Our 4th Floor Terrace, May 25th, 2015

I know I have spoken to the fact that we have 2 terraces, here at our house in Saint
Quentin la poterie.  Now, I have to say just how much I enjoy our 4th floor terrace.

The winding staircase up the stone/cement steps takes you to a glass door that looks out
to the South.  The terrace is very high up, and looks out over the rooftops of several of
the village houses to the Duche in Uzes.  The Duche (castle) is about 3 miles from here, with
a valley in between.

But my new favorite thing to do on a warm sunny day is to go up to the 4th floor terrace and read
a book.  Of course, it always leads to a little nap. It is so pleasant up there, that it feels like
I am sitting on the beach.  Part of the terrace is sunny, and part is in the shade, so you can always
choose which ever is most comfortable.

And, in the evening (the daylight doesn't fade totally until about 9:45 pm)  when you sit up
on the terrace, you can watch the swallows perform aerobatic feats of twists, turns, dives and climbs
to the heavens!....just all sorts of maneuvers that defy the laws of nature!  Of course, kitties like to
come up and lay out there with us!  Breezy has even taken to laying in the soil of the grape
vine that is in a large pot!  I am sure he misses his garden in California...but he makes do, and
seems happy!

The Children of France - May 19th

There are many children here, and they are truly gorgeous!

As a society, the French value their children.  In the 1970's, the birth rate was quite low.  So, the government decided to pay each family for three of more children in a family.  And, from what we see, it must be working.  We noticed quite a few children when we got here, and mentioned it to our friends, Larry and Regina.  They explained this to us.

Here are some of my observations:
First, the children are always acknowledged!  Every adult, when they meet a family, will turn to each child and give them the 3 kisses on the cheek.  I have observed  Moms with a young child, and a newborn baby in a coach meeting other Moms with children....FIRST, before the newborn is cooed over, the Moms will acknowledge the older children with kisses, then, the baby is fused over.

And, it's true, the children are very well behaved!  They rarely are wild or in any way out of control! We have seen them in all circumstances, and of course, they dance around, and do things that all children do, but they are NEVER wild and LOUD.   At the Accordion and Tango Festival in our town, there were many children.  They danced with each other, and with their parents too, but they never ran around.  They go out to eat with their families, and, from an early age, they just seem to sit there quietly.  One Sunday, at the Noonday Family dinner, we saw 2 children, a boy and a girl, about 8 and 10 respectively.  The lunch, with Mama, Papa, Grandma and Grandpa.  The children sat there for about an hour and half, eating, talking and playing at the table very quietly.  They spoke with both parents, to each other, and to their Grandparents.  Finally, they began to get up and go to the bathroom, one after another, several times....just for something to do.  They never ran around or shouted, or got fussy!  Amazing!  They had to be there are the table, in the restaurant, for at least two hours, maybe two and a half!

On Saturday morning, the girls are often at the market with their Moms or Grandmas.  I noticed the boys were rarely there...then, I realized, the boys are all on the soccer fields!  The boys appear in their soccer uniforms about lunch time, with the Dads or Grandpas.

The children are all dressed!  From a very young age, it is clear that the little girls are all groomed, and dressed.  They wear skirts and dresses with tights, and have on scarves and a pocketbook slung across their bodies.  Their hair is fixed, and often have a little flower or barrette in it.  The boys are dressed, as well, not quite as fastidiously, but dressed, none the less!  They dress to go the market, and out to lunch/dinner.  At the Accordion Festival, most of the children were dressed for the bounce house experience, but most of the rest of the time, they are rather dressed up!

I had commented on the children in my blog before when I mentioned that they come home for lunch here in our village, and you see them walking, holding their parent's hand, well up until teenage years, and sometimes, even as teenagers.

Children are always accommodated.  Most every bathroom (other than a bar) has a baby changing table.  When there are any activities, there is always something for the children too.  This past weekend, there was an Accordion and Tango festival...they had a bouncy house for the children.  In our local pharmacy, there is a child's play table with puzzles, etc. for the children.  It just seems like the French all pay attention to the children, and their needs.

In most towns of any size, there is a carousel.  Each carousel has scenes of the local area around Top of the outside.  The carousel in Arles, which is know for bull fights, even had a bull on the carousel!

Very Dear, and Very Nice!  I enjoy seeing all the children!  It makes my heart glow!

The St. Quentin Accordion and Tango Festival, May 17, 2015

The Accordion and Tango festival was fabulous!  What Fun!  The entire village showed up for it!!  Literally!  3,000 people!  Men, Women, and Children!


Each day and night there were activities and concerts.  It all culminated with the festival setting up a dance floor, tables, a stage, and a big bar under the marche cover!  I have a bit of a cold, but I wasn't going to stay home!  So, we found a place to sit, had a very French lunch of grilled sausages with mustard on a piece of baguette!  Wine & beer, and big smiles on our faces!  We stayed for about 4 hours.  We even got to dance a bit!  Very fun! We two stepped, while others Tangoed!  Everyone danced!

And, there was an antique /flea market all around the edges of the festival!  Good stuff!  Wrought iron, dishes, etc.  I bought a puzzle to keep my mind busy, and a lovely pitcher shaped like a gourd.  Yellow, and about 7 inches tall!  French, and packed with charm!   I can just see it with short sunflowers in it!  Bruce got a book on French Grammar book in French!  Ha!  We can't read French, so the subtleties will be very obscure!

There was a display of accordions, that was really gorgeous!  All kinds!  Old, new, Mother of pearl, wooden....large, small...beautiful!  The world accordion champion was there!...a young guy who was very charismatic.  He allowed one of the girls from the village to play with him.  Everyone was thrilled!

Here's a melange of photos and a great video.
And, here is a link to a You Tube Video that I took at the Tango Festival.  Our friend's daughter is the girl playing the accordion with the World Champion.  Click Below...
Saint Quentin Accordion and Tango Festival 2015

Or, if that doesn't work, You can access it at the following URL.  Just cut and paste it into your web browser.  https://youtu.be/dUir7K7qpKw

By the way, we just watched a Netflix documentary called "A year in Burgundy".  Very good!  About wine making in Burgundy, season by season!  Try to see it if you have Netflix!  

Return to Provence, a visit from friends

The trip home from Paris elicited feelings of love for each other and sadness for all mankind.  Our Anniversary trip was a smashing success, and the trip to Normandy was somber.  Emotions from opposite ends of the spectrum!

Our friends Gerry and Kent were due to visit on Sunday, so with a limited ability to wash and DRY bedsheets, towels, etc...we embarked on a few days of preparation.  Most fun is always going to the Marche in Uzes.  We prepared for their visit by going into town to the market to buy olives, cheese, ham, fruit, and other yummy goodies!  This is strawberry season, and cherries are beginning to appear in the market.

We picked them up in Avignon, and what do you know....the boys found a car show!!!  Bruce has been in withdrawal!

We had a wonderful time with our friends, taking them to the Marche in Uzes, our favorite restaurants, and showing them the countryside.  Our friends Larry and Regina had us over to their house for champagne and showed us their wine cave.  Very fun, and very kind of Larry and Regina!  Two days later, Larry took us to his favorite vineyard and winery in Liroc....an area just to the West of Chateauneuf-du Pape.

The winery is definitely a family business, and the owner, whose grandfather had owned the vineyard/winery poured us some lovely wines.  We will be taking some back to the states for Roger and Abby's wedding!  Most notable were the Rose and the Chateauneuf-du-Pape.  French wine is a bit different from California wines, but we have found that most wine, although not as fruity as many of the California wines, are rich and flavorful, but a bit dryer and more subtle than California wines.  Pricey?  NOT at all!  We have had lovely wines for prices that range from 5 Euros to 45 Euros, on average...and the bottle at the Eiffel Tower dinner was $180.00.

We mostly had dinners at lunch time (our French way) and had lighter dinners at home.  One lovely night we went up to the 4th floor terrace, that looks out to the Duke's castle, and had cheese, 5 different types of olives, tapanade, a creamy garlic spread, crustini, salad and ham sandwiches on a baguette.

Kent and Gerry treated us to drinks, several lunches and a lovely dinner in a garden/cave that was superb!

The last day they were here, we wanted to show them the sea-side town of Cassis.  The town is still as lovely as it was a few years ago with many boats, fishermen, a boules court, restaurants and a castle on the hill!  The only thing that tempered the mood of the day was the traffic in Marseilles at rush hour!  Ouch!  My fault!

We had a lovely time with them, and miss them badly, as we do all of our friends!  We love to share all the beauty and uniqueness of France.  You are all welcome to visit!!!

Day 5, Tuesday, Normandy

After all our walking for days, we were happy to spend the day going to Normandy....a 3 1/2 hour
bus ride from Paris.  I had reservations about going because I knew how sad the story of D Day would be.  Bruce really wanted to see Normandy, and it was my Christmas present to him.  He loved it!

I must admit, it was very moving.  The day started out rainy and about 60 degrees, but by the time we got there, it was sunny, and very windy!  The Normandy countryside is beautiful, lush green, and dotted with dairy cattle.  The fields evidently have fewer hedgerows than they did in 1944 because there are fewer, but larger farms than at that time.  The houses are a very different style than in the South of France....here, they look like their architectural style has much more English influence to my eye.  We even saw a thatched roof.

The museum did a great job of telling the story from all sides.  It told the story of the war, the French resistance, the extensive preparations, the trickery that might just have made the difference in the Allies winning the war, the troops on all sides, the townspeople, and the story of the extermination of the Jews and Eastern Europeans.

My thoughts on the day were threefold:
1. The bravery of all the men was overwhelming!  American, British, Scottish, even Indian men were all involved in the D Day landings.  The heroics were unbelievable in the face of strong German fortifications, bunkers, and hidden trench systems.  Bravery and heroics everywhere!
2. The massive sacrifice!  All involved sacrificed so much!  It wasn't just the men of the invasion, the people in the town of Cean, and all of Normandy was bombed extensively.  The bomb craters still exist.  Lives, property, homes, businesses, livestock...everything was sacrificed!
3. Even though it seems like the Allies would not have won the war without d Day, and even though it is clear that civilization would not exist as it does today without winning the war, the  losses of war seem overwhelmingly futile.

The Normandy visit has caused me to read more extensively about the war, the resistance, and the history of the times.  Just very sad.  It is estimated that overall, 50 million people lost their lives during WW11.  So Sad!

The US cemetery and the wall of the names of those missing defines the losses in a very somber and poignant way!  The sculpture in the memorial is moving and powerful!

The entire experience elicits thoughts and pondering of the best and worst of humanity.
 

Paris, Day 4 - Monday, A day off!

We planned a day that was to be free of any structured activities on Monday!  We got up a bit late, but we're out the door by 9:00.  We headed to the ritzy St Germain section of town to see the Hermes store!  Their designs and the quality of goods is always stunning.  Hermes is one of our favorite designers.   

We took a cab to the Luxembourg gardens and started walking!  What a treat!  The French really appreciate outdoor spaces, and from what we can see, everyone spends time outside!  The gardens are huge!  The fountain is about a quarter of a block in surface area!  The entire park is probably about 20 blocks long and four blocks across.....filled with French people, students, workers, runners, and tourists.  The flowers were magnificent, and designed for fragrance as well as color!  Most of the tulips and forget-me-nots had passed, but pansies, stock, and prim rose were all in bloom!  There were fragrant, lovely flowers near each bench and it looked like about a thousand chairs!  The sun was out, without a cloud in the sky!  We sat for about a half hour just soaking up the sun.  (How French!). Then we started out for the Hermes store!  What a treat!  See the pix!  About 1:30 we sat down for lunch.  We found a lovely secluded outdoor soufflé restaurant.  Oh!  My! Goodness!  The mushroom soufflé came with a creamy mushroom sauce, and was so light, you could only think of a cloud!  Divine!  We split that and a salad.  While we were sitting there, the weather changed!  The temperature dropped 20 degrees, and the wind kicked up.  We decided we had better get a move on, and begin our long trek back to the hotel...even with an umbrella, it looked daunting!  Well, we walked for about 45 minutes, and decided discretion was the better part of velour, and took a cab to the hotel.  IT POURED FOR ABOUT 2 HOURS!

We waited out the storm in a cafe across the street from our hotel, and went out for a light dinner, returning home by 9:00 pm.  We had to be up early the next day for our trip to Normandy to see the D-Day beaches....a Christmas present to Bruce!  

Day 3, Versailles and a stunning video

We recovered from our dinner at the Eiffel Tower by sleeping in late.  By 11:30 am, we were up and out and on our way to meet up with the tour company at the train station.  We walked about a half an hour to the meeting point.  We took the train from Paris to the town of Versailles, and met up with a very knowledgeable tour guide who specialized in the history of the palace of Versailles, and the gardens.  Fabulous, fantastic, outrageously ornate opulence and beauty only begin to describe the palace.  Balance and symmetry are guiding design principles.  The guide also spoke of the public and private lives of the royals.   There were always people watching them...People observing their going to bed and rising, eating, praying and matters of state.  No wonder they built secret passage ways to move throughout the palace without being seen!  

Although Versailles started out as a hunting lodge, they then built the gardens, then the palace.  It ties together beautifully!  Most of the rooms have views of the gardens.  

The only thing that detracted from the tour was the number of people touring the palace!  It was literally a CRUSH of tourists!  We were relieved to finish the tour and go outside to the gardens.  The sun had come out, and the wind whipped us handily!  By now it was 4:45, and we were still walking!  All the gardens have music piped in.  Louis XVI loved music, and always had musicians everywhere, including the garden!  We toured four of the formal gardens.  Water was a valued, and as such, it is the focus of most of the gardens, and provides opulence in nature.  Not many flowers were planted, because, in the hey day of the palace, there was not much use of flowers.  Unlike English gardens, each of the gardens is highly structured, to prove man (the King's) dominance over nature.  Again, every element is balanced, and there is a great deal of symmetry in the gardens!  

The grounds and gardens are immense.  We need to go back and rent a golf cart to visit other parts of the grounds.  We took the selfie below, and finally sat down in the gardens at about 6:15.  A ten minute rest fortified us for the walk to the town for dinner.  

We caught a small luscious dinner in the town of Versailles, walked about the town after we recovered and visited a small cathedral.  Stunning!  We took the train back to Paris on our own.

As we walked back to the Hotel over a fabulous, famous bridge, we were stunned by the golden light!  Here are the pictures and a short video taken about 8:30 at night!  Too gorgeous!  

We got back to the hotel about 9:30 and nursed our sore feet in the lobby, with a glass of wine as fortification before heading back to our room! Please be sure to click on the video at the bottom!  It is really neat!

Paris, our second day! The Eiffel Tower, our Anniversary dinner

A good nights sleep, and we were itching to get out early!  Well, we got out at about 9:30 am!
We walked and walked!  We walked from 9:30 till 4:30, with a break for lunch!  

We walked down the Champs d'Elysees, thru the Tullerie Gardens, down the Seine, and to the Louvre.  We had lunch in the Louvre's cafe Malory.  Excellent food and service!   Then, we made a decision to walk to our apartment that we will be renting at the end of October.  Except for one wrong turn that cost us an EXTRA 2 miles or so, we walked until we found it!  It is in a decent neighborhood, right next to a canal.  Quite scenic, and cafes within a short walk!  We walked past the Place de la Republic, and thru the Marais district (a hip, young area, good for shops, near the Pompidou center).  Our apartment is on the 6th floor, in a lovely old building (with an elevator)!  We are excited about coming back to Paris.  We want to see every museum, in depth!  

Still raining!  After a quick nap and shower, we took a cab to the Eiffel Tower for our celebratory dinner!  The chef is Alain Ducasse.  It is the Jules Verne restaurant serves either a 5 or 6 course dinner.  We choose to have 5 courses. 
    I had a glass of champagne and Bruce had a lovely single malt scotch.  To whet our appetites they served French version of a cheese profiterole.  
   The first corse was a mound of king crab & asparagus tips and touch of cherry tomatoes.  It was served with dots of a fresh pea sauce surrounding it.
    We choose a wine at the sommelier's suggestion that was a 2003 Pomorol blend of Grenache, Syrah and merlot.  Divine!  
    Second course was a melange of lobster and vegetables, with a sprinkle of caviar on top.
    Third course was a seared foie gras, with a light/thin sauce surround it, that I believe was veal.
For our main courses, (the fourth) Bruce had duck and I had fish.  My words  can not describe how delicious everything was!  The blend of favors, subtle and bold, was fabulous!  
    Dessert was chocolate, of course!  A rich, soft chocolate mousse patty, with a center of peanut butter.  
    They then presented us with a strawberry dessert, with Happy Anniversary written in Strawberry sauce across the top.
    Additionally, they offered a plate with 5 or 6 petite cookies (Macarons) and tiny chocolate  pastries.  Then, with coffee, they brought two bowls, one of citron marshmallows, and small chocolate cream squares, about the size of a sugar cube!!!!    We had more desserts than we eat in a month!  OOH LA LA!   Eyy Yeii Yeii!
   So delicious!  And the staff was charming!   Every 1/2 hour or so, small strobe lights up and down and around the tower begin to flash.  Just very special!  Bruce and I were thrilled with the entire experience! 

The plate that I am holding in the photo below, is the inverted dome shaped charger that is on the table when you are seated!  Very apropos for the Eiffel Tower!

A meal befitting the challenge and joy of 25 years together!