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).

A Chateau Fit for a King

Nicolas Fouquet hired famous architecture Louis la Vau, landscape architect André le Notre, and decorator/painter Charles Le Brun to build Vaux le Vicomte.  This trifecta of creative geniuses constructed a chateau fit for a king.

Once built, Fouquet and his wife, threw lavish parties showing off the newly renovated estate.  One such party, which included a new play by Molière and ended with fireworks, was attended by King Louis XIV.  He was impressed that one man could create such a grand residence.

Chocolat

Haute Coutre - en chocolat of course.

Autumn is my favorite season in France, because it marks the start of the salons (expositions).  This is the time of year when there are frequent events where artisans come together to show off their creativity and foodies indulge.  These salons range from large, international expositions to ones organized by small local groups.  All have food finds waiting to be discovered.

Thomas and I try to take full advantage of these events to discover the flavors of our new home.  Friday, Thomas and I went to the Salon du Chocolat.  In two week we'll head to the Salon du Vignerons Indépendents (independent wine makers).  And we are holding our breaths for Salon Saveurs where artisans who make all the good accoutrements that together make up a wonderful evening (prosciutto, cheese, wine, and chocolates).