Paris!

And so we arrive in Paris! 

Paris is the last destination on our wandering the world adventure. I was a bit worried we would all be travel weary, especially after a great couple of weeks relaxing at our two stays in rural France. 

Nothing to worry about! That first sight of the Eiffel Tour brings much excitement and Paris has so much to offer, that filling our last four days of travelling the world was very easy.                      We loved Paris. We used airbnb for our accommodation, staying in a two bedroom apartment in the 15th arrondissement. It was a 15 min metro ride into the city, which was simple. As apartments in large cities go, it was nearly large ... not spacious, but we did have two bedrooms and something that nearly passed as a kitchen. So we were very comfortable. We did get to explore our arrondissement a little, usually looking for food, and it had a lovely feel. There is even a 1.5km stretch of disused railway line that has been converted to a walking/running track, which had a lovely feeling of running in a green area so close to the city. 

The Eiffel Tower certainly has a wow factor about it. We saw it from many different angles, including  ground level, from all sides, from the water and from other view points in the city (top of Arc de Triomphe). On our final day, we did ascend it, using the lift to get right to the top. Stunning view! This is my favourite view, and photo, with the Arc de Triomphe in the centre. The Arc de Triomphe is at the top end of Champs Elysee, so it just felt fun to be in that area! We did have dinner on the Champs Elysee, but no shopping unfortunately!

We enjoyed most of the food treats ... except for the snails. None of us were game enough to try! We did however, try the crepes with chocolate sauce ... they were good! There were many ice-creams along the way too.

We loved the cafe scene and usually stopped for a coffee each morning. No takeaways in paper cups in Paris ... everyone takes the time to sit and enjoy. We gave up on cappuccinos long ago on this trip, after constantly being disappointed, so we now drink expressos with milk on the side. This was usually accompanied by a croissant ... how could we not? We loved the feeling of sitting and watching the world go by.

Some serious chatting happened!

We happened to be in Paris at the same time as our friends, the McGuigans. Kate and Michael have three children, the youngest being Sophie's best friend, Lara. Sophie has been looking forward to seeing Lara in Paris for about 4 months so it was a highly anticipated reunion! It was very sweet seeing the two girls so excited to be back together and chatting away. Lach and Olivia also loved catching up with Alex and Jesse, hearing school news and sharing travel stories, so everyone was happy!

We visited the Louvre to see Lisa; we went into Notre Dame and marvelled at architecture from the 11th century; we spent some time in Luxembourg Gardens (with the McGuigans); we did a cruise along the Seine; we did a Red Bus tour around the city which gave us a great overview and exposed us to the big highlights quickly. It was a great visit to Paris, topped off with three days of great weather and our first rainy/overcast day in the month that we've been in France. 

And now we depart. We are about to wander home - but very mud with a direction and destination in in mind. I'm writing this at Charles de Gaulle airport, as we prepare for two overnight flights and then arrival in Sydney on Wednesday morning (36 hours away). We are all excited: we are ready to come home and settle into life again. We have been so lucky. We have had amazing experiences, with all travel plans working close to perfectly. 

I shall write another blog on our arrival home, once we've settled back in. See you back in Australia!

Wine and cooking

The essentials of French life

To get into the true sense of french life, we decided to had to learn more about the essentials of France: wine and food!


We found a wine tour where we could spend several hours at the winery, chat with the wine growers, learn the process, help out with jobs on the vineyard, taste the wine and enjoy lunch! We loved the sound of this, plus the children were welcome, so off we went!

The winery, La Tour de Chollet, was a small, family owned organic winery. Kirsty and Paul moved from England about 10 years ago, deciding on a "French-change" - having not grown grapes or made wine previously, they went about learning then decided to settle and have their family in France. We had a walk around the vines and learnt the process of growing grapes, seeing merlot, sauvignon blanc and semillon grapes.





The grapes are only a week or so off being harvested, so the vines were heavy. One of our jobs during the day was to walk along the vines and clear leaves away from the bunches of grapes, to allow maximum sun onto the grapes. We also had to snip off any small, underdeveloped grapes.





Our other job was to empty oak barrels of the 2012 red wine, then clean out the barrels. We all got to have a go and it was fun. We tasted their wines and made several purchases! Kirsty and Paul then prepared lunch for us, which was a great spread of baguettes, salads and cheeses ... plus a great choice of wines!

Team photo for the day!

Inspecting the vines and pruning some leaves

Then there was the French food! 

the girls starting the chocolate
lollipops

Learning the tricks with choux pastry

We arranged to have a chef come to our house, who helped us prepare some canapés for our dinner. Our savoury dishes included foie gras lollipops with a fig dressing; toffee tomatoes with pesto tarts; parmesan bread with duck; and fish mousse on toasted baguette. For sweet canapés, we had double chocolate lollipops with roasted pear; lemon and basil tarts; and choux pastry with hazelnut filling. All yum, yum yum!!

Filling the choux pastry

Stirring lemon curd

The cooking and preparation took about 4 hours, but it was fun afternoon, chatting and learning new skills. We all got to have a go at preparing the dishes and learnt many new tricks along the way. 

Jac de-boning the fish

Whether or not we can recreate them when we get home is another issue!

Foie gras on the end of those sticks!

Sprung!

toffee tomatoes with pesto pinwheels
on top!

the result of the choux pastry -
profiteroles!

 





















 After our afternoon of preparation, we decided that such fancy food needed a fancy occasion: so a dress standard for dinner was introduced. Lipstick and high heels was the dress code!

The savoury results of our cooking class


We all did the best we could, with our limited travelling wardrobes, but all scrubbed up well. We started the evening with champagne, proceeded to eat our specialities, then ended up dancing to Olivia's playlist! Sophie's quote the next day was: "we didn't even sit at the table to have our dinner!" It was great fun and will be a highlight for all of us.

Bec and I

and the dancing starts!

The Wilsons dressed up for the evening ... one of the few times I've worn lipstick and heels!

Domaine La Castage

Days exploring the French countryside

After our canal boat adventures, we had a farm house booked for 10 days. This was very much a time to relax and wind down after our travelling. Mum was with us for the whole time; also our niece Sarah Sugars joined us for three days, from London. 

We can't remember how we chose Domaine la Castagne, a farmhouse just outside of the village Montmaur,  as we looked at so many places! We are certainly glad we did as it is a very comfortable gite (french word for accommodation), with everything we needed, including a great outdoor eating area and pool. It made it very easy to enjoy 10 days of down time. The countryside was filled with fields of sunflowers. Most of these were now dead, but not yet harvested. They are primarily grown for the oil in the seeds, so the sunflowers are grown and left until they are very black before they are harvested. There are still some fields where the sunflowers are yellow and they are stunning to admire.  This photo above shows a field of sunflowers on the left, with our farm house on the right. 

Our gite in the background

As big as Lach's head!

The sunflowers grow in the most barren ground. It is really just dirt! They are so tall - many were taller than Sophie ... and the heads of the sunflowers are bigger than the heads of our children! Lots of sunflower seeds in there!

We have spent our time exploring some of the local villages, which I'll expand on in the next few days. We are loving the "quaintness" of them; the lack of commercialism; the simplicity of the exterior of the houses and constantly wondering why people live where they live!

We (the children) also spent lots .... and lots .... and lots..... of time in the pool! The children have loved it and with the temps hovering around 28-30 degrees, its been a perfect way to spend the day. With some reading, eating and sleeping thrown in, we have all relaxed significantly. The gite has several other guests also, who are often ready to chat and share stories of what they've done and new suggestions.

We (the adults) have drunk lots ..... and lots .... and lots.... of French wine! At about 5 euros a bottle ($AUD 7.50), how could we not? Topped off with local cheese and a fresh baguette for lunch each day, we are really enjoying the gourmet side of France. We aren't quite eating croissants daily, but still regularly! We had a night out, thanks to the owner of our gite for providing some babysitting. We sampled some of the local specialities, which included the roasted camembert, foie gras and the main one, a cassoulet. More on food in another post!

The weather is cool in the morning and evening; just giving us a hint of autumn which is on the way. The trees have a slight tint in them also but haven't started to fall just yet. The days are hot, with a clear blue sky - very much like an Australian sky. Temps are around 28-30 degrees, so just perfect. Mum is very content ... she's completely forgotten about that plane trip home!

Canal du Midi

Canal du Midi, France

We had been looking forward to exploring the countryside of southern France and experiencing some warm weather once again. The French food and wine just added to the temptations!

We met up with my mum, Anne, who was joining us for two weeks in France. We started by driving to Homps and collecting a canal boat, which would be home for 4 nights. We cruised along part of the Canal du Midi, a 205 km canal which was built in the 1640s as a major transport link across France. 

The view on our first night on the boat. 

The experience on the canal boat was both fantastic and challenging. We saw some amazing scenery along the way; explored some quaint little villages and enjoyed cycling into town each morning to buy croissants and baquettes. 

With good steering (Tony in charge) we fitted through these arches!

Most of the canal is lined with plane trees, which gives beautiful shade to the canal. A pest is unfortunately killing these trees, so the authorities are on an active renewal program, where they are systematically working their way along the canal, removing the diseased trees and planting new ones. Despite this, the views are stunning and its beautiful to cruise through the trees.  

The lock system is a marvel of technology. It took us a while to literally "learn the ropes" as we travelled through the locks. We passed through more than 20 locks during the week, travelling from Homps to Carcassone and back to Homps. Some locks were quick to traverse; others, especially the double and triple locks, had long waits - for one, we waited more than 90 minutes. The lock keepers stop working for an hour over lunch, which is a lovely French tradition of making you relax and enjoy your lunch; however it does create long queues at the locks.

These photos show some of the various jobs. Everything involved either tightening the ropes or loosening the ropes, depending on whether we were going up or down! We had a land crew and boat crew each time. Things went awry went the crew member "got bored" at their particular post; or felt "left out of the conversation" as the rest of us chatted to someone on an adjoining boat. Some funny times. 

Tony was captain. He was not allowed to wander too far otherwise things went really bad! Gemma actually was taught to drive the boat, but this only happened in short doses, as I seemed to be jinxed. On my shift, we came across a boat straddling the canal and blocking all traffic; I nearly ran into a bridge; and the children had bike troubles along the edge of the canal. It did however, give Tony a few moments of refuge from the steering wheel and allow him to admire the view - albeit temporarily!

Morning tea of coffee and croissants on the front deck each morning. Cool mornings but by lunch time, it was close to 30 degrees each day. 

One of those few times away from the steering wheel! 

Unfortunately, there is no (intentional) swimming in the canal. All the excess water and by-products go straight into that water, so its not very clean. It was rather icky just pulling ropes out of the water! There were no associated smells however, as there is still significant movement of water along the canal. 

It was a big week. A great experience but 4 nights was enough for us. Its a bit like camping: if you have the right equipment, its fantastic. If you do it as a once-off, you struggle a bit. We also compared it to our times in the RV: they got easier as we learnt more and were more prepared. We were grateful for real showers, proper toilets and a still bed by the end!