French lunch

First lunch at home in my apartment... every day until now, I've been somewhere else for lunch! It was delicious. Below: Quiche lorraine, beets, baguette...

...goat cheese spread (I love this stuff... it's like tangy cream cheese), and pear yogurt (read: yogurt with chunks of real pear in it... no syrupy nonsense):

I also did laundry... Each time I come to France, I forget how much I loathe their washing machines' settings, but I am quickly reminded. I'm really not sure which setting I was supposed to use, so I just picked the leaf, because it looked nice:

The dryer was slightly more comprehensible. I sent pictures of each to my French friend C, to help me out. Awaiting a decoder e-mail.

The people in the apartment across the street from my window are singing "joyeux anniversaire" (="happy birthday to you"). Cars pass infrequently in the rue below. A soft breeze floats through the windows. In a few minutes, I'm going to meet the South African assistant, who has promised to stop by my room. Other than this, nothing more to report, on a Friday night in a small town in France.

Fresh Hazelnuts

A garden behind a house on a hill. In every direction, slate rooftops and far-off vistas of rolling fields and hills farther off still. The setting sun. Soft grass. And a brise-noisette.

Every 30 seconds or so, the impatient crack of the nutcracker. Every other 30 seconds or so, the delicate, milky sweetness of the hazelnut, fresh from the tree.

Night falls, lazily, but crisply. A table outside, tiny candles, a few shawls. Small but stout glasses of "pommereau" (fermented cider made in the same town, which is called Vire. I was told that "pommereau is to cider what porto is to wine." Anyone who knows of my frequentations of the eucharist table will know that that equals delicious, in my book). Raw kohl rabi and beet salad (from the basket full of farm-fresh vegetables, delivered that same afternoon). Pasta with homemade pesto. Cheese. Wine. Two adolescent boys, one francophone Flemish doctor, one francophone Belgian English teacher, one Amerloque...

Empty plates. Hot cups of tea, cold bowls of ice cream. Pictures of Vire during the war, of the bombarded shell of the house I am sitting in at that moment (I was later shown the burns and damages to the staircase, on the way to bed). Discussion about everything you can imagine, dear reader, for a very long time, even past the point of deep, stretching yawns and rubbing of eyes. An evening, a conversation: dégustées.

An attic room. A window open to the view of hills and fields stretching on for miles, chill air, and a skyfull of piercing white stars.

Arrival (or, "How to Avoid Calamity Next Time")

Imagine: You're planning a trip overseas, for a long period of time. Think of all the things you have to do:

*Find a place to live (this changed three times for me).
*Buy sufficient bags for the trip (went to over fifteen different stores, bought and returned seven different luggages before finding the "right" one, and the damn handle still broke on my bag).
*Decide on departure and arrival dates
*Figure out how to get there (plane, yes, but also carpool, taxi, metro, train, and foot).
*Notify banks about your trip (note to self: never leave bank card in the ATM again. Especially not just before going to the airport, and if so, try to realize what you've done more than a half hour before the plane takes off).
*Move out of your apartment (and try to do only one move the weekend before the trip; two moves is far too much, really).
*Sell or loan your car to someone (preferably before it completely breaks down, so that you don't have to have it towed the day of your departure; not too sexy to say goodbye to boyfriend and hop into the tow truck).

A few things that you definitely should do:
*Definitely take a break when you first arrive. One night in Paris is always a good idea, especially if you're staying in a beautiful apartment with a wonderful friend, who shows you where to get the most delicious vegetarian sushi in all of Paris, and who mercifully helps you get your bag through the Metro and onto a train). M's gorgeous apartment here (this is NOT my apartment, this is my friend's apartment in Paris; and she even has a bedroom... not pictured, because it isn't part of the den; rare in Paris!):

*Definitely share a bottle of wine with a dear, fiery, socially engaged friend ("A") the first night. Then take the Metro home. (I would, however, avoid being witness to a banana theft, but it was nonetheless entertaining and harmless to watch a group of men gather in front of the market and yell "dégage, voleur!" to a poor f*** at 1 a.m.).

*Definitely offer (and I think this might be the most genius thing I did on this whole trip, which in comparison with the rest isn't really saying much) to buy your friend all the goods she wants from the U.S. and the duty-free store (although it really helps to actually have a bank card when you go to pay at the duty-free) so that she can reimburse you in euros when you arrive. This, my friends, has supplied me with a fair amount of cash, exchange fee-free.

All this said, I am delighted to be here (although I am missing people, and a certain person, very very very much). Only in France can you arrive at your place of lodging, sign a couple of papers which basically state all the things THEY are planning to do to help YOU, and get a fantastic room, internet-equipped, for nothing. I repeat, nothing, because I don't have to pay a dime until October 15th. What a grand country. And, friends, this is the view from my room:

Yes, I think I'm going to like it here. :)

Where is Flers?

It's been rather difficult to explain to people exactly where in France Flers is. So I figured I'd link to a map:


View Larger Map

Basically, somewhat close to the sea. Not like the water will be warm enough to swim, but at least it prevents one from feeling landlocked. :)

Do you see that rather large green area just underneath the town of Flers? It turns out that that's a large nature reserve: the Parc Naturel Regional Normandie-Maine. Searching for this online, I came across some lovely pictures:

Hopefully, I'll have some hiking buddies joining me in France while I'm there. I can think of one already... :)