9 Years Old.

For Jonah’s birthday I took him skiing - for his first time. It’s something that he’s wanted to do for years - but I could never justify back home. Either skiing on such a small local hill, or making the trek to the mountains just to learn.  Here we drove a little further up the mountain that we live on - and spent a few hours in the sunshine with the temperature hovering around zero.  It was great - and he learned very quickly.  He pretty much hasn’t stopped asking to go back since.

——

The following is from Jonah:

———-

It was so fun. “Hey dad when can I go skiing again”?.

Noël

Christmas was quite different for us this year. Instead of gathering like we normally do with dozens of family and friends on the 24th, 25th, and often the 26th (which usually spills over into the 27, then Jonah’s birthday on the 28, which is followed by 2 days off, then New years eve…) - we were at home with just the five of us.  On Christmas Eve we went to a fairly laid-back service at at french church, then came home and had Raclette for supper (melted cheese on potatoes..mmmm)  By the time we finished supper it was well after 8:00, so the kids each had a gift from friends which they opened, and were in bed well before 10.

The kids each had one present to open on Christmas morning - plus a game to share.  The difference between this and other years where they often seem to get so much more is that this year they seemed to have actually appreciated what they got, and played with their new toys; lots.

We spent the day at home, went sledding in our yard, played with new toys, went sledding down a bike trail that turned out to be quite long/steep/rock-filled/fun. Then we had supper at home, just the five of us.  Although it was especially different, and quite an adjustment for the kids, in some ways it was nice to have a quiet time at home just sharing Christmas as a family.

Christmas ended up being very relaxing, and a great time for us to be together as a family.  Just what we were hoping for.

It’s a Christmas Miracle!

I’m not sure what’s a bigger Christmas miracle: the fact that we woke up the morning of Dec 24th to a beautiful snowfall (started in the night - forecasting up to 30cm at higher elevations) or the fact that the snow tires that I started trying to get over a month ago  - arrived the day before yesterday - and were installed yesterday.  Bring it on.

We were already out sledding this morning (we’ve learned now that helmets and goggles are in order as there are a lot of bushes/trees/stumps/rocks/fence posts to try and dodge)  - and by this afternoon our tracks are almost covered over again. It’s been sunny all week - with quite a bit of rain - so it looked like it was going to be a green and muddy Christmas - but now everything is covered in a thick, thick blanket of snow.  So far we’ve spent today playing games, sledding, watching Christmas shows and watching the snow fall outside.

Les vacances ont commencé

Today is the first ‘school day’ that the kids aren’t going to school - so it feels like the first real day of les vacances de Noël.

We got snow again last week - so the kids had a snow-covered school yard complete with snowmen and forts for the last week of school.  The nice thing about snow here is that the temperature is (at least for us) very mild, which means the snow is actually sticky enough to build with, and kids come inside because they’re too hot and tired instead of too cold.

These pictures are from picking up the kids on Friday - we wanted to get some pictures of their school yard when it was all decorated. Micah missed the last week of school due to a fever. We were however quite relieved when we took him to the doctor and found out it that it was not Scarlet Fever - which has been going around the school, and a few kids in his class had over the past few weeks.  He was able to go to school on Friday when we picked up the others just so he could give his Maîtress  a present. (In case you were wondering why he looks all glassey-eyed and slightly startled standing in front of the tree in his classroom - it was pretty much the first he had been vertical in a few days)

The Tree is UP.

Last week we got ourselves a tree.   Since we live up in the French alpes - surrounded by forests on virtually every side - we got our tree in the manner that you would expect - we drove to IKEA and bought it.   (seriously - they were €20  - and if you  bring it back to be mulched after, they give you €19 back!)

It seems strange to have a tree that’s actually shaped like a tree - instead of one that’s been groomed to be shaped perfectly like an artificial-tree-triangle like we’ve grown accustomed to over the past nummer of years.

We bought a set of lights - and a few ornaments - and put up the decorations that the kids made at school.  The amazing thing is that the kids didn’t mention anything about “the other decorations” or seem to notice that anything was that strange. The only thing that seemed to matter was that we looked back over old pictures to see whose year it was to put the star on the top. (I am only going to be strong enough to keep up this tradition for so many years!)

In some ways we have really enjoyed this Christmas as it has seemed to be a really good opportunity to reset our expectations as a family for what the season really is about. Not once have we been in a mall playing holiday songs as there are thousands of people spending piles of cash on presents for others merely because it’s what is expected. We haven’t had any busyness of events, parties, pageants, etc.    The school our kids go to had a small Christmas celebration last week. As it’s a Catholic school, it was in the village church - and it was really a service more than a play or a performance.

One of the goals we had in moving over here was for our family to be able to be able to draw closer together and to refocus on the things that we think are important - and our experience of the Christmas season so far has been just that.

It’s beginning to look a lot LESS like Christmas

As of Monday - our snow started leaving us…fast. It’s been 10 - 16 above for the last few days - and with the rain, it almost seems as if it left as fast as it came

The only snow that’s left is along the road where there just a few days ago was waist deep piles left by the plows, if there happens to be a really shady spot somewhere.

Last week we couldn’t get the kids down to the village for their activities because we were snowed in. This week, they were running around outside in t-shirts after rock-climbing.

This afternoon we all took a break from our homework (it’s a strange bonding experience for me to be doing my homewok as well) and went for a hike.

It was beautiful, and sunny - and a lot of fun - especially if you like a little bit of mud (which, not surprisingly, our kids do)

Alpine Winter

Last Saturday was our first taste of Alpine winter. The kids spent all morning sledding down the hill in our yard. There was tonnes of snow and it was beautiful and warm out. Saturday was also the Marché de Noel in our village. We walked down the hill (as we had to abandon our car there the night before as we couldn’t get up the hill) and went and had a look around. We had some Vin Chaude with some friends we met there, bought the kids crafts from the little booth their school had (buying your own kids crafts seems like child-labour taken UP a notch) and a wreath for the door. Then we came home, had lunch, and it was back to the sleds. It’s pretty handy to be able to literally step out of the door, onto a sled, and down the hill.

By the way - the music is by the talented Junkyard Poets - check them out: www.junkyardpoets.com They are some young guys from back home - that have played in our church a number of times - both as a group & with other musicians. Have a listen.

SNOW!

Overnight last thursday we got our first snow. 10cm (about 2.5 acres for you Americans) when we woke up.  It wasn’t that cold (at least for us) so the kids were out a LOT. When Nathan got here we were almost snowed in.  We went for a walk up towards ‘Le Pony Club’ and watched some kids have riding lessons in the snow.  By yesterday it was pretty much all gone from our house (combination of the kids sledding it into oblivion, and melting)

It started snowing again yesterday evening - and by 9:00 (approx. 15:00 in Imperial)   this morning we’ve got 20cm (that’s bout 4 fathoms) more!  It’s still coming down really hard - so we’ll see how much we end up with. The nice thing is that it’s not so cold that you can’t go out and play …so that’s where the kids are right now.  We didn’t even attempt to get down to the village for their gymnastics & rock climbing today - our road hasn’t been plowed yet - and I actually haven’t even heard one car (that’s about 0.3 US cars)  on it so far.

Le Beaujolais Nouveau

Question #1:

Le Beaujolais Nouveau is:

• A) the third Thursday of November


• B) really mediocre red wine


• C) a trick the French play on the rest of the world


• D) a party at the kid’s school

Wong - the answer is…all of the above, let me explain.

A) The third Thursday in November has been the traditional day for the release of Beajolais Nouveau for a few decades now.  The choice of a Thursday, instead of a specific date in November, is assumed to be done in order to associate the release with a weekend.  The Beajolais Nouveau phenomenon really got kick-started in the 1980’s when one of the largest producers decided to add a bit of excitement to the release of this previously locally consumed low-quality wine: a race to Paris to see who could get their wine their first.  This then spread to other cities in France, then Europe, and on to the US, and eventually Asia.

B) Beajolais Nouveau truly is a  really mediocre red wine, partially by nature of the rules that they have put in place, and the hype that they have created.  Just by stating that a wine shall be ready by a certain date seems a bit odd, for an agriculturally dependant product. It would be like saying that you will sell your first apple pie made with apples from a certain valley on a certain date, every year.  No allowance for late rain, cool weather, freak storms, problems with harvest, dry spring…nope, if you will have the finished product ready by the Third Thursday in November - then you will have to harvest with enogh lead time to absolutely ensure that you have the wine ready by then.  This is now especialy true since they seemed to have succeeded in convincing many people into thinking that not only is this wine something worthwhile, but that drinking it on a certain day is even more so.  On top of that, apparently the rules that are in place for the actual fermentation (letting the smashed grapes sit and actually turn into wine)  of Beajolas is mandated to something like 3-10 Days…then bottled. That’s it. 

C) It would seem at first easy to criticize the French - until you realize they are in on the joke.  It seems easy to criticize them for creating a circumstance that in a way forces them to hinge their reputation on what has a very good chance of being an inferior product.  At first many seem ready to call their bluff: “But you know what?  It’s not even good!”  To which the French seem ready to reply “shhhhh.  C’est vrai. Mais don’t tell the others…especially the Japanese”  I read an article in Le Post  entitled: “Beaujolais nouveau : mais pourquoi est-il aussi mauvais ?”.  Basically: “Beaujolais nouveau: but why is it so bad?”  So it would seem that indeed they are well aware of this - they know what it really is.

Why ‘especially the Japanese?” - well it would seem they are by far the largest importer of this wine. Estimates are that Six Million bottles are sent there every year. The vast majority it would seem - are express-air shipped. They retail there for almost 10x the 3Euros they fetch here in France. Plus - you can count on the Japanese for ‘adaptations’ like this:

wow.

In Japan it is apparently the most popular wine, and there is even a spa where one can bathe in the stuff.  <insert your own joke here re: wine finally having some body in it>

D) Friday night was the Soiree Beajolas at our kids school. It was sort of like a parent-association thing- dinner and an auction -to raise money for the school.  We were told prior to the evening: “don’t worry - you only have to have one glass of Beajolais, and then they bring out the good stuff”  Well unfortunately, that did not turn out to be true this year, but it was a pretty interesting evening.  There was a live auction, but we didn’t buy either the fois gras, the diving vest, the weekend at someone’s vacation house, nor any of the other many fine things that were up for grab.  It was in the cantine at the school - and for a small school, there were quite a few people there.

La Grande Chartreuse {pt. II}

We continued on, along the winding road that shadowed the river at the bottom of the gorge until we got to the grounds of the museum and had our pic-nic. It should be noted that a French grocery store is a great palce to get everything that you need to get a real pic-nic going. [I assume that’s what the small wine bottles were made for]

We found a bench at the end of a tree-lined path, right between some high-alpine pastures and had our lunch.  A well balanced meal that had representation from each of the major (french) food groups: bread, cheese, wine & chocolate.

When we finished our lunch we wandered over to the museum.  The museum had of course been one of the two main sites of the day - but since the distillary was closed - was now more the main point of the day trip.

Ferme pour l’hiver

Closed for the winter.

hmm.

“This seems like a great time to go for a hike up and around the actual monastery.”

The walk was quite a bit of uphill - especially for the kids - and especially since we had already hiked around the gorge  just before lunch.  They were great - for the most part - and kept on going.  We walked up to the massive walled compound, then up above the monastery - in order to get a bit of a view down into it.  Then we took a hiking trail through the forrest that wrapped around and eventually headed back down to the car.  It was a nice day out, the views fantastic, and it was a great day of  hiking.

The sun was just dropping behind the mountains as we got back to the car and started to head back.  On our way home we took a more direct route over a pass, and directly down to Grenoble, then across the valley, and back up the other side to go home. Near the top of that pass the kids saw what was for them, the most exciting and memorable thing of the day.  Not the 900 year old stone arch bridge, not the rocky peaks of the Massif de la Chartresue, not the massive monastary in a high-alpine valley, not the micro-climate of lush fauna at the bottom of the gorge….Nope - a bit of snow on the side of the road.  hmm

La Grande Chartreuse {pt. I}

The colour chartreuse  takes it’s name from the Chartreuse liquor, which is made by the Carthusian monks, who are so named because St Bruno started the order in the Chartreuse mountains about 900 years ago.

Well those mountains just so happen to be just across the valley from us - so last week we decided to have a little outing there.

We thought we’d start with a visit to the Chartreuse distillary - where the infamous liquer is made. There’s a 3D movie, and all kinds of cool stuff that we thought the kids would like.  Sorry - it’s closed on weekends between Tousaint and April.  Of course.

So we picked up the makings for a pic-nic and headed up towards the second part of our outing - the original monistary of the Carthusian order- le monastère de la Grande-Chartreuse.

It is a beutiful (often frightening) drive up a narrow gorge to get there -and along the way we saw a trail that headed off down along the river at the bottom.

We stopped and wandered along for a while, walking over some nice brand-new well constructed bridges, hanging on to some cables along slippery rock steps, and gong past a very small 900 year old stone bridge.

It was well past 1 when we got back to the car so we headed up to the Musee de la Grande Chartreuse for a quick pic-nic - and then for a visit…


(continued here...)

La fête de la Saint-Martin

On Friday I was looking through the kids cahier jaunes (yellow notebooks - it’s the way you communicate between parents & teacher/school) and noticed a little insert from the village for “La Fete de la St Martin” hmm.  Seeing as he is the namesake of our village - therein lies an opportunity for another cultural experience.  I read it and seemed to understand something about the kids parading through the town with lanterns.  buh…ok.

It was about 6:20 when I read it - and it started at 6:30.  Susan was cooking supper and two kids were in the bath - yet somehow we made it there in time to buy our 2Euro paper lanterns and get ready …for whatever it was that was going to take place.

Eventually some people who looked official (with their safety vests) started the processional  - and lead everyone there (there were probably 150 people or so) through the village.  Down past the school, back up to the main street - and back to the town square.  No explanation as to why we were doing this - what it meant, where the tradition comes from.  (Just follow along, smile & nod….is the name of the game living here it seems).

Our local police were directing the crowd to ensure that everyone was safe. Side Note: if you want a low-risk, low-key, low-stress police job - I’m going to say that Police Municipal de St Martin D’Uriage is about as good as it gets.  The one thing they do every day is direct traffic by the public school when there can be literally DOZENS of parents trying to get out of the parking lot onto the road (fun fact: not only do we not have a traffic light in our town, but neither do probably 3 towns in every direction)

When we got back to the place du village, there was chocolat chaud and pastries for the kids - because, there is nothing better than that right before supper!

The kids thought the whole thing was great. We got home before 8 or so - and the two younger kids went straight from the car to provide  a private mini-parade past Madame Ribo’s window, just to make sure she didn’t miss anything.  Next thing we knew they were over there playing play-doh with her and her grand-daughter.

The strangest thing about all of these kind of experiences - is that the kids just take them in stride, as if they were the most normal thing that could be imagined.

And you thought we had weird kids before we moved here….


Oh yes - one more thing that I really should add: as you can see by what the kids were wearing - it was absolutely freezing out.  Well, actually it was a bit rainy and 10, yes that’s right +10.  I do believe they have softened up a bit in the last few months.

New Chez Nous

Just wanted to get a quick post up (using ‘borrowed’ WiFi) to let everyone know that we are indeed alive, and have in fact moved into our new place.  We still don’t have internet/phone at home (since moving on Oct 25) - but a technician from France Telecom was out on Wednesday - so now there is at least an actual line to our house that is connected to the phone network.  …one step at a time.

Our new place is great - it is working out fantastic to have our landlords as neighbours.  They also take on the role of: french teacher, house-call doctor, and resident dog.  Their dog Zola - is about as good as it gets for having a pet. The kids can go outside and play with her whenever they want. But we don’t feed her, clean up after her  - or have any responsibility for her behaviour….perfect.

Our new place has good bus connections for me to get down into Grenoble to the business school - and the last bit from the bus stop to our house is good for me - 1 km long, 100m up.  It’s only 3min drive to school for the kids - and our street is a dead end so there is not much traffic on it.

This place is truly an answer to prayers - and we feel incredibly blessed to have found it.

Frommage

A week or two ago we had raclette for supper (melt cheese - pour over potatoes - eat - feel your stomach fill and arteries clog)

Delicious.

We drove up to a cremerie - a small farm where the man makes his own cheese / yogurt etc.  The kids play with the bunnies in the cages (and we don’t tell them why a farmer has so many bunnies) and we pick out some cheese.  Just tell the man: “raclette for X number of people” (even tell him how many adults and how many kids) and he sells you the right amount of cheese. This time we bought one chunck of traditional raclette cheese, and a blue cheese.  (you can see above that the boys each have an affinity for one type)

I often say that my goal in living here is to eat my body weight in dairy products on a weekly basis… I”m pretty sure I met my quota early that week.

Going for Eggs

One of the great things about living outside of the city - and especially living here - is proximity to nature.  Not only are we close to forests, mountains etc - but there is a small farmer just across the field.  Thus - when we have enough time for the children to spend to get a dozen eggs- it’s perfect.

It is the kind of farm that you read about in children’s books - but rarely see much anymore back in Canada. A couple who live in a farmhouse - and have: sheep, rabbits, dogs, hens, roosters, ducks, horses, peacocks etc. (yes peacocks - that you definitely  don’t see much of on Canadian farms)  No massive operation. No specialization into only one animal as it would be more efficient.  Just two people who live on a farm in the mountains - raise their animals (and also make their own liquor from various plants - but that’s another story)  Nothing is particularly penned up- mostly the animals are wandering around their farmyard.

These pictures are were taken a few weeks ago when the kids and I walked down to get some eggs.  After we spent probably 10 minutes wandering down to the farm - and 20 more getting a full tour by “the farmers wife” (that’s all I know her as) - it turns out there were only 6 eggs in the chicken coop.  She insisted we didn’t pay her as there were so few. So we put them in the carton we brought - and headed home.

Strange that a trip to go get eggs seemed like it accomplished so much even though we only came back home probably 45 minutes later with a half-dozen eggs.

Efficiency is highly over-rated.

Location, Location, Location.

So we have been trying to find a place to rent for about a month and a half now - with little success (OK - NO success).  

UPDATE: since I started writing this we have now indeed found a place - (we hope) will update with details etc when we have them.

One of the problems is that we look dangerous.  Well - not ‘dangerous’ per se - but risky. Whenever you go to a agency to find a place they will expect: last 3 pay slips, last years taxes, copy of your national ID card, copies of your last electric bill, your maternal grand-mothers grade 1 report card, and a vial of unicorn tears.  Since we lack a good number of those things - we were finally told by one agent “don’t bother coming back.”

Even after we got a French friend to graciously agree to be our garant (guarantor) we were still told: “OK - so you now meet some sort of minimum threshold -but if anyone else also applies, we’ll take them before you”

There also seems to be a strange void in the housing available around our village: there are plenty of small 1 & 2 bedroom apartments, and then a number of really large houses.  It doesn’t seem like there is so much in the middle - which is what we need.

Oh well - the seats in our Zafira fold flat, and it doesn’t get TOO cold here at night, so…

NOTE: ‘location’ is French for ‘rental’ 

well, that was weird

I was extra tired this afternoon (having left the house at 6:44) - so by the time I was leaving the business school - I was dragging a bit.  I also had an incredible pounding headache- which I had thought may be attributed to caffiene (I have pretty much stopped drinking coffee altogether {thank you Transcend Coffee for elevating my tastes to a level that I cannot find here} but had had a shot or two the previous two days).  I was debating whether or not to get a coffee - just to wake me up - and for my head, but decided against it. 

So I continue my solitary walk towards the tram stop.

Suddenly right in front of me a giant Monster Truck drives up over the curve and parks on the side walk.  As in a giant (OK giant for here - but like what people use for commuting in Alberta) American pick up - all jacked up -and custom painted lime green for ‘MONSTER ENERGY DRINK”  A guy and a girl jump out - and the techno-rock music spills out to the street.  He jumps up into the back - flips up a door - and reaches in to a giant ice-chest and starts handing out cans of the Caffiene-Turarin-Ginsigng-Panda-Blood-nicotine-whatever-else-laden stuff to whoever walks past.   This all happens directly between the entrance to the school and the tram stop. So basically without changing a step - I reach out and take his half-litre offering, and keep walking.

It was suddenly as if Robert Munsch was writing the story of my day. As if I was a bit actor in a screenplay written by Dr Seuss.  Like my day was a theactrical rendition of a Salvador Dali sketch.

then I went home. (and my headache went away)

huh.

Le Retour des Alpages avec la famille Cho

Our great friends the Cho’s are here for a visit.  Which is fairly interesting since they planned their trip before we planned on moving here.  Works out pretty nice.  Since we’re still at the Simoni’s house - it’s kind of like we’re standing in for them - as some kind of surrogate hosts.

On Saturday we drove to Annecy - an amazing town sitting right on a crystal clear apline lake about 50 km south of the Swiss border.   We had no particular reason to go this weekend - but did it ever work out.  I started to suspect there might be something going on when we drove in and there were dozens of tour buses parked along the road leading towards the lake.  It turns out it was Le Retour des Alpages - the festival that celebrates the annual return of animals (and their farmers) from the high-alpine pastures back down to the valley.  It is apparently a festival that is deeply steeped in the traditions of the area, so the streets were covered with artisans, traditionally made local dishes, music, and lot more.  Well, actually the streets were literally covered with straw etc. as the animals had been paraded through the town earlier in the morning.

We saw apple juice being made on the street with a giant wooden press, a potter making his wares, woodworkers, carvers, women spinning wool next to the pen where the sheep had just been shorn, alpenhorns, yodelers, donkeys walking down the streets and so much more.

The Cho’s treated us to a great lunch of local dishes: fondue, tartiflette (a baked dish of potatoes, cheese, cream & ham).  Delicious.

After wandering around the city centre for most of the day, we rode the mini-train along the lake (as in 20-30 cm from the edge of sidewalk that just drops to the lake) back to the cars and headed home.

So I figure I’m about due for French citizenship: I had crepes for breakfast, fondue for lunch at about 2:30, celebrated le retour des alpages, and had supper at 10:00. Seriously - what more do they want from me?

September 30, 2010

“This was a day that will go Down in infamy. On September thirtieth, two-thousand-and-ten, Jonah Watts wore a pair of pants for the first time since we left Edmonton in early August.“

It’s not that it’s been cold here, in fact we’re experiencing a loverly “Indian summer” right now (for what it’s worth - I’m pretty sure summer in India is nothing like this).  However, there have been a number of evenings below 10° - which of course means mornings of the same. One day it was 6° here (due to our elevation) - but he still wore shorts to school. A few weeks ago it was cold, cloudy and rainy on Sunday morning - yet he still wore shorts to church.

Do not get in between that kid and a routine.

French stores whose names I enjoy saying:

• Darty 


• NafNaf 


• Quick


• Podmod


• BUT


• Ed


• FNAC

and my personal favouite:

• Flunch

Le mecredi

So, kids in France through elementary-level don’t have school on Wednesday.  Don’t ask me why.

  {OK if you must know…the best I’ve understood it is: something to do with the official split between church and state in 1905. After this, the Catholic church asked to have Wednesdays off, so children could receive the religious education they had previously received at school.  So they got Wednesday off -but had to make up for it on Saturday mornings. So most French kids used to have school on Saturday morning - but a few years ago Nicolas Sarkozy made good on a campaign promise and passed a law that young kids can’t have school on Saturday -but then they didn’t have to go back on Wednesday}

ANYWAY - our kids don’t go to school on Wednesday.  Which to me seems to actually make for a great rhythm for a small child. Basically they have: 2 days of school - break- 2 days of school - longer break. Lather, rinse, repeat.

In some ways it feels like they are only ever going to school on a Monday or a Friday -because it’s either their first day back - or their last day before a break. This weekly schedule also means that many activities are set for Wednesdays: gymnastics, rock-climbing, skiiing, ballet, music lessons etc.   Our youngest two are in gymnastics, with Jonah having settled on rock-climbing.  (After all - he is taking Fencing at school - so that is already taken care of)

Last Wednesday we went for a hike on a trail just up the road from us. It was a beautiful sunny day - and we had a great hike.  This Wednesday afternoon (activities in the morning, then lunch,then homework) we went for a bike ride along the same trail.

Unfortunately -PhD studies do not seem to follow the same rhythm - so now that I have started my courses this may be the end for me.

more eating

After a couple hours of eating amazing canapes….we started eating this incredible meal.  We ate for hours…almost 5 in total!

 

 

  The cheese course included 3 different regional cheeses.  The gratin dauphinoise was by far the best I have ever eaten…served piping hot and super creamy.  Thank you to Stephen and Dervla for an incredible dinner!  

French-Irish Wedding Extravaganza - the part where we eat (some more)

So as you would imagine, standing around and eating incredible Canapés (Hors d’œuvre, appetizers, whatever it is that we are supposed to call them) non-stop for hours really makes one hungry.  Well lucky for us [luck o’ the Irish I suppose] we were in for a serious meal.

We were lead into a candlelit stone barn that had tables from one end to the other.  {don’t worry - Susan will fully cover the food in a subsequent post}  At one point when we wandered outside (between some course, and the one to follow) -  we stepped out into the darkness of the château grounds that was punctuated by hundreds and hundreds of candles. There were candles lining the paths leading back to the chateau itself, there were candelabra in the trees with dozens of candles in them.  It was like something that you would say “wouldn’t it be cool if…” - but you’d never actually pull it off. Later Derv & Stephen lit what appeared to be a firework atop the wedding cake, and the dancing began.

Oldies like us had finally had enough dancing and late-night capers - so we got back to our lovely B&B and noticed - that we did in fact have reason to be tired as it was 3:30 (or as I call it “half seven”). Apparently we missed out on another 3 hours of dancing etc. that continued after we left.  (sheesh - kids these days)  Wait - they’re only a few years younger than me (sheesh - people without small kids these days).   The next day we stopped in for a quick bit at the pool-side party / Sunday lunch before we started our drive home. More great food, outside, in the château courtyard.

So we finished with our 650km drive home - to fetch our sleeping kids - and get them home as there was school for them the next morning at 8:30.

Moral of the story:

If you get invited to a château in the wine-country of South West France for the wedding of a lovely Irish lawyer from London and a cycle-crazed Irish lawyer …. you go.

French-Irish wedding Extravaganza (Part Deux)

So on Saturday at ‘half three’ (that’s 3:30 - and not literally ‘half of three’ - which would be 1.5 - or 1:30 as I would have guessed) the wedding itself got going.

The wedding itself was a beautiful affair.  We weren’t quick enough to beat out the relatives who sat on the side that was in the shade.  So 3:30 - in a chair facing directly to the sun in the South-West sky, in a black suit. It was a bit warm - but singing “Lord of the Dance” and trying not to slip into my horrible Irish accent was plenty of fun.

From the moment Derv & Stephen walked back down the aisle, the champagne bottles were popped - and from then until supper there was NON STOP food & drink.  All sorts of things from frois gras, salmon, gespacho, melon soup, oysters, some sort of fruit sculpture, smoked salmon, shallots…..I can’t even remember half of it. This was over on the other (shady) side of the chateau, overlooking the vineyards.  This went on while a silver-haired frenchman played what one could only imagine were old french love songs on his accordion.








Our friend Jenn took us on a bit of a tour of the chateau - there were massive rooms with huge open stone fireplaces and bear-claw tubs.  There were so many rooms - and I couldn’t count the number of times I heard : “this one room is bigger than my flat in London!”  There was a theatre room in the basement where the requisite slide show was being played, there were massive winding stair-cases, and a children’s playroom (next to the children’s dorm) that felt the size of our first house.

Then it was on to the barn for the supper…