The Bold Soul: A Writer's Life in Paris

A bread by any other name... still tastes better in France

Overheard between a Franco-American couple (who shall remain nameless) recently: SHE: Sweetie, I'm making a list for the store tomorrow. I think I should get some regular bread. You know, the bread in the plastic bag, because [Little Guy] seems to prefer it for his tartine at breakfast. Not a special bread like a baguette or a pain de compagne. HE: You know, mon amour, this is France. In France, "regular" bread IS the baguette or pain de compagne. The bread in the plastic bag, the pain de mie, isn't "regular" here, it's the "special" bread. In fact, it's not even real bread. SHE: [stunned silence while her brain processes this information, then... hysterical laughter as she realizes...] OH MY GOD, you're right. Damn American "Wonder Bread" culture. I don't even know what real bread is. .......................... This might be important information to know on Monday when I go for my Carte de Séjour interview. You know, like if they ask me to rattle off a list, in French, of things I typically buy when food shopping. There are so many different names for "bread" here. Cultural assimilation is all in the details. Read more →

Vaux-le-Vicomte, Part 4

After we got to see how Nicholas Fouquet lived at Vaux-le-Vicomte, we headed down to see what the servants might have been up to below stairs. Whenever I get to do a tour of a castle or manor house, my favorite parts are often seeing how the hired help lived and worked. If you've ever seen the (really excllent!) movie, Gosford Park, you'll get some idea of the enormous gap in lifestyles between the rich and famous, and those who served them. It wasn't any different in a French nobleman's castle. Here's where the kitchen staff took their meals: Monastic compared to the opulence of the dining room one floor up. Oh, the copper! This used to scare me, seeing so much copper to be polished... until my mother showed me that vinegar and salt takes the tarnish off in seconds with almost no elbow-grease! Salt being an expensive import in the "old days" they probably used sand to scour the copper pots and pans, though. I'll never understand how cooks could prepare meals without burning things in these old wood- or coal-burning stoves and ovens. I have enough trouble with modern gas or electric appliances The kitchen work table.... Read more →

This job came with hidden benefits

When I was "over 40 and still single" my friends and family all knew that although I wanted a nice man in my life, and although I really like other people's children, I felt I was well past it. Meaning, I was past the stage of wanting to (a) have children of my own or (b) wanting to help someone else raise his children. Although biologically I could have had children, whenever I thought about actually being a mom, the first thought I had was "Oh, that ship has SO sailed!" Whenever I was thought about what I was looking for in a relationship, I always put "No Kids (or Grown Kids)" on my Ideal Partner Wish List. I have often said that when it came to that list, Georges met nearly every criterion on it... OK so he's not a millionaire but then again, neither am I -- YET. [A wink for Georges] And except for that having kids to raise part. I knew from the first day that he had children still at home, THREE of them no less. And that wasn't exactly great news for a woman who didn't want kids. But it was quickly obvious to... Read more →

Vaux-le-Vicomte, Part 3

After we strolled the gardens and toured the equipage, it was time to enter the chateau. Like most historical buildings and museums in France, you can rent an audio guide in your language. We opted not to do so, preferring to just be relaxed about it and focus on what interested us most. We thought that by seeing the other parts of the property first, the crowd of people who had been waiting on the chateau steps for the 8pm opening would have thinned out a bit. What we didn't bargain on was the four or five BUSLOADS of tourists who were from Russia (I think) who chose to descend upon the chateau en masse at the opening time. WELL... this is a tour that is organized so that you must follow a certain path through the building and it starts on the first floor (or the second floor for you Yanks). The larger, beautifully restored and decorated rooms are interconnected by many tiny passageways and antechambers. Which would have been lovely had the Russians not created a HUGE bottleneck somewhere about five or six rooms ahead of us. Seriously, the crowd was barely moving! Add to that the overheated... Read more →

Vaux-le-Vicomte, Part 2

Just after you go through the ticket booth at Vaux-le-Vicomte, you enter a square courtyard which was the stables and carriage house for the chateau. While there are no live horses today, the collection of carriages was extensive. Imagine driving to Paris in this stagecoach (the small carriage in the foreground was a pony cart for children): This very old "carriage" required a horse in front and one in back. Perhaps, if there were no horses available, they had servants carrying the Royals instead! This cart was to transport game for the nobles to hunt. This could be a cozy conveyance for two on a nice summer's day: The smithy's workshop: Next time we'll look at the interiors of this beautifully restored chateau. Read more →

Vaux-le-Vicomte, Part 1

Just outside of Paris via a 25-minute train ride to the town of Melun, you'll find the beautiful chateau at Vaux-le-Vicomte. Georges and I were there last weekend to celebrate our anniversaries, and I finally got the photos out of the camera. I was a bit dubious as to how they'd turn out because we took the last Candlelight Tour of the season and I didn't have a tripod with me, but between Georges and I (he took some of the photos) I think we managed to get some very nice images, despite the HUGE crowds due to there being several bus-loads of Russian tourists. Let's start with the exterior and gardens, all light with candles everywhere. (Disclaimer: sorry about the slightly blurred images in some cases; low lighting and no tripod.) Just outside the grounds where our taxi dropped us off: The front entrance of the chateau with candles blazing at every window: Isn't it beautiful? This is the back of the chateau which faces onto the most incredible gardens, designed by André le Notre who also designed the gardens at Versailles and the Tuileries in Paris. Even in the darkness it was easy to see how beautiful the... Read more →

In case you know someone

CNN had this article online today about free resources to help homeowners or small businesses who are up against the wall financially, and possibly facing eviction. If even one family can avoid being scammed like the poor woman in this article, then it's worth it to spread the word a little. Read more →

(b)Logging in 5 years

Typepad, the hosting company for The Bold Soul blog, is celebrating its 5 year anniversary, and I've been a customer for over 3 1/2 of those five years. To mark the occasion they asked clients to submit their stories about how blogging has impacted their life in some way. My story was selected! If you're a regular reader you probably know the story already, but here it is in abbreviated form (I'm the last one on the page). I hope you enjoy reading some of the other featured bloggers' stories as well, and if you don't already write your own blog, maybe you should consider it. It's fun, it's creative, it can be totally anonymous, and therapeutic as well. And you never know where it might lead you. I'm proof of that! Read more →

Surpassing my understanding

It's been a while since I had any reason to post about my past as a single woman, let alone to THINK about it. Having just passed our 1-year anniversary of meeting and our 3-month wedding anniversary, suffice to say that I have plenty of good things to think about that are happening in my PRESENT, so I'm not putting any energy into dwelling on the past. Today, though, two things sort of coincided that made me reflect on some of my ex-boyfriends. One was that I've been re-reading every blog post since the beginning, sifting through them for material to include in my book. And I got to this one about one of my exes who had been lurking on the blog. After that post, he got the hint, his cryptic encoded comments ceased, and although for all I know he may still be reading the blog, at least he's not up to his old games in my comments box. In that same post, I also referred to another ex, one who continued to contact me over the years despite his being married, then married with children, then married with children and professing to have found Jesus (um, yeah,... Read more →

Perspective

The other day, I was telling my mother about our plans for celebrating our anniversary over the weekend: an overnight trip to the chateau at Vaux-le-Vicomte, where tonight is the last Saturday night for the season that they will be doing a CANDLELIGHT tour of the chateau and gardens (and it looks like the weather might even be in our favor, too). I mentioned to my mom that it was only a 25-minute train ride to get to the town nearest the chateau, and she remarked that it was the same amount of time it took her to drive to the nearest shopping mall. So I said, "Yes, you get to visit a mall. *I* get to visit a CASTLE. I love my life." (I'm such a mean daughter.) To which she replied, "Well, I have some compensation. The new Target is opening in town this weekend." Damn. Read more →