Bonjour tous et toutes,
Just about at the end of my stay here in Brittany - on Saturday morning it will be necessary once again to faire le menage at the gite and catch the train to Paris where I will meet friend Nancy and hang out for another six days before it's time to go home. At the moment, both French and English feel like second languages as it takes me a minute or two to switch. It has been all French all the time. Yesterday we were taken to the home of relatives of one of our group and welcomed as if we were family ourselves. It was wonderful to spend time in a private home as that can be pretty hard to pull off as a tourist in France in my experience. The French value their privacy and without a connection of some kind, it's difficult to get access. Today the owners of our gite invited us for an aperitif at their home at noon so it has been an embarassment of riches.
The weather has continued to be horrible but we caught a break yesterday and it seems to finally be spring here. It is 24C today and not a cloud in the sky. Since last writing we have explored Guerande where the salt we can buy at Ottavio's is made on acres and acres of marées salants as the salt pans are called here. One can buy a huge sack of salt for 10 euros. Of course getting it home is the trick. It weighs about what an equivalent size sack of gravel would weigh. The city of Guérande is a very pretty medieval town with intact walls and a moat and not too much tourist development. That has been saved for nearby La Cruisic which is a beach town with all that implys.
Yesterday the family I mentioned earlier took us to the Chateau Roche-Jagu sitting high above a river called Le Trieux and is surrounded by beautiful gardens and trees. (See photo above). The house has several towers and corbelled chimneys and is unfurnished - the rooms are huge and it has some interesting modern art installations that go rather well in the space. In summer the place hosts a full schedule of theatre, music and other performing arts events.
We continue to enjoy the local food and drink - galettes and crepes, farm made cider, local cheese, Breton desserts like far and koeign amann - a puff pastry and sugar affair drenched in butter. Normally I would be worried but with all the walking we're doing it's not a problem.
The French is going well - sometimes I get on a roll and can understand everything and respond but other times I'm completely lost. I have little problem asking for what I need in stores, understanding directions and ordering food and have most of the politesse down. My favorite thing is to be able to speak French in real situations although occasionally I talk myself into a blind alley from the verbal point of view. All the same, I have the sense that this trip has really been a leap forward in the conversational skills department.
My next post will probably be from Paris - every other day seems to be a holiday here. For a secular country, they seem to honor every feast day in addition to the stores being closed on Sunday, Monday and when the owner feels like it. That's part of what makes it France, I suppose. Time to head out into that sun...à bientot...
Just about at the end of my stay here in Brittany - on Saturday morning it will be necessary once again to faire le menage at the gite and catch the train to Paris where I will meet friend Nancy and hang out for another six days before it's time to go home. At the moment, both French and English feel like second languages as it takes me a minute or two to switch. It has been all French all the time. Yesterday we were taken to the home of relatives of one of our group and welcomed as if we were family ourselves. It was wonderful to spend time in a private home as that can be pretty hard to pull off as a tourist in France in my experience. The French value their privacy and without a connection of some kind, it's difficult to get access. Today the owners of our gite invited us for an aperitif at their home at noon so it has been an embarassment of riches.
The weather has continued to be horrible but we caught a break yesterday and it seems to finally be spring here. It is 24C today and not a cloud in the sky. Since last writing we have explored Guerande where the salt we can buy at Ottavio's is made on acres and acres of marées salants as the salt pans are called here. One can buy a huge sack of salt for 10 euros. Of course getting it home is the trick. It weighs about what an equivalent size sack of gravel would weigh. The city of Guérande is a very pretty medieval town with intact walls and a moat and not too much tourist development. That has been saved for nearby La Cruisic which is a beach town with all that implys.
Yesterday the family I mentioned earlier took us to the Chateau Roche-Jagu sitting high above a river called Le Trieux and is surrounded by beautiful gardens and trees. (See photo above). The house has several towers and corbelled chimneys and is unfurnished - the rooms are huge and it has some interesting modern art installations that go rather well in the space. In summer the place hosts a full schedule of theatre, music and other performing arts events.
We continue to enjoy the local food and drink - galettes and crepes, farm made cider, local cheese, Breton desserts like far and koeign amann - a puff pastry and sugar affair drenched in butter. Normally I would be worried but with all the walking we're doing it's not a problem.
The French is going well - sometimes I get on a roll and can understand everything and respond but other times I'm completely lost. I have little problem asking for what I need in stores, understanding directions and ordering food and have most of the politesse down. My favorite thing is to be able to speak French in real situations although occasionally I talk myself into a blind alley from the verbal point of view. All the same, I have the sense that this trip has really been a leap forward in the conversational skills department.
My next post will probably be from Paris - every other day seems to be a holiday here. For a secular country, they seem to honor every feast day in addition to the stores being closed on Sunday, Monday and when the owner feels like it. That's part of what makes it France, I suppose. Time to head out into that sun...à bientot...
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