A Year In Provence
Jan/10
A Year In Provence by Peter Mayle has become an international bestseller and inspired a delightful romantic comedy called A Good Year since it was written and published in the late 1980′s. In it (the book) Mayle, and englishman and his wife purchase a home in the region of Provence in Southern France. The book takes you through the ups and downs of owning a property and taking up residence in the French countryside, where the food and wine is perfection, but renovations of a 200 year old farmhouse can be a slow and sporadic process. The descriptive detail will have you both laughing, drooling and yearning to spend even a month in Provence. The curiosities of the culture of Southern France and the humor that goes along with the story of a foreigner is what makes this book such a delightful and relaxing read. Life seems to move at a slower pace, beauty has a no-frills elegance and pleasure comes with out effort. We were transported us to Provence. Convinced that we too would adore living in this region and jealous that it was not us who actually do.
Immoveable Feast: A Paris Christmas
Jan/10
Immoveable Feast by John Baxter was a wonderful book about how one Australian man prepped a traditional French Christmas feast. The author goes into great detail to describle what it takes to impress Parisian in-laws with a delicious Christmas dinner. Through reading this book I learned a lot about French culture and traditions. The book was quite funny and the descriptions made me so wish I was invited to this feast as well. I highly recommend this book!
Strasbourg, France
Feb/09
We drove down to Strasbourg, France from Utrecht, Netherlands with Bryan’s sister Jimi for two nights before we flew home from Frankfurt, Germany. The city is known for its historic location in the Alsace region, which has been fought over for centuries between France and Germany and retains influence from each. Now officially part of France, the architecture, food and names of city’s streets and residents are a mix of German and French.
When we arrived at our hotel, Bryan went to make what should have been an short trip around the block to the parking spot in the front of our hotel. Instead the one way streets had got him very lost and led him on a tour all around the city. Megan became really worried, thinking he got arrested or maybe even kidnapped. Our first night we dined at the winstub that Jaques Chiraq eats when he is in town, famous for its traditional Alsacian food and atmosphere: Chez Yvonne. It was a delightful meal, complete with complementary headcheese which Bryan dove right into while the girls wearily watched.
The next day we woke up to a frosty Valentine’s day and set out to see the sights. We saw the large cathedral (see street performer video above) and the old quarter of half timbered buildings (above) with sagging roofs that looked like they could cave any minute. We had a run-in with a cranky crepe maker, who thought we wanted 3 crepes, when we only wanted to split one between 3 people. She kept asking us in French, saying louder each time “with what?” and we were trying to tell her “fin!” After much grunting and irritation on her part she let us pay and leave probably thinking we are just some more stupid Americans whose French is inadequate. After a bit of shopping and some delicious bakery bread we returned early to our hotel, unable to get a seat at any restaurant on Valentines Day and watched a movie. We liked Strasbourg, but felt was more like Germany with a French twist!
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