Flying the Coop to the Loire Valley

I am nervous.

I have a sheet as long as my arm with instructions on how to take the fast train tomorrow to the Loire Valley and to Landifer Castle, where I am staying with my friend Natalia. I have known Natalia, for a long time, she is Russian, married to a kiwi, with a gorgeous girl named Marianne whom I am godmother to!!! She of course, like most of my friends, are not run of the mill ordinary..... she is exotic and different and interesting.

It sounds exciting, staying in a Castle in the Loire Valley, but getting there on my own, with no French, and lugging my own luggage, sort of dampens down the scenario somewhat.

Sam gets really pissed off with me not getting the instructions straight away, and having to anally write everything down. He forgets how it was when he came to Chile to stay with me in Santiago, and juggling different language and culture and weather!! He forgets he slept for hours during the day to recover!! I have been holding my own, I must say, to my defense.

Today was so hot, like walking into a fan heater.

I decided to play it quietly. I love this area as there is no such thing as a tourist. The down side is that communications is extremely limited. I sat down at a corner cafe, for lunch, ordered a bordeux rose pitcher (0nly 50mls not a WHOLE bottle!!)

Then, my favourite, but favourite salad. Duck gizzard salad. Love it with a passion. I love gizzards, (dont choke) ..... as you can ask anyone who is close to me, chicken necks and gizzards are my comfort food. Ok, the secret is out!!!

Give me credit, it is not chocolate or cakes or pies or icecream or chips!!!

I am in comfort food heaven. Salad and Gizzards, yum yum yum!!!!!

Anyway, I am off to the country now. No tourist (yay) No Sam to rely on for the next 12 hours. Yikes.

Loire Valley and a Castle. Here I Come.

Wish me luck.

Helene

Helene Tixier....

She is Sam's girl.

A beautiful, beautiful girl, inside and out. What mum could ask for more? How she puts up with me in the small apartment, spilling all my cosmetics, shoes and clothes all over the one room??

She shares Sam with me, and manages to charm me completely. Cute as a button, intelligent and diligent, hard working and caring. Girly girl, thank god. We like clothes, mags and womanly stuff, and we get each other. I am happy.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Well!! I finally got to a French cooking class!! Saturday morning bright and early, we set off to learn how to make a dish from Provence, including pattisserie.... not an area am quite familiar with, so was very hot under the collar, saying "desole" quite a few times ("sorry!) because I kept treating the pastry wrong!

All very exciting and confusing, as it was all in French of course, and my fellow class mates all french, no tourists allowed!! No one knew where New Zealand was, it was hilarious!! Told them I had watched 8 movies on the way over (sad, but true) so they got the gist of how far away New Zealand was from that!!

It was lovely actually, aubergines, onions, courgettes and potatoes and tomatoes stuffed with veal and fresh herbs and pinenuts... all washed down with a fresh light, rose wine from Bordeux...

It has been amazing, the most weird feeling in fact, because I feel as if I am in South America. Buenos Aires in Argentina, is called by locals the "little Paris" and now I know exactly why! It is very similar. Also, the people, and their eating habits, the street life, the animation, is all like Argentina or Santiago, so even though I cant for the life of me understand what is being said, I sort of 'get it'.

We went to see Helenes parents today, "meet the parents" except they were in the middle of a family crisis, with the grandfather aged 90, who recently in March this year lost his wife, deciding he needed to sell this amazing apartment on the 28th floor overlooking the river Seine, because he was leading a double life, and had another whanau tucked away nicely, thank you very much!! All very dramatic!!

It was awesome!!

So all these relatives were trying to sort out what to do about this wayward 90 year old.

In Chile the red tape involved with things like this (sorting out wills, selling property) is called "tramites" which means a lot of hair pulling, cueing, argueing, stamping of documents, more cueing, waiting, more signatures etc etc. In one neat little word that is what it means. Here it is called démarches..... and it is just as painful, but a reality of getting things done in a drama fueled city. They have a long wait.... So!

Did not get to have too much quality time with the "in laws" who do not speak English anyway, so did get the photo!!!

Sunday everything is shut. Its like a public holiday in New Zealand. So many French go and visit families and do lunches, or go to the beach or parks, and smooch. Lots of PDA's and my son has got right into it!! I feel like a third wheel half the time (actually, ALL the time!!) Ahh, well, young love, they may as well enjoy it!

Talk soon!!!

Photos

So still new at this (and perhaps its the heat!) I forgot to post the photos on the last journal. Here is the outside of Lafayette, and inside is just as impressive...

It is so extravagant

Tired Daphne

The Eiffel on a beautiful day

The view from Sams flat

Below his window is a pub. Very handy, and around the other side a pattisserie, there is no chance at that expanding waistline!

Now we are all off to a french cooking class, so will keep you updated!!

Lots of love

Daphne

The Other Side of Paris, and Hitting the Wall

I knew it would happen!! I had been bright eyed and bushy tailed since hopping off the plane five days ago, and felt absolutely fine!!

NOW I feel as if I have been run over by a bus, and maybe it is because the heat has hit me, (26 to 29 degrees for the past couple of days) or is it because I went and did the usual tourist sights and it just has depressed me?

I went to Galleries Lafayette (me and thousands of other tourists, consisting mainly of Americans and Japanese) and although I appreciated the actual structure of the building with its beautiful stained glass windows, and curved ceiling, the rest was just depressing. Why is it that Americans have to yell crass comments so loudly everywhere they go? They are larger than life (literally) and make no effort to try and fit in, by the way they look, act and behave. It was cringe making.

The Japanese on the other hand, although not loud, the mind blowing over consumption they display, was incredible. Buying not one, Lois Vuitton bag, not one Chanel jacket, not one Prada sunnies, they did it in multiples of three and four!!! All while sipping expensive champagne, and eating foie gras supplied for the big spenders (ok, now am just jealous..)

Amazing. Disgusting. I know, I sound awful, judgmental and racist. But I am telling it how it is.

Then the Eiffel Tower. Same thing. I took a few photos, one from underneath, that was all blurry, and decided to flag it. I had been there done that with Alastair over 10 years ago anyway. Too many tourists yelling, pushing and sweating.

I got home and hit the sofa, with no energy to open it out as the bed it is!

Must slow down. Walking over four hours a day in this heat is too much for me these days!!

Am going to keep away from the tourists, and blunder my way around the metro on my own, to places the locals go to. Cant believe how much I have changed in 10 years....

FRENCH WOMEN DON'T GAIN WEIGHT

How the hell do they DO THAT!?

Since arriving in Paris, I have tasted nothing but great and delicious food. The salami, pates, cheeses, breads, croissants, pan e chocolate, sorbet, vegetables that taste real.....I have never tasted sweeter new potatoes....dressed with mustard and aioli, sprinkled with lourdons ....the cherry tomatoes are fragrant and burst in your mouth in mini delicious explosions.!!

So, yesterday, the first hot, beautiful day, I decided to get out of my jeans and into my black capri pants, which I had intended in living in the whole time I was going to be away.

O.M.G.....(translated to MON fricken DIEU!!) They would not do up!!!! I couldn't even sit down!!

There was a serious case of camel toe, and I was at a loss of how this had come about!! I mean, yes, of course I tasted everything, but I didn't hoe into the patisseries, (two croissants for breakfast each day don't count...that is just breakfast) I didn't put butter on the french bread, I just had it with a bit of pate, and oh, salami. That is not that much is it??

I had nothing else to wear, and I started to panic. This only meant ONE THING.

(No, no intention to stop "tasting everything") It meant SHOPPING. For a bigger size of trousers. There. Decision made.

And, since it was a beautiful day, I would WALK. (nothing to do with being a bit chicken to tackle the metro on my own...)

So four hours of walking later, which should have at least got rid of a couple of croissants, I came home with a pair of black (slimming) loose (dangerous) linen (cool) trousers!! These babies should do the trick!!

At least I understood the language of shopping!! It is universal. A cinch. AND I was fluent in it!! Will have to do some more, because I found some money at the back of my wallet that I had hidden from myself!! How good is that!

Am going to have lunch with Sam today, (promise to have only a salad) and have to get there on two metro interchanges, and then am going to Galleries Lafayette, to stake out what I would like when the sales are on!!

God I love this place, not even a little (gulp) weight gain dampens one's spirit!!!

Talk later!

The Metro. My First Test

Today Sam set me my big TEST. To navigate the Metro system without his help. The itinerary was set, and an interchange of lines was required. Without his help.

All that was agreed upon, was that he would cough loudly if I was getting us lost. Now I have never been good at orienteering, you can ask all my family, in fact it is a family joke, about the times "Daph gets lost"... My dad sent an email yesterday saying that he was pleased that Sam was with me, because I was not to be trusted being left alone in the streets of Paris. Right, a challenge!! The gauntlet had been thrown. (Have I mentioned that I am a tiny bit competitive?)

With heart in throat I got us to Les Halles, where not many tourists go. It is beautiful, the streets and trees are amazing. We took a nice picture!

It was time for lunch, and we went to this gorgeous little street, called rue Montorgueil, and sat outside watching the world go by and eating the most delicious slice of thin pizza with lots of Bayonne ham and runny cheese. Now, employers in NZ should take a leaf out of this one.... Sam gets a daily allowance for lunch of 18 euros to spend on lunch anywhere around Paris in any restaurant!! He just has to present this voucher, and Voila, a discount of the equivalent of nearly Fourty Bucks!! Amazing.

We headed off to see inside Notre Dame, which I had not been into before. The first thing I did was to light a candle for my mum, who never got to see Europe. I know she would have loved it. I got a bit teary, and took a self photo, but the background didnt show up. Am not good at doing the self photo bit, like"young people" these days!! Ha ha. Sam took a nice photo though, of me in front of this amazing, incredible structure. I was awed.

We walked across to the Latin Quarter and stopped for a coffee (no where near as good as Mojo's). Gosh, along the way it was the DRIVING that amazed me!! Cars making illegal moves everywhere !! There was this van parked smack in the middle of a three way intersection, just stopped, creating chaos, while the driver went about his important task of unloading french sticks to the patisserie. There was yelling, shouting, arm waving and lots of #'!.]\\'/[#=@ going on!! The police arrived, and there was a lot of gesticulating, and head shaking, but guess what.... NO TICKET!!

The parking is abysmal, and totally unbelievable.... I saw this car try to parallel park, and I thought, No Way, the place was even too small for a mini. Well, he got his tail in, then nudged the front car about half a metre upwards into the other car, then backed into it, by nudging the back car about a metre out of the way, and this car moved right, smack into the middle of the pedestrian crossing!!

Parking wardens in Wellington would be in Parking Warden's Heaven!! Imagine! Then look at the photo. A car was parked across the space, on yellow lines and on an entrance!!! Hilarious!

Sam showed me a street that I must do on my own...shoes everywhere, clothing, labels, BEAUTIFUL STUFF !!!

Having collected Helene after her work, around 7.30 pm, we had a drink (happy hour, yay!) and watched people.

Well, the French Men. Wow, what a species. Gorgeous, no, BEAUTIFUL really. Dark, slim (actually too slim, you gotta hang on to something, right?) It doesnt seem right a man is skinnier than oneself. But the way they hold themselves, the confidence, haughty really. Serious, beautifully groomed (tick that box!) tailored and sharp, contemporary in a casual and chick way, velvet jacket immaculate shoes.... no smile, but looking into the distance with a sense of importance. Smoking away, they have this unapproachable feel of " Look, but dont Touch".

Which is just what I am doing. Looking and not Touching .... Hope that lasts!! Lol!!

Then we headed home. All during the day, Sam would mutter "Well done" at my navigation skills. I got lots of smiles and nods at right moves, and correct interchanges.

At the end he said "Well done mum, I am VERY impressed". I was beaming. Never underestimate the power of positive reinforcement.

Today, aged 50, I got the equivalent of a smiley face on the back of my hand. I had passed the test with flying colours.

At the end of the day, good parenting comes sailing right back AT YA!!!

Tomorrow, completely on my own, with no coughs to set me on the right track. GULP.

First photo, First purchase.....

Today is the day the All Whites drew against Italy! Yes I watched in from Sam's apartment, after my first full day in Paris. I was proud of my friend Ricky... well, we ARE friends, as I sat with him on the plane a few months ago!!

Helene (my NEW best friend!! We've amicably agreed to share Sam...) and I, and of course Sam, took the Metro to Le Marais, which is the Jewish community area, as well as the Gay centre, and probably the only place open on Sundays, therefore jammed packed!

It was cold actually, and everyone was rugged up. It was funny to watch other women dress like me! Strange, as I never really feel like this in Wellington, but here, it's like I have "sisters" all around me! Not that they are comprehensible to me, but still, it is a strange feeling.

It's the architecture that I love, it is so old and beautiful, and also, the people, they are so different to New Zealanders, in all sorts of ways. Yes, the arrogance comes through, but with an air of confidence that you cannot help to admire. It is so tiring watching, taking it all in and concentrating.

We cued up for falafel wraps, the most delicious and healthy lunch, standing and watching the world go by with hummus and tomato dripping down our wrists in the most scrumptious of sandwiches if you can call them that! Then we sat in a cafe, surrounded by a gaggle of cliche gays and had a glass of red bordeaux... well I had a glass of wine, the others stuck to diet coke and a flat white (for that I stay in NZ!!)

Then came my first purchase.......doncha love it!!! My french visual french book, and french bread.... two must haves!!!

Arrival

I thought this day would never ARRIVE!!

I am jetlagged after over 30 hours on planes, cues, smelly bodies on cattle class, with overweight , smelly, passengers, not to mention crying babies, and snotty nosed kids. BUT AM IN PARIS !!!! I had not been here for ten years, when I came with my (then) husband who was on sabbatical and we were travelling in luxury... I just followed like a lamb in those days,(he would choke on that one) and here I am, all growed up, arranging the trip all by my self, and divorced!

I was met by my son Sam in Charles de Gaulle airport, and then back to his apartment in the fifteenth arrondissement ...you don’t say it like that, its Arrhondismuh, of course, all guttural and incomprehensible.

He lives in a shoe box, one that all my shoes would never fit in. But he is very much unaware of this little fact at the moment.

My one important mission was to give the BIG TICK to his French girlfriend Helene. Of course I had already fallen in love with her, purely because she puts such a silly dopey look on my serious boy's face!! He is never been so happy, so that makes me also one very, very happy maman!

Being a little bit of a perfectionist (total understatement from this virgo) I'm finding the lingo so frustrating, because although Spanish is my first language, I have never learnt French, and find myself a blubbering idiot when someone addresses me, and it is debilitating and strangely humbling. I am at the mercy of these people with their fast talking charm. "Yo no compro pan" is what I say, which in Spanish means "I don't buy bread" but thankfully it is phonetic for saying in French "I dont have a clue what you are talking about"! It gets me by.

I got taken by Sam, soon after arrival, to....

THE MARKET

Have you smelt those baby vine tomatoes, let alone let one explode into your taste buds?? And the radishes!! And the flat peaches, and the sausage from the swarthy dark, and a little bit greasy guy who sells all parts of the pig, cooked and uncooked. The smell of the lemons, the smell of the coriander, mint and parsley, the overall atmosphere just has blown me away, all amidst the most beautiful architecture. Wrought iron fancy balconies with pot plants and multicoloured geraniums draping themselves, almost calling out LOOK AT ME!!

I walked with a baguette stuck under my arm, of course, in Paris, as Parisians actually DO, and needed to pinch myself to tell Daphne, YOU ARE HERE!!!!

Am nearly comatosed after only 3 hours sleep in over 40 hours, so bonsoir, not bonsee like I told the smirking lady I bought antacids from this arvo.....