All posts by Rosemary Kneipp

Cycling, France, French customs, Lifestyle, Loire Valley

La Promenade – Paris-Mont St.Michel Route Gets New Name: La Veloscenie – Blame France

4 Comments

Many of the Anglophone bloggers who live in France are off on their summer holidays at the moment, often taking a break from blogging, which has given me the chance to discover some new blogs, in particular that of Gaynor B. from La Petite Presse who spends the summer in the Loire Valley. She takes us to a very enticing restaurant called La Promenade. This time, Experience France by Bike gives an exhaustive explanation of the bike route that connects up Paris and Le Mont Saint Michel – a mere 442 k!  Bread is Pain explains how, if you live in France, you can blame everything negative that ever happens to you on that very fact and not take any responsibility for anything you do! Enjoy!

La Promenade

by Gaynor B. from La Petite Presse who divides her time between the UK and the small village of Le Petit-Pressigny in the Touraine Sud area of France

We seem to have a ‘nose’ for picking homes in small villages with excellent places to eat. In Staffordshire it is the Hollybush, and in Le Petit-Pressigny La Promenade and Le Bon Coin. Different in price and ambiance but each offering good quality food. Last week we ate at La Promenade which is a Michelin starred restaurant run by Jacky Dallais. The food was fantastic and the wines of excellent quality and value. We’ve eaten here before and really think that it is an experience to savour and better shared with other people. Our partners in the gourmet experience this time were Maureen, John and their son Daniel (who live near to us in the UK and have a lovely home and gite near Chatillion sur Indre) together with Nick and Janet. Read more.

Paris-Mont St.Michel Route Gets New Name: La Veloscenie

by Experience France by Bike, an American who loves biking anywhere in Europe, but especially France, which has the perfect combination of safe bike routes, great food, great weather and history.

If there are any more long-distance bike routes developed in France, I am definitely going to need to relocate so that I have more time to explore all of them!  This summer has already seen the grand opening of La Velodyssee, the Atlantic Coast route which I wrote about for 2 weeks in May. Now, the much talked about Paris-Mont-Saint-Michel route has introduced a new name, a new website, and significant improvements to the route. The new website for La Veloscenie is only in French, good for my French readers, but not for the rest of us.  So here are some key details about this itinerary in case you want to consider it for a future trip. Read more

Blame France

by Bread is Pain, a 30-something American living in the Rhone-Alps, and slowly eating and drinking herself through the country

Narrator’s Voice is heard: 

“Does this ever happen to you?”

Queue photos of a woman carrying a grocery bag that breaks, a man having a car splash water on him, a couple having the doors to a theater shut in their face.

“Do you ever feel like you just want to throw in the towel, like the world just isn’t on your side?”

Show image of unattractive depressed person looking out a window on a rainy day.

“What if you could change all that?  What if I told you that there is a way that you could never have a bad day again and nothing will ever be your fault?”

The word “HOPE” flashes across the screen. Read more.

Art, France, Lifestyle, Paris

My Favourite Exhibition in Paris this Summer and a Fun Fair

6 Comments

I love the Tuileries Gardens in the late afternoon in summer. The crowds have died down and if it’s a fine day, the sunset will turn the Louvre a lovely shade of pink. There are four fountains, each with a different view. Just pick a chair and take it all in! But first, make sure you go to the free Ahae exhibition in a temporary installation on the Concorde end, just before the Orangery.

I’ve now been twice and each time, the effect when I leave the exhibition is the same – a wonderful feeling of lightness and serenity. Ahae is a Korean photographer who took 2 million photos over a period of three years from the SAME WINDOW. Not just any window, of course. He looks out onto a pond, maple trees and mountains. And not just any photographer either. His high-tech equipment includes a 1200 mm lens. The stunning result is often more like an impressionist painting than a photograph.

I particularly like his photos of birds in trees or in flight, although the dragonflies perched on reeds in the middle of the pond are not bad either!

When we left the exhibition, Relationnel suggested we take a walk through the fun fair on the other side. Not really my scene but it was actually quite amusing. The first attraction, for small children, consists of a series of large plastic see-through balls floating on water. Each blown-up ball has a zipper. The operator pulls the ball up onto the landing stage and opens the zipper. The child crawls in, the zipper is closed and the operator sends in a blast of air to fill it again. He then pushes the ball into the water. The children all seemed to be having a whale of a time crawling on the bottom of the ball and making it turn around.

However, when I saw the getting-in process, I couldn’t possibly imagine Black Cat at 3 or even 6 for that matter, being zippered into a plastic ball, having air blasted at her, then being thrown into the water in a ball she couldn’t get out of. I watched the next child come along and was not surprised to hear her scream as soon as the air was fed in. The operator undid the zip and she got out, sobbing. However, another little girl, who had just finished her ride, asked if she could go instead, so I guess it’s something you get used to.

Maybe it’s all in preparation for the most horrendous (adult) ride of all – a large arm with an 8-person swing on each end – that had everyone goggling. Relationnel was fascinated watching the riders’ faces. I couldn’t even look at it without feeling ill!  He said they all looked as though they’d had enough after one round, but it then starts turning in the opposite direction. Strong sensations are not my thing, I’m afraid.

Even the traditional ferris wheel is not within my possibilities but it’s much more attractive, particularly in the late afternoon!

Practical information:
The Ahae exhibition is open every day from 10 am to 10 pm and the Tuileries Gardens from 7 am to 11 pm. Until 19th August.
France, Sightseeing

Monday’s Travel Photos – Orange, France

1 Comment

I’ve always thought that Orange was a strange name for a town. Located 200 k south of Lyon, in the Vaucluse, it was founded in 35 BC under the name of Colonia Julia Secundanorum Arausio, supposedly after a local Celt. How it went from Arausio to Auranjo to Orange, no one seems to know but there were so many different populations around at the time that anything is possible! However, it is now famous for its Arc of Triumph on the old Via Agrippa, more than 2,000 years old and in excellent condition, and its Antique Theatre, one of the best preserved in the world. We began the visit with a short film and were then given headsets and strolled around listening to the excellent commentary. There isn’t much else to see in the town, but the Arc of Triumph and the theatre are well worth a visit.

Arc of Triumph, Orange
Arc of Triumph seen from one side
Antique Theatre, Orange
Front stage of antigue theatre

 

Tiers, antique theatre
Behind the tiers in the antique theatre
France, Lifestyle

Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo

16 Comments

You may remember back in May when I woke up alive for the 3rd day running after smashing my head into a very low authentic Renaissance beam at Closerie Falaiseau that you are supposed to duck under to go into one of the rooms.

Well, this may just be the sequel.

It’s Monday morning. I wake up with a slight headache, get dressed and have breakfast. I read my emails and discover, to my great dismay, that I have MIXED UP the dates of the big family reunion in Australia and Black Cat and her Dutchman have just bought their tickets, missing the reunion by a couple of days.

I phone Black Cat to see whether the tickets can be exchanged. I suddenly feel terribly nauseous.  I feel so bad that I go and lie down. I sleep for a while and am woken up by the phone ringing in the office. I answer it. A client is asking for a deadline for an enormous translation and I try and concentrate. I actually feel fine. As the conversation comes to an end, I feel desperately nauseous again. I get up and my head starts pounding. I feel a little dizzy. I grab a plastic basin and head for the bedroom.

I sleep again and am woken by skype. The headache and the nausea seem to have disappeared. I go into my office and talk to Leonardo for a while, even phoning my accountant to answer a question about the French company he’s finally getting around to closing. The nausea suddenly hits me again. I make a beeline for the bathroom and, limp and hagged, make my way back to the bedroom.

After a while, the nausea disappears but the headache stays. When Relationnel comes home for lunch, I tell him I need a doctor. He phones S.O.S. medecins (normal doctors don’t do house calls any more and mine’s on holiday anyway). The doctor, looking young and spruce, arrives within ten minutes, which is totally unheard of. It turns out he was very close by. You usually have to wait for at least a couple of hours.

He asks me a few questions, examines me quickly and gets me to sit up. He forces my head suddenly in one direction, then in another.  He crosses my arms and PUSHES ME, almost without warning, on to the bed on my left side. He pulls me back up and asks me if I feel dizzy. He repeats the performance twice, once on my right side and once on my back. By then, the nausea has really set in. He gets me to stand up. The dizziness has disappeared.

He then explains that I have something called “vertige paroxystique” and explains that one of the little crystals you have in your ear to help keep your balance has escaped from its normal home and is causing the problem. Relationnel hears this from the doorway and thinks the doctor’s a complete fake. But I know that he’s right. He explains why he’s ruled out other possibilities – no fever, the fact that lying down improves the nausea and dizziness, etc. I ask how you get it and he says it is usually caused by a head injury, infection, or other disorder of the inner ear, or may have degenerated because of advanced age. I have no hesitation in eliminating the last reason and choosing the first!

He then writes out a prescription to see a physiotherapist and gives me something for the headache and nausea. Relationnel spends the next one and a half hours trying to find a physio who knows what he’s talking about, is not on holidays and is willing to make a house call. He’s about to give up, suggesting that it might improve spontaneously anyway, when he finds someone close by who says it’s his speciality. Bingo!

I sleep for the next few hours. A very friendly young man arrives at 6.30 and explains the crystal business in greater detail. He then does a few manipulations, nowhere near as violent as the doctor’s, and is a bit worried because I don’t seem to have a normal “clinical” case.

He finally leaves, particularly as the nausea seems to have abated and the headache and dizziness have disappeared, saying he’ll come back next day with his infrared glasses to test my pupils. He tells me that I should rest for a bit then get up and about. I do so and by the time Black Cat arrives for our weekly dinner, I’m able to prepare the meal with her help and eat.

Next morning, I feel tired, but all the other symptoms have disappeared.

All I can say is THANK GOD FOR PUSHY DOCTORS!

Thailand

My Incredible Bangkok Adventure # 1

5 Comments

We’ve got a day in Bangkok, having flown in from Australia late the night before and flying out again to Paris in the evening. We’re standing in the street, just in front of the Old Bangkok Inn, where we’ve been staying. The temperature is already high and Relationnel is checking which direction to go. A young man stops to help us. I finally understand that, for some unknown reason, the yellow “tuktuks” (sort of motorised rickshaws), are offering three religious visits for 20 baht (which is next to nothing). He flags one down and tells him where to take us.

Wat Benchamabophit Dusitvanaram white marble temple

We get in and chug off. The roof is too low, it’s hot and we’re surrounded by car fumes. The first site he takes us to is the marble temple of Wat Benchamabophit Dusitvanaram, built in the early 20th century. It’s quite ravishing with its little canals, varnished tiles and brightly coloured façades, not to mention a gallery with 53 buddhas. When we come out, the tuktuk driver is waiting for us.

One of the 53 buddhas at Wat Benchamabophit Dusitvanaram

Next stop, Wat Intharawihan with its 32-metre high buddha. At the stop of a staircase, we overlook the old wooden houses below. We find our driver again and he takes us to our 3rd destination, the temple of the Lucky Buddha. Unfortunately, it is being renovated. But there we meet a Frenchman who explains the cheap tuktuk story. It’s the Queen’s birthday and during the three-day festivities, the tuktuk drivers get their petrol free. Whence the 20 baht fare.

32-metre high buddha at Wat Intharawihan

He tells us about another “perk” during the festivities. The “government” stores open their doors to the public and do not charge their usual 196% sales tax. He says he is a pâtissier at the Ritz in Paris and that every year, he includes the Queen’s birthday in his travels so that he can buy a matching necklace, earrings and bracelet incrusted with sapphires and rubies at a bargain price and then sell them for twice that to one of the jewellery stores on Place Vendôme (opposite the Ritz).

View of old wooden houses from Wat Intharawihan

We don’t know whether to believe him or not. When we go to pay our tuktuk driver, he suggests taking us to the government stores for clothing or jewellery. We say we’re not interested. He insists (surely he’s in cahoots with the pâtissier) so we decide to visit a jewellery store. We don’t have to buy anything, after all.

We find ourselves in an air-conditioned store, the only customers, but with a large number of sales girls. We look around but don’t see anything to our liking. A very friendly senior saleswoman accompanies us and leads us behind a curtain into another section where the pieces are much more attractive.  I see a beautiful pair of gold and sapphire earrings and am encouraged to try them on.  My very generous husband insists on buying them for me and negociates the price.

My sapphire and gold earrings

A cold Pepsi arrives for each of us while waiting for the certificate of authenticity and the receipt to be prepared. The sales woman warns us about potential thieves following us to the airport and stealing the earrings. She then says to me, “May I give you a present?” Well, considering the price of the earrings, it doesn’t seem that surprising, so I say “why not?” It turns out that she’s lending us her secretary and car for the rest of the day. Relationnel asks how much it’s going to cost. “Nothing.” I ask her why she’s doing this. “To make the last day of your stay in Bangkok memorable”, she replies. She asks us for 20 baht to pay off our tuktuk driver and we follow the secretary outside to her car. It turns out to be an air-conditioned four-wheel drive!

Watch out for the next instalment …

Cooking, France, Paris, Restaurants, Sightseeing, Wine

Lunch Cruise on the Seine – Paris Restaurants: My Short List for What Stays Open in August (2012) – Gigondas: perfect food, wines & weather… and a good idea

Leave a comment

The wonderful weather is more or less lasting so make the most of it! Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris, took a lunch cruise on the Seine this week, Abby from Paris Weekender checked out a few places to eat and drink that are staying open in Paris during August, when nearly everything shuts down, while fellow Australian, Lincoln from Vinosolex, whose blog I have just discovered, tells us about a wonderful food pairing celebration in Gigondas. Enjoy!

Lunch Cruise on the Seine: Tourists Get to Have all the Fun!

by Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris, an American by birth, Swiss by marriage, resident of Paris with a Navigo Pass for the metro that she feels compelled to use

Dinner at Le Dôme, shopping at Galeries Lafayette, riding around the gardens of Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte in a golf cart – sometimes it seems that tourists get to have all of the fun. Fortunately, my father-in-law’s visit gave Stephane and me a very good reason to momentarily forget about the long list of things that we still need to do before we travel to the U.K. on Thursday and savor the beauty of Paris.

If you haven’t already done a Bateaux Parisian lunch or dinner cruise on the Seine, I hope that this photo report will give you a good idea of what to expect: panoramic views of many of the most important monuments, live musical entertainment and a better-than-expected meal. Read more.

Paris Restaurants: My Short List for What Stays Open in August (2012)

by Abby from Paris Weekender, an American living in Paris who offers suggestions for Paris weekends, either staying put or getting out of town

Paris is notorious for shutting down in the month of August.  Last year, I gave you my short list of top restaurants that stay open for all or a good part of the month.  And I figured it would be helpful to have an update for 2012!  See my Crème de la Crème list for more details on each establishment. Read more.

Gigondas: perfect food, wines & weather… and a good idea

by Lincoln from Vinosolex, an Australian now living in Provence visits France’s vineyards on a 1968-model Solex motor bike. Discovering the magic of France at the right pace, with a focus on the Rhone valley.

There are good ideas and very good ideas.
This was a very very good idea.

The young vignerons of Gigondas convinced four of the region’s best cooks to come along to the village’s central square and cook to their hearts’ content. Then they got twenty of the appellation’s vignerons to roll out their barrels and pull out their corkscrews. They threw the gig open to the public for the very modest price of 25€ and waited to see if anyone bit.

 

Art, France, Loire Valley

Profile: John Modesitt, American Impressionist painter in France

1 Comment

You may remember that I talked about our first guests in Blois – the American Impressionist painter, John Modesitt, and his wife, Toshiko – in a previous post entitled A Painter Comes to Stay. For my monthly guest post on My French Life, I skyped John at his home in San Diego to gain more insight into his love of France and his experience painting in the Loire Valley.

Below is an exerpt from the resulting post published on My French Life, the global community of French and francophiles connecting like-minded people in English & French.   

My love of Impressionist painting goes hand in hand with my love for France. So when I discovered that the first guest at my gîte in the Loire Valley was the well-known American Impressionist John Modesitt, I was thrilled.

I was even more delighted when I saw his latest paintings drying on the floor of the kitchen. And I loved and wanted them all! In the end, we chose ‘The Loire at Blois – Noon’ which is now in our living room in Paris. When we retire to Blois in 2014, it will grace the walls of the very house John was staying in when he painted it. Read more.

 

Flowers & gardens, Loire Valley

I Love My Garden

8 Comments

Each time we go to Blois, we fall in love with the garden again. In June, we had masses of honeysuckle and roses. Now the outside fence is lined with light and dark pink hollyhocks. The view as you drive down the street towards the house is quite spectacular.

Inside, the prettiest flowers at the moment are the deep pink hydrangeas. These extraordinary flowers range in colour from a bluish mauve to light or dark pink depending on the aluminium content of the soil. They’re extremely popular in Brittany, where they are usually mauve. We have several bushes in the front garden and nearly a whole wall of them at the side of the house near the bread oven.

The other flower just coming into bloom is the Rose of Sharon, which can be white, pink or mauve. We have one of each! The flowers themselves look surprisingly like hibiscus but the leaves are different and they can grow into quite a large tree. The genus is actually hibiscus syriacus. In French, they are known as altheas. Hollyhocks come from the same family. Our grape vine is producing large bunches of black grapes but Mr Previous Owner told us that the ones that manage to escape the birds aren’t very tasty which is a pity. The wisteria is growing like crazy and still flowering.

Our trumpet creeper seems to be a lot later than most people’s and its lovely dark orange flowers are only just coming into bloom. Next time we’re in Blois, I imagine the whole  vine will be covered. It looks wonderful on the side of the little half-timbered tower on the far corner of the house which also has a tall hollyhock in front.

The two rose bushes we bought from the Orchaise Priory are coming along well. They lost their roses quite quickly after replanting, but we pruned as instructed and there are lots of new buds.  We have a lavendar bush in flower next to one of the them. The roses on the front steps had totally disappeared but are about to flower again as well.

And do you remember those potatoes we planted in the rain in May? Well, we ate the first batch this weekend. Just one plant produced about 10 medium potatoes. We were a bit disappointed though because they’re a little floury. We prefer the sort you bake in the oven. So Jean Michel dug a new patch of ground and we planted some organically-grown ones that we really like and that had sprouted during our two-week absence. They should be ready for picking when we get back from Australia in mid-October.

Burgundy, Cycling, France, French customs, Germany, Paris, Sightseeing, Travelling

Paris Plage on a Saturday – Bacharach-on-the-Rhine – Biking in Burgundy: Upcoming Wine Events and Festivals

4 Comments

This week, even Paris is on holiday.  Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris has captured the essence of Paris Plage which has got off to a wonderful start with exceptional weather. It’s supposed to be 30°C every day this week. Andrea from Destination Europe reports on the delightful little German village of Bacharach-on-the-Rhine whcih will make you want to include it in your next trip to Germany while Experience France by Bike has lots of suggestions for wine festivals and events this summer in Burgundy. You can enjoy them even if you’re not a cyclist!

Sunday’s picture and a song – Paris Plages on a Saturday

by Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris, an American by birth, Swiss by marriage, resident of Paris with a Navigo Pass for the metro that she feels compelled to use

Vamos a la Playa! After weeks of grey skies and rainy weather, Parisians put on their flip flops and swimsuits and headed to the beach this morning. They didn’t have to travel far because the city of Paris has been creating an artificial beach along the Seine for its residents and guests since 2002. With deck chairs, ice cream vendors, bands, street performers and the smell of suntan lotion in the air, Stéphane and I felt as if we had been magically transported to a seaside locale.

To enhance the illusion, here’s the song that used to blast from the speakers of our little Fiat Uno as we whizzed along the highway from Switzerland to the beaches of Italy, Monaco or France. Listening to it now, I realize that it’s not a great song. But in those days, it was synonymous with freedom. No work, no worries…just long luxurious hours spent relaxing on the beach. Read more

Bacharach-on-the-Rhine

by Andrea from Destination Europe, also an Aussie Expat who’s been living in France for the last 5 years, food and travel blogger

While looking for a place to stay in between visits to Trier and Heidelberg, we stumbled across one of the most perfect German villages I’ve ever seen. Bacharach on the Rhine is made up almost exclusively of medieval timber framed houses with the oldest dating from 1368.

Sometimes when visiting Germany I get a bit bored with seeing this kind of architecture everywhere but Bacharach is so quaint and adorable I loved every minute I spent there. Each house is so well preserved and maintained it really is like stepping back in time. Read more

Biking in Burgundy: Upcoming Wine Events and Festivals

by Experience France by Bike, an American who loves biking anywhere in Europe, but especially France, which has the perfect combination of safe bike routes, great food, great weather and history

Are you fortunate enough to be cycling in Burgundy in the next couple of months?  Perhaps bicycling on the Vineyard Trail in the Cote de Beaune, or along the Canal du Centre or Burgundy Canal voies vertes?

If so, why not plan to visit a local wine festival? If you’ve never stumbled upon a festival while touring the French countryside,  you are in for a treat.  They are an experience of a lifetime.  They remind me of old fashioned festivals that I remember going to when I was a kid: lots of food, games, pony rides and music.  And of course wine. Read more

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...