new years eve

slept a lot yesterday. then slept all night. woke up feeling fine. funny, that when you’re not feeling quite right, it’s hard to say exactly what is wrong and how much is wrong. but when you are feeling fine, it is definitive. i felt fine. we got up and went on our little excursion to the mountains. we made a couple of stops along the road, to “take pictures” but were met by many jewelry salesmen. “berber” was the buzz word. everything was berber. berber jewelry. berber carpets, berber villages. glad that they figured out the key sales words. we were driving along a river, through the valley up higher and higher. there were houses across the river that had little rope bridges for access. people herding goats wearing traditional garb. we got to the berber village and was guided up the path to the waterfalls. it was beautiful and the air was clear. our guide was very attentive, helping us up the rocks. he scampered up and down like a mountain goat. he grew up in the village so had been playing on the rocks his whole life. we bought a couple of souvenirs, but my family criticized my weak bargaining skills. i paid too much, but supported the local economy. anyway, a couple of euros too much is nothing to us and much to them. driving into marrakech, we could see the walls of the city surrounding palms of the large park on the south. it was quite impressive.

it is new years eve and we have a special dinner at the riad. we are all sitting on the roof deck having a mint tea and the staff seems all excited setting up for the party. the musicians are coming in and 2 have just started playing. it started off sounding like a bass and a drum, but are traditional instruments. they sound great! strains of ali farka toure.

real moroccan experience

we were planning on going out of town today to a nearby beautiful valley. even though it is not as intense here as i had expected, the very dense city, with pollution and throngs of people and traffic are making me feel a bit closed in. so our day trip seemed a nice change. unfortunately, i had a real moroccan experience last night. something in our deep fried seafood dinner did not agree with me and i will be staying close to the facilities today. normally my stomach is made of iron. luckily i was the only one affected and seem to be recovering. the manager here in the riad suggested an herbal tea for a remedy. for plain stomach ache – a tea made of cumin, thyme and verveine (lemon verbena) served hot or cold. wow – spicy and medicinal tasting. for sleeping – just cumin in hot water. these are the moroccan remedies. my theory is that the cumin just kills everything bad. that’s why they add it to so many foods too. my sister yelled at me over email for being so stupid as to eat from the market stands. she said that hepatitis was rife and there were lines of people in hospitals waiting for liver transplants. she’s a dr, so she sees those things. i actually had been hesitant at first to the idea of eating in the market stands, but the guide books said you should try it and there were legions of western tourists doing it.

touring around

our hotel room has one window with a shutter that can open a keyhole shape to make the room feel very moroccan. we look out over a very busy road, and though the window is pretty well sealed, we can hear some traffic. we hear the motorbikes, the cars and the donkeys clip clopping by. it adds to the atmosphere. unfortunately, the air is quite polluted, which adds a different sort atmosphere. yesterday we let jj sleep and we didn’t get out until 12:30. today we got her up at 9:30 to join us for breakfast on the roof terrace. we were trying to plan out the rest of our stay here and book some day trips. we were hoping to get a much earlier start to our day, but by the time we finished, it was 11:30. oh well. that’s just us. we went to the “saadian tombs” which is a sacred burial building and grounds that had been forgotten to the world behind its walls. it was very crowded. there was a line to see the most beautiful room, but after waiting for half an hour, we gave up. we then got a horse drawn buggy (much desired by jj) which took us to the “ville nouvelle” (new town). it had been written up as a sort of “haussmann” styled area of town, built by the colonial french. in reality, it seemed like it had been built in the 70’s. maybe the haussmann buildings had been recently replaced by these modern ones or maybe we weren’t in the right place. it was not very exciting. we had lunch and then went to the “majorelle gardens” which were touted as the crown jewel of marrakech’s gardens. it too was extremely crowded. created by an artist called majorelle, and then owned by yves st laurent, it had among other things a dense bamboo forest and a cactus garden. it also had a beautiful courtyard restaurant/cafe. but it wasn’t fabulous. a little boring. i felt that the town was just trying to find more things for tourists to do. afterwards we took a cab out to the “palmeraie” to have a camel ride. i hadn’t actually understood what the palmeraie was. in fact, it is a very large open area outside of town, covered with palm trees. they are not dense enough to be called a forest but they were spread out enough so farmers could plant crops between them (artichoke, coriander, parsley). it was not a tended “garden”. though, apparently, it used to be a very dense palm forest until some sort of blight thinned it out. we wandered around the remaining palms for an hour, on dromedaries (oops, not camels). the guide gave us peeks into the land of the rich who built houses and walled gardens here. it had been a wonderful temperature all day, and now the sun was setting and it was starting to get cool. we went back to town to the central square and had a mint tea. then we decided to go back to the market stands for an early dinner of fried fish and vegetables. it was very fried... i get images of my arteries hardening when i eat like this. i watched the cook pour all the oil from his big fry pot into a tub. it was very dark brown. i thought he was going to change the oil and was impressed. then i realized that that was probably not what was going to happen. in fact, he washed the pot (probably clearing out lots of fried bits) and then of course, poured the oil back in. then he threw a couple of whole sweet peppers into it. i realized that even the veggies we ate were deep fried. after dinner, jj also wanted an ice cream, so we went to a place on our way home. i saw a couple of boys pulling the sleeve of a tourist as he ordered his ice cream. they put on very long sad faces. i guess they were trying to get him to buy them and ice cream. it didn’t work. we had read about marrakech, that young boys would hassle tourists to offer themselves as guides. i just finished reading a book about some australians who bought and restored a riad in fez (“a house in fez”, suzanna clarke). they said that a new law had been instated that forbade “false guides”, to discourage this practice. it was strictly enforced and a person could be thrown in jail if there was any suspicion of them doing this, including just walking with a tourist. if this is the case, it has really worked. there are no boys bugging tourists to be their guides. except for shop owners trying to have you come into their shop, we have generally not been hassled. we notice it and are appreciative. the current king, mohammed VI is doing an amazing job of encouraging tourism.

marrakech,day1

wandered around marrakech. went to the artisan “mall” to check out the wares. nice because it was fixed prices – no bargaining – a benchmark for what things should really cost. bought a beautiful purple leather overnight bag. p. understands my obsession for bags. i try to control it, but this one was such a bargain too! then we went to the “cyber” park across the street – so called because of the computers and internet available in the center. was beautiful and calm. palm trees. temperatures around 50.

we stopped back at the hotel to drop our purchases and then went for lunch overlooking the center square. then went into the souks, wandering, but heading towards museum cluster. tourists became sparse and we figured out we were off the beaten track. headed back to find the museum. there were 3 sites – the museum(an old mansion), the old school and the remains of a 12th century mosque. the old school and museum were restored by one man. they were elaborate and beautiful, with intricately carved wooden walls. saw a beautiful sunset from the souk (market streets). went back to the hotel and had mint tea on the roof terrace. then we decided to try the dinner offered here too. there were set tables in the covered courtyard next to the lobby. when we told the front desk we would like to eat in, they seemed almost surprised, and it took them a little bit of time to get someone to come wait on us. we ended up sitting in a sort of living room nook, a square room opening onto the courtyard, with the other 3 walls having 3 long couches along them – creating a “U” shape, with a low table inside. it was very decadent and luxurious. we want to make something like that in our dream house, someday... dinner was good, but by the time we were done, it was 10:30, so we decided to stay in.

birthday

today is my birthday and we spent the afternoon and evening in marrakech, morroco. yes!
last night, we had stayed with p’s brother and family outside of london. we got up early, took the train to the airport and flew to marrakech without incident. with all the crazy weather happening around us in paris and london in the last week, we have been so lucky in all our travels without any major delays. the temperature was in the 60’s when we arrived. we are watching the news right now and seeing the crazy amount of snow on the u.s. east coast. we are thrilled to be here!

anyway, we arrived at our “riad” – traditional house with courtyard – but in our case, boutique hotel – with only a small adventure. there was supposed to be someone from the hotel meeting us at the airport, but no one was there. so we took a cab, but the driver had to ask another driver how to go. he dropped us near enough to the hotel and passed us off onto another man who wheeled our luggage in a little cart to the hotel. i was a little uptight about it, but p. handled it all well. luckily we had a map, our riad was on a main street and we knew where we were. we didn’t have any adventures like the ones i read about, where tourists are dropped off in the medina and get lost before they even get to their hotel.

our hotel is new and very beautifully done and we are pleased. there is a nice terrace on the roof where we had our welcome tea. we went out to the medina (old town) and walked to the main square and then into the souks (small market roads). we did not get lost and arrived back to the square. it is so exciting to be in such a different culture! the women mostly wear head scarves and long caftans, though there are many women dressed in western wear. there are also lots of men in caftans.

we decided to eat at one of the market stalls. some offer barbecued meats, some offer fried seafood, some offer just hard boiled eggs and some offer calf heads. we picked one that offered a variety of food and we had fried calamari, grilled aubergines(eggplants), green peppers, mixed meat skewers and french fries. it was very tasty and total cost was around 15 euros/$20 for the three of us. we noticed that the man serving us would just grab the food from a big plate, with his hands, and put it our serving plates. i also wondered how they actually washed the dishes, since these were stalls set up in the middle of the square without running water... oh well, hope for the best...

in the square we did briefly see one snake charmer and there were lots of musicians and storytellers. we went to have ice cream in a cafe that said it was a “glaciere” and which had a big menu of ice cream on its front wall. but they didn’t have any ice cream, so we just had a mint tea. we came back to the hotel and were hanging out watching tv when there was knock on the door. our host, saladin was there with a birthday cake for me! a delicious strawberry tart with a candle in the middle. they were so sweet! they knew because they had collected our passports for our information. so i just had to write my blog to tell you about it!

boxing day

the english celebrate “boxing day” on the day after christmas. it is so called because it is the day you give presents (in boxes) to the servants... we packed up our bags and brought them to nick and linda's house(p’s brother and sister-in-law). it was also linda’s birthday. we had a nice meal (delicious roast beef) and hung out. we even ALL played a video game together. it was a horse racing game where you get to place bets and then watch and cheer the horse race. it was quite fun.

christmas eve torches

p’s request was to do nothing but hang out today. we went for a walk through the fields. it has snowed so much in england that we will have a white christmas. this is not normal at all for them. 

in the evening, we went to a town event. it was a torch parade, bonfire, and carols. they have been selling torches in the town hardware store for weeks in anticipation of this event. everyone met at the top of the town with their lit torches and walked down the main street, across the river and to a field. it was amazing. the street was quite long and it was packed full as far as you could see, with lit torches. it was also bizarre. i kept thinking of all the old monster movies when all the townspeople have torches and pitchforks to kill the monster. i was aware of the lack of pitchforks. also, as a good neurotic new yorker, it seemed extremely dangerous for all these people to be walking around with a big flame in their hands. it was bad enough with the little kids waving them around , but even the adults would be looking one way, and their flame would be leaning down the other way. this is in a very crowded street. in spite of these fears and being on high alert, it was really beautiful and felt very traditional. we finally arrived at the field without having gone up in flames, and there was a big bon fire which helped warm us, and a brass band accompanying our carols. we were handed a sheet with the words for the carols. it really was cold, and we left before it was all finished.

london

we had breakfast with a friend of p’s from school, katie, who has a 2 year old and a 6 month old. katie is a very fun, interesting and dynamic person. she is a beautiful, english woman who grew up in saudi arabia (her father being there for work). my favorite katie story is when, years ago, in london, her car was hit from behind. she got out and it was an arab guy who said there was no damage and he didn’t need to give her his number. she said, she wanted it anyway, in case there was some damage they could not see. he refused, but she insisted. finally, he started yelling and cursing at her in arabic, so she started yelling and cursing back at him in arabic. he was stunned. and then he not only wanted to give her his phone number, but he wanted HER number too. it was great to see her.

afterwards, we headed to see a play called “warhorse”. the tickets were a christmas present from p’s parents. it is a big hit in london apparently stephen spielberg has bought the rights and is going to make a movie of it. it is the story of a boy and horse that get pulled into world war 1. the amazing thing is that the horses in the play are life size puppets. they are minimal and you can see the puppeteers working them – two on the inside, one on the outside. they succeeded in giving the puppets perfect horse like movements and are totally convincing as characters. the story was a classic story in some ways, a child bonding with an animal, and their love carrying on through travails over time. it was really the presentation with the horses that made it beautiful and a marvel to watch, which makes me wonder how spielberg will translate it to film. after the play, we went up to p’s parent’s home outside of london.

eurostar to london

there’s been a lot of snow – much more than is normal and much of france has been stopped up because of it. since we don’t drive around and everything is within walking distance, we just haven’t been affected. as we approached the holidays though, there were all kinds of predictions of terrible weather to come. we heard that the eurostar to london had terrible delays. we were scheduled to take the eurostar to london on wed the 22nd and braced for delays. we lucked out again. by the time our day came, things were almost back to normal and our train was only an hour late all together. we laughed though, because we were sitting waiting to board. we were told that the 1:00 train would be late and board at 1:20 to leave at 1:35. at 1:10 there was an announcement, “eurostar is boarding NOW”. we barely got down to the platform from the waiting room, when another announcement said “the eurostar is closing its doors” and a whistle blew. EEEK! everyone hustled to get themselves aboard. we got to our seats and the train started moving. it was 1:15. it turned out that there were lots of empty seats – i said that it was the seats of all the people left back at the platform! if anyone had gone off to the bathroom they would’ve been left behind! it was a relatively quick trip. it really is amazing how fast we can get to london. it was noticeably uglier in london. the areas outside of london were grey and sad looking – piles of dirt in empty spaces. very grey and industrial looking. i had found a very reasonably priced hotel near “queensbury” and “bayswater” tube stop – called “the london house hotel”. we got a triple for L85 for the night. the hotel was very clean and modern. it was a good find. after checking in, we went out to a bookstore, and then to get dinner at a pub. the prices seemed more reasonable than i had remembered. perhaps we are getting used to the european prices. afterwards we went to get dessert. we wandered into a nearby mall and found a great gelato place. london has an amazingly diverse population. it seemed that we hardly saw any “traditional” english people. we barely heard any english spoken. the pub was quite mixed, but the mall seemed to be mostly people who wouldn’t be hanging out in the pub drinking, because of their religion.

doggy farm

got up and did not feel well. i had to take the dog up to the doggy farm/kennel, out in the countryside. we had decided to try this farm that was recommended to us. we are just doting doggy parents, and we thought he might like a vacation in the country while we had a vacation out of the country. each dog gets his own room with a little nook for his bed, with a radiator, and a private yard. jj was going to stay home but since i wasn’t sure how well i was, she came with me to help. we had to take the metro to the train station and the train out about 45 mins. the lady came to pick us up at the station, but was surprised to see jj. she said she only had room for one passenger. she showed us her car, which had the back seat set up for a dog – with a wire mesh dividing the car. i said jj could ride in back with maynard. she said ok, but she’d have to duck down if we saw a policeman. it had snowed a lot, and it was beautiful. it was a bit warmer today, so there was fog lifting off the snow. it was very WHITE. we could barely see the farm house from the road. we checked out the lodgings and then were driven back to the train station. i was indeed a bit ill and went home and slept and slept. meanwhile, jj had been working very hard on her christmas presents. her door was closed with a sign saying to “please knock and wait for permission to enter”. she also had decided to make use of her cooking course and make macaroons to bring over to her grandparents and aunt/uncle/cousins. i was a bit skeptical, since she had tried once unsuccessfully, and the recipe was quite vague and error filled.

we started making them together around 7pm, and ultimately, they did not work. we will go back to the cooking store to get corrections to the recipe and will try again in the future. meanwhile, i will go across the street to the new macaroon/chocolates store, and bring them instead.

les deux magots

slightly sleep deprived. french lesson this morning and then went to lunch with julia’s girl gang and their moms. we went to cafe “les deux magots”, in st. germain de pres area of town. the cafe “les deux magots” and cafe “flore”, next door are famous for being where artists like picasso and writers like sartre and simone de beauvoir hung out. they are also very touristy and expensive. normal coffee in paris is expensive to begin with – starting around 3 euros for a cafe creme. a cafe creme in cafe “les deux magots” was 12 euros. but the food is reasonably priced. a quiche and salad was 14 euros. the french mom said the food is better at les deux magots. anyway, i guess they adjust the price to make up for the tourists who just order coffee and hang out for hours. the french mom said you have to come and feel the spirits of the dead existentialists. i could only feel the spirits of the thousands of tourists. in fact, i was not feeling quite right at all – hope i’m not getting sick – we’re about to go away on a big travel holiday.

monet

lots of snow outside.

went to see the monet exhibit in the grand palais. huge exhibit. had to buy tickets far in advance and could only get them for this evening at 7:30. even with that, had to wait on line. was so extensive, that it was almost overwhelming. i actually liked much of his earlier work. his later work, that was explained that he did whenever he needed some money, felt a bit cheapened. still, his water lilies are really beautiful. the musee marmotan which has its own extensive monet collection, is doing a competing exhibit. want to go see that too.

for dinner, we went to the neighborhood, recommended indian restaurant. was good.

dinner party

had a dinner party tonight and everyone came in spite of major snow storm. virginie is a camera-woman that p. met on a trip to cuba many years ago. she is married to raoul from senegal and they have a daughter, cassandra, who is 10. they are interesting people. virginie does work for a travel channel. it’s especially great to see them because cassandra does not speak any english, so jj is forced to practice her french. even jj appreciates that. 

marie m. came over too. we haven’t seen her since she came for brunch a couple of months ago. she brought some champagne. p. went to the bistro across the street to get oysters. i made chinese food – fried marinated flank steak, shrimp in pepper sauce (without the hot pepper – from the time-life chinese cookbook – one of my favorites – easy to prep ahead of time and then cook at last minute), green beans, and rice. jj and p bought ice cream for dessert, from amorino, the fancy ice cream store. at first, i didn’t think that was special enough for dinner. in fact, it was fantastic and delicious! they got 3 flavors – “speculos” is a cinnamon cookie, coffee and mango. 

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Chinese [Deep Fried] Flank Steak

Sauce:     Combine following ingredients

3 Tbsp Soy Sauce

1 Tbsp Oyster Sauce

1 Tbsp Sherry or Mirin

1 tsp Sugar

1 ½ tsp Cornstarch

¼ tsp salt

1 egg

1 scallion

1 tsp Grated Ginger

Beef:

1 – 2 lbs Flank steak

Beat the steak with the back of a knife.  Cut into bite size pieces or 2.5” square approximately.  1 lb would make 4 -6 pieces.  Marinate the pieces in the sauce overnight.

Deep Fry or Pan fry in oil (high temp) 5 mins each side.

lots of korean food

third day of organizing the health care papers. was successful in getting all the papers i needed and sending them off. though of course, we are now heading into the christmas week and i think everyone has gone off on holiday. 

i went to a cheap little korean luncheonette, that had been recommended. i liked it.  i had a cold bibimbop.  it was cheap, good and healthy with all the veggies.  i actually was able to bring the dog in, and went for a walk afterwards with him.

p has been working very hard, and got delayed again in the evening to “put out a big fire”. i had wanted to bring us all to an indian restaurant for dinner, but since p was the one who liked indian food, it didn’t make much sense. jj insisted on korean food, so we went to a different korean restaurant. i tried to order something different in ordering a hot bibimbop, but in the end it was pretty similar to my lunch. oh well.

christmas windows

it snowed today.

i had ordered a book, created by one of the conversation group moms. she is danish, but had been living in london and then oxford for 20 years. she had put together a beautiful coffee table book on the seasons in oxford, that i thought would be a nice gift for p’s parents, who live there. jj came with me over to the author's house to have her sign the book.  since she lives very close to the big department stores, we went over to look at the holiday windows. the “printemps” windows were very fun, with little fairy type people preparing for a 19th century like feast. beautifully done, magically lit, fun little scenes with the characters running and jumping around. in contrast, the “galleries lafayette” windows felt brash and without subtlety. the las vegas of holiday windows, they had animated the commercial toys that were for sale for christmas. standard mass produced toys and dolls stiffly moving their arms or legs in a brightly lit, saturated color scheme.

anyway, it was fun seeing all the windows and it felt very christmasy with all the snow.

champagne morning

today’s conversation group was our holiday celebration. we had brought 4 bottles of champagne, even though here were only about 12 of us, and it was 9:30 in the morning. we didn’t actually get through all four bottles, though.

our hostess teaches violin and viola and played us a little concert on the viola. then the ladies were asking for christmas carols. she played one, but it seemed to be the harmony part, so (having had some champagne) i picked up the violin that was hanging on the stand. since it was just christmas carols, i knew the melodies and could mostly feel my way through them. it was really fun. i normally am shy about playing in front of people but this group felt very safe. i really enjoyed it.

just a pic

aix, day 2

we got up late and walked to the “pavillon de vendome”. this is an old mansion with a beautiful garden. it was built in the 17th century by the duke of vendome for his mistress. (actually, i’d call her his lover, since they were both already widowed when they were together). we had sandwiches, and then walked over to cezanne’s studio, which unfortunately, was closed. on our way out of town we stopped by an outdoor market called the “foire au santon”. we discovered that the “santon” are the little figurines typically made to elaborate the creche scenes. little houses, little people – bakers, farmers, etc, little farm animals. most were hand painted. jj happens to love these things. so she enjoyed looking at them all. i picked one of her favorites to put in her stocking for christmas. then we headed home on the train

day in aix

got into the apartment in aix last night around 11pm. this morning we went down to the main drag in aix to find a cafe for breakfast. my only requirement was that it had to be in the sun. it wasn’t easy because everyone else had the same idea, but finally we found a spot. the temperature was around 40-45, so it wasn't as warm as we had hoped. 
after breakfast, we strolled and did some shopping in the christmas markets – little shacks lined along the street selling gifts. they had very nice things.  amy had left in a hurry and had left some things in the apt. their friends deb and steve? came over to pick up some of those things to bring back with them at christmas. they were telling us about a dinner they had the night before at some friend’s house who used to be a gallery owner. they were describing this painting that seemed like graffiti, but apparently was worth 3 million dollars. i asked if it was a basquiat painting, and they were blown away, because, indeed it was. they were not familiar with him, but it seemed to fit the description. i actually loved hearing them rail about how something so crude could be worth so much. strangely, i found myself justifying it to them.

for dinner we went into town and found a little restaurant on a quiet square. was pretty good and reasonable for aix – which is normally as expensive as paris. the dinner started off quite well, with an attentive waiter, but as the evening continued we lost his attention. we ended up being in the restaurant for 3 hours, and longer than anyone around us. maybe it’s because they know we’re foreigners, or because jj sent her undercooked meat back. it drives p. crazy that it always takes so long for a meal.

more lunch

electrician came this morning to fix something and in keeping with the universal code of workmen, came at the last possible moment. he had promised to come at 8:30,but was delayed and didn’t come until 12:15 – when i had to leave at 12:30; but amazingly, he actually fixed our problem. 

i went to have lunch with miriam, a mom i had known when jj was in the french school in san francisco. she has just moved back to paris as well. we met at “le timbre” restaurant which means “postage stamp” which was apt, since it was a tiny restaurant. it has been getting a bit of a good name. it was very good and very reasonably priced. it is actually run by an englishman. scandalous!  

afterwards, i had to take maynard over to the dogsitters, since we are going to aix-en-provence for the weekend. amy and bob have left to go back to oakland, ca, and we are getting to use their apt. looking forward to slightly warmer weather. amazingly it only takes 3 hours to get down there by the TGV (very fast train). if we were driving, it would take 8 hours or so.

lunch at "la gitane"

had a lunch with 3 other moms. tried out another local restaurant called “la gitane” (the gypsy). it was very traditional french, serving things like kidneys, calves head, liver, etc. they did not have a fixed price menu which normally makes things a bit cheaper. plus, it took a long time to get through lunch. i think we were there for 2 hours. i wasn’t really excited by it and will probably not go back.

auditions

jj had 2 auditions this week on her violin. one for a holiday benefit concert hosted by the school and the other to join a youth orchestra. she did well in both. she will begin working with the orchestra in january. the first rehearsal for her will be a weekend away – with 3 rehearsals. her friend from school is also in the orchestra, so that will be fun for them.

potluck lunch

the moms group organizes social potlucks for parents. there are limited spaces and it gets full very quickly. i leaped on the invitation last month and got a place, and today was the day. it was hosted by a korean american woman who had lived in several countries with her family, before coming to paris. she had one of those classic, haussman era, beautiful huge apartments in the 16th arrondissement. it is the parisien mansion, with its high ceilings, large entryway with ceiling to floor stained glass windows, and huge living room decorated with beautiful modern paintings. it was a lunch, which felt a little weird, since it was basically a party for the adults while their kid were in school. in general, the potluck is an easy way of meeting more of the parent community. people easily introduce themselves and chat. i met a woman who is an art critic/writer for a prominent art magazine. (she recommended some galleries for me to visit). the food was great too. i have already signed up for the next one.

more health research

went running around trying to figure out more about the health care system.

bhv and felafel

today our conversation group went to the home of a lady who is russian and speaks french pretty well, but wants to work on her english.
afterwards i went over to a store called bhv – bazaar hotel de ville. it is a department store but in the basement it is like a super hardware store carrying everything that you didn’t realize you needed. all kinds of stuff to fix your electric devices, screws, nails, even stuff to fix your own shoes if you want. got some timers for our radiators and all kinds of little things and the bill came up to $150! not cheap but full coverage.
went to the marais (jewish quarter/gay quarter, very old quarter, very hip) to go get some felafel at “ l’as du felafel” on rue de rosier. i had been trying to go there for ages. i heard they were good, and very cheap. even though i am not a felafel devotee, i wanted to try them. in fact, the felafel was fantastic! the bread was fresh, the felafel light and the sandwich included all kinds of nice raw veggies. i highly recommend it! (and i think it cost $5 for lunch).

health care

p. has given me the task of wading through the health care documents to decide what to buy. i had put it off because it seemed like a daunting task. finally, today i made myself try to decipher it. i really tried hard but couldn’t understand a thing. after he came home, i asked him some questions and in fact, the day was not totally wasted. it got me to a slightly deeper level of understanding and the ability to work on it a little more. i spoke further with various offices and am starting to get it.
we have national health insurance because he started a company (and is an eu citizen). the national health care pays something like 70% of the nationally approved price for treatment. then it is up to us to buy a supplemental insurance called a “mutuelle” to top up the rest. some doctors or treatments charge more than the approved price, and depending on what policy you get, the mutuelle can pay some or all of that. if one of us were working full time for a company, that company might have their own mutuelle coverage. through this process, i discovered that our new doctor charges what the french consider and exorbitant amount. for a normal doctor’s visit, the charge should be around 22 euros. 44 would be a lot, but acceptable. our doctor charges 80. maybe she can charge that because she speaks english, but guess i’ll be looking for another doctor.

wine fair

today was the wine fair – 300 independent vineyards presenting their wines in a big exhibition space. our friend, the macon wine producer, in whose rental house we had stayed when jj was first born and who we had reconnected with on our trip through burgundy in august, had sent us free tickets. we arrived around 5pm and people were coming out of the show with handcarts piled with cases of wine. “wow”, i thought, “they really came prepared – bringing their handcarts. if the show were well organized they’d have a stand selling handcarts”. in fact, as we walked in, there was a stand selling handcarts! the wine was all from small independent vineyards and a lot of the prices were very good. each booth was marked by color signifying the type of wine based on region, ie. burgundy, bordeaux, sancerre etc. there were too many booths and too many types of wine. i decided to focus on bordeaux wines, and then reduced the field to st.emilion bordeaux and then further narrowed it to st. emilion grand cru wines. i really can’t taste more than a few different wines before my tastebuds get confused. we did some tastings and then went to our friend and bought some cheap whites. it does make sense, though to come here and taste a bunch and then buy a few cases to last for a while.

thanksgiving

spent most of the afternoon shopping and cooking for thanksgiving even though all i was supposed to make was mashed potatoes and dessert. i made some gravy (decided to make from scratch so made chicken stock from roast chicken carcass and proceeded from there). also made a french lemon tart – which actually came out a bit thin – realized that not using real measuring cups caused problems. must get myself some. and made some appetizers. then went to jj’s friend’s house in the 16th arrondissement – a beautiful spacious apartment.
we were in her neighborhood, almost to her apartment, when we walked by a lady, who stopped and said in english – “excuse me, i think i know you. aren’t you p and c? catja’s friends?” amazingly, we had met the friend of a friend 17 years earlier – and i think we only met twice or so. she recognized us as we walked by. we will get together with her soon.
thanksgiving dinner was nice, but somehow didn’t really feel like thanksgiving as much as a nice dinner party. jj’s girl gang friends and their parents were there as well as a french couple who are parents of the same school. one more hint in the school culture puzzle was learned from them. they said that part of the problem with the teachers is that they are very badly paid and not a happy bunch because of it. apparently they get paid something like 24K for the year, which is really poverty level, if they had to live on it. that’s the equivalent of being paid 24k and trying to live in manhattan... sadly that’s one of those common things – that teachers are paid so badly. they said there are lots of women whose husbands make enough money to support them. they also said that their children don't tell told them crazy stories about the teachers, like our children do. they said their kids probably are so used to the teachers acting this way that there was nothing out of the ordinary to report to the parents.

"bernard 15" restaurant

i actually got myself to paint all day today – feeling pressured to get some stuff done. was exhausted by the end of the day. jj went to a sleepover, even though i told her originally that she shouldn’t go because she had feeling ill. but she popped out of bed this morning saying “i feel fine! really. i can go on the sleepover.” so i gave in. we’ll see if she stays healthy. when p came home we went to try a restaurant that amy and bob had found through a friend who lives locally. it was a very good 2 course meal, for only 17 euros, and right around the corner. it’s called “bernard 15” on rue des entrepreneurs. nice ambiance and even a bit fancy feeling with its white tablecloths. a very good standby.

school discussion

this morning the mom organizers of the school had a workshop for the “adaptation” moms – that is to say, the new expat moms with kids in the special “adaptation” class. they are very good at being a support for all of us going through the adjustment of life in france and at the school. they were there to hear any particular problems our kids might be having and to give us a pep talk. they had some very good points and good advice. they had ideas on how we could get our kids exposed to speaking french more, like vacation camps and after school activities. in addition, they emphasized the amazing education our kids will have being here and the value of coming out of this school. it was very encouraging. i came out convinced that we should stay for 4 years so jj could finish high school.
after the workshop, a few of us went to have sushi in a great little sushi bar called "comme les poissons". “little” was no exaggeration as there were only 8 seats, which made it fun and cozy. the sushi was real sushi, as opposed to the fake sushi you find all over paris – run by koreans and chinese and run of the mill. this was excellent sushi and reasonably priced.
today is also thanksgiving, so i decided at the last minute to make something special. i was influenced by the other american moms doing the same. we are going to have a thanksgiving celebration on saturday, but i made duck today – duck breast with raspberry sauce. i sort of overcooked the duck since i’m still learning our oven, but it was ok. unfortunately, jj says she feels like she is getting sick. need to get her to bed early.

private french lessons

i started taking lessons today from a woman called emily. she is actually an american, but has taught french for a long time. her selling point was that because she had to learn french as an american, she knows the pitfalls and the tricks to help another american do the same. we meet in a cafe for a private lesson that is reasonably priced. i’ll do this for a while and see how it goes.

wine and cheese tasting

went to my conversation group in the morning and then to a mom sponsored “wine and cheese” tasting lunch. the hostess is a mom at the school who works with a wine group and specializes in bordeaux. we tried 4 wines and many cheeses. she divided the cheeses onto 3 plates categorized as cow, sheep and goat cheeses. she believes that white wine is better with cheese, in contrast with the standard accepted red. but, i love red wine with cheese. in trying both combinations, it seems to me that cheese emphasizes the flavor of the red wine, whereas the white wine emphasizes the flavor of the cheese. so it depends on which thing you’d like to taste more, the wine or cheese.
the 2 reds that she served were excellent and cost only 17 euros through her.  in case you are interested they are:
"chateau la fleur pourret" 2002, a saint emilion grand cru and "chateau beau-site" 2004, a saint estephe

champagne tasting facility

we went to the champagne tasting facility. there was a map of the different sub regions of champagne with a list of producers in each area. you could do champagne tastings here– one glass for 5.50E, 6 glasses for 33E – of the 6 wineries of the month. next time, i will come and try this.  no time today.  headed back on the train.

epernay,champagne

we are heading to champagne to meet p’s parents. they belong to a wine group which has organized a tasting out there. we took an early train, and got a cabin to ride in. we thought we had it to ourselves until the last minute when a lady in her 60's joined us. we started chatting. she was originally from marseille. i decided that this was an opportunity to practice my french so we chatted for the whole trip. we talked lots of “lady-chat”, which i knew would be boring to p, but i was working hard to keep up the conversation. p would take out his book and start reading and she would say “oh, monsieur is very serious...” the trip was very fast – about an hour and a half. p’s parents picked us up from the station and took us to the hotel. jj who had gotten up much earlier than would have been natural for her, lay down and took a nap. then we went off to the event – starting with champagne, then continuing with wine tastings, lunch and more tastings. all the attendees were english who drove over specifically for the event. the champagne was nice and at very good price of 14 E/bottle, so we bought some. then we went looking for the champagne bar that we had come to 15 years earlier. it was no longer there, so we headed back to the hotel for dinner. it was actually quite good except for the wedding party who brought a marching band into the hotel. that was a bit loud and weird.

jj was doing her homework and showed us some of the questions in her french book:

Choose the dishes that one should eat with the following:
1) a good red wine: a steak, chocolate croissant, oysters, lamb chop or camembert cheese
2) a good white wine: roast chicken, sole, scallops, saucisson, raisin pastry
3) an espresso: ham, bread and butter, mussels, chocolate cake, croissant, ice cream, champagne

knowing what to eat with wine and coffee is considered part of the basic education in france!

more restaurants

a local restaurant that i have been passing often, is called the “veraison” which has a cheap lunch menu and many wines by the glass. i’ve been wanting to try it for a while. we had a “mom” lunch there today. a 13 euro menu with 2 courses and i added a glass of wine. very nice.
amy’s husband, bob arrived and we went to dinner at another restaurant that was recommended called, “ le 7eme vin”. also a place that has many wines by the glass. very nice service, good food and reasonable price.
yes, lots of eating in restaurants happening...

amy in paris

i saved the day to spend with amy. we were heading to the carrousel du louvre for a photography exhibit but decided to have lunch first. one of my favorite little restaurants in my past life in paris, was the “cafe marly” located in the louvre. this is not named after bob marley, but rather, the marly court. the marly court is a collection of sculptures from the town of marly-le-roi, on the outskirts of paris:
"The monumental statuary displayed here was carved for the park of the Château de Marly. Most of the works were commissioned by Louis XIV at the end of his reign. However, the courtyard is dominated by Guillaume Coustou's celebrated Horses of Marly, completed in 1745 under Louis XV."there are a few tables on the inside of the restaurant that overlook this exhibit inside the louvre. i love sitting there watching the museum visitors and the statues. we have sat there in the past, but today the restaurant was full. on the outside you can sit on the terrace overlooking the glass pyramid of the louvre. it was a brisk day, so the outside seating was empty, but they had heaters. so we decided to sit out there. we had a lovely meal – opting for the reasonably priced "prix fixe" lunch menu, we had an appetizer and the supreme de volaille, with mashed potatoes and green beans. very delicious.


the carrousel du louvre is mostly a high end mall, but they have a large exhibition space. the photography show turned out to be a collection of galleries exhibiting the work they have for sale. it was like visiting 100 photo galleries in 2 hours. it covered the full range of photography for sale, from ancient prints of the earliest days of photography to works from the latest hip artists.
afterwards we went to the fancy cafe on the rue de rivoli, called 'angelina".  they are famous for the hot chocolate which can practically "stand up to a spoon".  it is a touristy destination and there was a line - even now in mid winter.  finally, there was a table open for 3-4, and we asked the lady in front of us in line if she'd like to join us, and she accepted.  i had a delicious mille feuille which is a napolean.  we had a lovely conversation (practicing our french) with the lady and it was a very enjoyable experience.  she was very classy.   
that evening we were going to go the restaurant across the way from us, but as we entered we learned that it was the first day of the beaujolais nouveau.  they had a special menu, which included all the beaujolais nouveau you wanted.  i really don't like beaujolais nouveau.  it is a marketing success story, making a big event for a not great wine.  we opted instead to try another restaurant on my list, up the street, called "la gauloise".  this had a lovely ambiance - old french bistro feeling.  the food was reasonably priced and very nice.  i give it an "8".

various tours

amy has gone off for a day trip to the towns of metz and nancy. she loves museums and since she is leaving france (after 3 years of living here) she is on a marathon to see as much as possible. metz has the new "pompidou" museum and nancy is a center of art and architecture has many Art Nouveau buildings. 
i went on a tour called “the ladies of the marais”, a mom orgaized tour. did not believe the warnings to dress very warm since the forecast was for the 40’s, but standing around outside in the damp really does get cold. saw all these wonderful old mansions from the early days – hidden, but open to the public. since jj was on her exam schedule, and was available, made a date to meet for japanese food. she came on her own and we met on the metro platform. we went to a recommended japanese restaurant in the japanese restaurant street. the street has mostly noodle shops – not sushi. i ordered something new to expand my horizons. it was a sort of pancake with vegetables in it, on a bed of bacon. was interesting, but not fabulous. probably won’t order it again. it had a certain brown sauce with a flavor that i can’t readily identify – not my favorite. not hoisin sauce(which i love) but something like it- sort of metallic tasting?

lebanese conversation group

went to conversation group at lebanese/french mom’s house. lebanese cake and custard – delicious. she promises to cook a lebanese lunch for us in new year; my “cousin” amy arrived in paris for a visit.

exam week

this is exam week for jj. she goes in for her one or 2 exams a day, and has the rest of the time off, theoretically for studying. she doesn’t seem too stressed about it, but is working hard. of course, this throws off any routine for me. still not succeeding in getting my 4 hours a day of painting.

piano concert

went to hear a concert given by a pianist who is a friend of a friend. we had met him 15 years ago in paris. he was giving a concert in the american church, focused on jazz pianists of the 20’s. the piano sounded great, but i couldn’t understand anything he said in french or english as he gave historical background to the pieces. the acoustics were terrible for speaking! (can't imagine what services would be like).  the american church hosts free concerts every weekend which is really great. was interested in seeing a plaque in the church referring to the massacre of the huguenots (protestants) in france. i remember reading about this in history, but it was so far removed. it was interesting to be reminded of this here and think about protestants as being the persecuted group.

macaroon class/teriyaki recipe

jj and a friend went to the local cooking store to a macaroon class. the teacher talked very fast and jj wasn’t able to understand everything but they came back with a bunch of macarons. afterwards, we had the friend and her family over for dinner . we made grapefruit- avocado salad, salmon teriyaki, chicken teriyaki and green beans. for dessert we had macaroons.

simple teriyaki marinade:
1 tbsp honey, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp sherry or rice wine, 1 medium clove garlic minced, grated ginger (about 1/4 inch).  marinate fish or meat for at least 1/2 hour - ideally 24 hours - refrigerated - turning at least once.  ziploc bags work great.  pan fry for best flavor approx 5 mins/side (depending on thickness) at medium heat.

party

jj went out with her friends and p and i went to a party. my new friend from doggy walking, the one who has written about the importance of acquaintances, decided to get all her new friends together. we were a collection of english speaking dog walkers, and pilates and yoga classmates. it was really fun. easy to chat with people, because we had been brought together, filtered by a single person. champagne flowed. p and i left at 9 to get jj. though the original invitation said the party was from 7-9, i heard that it went until 3am and they went through 14 bottles of champagne!

marriage certificate

went to the town hall for the 15th arrondissement with p, to get an official statement saying that our marriage certificate was still valid. this was necessary for my official papers. i brought p. along, to prove that we were still married, and expected long lines and a wait to get it. we were surprised on several levels. firstly, that it really didn’t take too long, (though of course there were a few back and forths, having been sent to the wrong place etc). but mostly surprising because no one ever asked for p’s id. so i went in to get proof that i was still married to p, and got it, without ever presenting proof that the person i was with was actually p. just a formality...

dinner with roy

went to meet roy for dinner at the couscous place recommended to him. i’d never had 3 different types of couscous (white, green and black) they were really light and delicate and interesting. was a delicious meal. we met his friend, barbara, who is an american who runs a progressive private school in paris. her children had gone to jj’s school for a while, but she held back talking to us about it. she said she had strong opinions about it. nevertheless, i want to hear her side of things sometime, to help me understand it better. also at dinner were roshinara and her husband.  we had met roshinara years ago, through roy and mary. it was good seeing her again. hardly got to chat with her, since she was across the table, but hope to be able to get together again with her.

school happiness study

there is a new book out in france which is causing waves. “on acheve bien les ecoliers” is by peter gumbel, a british professor at the very prestigious french “grand ecole” science polytechnique (referred to as “science po”). he noticed that his students had a lack of self confidence, even though they were brilliant and the best in the country. he was happy that his own kids would go through the french school system, which has a reputation for turning out a highly educated population. however, as his kids progressed, he was amazed at the stress they seemed be under and that they had regular head-aches and stomach aches because of it. he was shocked at the ambiance in the schools that could be summed up by a phrase that the teachers often used to the children “t’es null”. translated literally as “you are zero” it means “you are useless”. he then did research on various studies done on school systems around the developed world. i was excited that he would be giving a talk at our school. it was a very interesting lecture and i laughed to find out that in fact, he is a dad at our school, so the experience his children were having with stress in the french educational system is in OUR school! he spoke very diplomatically about his book and his kids’ experience, since there were school faculty present in the lecture. i am seeing more and more people who are critical of the school, yet respectful of its high reputation, and appreciative of its strengths. his criticism is more towards the government run ministry of education, the school culture and the grading system.
more background:
our school is considered one of the best in france and very ambitious parents kill to have their kids in it. apparently there are a number of type-A parents, though i haven’t met them yet. i am still a bit isolated with the expat parents. jj had an easier time getting in than any french kid, because the adaptation program is considered a center piece of the school and they need international kids, especially english speaking ones. the kids do have to prove themselves as good students, but it certainly is the easiest way to get in. the rest of the school population is divided into 1/3 english speaking families, 1/3 french speaking families and 1/3 other language families. with so many more applications from locals, this makes the chances for a french kid to get in, very, very tough.
there was another school crisis that did not involve jj. there are 2 french language classes for the adaptation kids. we were told that one was more advanced than the other, but with the backgrounds of the mix of kids that doesn’t seem true. both classes seem to have total beginners along with kids who have a french parent and speak quite well. there have been several shocking stories about the teacher in the “advanced” class. one child was asked in class what she liked to do, and answered “i like to eat” (even though she doesn’t really) and the teacher retorted “that’s why you’re so fat!”. of course, this child is actually very thin and i think it was probably meant as a joke, but these days one shouldn’t comment on a girl’s weight like that.
in addition, this teacher made some other comments which were a bit racist towards the asians in the class. i think she may have thought she was being funny, and her humor may have been acceptable in france 50 years ago. however, this is an international school with kids from all over the world, a school whose mission is to "develop international understanding through bilingual education starting in the nursery years". i was puzzled. to me, the teacher is the school. i assumed that the school, knew these teachers and their style and condoned them. however, many parents complained to the parent group who met with the principal, and this particular teacher was corrected.


back to the lecture:
chatting to some parents and listening to the lecture itself this evening revealed some important clues to me, on my search to understand the secrets of this strange, intense school culture and how the teachers could be the way they are.


1) it turns out that teachers are NOT employees of the school, but of the “ministry of education”. they answer to the government and that is who is their boss. the teacher is assigned to the school and the school cannot fire the teacher; they can only complain to the ministry and in extreme cases, request that a teacher to be transferred.
2) the teachers primary job objective is NOT the education of the children, but rather to follow the program set out by the ministry – which is a day to day schedule of the curriculum. on any given day, they should be teaching specifically what is scheduled for that day. the ministry sends out inspectors to sit in the classrooms and a teacher will get in big trouble for not teaching the scheduled lesson. this perhaps insures a certain measurable standard for the curriculum but does not guarantee that the children will learn anything.
3) lack of pedagogical training – apparently there was an official training program for teachers at one time, but the old version was thrown out for the new version which was very unsuccessful, and so that was thrown out too. apparently, nothing has replaced that. the previous training insured that the teachers were competent in their subject but not necessarily in teaching. many had no actual class experience before being put in the classroom. this is similar to graduate students teaching college classes – with no teaching experience. so, at this time, there is no pedagogical training at all.


through the lecture, one could almost feel the collective of parents breathing a sigh of relief that someone had publicly said what they were thinking all along, and then actually support it with data. though, there were a few questionable charts and statements and one can always doubt the manipulation of data for desired conclusions.
one mom, who has been very successful in creating the parent organization which works closely with the school (which in itself is unheard of, in the normal french school system)– suggested that we raise money to buy a copy of his book for each teacher in the school and have mr. gumbel give a similar talk to all of them. (there were very few teachers present). the woman who seems to be the public face of the school spoke of her frustrated attempts over the years to help reform the national school system and her efforts to move this particular school forward towards enlightenment. the fact that this book has made such waves and caused discussions is a good sign that perhaps france is ready for things to start changing.
at the end of the evening, there was a feeling of hope for the future.

hosted conversation group

had our second conversation group and i hosted it in our apartment. i was a little worried about having 16 people over, but luckily it was only 10 people and there was plenty of space and enough chairs. the session started off well, in french but then as we went into english, it deteriorated. we started discussing slang terms, with my contribution being the usage of “dude” with which the non-americans were not familiar. then things fell further as the british explained to the rest the usage and etymology of some less than polite british terms. we laughed a lot!

tangled at disneyland

our good friend roy, is a producer at disney. he and his wife, mary are jj’s “dog-parents”.  (sort of like god-parents, but in a dyslexic way). we had just been talking about him, thinking that he should be on tour soon, with his new film. in fact, the next day, we got an email from him telling us he would be in town for the pr tour. you will probably have seen the ads for “tangled”, a new version of rapunzel. we all got invited to a special preview screening and were able to bring a friend of jj’s too. the film was beautiful and fun and we’re hoping he has a big hit on his hands. there are some great characters and the computer graphics were very subtly done so, in fact it very much felt like the old disney films. rapunzel’s hair was beautifully done. i loved admiring it throughout the film. the art director, dave, is also a friend of mine from ireland days, and he did a wonderful job. the film is rich and beautiful. dave is also an extremely talented painter.
afterwards, we were able to enter disneyland paris for the day. i was only able to stay a couple of hours, since i had to get back but the day was a bit cold and rainy anyway. the entry of disneyland already had its christmas decorations, and we were amazed that it appeared to be snowing. in fact, it was a well done disney illusion, created with tight clumps of soap bubbles. it was great that we could bring a friend for jj, since it made it much more fun for her.

basquiat show

jj doesn’t go back to school until tomorrow, so i felt we should have a date and do something in paris. it’s too easy for her to hang out at home, so i need to take the initiative. she was a bit outraged that her art teacher had “required” them all to go to an art exhibit over the vacation, but i thought it was a good idea. the teacher had recommended a number of contemporary art shows. the palais de tokyo is one art museum and occupies one half of a big building sitting on the seine. the other half of the building is occupied with the museum of modern art. we had tried to go earlier in the vacation, but there were waiting lines for both, so we had given up. today, we went back and there was a longer line for the basquiat show, but it didn’t look too bad, and i felt we had to do it this time. in fact, there was a lady trying to sell her ticket, so i bought it. since jj is under 25, she would get in for free. so we got to skip the rest of the line.

when basquiat was a hot item in new york, in the 80’s, i had not paid too much attention. he was new on the scene and there was a lot of hype about him. i sort of wrote him off as a gimmick.  now, looking at his paintings, i have to say that i like them. isn't that what happens with famous painters and their work?  with all the exposure, you get used to them, and eventually accept them.  strangely, some of my own paintings (in the “collaboration” series), have a similar feeling – though not as rebellious. it's the “child-like” look. i don’t LOVE his stuff, but i am entertained by it. there were paintings jj liked too. she had to pick 2 of them to write about for school.

october break travelog

thursday:
jj has vacation and p has been at work for 3 weeks so we decided it was time for a vacation, so we’re off on a road trip.
dropped off maynard, with a doggy-sitter, got rental car. picked up p from work (got fairly lost), battled paris rush hour traffic and headed to blois in the loire valley which is chateau country.
blois is a lovely town, 2 hours south of paris, with very old tudor timbered buildings. it had some christmas decorations already up and was quite beautiful. there is a big castle on the hill in town and old roads lined with stone walls.

friday:
we wandered a little in blois in the morning. jj saw an old timbered building with an apartment for rent and she was very excited. she said she wanted to live here. we headed out to the chateau at chambord. one of the more famous chateaus, it was inspired by renaissance italy. it is the largest chateau in the loire valley and king francois I built it as a hunting lodge. he only stayed there a total of 7 weeks and died before it was finished. there was a film about the chateau, complete with computer animation, which very clearly explained the unique design of the chateau. the best part was the double spiral central staircase which were 2 separate intertwining stairways that never intersect. also, the 4 rooms around the staircase were layed out assymetrically like the blades of an old fashioned windmill.

we then drove past limoges to “st leonard de noblat”, a town that had been recommended to us for its porcelain factory. since limoges didn’t seem to have any b&b’s, i booked one in this old walled town.
we went to dinner in town which was totally dead. it was an interesting old town, but apparently everybody had left on the long weekend. we ate dinner in a restaurant that stayed empty except for us and a single older lady. the b&b was also empty, except for us. it was across from an old water mill but was on the main road and a bit scary with its crooked floors, stinky bathroom, and sound of mice scrambling in the walls. jj was a bit nervous at the emptiness of the town.

saturday:
before leaving town, we went to the porcelain factory. i am not excited about limoges porcelain, but the factory had some nice modern stuff at a reasonable price. we didn’t buy anything since it wasn’t nice enough for us to think of carrying it around with us and shipping it back to the u.s.
next, we went to the town, “collonges la rouge”, which was a funky, spooky town with red stone buildings. we had to park on the outskirts of town, since the tiny roads were mostly pedestrian. there seemed to be lots of “witch” themed things, like a witch cafe and a witch souvenir shop which was appropriate since it was halloween. it was fairly quiet, with just a few tourists walking around. i think during tourist season, it would be unbearably crowded.

we then headed for the dordogne region. we had booked a b&b in a spot central to some of the spots we wanted to visit. it was a very nicely kept b&b owned by an english couple. they were very nice and hospitable and it was interesting chatting with them. they retired fairly young and decided to buy this b&b. they loved the area, but it seems the small town mayor hated english people, wasn’t very pleasant and made life a bit difficult. i think the woman was trying to figure out if she actually liked this french life...

that night we had dinner in a local restaurant, which was highly recommended by our hosts.
the dordogne is famous for food and more specifically duck and fois gras. The menu basically had duck,duck,goose (liver)and then more duck. Duck with fois gras, duck stuffed with fois gras, duck rolled in fois gras and then luckily for p, there was fish. the most exciting thing was the my appetizer. It was a salad with gesiers (gizzards), smoked magret (duck breast) and fois gras (of course). It had a little bit of lettuce and then a tomato stuffed with cabecou ice cream. cabecou is a local and famous goat cheese. You heard right - ice cream made of goat cheese. And it was AMAZING! Even jj liked it. I then had pintade (guinea hen) stuffed with (what else...)fois gras and a for dessert a bavardois (custardy dessert) of warm red fruits. Jj had the 7 hour cooked lamb and a meringue with cherries and homemade ice cream. P had a cheese course which in fact was cabecou wrapped in "brick" (thin filo like pastry) and fried. We had a bergerac wine that was quite good.

sunday:
we went to visit the “gouffre de padirac”. this is a long deep limestone cave, carved out by an underground stream. water seeping in deposited calcium to create a variety of crazy shaped structures, like underwater sea creature shapes . it was much more interesting than i thought it would be.
then we went to visit the town of rocamadour – which is a town built on a very, very steep cliff. quite impressive. also a bit touristy, with the main street full of touristy shops, but luckily, because we were in late october, not too crowded. we took a detour looking for a pharmacy that was open, trying to find some aspirin, but failed. we then went to the town of domme, which sits high above the dordogne river valley, which is famous for its stunning views. unfortunately it was dark and we couldn’t see anything. we were hoping to find dinner, thinking that a tourist town would have restaurants open, but the town was quite dead. so instead we went back to a spot on the main road which seemed to have a number of hotels and restaurants. we had a decent meal at a good price, in a hotel which looked like it had the same staff for the last 50 years. it seemed to have clients who had been there that long as well.

monday:
we decided to visit a few towns today and then head back to paris. we started by going back to domme to see the view in the light. domme was still quiet and we didn’t take the time to linger there. we went on to the town called le roc gagnac. this is another town built onto a cliff. it sat right on the main road, across from the river, but as you climbed up the narrow paths, you would find beautiful little stone houses built into the cliff. it seemed to be protected from the wind with the cliff, and had almost a tropical feel, with palm trees and vines clinging to the walls. it was a very small town, but lovely.
then we moved on to beynat, a larger medieval town built on a hill, with a castle on the top. also lovely stone houses and windy roads coming down to the river. we stopped to have lunch at a cafe. then we went to sarlat, which was totally different. it is a medieval city with large stone buildings and walls. it was much larger than the other towns and felt a bit livelier. these towns must be quite unbearable in the summer when they are packed with tourists. we had to skip seeing the last town in the group, , castelnaud-la-chapelle. we’ll have to save that for our next trip. we had to move quickly, since we had one more stop, which was the cave at lascaux. the original cave covered with prehistoric paintings on the walls was discovered by 4 teenage boys in the 1920’s. it was a huge discovery and people started visiting in droves. then the paintings started decaying with all the moisture the throngs of people were bringing in with them and the caves were closed to the public. they then spent 11 years making an exact reproduction of the cave and the paintings. it sounds weird to visit a replica, but, in addition to seeing prehistoric paintings is the allure is to see if looks like a real cave (though of course, one can’t say whether it looks exactly like the original). also, wonderful is to imagine being a teenager making such an important archeological discovery.

we headed home and were back in paris in 6 hours. jj had been a little spooked at being in some of these totally deserted towns and felt great relief to see the living beings out on the street in paris.