Paroissien’s in Paris

Into the French countryside…..

I was invited to join n expedition into the wilds of the French countryside, well Giverny is hardly a long way from Paris, and it is the most gentle of countryside, but nevertheless an adventure to be leaving Paris for a day -  on the train with Australian friends Mary, Colin and Jane.     New experience as I had previously done coach tours – the easy way, but of course with little flexibility.

So, we set out from Saint Lazare station – Jane managing to get the tickets from a machine  (very clever) – in true French fashion, the queue to buy tickets was approximately 20-30 minutes long.

 I haven’t yet decided how to measure French queues.    Is it by the number of people ahead of you, or the length of the queue, eg. Versailles was approximately 400 metres,  or by the length of time it takes for you to get to the head of the queue eg. At the train ticket offices where you might just want to buy a ticket to a local suburban station, but the man in front of you wants to do a trip around the world by train – and with the very attentive officials, this could actually take days (the buyi8ng of the ticket, not the trip)!!!

Anyway, off to Giverney – rattling, or rather very smoothly travelling through the lovely French countryside – travelling west of Paris.

You leave the train at a small town called Vernon – where the bus for Giverny meets each train from Paris – and there you queue up again to get on the bus.    Still, lots of time – and of course when we get to Giverny, there’s another queue to get into the house and garden.The upside of queues is that youhave time to look around you, people watch, and learn patience!!

I have of course written at length  previously about Monet’s beautiful house and gardens – but it’s a place I could visit time and again – the gardens always have something different in bloom – this time the Rhododendroms – yellows, pinks, reds – and the lovely little pansies smiling up at one.  And the lovely complex Iris  – how clever Nature is - deep purple, pale mauve with shrubs of pale yellow Peonies in beteen.    The day was a brilliantly sunny with a clear blue sky – and the air was filled with thousands of little balls of fluff – a bit like sheep’s wool, they  completely covered the water lily pond and all the surrounding gardens – and after a bit of investigative journalism, I discovered it was from all the Poplar trees (Peuplier in French).  And Google continues to amaze me – I just type in a word, click translate, and hey presto – incredible.

And even though there are always many visitors, the peace and tranquillity surround you as you wander down the paths alongside the little creek running merrily along between the tall poplar trees, the beautiful Beech tress with their dark red/brown leaves, and with an amazing cacophony of birdsong  accompanying you – until some very noisy people sit on the seat beside you and talk very loudly – luckily I can’t understand what they are saying!!!

And before leaving Girverny, I must mention Monet’s house – my favourite room is the dining room – painted in a buttercup yellow with blue and white tiles – I even have his cookbook with some wonderful photos of the house and garden, and even more wonderful recipes – like stuffed onions -

And the best part of coming ‘under one’s own steam’ to Girverny – is the relaxed time limit.    So after a leisurely lunch – mainly because the waiter was so slow, we strolled through the village to the churchyard where Monet and his family are buried – together with more graveyards from the 2^nd world war – they are scattered throughout northern France.

All in all a great day –

And now something totally different – today was the opening of the French Tennis Open and I had managed to get tickets on the internet.    Ian and I  set off with our picnic – water and baguettes etc.

Took the metro to Roland Garros – and of course what did we find – but ‘the queue’ – in fact 3 different queues depending on the type of ticket you had.  -  Still, we are used to it now, and in fact it is very entertaining to watch how people will ‘push in’ by standing nearby and then eventually sidling in to the queue as if they have been there all along – it’s quite an art!!

We had tickets for the Centre Court, Philippe Chatrier  but Leyton Hewitt was playing on Court 1 so had assumed we would be able to watch it – but no, you had to have specific tickets for that Court (and what a match that was).

Still, we had a wonderful Women’s match  with Ana Ivanovic (looking stunning in a deep turquoise dress – and very long legs) and the Italian Sara Errani which Ana eventually won, and then a coupole of the men’s singles – so an excellent day’s tennis in all.

It was the first hot day of summer – 27 degrees and no wind – and what surprised us was that neither the ball boys or the chair umpire wore hats – and when the players had their break, the ball boys would bring out umbrellas and hold them over their heads – interesting!

Ian left early to fly to Frankfurt for a meeting  and then will fly to Warsaw where I will meet him Monday night – 3 days to explore this city which was apparently rebuilt in its original style after it was devastated during the war.

Another hot day in Paris – 30 degrees  – and I’m the only one who wears a hat here!!

More later

A bientot

Barbara

We have just had a great few days with Iain and Yvonne Howie from UK – much of the fun of travelling to Europe is touching base with our long time friends.   

We did lots of ‘touristy’ things – the St Chapelle chapel with its incredible and stunning stained glass windows, built near the Notre Dame by St Louis, King Louise the 9^th.   We also had a look at the
Conciergerie, part of King Louis’ palace and  famous, or infamous, for its venerable prisoners during the revolution, especially Marie Antoinette – it would have been so so cold during the winter although she only spent 4 months there – before going to the guillotine.

We enjoyed a new restaurant near the Louvre, with friends Phil and Camille – a very old restaurant L’Epi d’Or with lots of atmosphere.   

Then Saturday – off to the big market at Avenue President Wilson – set up in the middle of the road, twice a week, with everything from a stall selling 16 different types of olives, to the man cooking a huge pan of paella, the stalls making crepes while you wait, and of course the freshest fish, saucisson, chickens, and luscious fruit and vegies.  All irresistible.

And to celebrate our 29^th wedding anniversary, my request was for a drink at the Hemingway Bar at the Ritz Hotel.    This beautiful old hotel, situated on the Place de Vendome,  has been there since the late 1800’s and was a favourite haunt of Hemingway.   Well, we knew it would be exotic and expensive although I don’t think we realised just how much!!   And it has the most amazing range of cocktails.    Yvonne and I opted for champagne cocktails – only E30 (A$60) each and quite delicious, but they do have a special cocktail called the Ritz Side Car – described as A unique experience and onje of the most expensive cocktails in the world – a snip at a mere E1250 (A$2500) – we didn’t worry about asking what was in it – I’d want a diamond at the bottom of the glass!!!

Still, a great experience – followed by dinner at our favourite Italian restaurant, Settebello, in Passy.

Then another Paris experience – it was the “Night of the Museums” – the one night in the year when all Paris’ museums are open until midnight and many of them put on concerts, lectures, special exhibitions etc.    We strolled down to the river, had a ride on the children’s carousel, (luckily all the real children were tucked up in bed!!) then walked up to the Trocodero and went to the Musee d’Architecture – it is a most incredible museum, where everything is actually made from some type of polystyrene – but you would swear it was straight off an old cathedral or city wall.   Just remarkable and looked so lovely in the night lights.

So all in all a great ‘wedding anniversary’ shared with good friends.

And in the International Herald Tribune last week, a wonderful article on French Restaurants adjusting to demands for low-cost menus, with a Parisian shop ‘peddling “anti-crisis” sandwiches for E1 (A$2) – very very cheap in my experience.    Then at the end of the article

            “Even high-end establishments are joining in: La Maison Blanche on the Avenue

            Montaigne has a ‘New Deal Menu’ – a prix-fixe meal for just E69 (A$138) that

            Includes cocoa-dusted foie-gras and grilled coquilles St Jacques (scallops)”. 

How the other half live!!!

Well Ian is working in Vienna, Yvonne and Iain have returned to England and I have done the shopping and the washing and that sort of stuff.   And tomorrow I am going to Giverney with some friends – on the train.   The weather forecast is for a sunny day with 24 degrees – so perhaps summer is just around the corner.

Au revoir and a bientot  -  Barb

 I didn’t realise that I hadn’t ‘published’ this blog – hence the 10 day delay.   And I haven’t worked out how to upload the photos on my new Vista operating system!!!

So, blog at 12 May, 2009

I am sitting at my computer watching the top of the Eiffel Tower sparkling in the reflection in the windows of the apartment across the road – while an enormous thunderstorm passes over us – quite remarkable how quickly the weather changes here – a bit like Melbourne!!

Andrew and Beth have been here for a week, so more exploring of Paris – the Musee D’Orsay and all its marvellous Impressionists – personally I think the building itself is a highlight – it was a former main railway station and has the traditional glass roof and archways so common to the 19^th century railway stations and has been restored in a stunning way.

We also took the train to Versailles on Saturday – only to find that the queue to get the tickets was about 400 metres long and moving at a snails pace, and then you had to queue again to get through security – I would love to organise their ticketing systems!!!     So sanity prevailed and we decided on the Palace gardens – they are so extensive and so beautifully maintained, complete with piped classical music in some of the special areas.  The usual symmetry is evident with the pathways laid out like a maze, between beautiful Horse Chestnuts, Plane and Beech Trees and lots of hedging.  What a job it would be to be the head hedger at Versailles.  On the lake were lots of rowboats -  must admit it was with much amusement we watched them ‘up the beat’ when the rain began.

Andrew and Beth have now returned to Cornwall, spending a night in London with Amy King and a bbq with some Aussie nurses – and now they are in the midst of vaccinations and checking on the state of the swine flu before they leave for Costa Rica and Central America  in a couple of weeks .    They are hoping to teach English whilst they explore this part of the world – and looking in the guide books, it does look spectacularly beautiful – all those names so far away and so relatively unvisited by Australians – Belize,  Nicaragua, Honduras, Panama, El Salvador and Guatamala.   So hopefully the Swine flu will not change their plans too much – I did suggest that backpacking around Australia could be a substitute but you can imagine their reaction!!!

And we had a great few days with Bill and Sue Edge and their daughter Jane – very noisy dinner party with much talking about the football – mainly the Old Brighton Grammarians – Bill and Ian and Andrew could probably talk for hours on that subject!!!

So a quiet couple of days and Iain and Yvonne Howie arrive tomorrow night for a few days.   Iain speaks fluent French so I shall take him to my butcher, Monsieur Gilles, so I can at last have a conversation with him.

This afternoon I did a walk in the 7^th arrondisement – from the Porte d’Alma Marceau, along the Blvd Rapp and then down rue St Dominic – what a fabulous collection of delis, pastry shops, cafes and restaurants – I shall go back there again

A bientot

Barb

Back in Paris at the crack of dawn – ie 6am – within 30 minutes of touchdown we were through Immigration, collected our bags and were in the cab – amazing, and without any mention of the Swine Flu like have you been near Mexico recently, what is your address in Paris – absolutely no mention of it – oh well I guess there are only a couple of cases here!

Sam, our terrific apartment manager met us to open up the apartment – and bring our stuff from storage.     Beautiful deep apricot roses on the table and my desk and wardrobe already assembled – then the best of all, he got my computer on to the French Orange connection – hooray.   As Ian says, if Barb has her computer she is very happy, and if Barb is happy,  everyone’s – I’m sure that’s a gross exaggeration!!

Spent a couple of hours unpacking and sorting – then strolled down to our favourite cafe on the corner for the ‘Cafe Longe avec le lait au par’ and a croissant of course.  And then sat at the bar and listened to all the French around us – blissful.

Then, with our shopping trolley in hand,(the two wheeled one you pull behind you) we  took off for the supermarket.  It  was chaotic – children, pushers, and whole families – and we were early, ie 11am on a Sat. morning when it only opens at 9.00am (can you believe!).  So by the time we had filled the trolley, the queues were very long, like 25 minutes.   It’s very interesting how the Parisians don’t have an issue with queuing – they are very patient.        We later discovered that there had been a public holiday the day before – which explained  the unusually large crowds  in the supermarket.  

And whilst in the supermarket, amongst the ordinary necessities like biscuits, milk, eggs, etc, we bought two jars of Clementine marmalade – in readiness for breakfast and my friend Jenny’s visit later this month.     Clementines are tiny oranges which are in season late summer – I have never seen them in Melbourne and thought they were far too small to eat as a fruit;  however the Parisians love them and buy them by the kilo in the markets.   But by far the best use in our opinion is the Clementine marmalade – the jar filled with luscious slices of the Clementine oranges and a slightly sweetish flavour.    Jenny K did consider importing it and I considered bringing a few jars home at Christmas – except I was already up to 140 kgs – and jam is very heavy!!!

After a lunch of our favourite baguettes, and a short snooze, we walked up to our wonderful market street  for our fruit and vegs, the delicatessen for our pasta, the coffee shop for the coffee  beans (which they roast in the shop), and a last minute shop for Ian’s t-shirts at Muji – and we’ve only been in Paris for 7 hours!! –

Back to the apartment, everything put away and discovered that I hadn’t bought my favourite Donna Hay/Jill Dupleix cookery books so off to WH Smith – fab English bookshop to see what they had.   Well, lots of very beautiful and expensive hard cover cookery books, but there on the bottom shelf was an Australian Women’s Weekly Cookbook of New French Food – perfect. 
Who would have thought to find such a book so far from home!!

Sunday and Andrew has arrived from UK to spend a week with us before he and Beth head off to Costa Rica – swine flu willing.   Andrew and Beth have just spent 5 months working in a chalet in Morzine, about an hour or so from Geneva in the French Alps- and whilst they assured me they worked very hard, they certainly had a wonderful time snowboarding, partying, making new friends and earning some funds for their next adventure.

Today Ian had to go to work – well, someone has to do these things – so Andrew and I decided to tackle the Musee D’Orsay – it is the Impressionists museum (among other things) and has the most marvellous collection of paintings by Monet, Renoir, Sisley, Manet, Cezanne, etc. etc.    Originally a railway station, it was transformed only about 30 years ago – a very brilliant change.    And whilst the paintings are incredible, the building is in itself worth a visit.

Well, Ian is home from work and we are off to the corner cafe for a pastis and a beer –

Au revoir for now