History, Paris, Restaurants, Sightseeing

Leaving Van Gogh in Auvers – Language Exchange Speed Dating with Franglish – Visit to Institut de France Library

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This Wednesday, I’m bringing you a new blog I’ve just discovered for the art lover – American Girls Art Club in Paris – with a post that will take you to Auvers-sur-Oise where Van Gogh died. Next Paris Weekender tells us about Franglish, a novel group which holds language exchange events in various bars around Paris. Then Kathy Stanford from Femmes Francophiles takes us on a tour of a little-known monument that is open to the public: the Institut de France library, after breakfast at Angelina’s.

Leaving Van Gogh in Auvers

by American Girls Art Club in Paris

When Vincent Van Gogh died in Auvers-sur-Oise, France in July 1890, he left behind so many burning questions.

How did he die? Was it a self-inflicted gunshot wound or homocide? And why was the gun never found? How did Van Gogh ever manage to complete over 70 dazzling paintings in just 70 days in Auvers? It’s all such a mystery. Read more

Language Exchange Speed Dating with Franglish

by Paris Weekender

Do you find it easy or difficult to learn a foreign language? How do you learn best?

While I may not have mastered all the foreign languages I have studied over the years, I do consider myself an expert at being a student of languages. Yes, all of the books in the photo above do belong to me: English dictionaries, law dictionaries (arguably in English but that is debatable), French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Arabic, Japanese, German…. Read more

Visit to Institut de France Library

by Femmes Francophiles

After breakfast [at Angelina’s] I headed to the Left Bank with Destination Europe and Island Girl. We visited the Bibliothèque Mazarine at L’Institut de France. To enter the library you enter through the security area to the left of the imposing main portal. You are not usually allowed to enter the Institute so you do need to explain that you want to access the library. You will be asked to leave your ID with the guard. Read more

 

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Paris

Sunset in Paris

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One of the things I like best about living in the centre of Paris is walking through the streets at dusk. From mid-May until about mid-September, we can wander down after dinner, through the Palais Royal gardens, across rue de Rivoli and under the Louvre coming out next to the glass pyramids.

We then have the choice of turning right and walking down to the Tuileries Gardens if they are open (April-May, 7 am to 9 pm, June to August, 7 am to 11 pm, September to Mars, 7.30 am to 7.30 pm), where you can find a chair just before the trees begin, put your back to the Arc de Triomphe and watch the Louvre change colour), or left, onto the Place Carrée then right over the Pont des Arts.

You can also walk around the pyramids and go directly to the Seine, crossing over the river at Pont Royal, which is what we did last night.

I love the intricate iron lamp posts lined up along the bridge.

We turned left after we crossed the bridge and walked past the bouquinistes, closed at this hour. We noticed that some had numbers of various shapes and sizes, but most of them had nothing at all.

We envied the people sitting on the deck of one of the river boats but will wait until it’s a little warmer this year before we join them. We might even take a cruise on La Calife again. It’s a small boat moored on Quai Malaquais between Pont du Carrousel and Pont des Arts, that offers a 2-hour cruise down to the Eiffel Tower with Mediterranean-style cuisine and menus at 49 and 67 euros. Don’t forget to take something warm as it can get chilly on the water at night. Book a day or two ahead. You can reserve on-line or phone.

We then crossed back over via Pont du Carrousel with a perfect view of the sunset.

Le Calife, quai Malaquais, Paris 75006. +33 (0)1 43 54 01 08, www.calife.com. info@calife.com
Lifestyle, Paris

Outlet Stores in Paris

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Saturday was satisfying if not exciting. We went to Usine Center in the north of Paris (on the way to Charles de Gaulle Airport) and I was able to cross quite a few things off my never-ending list of things to buy for the gîte in Blois. I first learnt about outlet stores many years ago when doing a translation on McArthur Glen in Troyes, a historial city about 2 hours south-east of Paris.  I then learnt there is another big outlet centre in the area called Marques Avenues (marque = brand). There is also one in Saint-Denis in Greater Paris. These are proper stores with last year’s fashion, kitchen and dining ware at bargain prices.  Even cheaper during the sales of course when they’re crowded.

The goods displayed on hangers and shelves just like anywhere else so you don’t have to scrabble around to find things. They often have special offers as well. In the first store we went to – Sym, a brand of women’s clothing – where the pants were already reduced from 89 to 59 euros, there was a further 30% if you bought more than 2 items, bringing the price down to 40 euros. I didn’t have trouble buying 3 pairs as they have a wide variety of styles and colours, though not a lot in my size which, unfortunately, is the most popular!

We then went to another shop where I found bedspreads, table runners and tablecloths for about half the price I would have paid in Galeries Lafayette. Also, I found the colours I wanted – I had had no success whatsoever in the Paris stores where white, beige and taupe (a sort of mushroom colour) are all you can find. these days. I picked up a couple of kitchen items in another shop, then we had lunch. We usually eat at a chain called Oh ! Poivrier but they weren’t offering anything very exciting.

We ended up in the French version of a food court, but it was mostly  fast food (Chinese, pizza, couscous, harmburger and grill) so I ended up eating entrecôte (fairly safe!) with French beans straight out of the tin. Relationnel had some rather unappetising French fries with his. The girl at the coffee bar had run out of milk so I had expresso instead of cappuccino.  And to think we were avoiding the Ikea cafeteria!

Before going to Ikea,  just a couple of minutes away, where we picked up various missing pieces from the time before. we went to the DIY chain Castorama. I at last found some bedside lamps.  I was beginning to get desperate because everywhere I’ve looked (including the big department stores), I haven’t been able to find anything I like. I’m still not entirely satisfied, but at least they are neutral and will do until I find something more to my liking. We picked up a few more things such as a new shower rose for the upstairs bathroom and some rendering to redo the wall where Relationnel drilled the hole in the downstairs bathroom (I’ll tell you about that story another time).

The next item on the list was a bedbase. We inherited a matttess in good condition, but of an unusual size – 120 cm – and have been looking for a base for the spare room. Our favourite second-hand website leboncoin.com came to the rescue once again. The owner lives on the second floor, up a narrow stairase, in a tiny street in the 3rd, with no possibility of parking close by. We organised the roof rack beforehand and I unwittingly commandeered a young man walking down the street (I thought he was with the seller!) to help me carry down the base so we managed to put it on the roof and drive away without getting a fine (we happened to to be in an Auto’lib parking lot).

I’m delighted because I’ve at last taken care of the most difficult things on the list.

Usine Center Zone industrielle Paris Nord 2 
134, avenue de la Plaine de France
BP 70164
95500 GONESSE
Tel. 0820 42 03 42 (0.12 cts TTC/ minute)
Fax. 01 48 63 24 62 
Opening times:
Every day, all year, 7 days a week
(except 01/01, 01/05 and25/12)
Monday to Friday, 11 am to 7 pm
Saturday & Sunday 10 am to 8 pm
 
Public transport
RER B station ” Parc des Expositions Villepinte ”
Bus 640 from RER station
Get out at “Centre commercial”  (just follow the crowd)
Uncategorized

Sydney Writers’ Centre’s Best Blogger Competition Results

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Thank you everyone for voting for me in the Best Blogger Competition. I obviously did not win (I am very small fry compared to a lot of bloggers) but it was wonderful to be part of the competition. I hope you all found lots of other blogs to follow as well!

So here are the winners: http://www.sydneywriterscentre.com.au/bloggingcomp/index.html

Yesterday, I met up with some of my favourite anglophone bloggers in France for breakfast at Angelina’s. I’ve already featured most of their blogs in my Wednesday’s other blogs post:

Fellow Australians:

http://femmesfrancophiles.blogspot.fr/

http://www.destinationeurope.net/

http://www.carams.fr/

And from the US:

http://outandaboutinparis.blogspot.fr

 

http://parisweekender.com/

http://manandwomaninparis.blogspot.fr/

http://findingnoon.com/

http://islandgirl4ever2.blogspot.fr/

 

 

 

Lifestyle, Loire Valley

Planting Potatoes in the Rain

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The weather was so beautiful on Monday that we decided that it was time to do some planting. We dashed out to Truffaut before it closed and filled our trolley. We started with gardening gloves (3 pairs for me – rubber, roses and everything else), a large pronged fork, an edge cutter, some perennial fuschias, more gladioli bulbs (not mouldy) and lilies for the front bed, some evergreen bushes with little yellow flowers to frame the front door, another evergreen to fill a large empty pot, thyme, rosemary and sage, 4 different raspberry bushes (so that we’ll have fruit from June to October) and organically-grown potatoes.

Thoughtful had already prepared the potato bed when he came at Easter which was very fortunate because when we woke up next morning, you guessed it – it was raining. I suggested we wait until it cleared during the afternoon but Relationnel said we should plant the potatoes before the earth was completely sodden. He was right , of course, because it rained steadily for the next 4 hours, showing no signs of letting up. We downed our gardening clothes (not that I really have any) and set to work.

Being a city girl, I had no idea how to plant potatoes (though I drove a tractor once to harvest them!). Fortunately, Relationnel’s parents had a market garden so he is very cluey about that sort of thing. You hoe a furrow and then plant the potatoes about a half an arm’s length apart. The potatoes are pre-germinated with several long sprouts. Then you cover them up to form a mound so you know where to find the potatoes when they’re ready to pick about three or four months later.

The next thing we planted were the raspberries. This caused a slight disagreement as Relationnel wanted to put them on top of a mound that has all sorts of vegetation on it already.  I couldn’t really see myself climbing up a mound every day to pick raspberries particularly when I get old and decrepit!

Now raspberries are the one thing I do know how to grow, because I had a long row in the garden of my house in the suburbs of Paris when the children were little. I couldn’t see why Relationnel wouldn’t let me plant them along the fence of the vegetable garden which is just perfect. It has a neat little path just in front to pick them. If you’ve ever had raspberry bushes, you’ll know that you have to get down on your hands and knees to pick the ones at the back so you really do need a path in front.

It seems Relationnel didn’t want to “waste” good ground on my raspberries. I asked him what else he wanted to plant, pointing out that he was using up most of the garden on his potatoes.  That seemed to solve the problem. So we agreed that I could put them along the fence up as far as a daisy bush that he wanted to keep. I was perfectly happy with that.

By then, we were very muddy and wet, particularly my hair which I had stupidly put in a ponytail sticking out the back of my cap. My inappropriate jeans were also falling down by then and I couldn’t pull them up again because of my excessively muddy gloves (thank god we bought those rubber ones!) I think I’ll buy some of those chic gardener’s overalls they sell at Le Prince Jardinier. My socks were soaked because my rubber clogs kept getting sucked into the mud and coming off. Rubber boots – that’s another thing we’ll have to bring down from the cellar in Paris.

We finished off planting the herbs halfway up the mound which is fine by me because I’ll still be able to snip off bits in my old age. At the end of the day, the sun came out and we were able to plant all the other things we had bought. I was also able to try out my nifty stool cum kneeler that we bought last time and that I had completely forgotten about! Good think Relationnel was there to remind me. What I hadn’t bargained for were the little beasties that headed for the gap between my socks and jeans when we were pulling out the  long weeds. I’ve been suffering ever since!

Croatia

My Croatian Itinerary – Part 5: Sibenik, Zadar & Plitvice

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We left Dubrovnik for Zadar on a Sunday morning at the end of July and it was already very hot. Along the way there were countless vendors selling fruit and vegetables, often with makeshift showers to keep their watermelons cool! We stopped and bought figs, grapes, tomatoes, capsicums and olive oil.

Waterfront café at Zadar
Waterfront café at Zadar

We ate our lunch at a covered picnic table in a very modern service station with a stunning view of the surrounding hills and reached Sibenik mid-afternoon.

Some of the sculpted heads on Saint James' cathedral
Some of the sculpted heads on Saint James’ cathedral

None of the tourist frenzy here. The town is built directly on the edge of the water with boats moored next to the waterfront cafés which all have an excellent view of the islands opposite. We walked up the hill in the heat through a maze of little streets to Saint Michael’s castle then down again to Saint James’ Cathedral, Croatia’s most important example of Renaissance architecture with its lovely portal, beautifully carved baptistry and 71 sculpted heads. Black Cat later told me this was one of her favourite places in Croatia.

Waterfront café at Zadar
Waterfront café at Zadar

Our next port of call was Zadar where we had booked an apartment with easy parking and a terrace, just opposite Saint Donat’s. However, as luck would have it, when we arrived, the parking lot was entirely cordoned off for a major music festival that night! We waited in the car for the owner and envied the people in their arm chairs on the waterfront arrived but when she finally got there, she talked to the policeman and in the end we were able to park just in front of the building for the two nights we were there. The terrace turned out to be at the rear of the apartment looking out over everybody’s washing and cars! The inside however was very modern and spotless. It also had wifi.

Land gate and lions in Zadar
Land gate and lions in Zadar

We had dinner in a restaurant called Bruschetta near the water front recommended by the owner which was very pleasant. We had intended to go cycling on the islands opposite, Pasman and Ugljan, but the return of my turista meant that I spent most of the next day inside while Jean Michel checked out the sites and did some food shopping. In the evening, we visited the beautiful 9th century Saint Donat Byzantine church, the “land gate” with its lion and five wells. Apparently I’d missed the tourists and found it very pleasant and family-oriented.

The Greeting of the Sun which changes colour as the light waxes and wanes
The Greeting of the Sun which changes colour as the light waxes and wanes

After an aperitif, we joined the local population of Zadar to watch the sun set over the Sea Organ and check out an intriguing attraction by the same architect just next to it called The Greeting to the Sun, consisting of multi-layered glass plates and silicon cells and forming a marine compass which changes colours as the light waxes and wanes. It’s actually a small power plant that is also used to light up the entire waterfront.

Stunning upper lakes at Plitvice
Stunning upper lakes at Plitvice

The next day, we headed for Plitvice Falls, one of the highlights of our trip, which I have described in two previous posts (Sunday’s Travel Photos and Cycling in Croatia). We stayed in a lovely and very reasonably priced apartment up in the hills (it even had a barbecue!) with a very convenient access to the lower lakes which enabled us to avoid the crowded car parks and hordes of tourists. I didn’t visit the higher lakes because of my turista, but Jean Michel took the boat and bus next day and joined the crowds of visitors. Having seen both, he said that he definitely preferred the lower lakes so we visited them again before we left the next day for Porec.

Bruschetta Restaurant, Mihovila Pavlinovica 12, 23000 Zadar
Zdravka Evceg, Vjekovslava Mastrovika 4, 23000 Zadar
Stanislav Mihinjac, Apartmani Lipa, Plitvice Selo 6, Plitvicka Jezera 
France, French customs, Loire Valley, Paris, Travelling

Chateau de Chambord – Metro Maze in Paris – The Presidential Debate

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Already Wednesday again! All those public holidays in May make the time just disappear! This week, we have a description of Chambord castle (just next to me in Blois) by Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris, a great new phone App for the metro along with some lovely photos by Petite Paris of B&B fame and a very pertinent description of the French pre-election debate between the two final candidates, Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande by Finding Noon still worth reading even though we now know that François Hollande is the winner.

Château de Chambord – the largest castle in the Loire Valley

By Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris

While visiting the Loire Valley, I was reminded of how justifiably proud the French are of their rich cultural heritage and how this sentiment is passed down from one generation to the next. After overhearing some parents explain to their children that Francois I built Château de Chambord as a royal hunting lodge in which he only spent a mere 72 days during his 32 year reign, I teased Stéphane about his country’s lack of opulent castles. His immediate response was that while the Swiss may not have any extravagant châteaux, they also didn’t incur staggering debts. Sensible, but not quite so romantic… Read more

Metro Maze in Paris

by Petite Paris

Bonjour or bonsoir friends; depending on where you are in the world 🙂

We have just been sent a link to a new iphone app on the Metros in Paris and just wanted to share it with you as a bit of a helpful resource for your pending, upcoming, (one day soon hopefully) trip to Paris 😀

Its from Kemtro and its the only one that gives the exact location of all the entrances and exits of all the metro stations and it works offline – no roaming needed! (and we all know how expensive roaming can be). Read more

The Debate

by Finding Noon 

It is still the Presidential elections in France and last night was the great debate, which I didn’t find so great, but I did find rather fun to watch. French political debates are very different from my memories of US Presidential debates. Instead of standing officially at lecterns, each candidate is comfortably seated, with their notes. They face each other, not the voters, which helps tensions rise and makes for some great tv moments. As does the fact that the candidates do not have a set time limit for each answer. From an anglo-saxon perspective, this is not a debate, but a moderated argument, that turns into an intellectual free for all. Read more

France, Lifestyle, Loire Valley

Gardening Again!

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Yesterday, after I don’t know how long, the sun suddenly decided to come out, so we hit the garden. The trouble about grass is that it grows and if you don’t cut it often enough, it gets too long for the mower. It’s been so long since we’ve had a garden that we’d forgotten that little detail of course. The catcher was filling up so quickly that Relationnel eventually took it off altogether.

My job was therefore to rake up the piles of moist cut grass and put them into large rubbish bags as well as trim the edges of the garden beds. The ivy is doing its best to take over as many beds as it can as well as any spare walls (and we have a few of those!) so we had to attack that as well as I’d like to plant something more interesting, particularly in front of the house. Also, you can’t let the ivy get onto the roof tiles as it stops the rain from running into the gutters properly.

We now have a a garden bed ready for planting. I’d bought some gladioli bulbs one day at the supermarket but they all looked pretty mouldy yesterday so I don’t know how many will actually produce anything. When I first told Relationnel about them, he wasn’t very encouraging, telling me that people usually plant gladiolis next to corn stalks! I don’t have any corn stalks … We have a lot of hollyhocks though and they don’t seem to need corn stalks to keep them up, despite their height.

We did find a beautiful flower up on the sloping wood behind the house though. It’s an orchid it seems. Mr Previous Owner had told us about them, but this was the first one we’d seen. Unfortunately, my photo is a little blurry and when I went back this morning to take another one, it was already beginning to fade.

We’ve also moved the bird bath so that it’s near the tree with all the feeders in it. We have this incredibly cheeky little mésange (tit or chickadee) that taps insistently on the window with its beak if the feeder is empty or doesn’t contain its favourite bread crumbs (those from my home-made bread of course). You can hear lots of cuckoos in the grounds of our local Vicomté castle across the road as well.

This morning, I am sad to say, I can feel every muscle in my arms and legs. Falling UP the stairs in my haste to put my gardening clothes on didn’t help either. I can see I’ll have to garden more regularly!

French customs, Loire Valley

The Weather Vane and the Nightingale

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Mr and Mrs Previous Owner came to visit this morning on their way back from voting and I learnt some interesting facts about the weather vane on the top of the garage. We were talking about the aspect of the house, which Relationnel was convinced was south-facing. It seems it actually faces south-east. Mrs Previous Owner pointed out that you can tell from the weather vane. Relationnel was not convinced because he thought it only indicated the direction of the wind as it doesn’t have an N on it.

We then learnt that Mr P.O., a locksmith by trade, made the weather vane himself. It bears two symbols – a key for Mr P.O. and a feather for Mrs P.O., who was a secretary. And there is a cross indicating the cardinal points. According to Mr P.O., in mediaeval times, the landowners didn’t want the peasants to learn how to read and write, so didn’t use letters on signs and weather vanes. Instead of saying “east wind” and “‘north wind”they talked about “low wind” and “high wind”. Not too sure how much of this is just hearsay though …

They also indicated the best market to go to. We went to the main market in Blois yesterday. It was very attractive and the people were friendly but we were horrified at the prices which are even higher than those on Rue Montorgueil in Paris and we thought they were bad! It seems there are two markets on the outskirts of Blois in the high-rise areas where there are a lot of North Africans, that are much more reasonably priced. We’ve already noticed in the past that the “hallal” butchers sell very tasty lamb for half the price you pay at a regular butcher’s. So next time,  we’ll  be going there.

I also asked them about the delinquent birds. At 2 o’clock in the morning, you can hear birds outside our bedroom window chirping away like nothing on earth. They don’t bother me, but I think it’s very strange. When we got back from The Shaker in Amboise on Friday night (our very first social outing since we got the keys to the house) where we met up with a group of Anglophones and Anglophiles who meet there regularly (first Friday of the month), you would have thought it was broad daylight. It turns out they’re rossignols (nightingales). If you click here, you can here what they sound like – it’s definitely them! I’d recognise them anywhere.

The other thing that Mr and Mrs Previous Owner helped us with is the safe. When it was explained to me initially, I thought I understood but when I tried to use it when I was locking up the house for the first time on my own, all I did was make it freeze up completely. I couldn’t even get it open. When Relationnel came, he was afraid I’d somehow put another combination on it but you’ll be pleased to hear that it’s working again and I can now leave all my rubies and diamonds safely behind and things might stop disappearing and reappearing!

Amboise from The Shaker on L'Ile d'Or, just before a storm

 

from the Tropics to the City of Light