Tag: France

Life in France

Chocolate bunnies, eggs, bells, and fish

Chocolate fest poster from the city’s website

Carcassonne has many shops that sell just one product: chocolate, and we’ve been to most of them. Naturally we’ve had to sample the goods at each location in the interest of being able to recommend to visitors where they should go. Since we’re still in that decision-making process, we returned to some of these boutiques for a second opinion. As you might expect at this time of year, the window displays all featured what we typically think of as treats at Easter: colorful eggs, long-eared bunnies, plus cute chicks and hens. But what about those bells and fish? Continue reading “Chocolate bunnies, eggs, bells, and fish”

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Life in France, Travel in France & beyond

Set in Sète

The Canal Royal in Sète
The Canal Royal in Sète

The Canal-du-Midi that runs through Carcassonne was built 350 years ago to help connect the Atlantic ocean with the Mediterranean sea. One long river, a second canal, a bay, and an estuary all combine together to link Bordeaux on the west coast with the port city of Sète on the east. You can rent a house boat and glide along at no more than a leisurely 8 kilometers (5 miles) per hour to arrive at the Mediterranean a couple of days later, or spend just one euro and get there in about an hour on the train. Continue reading “Set in Sète”

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Life in France

Wine high school, our sophomore year

A lycée (high school) devoted to agriculture, including wine making

About this time a year ago, we had lived in France for only three weeks when an announcement on the city’s website regarding an event for that weekend caught our eye—Wine Fair! We knew that we had moved to the world’s largest grape-growing area but we didn’t realize that there was a high school devoted to the craft just a few minutes’ walk from the house. With the promise of 30 wines, 6 beers, and 2 ciders, we just had to go…for a taste, of course. Continue reading “Wine high school, our sophomore year”

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Life in France

Universal language

Free tickets to the concert

When you move to another country where the language is something other than the one you grew up with, communication takes center stage. We’ve lived here for a year and we are far from fluent in French despite continued classes, studying, audio files, reading, and daily contact with everyone who speaks it without effort…that is, everyone except each other. If we lived in a true total immersion situation, by now we’d be fully understanding news reports on the radio, TV sitcoms with all of their slang expressions, films with rapid fire dialog, and those dreaded phone calls from utility companies, delivery services, and even telemarketers. Outside our house we’re in a French world so we do our best with the “language of Moliere” but safely back inside with the front door shut it’s more about Mark Twain, William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, and David Sedaris (!). Continue reading “Universal language”

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Life in France

How many bars?

This tiny device can see through walls
This tiny device can see through walls

What kind of question is that? If you’d asked that about our house in Atlanta, we would have said “two”—one emergency bar upstairs in the kitchen and a full-service one in our basement British pub. If you go in our kitchen here in France the answer would be “15” because that’s how many bars of pressure our espresso machine has. But today’s post has to do with a third kind of bar and how to cope with thick stone walls that keep you from them. Continue reading “How many bars?”

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Life in France

Gimme a (coffee) break

All kinds of coffee makers
All kinds of coffee makers

How did we end up with so many ways to make coffee? This photo doesn’t even tell the whole story. Here you can see from left to right, an hourglass-shaped coffee maker, a red capsule espresso maker, a grind-and-brew espresso/cappuccino maker, and a good ‘ole drip coffee maker. We actually have a second identical one of the drip version because we were operating out of two houses for a while. If you looked in our suitcase you’d see a collapsible brewer that fits directly over your cup, a couple of half-liter thermoses for the train, and even a few sleeves of our favorite brand as instant crystals in case we get desperate. Have we lost our way? Continue reading “Gimme a (coffee) break”

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Life in France

Those pesky numbers

House number 5 built in 1610
House number 5 built in 1610

The plumber was here the other morning and a bit before noon said that he would be back around 3 o’clock. I told him that was fine since we had to go into town and he then asked if he should come back later. My thoughts were “No, 3 hours is plenty of time and besides, I’m sure that you want to finish the job today” but all I said out loud was “That’s fine.” About an hour and a half later we were surprised to see him pull up in front of the house where our clock said that it was only 1:15 PM. Why had he come back so early? Continue reading “Those pesky numbers”

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