Korea/ France 2015 - France October 14

FRANCE  OCTOBER 14 2015

 One Frenchman asked another, "Who were the Englishmen in the semi finals of the World Cup?"
His friend replied, " They were the referees."

French fact
There are chain supermarkets in Paris in every neighbourhood, but there are still traditional bakeries, cheese shops and butchers everywhere.  Even if the French don't shop traditionally all the time, they know how to!

Us

We have  been busy visiting different places.  We have been into the mountains and across to Arles (about 600 kms) twice.  We have also had the chance to visit people and places new and old.

Food has been a constant joy.  Amazingly Robin has lost 6 kilos.  Considering the amount of bread, cheese and food he has been eating it seems impossible. 

Of course we ate together when all the family arrived.  Here we ate at the campsite, but unfortunately Lexie was unwell and Meg was with her.

How the waitress managed to get the order correct was amazing. We didn't manage to finish the wine!!


Below is breakfast at a boulangerie.  Coffee (see Aileen's hand) and a croissant - 1.80 euro.

Breakfast: coffee and a croissant/pain au chocolate  1.80 euro

  

When we travelled to Arles we stopped at Carcassonne. This is an amazing double walled city, very famous for a dish called Cassoulet.  Of course you can get the recipe from the net but I'll give you my run down,
Leg of a "fat" duck cooked in its own fat, beans, sausage of Toulouse which is very fatty, bacon pieces, pieces of pork skin and fat ... and probably any fat that may be laying around the kitchen.

The result ---- delicious. 

Ducks are very important in the food of the South West.  They make sure they eat every bit.

Duck stomach is delicious and often served as salad.  Obviously the stomach is a tough muscle so it is cooked slowly.  Duck hearts are also popular and served as brochettes.  

Duck stomach

Bread is a must and is used to clean your plate of any sauces or juice (usually blood from rare meat).
You also clean your eating utensils with the bread as they are only removed before cheese so you use them for entree and main meal.

Duck hearts

The food is delicious and ... fatty.  Butter seems to be used on everything but I was reassured when I was told that salted butter is " the problem".

Mushrooms from the forest are found in the markets.

Buying cheese. It was on special..

These are great mushrooms.
I recall eating them before. They have a very tempting name.

Les trompettes de la mort .......



trumpets of the dead......










 

Breakfast at the market.

We are continually moving but enjoying ourselves.

We will update our blog again soon. Actually the next will be mainly a video of the "Grande Elephant."  It is amazing!

LOVE

R & A

Korea/France 2015 ----- France September 2015

France.  September 2015

We arrived in Paris on September 9th.  We caught the Roissy bus into Opera.  This is the common drop off for tourists.  When we arrived there were 3 police cars - arresting 5 pickpockets.  By the time we met the owner of the appartment we'd rented and had something to eat we realised that we were actually going to bed at 4.00am according to our body clock.

Our accommodation was a tiny one room appartment on the 7th floor - no lift and the stairs were spiral.  Just as well we are only in our early seventies!  But we did have a view of the Eiffel Tower from one window and Sacre Coeur from the other window.

France fact

In an average year in Paris 600 people break a limb slipping on dog droppings or trying to remove the mess from the soles of their shoes. There are 60 green motorcycles travelling around Paris sucking up the droppings with vacuum cleaners.  This was recorded in a book called "Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't be Wrong" and the writer had a conversation with a policeman regarding a fine for not cleaning up the mess.  

"Do you know how many fines the police handed out last year?"

"500 maybe?"

"Four!"

==//==

Us

Gradually the family arrived in France.  Katy, Emily and Max arrived a few days after us and took over the tiny appartment.  We assumed the guy who owns it just moves out when he has a booking, because the place was absolutely full of his stuff.   The fridge  even had out of date food in it.

We took the overnight train down to the Pyrenees and moved into our cabin.  It was great to catch up with our friends the Calestremes and their daughter's family the Guerins. 

We had some lovely friends visiting from the U.K. and Australia.  Then all the family arrived for one week, which was fantastic.

  We have had some moments where we have been so impressed by the French people.  

I had a flat tyre and a couple stopped and helped me fix it.  

The people at the cabin site were extremely helpful and were in no hurry for payment. 

We would appreciate any of you that are praying people (and those who don't mind doing it) to pray for our friend Annie.  Today, Tuesday, she and I were picking apples and she slipped and broke her ankle, a bad break.  She is being operated on Wednesday.

We are staying in her house with her family.  Her husband and daughter are both doctors.

We will put up another blog soon and talk about food and culture - mainly food.

Peace and grace

Love

R & A