Cycling, Loire Valley, Uncategorized

Cycling Through the Forest in Blois

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Yesterday, we finally managed to go cycling despite the weather forecast. We took our capes but didn’t need to use them. I love being able to cycle straight out the gate and onto a country road. To go to the forest, you have to go up a little hill, but that’s OK now that I have a bike with lots of gears and suspension. Training helps too! I can still remember pedalling as far as I could beforehand to get up enough speed to save my knees.  But it’s worth it when you get up the top.

And you can take a break on this lovely bench surrounded with wild flowers – daisies, buttercups and clover.

There are briar roses out everywhere. Don’t you just love this bush that forms a natural arch.

Then back through the village past delightful little houses with roses over the front door. Can’t wait for our yellow roses to bloom too!

France, French customs, Loire Valley, Uncategorized

Small Town Fame

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I’ve finally cleaned up the honeysuckle that’s been nagging me since we got to Closerie Falaiseau in Blois. It’s just beginning to flower and is a wonderful complement to the climbing roses on the stair rail. We’ve had our barbecue and eaten outside in the garden comfortably for the first time since we bought the house. Well, comfortably except for the mosquitos who adore me. We’re going for an after-dinner walk so that I can show Relationnel how I want our front courtyard/garden to look in the future.

It’s still light, despite the fact that it’s after nine thirty. We’re walking briskly along the road, not a car in sight. We go round the bend and a large dog rushes out behind a fence, barking madly. I dutifully say “T’es beau, t’es beau” as Relationnel has taught me.  It seems that telling dogs they are beautiful is two syllables is what you do in France to calm them down. I’m not sure it works but I have no comparison.

Suddenly, we hear frantic yapping and a tiny ball of fur comes hurtling down the open sloping garden opposite and onto the road. A man about our age appears  lumbering after the dog, telling it to come back, to no avail. He explains that it’s a pup, only 6 months old.

“Oh, so that’s its problem”, I say. Relationnel introduces us as his new neighbours.

“Then you’re the people who’ve bought the big house around the bend.”

“Yes, do you know Mr and Mrs Previous Owner?”

“No, I only moved here two years ago myself. I only know the neighbours on each side of the house and across the road.”

“We’re not living here permanently yet. Relationnel isn’t retiring for another two years”, I explain.

“Yes, you’re going to turn it into a gîte or a chambre d’hôte or something”, he says to Relationnel.

“That’s right.”

And turning to me, “And you’re Australian”.

My fame has gone before me.

Cycling, Slovenia, Travel photos, Travelling

Sunday’s Travel Photos – Ljubliana, Slovenia

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I loved everything about Ljubljana – the city itself, the atmosphere, the people, the restaurants, the countryside – but I found it hard to photograph successfully. The weather wasn’t particularly good either which probably didn’t help. We had a wonderful bike ride through the suburbs and out into the country which I have described in another post.


 

Accommodation, Paris

Profile: Regina Ferreira – Petite Paris B&Bs

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My monthly guest post on My French Life, the Australian-based online magazine & global community of French & francophiles, has just been published. This time, it’s an interview in two parts with Regina Ferreira, from Petite Paris B&Bs. As you know, I love staying in B&Bs and only discovered recently about their existence in Paris. I love the idea, particularly when you hear Regina explain the concept.

Profile: Regina Ferreira – Petite Paris B&Bs

Regina, it’s great to meet you on Skype, with me in Blois and you in Sydney.

Your website, Petite Paris, is an Australian-based specialist booking service with a select network of charming bed & breakfast accommodations in the romance capital, Paris bien sûr!  

Can you tell me a little bit about yourself, on a personal level to start with?
I’m Portuguese, although my family moved to Australia when I was very young so I’m really Australian having grown up and studied here. Read more

Family, Paris, Restaurants, Wine

Mother’s Day in Galerie Vivienne

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Black Cat and I decided to celebrate Mother’s Day a bit early this year because on the real day – 3rd June – she’ll be in Delft and I’ll be in Blois. Last year, Leonardo was with us as well but he’s in Sydney now of course and we had a lovely brunch in the courtyard of the restaurant inside the Arts & Métiers museum. This year, there were just the two of us so Black Cat took me to A Priori Thé in Galérie Vivienne for lunch. Paris has many arcades and passageways but this is my favourite and the closest to home.

Built on an L-shape, it was inaugurated in 1826. I love the beautiful mosaic floors and curved glass roof, not to mention all the lovely shops. The Bistrot Vivienne at the Rue des Petits Champs entrance changed hands a couple of years ago and went upmarket. It’s a little expensive for a bistrot but the staff are friendly and dining in the spacious arcade away from the noise of the street is very pleasant. I have to admit that the French fries, served in a little bucket, are excellent!

Legrand Fils et Filles, one of Paris’ best-known wine merchants, also has regular tastings. Don’t hestitate to walk through the bar area and into the old-fashioned épicerie on the other side which sells sweets, coffee, tea and other gourmandises in a very olde worlde atmosphere.

A Priori Thé, halfway down the arcade, is one of my favourite lunch spots but you often need to reserve in advance if you want to sit outside. They have a different special every day and the ideas are always original. You can buy wine by the glass that comes from Legrand. Relationnel and I sometimes go just for coffee after having lunch at home and it’s a great place for afternoon tea particularly with young friends who have strollers. I like the fact that they have “half servings” of cakes and desserts. They also have an excellent “café goumand” which is coffee or tea served with mini-cakes.

There’s a bookshop just after A Priori Thé with old and new books, including a few paperbacks in English where I used to go before I discovered Book Off and a picture framer where you can get very wide and very tall photos of Paris. We have one with the Pont des Arts in the middle and the Pont Neuf on the left that is impossible to take yourself unless you have a special camera which I don’t.

There is even a designer clothing shop called La Marelle with no indication whatsoever on the outside that the clothes are secondhand. I wandered in one day by accident and overheard some interesting conversations among the clients, some of whom were bringing their clothes in for sale. A very discreet address! There are some firsthand designer shops as well, including Nathalie Garçon, Catherine André, Rodika Zanian, Yuki Torii and Gautier.

The other boutiques in the arcade include a watchmaker who sells both new and old watches, an optomotrist, a toy shop, a hairdresser where the lady seems to spend a lot of time in a chair in front of her shop, a shoe shop, a hat shop, a florist, a boutique that sells old letters and engravings and a couple of art galleries (one with a very colourful cow in front) but none of them are exactly in my price range.

If you visit Galerie Vivienne, you might also like to visit Galerie Colbert (1836) a little further down and Passage Choiseul (1829) a few blocks away, both on Rue des Petits Champs in the direction of Avenue de l’Opéra.  Galerie Colbert has a beautiful glass dome while Choiseul is a little rundown but has real shops and little places to eat and not a tourist in sight!

Bistrot Vivienne, 4 rue des Petits Champs, Paris 75001, 01 49 27 00 50, http://www.bistrotvivienne.com/
 
A Priori Thé, 35-37 Galerie Vivienne, 75002 Paris, M° Bourse or Palais Royale, 01 42 97 48 75, http://apriorithe.com. Open for breakfast-lunch-tea: Monday -Friday from 9am to 6 pm /Saturday from 9am to 6:30 pm, Sunday Brunch from 12am to 4pm Sunday tea from 4pm-6:30pm

 

Dieting, Food, France, French customs, Paris, Sightseeing, Wine

Can Bacon be a Vegetable? – Free Walking Tours given by Parisian Volunteers – Sipping on Saturday

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Welcome to Wednesday’s other blogs! This week, Bread is Pain talks about the problems of weight gain and loss when living in France, while Kathy Stanford from Femmes Francophiles describes a novel way of getting to know Paris. Gwen Evans, guest posting on Like a Home in Paris, which features vacation apartment rentals in Paris, describes a wine tasting session in the capital. Thank you to my fellow bloggers!

Can Bacon be a Vegetable?

by Bread is Pain

“Mwah!  Look at me, I am a big sausage!”  I am walking through the room dramatically, landing hard on each of my feet.  “Watch out, my fat sausage tread might bring the house down!”

“Quoi?”  MB is amused but not sure why.

“What do you mean “quoi”,” I ask.  “I’m a sausage person…obviously.”

“I don’t know what this is, a “sausage person”.” Read more

Free Walking Tours given by Parisian Volunteers

by Kathy Stanford at Femmes Francophiles

Always looking for an opportunity to combine practising French and to visit parts of Paris that I have not previously seen in detail I decided to do a walking tour of Paris with ‘Parisien d’un jour – Paris Greeter‘.

Contact is made through their website specifying what language you want to do the tour in, availability and interests. The walks are provided free of charge by volunteers who are all Parisians passionate about their city. You can however make a donation to the association if you wish. Offers for various tours of 2 of 3 hours based on your interests are emailed to you and you choose which one you want. The group is limited to 6 people. Read more.

Sipping on Saturday: French Wine Tasting class with Preston Mohr

by Gwen Evans guest posting on Like Home in Paris

If you are like most American visitors to Paris, one of the big pluses is being able to sample wonderful French wines at very reasonable prices.  The downside of that is that it can quite confusing and intimidating when faced with so many choices — many of which are unfamiliar to us from the States.  Add to that the fact that a lot of the wine labels have very little if any helpful information, and it’s a bit of a gamble when you are at the store. In my 20 plus trips to Paris I have tried (mostly at random) lots and lots of different wines, both red and white, and have never really had a bad bottle; for between 4 and 10 euros you can get some amazingly good wine. Even the equivalent of “2 buck chuck” here is a whole lot better than the stuff back home. Read more.

 

Lifestyle, Paris

Broderie Anglaise

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Black Cat’s about 3 ½. We’re walking through the local hypermarket which is not my favourite place. I have a tendency to go as quickly as I can and get it over and done with as soon as possible. “Mummy, can I have the top?” she asks. “What top ?” I say, rather surprised because the only clothes I buy there are underwear for the kids and corduroy jeans and anoraks for Leonardo and we haven’t set foot in the shop for a couple of weeks. “The witty white one”, she replies. “Where?” “Over there !” she says excitedly.

We go in the direction she’s pointing to from her seat on the trolley. And we find a little white camisole top made of broderie anglaise. I look at the price of this minuscule piece of clothing and say, “I’ll make you one”. Which I did, with matching shorts. I was astounded that she’d not only noticed it the last time we were there, but she’d also remembered it and was able to find it again!

Her love of clothing has not diminished though she has become more reasonable with age. Fast forward to last week. We’re wandering through the streets of Paris, in behind Les Halles. “Did you see, Mum, broderie anglaise is back in fashion ?”, she says. “It’s flesh-coloured.” This I have to see. So we backtrack and I see a rather badly-cut dress on a headless, legless dummy and another somewhat bored-looking one in shorts and a blouse.

“What an unattractive window”, I say. “Really? I think it looks good!” “Don’t you think it’s a bit stark ?”, I say. “All the windows are like that these days. You’d think they could make a bit more effort”. “But that’s the fashion”, she replies. “Less is more you know”. I think I’m getting more old-fashioned by the day. It must be a generation thing …

Paris, Restaurants

A Parisian Restaurant with a Tree in the Middle

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The first time we went to Le Pré aux Clercs on rue Bonaparte in the 6th arrondissement was on the way home from a week’s holiday and it was about 10 pm. Despite the late hour, it was crowded and we were taken upstairs. Relationnel took the dish of the day – a large sole – which he has never forgotten! The next time we went, we were seated downstairs and discovered, to our amazement, that there was a large tree in the middle of the restaurant. Unfortunately, the sole was off, but we enjoyed the meal. We’ve been back several times since.

When we walked across the river on Saturday night via the Pont des Arts, where the lovelocks have positively taken over, the streets and particularly the terrace cafés were packed, especially since it was one of the first sunny days in quite a while. I got Relationnel to check the map before we left, because I remembered our getting lost last time despite his usually good sense of direction. We went the wrong way – again – but enjoyed the walk. There was even a little old lady dancing to a live jazz band in front of one restaurant!

Given the number of people in the streets, I decided to phone and check they had a table. “Pas de problème”, said the waiter, without taking my name. There were people queuing up when we arrived but we got a table straight away. To my surprise, the tree had been completely transformed. I learnt later that it had never been a real tree – I guess I was rather naive to think you could have one in the middle of Parisian restaurant anyway!

Despite the sun, the temperatures were a little cool and we kept our jackets on but the waiter spontaneously moved us closer to the terrace where there was heating, which was much better and one side of the restaurant was completely open. We ordered foie gras between us as a starter, but we should have known it wouldn’t be the façon traiteur type that we prefer. We loved the presentation though.

Relationnel then took the monk fish (there was still no sole) and I had rack of lamb with stir-fried vegetables. Both were very tasty even though the lamb was probably a little closer to mutton. A lot of their produce is labelled “traditional agriculture”. We chose a glass of petit chablis with our foie gras and a pays d’oc red with our main course. We didn’t have desert (we rarely do as neither of us is a natural skinny) and didn’t bother about coffee, because we prefer to make our own decaffeinated at home with déca from Verlet. The bill was a reasonable 62 euros.

Even though Hemingway used to come here, which you’d imagine would attract the tourists, most of the patrons were French and in their late twenties, early thirties. There was no English on the menu. The service is relaxed, efficient and friendly. After we changed tables, I took a photo of an attractive-looking patisserie opposite, only to discover it was the famous Ladurée cake shop, restaurant and tearoom, founded in 1862 and known for its macaroons! I’ll have to try it out now that I know where it is.

Le Pré aux Clercs, 30 rue Bonaparte, 75006 – Tel 01 43 54 41 73.
 
Ladurée 16-18 rue Royale Paris VIII – Tel. 01 42 60 21 79
Ladurée 21 rue Bonaparte Paris VI – Tel. 01 44 07 64 87
Ladurée au grand magasin Le PRINTEMPS 64 Boulevard Haussmann Paris IX – Tel. 01 42 82 40 10
Ladurée on the Champs Elysées is being refurbished at the moment. 
Italy, Sightseeing, Travel photos

Sunday’s Travel Photos – Orvieto, Italy

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The gothic cathedral in Orvieto in Umbria, built between 1290 and 1330, is my all-time favourite. The first time we went there in 2003, it was surrounded by vintage cars and I found it absolutely stunning, both inside and out. We returned two years’ later but unfortunately, I still didn’t have a very good camera. When we went back last year, I found it just as fascinating. However, although I had upgraded my camera, the ordinary visitor can’t stand far back enough to take very good photos, particularly as it’s so tall. The weather wasn’t the best either time – we were caught in a downpour as we left. Orvieto is also an excellent white wine (either sweet or dry).

 

France, Lifestyle

Favourite Flowers

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Peonies are one of my favourite flowers. They don’t come out for long but as soon as they do, I buy them on the market on Sundays. I like the pale pink ones best. We have a bush growing in the garden of our “little house” (next door to our Renaissance home) in Blois but one’s definitely not enough so I’ll be planting more, maybe even trying my hand at cuttings. In the background of the photo, you can see the lovely watercolour that Black Cat brought back unharmed all the way from Australia at the end of her study year, despite the weight restrictions!

Another flower I love is the orchid and I’ve learnt how to make the flowers come back again the next year. Leonardo used to buy me one each year for my birthday in April and I was delighted when two of them reflowered recently. Brainy Pianist took up the tradition in Leonardo’s absence and added a beautiful specimen to my collection. When the flowers die, you cut the stalk off after the third “eye” and keep watering regularly. In September, put it outside if you can, to simulate the tropical winter, and next spring, you should see a little shoot appear! My little April violets have been reflowering each spring for many years now.

Tiny pansies are just so cute, with their delicate faces, and they come in every imaginable colour combination. I’m thinking about where I’ll grow them in Blois.  We came across these in a public garden bed when cycling near Château d’Ussé. Absolutely irresistable! It’s a favourite ride in the summer, as the road leading to the castle which is set up on a hill, is flanked with sunflowers in summer.

I’ve always dreamed of having a house with wisteria in front. Mr Previous Owner must have pruned ours at the wrong time this year because it looked very meagre compared with his photos of the house from last year and other specimens in the neighbourhood such as this one, in the very same street. Venice in the spring when the wisteria is in bloom is absolutely breathtaking as you can see if you click on the link to my Sunday’s Travel Photos.

 

Waterlilies and, in particular, the nympheas in Monet’s garden in Giverny, immortalised in the oval rooms in the Orangerie Museum in Paris, are something I love too. I have a special connection with waterlilies. When I was born, my father, a true romantic, went out to pick them for my mother. He was also the one who chose my name – Rosemary.

Relationnel is also a romantic. Before we lived in Paris, my ground-floor office, whose window looked out onto a little courtyard where I planted lots of flowering shrubs, was opposite a flower shop. Always when I was least expecting it, I’d see the florist coming towards me with a lovely bunch of fresh flowers courtesy of Relationnel who would phone her up from work. She always made sure they went in my special vase.

So, what are your favourite flowers?

from the Tropics to the City of Light