Thanksgiving...sort of

Even the fresh flowers came from our market.

If I had to pick one American holiday that the french would love, it would be Thanksgiving. This food-centric holiday where families gather around the table is something that would appeal to them. They can respect a holiday where the meal focuses on basic farm ingredients that is shared among friends.   And for the same exact reason, Thomas and I love this holiday.  We already love cooking with each other. We love entertaining, and we love sharing with our family and friends.  We would have loved to have celebrated this holiday with the family in the US, but since we could not go home this year, organizing a small dinner party here in France around the Thanksgiving theme is a good second-best option.

Nouveau wine

Thanksgiving might be an important November holiday in the US, but here in France the release of this year's Beaujolais Nouveau at the end of the month is the anticipated event.  It's a huge celebration here - at least in places where wine is sold (markets and grocery stores).  In my opinion it's just an excuse for a party.  It certainly cannot be because of its taste.  The wine is bottled and on the market just weeks after being harvested, so there is not much flavor or complexity to it.  But the release marks the start of the holiday season, so it's associated with a fun and festive atmosphere.  Just like how Thanksgiving in the US headlines the Christmas season, decorations start appearing in earnest throughout the Paris just as the new wine arrives on the scene. The holiday lights start popping up on trees and lamp posts.  Christmas trees and poinsettias are available for purchase.  In fact, the market was extra festive last Saturday.  There was even a special little game to celebrate the Beaujolais. With each purchase at the market, we had a chance to win a bottle of wine.  Chances were good because I think everyone who received the scratch off ticket won a free bottle. I wasn't that excited about the Beaujolais Nouveau, but I was not going to refuse the bottle of wine that Thomas won. Nothing improves the taste of the Beaujolais Nouveau than getting it for free.

King's Garden

In side the king's garden, with Saint Louis 

Cathedral in the back.

Last Tuesday was a holiday in France.  Deciding to take advantage of the day off, we headed to La Potager Du Roi (the king's garden) in Versailles.  We've been to Versailles so many times, it's surprising that it took us this long   Located next to Versailles Palace, the garden and surrounding buildings take you back centuries, and you can easily imagine Louis the XIV's gardener and servants walking the rows of fruit trees and vegetable patches.

Back in the 17th century, the 9 hectare garden provided the produce for Louis the XIV and his court.  Now it's the home of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure du Paysage (The National School of Landscape Architecture).  

European Heritage - old and even older

Scout enjoys European Patrimony Day
with a visit to the chateau gardens.

Each fall, governments all over Europe celebrate their heritage with open houses, lectures, and events at national sites and monuments.  Thomas and I try to take advantage of these events which usually involve exceptional openings, special programs, or discounted entrance fees.

This year we decided to go to Chateau Dampierre, a chateau that we always see on our way to Rambouillet forest, and the national archaeology museum in Saint Germaine en Laye.

Chateau Dampierre was built in the 1700s. It smaller than most of the other chateaus but the warm colors of the stone work , dark orange and sand tones, help make the chateau stand out from the surrounding forests which helps give it a sense of grandeur.  It's gardens were designed by the famous Le Notre but did not have the fanciful shapes and patterns of his other gardens at Versailles, Seaux, and Vaux le Vicomte.  The chateau garden was pleasant to walk around. It had a lovely canal with a garden folly at one end.  From afar, the chateau looks very stately but a closer inspection reveals the neglect of the years - sagging roofs, warped glass, and cracking masonry.  Its a shame that the house itself is in such disrepair.  Hopefully, there is a plan to ensure this little chateau endures for another 300 years.

Walking the Tour du Mount Blanc

When Thomas suggested that we do an epic trek around Mount Blanc earlier this year, I did not fully comprehend what I had agreed to do.  Yes, I  knew it was 170 km long. I did the math. A ten day trek would mean 17 km a day.  I knew it was in the Alps.  But it was  not until the first day of our hike, when we walked the first of many 17 km routes to a height of over 2100 meters that I realized what the next week and a half would entail.

Each day included a hike up, often steep, to the mountain pass as well as a hike back down to the valley.  While we trained over the summer, the little hills we used for training seem piddly - considering it took us maybe five minutes to walk to the top as oppose to two hours on the real deal. I seriously considered throwing in the towel after day two.  Was I strong enough? Was I ready?  Thomas, who successfully climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and has made two attempts to summit Mt. Blanc, would not take no for an answer. For each of my pleas to turn back and give up, his reply was a steady - the only way out was forward.

Les Vacances

Farm land in Ramboulliet (40 minutes south west of Paris).

Starting about mid July, the French take on the serious business of vacations.  From mid-July to mid-August,  Paris witnesses a dearth of Parisians (although the decrease in denizens is equal to the increase in tourists).  Restaurants and bakeries are closed for the summer.  Markets and traffic are at 25% capacity.

Thomas and I find the atmosphere wonderfully calm.  So much so that this year, we decided to stay in town during the summer and take our vacation in September.

Scout goes to Normandy

Some photos from our day trip to Chateau Gaillard - ruins of a medieval fortress. More text to come later.

La Grande Rue

This photo was on an advert for a realty company. It's a photo of our street (Grande Rue). It's undated but it looks to be from the early 20th century.  I don't have a recent photo from the same vantage point, but I've posted a photo from last year of the same street but the top of the hill.  The street still maintains some of its old world charm.

The postcard says that Garches had 4,407 inhabitants. Today the town has expanded both in area as well as inhabitants (18500 today according to the town's website).

Saturday on the Canal Saint Martin

Passing through one of the many the locks on the canal.

After last month's successful chocolate tour that we purchased from Groupon, we decided to scour their site for more touristy discounts.  To our delight we found offers for two site seeing items that we had on our "must see" list: Boat tour on the Canal Saint Martin and Napoleon's Tomb. This sunny Saturday we decided to take the canal tour.

There are three canals in Paris:  Canal St Martin, Canal St Denis, and Canal de l'Ourcq.  Canal St. Martin runs from the Bassin la Villette (a large artifical lake) in the northern 19th arrondissement through the 10th and right into the Seine River.

The French Are Like Coconuts

Molly & Scout in their new home
 (France not the chateau).

They have a saying here in France: Americans are like peaches, and the French are like coconuts.  Meaning that Americans are super friendly and sweet, but once you get beneath the surface, they have a hard center. The French on the other hand, have an almost impenetrable exterior (i.e. difficult to get to know), but once you get through the hard and coarse shell, they have a sweet, soft interior.

The Americans we've met so far have been quite eager to become fast friends.  However since moving to France, it's been our preference to interact with non-Americans.  It could be my Peace Corps mentality, but we wanted to move to Europe so that we could learn and experience a new culture and not creating an anglo bubble in Paris.  So given that we live in a country full of coconuts, if we want to get to know the French, it's necessary to find opportunities to interact with them in their own language.

New year, new chateau

We are rounding out the end of our second year.   Even though our life here is comfortable and at times routine,  we are still trying not to take our situation for granted.  We've continued to make friends, find new sites to visit, and explore our area.  This weekend, we decided to head north of Paris to the Domaine de Chantilly.

The original chateau in this domaine was burned down during the French revolution.  A new one was built the 1870s.  The grounds are stunning (the garden was designed by Andre Le Notre), but the chateau is also the location of the Condé Museum which has an impressive art collection.  Second only to the Louvre (according to Wikipedia).