Adventures in Picardie

I'm a little behind with this post, but the other weekend Lionel and I decided to spend a day in Picardie.  We had originally planned to only go up to Laon, so we left Paris in the morning and drove up.  However, since we saw other things along the way that interestsed us, we decided to leave Laon a little earlier than planned to make some stops on the way back to Paris as well.

First we visited Laon, which is a pretty city with a charming medieval quarter called La Ville Haute or La Cité Médiévale.  The medieval quarter is located on top of a hill with the more modern part of the city situated at the bottom of the hill.  The ramparts and cathedral dominate the hill and there are also a lot of small, charming streets to wander around.  You can also walk along the ramparts on top of the hill and the view over Picardie is amazing.

Cathédrale de Laon

Rue du Cloître in Laon

view from la Haute Ville

medieval gate into la Haute Ville

St. Martin in Laon

La Haute Ville

On the way back we decided to stop at the city of Soissons.  We didn't know anything about the city, but were tempted to stop by when we say some tall towers soaring over the city.  From what we understood, most of the city was destroyed during the World Wars (they say 7 out of every 8 houses was destroyed), so the city wasn't as charming as Laon but the cathedral was pretty, with only one tower, and the ruins of the Abbaye St. Jean des Vignes were very interesting.

Abbaye St. Jean des Vignes

cloisters of the abbey

facade of St. Jean des Vignes...the rest of the church is gone, there is no nave or anything

Cathédrale de Soissons

Finally we saw a sign along the N2 pointing to another abbey off the road, so we decided to investigate and we stumbled upon the adorable village of Longpont and the ruins of its abbey, the Abbaye de Longpont.  Situated in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the woods, past some farmland, the village was absolutely adorable.  Too bad by the time we got there the abbey was closed so we couldn't get a really close look at the ruins.

Abbaye de Longpont

village of Longpont

Buffet à volonté

Apparently the hot, humid and now damp weather we've had recently is attracting mosquitoes like crazy, and I am their official blood buffet.  In the last week and a half I've managed to accumulate nearly 100 mosquito bites (the last time I counted I was at 85 and that was last weekend).  I don't know why, but they really seem to love my blood while Lionel and the cat have gotten off with almost nothing.  Must be because I'm so sweet...

As a result of the invasion of the mosquitos (which we did NOT have at all last year), we ran out to the store to stock up on mosquito repellents.  We ended up spending 20 euros on des plaquettes anti-moustiques, des diffuseurs éléctroniques, et Raid moustiques.  This seems to have helped a bit as before I was averaging about 10 new bites a night and now I am down to less than 5, but still, it's getting insane!  I finally had to drag myself to the pharmacy to buy some anti-itch gel because I couldn't take it anymore.  I also officially look like I have some weird skin disease as I have red spots all over my arms, legs, stomach, back and face, but especially my right arm (which at last count had 30 bites alone), my left leg and my face.  I also now need more time in the morning to put makeup on since I have to work extra hard to try to cover up all the red, swollen bumps on my face that make it look like Lionel beats me!  I just don't understand why these things don't start healing already!  This is getting a little ridiculous and I'm going to spend a fortune because of mosquitoes!  Any suggestions?

Sécheresse

What is this?  This is the effect the sécheresse has had on the grass in my garden.  It's dead and looks like straw.  Poor little Rasteau is hating not having nice, green, comfy grass to roll in and to eat.  Plus he is tracking in dead, brown grass that ends up all over my apartment.

Luckily the drought seems to be ending since we've had storms the past two nights.  While I have been enjoying the nice, sunny weather, I know my garden (and the French farmers) desperately need some rain, so at least it's been coming at night!

Picnic on the Pont des Arts

Last weekend we met up with a bunch of friends for the annual picnic on the Pont des Arts.  Every year around this time we organize a picinic on the pont and every year it's a great time.  The only problem this year was the police who were patrolling the bridge like crazy to make sure no one was drinking alcohol (apparently it is now officially illegal to consume alcohol on the bridge).  The cops were relatively cool about it and if they caught you drinking they gave you the choice of throwing it out or going down on the quais next to the bridge.  Nonetheless, it got a little annoying having to be very careful to hide all our beer and wine, but it was still a lot of fun, the weather was beautiful, we were able to enjoy some good company and some good food and I was able to destress a little, if only for one night.

sunset from the Pont des Arts Saturday night

Back en France

Well, I'm back in France after a wonderful trip to the US.  I actually got back a week ago, but I have been so depressed about returning to Paris and to my horrible job that I haven't been able to motivate myself to post.

My time in the US was incredible and I was very busy trying to squeeze in time with family and friends.  Unfortunatly the weather wasn't very great and it was cold and rainy most of the time.  We did have a few days of nicer weather though and luckily the rain held off for my friend Lindsay's wedding, which was the main reason I went back in May.

Overall I'm pretty happy with everything I managed to do and everyone I managed to see (though there were more people I really wanted to see, and I just didn't have the time).  I saw the new Cleopatra exhibit at the Cincinnati Museum Center, went to a Cincinnati Reds game (though it was raining and freezing), did all the stuff for the wedding weekend (rehearsal dinner, wedding, reception, etc), got my taxes done, did a ton of shopping, ate a bunch of delicious food (including Mexican, bbq, real hamburgers, etc), went to Hofbrauhaus (my favorite bar in Cincy) with my brother and some friends, saw a lot of family, celebrated my dad's birthday, spent time with a bunch of friends and ran some random errands such as getting a hair cut (since I hate doing it in France because they never do what I ask).  Even after all this, I still managed to find a little time to relax, though not much since I also couldn't stop stressing about having to return to my stupid job.

Go Reds!

at the Reds game

out for Mexican

Hofbrauhaus!

Congrats Lindsay and Tom!  a beautiful wedding!

USA here I come!

Tomorrow morning I'm off for two glorious weeks in the US.  I'll try to post once or twice if I find the time, but my schedule is already pretty busy.  I've got a wedding which I'm a bridesmaid in, a big family get together, celebrating my dad's birthday, lots and lots of shopping, I'm planning to go to a Cincinnati Reds game, I'm going to spend some time up in Columbus visiting some friends, I have some administrative stuff to work on, taxes to prepare and file, and some other plans which are in the works.

But for the moment I'm just thrilled about 2 weeks free from English teaching, the metro, Paris and I'm looking forward to seeing my family and friends.  The only thing that makes me a little sad is that Lionel didn't have any vacation left, so he isn't able to come with me this time.  But that's ok because I'm going to take advantage of some husband-free time with friends!

L'atelier des Chefs

For Lionel's birthday present I got us a cooking lesson with L'atelier des Chefs, and last week we went.  I decided to get him the cooking lesson for us to do together because I recently tried it for the first time with a friend and he was really jealous that he couldn't come since we did one of their 30 minute lunch courses during one of my breaks from work.

L'atelier des Chefs provides cooking courses where you learn how to cook 1-3 recipes and receive different cooking tips for all kinds of different things in the kitchen.  The courses consist of about 20 people and you work in small groups of 4-5 to prepare the recipes while listening to the advice of the chef.  After you finish cooking you have the choice to either eat at the atelier or (for some of the courses) to take the food home with you.  They have 6 different ateliers in Paris and can also be found in some other major cities in France.  They offer lessons throughout the entire day, at a lot of different prices and a number of different formulas.  The prices range from 15 euros (for the 30 minute lunch courses) to 72 euros for the 2 hours more intense courses and wine tastings.

The first course I did was a 30 minute lunch course where we learned to prepare massalé d'agneau et riz parfumé à la cardamome.  Since it was only a 30 minute lesson we only learned one dish and afterwards we ate it and it was very good.  We also had the option to pay extra for wine, coffee or for a dessert that the chef had prepared beforehand.

For Lionel's birthday we went to an evening lesson after work at 7:30.  The lesson was an hour and we learned three courses, then sat down and ate there before heading home.  For the lesson I chose there was a theme: La bière s'invite en cuisine.  We learned to make:

Soupe de fraises et framboises, sirop de bière à la cardamome et tuile au gingembre

Croustillant au sésame et poulet mariné au citron vert et à la bière
Carpaccio de bar mi cuit, blinis et sirop de bière

Included in the price was a beer, of course.  Unfortunately, I was too busy eating to think to take any pictures, so sorry!  But everything was really good and Lionel really enjoyed the experience and wants to do some more lessons with l'Atelier des Chefs.  He's very proud to have finally learned how to cut an onion like a professional chef, and he's been practicing his new skill at home!  I'm hoping this means he will cook more!