Little signs of Hope

So I have been going on quite a few interviews in the past weeks. I will update more on that in a post in the coming days (hopefully with good news). This last week as I was on my way to an interview I had 2 things happen to me that felt significant and maybe like a "sign" that something good was going to happen today.

As many people know, residents of Paris are fond of their dogs and are allowed to take them places that wouldn't be allowed in many places in the US. On the train from Chartres to Paris last week a passenger got on and had her dog with her (the first and only time I have seen a dog on the train so far). The dog quickly became a friend of all of those around him.  I sat there a bit surprised at the resemblance that the dog had to my 4-legged Hope (who is in doggie heaven). So I of course had to snap a picture of this little guy.

I then arrived at the Montparnasse station and jumped on the metro to go to my interview. I sat down and quickly notice that there was another 4-legged friend in the subway car with us. He was a guide dog for his owner who was blind. As I sat there I was finding it a bit too crazy that he looked very much like Jax (my 4-legged "nephew" who is also in doggie heaven).

I find it a bit too coincidental that on my way to this interview last week I crossed paths with not 1 but 2 look-a-likes of our family. I couldn't help but smile and feel a bit of comfort knowing that I received a little message that day that I had some of my "friends" with me as I faced yet another interview.

Thanks Hope and Jax! Hope you (or your look-a-like cousins enjoy Paris)!

Hope in one of her many diva outfits! Let's hope I was a "rockstar" in that interview!

Fall in France

Living in MN most of my life it was easy to take for granted that we have 4 distinct seasons of weather during the year. It isn't hard to remember that winter exists but often times it feels like we skip over autumn and smack right into cold, snowy winter.

Fall has always been my favorite season of the year. I love the trees as they change into glorious colors, the excitement of kids going back to school, seeing the kids in the Halloween costumes, football season and watching the games with friends or family on a Sunday afternoon. In all of my visits to France, I have never been here during autumn. Prior to the move here, whenever we talked about the weather differences, James often talked about how much I am going to love winter here since it is so mild compared to a MN winter. I had inquired about autumn and he assured me that they have weather similar to MN. I can officially say that he was right and it is currently fall in France. It doesn't have all of the elements that I love about a MN fall but it is pretty close.

James and I took a walk around the city one day last week and captured some of the beautiful signs of fall.

On a side note...In a conversation one day about the blog, he thought it would be important to show more pictures of us. He joked that maybe someone needs to know that I am really taking the pictures that I post on the blog and that I don't take them from other sources or fabricate anything. So for good measure we have been trying to take more pictures of us in them. So for all of you who need "proof" or just want to see pictures of my hot husband and I, enjoy the following.

One last thing...I never realized how BIG of a deal Halloween is in the US until seeing the stark contract of what Halloween is like in France. The last month when we had been out shopping it was rare to see costumes or displays of Halloween decor and candy. So when Halloween night arrived this week I wasn't expecting to see any signs. I was surprised to see a handful of children out trick or treating (and by handful I mean like 5 of them)! During the entire Halloween evening we had ONE trick-or-treater come to our door, no joke! So that lucky little ghost with a pitchfork had to have their picture taken so that I could share it with all of you!

Elly giving treats to our ONE trick or treater of the evening!

A tour of Chartres

So we have been in Chartres for about a month now and I have taken some photos of the city while out exploring. I share these to try and give a visual of what our new "home" town is like.

 

 

Chartres:Flower City. Towns and villages in bloom.

One of the sites that bring tourist to the city is a Cathedral. The "Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres" in it's current state was mostly constructed between 1193-1250. The Cathedral has been well preserved and there are many original stained glass windows that survived intact (source of info, Wikipedia).

One view of the Cathedral (it is currently being cleaned, therefore the scaffolding and yellow hose).

The Cathedral is open most days of the week and visitors are allowed to go through it for free.

One of the entrances to the Cathedral

 

 

 

 

 

 

Around the Cathedral are gardens and restaurants. One of the afternoons that I was walking around there were children playing in the garden maze, racing each other to the center. 

One of the buildings next to the Cathedral and the restaurants. 

Near the Cathedral on Saturday mornings there is an open market (forgot the camera that day).  In addition to the market on Saturday morning I am told that it is also open on Wednesday mornings. There are flower markets open on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturdays and an open market of clothes also on Saturday. So it is pretty exciting that on numerous days of the week there are open markets to explore.

Flower market in Chartres

James and Maëlle outside the open clothes market

Lots of clothes and shoes to check out

Chartres also has many shops and restaurants to check out in the city center. On most weekends in the city center you will find an activity going on (one weekend Audi was there, another the local police/fire department/medics, etc). On warm summer days the children are found running through these fountains as parents sit by watching. 

So all in all I am enjoying my new "home." I look forward to finding more of the quaint things that it has to offer in addition to the common tourist spots. I feel pretty equipped as a tour guide in Chartres and look forward to sharing the city with some of my family visiting next week.

American cake

Not long after we moved to Chartres, June showed me a cake that he wanted me to make. He told me that they bought the cake mix when they were in MN this past summer and asked if I would be willing to make it the next time everyone was over. Of course I agreed and thought it would be a moment of redemption for me after the cheesecake situation.

So I checked the back of the box to see what ingredients were required, the basics of eggs, water, and oil (I was so happy to see instructions in English, ahh it's the little things). I asked if there was a certain type of frosting that they would like for the cake and vanilla frosting was suggested since it was a white cake. So the next trip to the grocery store I had set out to grab a container of frosting for the cake.  At this point, based on my grocery shopping experiences here, I should have had minimal expectations going into to my hunt for frosting. However, I assumed that this would be the same as in the states where you have 50 different kinds of frostings to choose from in the baking aisle. Not the case, I couldn’t even find ONE container of frosting in the baking aisle. It figures that in a country of amazing desserts that all of the baking is done with real ingredients, not pre-made.

So my backup plan was to make frosting from scratch. I turned to one of my BFF’s (best friends forever), Pinterest, and found a couple of options.  I decided on one that required minimal ingredients (butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk). Those ingredients were not too difficult to find other than the powdered sugar I found wasn’t exactly the same as I am used to back home. Thankfully I brought measuring cups with me to be able to bake using recipes from the states so it was pretty smooth sailing from there.

The only other challenge was to convert the oven temperature from Fahrenheit to Celsius. I have an app on my IPhone (which is now really an IPod Touch since it isn’t being used for phone service) that does conversions.

The cake and frosting appeared to have turned out well and got rave reviews from the family. It’s good to know I can still make a box cake mix turn out alright, thanks Betty Crocker!!!

Dino's got skills

So while my visitors were in town, one of the areas that we did some sightseeing in was the Montmartre neighborhood. This artsy neighborhood is situated at the top of a hill overlooking Paris. The view from Sacre Coeur overlooking Paris is beautiful.

There is one area that is all set up with artists displaying their work and creating work as people walk by.  There are also many artists walking around the neighborhood looking for a tourist to be enticed by a personal drawing or silhouette cut out.  I have gotten pretty good at saying a firm NO when approached by people in the city.  During our ascend up to Sacre Coeur I was approached by a handful of people wanting to show me their work and to give them a minute to showcase their talent. One person was even bold enough to grab my arm in the midst of my broken record of “no, no, no!”

Just before reaching the church I was approached again by an artist. I am not sure what it was about this person that I allowed him to get more than 2 words out of his mouth before I completely shut him out. However he did, his name was Dino. He told me that he rarely sees blonde and loves curly hair, he continued on to say that he wanted to draw me just for his collection, no obligation from me to buy anything. So the MN nice slipped out and I sat down next to Dino and allowed him to start drawing.

He asked me where I was from, what brings me to Paris, and was I married. Dino stated that my husband was a very lucky man and quickly followed that by telling me that he was also married. 

Dino is originally from Italy and makes his home in Paris now. We had a cordial conversation with a little bit of Italian charm thrown in. At the completion of his drawing Dino told me that he wanted me to have it. That he didn’t want any money from me for it, just that I should keep it. In turn he also gave me his business card and asked that if I have any free time he would love someone to practice his English with.

All the while this was taking place, Dawn and Sara roamed the area and of course took pictures of Dino and I to prove that I gave in to Dino’s request to draw me.  They haven’t shared those pictures with me yet but if they ever come my way I will try to remember to share them.

What I do have though is a lovely drawing completed by Dino. He obviously has some mad skills in making people look better than they do in real life!!! I appreciate his viewpoint and will strive to look like the diva he created on the paper.

P.S. I kept Dino’s card in case any of you need a portrait drawn of yourself while in Paris!!

Market day experience

This past Sunday we went to the city of Saint Germain la Coude (near Alençon) to have dinner with James’ brother and his girlfriend at her home. The city had a large market (that happens once or twice a year) going on as well. The best way to describe this market, and give a visual of what it would be like in the states, is a cross between a garage sale/flea market/gold rush sorts of thing.

We had a great lunch and then walked around for a while taking in all of the items being sold and of course did some serious people watching. Some things definitely stood out for me, as it isn’t something I feel like I would see anywhere at a flea market in the US.

The first being crepe stands! There were multiple locations that were making crepes on site and selling them right off the griddle. I think we could adopt this sort of thing from the Frenchies.

On the other end of the spectrum was a booth that was selling meat products. For those of you with weak stomachs you may want to skip over the next 2 pictures. I witnessed the “butcher” funneling the meat into casing and twisting it every so often to make a “sausage.” James tells me that the meat is pork and that it is so dark in color because they also add in blood from the pig that has been boiled. Now, why in the world would such a food exist amongst all of the amazing things that French cuisine has to offer?

It wasn’t until later in the evening I found out that James’ brother enjoys this meat and that he had bought some to have for dinner. It was cooked in a pan with apples (as if that is going to make it more edible) and then served with the apples. He INSISTED that I try it. Keep in mind that the 3 other people at the table refuse to eat this meat. However I obliged and took the smallest bite possible. Needless to say there was a 4^th person now at the table that refused to eat it. I am not sure how to describe it other than the texture (and taste) was all wrong! So it’s official I have found a food in France that I do not care to brag about or share with my American friends and family!!!

In addition to noticing the food booths there were many fun and interesting items. I am told that the item below is a machine that was used to separate wheat grain from the plant prior to having machines do this for us.

The other item was something I could have totally seen buying had I any small children nearby or it didn’t cost a ton to ship to my favorite little friends back in the states. How fun that these school desks had a built in buddy right next to you?

So there is what a market experience was like for me in this city of approximately 800 people. I really do enjoy walking around and looking at things. I think it will be even more fun to go to these markets when we are in our own space and start to need things to make it a home!

My first visitors

 Last week I had the privilege to hang out with some familiar faces from MN. Dawn and her daughter Sara (who is actually studying in Spain this semester) jetted over to France for a few days and we traipsed around the city. I was able to share some of the sites that are familiar to me in Paris(the above photo is a site that is still mesmerizing to me even after seeing it numerous times).  In addition to working on my tour guide skills (that I hope to be using with ALL of the friends and family visiting) these few days in Paris also allowed me to check out some new spots which was really great.


One of my new favorites was seeing the beloved Eiffel Tower lit up at night. In addition to lighting up it does some fun blinking light show every so often as well.  I can envision sitting at a cafe with this in view and sharing some coffee and dessert, anyone want to join me?

After walking through the Montmartre neighborhood and seeing Sacre Coeur we headed down the hill and walked to the Moulin Rouge. Conveniently there was a Starbucks located right across the street that allowed us to sit outside and enjoy a little taste of the states while looking at this fun venue.

We also went to the famous Louvre. I had seen the Louvre during a river boat tour in the past but up close this building is bigger than I could have ever imagined.

 They say that it takes a whole day to get through the museum. I can completely understand why after seeing it. Being a resident of France there is little in the site seeing department that makes James excited to see repeatedly. I had texted him while we were sitting outside the Louvre and he responded that it was one of his favorites. So it is on the to-do list that we will be spending a day here in the future for me to experience all the amazing art that is within.

After a few days in Paris, Dawn and Sara came out to spend the day in Chartres with James and I. It was really fun showing them around the city, hosting them in our home, and trying to jam in as much French experiences as possible before they left the following day. Sara really wanted to learn how to make crepes so James and her spent a little bit of time in the kitchen and there is video to prove that by the end she was able to flip a crepe like a pro.

Of course these experiences also included amazing desserts (macaroons, religieuse, and too many others that I have yet to know the names of), the best French baguettes in town (so good that they both took some back with them on the planes), and of course a little French wine with (our Korean) dinner.

It is amazing how spending time with friends from home even in a foreign land feels familiar. Thank you to Dawn and Sara for all of the laughs and for allowing me to finesse some of the tour guide skills for the next round of visitors.

P.S. There are more macaroons waiting for your next visit (or an apple croissant or chocolate eclair)!!!