Holidays in France

At the beginning of July I spent 10 days in France. We first went south to Montpellier. We had to cross the beautiful Viaduc de Millau, the tallest bridge in the world!

Then, we came back to Clermont-Ferrand through the beautiful Tarn valley and canyon.

The weather was very hot at the time, it was 38 C in Clermont-Ferrand so we escaped the city to go to the surrounding mountains, "la chaine des puys". These mountains are extinct volcanoes, the highest one being the "puy de dome".

We walked up to the top where you have a beautiful view on the rest of the "chaine des puys".

Art Nouveau

I went to Musee d'Orsay last week while in Paris. They have an amazing, and quite unusual, exhibition about Art Nouveau at the moment.

I also had time for some shopping: I went to Championnet Carrelage where I bought some mosaic tiles for a stained glass project...

Liberty and Tiffany

I am back from my wee trip to France. I spent a few days in Paris where I had the chance to go to a Louis Comfort Tiffany exhibition at Musee du Luxembourg. It was amazing to see the pieces for real, the details are incredible. I took a few pictures but it is much better in reality.

Then, I spent a day at Créations et Savoir-Faire with my mum and a friend.

The theme this year was Liberty fabric.

We registered for two card workshops and learned new tips.
There were about 250 exhibitors: fabric, cross-stitch, food, cooking, paper, craft, jewellery... It took the all day to go around them all! It was much better than last year's exhibition :o)


To end this post I wanted to show you that knitting is definitively back to fashion as this film advertisement proves it (trailer here):

Palais Ideal

Some of you wondered where the picture on the banner came from....This was taken at "le palais ideal du facteur Cheval" at Hauterives, near Valence.

Ferdinand Cheval (1836-1924) was a postman who built his dream (between 1879 and 1912): a magical palace. He was a self taught builder and sculptor and found his inspiration in nature and pictures from all other the world printed in illustrated magazines. Ferdinand Cheval is considered as the international precursor of primitive art. He was admired by Picasso and influenced numerous artists like Max Ernst.

If you are in the area, it is a very pleasant visit, don't miss it.

From Grenoble to Valence

For 1 week we rented a car to go to the South East part of France to visit some friends I haven't seen for 14 years !
Our first stop was Grenoble. We took some cable car to have a panoramic view of the city.

We also made a detour to go to Alpes D'Huez, a famous ski resort and one of the main Tour de France step (not this year though).

A lot of people cycle the 13.8km to the top (average climb 7.9% and 21 hairpin bends) everyday. The view from up there is spectacular.

Then, we had to go to Piegros-la-Clastre, South of Valence. We chose to take the small roads going through the Vercors Regional Natural Park instead of the motorway (it would have taken 2h instead of 1day). The roads are very picturesque but there are treasures hidden in the mountains.

We stopped at the Choranche caves. One feature of this cave, unique in Europe, are thousands of very fine stalactites (4mm diameter) called "soda straw". The temperature inside, constant all year round, is 10 C.

The water in the cave is joining the Bourne river.
A few kilometers from Choranche, we stopped at the beautiful medieval village of Pont-en-Royans, renowned for its suspended houses over the Bourne river.

Then, just before arriving at my friend, we spotted the first lavender fields, typical of the Provence area.

More later...

I am back

We spent 3.5 weeks in France, enjoying amazing landscapes, drinks, food, friends and family. As usual, GG and Leon came with us, and, for the first time, Hariette joined us. She joined our family a few weeks ago (thanks to Charlie).

I have hundreds of pictures to go through, and in the meantime I can show you what I have done in my spare time in France. I asked my mum to give me some sewing lessons because I wanted to make a gift bag for this mirror instead of wrapping it in paper.

Then, after a trip to the local fabric shop, I made this bag:

More later...

Beauvais

We spent the weekend in Beauvais, a small city, 80km North of Paris. We flew on Saturday morning and came back on Sunday afternoon. The only reason we stayed there was a concert by one of our favourite French artist: Juliette.

We arrived early in the morning so we had plenty of time to wander in the city. The only thing worth visiting is the cathedral and its astronomical clock.

It was great to be able to stay outside, enjoy the sunshine and some good food and wine :o)
Enjoy the rest of the week :o)

Christmas windows

Diane is posting a lot of details and great pictures about our wonderful weekend in Paris so I've decided to show you some movies of the Christmas windows :

More later...

A weekend in Paris

I spent a few days in Paris with Diane and Andrea. The aim of our trip was the "salon Marie Claire idées". We were very well prepared: our hotel was 10 minutes walk from the salon and we had prepaid our tickets online, but we didn't take into account the lack of organizations and the total inability of most French people to queue... So, although all our careful preparation, it took us 40 minutes to get inside. I also had to queue (be squeezed would be a more appropriate word) to get our tickets: One would think that with computers nowadays, it would be a piece of cake...well, they had no computers, only the listing of people who had prepaid tickets! Oh, and all that was done with the famous French kindness (for people not familiar with French kindness, you should then read: grumpiness). Although we planned to spend most of the day there, we gave up after an hour and a half and went to the center of Paris instead. The place was mobbed and it was very difficult to access anything. Overall, it was OK, but I was expecting something much better.
Before adding this post I did comment on the Marie Claire idées blog to let them know how disappointed I was (and I was not the only one who had complained!).

On Thursday evening we had a wee wandered on the "Grands Boulevards" and watched the Christmas windows of Galeries Lafayette and Le Printemps.


We also went inside the Galeries Lafayette to see the dome and the Christmas tree.

We ended up in the food part of Galeries Lafayette and it was amazing. I didn't take a lot of pictures there, I hope Diane took some and will post them soon...
More later...

Shopping (part2)

I took some pictures of the buttons in la droguerie in Montpellier. The wall was just covered with buttons. I wanted a few more than what I got but they didn't have any left except from the one on the wall. So there is no point buying only 1 button (especially when it is a crocodile and couldn't match it with anything else)!


Usually when we go to France we buy cheeses and some French delicacies but also tea. Living in the UK you would think that you would get the best varieties of teas, however, this is not the case. British people tend to like plain tea with milk or herbal tea whereas French people are much more fussy and demanding. We like having the choice, that's why Twinnings, for example, is making some flavoured teas just for the French market: red fruit crumble, mint and chocolate, lemon tart, raspberry and pear, green tea with aniseed...Lipton is making a very nice caramel tea, hmmmm.... Some of my (British) colleague and/or friends love them.

I love chocolate (only good one) and this one I've never seen it in the supermarket in Dundee. We can get up to 85% here, but trust me, the 99% is really powerful. You just need to eat a tiny bit and it last for a very long time. It comes only in 50g tablets but it last much longer than the 100g ones...I need a square...hhhmmmmmm.... Maybe I should have bought more than 2 tablets!

Shopping

As requested by Charlie, I took pictures of some of the cheeses we bought in Toulouse and made a photo montage. I should have taken a picture of the cheesemonger but it was really busy on Saturday morning.

I did the same with some of the pork meat: ham, saucisson, liver sausage, duck sausage... It should last a few months (Hopefully, till the next supply arrive).
When I was in Montpellier, I went to "la droguerie". I've just realised when linking the shop that they have one in Toulouse as well! Anyway, it is a really great shop, just a shame I had to wait quite a while to get served. I couldn't resist and I bought some buttons. They had a lot more and I would have bought more but I manage to restrain myself...
In Toulouse, I went to Phildar and Bergere de France and got some sock wool. I haven't finished my first sock yet but I am so pleased that Stephane want me to knit him socks that I have anticipated... (The phildar one will be for me though)

Toulouse and Montpellier

We are back from Toulouse where the weather was awful! We had sunshine only on Saturday, the day we were leaving... Stephane didn't mind too much as he was working (conference) and I spent my time shopping and visiting museums.
On Tuesday morning we had a wee wander around the town with Stephane then his conference started in the afternoon so I went to "La Fnac" to buy some books. I bought one about bread making... I also bought some yarn, I'll show you in another post.

On Wednesday and Thursday I was in Montpellier with GG (who really enjoyed himself, as usual). The weather was gorgeous and it was great to spend some time with my friend Odile.

On Friday I went to "basilique Saint-Sernin" and to "musee des augustins" to see a great exhibition about grisaille and trompe l'oeil.
In the evening, we went to the theatre (it was part of a festival, "le printemps du rire", in Toulouse) followed by a Spanish diner.

On Saturday we had a few hours to do some shopping (mainly pork meat and cheese) and enjoy a good meal and the weather before going to the airport.


We stayed at friends on Saturday evening in Edinburgh then, on Sunday we went to my brother to see the newly born twins, Olivia and Matthew, and my parents.

Back at home, GG spend some time explaining to Leon what he has been up to and gave him a wee present he bring back from Toulouse especially for him!
I think I forgot to tell you that, although Leon is a pigeon and has got a valid passport, he does not travel with us because he is afraid of flying! I know, it is sad...

A weekend in Paris

Our weekend in Paris was great, as usual. Very tiring as well, as we always try to make the most of it so we end up doing too much! The weather was gorgeous so we spent our time outside during the day. However, as soon as the sun was low on the horizon we were rushing inside because it was freezing.

On Saturday, we made our pilgrimage to "la FNAC" (compulsory each time we go to France) and in the evening we went to see Zazie's concert. It was the best concert I've ever been to. Zazie was great, the audience excellent and the concert hall small (only 900 places).

The next day we just walk all day. In the evening we went to the cinema and then to another show.

I let you enjoy the pictures.

View from the hotel room:

Some lights:
pantheon:
Eiffel tower:
Moulin Rouge:
Canal Saint-Martin:

This shop sells and repairs bikes but also serves hot chocolate and homemade patisseries. It was too early on Sunday to stop for a chocolate and a cake, it is a shame, it was smelling very good... It is located along the canal St-Martin, next to this building above (I forgot to take note of the address).

Le Louvre:

Bridge Alexandre III:

Orsay museum:

Grand Palais:

Parc des Buttes Chaumont: