Last week

Last week I spent with my grandparents settling out some problems I had here, visiting some nearby towns and making sure I was stocked with groceries and supplies.  We went to Avignon, Estézargues to see le Pont du Gard, Les Baux and St.Rémy de Provence (some of my favorite cities), and Marseille.  They left on Saturday morning and after they left I got really bored, I mean we spent almost every night in a new hotel It is a bit of a shock to stop traveling and also to begin completely speaking French again.  It helps when you have awesome landowners who invite you for a 9km hike in the mountains with their dog, you get your bike back, figure out what you're going to do the next week and you start planning out your next trip : ). That trip really made me feel like " yeah I can do this", especially when you finally reach the center of Paris by yourself.

The weather around here is getting really nice and it feels like spring has really arrived.  Everyone is walking and bicycling clubs are a common sight on the roads. The markets are coming to life too.  Sunday mornings Rochefort du Gard has a small market where I try to buy most of my food for the week, it's cheaper and fresher.  I go to the roughest talking French lady, she's always yelling at her son ( Christophe get your act together and stop eating the carrots!)  but she has the best prices and an apple that is similar to Mcintosh, still haven't found one that is as perfect there's just something about that apple I tell yah.  I'm really getting on to using leeks now and I do think I'm addicted to kiwis, clementines and the awesome lettuce all of which are grown around here at a small town nearby called Chateaurenard.  I'm going to try to use a different vegetable or fruit that's in season each week.  This week it's a funny looking squash called potimarron .





Comments

  1. Drew KoraMarch 13, 2014 at 6:33 AM

    Any music stores near by? I might ask you to pick up some tunes that are only available in France/Europe right now. : )

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. DenwildzeeMarch 13, 2014 at 8:47 AM

      No problem, I need to look around for some music stores myself.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saint Jacques de Compostelle

Image
Hitchhiker, vagabond, drifter...pilgrim?  That's not a word you get to use every day.  In the very religious land that is France...psyche!  France although very catholic is not very religious anymore but do you remember the old French adage assume to never assume?  Every year pilgrims, not the buckle mayflower ones, make a trip to north western Spain.  The goal of the pilgrimage is the Catedral de Santiago de Compostela where supposedly lies the final resting place of St. James also known as James the son of Zebedee.  Spanish tradition goes that after preaching in Spain, James was subsequently beheaded in Jerusalem where apon his fellow disciples returned his body to Spain.  With the muslim moorish invasion of Spain the tomb of James was kept miraculously safe there apon beginning a pilgrimage to the very cathedral.   Its one of the 3 major pilgrimages the other two being Rome and Jerusalem starting in the 10th century.  Along the marked pathway the pilgrims find boarding houses wh
Read more

Chitis Cuisine

Image
 Just some pics to make you start drooling. La Carbonade Flamande La celerirave rapé Un Welsh La biere   Les endives (les chicons)  with ham and cheese, as a raw salad, or carmalised   Le maroille-and anything it touches Spéculoos   La chicorée   Les Frites
Read more

I'm on welfare, what!?

So I've mentioned a little thing called 'CAF' in the past, it's a little way to get some of your rent paid for by the government.  What hit me this time while I was filling out some of my paperwork was the differences between American welfare and the French social welfare systems.  In fact welfare isn't even the right word.  Welfare is what happens in the US, it's looked at as being for people in DIRE need and it isn't seen in the best of light, it's great if you can figure out some good programs but France is very different.  It's looked on as a sign of being savvy if you can figure out how (and the patience and diligence it takes to jump through bureaucratic hoops) to get reimbursed by the government, because in basis that's what it is.   Taxes in France are much higher than the United States, somewhere in the 40% income tax range and France loves to add on other taxes as well.  In your taxes you automatically have CAF, work accidents, care for
Read more