophiles connecting like-minded people in English & French has just been published, this time in the Gastronomie section.

One of the best inventions in French cuisine in recent years, in my opinion, is the café gourmand.

I’m not big on desserts. Also I think that the best and most inventive dishes in French restaurants are the entrées. By the time dessert comes, I’ve usually had enough to eat. What I really prefer is a cup of coffee with a little tidbit on the side. And that is exactly what a café gourmand is, except that there are usually three or four different little tidbits. Read more

from the Tropics to the City of Light