provençal life

after all the busyness of wedding preparations we were thrilled to go on our long-awaited honeymoon (that i'd been planning for close to a year..). we flew from charleston through atlanta to paris where we spent some time at charles de gaulle waiting for our train, which left directly from the airport (quite convenient). while we waited we had our first croissants, albeit from a brioche dorée, but still better than most american versions. the train ride to avignon was lovely and on the way we enjoyed some overpriced oranginas while we watched the countryside go by. we stopped briefly in my beloved lyon, where we got a very quick glimpse of fourvière up on the hill. there also seemed to be some kind of altercation at the station - we saw some station police chasing someone, followed by several minutes of people in uniform standing around and smoking.

two of my favorite words

we arrived in avignon and walked about 50 yards (meters, rather) to the rental car place. couldn't have been more convenient. we got out car and J.R. did a great job driving to our hotel, despite sometimes confusing directions. the hotel was just outside the old city walls, which actually worked very well since we were driving out of town most of the time. our room was lovely and, with stone walls and a window overlooking the small garden. after unpacking a bit and freshening up we set out. we thought we'd pop into avignon to get a quick bite to eat before heading out of town. we had to go a bit farther into the city than we thought - about a 15 minute walk to the city center. looking for something quick, we eventually got a crêpe to go. (so began my pattern of taking pictures of JR eating typically french foods for the first time.) we ate the (surprisingly large) crêpes as we walked back towards the hotel. oh i forgot to mention - the south of france was experiencing a heat wave when we were there so temperatures were up around 95 degrees. of course we're used to that in south carolina (where ironically they were having unusual balmy weather) but we'd been anticipating temperatures about 20 degrees cooler. still, we didn't have the south carolina humidity to deal with.

honeymoon in a bottle

our first stop was the small town of châteaurenard, which is the current site of the frigolet distillery. monks first began brewing this liqueur several hundred years ago in their abbey, about 15 kilometers away. much like the monks who created chartreuse near grenoble. we walked into the distillery's little shop, where we were greeted by the very nice proprietor who gave us some samples of the greenish yellow liqueur. it's made with local herbs and i was a little worried it would be overly medicinal, like chartreuse. but it was very nice - slightly sweet and not overly herby. it's actually made with honey so we thought it was appropriate as our first honeymoon sourvenir.

sweet streets of saint rémy

our next stop was the town of saint rémy de provence. i had initially thought about staying here since it seemed very quaint in the pictures. i hadn't been able to find a hotel but i think staying in avignon worked out better as a hub. the town was pretty and there was a nice little church with a star-painted ceiling. there were some nice little shops with the usual wares - provençal linens, olive wood, soaps, lavender and clothes (indian block prints seem to be in vogue) but everything was pretty pricey. there wasn't much to actually do in the town so we moved on after a quick walk through the main streets.

just up the road from the center of town was the monastery of saint paul de mausole, where van gogh famously spent some time. we were able to see go to his onetime bedroom, with a window looking out on the gardens. if we had been there just a few weeks earlier the fields would have been filled with lavender in bloom but unfortunately the gardens were pretty sparse. still, it was pretty neat to see the area where van gogh painted several of his better known pieces, including one of his self portraits and 'starry night' (just one 'starry' - that's a pet peeve of mine).

fanciful frigolet

if we'd had more time we might have explored arles or nimes but as it was it was starting to get late in teha fternoon so we made our way back towards avignon, making one pit stop in frigolet where we saw the abbey of the liqueur-making monks. there seemed to still be some monks there so it must be a working monastery. there weren't many people around and we were worried the church would be closed. luckily the door was open so we were able to see the elaborately painted interior - everything from the columns to the walls were covered in colorful patterns and figures. once we'd had a look around we decided to head back.

golden glow on the roof

our goal was to make it to the palais des papes with enough time to see the whole complex. we spent the last two hours they were open there. the audio guide was fairly good and there was a lot of interpretive material. they also installed some contemporary art which was neat. the current exhibition focused on african art - the large golden el anatsui was particularly impressive. we explored every part of the building we could - from the pope's quarters (where i was most struck by the pretty tile floor) to the rooftop, which we caught just as the sun was starting to go down. JR (the historian) really enjoyed exploring all the rooms and wished we'd had a little more time.

see the palace in the corner?

we had a few hours before the light show at the palace so we walked around in search of a nice dinner. i'd seen a place advertising beef with roquefort sauce which sounded delicious. we spent a fair amount of time finding a place that had it, passing many touristy looking (read: menus in four languages) places along the way. JR was very patient and eventually we found the perfect spot. it was at the hotel palais des papes, just around the corner from the papal palace. we got a spot outside, where we enjoyed the darkening sky and the breezy weather now that the sun had gone down. JR got a glass of wine and i had my first (of many) kir, which is white wine with crème de cassis and we toasted to our first full day as husband and wife. my meal was delicious, i scraped up every speck of cheese sauce with my bread (when in france..) and JR enjoyed his eggplant dish too. we decided to cap off our meal with a cheese plate, probably one of the best french traditions. everything was delicious and even though we were stuffed we made some room for a little more bread so we could try every tasty morsel.

layers of history

we were able to linger over dinner and still had enough time to make the very short walk back to the papal palace. they have an illumination every evening in the summer and we wanted to catch the english version. the show was really impressive. the projections covered all four walls of the courtyard we were inside and were so elaborate. they told the story of avignon and the palace, although not in a very linear way. still, the visuals alone were really stunning. poor JR nodded off a few times (normally that's all me!) because he was so tired. he hadn't slept at all on the flight - he never does - and of course we'd been pretty go, go, go. after the show ended (about 45 minutes, longer than i'd expected!) we did the 20 minute walk back to the hotel. the town is really pretty quiet at night as far as we can tell, although we did pass one or two bars that must have had some people in them.

the next day we set out east. our first stop was a tiny town that we stopped in only because they were having their weekly market. we stopped into a little bakery where we got some pastries, followed by a little bar where we grabbed a table for some coffee. JR wanted to try an espresso and i got a latte. the waitress seemed rather surly at first but when she came back with our drinks she pointed out the little heart in the foam on top. when i told her it was our honeymoon she got such a kick out of it, even saying she had goosebumps. (incidentally, that's how i learned the french word for goosebumps). we stopped at the little market - all of about 12 little vendors set up in the square in front of the church. we got some tomatoes, pears, and a few cheeses for our picnic later on and put them in the little insulated bag i'd brought.

heart of the town

a little farther east we stopped in l'isle sur la sorgue, a charming little town with a canal running through the middle. it was at this point that i realized my camera battery was dead and my spare was back in the hotel room. luckily i had my phone so i made the best of it. the town was full of cute little shops, bakeries, bookstores, and antique shops. we stopped in a little artisanal shop where we got some saucisson (basically salami) with herbes de provence, a mixture of various regional herbs that they put on everything. at some bakeries we got a baguette to round out our picnic fare and some meringues for dessert.

le spread

our next stop was fontaine de vaucluse, a tiny little town established near the source of the sorgue river. we wanted to have our picnic before we got into town so we stopped just outside near the river where we found a little bench that we thought would be perfect. it was a very picturesque spot and would have been perfect if it weren't for the bees who terrorized us. they were very interested in our cheese and were not easily dissuaded. still, the creamy brie/bleu cheese was delicious and our saucisson made for the perfect addition. even our 2 euro convenience store rosé was very nice.

looking up

we ended up walking up to fontaine de vaucluse since parking in the town itself was so scarce. we paid the usual 4 euro (about what we paid everywhere) and walked uphill to the middle of town. in the center there was a roundabout and just next to it was a bridge over the remarkably clear water of the sorgue. you could see all the greenery below, just beautiful. there were waterwheels here and there. the town was bordered by hills on one side that loomed above us. (vaucluse means closed valley, which seems appropriate.) on one of the hills was a castle where apparently pertrach once lived. thomas jefferson visited this little burg and wrote home describing its charms.

green (not really) water

from the middle of town we followed the path to the source. along the way we stopped at an old paper mill, powered of course by a water wheel, which was supposed to have a small museum inside. while there were displays of old techniques used to create paper, there wasn't much a museum per se, at least not that we could see. most of the space was devoted to a shop, filled with paper goods presumably all made with paper created on site. we passed shop after shop mostly filled with clothes and souvenirs. eventually we made it to the source of the river. the actual source is way down below in a small cave so we couldn't go down and touch it (the rocks surrounding it were quite steep). there were metal strips attached to certain parts of the rocks that were used to measure the water level so that area must have flooded at some point. despite the day being (once again) very hot, spots around the source were oddly cool with a refreshing breeze.

gorgeous gordes

our next stop was the hilltop village of gordes. picturesque really is the best way to describe it. the tiny town is plopped on the top of a hill, with the church steeple towering above it all. like a miniature mont st. michel almost. we stopped at a cafe with a small terrace on the side of the hill which looked out on the fields and stone buildings below. JR enjoyed a beer while i had my usual kir and wrote a bit in my journal. of course the best view is of the town, rather than seen from it, so we walked around the road to get a better look. from here we could see all the little houses built out of the side of the cliff, with trees dotted in between. as a reward for our walk we got some ice cream once we made it back to the town proper. lavender (because provence) and butter pecan (just because).

ochreS is right

since we had a bit more daylight left we figured we could squeeze in a quick visit to roussillon. this little village is known as the 'colorado of provence' for its odd preponderance of orange rock formations. this particular soil composition exists only a handful of places in the world and it was really rather surreal to see this bryce canyon-like scene in the middle of the luberon. we walked along the sentier des ochres, following the path down into a small valley as orange cliffs and trees rose up on either side of us. there were some really beautiful variations of orange and yellow in the color of the rocks and i was sad not to have my camera to capture the detail better. the loop we walked didn't take nearly as long as predicted but that was just as well since we figured we should be getting back fairly soon. the town of roussillon seemed rather colorful itself, although most places were starting to close up and we didn't really have time to explore in any case. the ride back was largely uneventful although we did stop once along the road to see some of the vineyards up close.. only to discover the vines were covered in little white snails! escargots plus (future) wine, how much more french can you get. we had hoped to eat at a little place called fou de fafa, which we were mostly delighted by because of the flight of the concords song. i read that it was actually really good but foolishly failed to make reservations as advised. sadly when we walked up a sign in the window read 'fully booked'. we ended up at another lovely spot, though, which featured fresh, local ingredients that changed often. i got a seafood platter which about six or seven different fruits de la mer, while JR had a sampling of mostly meats that he really enjoyed. we sat out on an otherwise empty street full of closed shops and had a very nice little meal. stupidly we had failed to buy any wine (apart from our picnic rosé that was long gone) to bring back and have in the hotel room. we looked in vain for an open grocery store but there were none to be found. too tired to stay at a bar, we went back to the hotel room slightly disappointed, mostly in ourselves.

ye olde horlage

the next day we packed up and headed out, trying to squeeze what we could into our last day in provence and still making it to nice in time to catch our train. we stopped at salon de provence, again primarily because they had a market that day. before we made it there we found the clock tower and its eponymous boulangerie below. we had some very tasty pastries before heading to a cheese shop nearby. i'd recently read that you can ask to have cheese vacuum sealed and (after looking up the french translation) thought i'd try it out. success! we picked out two good-looking cheeses and had them emballer-ed sous vide. we strolled through the market, admiring the sun-dried tomatoes and olives but didn't buy much more than some saucisson to take with us. i had a vague hope that some of these markets would include handmade ceramics or carved wood from the region but no such luck. it  could be that only the bigger, more touristy cities have such things. we did, however, clean up at the local casino (a grocery store, not a casino sadly) buying chocolate, wine (lesson learned!), cookies, and soda in anticipation of our ferry ride to come.

hello gorgeous

next up was a slightly longer jaunt, to aix-en-provence. it's a bigger city so getting into the city center was more of a hassle. rather than look around for parking (and already getting nervous about time) we settled for the first pay lot we came across. our plan was to have a nice lunch and see what else we had time for. we were closer to italy and we could definitely feel the influence, as we passed many a pizza/pasta restaurant. we picked a bustling restaurant with several rows of tables outside. we had a fantastic meal of pizza and caprese salad with the freshest mozzarella and tomatoes, marred only slightly by my spilling wine all over the table and myself. i think it may have gotten on the waitress' shoes a bit (not bad when you consider what could have happened!) and she was.. not thrilled. not what i'd call my finest moment. still, i managed to catch the glass before it spilled completely and the manager (definitely not our waitress) even gave us little glasses of lemoncello when he heard we were on our honeymoon. yup, definitely inching closer to italy. by the time we left the restaurant we had time for little besides stopping at a patisserie (always a priority) to get a caramel eclair with speculoos (those biscoff cookies delta gives you? yeah, those) bits on top. heavenly! we also popped into a souvenir shop to get the last of our provence souvenirs (lavender, herbes de provence, soaps).

wine country

since provence is the heart of rosé country we knew we wanted to stop at a winery on our way east. i had identified one weeks ago that looked promising and picturesque so we made our way there. we passed a number of other wineries along the way and part of me thought we should just stop at one of them but for whatever reason we pressed on to chateau gassier. there was a very nice girl working there who gave us a tasting. she didn't pressure us to buy anything but we ended up getting a bottle. we even got scratch-off cards for some reason and JR won us two wine glasses (great, more breakable things to pack..) which was neat. apparently they screen movies and have events at this particular winery. the setting, with the craggy gray mountains looming in the distance, was quite nice and it was definitely worth the small detour.

from here we had our longest leg of the day, although it didn't seem to take terribly long. as we approached the big city of nice JR was (understandably) nervous about finding our way and being on busy city streets. he did a great job though and we only had to backtrack once. we found the train station easily enough but it wasn't immediately clear how to get to the car rental return area. we (and the car) made it unscathed so all was well. i have to say that the french road signs, even at smaller roundabouts, were almost always very clear. JR did a great job driving and it was great having the freedom to go wherever we wanted. in retrospect we may have crammed a bit too much in sometimes but there's just so much to see and it's hard not to feel like you're missing out on seeing a great little town. the one big downside of driving was all the tolls.. they really added up by the end. in any case, we made it to nice with enough time to get a coffee and buy a few drinks before catching our train.

next stop: italia!

beginning of the end

well, my time here is quickly drawing to a close. time to pack up, say my goodbyes and readjust to another lifestyle. again. though this blog has been geared more towards my trips than my time in lyon i think it's worth saying a few words about my seven months here, which i'll probably look back on as one of the most carefree periods of my life. there are few people who get to work 3-day weeks interspersed with several 2-week vacations. all this and in living france too. i'm pretty sure it will be hard to readjust to the american work schedule; i've been very spoiled.

i'm afraid this recap will be very boring, as i have no real complaints about this year. my job, though unfortunately a (costly) 50-minute train ride away, was great. some of the other assistants complained about the kids or the lack of preparation, but for me it was just the right amount of teaching without being stressful. plus french kids are adorable. one girl asked if i'd bring her back to america with me in my suitcase; i should have said yes. stupid weight limits.

probably the hardest part was getting settled - finding an apartment, opening a bank account, and doing endless paperwork - all while adjusting to a new country. i don't think i ever felt anything i would consider culture shock but the biggest difference was probably the sheer extent of french bureaucracy. once we had figured that out (after the first few months) things calmed down and we felt better adjusted.

i met some fantastic people here who i will miss dearly. but i think i may miss the city itself just as much. never having actually lived anywhere but suburbs, i really loved being able to walk around the city, especially one so beautiful. i felt so lucky to live here. i still remember walking over my bridge for the first time almost in disbelief. i feel so fortunate i got to live in this city and got to know it so well. it's wonderful being able to walk - or bike - everywhere. oh and the bikes. i think i'll miss them most of all.

and of course a good deal of my time here was spent traveling. i was able to take some wonderful trips, though sometimes i thought i should have tried to visit more new countries. still, i had some amazing experiences. some highlights/best of's:

• best country: tunisia
• best city: sevilla
• best experience/people-watching: carnevale in venice
• cutest: colmar in winter/annecy in spring
• exhibit: 'picasso and the masters', paris (the only one that wasn't free); joaquim mir, barcelona; 'repartir a zero', lyon; gerhard richter, grenoble; kazimir malevich, madrid
• museum: egyptian museum in turin, miniatures museum in lyon
  
• festival: fête des lumières
• hiking: cassis for the view, deux alpes for the mountians (sorry, andorra)
• meal: paul bocuse brasserie (le sud) in lyon; homemade meals in turin and st-étienne
  
• crêpe: fresh strawberry/nutella crepe in paris
• pastry: strawberry tarte in grenoble, praline tarts all over lyon
• bread: pain complet in aubagne (tiny town between aix and cassis)
  
• market: barcelona's boqueria for food; aix-en-provence for crafts
  
• city view: bastille in grenoble, arc de triomphe in paris
  
• purchase: kilim in sousse, scarves in faro
• chapel: matisse chapel in vence, arena chapel in padua
• church: fourvière
  
• cathedral: sevilla, milan (for the facade)
  
• palace: the alcázar
• square: plaza de españa, sevilla
  
• park: maria luisa (sevilla), tête d'or (lyon), parc guell (barcelona)
• sunset: on our hotel roof in kairouan

though this is the end of my time in france (for the time being) it's certainly not the end of my travels. though for a while my trips might be a little more, shall we say, domestic. still, i'm sure i'll be jetting around when i can.

stay tuned.

last meal

my time here is quickly drawing to a close. in fact today was my last day of work. the kids at all my schools were very sweet and they gave me lots of kisses and drawings, in typical little kid fashion. also today, a teacher from one of the schools invited me to her house for dinner. i accepted, naturally. it seemed like a fitting end to my time in st-étienne. also fitting because the experience seemed to encapsulate everything i've gleaned here about french etiquette and eating habits.

i arrived at my teacher's house (that's right, house. not apartment, ooh) where i took off my shoes and was offered a pair of slippers. the teacher showed me the house with a nice view of the admittedly ugly city and their big garden in the backyard. i was offered juice (or an aperitif) which i accepted and we chatted about their trips to the US and my time in france. eventually she and her husband began preparing dinner and got out some amuse-gueules in the way of pistachios and little croutons with red pepper and tomato spreads (very tasty). they ate slowly and deliberately, placing the knives on separate plates and the pistachio shells into a separate bowl. they also offered me a sweet wine (muscat) which i gladly sampled.

when the kids got home and dinner was ready we ate. the family served the food for everyone, which she explained would normally be eaten in three separate courses. mais bon. we had a salad with a light dressing, scalloped potatoes with heavy cream in a pastry crust, and filet mignon (!) served with (of course) a sauce that i was told was made from mustard (though it didn't seem mustardy). the meal was, naturally, accompanied with bread, which is always placed on the table - not the plate. the principal purpose of the bread is not to be eaten but rather to scoop up the remaining sauces on your plate.

after all this food i was sufficiently stuffed.
then they brought out the cheese plate. they had five or six varieties, including one or two smelly ones. of course i had to sample and as i did so they told me which region each cheese came from. i assumed this was dessert, but no. there was more. in french fashion, we had fruit (pears) but they were accompanied with french vanilla (ha) ice cream and drizzled with dark chocolate sauce. so delicious. i'm surprised i could even move after all this. my teacher drove me to the train station where i fell right to sleep on the train for the first time since i've been here. i guess all it took was a ton of food and red wine, go figure.

it was a little sad realizing i'll (probably) never be back in st-étienne again. though this was a very nice way to go out.

antsy for annecy

after our 10-day holiday in spain kelly and i lounged about and fully enjoyed the luxuries of staying in one place and being able to sit in pajamas and watch back-to-back office episodes. that said, we also saw the best of lyon, including the old town, the main squares, the park and even a few new things. notably the miniatures museum (so cool!) and paddleboating on the lake. and kelly explored quite a bit on her own while i was at work too. i think she enjoys the rivers as much as i do.

going along with that water theme, we decided to try annecy for our day trip on wednesday. i've heard good things and somewhat regretted not going with a few friends in october so i was anxious to see what all the fuss was about. it's supposedly the 'venice of france', a term which apparently gets thrown around a lot. basically my expectations were: pretty.

we paid more than we had hoped - and in fact almost scrapped the trip entirely - but did eventually decide to go. we opted for the "autocar" (read: bus) which got us there faster and without changing trains. it was a pretty drive and in just under two hours we were in annecy.

even just outside the train station the city looked beautiful. there were fountains and flowers (lots of tulips) evvverywhere. we wandered on, stopping for postcards, delicious smelling bread or whatever else caught our attention. we eventually found the tourism office for a map which we didn't end up needing because all you do is wander around and enjoying the sights. from the tourism office we were directly opposite a giant field in front of the lake filled with people lounging and playing games. the lake (lac d'annecy, original) is a beautiful color and the mountains behind still had a few snow-capped peaks. this coupled with the blooming flowers and beautiful weather made it seem perfect. i'm definitely glad i waited until april.

we slowly made our way around the lake, past all the vendors trying to peddle their paddle boat rentals. just over a cute little bridge, the neighboring park had big shady trees and lots of flowerbeds. basically this town is picturesque almost to a fault. we walked on along the lake and stopped on a bench to enjoy our picnic lunch (no overpriced restaurants for us). it may have been the most beautiful view i've picnicked in front of. and that's saying something.

all this was before we even made it to the canals. which i guess just refers to the one main canal that runs through the old town. it was very nice (though the window boxes full of flowers were conspicuously absent) and made a perfect setting for our ice cream cones (we had to).

from there we wandered through the old town and uphill. we paused for a moment to enjoy a view of the typical european red roofs (i love that) before seeing the 'castle' - not very impressive - from the outside. we continued on what appeared to be just a residential street. interesting side note, even though annecy is renowned for being one of the most expensive cities in france the people living in these surely multi-million euro homes overlooking the lake had little compact peugeots in their driveways. but anyway. we continued on where we happened upon the basilica of the visitation, apparently a pilgrimage church despite its recent construction (1922). it was up a big hill which gave us a nice little view as well.

back down, we wandered the quaint little streets of the old town. almost too quaint. you tell me that wheelbarrow wasn't taken to lure tourists to take pictures. though why you'd want people wandering in front of your house all the time i'm not sure. we eventually made our way back down to the main streets where we walked along the canal and popped in and out of various shops and churches.

we felt we had seen everything we needed to so we went back to the lake for another round of picture taking and relaxing in the park. after a nice rest we made our way back to the train station, stopping to buy some pastries and a nice little market bag for myself. a perfect end to the day.

alpengeist

for our final day we decided to venture outside the city and "faire les alpes". it does seem a little silly that we've lived so close and hadn't gotten a chance to really experience the alps. we hopped on a bus for under 4€ that took us up into the moutains. in about an hour we were surrounded by alps. we missed the stop for the 'cute' little town we were planning on getting off at and instead ended up in les 2 alpes (so very alp-y it's even in the name of the town) which is apparently the premier place to ski around here. but we were without ski equipment and the sufficient funds so we settled for hiking.

we got some advice from the tourist office and after actually finding where it started it was quite easy. it was a nice, gentle slope, snowy but not too much for my new hiking shoes (that i was so excited to finally get a chance to wear). the path took us under the ski lift and right through the actual ski slope, which was a bit daunting. it was such a clear day and it actually got quite warm. we had shed several layers before we sat down for our picnic lunch - thanks to a supermarket we found that's open all day sunday (unheard of in france). we enjoyed the view and watched the skiers going down the slopes. we were hoping for some good falls but i guess that's more of an ice skating thing. we also decided the french must use skiing as their outlet for actually wearing color, based on some of the yellows and reds we saw.

on the way back down (we couldn't go any farther without snow shoes) we stopped to take some jumping pictures, vince's forté, before descending completely. at the bottom we discovered we had some time before the next bus so we enjoyed some drinks in the sun with a view of the mountains around us. from there we took the bus back to grenoble and just barely caught the train back to lyon. a fun little sojourn and a nice end to our mini-vacation. and i feel so much more accomplished now that i've been to grenoble and 'done the alps'.

marché march

well i'm back in france and readjusting quite nicely, thanks in part to the warm weather this weekend. i hope spring is on its way but i don't want to jinx anything.

with the realization that my flight home is in exactly two months, i thought i should make a list of things i'd still like to do and see in lyon..

• the lumière institute. even if i can't afford to actually see a movie there
• boating on the lake. one of the few lake attractions that is not geared solely to children. the zoo's worth a second visit as well.
• the miniatures museum. i've heard good things.
• the city murals. there are many, and they're all over.
• île barbe. an island in the saône that's home to old monasteries and churches. just a pleasant bike ride away
• churches. as with any french city there are many scattered about. there are several i've passed that are worth a trip inside.
• pastries. courtney, you will be happy to know that i've decided to sample a pastry once every other week (okay maybe every week..). it does seem pretty stupid to be in the land of pastries and not enjoy them. though i have been fully taking advantage of the fresh bread.
• markets. i love doing my shopping at these outdoor markets. there's something about seeing the produce outside in the sun that just makes it that much more enticing. i was reminded this morning of how much i enjoy being outside, seeing the displays of cheeses, the fresh strawberries, the tulips (in pretty paper, not that crinkly plastic). in the rest of my time here i want to make sure i continue taking full advantage, visiting my market (above) at least once a week.

now i just have to wait for it to get warm...

grève grave?

so this past thursday was a grève generale in france. yes, france. it was nationwide. what that amounts to is that everyone who feels like it goes on strike. teachers, students, train/metro workers, but not - as we discovered - retail franchises. not during precious, precious soldes season. we were anticipating some major demonstrations or disturbances. aside from some shouting we could hear from our window, there wasn't much. we decided to check out bellecour, the main square, which is normally busy for any kind of event. in that square i have seen everything from native american musicians to acrobats and baby tigers. we went over in the middle of the afternoon expecting some sort of activity, but there was nothing. the only remnants of any activity were some spray-painted sheets with typical slogans (see above). i guess all that not working really takes it out of you.

so, basically all the strike amounted to was a day off of work. no complaints here. hello, 5-day weekend!

fashion à la français

given my recent experiences and observations in close proximity with lots of french people, i thought i would give my advice on how to look, and dress, french. should you find yourself in need of such a skill. and if you think it's all scarves and pointy shoes.. well, you're 80% right but i'll explain anyway.

so you want to look like...

...a young french woman in her 20s
the key here is dark colors and neutrals. you'll need skinny jeans, naturally, to showcase your cute flats or tuck into your boots. boots are an absolute necessity, but the style is flexible. tall or short; black, brown, tan or gray. don't forget your lonchamp bag which you can buy in a range of colors - just make sure they have the impractically short handles. you'll need a nice heavy wool coat (black) for winter and a ridiculously long, thick scarf - preferably in a neutral shade, like a grayish brown - that you'll wrap around several times and bury your face into when it's cold. your hat should be a neutral black or white (purple if you're feeling daring) and should complement your short hair and sideswept bangs. even though the top of you's all bundled up, feel free to wear skirts and dark tights all through winter.

...a middle schooler
there's a lot more freedom with color and pattern here. plaids are acceptable, and the color of your tights can range widely. on a night out, you might even be able to swing a bright pair of leg warmers. your sneakers can be any color though chucks are of course preferable. the key here is the heavy eyeliner and loud talking on the metro.

...you're tough
we'll go with the typical marseille-inspired fashion here. you'll need a track suit, black or white is best though you might be able to get away with red if you've got it in you. the key here is - and i cannot stress this enough - you must tuck your pants into your socks. so as to better display your narrow european sneakers. pumas or asics are preferable. baseball hats are acceptable but they don't naturally showcase your haircut, close-shaved on the sides and a little thicker on top. if you're in middle school consider getting a design shaved into it. for the total effect, be sure to listen to your music without headphones on any public transport system.

...an elderly woman
here it's all about the accessories. your actual clothes won't matter much because you'll be wearing a long, warm coat over them. as for footwear, boots are of course still your best bet. when it's a little warmer, you can opt for sensible yet still stylish flats. you should keep your hair short but if you feel like expressing yourself, why not try some unnaturally red hair dye? and of course no elderly european woman would feel like herself without her wacky european glasses. make sure the shape is nice and angular and that the frames are a noticeably bright color. try for red or purple.

...and elderly man
don't even bother. with all these characters, nobody's looking at you.

paris pas pareil

i just returned from a much-needed excursion to paris for the weekend. maybe it was something in the water, but it seemed like everyone's students have been getting crazy (you know, two whole weeks without a vacation..) and we were ready for a change of scenery.

i left for paris with two fellow assistants, jean and vince, who were lovely company. we managed to see a lot in one weekend: montmartre, the institute du monde arabe, the holocaust memorial, pompidou (bookstore..), the arc de triomphe, my favorite crêperie (probably worthy of a post in and of itself), the seine/eiffel tower by night (never seems to get old), the grande arche, and of course the big picasso exhibit, which was the impetus for our trip.

and now, a few other random highlights..

i'd like to describe for you our "hotel". somehow i stumbled across this online. i should have been tipped off by the questionable tripod website and the fact that there were no sort of online reservations, but it was less than 20 euro and in the middle of town, so we went for it. we arrived to find our hotel - that would be the "hotel bed & breakfast" - with no one there. after a phone call, someone came to let us in. the place was a mess of colors, patterns (from faux brick to giant flowers), tiles (fruits in heavy relief), and giant movie posters (the golden compass?). truly something for everyone. other fun surprises: the key cost 2 euro, as did the showers. and the included breakfast consisted of sliced white bread (already offensive, considering we're in the land of fresh-baked bread), a packet of butter and jam, and sludgey hot cocoa. it was an experience. luckily we made the most of it by annexing our own room (the 'family' room?) and making fun of the hideous decorations and very strange owners.

we were also surprised by the parisian metro. don't get me wrong, it's a great system and very easy to follow. but the metro cars themselves seemed more narrow and cramped than we remember. and the ride itself is very jerky! we're just spoiled in lyon i guess. i will say one thing for the parisian metro though. the manual doors make it easier to jump off while the train's still moving. we got in the habit of doing this and we got pretty good at it, though i think it may have also raised some eyebrows. i guess we have to give the parisians something to look down on us for.

solde out

today marked the beginning of one of the best french innovations: the SOLDES! this refers to the twice-yearly time period when french stores have ridiculous markdowns in order to get rid of last season's merchendise and make room for the new stuff. everywhere you look there are store fronts plastered with signs for sales (usually in many languages.. they try to be accessible).

i decided to go to the mall today at lunchtime (dangerous) to see all the madness for myself. even approaching the metro stop for the mall you could tell the crowds were bigger than usual. the mall itself was pretty crowded, which is no small feat. by american standards, it's a pretty big mall. but by european standards.. well it's said to be the biggest downtown shopping mall in europe.

i made my way through several stores all with giant signs in the windows showcasing 30, 50, or even 70 percent off. every store had long lines at the dressing rooms and cash register but it was worth it. i came away with shirts for 5 and 7 euro, a dress for 14, earrings for 2 and a hat and scarf for 10. things brings me to one of my favorite french words: profiter! i don't think there's a proper english equivalent. the closest would be to make the most of or take advantage of. i learned it when i asked a little old woman where the park was and she advised me to profiter the nice weather.

it looks like january's going to be an expensive month (with travel expenses, sales, and weekends) but oh well. only 29 days of soldes left. il faut en profiter!

alsatiated

just got back from a lovely long weekend (though in this case a 3-day weekend is the norm) in strasbourg. we decided months ago to spend a weekend in the alsace and were rewarded with a good deal on train tickets and a lovely, albeit cold, weekend of christmas festivities.

on this trip we found out that strasbourg in december is full of two things: german food and christmas markets. we experienced both in massive quantities. as a collective foursome, we ate the following: pretzels (both plain and with cheese), spatzle (with cheese and ham), vin chaud, kougelhopf (sort of brioche-ish cake), tarte flambée (basically a pizza with crème fraîche in lieu of sauce), boules de neige (like peeps but huge and covered in chocolate), potato galettes (like latkes but super greasy), 'strasbourg' sausage with cheese, alsatian white wine, pizza/baguette, hot orange juice (sounds weird, doesn't it?), churros, crêpes, belgian beer, chocolate covered fruits, and hot chocolate. actually, listed altogether like that it sounds disgusting.

between eating we somehow managed to see the city. the old town is called 'petite france' - the city is so german they actually have to label one part of it france. the canals, half-timbered houses and cobblestone streets make it thoroughly adorable. we walked through the old part of town, exploring christmas markets on the way. this means we stopped and shopped roughly every 50 meters. the markets put lyon's to shame; a wonderful mix of food and crafts from france, germany and beyond. particular specialties that kept cropping up: little ceramic half-timbered houses, christmas ornaments (from cheesy moose-reindeer in santa hats to intricate carved wood), and all types of gingerbread and other dense cakes.

we also took a brief sojourn into the small town of colmar, only 30 minutes by train. it's been called "little venice" or, more plausibly, "venice of the alsace". we weren't particularly impressed by its canals (i'd put the final count at two, and that's being generous) but rather by its overall cuteness. this compounded with the fact that we were in the midst of a giant christmas market on a saturday in december resulted in ridiculous crowds. still, we enjoyed the city and after dark we saw the city's famed fiber-optic lighting system (because we hadn't gotten enough of lights the previous weekend, evidently).

overall a good weekend. a nice introduction to the alsace region, which i'd like to explore further - either in spring or when i've invested in some warmer socks.

i live here.

plus de pensées

after spending a now substantial amount of time in the french schools (well, three of them) i've been able to note some more observations and idiosyncracies. maybe this just comes from spending quite a bit of time in american schools, but i find it rather fascinating.

the schools themselves are what i would consider small. each of my three schools has one class in each level (the equivalent of 1st-5th grade) and no more than 25 or 28 students per class. the other teachers seemed a little shocked when i told them we might have five or six classes in one grade. the schools are physically small as well. the library (if there is a library) often doubles as the teachers' lounge. the 'playground' is little more than a small blacktop that may or may not have two soccer goals/basketball hoops. there are no separate rooms for music or art.

as it turns out, this is because the general classroom teachers are responsible for teaching every part of the curriculum, including music, art plastique, and even p.e. (evidently all teachers have to be able to pass a swimming test.). oh, and incidentally, the only things french students seem to do for p.e. are things that american students likely never would: biking, swimming, and judo.

with all this extra work you would think french teachers would be even more burnt out than american teachers. not so. lunch, which i remember as being a blur of 15 minutes to make copies and scarf down a sandwich, is a relaxed affair. (obviously this has something to do with the two hours break they have.) teachers discuss complaints about students, problems with parents but overall don't seem too troubled by the demands of their job.

this is quite a contrast from the teachers' behavior in the classroom. routine disciplinary actions consist of shouting and shaming. teachers have no qualms about expressing their annoyance and calling students names ('baby' is quite common). this doesn't seem to be effective, as the loudest teachers tend to have the most boisterous classes. even the directeur (principal) often has trouble controlling his/her class. i was intrigued by the fact that the principals actually teach a class in addition to handling the burden of administrative details. it's a bit like the head of a department at a university. i'm not sure how effective it is, but it certainly makes for a different teacher-principal dynamic in the teachers' lounge.

well, that's all for now. perhaps this energy would have been better spent working on my grad school applications...

beaujolais! beaujolais! beaujolais!

last night marked the beginning of the new season of beaujolais wine. evidently it is one of few wines that actually tastes best when it's new. (i've also heard it's one of the worst wine regions in france). nevertheless, there are celebrations all over the beaujolais region, and lyon (being the biggest city in the region) was no exception. we arrived at 9:00 to find a small crowd and nothing happening. so we retired to a bar for a few hours and returned at about 11:30. the festivities began with the new wine being brought into town on a horse-drawn carriage. the barrel was adorned with a red cloth and some rather wimpy-looking tree branches. the horse/carriage were followed by people (rather wildly) waving lit torches, a huge marching band, and plenty of idiot tourists (such as myself) trying to snap pictures/not get trampled. it was a sight.

when they arrived at the clock tower they brought the new barrel of wine to join what i imagine was barrels of the old wine. then the spectacle began - showers of fireworks shooting out from behind the barrels, colored lights (and more fireworks) illuminating the clock tower, and of course terrible french techno music. they began a very snappy chant (see title) that fit in nicely with the music. then they count down and finally illuminate the giant '2008' at the stroke of midnight. it's a bit like new year's but about 10 months late. then the madness begins. they offer a 'degustation' of the new wine, gratuit, which evidently means everyone rushes forward and smashes into the person in front of them. some people were there for the wine, others just seemed to be there to encourage the madness. eventually, we got our samples and the crowd thinned out a bit.

and that was how we rang in the new year of wine.

gooooal(s)

just before i arrived in france i came up with a mental list of things i hoped to accomplish while i was here - improve my french, travel, etc. etc. pretty standard. after being here for about six weeks i've come up with a new set of goals. while they may not be as practical, they certainly seem more fun.

• be able to write with the handwriting of a french student. (i'm getting there!)
  
• finally get the whole 'celsius' thing down. and kilometers, if i'm feeling ambitious
  
• distinguish between regional english dialects
• be able to walk by (and smell!) a patisserie without staring in amazement/whimpering a little
• have some sort of understanding of french wines. or at least be able to fake it convincingly.
• be able to tell people off in french (i've had to do this twice now but it was not quite to my satisfaction)
  

more to come..

velo'v/hate

so lyon, being the wonderful city that it is, was one of the first to implement a city-wide biking system. there are bike stands all over the city and they cost next to nothing. in fact the first half-hour costs exactly that: nothing. this combined with lyon's rather flat terrain and ubiquitous bike paths and bike lanes make it ideally suited for velo'ing, or, i should say, velo'v-ing. (they found a cutesy name for it, naturally.) the one catch? you need a bank card with a 'puce' - a little chip that, for some reason, is only put in european cards.

and so the saga began..

i waited three weeks for my bank card (they forgot to order it), four weeks for my pin code (they had to send it twice), a week to recover my card (eaten by the atm) and, later, several days to find a bank that would 'unblock' the card so i could actually use it.

once i finally had a working bank card i assumed there was nothing standing in the way of my velo'ving. i went to one machine, it accepted my card, gave me a receipt, told me to wait and.. told me the machine could not give me a velo'v card. no reason. just couldn't. tried another machine.. it didn't work at all. tried a third machine, out of sheer masochism - same story as the first. i gave up, assuming there was something wrong with my card. or that maybe it was just france being france.

then today, on a whim, i tried a machine across town and, much to my surprise, it worked on the first try. it was wonderful! i biked down rue de la république, the major pedestrian streeet/commercial center of the city and then across the river to my apartment. it was absolutely delightful; i think i was actually grinning the entire time. when i wasn't dodging wheelchairs and small children, anyway.

we got off to a rocky start, but now i'm totally smitten.
i love velo'v!

not so nice Nice

nice
from aix we took a train (for some reason cheaper than the bus) to nice during which it began to rain. by the time we got to nice it was pouring (see fig. 1). we got out and after a quick stop at the tourist office (extremely helpful!) and an internet cafe, happened upon a nearby hostel. we got a 'suite' with a kitchenette for 17€/night, which we thought was decent. against our better judgment, we decided to go out and attempt to explore the city despite the rain. we walked all the way down to the water and back only to discover that even the french riviera doesn't look great when it's dark and rainy.

back at the hostel our struggles with cooking continued. we discovered our kitchenette had: no knives (the woman running the hostel lamented, "they always take the knives.."), many small bugs, few and sticky cooking utensils, no soap, and forgotten nutella (this we weren't too upset about). with much difficulty, including an incredibly slow stove and a brief power outage, we eventually made some delicious and very welcome soup.

the following days were spent trying to keep dry (usually in museums and wherever else we could find cover) and trying to see what we could of nice. after a day we met up with our rather miserable and sick-looking friends who did not look excited at the prospect of more rain. we got lucky one day when the sun (gasp) almost came out and we were actually able to see how pretty the water normally is. other highlights: watching a tour bus knock over a huge lamppost - it broke in about 6 places and the driver promptly came out to check the damage.. to the bus.

the other highlight, just as with the first half of the trip, was not in nice at all. we hopped on a bus to vence (for a paltry 1 euro) where we were greeted by rain and could not find a dry place to have our typical makeshift lunch. we eventually found a small park where we sat on the ground under a bridge.. but that wasn't the highlight. after our less than comfortable lunch we walked on to the matisse chapel (excuse me. the chapelle de la rosaire.. by matisse) which, at 3 euro, was the highest admission price we paid on the entirety of the trip. the chapel was small and simple - the only colors were the yellow, green and blue of the stained glass and the black lines of the paintings on the wall - but masterfully executed. we were able to listen in on what i suppose was a docent's explanation of the chapel; it seems matisse chose nearly everything in the chapel (down to the altar stone that looked like bread) and very methodically. he called it his masterpiece, and with good reason. we spent quite a while there but probably could have stayed longer and been very content. unfortunately taking pictures was (like so many things in france) interdit, so i can't post a picture, but it's worth googling.

and that was our vacation in brief. it was wonderful, we saw some beautiful things, but we were eager to get back to lyon.

vacances en partance

as i mentioned already, the french calendar is very liberal with vacations. this is why, after two arduous weeks of actual teaching, we had a two-week vacation. most of us (assistants) were too busy settling in to make plans in advance. this turned out to be a mistake, since train prices tend to go up and not down. shocking. we ended up making a quick trip south to provence and the côte d'azur. i'll attempt to summarize the best of each.

aix-en-provence
after leaving a cold, foggy lyon we were happy to arrive an hour and a half later in a warm, sunny aix-en-provence. as we walked out of the train station we were greeted by the lion king song playing from someone's car radio. strange, but we took it as a good omen.

the town of aix-en-provence was lovely, with sunlit trees lining the streets and picturesque yellow and peach colored buildings. i particularly enjoyed their markets (crafts/soaps one day, clothes another day). one day a nice older gentleman personally escorted us to the 'best' bakery in town. regrettably we missed cézanne's studio and presumably a good view of mont st victoire. other than that our stay in aix-en-provence was short but enjoyable. the best, however, was our trip that took us an hour and half away.

cassis
we took a bus ride down to the tiny town of cassis, where we were dropped at a random bus stop halfway down to the waterfront. it was a very cute little town of small shops, bakeries and restaurants leading up to the boat-lined harbor. a bit like annapolis except that you're on the mediterranean rather than the chesapeake bay.

from the downtown we walked about 30 minutes until we reached the starting point of our hike through the calanques, which are "a geologic formation in the form of a deep valley with steep sides, typically of limestone in part submerged by the sea. it can be considered a mediterranean fjord." we hiked up for about half an hour before we stopped for our typical lunch (comprised of grocery store, bakery and hostel breakfast goodies. total cost: 2.08 €) on a rock overlooking the sea.

we continued on until we reached the bottom of one calanques where we found families swimming and playing in shallow green water. we hiked up (there was a lot of up and down) where we had beautiful views of the white cliffs, blue-green water and little boats below. it was pretty amazing. we even made it to the 'calanque d'en vau' (though one man adamantly explained that we wouldn't reach it) which seems to be one of the most oft-photographed.

we got incredibly lucky with the weather - apparently the next day it started raining and didn't stop for several days - which was a perfect mix of sun and clouds. and now we can officially say we've been calanque-ing. after we got back into town we capped off the day by watching some boules (pétanques, here) in the park before we caught our bus home.

that's all for now, more on the other half of our trip next time --

écoles, élèves, et écriture

well after spending all of two weeks in the schools i have some (very deep i'm sure) insights and observations on the french school system.

first, the teachers are all addressed as 'teacher' (maître or maîtresse, which incidentally also means 'mistress'). kind of endearing, but it can get a little confusing. also, many of the rooms do not have clocks. the teachers tend to rely on students with watches, which seems like it could be a dangerous policy.

as you probably already know, the french take their relaxation very seriously. the french calendar, and school day, are no exception. the students have a half-hour recess in the morning and afternoon as well as a two-hour lunch break during which the students all go home and eat with their mothers. who are apparently all at home. what year is this?

it would be a long two hours if the teachers' lounges weren't so nice. there always seems to be tea and fresh coffee. several were also well-stocked with wine. go figure.

the final hurdle in bridging the american-french school system gap was communication. obviously the language barrier (read: my pitiable french) poses a problem. what i did not expect to pose a problem, however, was my handwriting. i feel obliged to mention that my handwriting, on the chalkboard or otherwise, has never been a problem in the US. but when i wrote in print on the board, i got blank stares and puzzled expressions. when i looked at their notebooks, i realized why. first of all, their notebook paper is actually paper that's probably designed for quantum physicists or architects; it's graph paper that's divided into millimeters (or something equally tiny), which is then grouped into lines. their handwriting (which they begin learning in cursive) is impeccable. (not an easy task considering they all write with fountain pens.) i tried to find a font it most resembled, but i couldn't find one fancy enough. i actually had to learn how to write in 'french' cursive.

not only are their notes impeccably well-written but they're incredibly well-organized. students always have a ruler at their desk (you know, for underlining, connecting the dots..) and several types of pens (fountain or ballpoint?) at their immediate disposal. when i ask them to write the date, i inevitably get 10 students who ask me where it should be in relation to the margin and another 10 who want to know "is this okay?"

i've yet to discover the ultimate goal of this extreme anal-retentiveness but the french have certainly got them well-trained.

tout neuf

just some observations and new experiences since i've been here..

food.

naturally, groceries are generally more expensive. the one exception is wine, which can run from as little as 1.96 € for a bottle. and it's french, so i figure it must be pretty good. (but then, who knows. i mean, i saw bottle shock) also hard cider (or, here, just cider), made from real bretagne apples. delightfully cheap.

the outdoor markets are more fun but the prices (as compared to the supermarché) seem to vary pretty widely. a nice gentleman also taught us about french milk. should you ever desire un-pasteurized milk, i can tell you where to go.

toilet paper.

for some reason toilet paper here comes in both white and pink varieties. they seem to be the same in every other respect, including price. yet for some reason everyone seems to opt for the pink. even young single men. i've yet to figure this one out.

music.

as you may imagine, only the worst american music gets imported here (currently topping the charts: that pink song and katy perry's delightful musings). and they apparently take only the worst from other countries as well. i've heard some pretty abysmal german and brit pop too. adding to the annoyance, the music videos seem to run in cycles of about 6, so you're sure to hear the songs again and again.

hospitality.

i couchsurfed! finally! this made the prospect of mundane errands in the very sleepy town of st. étienne all the more exciting. after a long day in the rain and cold we found mary paul's apartment. her apartment was very cozy and full of trinkets from her travels. she gave us slippers and fed us fish soup and pasta. it was heavenly! she topped herself by offering us spanish chocolates and tolerating our silly questions and broken french. (we spent about 10 minutes trying to pronounce 'chirurgie'). perhaps a 50 year old nurse from st. étienne was not the most dramatic of ways to begin my couchsurfing career. but she was very sweet. she probably didn't even know she was my first.