You are all familiar with Phoebe from Lou Messugo who lives in Nice and has often been featured in this weekly blogger round-up.
Today, she is beginning a new monthly link-up focussing on posts about France from bloggers across the glob. I’ve contributed my post on the Ten Top Châteaux in the Loire Valley. As I’m writing she already has 16 other participants, including such diverse subjects as the 2CV, the tooth fairy, how to talk to your Muslim kids about Charlie Hebdo and the beautiful Alsatian village of Colmar. Enjoy!
All About France #1
by Phoebe from Lou Messugo, a traveller, francophile, expat, mum and foodie now living in Roquefort les Pins where she runs a gîte after many years of travelling and living in Asia, Eastern Europe and Australia.
Welcome to the first All About France blog linky (and my first time hosting a link-up). I’ve been thinking about starting this for a few months now and keep getting side tracked, but there’s no time like the present….So if you write or have written about France in any shape or form then please join in. You don’t have to write regularly about France, an old post about a holiday is perfectly appropriate, for example. Feel free to link old or new posts, as long as they’re about France or French they’re welcome. Read more.
France Info is by far my favourite radio station. I like it because it keeps repeating the news all day so that if you tune off at any time, the same information will soon come round again. I usually listen when I’m cooking or eating by myself. They don’t just do news. They also have regular features such as the meaning of words.
Yesterday, they were talking about the difference between service civiland service civique.
Until it was absolished by Jacques Chirac in 1996, 10 months’ service militaire was compulsory in France for all men over the age of 18 if considered fit. Call-up could be delayed if the conscript was a full-time student in higher education. Conscientious objectors were required to do two years of service civil as opposed to militaire. Nothing to do with our civil service.
Service civil was then replaced by service civique which is voluntary community work open to all young people from 16 to 25. They are paid 573 euros per month for a minimum of 24 hours a week for 6 to 12 months. So service civil no longer exists.
What we call the civil service in Great Britain or the public service in Australia is known as la fonction publique in French. Civil servants are fonctionnaires. Un haut fonctionnaire is a top-ranking civil servant or senior official while un petit fonctionnaire is a minor official.
La fonction publique covers a much broader range of activities than our civil service. There are about three million fonctionnaires (also known as agents de l’Etat). They include teachers, social services staff, post office workers, police officers and employees of the French rail services.
They are recruited by competitive examination and successful candidates are known as titulaires. Because of their almost total job security, they are often stereotyped as having unfair advantages compared to employees in the private sector. It’s certainly easier to get a mortgage or rent an apartment if you’re a fonctionnaire.
Whence expressions such as il a une mentalité de fonctionnaire – he has the mentality of a petty bureaucrat. C’est un vrai fonctionnaire means he’s a petty bureaucrat. Petty of course is a deterioration of the French word “petit”.
Bureaucratealso exists, and is both masculine and feminine. Paperasserie (administrative) is red tape and dates back to the 1500s. Paperasseis paperwork. Which reminds me. I have more forms to fill out. I’m still trying to get my address changed everywhere.
It’s Sunday, the sun is shining brightly, the sky is blue and it’s 8°C. We can hardly believe it after the awful weather we have been having since November.
Sun in the little wood behind our house
We begin with pruning the roses. We have ten climbing roses now and I’m still learning how to do it so Jean Michel explains as we go along.
We are still feeling the aftermath of the terrible terrorist attacks during the week, starting with Charlie Hebdo and ending with four people being killed in a kosher supermarket in Vincennes very close to where I once lived, so a change of scene is welcome.
View from François MItterand bridge with St Nicolas Church and Blois Castle on the left
Whenever we go across François Mitterand bridge in Blois, I am frustrated because I’d like to take photos of the view but there is nowhere to stop before or afterwards much less in the middle.
So we drive to the parking lot halfway between the François Mitterand and Gabriel bridges so that we can walk back to the bridge, cross it, then continue along the Vienne side to Pont Gabriel. We’ll then cross over to the monthly brocante where we recently found andirons for our Renaissance fireplace.
Blois from the Vienne side
I take lots of photos of Blois as we cross the bridge (the sun is in the right direction) and another series as we walk along the river bank on the other side. We’ve often cycled here but it’s much easier to take photos when you’re walking than when you’re cycling!
Blois brocante held on the second Sunday of each month with Vienne in the background
I love the brocante. I’m always amazed and intrigued by the things on sale. You wonder who would buy most of the stuff but I guess that the vendors only really need a handful of sellable things and the rest is just to fill up the stand.
Unusual bellows at the market
It’s still light when we get back home at 5 pm so we decide to treat the moss that is covering most of our grass using the dolomite we bought recently. Last year we bought a product from the garden store that burnt the moss but didn’t destroy it so this time I searched google for something more natural. We’ll see what happens.
Jean Michel then goes to the kitchen to cook dinner. We have just bought two (dead and plucked) free-range ducks through our neighbour Alain. Jean Michel cooked one of the ducks last night for dinner with our next-door neighbours (the ones that bought the house with the poultry yard) using a recipe called the Arabian nights (1001 nuits) with various spices, nuts and dried fruit. It was very good.
Canard à l’orange appropriately served on our Egyptian tablecloth
Up until Jean Michel’s retirement, I was the main cook with Jean Michel as my offsider. He also has a couple of dishes of his own (veal stew and rabbit) that he cooks occasionally in large quantities and then freezes. When we moved, I took over the everyday cooking with his occasional help when he’s not involved in renovation.
I was not initially thrilled at the idea of doing all the cooking on my own because it’s not something I’m passionate about but I saw that I really had no choice in the matter and this retirement game’s too tricky to rock the boat too much … However, Jean Michel has spontaneously increased the number of times he cooks by himself and we now have a good stock of veal, rabbit and chicken dishes in the freezer that I can dip into whenever I want.
The fireplace with the andirons we bought at the brocante
Tonight he’s making the other duck into canard à l’orange which turns out to be very complicated and finicky so we don’t end up eating until 9 pm. But that’s OK. I have lit the fire and am enjoying not having to make the dinner! The breast is a little firm because it’s been cooked a bit too long but the drumstick is excellent and the orange sauce is delicious. I contributed the baked potatoes.
The rest of the duck will go into freezer bags for shepherd’s pie (hachis parmentier). I’m happy he’s found a creative activity that’s also practical and he doesn’t seem to mind that it’s so time-consuming. Vive la retraite!
It’s one of those dull and dreary rainy days in December with little motivation to venture much further than the fireside but our local association, Les Amis des Grouets, is having its annual mulled wine and chestnut evening just down the road at 6 pm and we missed it last year.
This year’s Christmas cake
The Christmas cake is in the oven but this year only Jean Michel was able to stir and make a wish in person. Black Cat and I chatted on skype while I was making the cake (she was ironing in New York!) and she made a virtual wish.
So, umbrellas open, we call in to collect Françoise and Paul on the way. As we get close to the church, we can hear accordion music and see fairy lights.
We pay our annual dues and buy a ticket each. Fortunately, there are a couple of tents (no doubt the same ones that were used for the bread baking day in May when it was also raining …) but surprisingly, the rain lets up completely.
Accordian player
We are given a white paper bag to collect our chestnuts and raffle tickets to get a plastic cup of mulled wine. We’re allowed refills, we’re told.
Quite a few people eventually arrive but very few children which is a pity. However, the ones that are there have a lovely time roasting marshmallows over an open fire.
The chestnut burner is manned by Norbert, who was the baker on bread baking day, and the postman who doesn’t actually live in Les Grouets but likes the neighbourhood so much that he comes back after work.
Roasting marshmallows over the open fire
We are starting to recognise a few people. Françoise introduces a neighbour who is a retired mason and once did some work on our house, but he can’t remember the details.
I explain to his wife how to make foie gras au sel as we spent a fun day last week with Françoise and Paul and Susan and Simon from Days on the Claise teaching them how to devein foie gras ready for Christmas. For a detailed description of our workshop, I suggest you go over to Susan’s blog.
Françoise, Susan, Simon and Paul tasting the vouvray used for the foie gras
In return, the mason’s wife promises to send me her kugelhof recipe. I’m not a great kugelhof fan but it seems this is a variant so I shall try it out for Christmas. Which reminds me that I should also make Liliane’s gingerbread cake as well.
I’m linking this post to Lou Messugo’s Christmas edition of the All About France monthly link-up. For other entries, click here.
I missed last week’s blogger round-up from lack of organisation and general post-move sluggishness but this week I have three great posts to share with you. First, Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris takes us ice skating on the Eiffel Tower and I’m very jealous not to be there myself! Next Anda from Travel Notes and Beyond has published her blogger highlights for 2014 (including my tips and tricks for cycling in Germany) so you’ll have lots of new blogs to discover, from stunning photos of Yellowstone National Park to surreal places you never knew existed. And to finish off, our gifted storyteller Margo Lestz from The Curious Rambler has just published a book on French holidays and traditions, month by month. Enjoy!
Ice skating on the Eiffel Tower! One of the coolest experiences in Paris
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
One of the coolest winter activities has returned to Paris — ice skating on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower! In between your camel spins and double Axels, warm up with a cup of hot chocolate or sip a glass of champagne while admiring the view of the Champ de Mars and the golden dome of Les Invalides. For an extra special evening, time your visit to coincide with the twinkling of the Eiffel Tower’s lights. This magical sight happens every hour on the hour, for five minutes.
If you’re in shape, take the stairs to the first floor 57 meters (187 feet) above the city of Paris. Admission to the rink and the use of skates is included in the 5 euro ticket price. Otherwise, you can take the elevator to the second floor and walk back down to the first floor. Read more
Travel Blogger Round-Up: Highlights for 2014
by Anda from Travel Notes & Beyond, the Opinionated Travelogue of a Photo Maniac, is a Romanian-born citizen of Southern California who has never missed the opportunity to travel.
Hello everyone and welcome to my 2014 Travel Blogger Round-Up. Another year has passed in tumultuous and competitive world of travel blogging. While there are thousands of wonderful posts out there that stimulate your curiosity and spur your desire to travel, I’ll introduce you to some that have caught my eye in 2014. Read more
French Holidays & Traditions
by Margo Lestz from The Curious Rambler, who lives in Nice, France where she likes to bask in the sunshine, study the French language and blog
If you are intrigued by French culture and curious about the history behind French traditions, this book is for you. In it, you’ll find a selection of short stories, written in a lively style, which often reveal little-known, but always fascinating facts about French customs. If you have ever wondered how French Easter eggs are delivered, or why the French walk around with paper fish taped to their backs on the 1st of April, you can find the answers to these questions plus much more in this book. Read more
The exceptional warmth in France (and most of the northern hemisphere from what I can gather) this year has everyone talking – incorrectly as usual – about the été indien which is a literal translation of Indian summer.
A typical day in autumn this year, though technically not an Indian summer because we haven’t had any frost yet and it’s not November 8 yet!
The real meaning of l’été indien is a period of unseasonably warm, dry weather after the first frosts in autumn and just before winter. It occurs either in October or the beginning of November and can last from a few days to more than a week or not happen at all.
Most French people use été indien to mean the warm sunny days that we often get in September and then use été de la Saint-Martin or été de Vireux for what is known as an Indian summer, defined by the US National Weather Service as conditions that are sunny and clear with above normal temperatures, occurring late-September to mid-November. It is usually described as occurring after a killing frost.
The Old Farmer’s Almanac has additional criteria:
“As well as being warm, the atmosphere during Indian summer is hazy or smoky, there is no wind, the barometer is standing high, and the nights are clear and chilly. A moving, cool, shallow polar air mass is converting into a deep, warm, stagnant anticyclone (high pressure) system, which has the effect of causing the haze and large swing in temperature between day and night. The time of occurrence is important: The warm days must follow a spell of cold weather or a good hard frost. The conditions described above must occur between St. Martin’s Day (November 11) and November 20. For over 200 years, The Old Farmer’s Almanac has adhered to the saying, ‘If All Saints’ (November 1) brings out winter, St. Martin’s brings out Indian summer.’ ” Much more strict than our current use.
Saint Martin actually died in Candes on November 8 but the fête de l’été de la Saint-Martin is celebrated on November 11 – don’t ask me why.
Vireux is more problematic. My Robert Etymological Dictionary is still in a carton somewhere (and I can’t find the notebook linking up the carton numbers with their contents …). Vireux normally means noxious but it also comes from virer meaning change, seen in expressions such as virer de tout vent – to be as changeable as a weathercock.
It sound like a plausible explanation, doesn’t it? The idea of changing over to winter.
What do you call an Indian summer in your country?
This week’s Blogger Round-Up begins with Wendy Hollands from Le Franco Phoney who has some very interesting information for the female element, as my father used to say, but you have to read to the end of post to discover what it is. Next, a blog that I haven’t featured before called Le Chic en Rose by another Rosemary, with some very useful information on travelling by train in Switzerland during the winter. To finish off, Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris, with her usual savvy, foundan unusual venue during the European Heritage days in September – the world’s oldest basketball court! Enjoy!
You just don’t see this in the city
by Wendy Hollands from Le Franco Phoney, an Australian who writes about all things French in La Clusaz, Annecy and Haute Savoie as seen by an outsider
Some things are a bit different here in the countryside of France. For instance, how many cities offer a calf as a prize? Here in La Clusaz, it’s a regular thing. You might remember the raffle last year, and now, if you guess the right weight of this calf, she’s yours. She’s worth €200, and if more than one person guesses the weight, the winners share the prize. I’m not quite sure how you share a calf. I guess you take a share of the money instead. Or, as a French friend suggested, meat tray time!
Hang on, hang on. Don’t get too worried just yet. For a start, this is a dairy cow, so she will enjoy eating grass for many more years yet. Also, she was on offer at the Foire de la Croix in La Clusaz last weekend, which is basically a giant cow exchange. Think stock exchange, with moos and poos. Read more
Railway Adventures: Bernina Express Switzerland
by Rosemary from Le Chic en Rose, initially from Yorkshire, now living in Perth in Western Australia who writes of the many things that inspire her including travel, fashion, history, learning languages and spending time with her family
I first went to Switzerland as an 18 year old backpacker with a couple of friends when we could just about afford to get by on bread and cheese from the local Migros. It is certainly not the cheapest destination by any stretch of the imagination! If you are planning on visiting then the Swiss Pass is a must. If you get the timing right you can often get good deals at low season (such as April between the winter skiing and summer hiking seasons). The pass gives you unlimited rail (and bus) travel for 4, 8, 15, 22 days or one month, “free” travel on the boat services on the lakes and admission to 470 Swiss museums. Read more
The World’s Oldest Basketball Court is in Paris
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
If you would have asked me the whereabouts of the world’s oldest basketball court, I would have never guessed that it’s in Paris. Not only does the YMCA court on rue de Trevis hold the distinction of being the world’s oldest, it’s also where the first basketball game in Europe was played.
The court is an exact replica of the one in Springfield, Massachusetts where the game was played for the very first time. On January 20, 1892, Canadian doctor James Naismith introduced basketball, a game intended to keep the students of the International YMCA Training School active during the winter months. Read more
Am I jinxed? Is it because I love my iPhone too much? Is this a subtle message from the Cosmos? Beware, this could talk a long time to tell. You might need a glass of wine.
The Renovated Pigeon House photographed before I dropped the iPhone
One beautiful twilight evening in May, as we were strolling around our neighbourhood in Blois, I wanted to take a photo of a renovated pigeon house but the gate was spoiling the view so I slipped my black iPhone 4S behind the bars. And it dropped. Just like that. And smashed. On the gravel below.
Jean Michel had to climb the gate because no one was home. Not a point in my favour.
Since it is insured against breakage I phoned the insurance company, SRP. I was informed that during the repairs (which could take a couple of weeks), I could have an iPhone on loan as it was part of my insurance.
The replacement iPhone
The replacement iPhone, provided by Orange, was scheduled to arrive next day by Chronopost. Efficient, huh? Well, it didn’t every reach me. It took several days of phoning various people to be told I had to go to the police station to report it as being stolen. The Chronopost website said it had been delivered and signed for. Reporting the theft was not an easy task as I had to argue with the police officer who said I needed the IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) to lodge a complaint.
I didn’t have the IMEI because it wasn’t my Iphone. A more intelligent police officer (that wasn’t hard!) then agreed to register the complaint without the IMEI. I phoned Orange in front of the police officer but I was told it would take two weeks to have the number sent to me by post.
The insurance company
In the meantime, I had to send two documents to the insurance company three times – by email, by uploading them to their website and by snail mail – before they finally registered my request to have the broken glass cover repaired.
But time was running out. The case of the stolen iPhone had not been solved so I couldn’t have a second substitute iPhone while the broken one was being repaired and we were going away on holidays. So I bought a new IPhone, this time a 5 because Jean Michel said he’d take the 4S when it was repaired.
The hot pink iPhone
When I ordered the iPhone 5 over the phone, I hadn’t done my homework properly and got talked into a hot pink 5C whose camera isn’t as good as the 5S but which is considerably cheaper. When it arrived at the Orange shop in Blois (I was not taking any more chances with the post), I went bananas. When I saw it, I knew that I did not want a hot pink iPHone and the only cases I could buy were Micky Mouse and company. A second point against me, maybe even three or four.
I sent it back by Colissimo, paying extra to have it totally insured in case this one disappeared too, then I phoned Orange to order another one once the return had been cleared (this alone required quite a bit of insistence).
The gold iPhone
The next bit is embarrassing and cost me at least ten points. Feeling fragile and jaded by now, I lost it when I ordered the next one and chose a gold 5S. How stupid can you get? If you want to attract an iPhone thief, buy a gold phone. Almost as soon as I got off the phone, I regretted my purchase. It took me an hour to decide to phone back. I was told that there was no problem – the order had not been sent so I could have a black one instead. Relief.
However, I had been told a lie because I received an SMS saying that my gold iPhone order was being processed. No amount of patience or yelling at Orange made any difference. The only way to have a black one was to refuse the gold one when it arrived at the depot, wait for the return to be cleared (2 weeks), order a black one then wait for it to be delivered. We were about to go on our German cycling holiday by then. I was losing more points by the minute.
My Kenzo cover except that the sides of my iPhone are white.
In the end, I decided I would take the gold one which, incidentally turned out to be a sort of burnished colour that doesn’t look even remotely gold, and order the chic-looking black Kenzo case with roses on it that I had been coveting for some time.
The smashed iPhone is sent for repairs
When I was in the car (as a passenger) on the way to Germany, I received a phone call from Orange concerning the gold/black iPhone mess. We don’t want you to have a phone you don’t want, said the lady (???). I explained that I had decided to make do with the gold one and was more interested in having SRP looking after the broken one now (I had still not been told where to sent it). She said she’d make sure I received the instructions for having it repaired as soon as possible.
On 21st July, immediately after we got back from our holiday, I sent off the broken iPhone to the address I had received by email. I would just like to add that there is no way of talking to SRP because you consistenly get a message saying to ring back later.
About a week later, I received a no-reply email from SRP telling me to wipe all my data off the iPhone and giving instructions to do so remotely, which I did.
No news of the smashed iPhone
I did not hear back from them during the month of August but since most places shut down completely anyway, I didn’t think that it was worth pursuing. I scheduled the follow-up for 3rd September since I thought the staff would need a couple of days to tell their co-workers about their summer holidays before they would deal with call.
Then, out of the blue, on 2nd September, about 6 pm, I received a phone call from a man who told me that he had bought an iPhone with a broken case via leboncoin.com for 150 euro but couldn’t use it because it was blocked. A message gave him my number to ring (this is due to Apple’s tracking system).
The smashed iPhone turns up in someone else’s hands
I was completely taken aback. How could someone else have my iPhone, which was supposed to be being repaired by the insurance company? I explained my story and said I’d ring him back after I’d spoken to the insurance company but that I certainly wouldn’t want to pay him 150 euro for my own phone. He reassured me that he would simply give it back to me.
Next day, after many phone calls, I finally managed to declare that my iPhone had been stolen some time between when I sent it by Colissimo and the man’s phone call. I checked the Colissimo website and saw that the last time it had been seen was at the distribution centre in Val d’Oise which meant that SRP had never received it.
I phoned Colissimo and was told that it would take a maximum of 21 days to complete their inquiry and get back to me. That’s when I discovered that I had omitted to ask for extra insurance and would be reimbursed a total of 4 euros if, indeed, they were responsible for the disappearance of my iPhone. I am no longer covered by SPB for that iPhone because the insurance was transferred to my new iPhone as soon as I activated it.
Back to the police station
So I decided to go and report the theft to the police immediately. The odious police officer from the time before recognised me and my lot fell to the least intelligent police woman on duty who took a full hour to lodge my complaint because she found the story so complicated. She was not aided by the fact that she held multiple conversations with any colleague who came in sight and there were a lot of them because there was a complete change of staff while I was there.
The police station from the outside – I didn’t know how they’d react to a photo inside!
Before I read and signed the complaint despite the multiple spelling errors, I phoned the man with iPhone back but I was only able to leave a voice message.
The new iPhone owner calls back
He rang me back later and I tried to get the story right. He explained that he works in IT and had the cover replaced by a friend but it cost him 110 euro (not that he was asking for any money, he said, that was his own problem and would teach him not to buy over the internet). He said, though, that he could have the broken cover put back on (you’d wonder how that would be possible considering the fact that the front was completely smashed).
I told him I’d ring him again after talking to Jean Michel to work out when we could go and collect it and he said he could organise things directly with JM. He even gave me his name.
The sad demise of the smashed iPhone
But Jean Michel does not want us to pursue the matter. He says he doesn’t want an iPhone that has been messed around with. Which I can understand. So I think I’ll just have to write it off as a complete loss. But I still love my iPhone 5S!
P.S. Just discovered that 220 euros have been deducted from my account for the stolen replacement iPhone. Now I have to look after that as well!
We’re off to the sunny French Riviera for this week’s blogger round-up, starting with Margo Lestz from The Curious Rambler who gives a very interesting historical explanation of the August exodus I mentioned recently. Next, Chrissie from Riviera Grapevine introduces us to the wonderful and often unknown wines of the French Mediterranean Coast. To finish off, Mohammad Riza Amirinia from The Good Life France takes us on a cruise down the Canal du Rhone to Sète. Enjoy!
The Grand Vacations: July and August in France
by Margo Lestz from The Curious Rambler, who lives in Nice, France where she likes to bask in the sunshine, study the French language and blog
The French love their holidays. There are lots of them scattered throughout the year but July and August are the months of les grandes vacances, or the “grand vacations”. Most people take two to three weeks off in either July or August. Those who vacation in July are called juillettists (pronounced jwee-yeah-teest) and those who take August holidays are called aoûtiens (pronounced ah-oo-sian). For the sake of simplicity, we’ll call them Julyists and Augustians. Read more
Vineyards of the Alpes Maritimes
by Chrissie from Riviera Grapevine, a Sydney girl living in Nice with an insatiable thirst for the wines of the Var, Alpes Maritimes and Liguria. She happily sells, drinks and blogs about
Did you know that you can enjoy wines from Menton, Mougins and Mandelieu?
As well as Saint-Jeannet, Saint-Paul de Vence, Tourettes-sur-Loup and even theLes Îles de Lérins off Cannes?
There really are vineyards in places least expected along our azure coast!
The aforementioned local vineyards are all classified as IGP, which stands for indication géographique protégée (or vin de pays).
So what’s the difference between an AOC (appellation d’origine contrôlée) and an IGP? Read more
A Cruise on the Canal du Rhône to Sète
By Mohammad Reza Amirinia for The Good Life France, an independent on-line magazine about France and all things French, covering all aspects of daily life including healthcare, finance, utilities, education, property and a whole lot more
A cruise on the beautiful Canal du Rhone is to float deep into the heart of France, a chance to experience the famous nature reserves of the Camargue, a tranquil break that takes in several key destinations on the Rhone to Sète route…
I always dreamed about living on a houseboat and a boat trip starting from Bellegarde on the Canal Du Rhone near Nimes in South West of France was a great opportunity to experience the lifestyle I hankered after…
I arrived at the Port of Bellegarde to take a self-drive cruise with Nicols Boats with my wife and two friends and met with the manager Ralfe, who presented us with a ten-year-old boat, one of their top models. Read more
We’re back in Paris. I feel like a côte de boeuf so I go to the butcher’s on rue Montorgueil. Usually there are three open, today there is only one. In fact, only about one shop in five in Paris is open. There are even restaurants that are closed.
Shut-up shop in rue Colonel Driant
Now it’s Sunday and we’re at the market near Sainte Eustache. There are only about one-third of the usual stalls and even those have limited produce.
Sunday market half-deserted
Most of my clients have shut up shop as well which means I have some free time to see the odd friend who is still in Paris in August!
Free parking space in front of our apartment building
There are spare parking spaces in our street, which is most unusual. Usually, they are bumper-to-bumper. No wonder parking is free.
So where is everybody?
With everything else close, I notice this old butcher’s stall. It seems to be empty now. You can see the meat safe at the back.
The families with beach or country houses are on the coast or in the countryside. If the mother doesn’t work, the father often commutes at weekends. It’s peak time for French holiday makers on the Atlantic and Mediterranean and the airports are over-stretched. Some companies close for the whole of August while others shut down for the week surrounding the 15th August which is a public holiday in France.
Tour Saint Jacques seen from Ile de la Cité
There is a saying that the weather deteriorates after the 15th August weekend, but this year, it got in early! Looks like the end of August might be finer and warmer.
Paris Plage from Quai de la Mégisserie
It’s Sunday afternoon and Jean Michel suggests we go to Paris Plage because we’ve left our bikes in Blois. It’s about 20°C and overcast. We hope it won’t rain.
The panels and broken fence on Pont des Arts
I want to see the love lock situation on Pont des Arts. Currently, nearly 10,000 people have signed the No Love Locks lobby’s petition to have them banned but I can’t see the solution, much as I hate them now, though I initially thought they were fun.
Bouqinistes on Quai de la Mégisserie just before Pont des Arts
It’s easy to find the footbridge – just follow the crowd! The bridge, which used to be one of my favourite places in Paris, is looking sad and ugly, with graffiti-covered panels to replace the sections that have broken off completely and other sections which are moving in that direction.
The Louvre at the Beach
We go down onto the Voies sur Berge below and see a new initiative – the Louvre at the Beach with reproductions of paintings in the Louvre relating to bathing.
Fermob’s red Eiffel Tower
Further along we come to a red Eiffel Tower. When we get up closer, we see that it is made of bistro chairs! The tower, created by Fermob, which has been making chairs since the end of the 19th century, celebrates the Dame de Fer’s 125th anniversary. The 324 folding chairs symbolise the Eiffel Tower’s 324 metres erected for the Universal Exhibition of 1889. It’s a wonder there are no love locks on it yet …
Up close, you can see some of the 324 bistro chairs!
On the whole, there is not much action, but more sand than in previous years. We only see one sculpture.
Sand sculpture at Paris Plage
Right down the end, where there is no more sand, we find a couple of vacant deck chairs so take a selfie before going home via Notre Dame on the other side of the Seine.
Selfie in Paris Plage deck chairs
Maybe next Sunday we’ll visit the other Paris Plage venue near La Villette. We overheard someone saying it was much livelier – though that wouldn’t be hard!
Welcome to the first All About France blog linky (and my first time hosting a link-up). I’ve been thinking about starting this for a few months now and keep getting side tracked, but there’s no time like the present….So if you write or have written about France in any shape or form then please join in. You don’t have to write regularly about France, an old post about a holiday is perfectly appropriate, for example. Feel free to link old or new posts, as long as they’re about France or French they’re welcome. Read more.
