Tag: Life in France

Life in France

Real vs. authentic

Real and authentic wood worm holes
Real and authentic woodworm holes

In Atlanta we built a British pub in the basement of our home. We tried to make it as authentic as possible including a pressed copper ceiling, faux tobacco-stained walls, memorabilia from the UK, and a letter from the Queen acknowledging our desire to bring a bit of British culture to America. The furnishings all had a dark Old World feel to them including the Windsor armchairs that even came with roughed up seats and tiny holes in the ribs to simulate years of munching by woodworms. Let me tell you, looking authentic doesn’t come cheap. Continue reading “Real vs. authentic”

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Life in France

Open house

European Heritage Days poster from the city's website
European Heritage Days poster from the city’s website

For over 30 years, European countries have banded together to celebrate  their heritage on the third weekend of September. In Paris this year, for example, it was possible to visit the Presidential palace of Elysée, tour the city in vintage buses last seen on the streets in 1935, peruse the outstanding art collections at the Musée d’Orsay, gaze down upon the streets below from atop the Arc de Triomphe or explore dozens of other attractions all for free. Since these “Days of European Heritage” were based on an original creation of the French Ministry of Culture, it was only fitting that Carcassonne should fully participate. Continue reading “Open house”

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Life in France

Wall art

Harlequin mosaic
Harlequin mosaic

Since we don’t have a car and use the sidewalks in town extensively, we’re always peering into shop windows to see what’s new. Last month it was pretty easy to tell when the semi-annual country-wide sales were finished since the big and splashy SALE! signs were replaced with merchandise promoting fall fashions and back to school supplies. Ugh, I still get a pit in my stomach at this time of year when that threat of the end of summer vacation and the beginning of a new school year looms in the air. The other day when I averted my eyes from one more display of pencil boxes and backpacks, something got my attention. Continue reading “Wall art”

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Life in France

Oh it’s wineing time again

This week's wine advertisements
This week’s wine advertisements

Twice a week our mailbox is filled with flyers from lots of businesses; both national chains and local businesses vying for our euros. These are called pubs, short for publicités that you and I might recognize with the English word “advertisements” that we could easily stop, but why spoil all the fun, especially at this time of year. It’s grape harvest time so every catalog that we receive is featuring wine.  In the photo you’ll see just a few of the pubs that arrived today. Looks like we need to go shopping! Continue reading “Oh it’s wineing time again”

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Life in France

If they only knew

The picnicking wall...or so it seems
The picnicking wall…or so it seems

On Sunday Bill and I were walking through the park that runs along the Aude river here in Carcassonne. It’s very popular on weekends for all kinds of sports activities and is a great place to watch the fireworks over the castle on the 14th of July. Since the weather was nice, lots of people were picnicking including the group you see here sitting along a wall behind which runs a mill stream. The two of us had a bit of a chuckle wondering if these outdoor diners realized the original purpose of the wall upon which they were sitting. Continue reading “If they only knew”

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Life in France

Art day

Fly away to the Fine Arts Museum
Fly away to the Museum of Fine Arts

In elementary school, one day a week was devoted to art. Although it was not a subject at which I excelled, I still looked forward to those days because it meant that we could temporarily put aside long division, cursive writing, and vocabulary lists in favor of crayons, colored pencils, and poster paint. Bill and I had our own grown up version of Art Day last week and we didn’t even have to get messy. Continue reading “Art day”

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Life in France

Sunday in the village

The flea market linking the "new" city to the old
The flea market linking the “new” city to the old

When we first started thinking about moving to France, we skipped right over the glittering excitement of Paris and envisioned a quintessential rural village with stone cottages, a mill by the stream, blooming flowers everywhere and the tiny lanes alive with chatter from friendly local residents. While that ideal still exists here, reality stepped in when choosing to live without a car meant that we would need to be within walking distance of all of our daily needs with easy access to public transit for longer journeys. Although we don’t live in a rural location, this past Sunday reminded us that we still found that village life we were seeking.

Continue reading “Sunday in the village”

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