Tenerife ~ Bilbao ~ San Sebastián

Spectacular setting

The Canary islands have a temperate climate, so in April you’re relying on a bit of sun for it to be warm – luckily a bit of sun was just what we got, after the previous two weeks having mixed weather. 

Tenerife is quite like Hawaii in its landscapes, not surprising given both are volcanic islands. Lots of jagged black lava everywhere, lush forests where it rains, and desert landscapes in between. 

The hotel setting beside the water was amazing and just the ticket for relaxation and distraction.

Lots of fun exploring the sprawling hotel site with its red plaster walls and myriad of twists and turns:

Great views out over the ocean…

…with banana plantations as far as the eye could see!

The smiles of parents who are staying at a hotel with a kids club…

Getting relaxed

Kids (and adults) straight into their rhythm at the pool…

… chilling out on the side …

 

… or just relaxing at the bar 🙂

Aisling enjoying breakfast a la española, and getting her dancing shoes on.

With plenty of catching up on rest all around.

The early verdict was a thumbs up on Tenerife:

Getting active

Not too hot, sunny weather was perfect for sharpening our games. Charles and Simon headed out to the golf course for a bit of practice:

And the whole family decided it was time to polish our ground strokes, with the French open not that far away…

Even the gym had a spectacular setting. Equal parts inspiring and distracting perhaps, but either way a great place to work out.

Reach the beach

The beach is a public one though most of the people there were staying at the hotel. Reached by an impressive funicular line down a sharp rock face:

Kids delighted playing in the waves, building sandcastles and chasing dad ragged while mum caught forty winks on a lounger.

Lunch, anyone?

Heading back to the hotel caught the little kids train / tractor up the snaking road to our cliff-top hotel.

A beach and sunny weather the perfect recipe for family fun anywhere in the world.

Seaside dining

One of the big drawcards of the hotel we were in is its food.

Impressive variety of great restaurants, including this one looking over the ocean from the top of the cliffs. 

Niamh looking very excited for her Spanish paella and Aisling also giving it the enthusiastic thumbs up:

All topped off with a beautiful sunset to end the meal and the day…

Kids’ club

The first morning we were there (Sunday) we headed down to the kids club for a visit. We were reminded of the children’s song “you’re in for a big surprise”.

The theme of the day appeared to be Lord of the Flies, with exhausted and overrun staff completely overpowered by a sea of ~70 children racing in every direction, jumping, throwing and yelling at full power. It was quite impressive!

We beat a hasty retreat before we were captured by any of the roaming gangs :-).

The staff subsequently told us that this was in fact the last day of two weeks of UK school holidays, and that no fewer than 700 UK guests were checking out later that day. We were politely encouraged to check back the next morning instead.

And they were true to their word. Here is a picture of the entire kids club class by the middle of the week.

Seven happy, relaxed kids (including two of our own) playing games out on the lawn.

Happy days for kids and parents alike. Also very pleased we hadn’t come a week earlier…

Spa time

Kids safely in a calmer kids club, parents off for a relax in the spa :-). 

Beautiful setting with the usual confusing array of European water jet options

This one even comes with multiple options for self-inflicted torture, including the cold water bucket dunk and the minus 3 cold room. All we needed for thinking we were in Norway was some birch saplings for smacking yourself with!

(Beyond) Gourmet dining

Did we mention good food? 

Now that elBulli has shut down, the hotel boasts a restaurant by Spain’s currently most celebrated chef.

You know you’re in a serious restaurant when the wine list comes in 4 volumes, one of which is entirely dedicated to champagne and other sparking wine…

Despite our failure of endurance the last time we tried a tasting menu down in the Loire, we fired in again, since it seemed the only thing to do in this environment.

The chef wasn’t sure what type of butter to serve with the bread, so sent out 9 different choices just to cover the bases.

Similar indecision led to a multi-layered attack of amuse-bouches…

Niamh losing it just a little as we were served an oyster on a faux seaside rock, complete with fresh seaweed and filled with liquid nitrogen so it gave off a sea mist!

An amazing meal from start to finish, with incredible attention to detail, from fake olives with hair-thin shells and olive flavoured liquid inside, to curry chocolate in a swirling porcelain bowl, and a two-phase attack of the petits fours!

Volcano

Niamh unfortunately wasn’t feeling great, but was intent on exploring a bit of Tenerife, so we rented a car and set off to explore the island – which can only mean a trip up the side of the volcano and down to the other coast. 

 

An amazingly varied set of terrains on the way up, from desolate lava flows to lush pine forests and everything in between, including red desert sands.

Easy to see why planet of the apes was filmed here – a very other-worldly set of landscapes!

The cable car up the side of the volcano was closed due to (very!) high winds, but from anywhere in the vicinity the vistas were already amazing in every direction.

 

Wild coastlines

Descending down the other side of the volcano brings you to the wilder northern coastline of the island, where waves crash into the black rocks formed from cooled lava. 

While you and I might see an inhospitable foaming sea battering sharp jagged rocks, the locals here see … a perfect place for a quick dip. Just bung in a little ladder and off you go! Last one in’s a rotten egg…

We stopped for an ice block and to look at the views.

The views stayed with us, but the ice blocks didn’t, with both kids coming down with a poorly timed case of the stomach bug that Niamh had previously enjoyed, on the winding roads back to the hotel.

Several emergency pit stops required. Thank goodness for Niamh’s books on tape to the rescue!

 

All told, a great day of exploration before we sadly say goodbye to Tenerife.

Tenerife to Bilbao

It was goodbye to Tenerife, but not goodbye to Spain, as we were off to San Sebastián, via Bilbao. Both are cities none of us had been to before. 

At Tenerife airport we were distracted by an impressively large display that seemed to be either an ad for a local theme park; a warning about giant giraffes that could stampede over the building at any moment; or a promotion for tours to Africa, so we went to take a look.

No points for us in the quiz. In fact, it is a giant advertising installation for … a nearby cosmetic dental surgery. You too can have the teeth of the giraffe!

Particularly impressive to us was the fake tourist with his roller bag on the left who looks like he’s stopped to consider whether some realignment of his teeth might not be a great idea while he waits for his flight connection. They thought to add a mannequin to draw in other wheelie bag tourists to the water hole!

Brilliant.

Bilbao of course is famous in part for its Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim museum, so we stopped by for a look.

Museum having to compete with the nearby wildflowers for Aisling’s attention…

Outside the museum, two buskers hidden under bird-like outfits and making inscrutable clicking noises had Aisling half terrified, half fascinated, but eventually succeeded in luring her over for some friendly pecks.

The main attraction however was the enormous spring flower dog out the front of the museum that had us running for joy. Two of our favourite things combined into one. Happy days.

The energy quickly ran out however, from the travel and being a bit under the weather, so it was back into the car for the 1 hour drive to San Sebastián. Hola, books on tape!

Bilbao to San Sebastián

The countryside in the north eastern coast of Spain is spectacular, with rolling green hills all around. We could easily have imagined ourselves in Ireland as we wound our way through the hills in the afternoon sun.

We arrived at our cosy hotel in San Sebastián in the late afternoon. Niamh went for a snooze while Simon and the kids fired out for a short explore and to find some dinner. 

San Sebastián is a beautiful city and it was a lovely sunny evening as we walked across the river, stopping to wave at the passing rowers

We made our way over to the old town with its narrow streets and teeming pintxo (tapas) bars.

San Sebastián is a gourmet mecca, with multiple Michelin starred restaurants and a seemingly endless array of pintxo bars to choose from.

We settled into some chairs overlooking the beautiful main square of the old town and enjoyed some people watching and small plates as the sun went down on what had been a busy Friday.

Chocolate lollipops on the way home, quick check in with the fishermen on the bridge then time for big sleeps all round.

San Sebastián Exploring

After a big sleep we were all ready to fire out and explore, and San Sebastián served up a warm sunny day 🙂

Back over the bridge towards the old town we headed.

Through the narrow streets to the old square where there were acapella singers and more great people watching.

Ducked into the duck shop for some lower brow distraction…

Then time to stop off for some pintxos for lunch.

Kids trying their best to be adventurous in tasting new stuff 🙂

The Theme Park on High

At the far end of the beach in San Sebastián is an old funicular train that lifts you to the top of the hill overlooking the town and ocean, where there’s an antique fun park.

We were soon flying around the edge of the hilltop in our little boats…

… enjoying the view and having a little game of pooh sticks on the side.

Charles braved the haunted house.

Simon and kids braved the ancient roller coaster 🙂

And we all admired the sweeping views over San Sebastián:

Even the kids getting in on the act, polishing up their photo skills with mum and dad as guinea pigs…

Birds!

Perched on top of the theme park was a little rooftop where there was a raptor exhibition, which was being ignored by most of those enjoying the rides below, so we wandered up for a look.

An impressive selection of hawks (like this Harris’s hawk at right), eagles and owls, with the falconers eager to show off their birds and explain how they live and feed.

Aisling’s favourite bird by far is the owl, so the large owls in residence were a particular favourite.

They have soft wing edges and dark feathers so they are both silent and invisible at night.

The trainer takes them out for some free flying in the hills at night and has to fix little bells to their feet so she can hear when they are coming in to land.

Luckily for us, Aisling is an expert at speaking owlish, so she immediately struck up a conversation with her favourite owl. She was absolutely delighted, a highlight of the day.

Beaches and Boardwalks

Then it was time for a walk and play on the beach before heading home. There is a long boardwalk where we found some swings that Aisling was quick to test out:

It wasn’t long before some expert sandcastle and tunnel building was underway…

… while out on the beach there were two guys zipping around on electric surfboards

A new sensation coming to a beach near you!

We got a bit lost on the way back, accidentally taking the bus in the wrong direction for a while.

But even that had a silver lining as it took us about 15 minutes up into the beautiful rolling green hills above the town.

Very Irish feeling!

A beautiful afternoon in a stunning spot. 

Charles contemplating putting down roots …

Once the beach fun was done for today, just time for a few more quick pintxos in a popular bar where we miraculously scored (pintxed?) a table (with very tired children!), and then off to the hotel to crash.

A big week, and more to come.

Paris ~ Tenerife

All around the town

This was the last week of school before 2 weeks of holidays.

Perfect time for a bit of wandering and appreciating sights & sounds of Paris before being away for a while.

Spring was finally well and truly sprung in the Jardin des Tuileries, and horse-drawn carriages out in the streets.

You never know what you might see come out of the tunnel when you’re waiting for your regular metro…

…or what you might find on the supermarket shelves.

And sometimes it’s nice to just walk and take in the sights.

New Sneakers & New Playdates

With Aisling growing like a bean, it was time for new lighter boots for the summer months. Niamh ordered them online.

To mother’s horror and daughter’s delight, they arrived with sparkle lights on the side that twinkle around with every step!

Not only that, but we soon learned we could get them going pretty good on our scooter just by aiming for bumps in the footpath…

Charles meanwhile excited for his playdate with school friend Deniz from Turkey. Soccer in the champ de mars, anyone?

Sculpting & Plastering

Seems not so long ago that heading to sculpture class on a Tuesday evening was under starry skies with the Tour Eiffel lighting up the sky (see Week 7 blog).

Now it’s bright afternoon light at the same time of day.

Focus of the moment is getting the wire-frame figures completed, ready for their plaster bands.

Fiddly work with pliers, particularly getting their sizes right, in proportion to the rock faces and waves.

Much swearing and use of google images for inspiration, but got there in the end.

Speaking of plaster, did we mention that we also decided this was a good time to fully renovate the family apartment at Honoré?

Are we mad?

Certifiable. 

Happy family days

Despite all the fun times out exploring the countryside and the region, some of the best times are family days in and around our neighbourhood.

Walking in the sun, enjoying an after-school treat.

Aisling reading her toy sheep a story.

Since of course sheep don’t understand English, Aisling thoughtfully was reading the entire story in “baas”…

Learning new skills, focusing this week on the “P”s: piano playing and peeling.

Or just relaxing in the couch in our own special way, and having a bit of fun with mum…

Bastille markets

Simon and Niamh managed an outing to the Bastille street markets. Great selection of fresh food from all around the region, from mushrooms to fish to…

…gorgonzola by the spoon, anyone?

That’s got to leave you feeling a bit peckish, so time for a stop off for some lunch at a local bistro, courtesy of recommendation from handy fourchette app.

Glass of burgundy with that? Don’t mind if we do…

Le “Fitness”

In France we have started to embrace “Le fitness”. This is a new thing for us, but we are determined to give it a go.

We also like gadgets.

So this seems like a nice little opportunity to experiment a bit. Here are three options within 3 blocks from where we live. Drumroll please…

#1: Melt the fat and build muscle with this fully digitised alien antenna zap-o-metic machine! You are guaranteed to feel weirder and never tell your friends what you just did:

#2: Always liked the idea of biking, but worried about the chafing? Well, you’re in luck. Presenting… aquabiking! For the scuba/cycling enthusiast in your family:

#3: Ultimately the question you need to ask yourself is: am I seriously committed to jolting myself out of my ordinary regime and willing to sacrifice the ability to feel my fingers and toes? If so, the Capdetente “EMS full body electrostimulation” program could be just the thing for you! Conveniently located next to your local electrical sub-station:

Ah, la France. Endlessly inventive. 

Mind you, there are also an increasing number of more normal gyms where you can just try to get fit the boring old-fashioned way.

At Simon’s gym you could almost be anywhere else in the world, except for the occasional YSL monogrammed backpack gym bag in the change rooms (see previous post), or the music system which is interrupted only for critical announcements: the time (on the hour), and your personal horoscope (every 20 minutes).

Happy lifting, Capricorns. The alignment of the planets is just right for some killer squats today. Allez, let’s bend!

International day & dinner

Friday was International Day at Aisling’s school. And international it was indeed. At least 20 countries represented.

All the kids brought a dish from their country.

Aisling’s dish of choice following our recent trip to the Somme was ANZAC biscuits which she proudly made in the kitchen with her mum.

Delighted to be offering them around to all and sundry.

Flags of all nations proudly on display.

Note the strategic proximity of Australian and Irish flags on the left.

Very proud to show our parents our creations from class, and also experience a bit of everything on offer…

Somehow or other, made it to the end of another busy week and Friday night dinner.

High excitement as we celebrated the end of our first term at school in France and got ready for the…

Holidays!!

Saturday morning and off on holidays!

Kids excited for their next adventure.

This time we’re off to Tenerife, part of a small string of volcanic islands off the coast of Africa which is a little outpost reminder of Spain’s once sprawling world empire.

Now a favourite spot for many Europeans for a bit of sunny weather and sandy beaches when the northern winter has been grinding you down for a while (like now!).

Few hours in the air and soon sunshine and Pacific islands coming into view…

Found two great baggage handlers in the airport…

Rented a car and bumped our way along the coast to the hotel in time for a quick explore and some dinner.

Bueno!

Then time for some sleep to prepare for the morning attack on the kids club… Hasta la vista, baby!

Killorglin ~ Paris

Easter in Killorglin

Easter Sunday and kids up early as is traditional :-). Also traditional is the Easter egg hunt, with both children eagerly dissecting clues that lead to the chocolate egg surprise…

Of course, chocolate gorging is inevitably closely followed by chocolate coma…

Lots of fun had with aunts, cousins and nan, from dancing to balloon tennis to hugs aplenty.

We

We successfully persuaded Stephen to tow us all around the house in our pirate ship…

 

…baked cupcakes with Irene, and played Hullabaloo with the cousins.

Mike, Róisín, Martha, Hannah and Michael were down for the holidays from Galway,

Girls infinitely patient with Aisling as always, and all up for some crack, as we say in Ireland. 

Galway Brosnans in fine form.

They even brought Aisling a “Mini Cooper” to remind her of the real thing. See if you can pick which is which…

 

And in the end, as always, Easter was really just about spending time with family…

Back to Paris (and Nina)

After our long weekend in Ireland it was back to Paris and school, but with the promise of more fun with cousin Nina. 

Great times had scooting around the neighbourhood (“I’ll be the mum, you be the Aisling”):

We explored the rue de commerce markets with food from all around France and Spain, including a pretzel even Charles might take more than an afternoon to make his way through…

…and had great sightseeing in the sunshine all around the town:

 

 

Charles stumbled on a vintage Ferrari he liked the look of…

…and we all spun ourselves into a delerium:

Des Artistes et Robots

Our first cultural interlude for the week was a visit to the Grand Palais and the “Artistes et Robots” exhibit.

All about the question of whether machines can create (worthwhile) art – either on their own, or by augmenting human artists. 

Aisling contemplating the concept…

Lots of interesting exhibits, and more than a few of them bizarre. From number pattern generators to freaky monk animations to fractal-like 3D paper tower sculptures that were printed and layered:

There were virtual dandelions you could blow the seeds off of, with a little platform for younger visitors to stand on. In a very French moment, Aisling roundly told off by a security guard for having the temerity (and curiosity) to step onto the platform for exactly this purpose!

The artist we’re sure would have been horrified at a child being kept from the experience. 

No such trouble at the exhibit where virtual buzzing bees would approximate your outline as you stood in front of a panel equipped with a camera.

The artists were on hand, delighted to observe how participants interacted with their art.

Here is the outline of Simon and Aisling as interpreted by bees:

A fun exhibit and great fun had by all. Kudos to Nina for suggesting the visit!

Pina at the Palais

We hardly ever go to dance, but this week there was a production of Pina Bausch’s “Orphée et Eurydice” in the beautiful Palais Garnier opera house, so we took the chance for a night out with Noel and Geraldine.

It’s a stunning setting, both inside and out, worth it just to see the building let alone the show…

So we put our game faces on and headed in.

Noel probably had the greatest idea of what was going on, but he cheated by studying the program guide during intervals.

Following along with an opera interpreted largely through dance with occasional sung parts is no small feat, but the choreography, staging and production were amazing.

The production was edgy as always with Pina, and always engrossing.

We highly recommend seeing a Pina Bausch production if you get the chance.

Signs of spring & sculpture in the park

Meanwhile a few tiny signs of spring starting to appear in Paris.

Tiny green shoots on the tree-lined avenues of the garden des Tuileries.

Perhaps we’ll emerge from winter soon after all!

Simon meanwhile taking advantage of the improving weather to do a little outdoor sculpting.

Working on his wireframe “personnages” in the champ de mars…

Musée de l’armée

A little less high brow on the cultural side was a visit to Les Invalides where Napoléeon I is buried (along with a few others besides), and where you can find the musée de l’armée.

Plenty of Vigipirate action here, along with plenty of marble.

We dutifully visited the tomb, and made our way around the museum, which us small enough to navigate with young kids. You can see most things french military related, from tanks to rifles with periscopes for firing out of trenches.

In the end though, it’s really just all about the hats…

On the way home a brief patch of rain and squally winds put paid to Niamh’s own scimitar, much to the delight of the kids…

Batobus!

With the waters of the Seine finally returning to normal, we at last took to the river. Beautiful sunny day – bordering on warm under the glass-topped boat. 

Kids challenging dad and each other to thumb wars as we floated past the major landmarks…

One of those being the willow tree at the end of the isle de la cité where Niamh and Simon got engaged some little time ago 🙂

Looks like the willow survived the inundation.

An advantage of the Batobus is the ability to get on and off around paris.

We jumped off in the sculpture park near the jardin des plantes, made our way over the the picturesque little isle st louis, and wandered down the main street, stopping in to the puppet shops, galleries and stopping off for some lunch and a scoop of the irresistible “fraise des bois” Berthillon ice cream.

Always worth a detour if you’re in the area!

After the excitement, a quick stop-in to the next door neighbour’s son’s birthday party.

We’ve come to know our landlords and neighbours well.

They have two boys the same age as our kids and it’s great to have some local french friends for them to hang out with.

Barbarians at the gate

Unfortunately spring also comes with its downsides – an army of tourists who descend on the city! 

In the course of 10 days, the champ de mars turned from vacant to packed – the transformation was stunning.

Part of this of course was due to the Paris marathon which was on the next weekend, with various other races going on in and around the city at the time of it – including a “cross country” race finishing outside our apartment. on Saturday morning.

Paris is going to feel a bit different from now on. We’re glad we had 3 months of quiet time so far…

Friday dinner & Saturday relaxing

Made it to Friday!

Dinner out at Suffren with Nina and Geraldine, as Noel had headed to Boston with his twin brother Stephen to celebrate their joint 50th birthdays.

Tired children delighted to have made it to the weekend. Time for some Saturday relaxing…

La Vie Française

Easter marks the midpoint of our time in France, and a third of the way through our 9-month adventure. As good time as any for a bit of reflection on life in France.

We’ve been having a wonderful time as a family, and very glad to have chosen Paris as our base for the first part of our time. We’ve tried our best to immerse ourselves in French living – renting an apartment in a residential neighbourhood where we’re the only non-French people in the building, and spending our time walking, shopping and schooling locally during the weeks, and exploring a good part of the Paris environs on weekends..

Our primary goals of spending time as a family and immersing ourselves in a different culture are definitely being fulfilled. And of course, the latter comes with its fair share of oddities and curiosities…

l’école

Both Charles and Aisling are having very multi-cultural experiences in school, which we like a lot. Turkey, Russia, North Africa, Portugal. Aisling’s international day at school (see future blog) could just as easily have been called UN day.

Both schools have no uniforms, kids from all over, lots of French being spoken all around, and are co-educational. The kids have gone to school in the dark and in the snow, on foot and on scooter.

Younger kids are mostly dropped at school in person, via public transport. A small handful arrive by car, but is the exception. It seems normal and accepted that parents will walk or bring kids to school and get to work when they can afterward. Hence the business hours in France where nothing much happens before 10 in the morning, there is a long lunch break, and then businesses and shops typically stay open an hour or two later than they would in Australia.

In terms of food, most children eat at school, though the lunch break is long enough for a good number to go home for their lunch and then come back. Charles eats at school and chooses what he likes in the cafeteria, with predictable results – followed by an extended lunch break for racing around with (very) minimal supervision.

There is a short morning recess (except for the days they have PE), although with no food – just a chance to run around. We do not eat between meals in France (see below!).

School work has an unusual emphasis on things like copying geometric structures, and time for free drawing on most days. Surprisingly they don’t study music in the early years, so that has to be done outside school hours, although the school has an extremely extensive after-school program you can sign up for each day of the week.

There are lots (and lots) of holidays, and perhaps as a consequence very little tolerance for any time time away during normal hours.

They expect a high degree of independence at an early age. Many surprisingly young kids walk to school on their own. If there is homework to do or things to buy or study, the teacher writes this on the board in French, and assumes all the 7 year olds will dutifully comply without having to be reminded. This results in a comical weekly pattern of furious messages amongst the parents’ WhatsApp group every weekend, trying to decipher from the various 7 year old hieroglyphics what the homework of the week might be, or books that need to be purchased.

The kids do their work in a series of large-format colour-coded graph-ruled notebooks, and everything done at school is dutifully glued in, and parents are to open the books each night and sign every page of their child’s work. Failure to do so will result in a red pen note (to the parent, not the child) in the book the next day!

Speaking of independence, where for most schools an excursion for 7 year olds might be to a local museum, at Charles school they have “classe verte” week where they all go several hundred kilometres south to Provence by train for a week with their teacher to explore the sights and broaden their minds! An idea Niamh has yet to really get her head around. She may be the one needing comforting…

There is also a dose of reality of the world we live in today in Europe. They had a minute’s silence for a police officer killed during a terrorist siege, and they do siege drills periodically.

Aisling’s school is all in French every morning and all in English every afternoon, with two different teachers. Turns out her English teacher is Irish, so that was off to a flying start. She took some time to warm to la moitié française, but got there after a few weeks – kudos to her lovely French teacher. And while she still doesn’t understand all of what’s said in her French periods, she’s getting more and more comfortable.

The school is intimate and friendly and they use the highly international clientele as an excuse to study different parts of the world each week which is wonderful. They also don’t mind if we want to take her out of school a couple of hours early from time to time, by contrast with the rather more serious approach up the road!

Rollin’, Rollin’, Rollin

Not too many people drive in Paris if they can avoid it. The metro is packed at peak hour of course, and buses well frequented.

But most of all people walk a lot (see section on staying fit in Paris below). Not at pace mind you – we do not hasten in Paris, we stroll – much to Niamh’s frustration at times.

But if we you do need to get somewhere in a hurry, pretty much any form of transportation is acceptable. Large numbers of motor scooters and motorcycles of course, but these days everything in between as well.

For example, it is perfectly acceptable to wear a suit and ride a scooter along the footpath to work (preferably one that folds if you have to dash into the metro), a hoverboard, an electric monocycle (often without a helmet, weaving between traffic), or to zoom at high speed along footpaths on a motorised foot scooter…

 

All about the Food

Too much is already written about French food and eating for us to delve too deeply here.

Suffice it to say that while we still think the Spanish and Italians are doing more interesting things with food these days, you can eat extremely well in France with a bit of care, and we have generally found the service attitude in restaurants to be on the up and up.

One thing that’s for sure is that the French take their food very seriously,

The markets are still an opportunity to study 25 varieties of tomato, 20 types of egg and 100+ varieties of cheese.

In France we shop every day for food, buying what we will eat that night for dinner and not stocking up. Lots of fresh ingredients, and just what will fit in our little fridges and kitchens.

You can find shops dedicated just to different types of honey, and there are still butchers on most corners in residential neighbourhoods receiving (very!) fresh deliveries daily.

Quite the sight on an early morning walk to school.

Oh, and did we mention that if you have a delivery to make in a one lane street you just stop and do whatever you need to do for as long as it takes while the traffic piles up behind you.

But we are all patient as it is in the name of fresh meat…

 

Food is treated with respect and frequently beautifully packaged, whether a box of chocolates or ordinary yogurt, which may come in a beautiful clay pot.

This may of course just be an expression of the yogurt worship that seems to go on in France, as evidenced by the dairy section of even a small supermarket stocking at least 120 varieties…

What perhaps sums up the differences in approach to eating most succinctly for us however are the two photos below – one from our local Starbucks showing their US-style delicacies, and the other from the french patisserie next door with the French version of the same.

vs.

Sometimes, comfort food can come from anywhere however…

Le Métro

What Paris blog could be complete without a 5 memorable metro moments list?

#5: Cabaret Slave

That’s Slav, not Slave (in English).

Ukrainian band who have been busking in the métro for more than 5 years!

They play at Concorde station where we often change trains or jump out to walk in the Tuileries gardens.

Kids love them every time. And seemingly they’re there every time…

#4: What the emergency handle is for

You get a lot of people asking for money on the métro. Mostly they move from carriage to carriage, swapping at each station and telling their story.

At one station a slow moving man got on with a backpack, an array of other bits & pieces and a thick rope wound several times around his body. He got on just as the buzzer for closing doors was sounding, at which point the doors closed on the rope.

Problem was, turned out on the other end of the rope was a large german shepherd, and the train was now moving out of the station…

The guy suddenly became quite lithe, making us suspect this wasn’t the first time – jumping over to pull the emergency brake handle. Luckily he grabbed it in time, and to our surprise the driver was quite forgiving of the whole episode. We still worried for the dog…

#3: When to eat & how to dress

Not only does the métro get you around, it can take care of you in many other ways. 

For example, consistent with our national health plan goals, the metro tells us how to eat. Any ad for food needs to have one of three health warnings appended at the bottom – to avoid too much sugar and fat; to get enough exercise; and of course: not to eat between meals, which is a health hazard (see school recess above)!

Or if you’re waiting for your train and wondering how to spend the time – no worries!

You can update your wardrobe right there on the platform!

Just try on your top behind the little black curtain and you’re good to go.

#2: Back flips at speed

In addition to those telling their stories to ask for money, there’s no shortage of buskers on the métro. Usually a guitar or harmonica, occasionally a song.

Our favourite though was a guy who came on, started playing some rap music, sang along for a while then started rap dancing on the train.

Asked a few passengers to make a bit of room and then … started doing full back flips in the passageway while the train sped between stations! Quite a stunt for a random busker on a random Wednesday afternoon.

#1: Sleeping standing up

Well, we’ve already mentioned this one but sleeping upright is usually confined to horses.

Unless you’re on the métro, that is… This guy snoring loudly as we rattled along 🙂

Pirates in the city

Yes, we have pirate warnings in the city – “Vigipirate” is the name of the vigilance assurance system in Paris, with ubiquitous warning signs around all popular monuments and locations.

And no, they haven’t conscripted pirates for defence of the city, it’s a weird and wonderful acronym: vigilance et protection des installations contre les risques d’attentats terroriste à l’explosif (“vigilance and protection of installations against the risk of terrorist bombings”).

While it’s true there are soldiers in the streets, they are restricted to a very few locations like the louvre, champs elysées and other major museums and government buildings with public entrances.

Living as we do in a residential part of Paris we never see signs of increased security on a day to day basis.

Vive la Différence

What we do see on a day to day basis is lots of weird and wonderful sights.

From pedal monocylcists to 1800s vintage horse-drawn carriages, to pet walkers who are just as happy to take your parrot for a stroll as your pooches…

And the local magazine and paper seller on the corner would be delighted to sell you a little pamphlet summarising the thinking and main theorems of (say), Euler, Gauss or Laplace, should you want to pick one up on your way home from the metro of an evening with your evening newspaper.

Now be honest, couldn’t you benefit from a bit of a brush-up?

And of course there is fashion. Particularly as a man in France, it is important to be comfortable in your skin.

A man bag? No problem.

Stuck for what to get the man in your life who likes to keep in shape?

How about a Louis Vuitton backpack gym bag for his towel and water bottle?

Parfait!

Nevertheless, we do still try to kids ourselves in France from time to time, as this T-shirt on sale in the Invalides musée clearly demonstrates.

Unfortunately the computer definitely still says no pretty often in France…

La Grève

And of course one of our particular specialties in France is going on strike. An art perfected over many decades, and still practiced today. 

We are here during a very interesting time politically, and while politics is far from our focus, we’re very aware of being here at a time of substantial social change. Macron is attempting (and so far mostly succeeding) at driving through a set of labour and fiscal reforms that most have known are necessary for a long time, many before him have tried, but none have succeeded.

Right now it is the turn of the SNCF, the major state-owned railway that runs between the big cities in France, including the TGV.

Les cheminots are on strike at proposed reforms that would phase out for new hires the age-old benefits harkening back to the bad old days when a steam train worker could not look forward to a long life – early retirement at 52 on a highly generous pension that the country can no longer afford, as they move to make the SNCF and the whole economy more competitive.

A drama playing out daily and weekly, with rolling strikes as far as the eye can see. Mostly on weekends and in good weather, mind you.

We even got a taste of the action close up as there was a gathering of striking workers right outside our place a short time ago – more on that in an upcoming blog. 

We’ll see what happens, but it certainly seems as though the winds of change are finally blowing in France.

Keeping fit in France

Can it be done????

With a bit of effort, yes.

For starters, the French themselves (at least in Paris) aren’t bad role models.

First, they walk a lot. The old ladies in our apartment building almost always take the stairs. Everyone walks to the supermarket (there is no parking of course), and carries their shopping home, if needed in a wheely bag. We walk our kids to and from school, and even if taking the metro, have a walk at both ends.

Then in France we look at home a lot. We go out most days, but it is for a coffee or a glass of wine after work. And it does generally amount to one glass, whether wine or beer, which might be nursed for 30-45 minutes. Dinner out is much less often. 

While there is no shortage of rich food, the French generally consume small portions of it, and of course there are the metro reminders about no snacking in between :-).

In practice, we find that a bit of intermittent fasting (eg 8/16) goes a really long way. Skip food in the mornings, and you can make up for a multitude of sins!

This, combined with a liberal dose of walking each day, and an active gym routine (4/week for Simon) means you can eat well in France without taking on the Michelin man physique 🙂

Somme ~ Paris ~ Killorglin

Vimy

Sunday morning and our first stop was the second Canadian memorial at Vimy Ridge.

This was the scene of a successful attack by the Canadians in the spring of 1917, and serves as a memorial to the 60,000 Canadians killed in WW1.

It is one of the most impressive memorials in the Somme

As with the Newfoundland memorial, the Vimy site was established by the Canadians a short time after the war concluded, and as a result it contains large fields of original trenches that seem incongruous for what they are, set in the green countryside and forests of the Somme.

Vimy is one of the few sites where you can visit some of the extensive underground tunnels that cover the entire area.

An unusual feature of the Somme is the deep chalk layer just below the surface that is relatively easy to tunnel into. Both the allies and the Germans tunnelled extensively with the goal of “undermining” the other side to set explosives.

The walls look a lot like rock, but even a fingernail scratches them fairly easily.

We imagined the tunnels full of soldiers waiting hours for the order to storm out into no man’s land near the enemy trenches.

As in Lochnagar, the allies tunnelled under the German stronghold and set explosives before the start of the battle, with 100 year-old trenches to show for it. 

The combination of tunnelling for explosives and surprise exits all around no man’s land proved decisive in the battle.

Out of the tunnels, we visited the trenches with Charles in his usual role as questioner in chief

About 10 minutes up the road from the visitor centre is the memorial itself. An impressive marble monument that stretches towards the sky and which was carved in situ. Like the British memorial, it has a commanding view from the ridge and can be seen from miles around.

A beautifully quiet and peaceful memorial which stands out for its simplicity.

Arras

Stopped for lunch in Arras, an ancient medieval town about 11km from Vimy. Not as easy as you might think on a Sunday!

Much needed break for the kids after a busy schedule the past couple of days.

Thank goodness for the restorative power of chocolate mousse!

Even in medieval times the town had an extensive series of tunnels underneath it. During the war the allies made us of this, expanding on the existing tunnels to build a network of links for when enemy lines encroached. This proved decisive doing the ensuing Battle of Arras.

The people who did this work were none other than the New Zealand Tunnelling Company, and there is now a site in the middle of town where you can visit the quarry and tunnels

Kids delighted to imagine themselves miners tunnelling underground…

Paris routine

Back to Paris and into a more normal routine!

Niamh signed us up as members of the Louvre, and has been making periodic visits.

This week we went to a less visited section showing drawings and etchings done in the 1600s for the king by Israel Sylvester. Extraordinary detail and skill!

Then a bit of obligatory sculpture on the way out – the Winged Victory of Samothrace, dating from 300BC and discovered in 1863 in the Aegean Sea.

Speaking of sculpture, Simon continuing to make steady progress, now adding plaster to finally make the rock cliffs a little more realistic.

Next stop: adding people…

Wednesday lunch has also become something of a tradition at Framboise, a galette and crepe restaurant near our place.

A sure hit with the kids every time.

And sometimes it’s just fun to dance around the house and soak up the applause…

Quartier Latin tour

Courtesy of the parents’ association at Charles’ school, we have two tours set up this week. This first was of the Quartier Latin. 

Unfortunately reminiscent of our Venice tour in terms of the weather! Cold and rainy, but we were up for it!

Started near St Michel and wound our way through narrow streets with a knowledgeable guide telling us the history of the area.

Stopped in the little park opposite Notre Dame to admire one of the oldest churches in Paris: Saint-Julian-Le-Pauvre. In front of it is the oldest tree in Paris, a robinia that is believed to be over 400 years old.

We stopped to admire the Salvador Dali sundial, gargoyles over an old convent and remnants of the original city wall…

… as well as a stop in to the only remaining Roman amphitheatre in Paris, les Arènes de Lutèce, which is tucked away through a small opening in an otherwise unremarkable street. When originally built, it could seat over 15,000 spectators in a series of staggered terraces.

These days more likely the scene of summer picnics, kids practicing bike tricks or people (mostly men) playing boules. Mostly deserted on this cold and rainy Tuesday!

Nina! (and Geraldine and Noel…)

The big excitement of the week was the arrival of relatives from Ireland. Noel, Geraldine and Nina had come to Paris for a visit, and were staying until after Easter (though we ourselves were off to Killorglin for the Easter long weekend).

Very excited children – most notably Aisling, itching to see a female cousin.

We made our way over early to the other apartment where Nina & crew were going to be staying, travelling by bus instead of metro to enjoy views of Paris street life

Since we were early, we stopped in at the nearby Madeleine church, a magnificent colonnaded structure that occupies a commanding position looking down to the Place de la Concorde. 

It had an extraordinary number of false starts down the ages, with multiple designs being conceived and started, including one to commemorate Napoleon’s victories, before he suffered defeat before it could be finished.

The kids both lit candles as is their new habit.

At last the wait was over and kids delighted to see their cousin, aunt and uncle.

A great welcome lunch and lots of planning of adventures to be had.

Musée d’Orsay & Cousins Lunch

This week was a double-header for parents’ association events, with a guided tour of the musée d’Orsay on Thursday that we were very excited for.

Beautiful sunny day as we walked over, using our usual preferred mode of transportation in Paris.

Our guide was very knowledgable and focused on bringing to life the society in which the impressionist painters emerged, and the relationships between them, which made for fascinating listening.

We stopped to discuss many iconic pieces, as well as some less studied ones. There were scandalous pieces shining a light into the way gentlemen of society behaved, and interesting technical pieces, such as the one on the right below by Monet.

At the time he painted it he and his wife were living on a boat on the Seine with very little money. At the advice of one of his friends they went down the river out of Paris and pulled in at the shore of one of the beautiful villas in the outskirts of Paris and simply asked the owner whether he could paint at the end of the garden.

Having no money to pay sitters, the people frolicking in the picture are all in fact his wife :-). In real life it is an enormous canvas. In order to paint it he dug a deep trench in the garden and sank the canvas into it, slowly raising it as he painted it from the top down.

While most of the painters in the group were men, there were a handful of women, such as Berthe Morisot shown here, whom Manet had a fascination for and who ended up marrying his brother. 

We also learned little tidbits such as how the technique of painting a person from different directions simultaneously using a mirror in the composition (by Degas here) served as inspiration for Picasso.

After the visit we had time to enjoy the sun over Paris, looking down over the houseboats on the Seine. One of our French friends moved with his wife into a houseboat right after having had twins, which sounded like a very brave choice to us, through they insist it was wonderful!

Then it was off to lunch with Nina and Geraldine (Noel had work in Paris that day). 

We ate in a little bistro out the back the Assemblée Nationale, where most of the patrons seemed to be politicians.

Much as they tried to listen in to our conversation for any guidance on navigating the social reforms that have recently been introduced by the Macron government, we mostly kept our own counsel.

Killorglin Easter

Easter is a short holiday in France, with just Easter Monday a school holiday. Nevertheless we took the opportunity for a quick trip to Ireland to see family. 

Charles’ school is very strict on attendance, so our request for getting away an hour or two early for a flight fell on deaf ears unfortunately. As a result, Niamh and Aisling went ahead as an advance guard on Friday morning while Charles and Simon made a mad dash to CDG airport the moment he was out of the school gate.

Their version of the amazing race was a foot dash, a metro ride, a dash to the RER, RER ride, another dash to CDG airport terminal train, short trip on that, then a dash to the gate.

All of this had them huffing and puffing, but others seemed much more relaxed.

Very relaxed in fact.

So relaxed, that they saw what for both of them was a first: a man asleep standing up. This is not easy to do, but he had pulled it off. With the help of a handy wedge into a handrail, he was snoring loudly as the train rattled its way along!

Hopefully he was intending to go to the end of the line, since that’s where he was clearly headed… 

Made it to our plane in the end, flew from Paris to Dublin, then short flight from Dublin to Kerry International! Arrived at sunset, reward for all our dashing earlier in the day:

Short ride from the airport to Killorglin and the usual warm welcome. 

Full moon rising above the outline of the new house next door to Irene’s. Promise of more Killorglin adventures tomorrow…

Big sleep all around, then breakfast with our cousins … no wait a minute, those are just puppets. Aisling having fun & games with her auntie Irene as always. There’s never a dull moment in Dunmaniheen, the kids always delighted to spend time with their cousins any time of year.

And remember those Killorglin vistas? Here is Saturday morning out the back lawn. Snow still on the peaks.

New house ever so slowly coming together.

Race is on to have it ready to live in come the summer.

And the summer is coming quickly!

Saturday outing was to the newly renovated and reopened Killarney House with its beautiful grounds. Lovely day for exploring.

Back to Killorglin, Charles exploring his latest hobby of mineralogy with a bit of help from Irene, digging into a “rock” with a small diamond enclosed within, if you don’t mind.

Much searching until a successful find resulted!

And then to round out the week, a couple of happy snaps from Saturday afternoon. Why? First, because we can’t help it. Second, because we just believe it’s one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

We just point the iPhone and shoot. We didn’t wait for weeks for the perfect shot. This is just how it looks on a Saturday afternoon…

Sayonara Week 15!

Loire ~ Chartres ~ Paris ~ Somme ~ Pozières

Chateau d’Amboise

Sunday another clear day but more than a little crisp! We fired out into the town to visit the Château d’Amboise, which dominates the town with its high fortified walls.

Continuing a theme, it was confiscated by the monarchy in the 15th century (as Mel Brooks said, it’s good to be the king!). But even if you’re king you still need to watch your head. King Charles VIII died at the château in 1498 after hitting his head on a door lintel – Simon could relate, but mercifully emerged intact.

Niamh was feeling the morning chill fairly acutely (it was about 3 degrees and minus 2 with wind chill) so retired to the safety of the gift shop after a quick tour of the château while Simon and the kids explored the gardens.

A beautiful setting up above the town, complete with a medieval game of tetherball!

The chapel was a highlight, with the tomb of Leondardo to remind us of the previous day and beautiful stone carvings that like so many in France had miraculously survived the centuries.

Château de Chambord

No visit to the Loire complete without a visit to the fantastical renaissance château de Chambord.

No need to confiscate this one, built for Louis I directly!

A triumph of form over practicality, it was freezing and unheatable in winter (we could attest to that!) and mosquito infested in the summers. For a couple of weeks in between it was lovely.

Nevertheless an extraordinary structure that was and remains an object of fascination, in particular the double helix stone staircase that sits at the centre of it. 

By now the creeping cold had gotten to Aisling too, so after a quick whip around the girls both retired to the copious gift shop leaving the boys to continue exploring.

Charles found a display of all the keys to the chateau and imagined exploring secret passages. We admired the staircase and made our way up separate spirals, spotting each other through the cross–cutting windows. 

We made our way up to the roof with its explosion of variegated towers and listened through the audio guides to stories from down the ages of theatres built for mistresses and grand receptions!

 

Chartres cathedral

Chartres is a short detour on the way back to Paris.

Sitting high on the hill overlooking the city is its magnificent cathedral which is a masterpiece of gothic architecture, with most of the original stained glass intact.

Extraordinary blue hazy light from the stained glass

Amazing stone carving all around the choir that has survived down the centuries…

Aisling and Charles took some time to light candles to their grandparents…

 

On the way out we admired the Chartres street art before heading back to Paris after a busy weekend.

Everyone slept well that night!

Snow, Class Photo, Playdate

On the way back to Paris the cold snap turned to snow falling again. Kids delighted, even though this was more a dusting than a thick blanket.

Aisling proud as punch for her school class photo this week, and looking very much the grown up girl to the chagrin of her parents.

Charles meanwhile had a playdate with his schoolfriend Angus. Hamburgers, play at both kids’ houses with some soccer in the park in between makes for a brilliant afternoon under theatrical skies:

Simon and Niamh out and about in Paris as always – the Seine finally returning to normal levels. The bateaux mouches will soon be running again.

Plaster and bands

Meanwhile, Simon continuing to plug away at the sculpture, plaster bands in place on the cliffs, ready for some plaster shaping…

Somme – Omiécourt

The next weekend’s outing had a more sombre theme. Instead of south-west of Paris we were headed north-east, up to the Somme valley, scene of some of the most tragic fighting of WW1 and indeed of human history. 

Here between July and November of 1916, more than three million men fought and one million of them were wounded or killed.

This year marks 100 years since the end of the war, and the year in which Australia is unveiling a new memorial at Villiers-Bretonneux. The site has particular relevance to our family since Simon’s grand-uncle Arthur fought there, and was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions.

We headed up after school on Friday afternoon, staying in the tiny town of Omiécourt a little south of the Somme.

We were in a converted manor house that has been in the owners’ family for more than 300 years.

 

We weren’t the first Australians visiting the Somme to stay there…

 

Charles and Aisling practicing their best breakfast table manners and enjoying the change of scenery…

One of the advantages of the hotel was that it came with an indoor heated pool (and an outdoor hot-tub of you were game for the dash across the lawn). 

A welcome change from the frigid Parisian weather of late.

Somme – Albert and Lochnagar

For Saturday we had organised an all-day tour with Jackie Bedford from “the battlefields experience”. Jackie is former British police and army, and she and her husband have been running guided battlefield tours for longer than they would probably care to admit. 

Armed with stout gumboots, an encyclopaedic knowledge and a no small amount of British pluck and resolve, she was the perfect guide for the day, and more than delighted to show Arthur’s family around.

We started in Albert, the main town behind the front lines where the troops would arrive and muster before heading to battle, and where the grim trails of soldiers heading back from the front would lead to.

In the centre of town stands a basilica with a golden statue of the virgin Mary. German bombing during WWI had caused her to topple forward without falling to the ground. 

When the Aussies arrived in 1916 they re-christened her “Fanny” after Fanny Durack, an Australian olympic swimmer who had won a gold medal in the 1912 Olympics.

Jackie soon met us in her trusty van, and we were off to explore the area.

First stop was Lochnagar crater.

A feature of the geology of the Somme is that there is a thick chalk layer under the topsoil, which is very easy to tunnel into.

As a result, both sides in the conflict engaged in extensive tunnelling, in efforts to “mine” under the other side’s stronghold positions and set off large stashes of explosives.

Lochnagar crater is just such a site, where the British (specifically Welsh coal miners) had tunnelled under German positions and set off such a massive explosion that the reconnaissance aircraft above saw lumps of soil flying up past the level of the planes:

Today the site is a memorial to those who fought and died in the area, as well as to the miners who risked and often lost their lives in the endeavour.

Both sides would be tunnel toward the other, listening for any sound through the chalk. We heard extraordinary stories of digging silently with bayonets at the rate of only a couple of feet per day.

Pozières

Then it was on to the little town of Pozières, where some of the worst of the fighting took place.

The countryside around Pozières is gently undulating fields with crops growing under bright sun, and the occasional small town dotting the horizon.

Hard to imagine the horrors of this place a little more than 100 years ago – Jackie helped orient us with the help of a sculpted map of the area.

 

To bring the tour to life, Jackie had an amazingly useful tool with her: an iPad application that was able to overlay the military maps of the day onto your current location. So armed with the iPad you could call up any specific day in the conflict, see exactly where the lines of the trenches were drawn, and walk through the fields to the precise spot where a particular conflict was taking place:

Credit for the above photo to Aisling by the way 🙂

So armed with this tool and Jackie’s seemingly bottomless knowledge of the conflict, we headed out into sun-drenched farmers’ fields to literally walk through history and try to imagine what it would have been like.

A visceral reminder along the way was that as you walked along beside the ploughed fields, even 100 years on it’s not too hard to pick up pieces of shrapnel, barbed wire, and even WWI bullets last touched by a soldier’s hand in 1916. 

In the early years after the war, dispel teams were removing 400-500 tonnes of ordnance per year. Even in 2016, one hundred years of clean-up later, the total was 25 tonnes and disposal experts predict there will be finds for hundreds of years to come.

Our team’s keen eyes soon confirmed this by turning up quite a few souvenirs during even a short walk, including bullets with unfired cordite that Jackie proceeded to light to the amusement and fright of us all later on that afternoon out the back of “Le Tommy” cafe. 

Beyond the small fragments and bullets, there are also shell casings and unexploded shells aplenty.

In this picture Jackie is showing us a typical example that the farmer has left beside the trail after unearthing it in the field.

 

Digging too deeply is not recommended. When the front line passed over exactly this same area during WWII, the soldiers on both sides found they were unable to dig trenches due to the number of bodies they encountered. A sobering fact to reflect on.

Another reminder of course are the small cemeteries dotted here and there. Very few obtained a proper burial, nevertheless the cemeteries that jump out from the fields with their white stones serve as very visual reminders.

On a somewhat lighter note, Aisling was keen to get in on all the photo taking that was going on, and produced these two portraits of her parents.

We think her theme is going to be “looking up at the world” – a great choice when you’re 4.

Clearly a glittering career awaits!

Somme memorials

After the initial walk around the fields of Pozières retracing Arthur’s steps (more on that later), we visited a variety of the impressive memorial sites in the region. 

The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme is a British memorial to 72,246 missing British and South African servicemen.

An enormous edifice with a commanding view, it can be seen for miles in each direction

The nearby visitors centre is full of information about the war and the Battle of the Somme, with a 360-degree mural encircling a glass floor full of artefacts from the battle

For us however, the most impressive memorials were by the Canadians. Shortly after the end of the war, the Canadian government purchased land at several battlefield sites where their troops had fought in significant battles, and turned them into memorials.

As a result, the Canadian memorials are the ones that have best preserved the sites as they were 100 years ago, and are well worth visiting of you are in the area. 

First we went to the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial, which is the largest battalion memorial on the Western Front, and the largest area of the Somme battlefield that has been preserved.

You can walk in the remnants of trenches, and stand in no mans land and imagine the impossibility of the fighting at close quarters given the close proximity of the deep trench lines and dug-in positions.

. 

The symbol of the memorial is the Caribou, just visible in the picture below, set amongst original trenches. As told to us, it was chosen for being an animal that will not leave one if its wounded behind, but will stand by to protect it, even at its own peril…

The Canadian memorial at Vimy is even more impressive, but that needed to wait until Sunday – only so many memorials that can be packed into a day!

We did however make a fleeting stop at the Ulster monument to the Irish forces who had fought with the allies, and Niamh went out for a short explore.

Dominique & Le Tommy

The only place for lunch during a Somme battlefields tour is “Le Tommy” in Pozières.

Run by Dominique Zanardi it is part museum, part cafe, part live history tour.

Dominique is highly passionate about the WW1 history of the town and region, and an inveterate collector. Also possibly the only person with more knowledge of the area than Jackie herself…

As a result the cafe is stuffed full of artefacts (including an increasing number of tank parts these days), and out the back are rusted rifles, helmets and endless coils of WW1 barbed wire.

It was out the back of Le Tommy where Jackie fired off the cordite in the WW1 bullet Charles had found, making it safe to travel with. It seemed an appropriate place to be letting off WW1 ordnance! Both kids delighted of course.

Perhaps the most telling image at Le Tommy however was the photo of Pozières taken a short time after the battle, and shown below. This image tells you about all you need to know.

Arthur Seaforth Blackburn

Later in the afternoon it was back to the town of Pozières.

Right at the northern entrance to the town is a water tower that bears the name of the soldiers awarded the Victoria Cross for their bravery during the action, including Arthur Seaforth Blackburn, the younger brother of Simon’s grandfather.

Arthur gained renown for his service in the Australian army in both world wars. In WW1 he was part of the initial landing force at Gallipoli, and along with Philip Robin (a fellow South Australian and college mate) made the furthest inclusion of any allied soldiers into Turkish territory.

By the time he was stationed at Pozières it was late July 2016, and he was a 23 year old second lieutenant.

The worst fighting of the war and what was to become one of the most notorious battles in history had just commenced. Over a 45 day period the allies launched 19 separate offensives (a rate not exceeded during the war), firing 12,000 shells per day. The allies and Germans each lost in the order of half a million men over 4 months.

One cause of the very high casualty rate was the nature of the trench warfare: both sides had very deeply dug and extensive trenches, so that in any attack the defenders had an enormous advantage. Attackers had to climb ladders out of their trenches, cross no man’s land until they reached the extensive barbed wire, stop and cut narrow paths through it, then filter through those paths and attack the opposing trenches. During all this time the enemy are cutting you to shreds with powerful machine guns.

This was the situation in which Arthur was tasked with leading a group of men to attempt to capture and overrun a series of strategically important German trenches leading toward the windmill set on the high ground near Pozières.

Over the course of a day and night, he and his men captured just shy of 400 yards of enemy trenches. As was the custom, he led this long series of sorties from the front, amidst heavy mortar and machine gun fire.

During the course of the action, 17 times the man behind him was killed, and 22 times the man behind was injured, giving some sense of the likelihood of survival in these conditions.

Not an easy task helping kids get their heads around history like this in an appropriate way, but we did our best.

The panorama below shows the three sites that encompassed the fighting: the windmill hill, “Gibraltar rock” as the allies named another high point, and Mouquet Farm – remarkably still a working farm, sitting atop miles of underground passages in the chalk and countless fallen soldiers.

Today the site of the old windmill is an Australian memorial.

There is little to show for the previous structure except from some rubble of concrete where it had been reinforced into a stronghold by the Germans. 

Back in 2016, for the 100th anniversary of the battle, a little memorial was established with crocheted poppy flowers memorialising the lost soldiers in the field below the windmill:

We visited the Memorial column and reflected on what it must have been like here 100 years ago…

A lot to ponder under the incongruously beautiful sunny skies…

Remembrance

It had been a long day, but we still had a couple of stops to go.

The first was at a cemetery where Robert Inwood was buried. Sgt Inwood, also a South Australian, had fought with Arthur at both Gallipoli and Pozières, and to believe the accounts was instrumental more than once in Arthur’s survival. His older brother Roy, like Arthur was a VC recipient in WW1.

Sadly Sgt Inwood was killed in Pozières the day after the successful capture of the German trenches. He is one of the few fallen who has an identifiable tombstone however, so we visited his grave and left a poppy and a thought for him in the late afternoon sunshine.

A notable aspect of the cemetery is that it includes a tombstone dedicated to the unknown German soldiers fallen in the battle.

Last, Jackie had been asked by the relatives of a British soldier killed in action to leave a wreath that day to remember him.

So we made one more stop, where Charles and Jackie quietly laid the wreath in a beautifully designed British cemetery that seemed a fitting setting for the end to a reflective and sobering day.

Paris ~ Sèvres ~ Loire Valley

On Sunday Niamh wasn’t due home until dinner time, so it was three musketeers for one more day.

Shockingly enough, we had been in France all this time and somehow had yet to indulge in the iconic French breakfast.

No, not the croissant – French toast. Or as we call it in France, “toast”. 

Time to correct this gross oversight, with lashings of maple syrup to atone for our misstep.

Industry vs. Science

Today it seemed that spring had finally sprung. The first day we have ventured out without our big winter coats, to enjoy the spring sun!

We are off to the museum of science and industry at la Vilette. Great fun and games in the metro on the way, and soon enough we’re there.

Not nearly as hands on as the Amsterdam version, but fun nonetheless as we made a visit to the planetarium and learned the mechanics of how our bodies work.

There are some dedicated younger kids sections in the basement that we’ll check out on our next visit. 

A drawback of la cité des sciences et de l’industrie from a kid’s (and this grown up’s) point of view is that it is much more industrie than sciences, and quite French.

Here the kids are playing a game where you watch a person get up in the morning and go about their day while you try to find all 82 ways they wasted energy and bang on them with your hand, turning their car into a bike, their hot shower into a cold one etc. Very French!

We found a little robot our size on the way out and persuaded it to do a little dance for us, but sadly couldn’t talk it into following us home on the metro to see Niamh who was finally back from Ireland, much to everyone’s delight.

Of Tintorettos and Domes

Monday morning, kids in school and Niamh and Simon fire out post the gym to the Tintoretto exhibit at the musée in the jardin de Luxembourg.

Neither of us had been to this museum before, and Tintoretto having spent his days painting in and around Venice seemed à propos.

We’ve become fans of the audio guides to get a better sense of what we’re looking at, and this was a good example, providing the backdrop of the competitiveness of artists in the city, the rise of his fame and atelier, his use of colour, perspective and scenes within a scene (such as Eve offering Adam an apple while they are seen being banished in the background

Of course, nothing works up an appetite like looking at 500 year old oil paintings, and trusty fourchette app uncovered Dome bistro nearby – another classic on the Parisian scene with stunning interiors, that neither of us had been to before.

No trouble for a table at lunch, and wait staff hell bent on pleasing. On seeing Niamh taste Simon’s fish soup they swooped on the table and served her up an extra steaming bowl, then left the terrine on the

Scallops with foie gras is a house specialty and not mucking around. It’s kind of like matter and anti-matter on a plate, the calories and anti-calories annihilating each other in the stomach. At least that’s what Simon told himself…

In the wars

Charles’ school is quite an urban environment, a bit like Sydney Grammar in Sydney.

At recess and lunch the kids all pile into the playground for semi-supervised mayhem. Most days this passes without incident, but occasionally a subset of them are taken to “grand cour”, the big playground down the road. 

Here there is sufficient space to really build up a head of steam when careening around playing freeze tag, and that’s exactly what they do. The blend of quite small and quite large children all doing this in the one space leads to the inevitable outcomes. 

Some weeks prior, Charles came home with a very large egg on his forehead from a collision, and this time his thumb was the victim. By dinner time it was black and blue and swollen to an impressive size.

French medical system reasonably easy to navigate – find a GROUP equivalent in your neighbourhood, who is likely located in the back courtyard of a residential building you need to squirrel your way into, and then getting an X-ray pretty straightforward once you finally have your vocab sorted out. Chalk one up to the French as the lab assistant at the lab we made it to right at the end of the day pulled some strings and found a way to get us seen without having to come back the next day. The Prefecture could learn a thing or two from her.

X-ray showed only a sprain not a break, so a bit of bandaging and a rest from writing for a few days was the cure. One more lesson from the school of hard knocks…

A different type of plaster band

Meanwhile, Simon experimenting with a different type of plaster band at sculpture class. 

To build from the rock wall wire frames into plaster structures, you first wrap them in mesh bands that have been soaked in plaster, lightly moistening them wherever you want them to bend or stick.

That way you can convert wire frames into semi-solid structures that you can then “paint” with wet plaster to build up a solid surface and shape it how you want it.

Result at the end will be hollow plaster rock faces supported by wire frames that are embedded in the plaster base.

Aussies at the Zoo!

Our Wednesday adventure was a trip to the little zoo that is hiding right in the centre of Paris in the jardin des plantes.

Just the right size if you have a couple of hours free for a wander on a sunny Wednesday afternoon.

Aisling was feeling particularly springy that day and looking the part in her matching coat and sunnies.

Quick stop for lunch and a catnap on the way…

… and then first stop was the playground where Aisling was the Queen of the castle. Quickly followed by our first Aussie spotting of the day – a (small) mob of kangaroos enjoying the Parisian sunshine

Turned out Australia is surprisingly well represented in the little zoo in Paris, with Aussie fauna everywhere, including various varieties of large flightless birds. These cassowaries and emus are a long way from home but seemed excited to have some visitors from Oz to bring them up to speed on the latest in the cricket.

One of Niamh’s few true phobias is snakes (not unusual among the Irish!) but her kids seem to have the Aussie gene on this one so far, Charles enjoying the reptile hall and all its slithery inmates. Everyone of course loves a pink flamingo…

Just enough time to hitch a ride on a friendly hippo before we head out:

Fun family day out.

Kids stumbled upon a store selling lego figurines on the way back to the metro.

The minions (or “onions” as Aisling calls them) were a particular favourite.

Lunch of champions

On Thursday, Niamh and Simon snuck out for lunch at the Fontaine de Mars, a popular hangout for local politicians.

The lunch menu of the day said it all about the sophisticated palate of the French: half a dozen oysters, chocolate mousse and a glass of wine. Now that’s what we call a square meal!

Simon was inspired by the chocolate mouse for dessert idea, and we were both inspired by the glass of wine idea…

Museum of dismembered heads

After lunch it was off to the Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac museum.

Mouthful of a name and a lot to bite off inside, too. Mostly indigenous art from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas.

It’s set in a little garden near the Tour Eiffel, and is an elongated boat of a museum with long winding ramps inside.

We liked it a lot more than we thought we would. Some really arresting art (not all of it sufficiently PG to qualify for the blog), well presented and with audioguides to help you understand the people and their cultures. Naturally an Australian indigenous section along with all the others.

Highlights included the floating heads…

Mazing carved art including this canoe, and a different take on the “money belt” – a long rope composed of tiny bird feathers that were both difficult to catch and laborious to make, making the rope highly valuable, and priced by the length. Not so practical if you’re up the shops buying some cockles, but came in handy in years gone by for a dowry.

Paris in Spring

What could say “Paris in the springtime” more than cherry blossoms under the Tour Eiffel?

Kids continuing to make the most of their time here. Charles stumbled upon crocheted covers for a set of bollards on the street, Aisling making a set of plasticine animals to practice her French with…

Sèvres

Charles’ school has an amazingly active parents’ association.

There seem to be an endless number of parents who are tour guides, art experts, artists or have connections around the town, so pretty much every week there are multiple interesting events to sign up for.

Continuing what was a busy week, we had signed up for a behind the scenes tour of the famous Sèvres porcelain factory just on the west edge of the city, not far from where we’re living. 

Quick jaunt on the metro and a walk across the Seine, with the near-ubiquitous houseboats moored on the shore, to the entrance of the “Cité de la céramique”.

Sevres has an interesting and quintessentially French history.

In operation since 1740 or so, it has produced porcelain for the rulers of France, ranging from kings to presidents (whether of regular or jupiterian status). Fun fact, in 1920, the Treaty of Sèvres, the peace treaty between the Ottoman Empire and Allies at the end of World War I, was signed at the factory.

Now officially a state organisation, its mission is “to produce ceramic works of art using artisanal techniques, including both reproductions of old models and contemporary creations, both for state needs and commercial sale … maintaining a high quality of artisanry, while neglecting industrial scale mass production”.

As our guide proudly announced, they never work to deadlines.

Most of what they do now seems to be new dinner sets for each new prime minister and president of France, in accordance with their particular sensibilities. 

Fantastic and rare chance to meet the artists and artisans who work there, walk all through the manufacturing facility that has been there for over 200 years and soak in the history and culture of deadline-free artistry.

The (near) original kilns built in 1877 to fire the porcelain are still there, and are now French historical monuments(!). Occasionally still fired up, they were last used 2 years ago.

Our guide proudly talked us through their operation and showed us one that was recently used with the original wood-burning techniques to get it up to 1300C – no mean feat.

We walked through the halls where the paint tints are stored, including the famous Sevres blue, and one of the ceramics artists showed us how works are recreated from the moulds that are kept for all the major works

One of the decorators showed us how the gold paste is pushed into the engraved plates, rolled onto a silk sheet and them transferred to the side of a bowl. After the silk is moistened and removed, gold dust is added to increase the sparkle.

This was a man who took his boulot seriously, as demonstrated by the reaction when a couple of the French mums decided to ignore the rather clear instructions about not getting too close to the porcelain…

All the waste goes into a special “gold bin” to be incinerated down so the gold can be recovered and recycled. The French taxpayers will be much relieved to hear this

The end results are extraordinarily beautiful in their artistry and attention to detail.

These pictures show a 1751 bouquet of flowers and an 1815 triumphal vase.

And for something more modern, a piece that had just been produced by a Japanese artist in residence. Not sure if she had a deadline to work to or not. Suspect not.

Amboise

Sèvres visit done, it was home for a record-breaking speed packing session, then off to Montparnasse to rent a car for our weekend outing down to the Loire valley. Why, you say? Why not. 

Whisked the kids out of school, and straight onto the infamous French highways heading south. Sunny but chilly weather in the forecast, and our first target was Amboise, a town full of history and located fairly centrally in the Loire. How is this for picturesque:

A beautiful old fortified town set on the river, we arrived in time for a short exploration before dinner. 

Aisling enjoying the evening sun, Charles exploring the streets and contemplating what style of suit of armour to buy.

Meanwhile lots of fun had down by the river, climbing on the stone walls…

And walking around the base of the walled chateau, gazing up at the gargoyles and planning our adventures for the next day.

Our hotel was a converted manor house, with about the most impressively decorated breakfast room our kids are ever likely to eat in…

And a fancy restaurant which we gamely took them to for a “quick” bite to eat, there being no other option handy in the immediate vicinity.

They coped pretty well overall with a first introduction to fine dining :-), then off to bed after a long day!

Chenonceau

Saturday morning and mist covering the grass in front of the hotel. Crisp start but sign of a sunny day to come! Kids in good form after a big sleep, and raring to go:

After a hearty breakfast it was off to Chenonceau, one of the more beautiful chateaux in the Loire:

The main chateau was built in the early 1500s by Thomas Bohier on the site of an earlier building. He made the fatal mistake of designing something a bit too desirable it seemed to us, as the chateau was appropriated from his son by king Louis I some 30 years later.

It then passed to Henry II who gave it to his favourite mistress, Diane de Poitiers – presumably to the chagrin of his wife Catherine de Medici, who after his death “swapped” it with the chateau de Chaumont. One of the more valuable barter exchanges in French history we wondered??

Beautiful tree-lined paths on the way in, easy to imagine making your way up them in a horse drawn carriage.

Reality is we nearly didn’t make it up them at all, as Aisling had a stomach upset (aka a “bomit”) in the carpark on the way in, but promptly declared she was feeling much better. 

Enterprising staff had a set of rugged outdoor push buggies at the entrance, so she settled into one of those for the first part of the visit through the gardens and we were off to the races. Hardy soul!

Kids had a great time exploring the chateau, audio guides our new best friends for getting a better appreciation for the (many) intrigues in the chateau’s history. If you look closely in the picture on the left below, you can see how the initials H for Henry and C for his wife Catherine have been artfully combined by the chateau’s owner Diane to make a D…

The grand gallery supported by a series of arches across the river Cler was added by Diane and added to by Catherine. It was used in WW1 as a hospital ward, and some of the patients were said to have fished out the windows. It’s a stunning setting that was probably never put to a more practical use:

A striking characteristic of almost all the photos in our blog thus far is the absence of other people in them! You might think we achieved this by not showering for a week before venturing out of our house, but the reality is that by visiting these places off season and out of school holidays it’s amazing how quiet they can be even today.

Having explored the crooks & crannies of the chateau sufficiently, it was off to the maze, a big hit with both kids but especially Charles. Aisling by now had fully recovered herself (for the time being) and was flying along in pursuit of her brother.

Aisling was soon back into the wars while trying to follow Charles through an improvised short-cut through the middle of a hedge, and having to be carefully extricated from a tangle of branches, roots and mud. A few scratches to show for her trouble, and a mandatory costume change back at the hotel before continuing our day’s adventures. 

Time to bid the amazing stories, views and vistas of Chenonceau goodbye for now.

Da Vinci Museum

Costume change complete, it was back out into the town of Amboise, to visit the Da Vinci museum. The museum is set in the Clos Lucé villa where he spent the final few years of his life in the early 1500s, at the request of King Francis I of France. 

Our walk through the picturesque town took us past a cat as a big as a dog, but with swords at the ready we were the equal of all adversaries

The Clos Lucé has extensive gardens full of replicas of various inventions by Leonardo. Charles was strangely drawn to the tank and machine gun designs – perhaps not the first seven year old boy to show that interest:

And of course, lots more besides. Hands-in with an archimedes screw and a pulley lift:

As well as playing pooh-sticks on a nailless bridge and admiring flying machine prototypes:

Sometimes of course, the most fun is just playing tip on the grass, and sitting under an age-old tree thinking up your own inventions-to-be.

Never ending dinner

Saturday night and the kids ate early in town to save them from a second visit to the fine dining experience at the hotel! 

Simon and Niamh gamely attempted the degustation menu – which was lovely but a decision they came to regret as the meal was threatening to push through to midnight when Niamh sensibly threw in the towel.

Great people watching (one couple tried no less than three different table choices during their meal – we’d heard of matching wines but not matching tables before!) and great food, but the kitchen weighed down by a large private party and couldn’t quite keep up.

Phew! What a week. We’re exhausted just blogging about it. Will be back with more in Week 14 shortly…

Paris ~ Killorglin

Sunday playdate with friends

A quiet Sunday was called for after the excitement of the two week break, and in advance of back to school on Monday.

A trip to the Motte Piquet markets on Sunday morning for Charles and Simon to pick up some cheese for the afternoon tea coming up with the de la Boulayes. 

Charles not impressed with the pigs ear & trotter stand at the market butchers…

Pierre, Aude, Thäis and Olivia lived in Sydney for many years where Pierre worked with Simon at McKinsey. They are now back in Paris and the two girls have recently been joined by a baby brother, Jacques.

The day started out rainy and dull, but we were well stocked with cheese so well placed to wait it out before heading to the park for some quality soccer and chasings.

Niamh had brought some bubbles to the delight of the kids:

The girls got on like a house on fire, and a great day out had by all.

Fantastic to see the de la Boulayes in such good form, kids all in great health, transition back to Paris has gone really smoothly by all accounts.

Nice for us to have a Sunday afternoon with good friends. Just what was needed after our busy travel schedule – kids slept well again that night.

Computer says “maybe”

Time at last for our first real interaction with the (in)famous French government bureaucracy. Niamh and the kids are EU citizens via their Irish passports, and as the spouse of a European Simon has the right to live in France – pending confirmation of his status at the Préfecture. 

It wouldn’t be a true French experience without throwing yourself at the mercy of the French bureaucratic machine at some point or other, so off Simon went! He showed up an hour before the office opened (as advised) to stamp his feet in the frigid air along with everyone else, and was about 20th in line (and evidently the only applicant not from north Africa).

Some enterprising person had started a paper list at the front of the queue to add your name to – although subsequently clear not everyone was in the loop on this system. Eventually doors open and there is a remarkably orderly process by which the person in charge of the list shepherds everyone in the alleyway into the correct order in line at the door so we could each go in and take our ticket. 

The most important weapon against the French bureaucratic system is a good book. Once inside, settle in patiently for the long wait…

Eventually called to the triage desk around lunchtime, Simon is told that his documentation looks like it is in order, however time is up for being sent upstairs for the second document review today, so please try again tomorrow morning.

Then in an act of unusual goodwill, the officer behind the desk scribbles a note to be shown to the security man the next day that is a pass to skip the queue to get in and the triage and come straight to the secondary desk.

Niamh and Simon decide to immediately declare this a victory not a defeat, and head out to lunch to celebrate.

Using the trusty Fourchette app, found a local bistro serving hearty country fare.

Simon was unconvinced at first, but quickly won over by a fantastic veal lunch served by a wife and husband team who clearly relished their food and put great care into preparing it.

A great little find.

Return visit the next day mercifully unremarkable, with security guard convinced, and exactly the same documents presented to second official who was sufficiently convinced to give Simon a “récépissé”. What is a récépissé, you ask? It is  a little certificate to confirm that you have applied, that all your documents are in order, and earned the right to… a third meeting with another official with exactly the same documentation to entitle you to the actual carte de sejour.

Let’s review this process which is almost poetic in its beauty and symmetry: you queue up to present your full documentation to an immigration officer at the triage desk, who confirms that everything is in order and you have the right to a carte de sejour. This entitles you to a second meeting with another immigration officer on a different day to look at exactly the same documentation and confirm again that you have the right to a carte de sejour. This in turn entitles you to a third meeting with another immigration officer on a third day to look at exactly the same documentation and… you guessed it, confirm you have the right to a carte de sejour.

Monty Python couldn’t improve on this.

Oh, and were you wondering what that “good book” was on this occasion?

This little 1921 gem from Simon’s grandfather’s library.

Written as a concise and accessible summary for early teenage kids, what it lacks in accuracy it makes up for in amusement in its tone and certitude. 

While the cat’s away…

This week Niamh made a trip back to Kerry to see her Mum – one of the great advantages of being so close in Paris. Flying out on Wednesday, back on Sunday and placing unexpected confidence in Simon to feed, clothe, entertain and get children to and from school!

Wednesday afternoons are family time, as Aisling doesn’t have school and Charles is off on Wednesday afternoons. Fortunately the skies had cleared, so we headed out with scooters into the Champ de Mars for a scoot around, and then a treat – a trip to the marionette theatre in the park.

The ever-present main character Guignol made his customary appearance, though without the up-front film documenting the life of the chief puppeteer like last time! Charles and Aisling enjoyed the show, the only non-French kids in the audience.

Throughout the week, lots of after-school fun to be had, from playground stops to mandatory photos outside our favourite flower stall…

 

Finding lots of ways to pass the time until Mum returns.

Saturday movie date!

On Saturday morning Charles had a birthday party at the movies to see Cro-Man (“Early Man”) by the Wallace & Gromit crew.

The rain had returned, so Simon and Aisling entertained themselves for a while in the adjacent shopping centre…

 

Then over a quick lunch, we decided we didn’t want to miss out on the fun at the movies, so we made a plan to head back next door and slip into the session after Charles and his mates had gone.

Bit confusing for Aisling to follow along in French at times, but with only 5 people in the cinema, it was fairly easy for Dad to pass along the essentials 🙂

A great Saturday date for all concerned!

Then it was off to pick up Charles, one more time past the statue of Liberty, with Aisling glad to oblige as she flew past on her pink flash of a scooter.

Check out that stylin’ helmet! The other cats in France might be scooting around helmet free, but we value our head and they’ve got nothing on us for style.

Meanwhile in Ireland…

Meanwhile, Niamh was catching up with family in Ireland where there was beautiful weather over the lakes and rivers of Kerry…

And at the end of the visit, a chance to catch The Gloaming in concert in Dublin with some family and friends.

The Gloaming are known as the “masters of tradition” in Ireland, playing traditional Irish music with the skill of concert virtuosos.

Martin Hayes on the fiddle as always the star amongst the star-studded cast. Worth a listen on youtube if you get the chance – try the Sailor’s Bonnet for instance, one of Niamh’s favourites.

Meanwhile in sculpture land…

And back in sculpture land, Simon continuing to work away each Tuesday night – and this time a bit in between times, having taken the plaster base back home to work on the painstaking wave formations.

Work on the water surface finally now finished, and holes in place for securing the wire frames for the cliffs. Next session will be time to secure the armatures in place and build up the rock surfaces…

Ending on a high note at the circus!

Always important to end the week on a high note. The previous Sunday we heard from the de la Boulayes that they were heading to the winter circus this Saturday night, so Simon, Charles and Aisling decided to tag along.

Le cirque d’hiver Bouglione is a Parisian institution that operates in a permanent building opened by none other than Napoleon III in 1852, and dedicated to the cirque d’hiver since 1870! Not an experience we could miss during our time in Paris, though the circus show itself looks like it evolved for the first 100 years then got stuck in about the 1970s 🙂

We have dancing girls (some in flashing LED dresses):

Lions and tigers (at pains to emphasise European born and bred):

And did we mention trained rats (Charles convinced he spotted Ratatouille but not Rami…) and a human (lady) cannonball. Luckily she hit the mark…

And lots more besides. Men and women doing tricks on horses – back flip from standing on one running horse to land on a second running horse not a bad trick in a ring. Lots of juggling, strong man displays, rope acrobats, etc. A fine show greatly enjoyed by all ages.

As the show went on it also became clear why this is a cirque d’hiver. The building design did not run to vents at the top of the vaulted ceiling, so the place quickly became a furnace! Any show where the outside temperature was above zero would test the limits of endurance.  We shed all our outer clothing and lost a few pounds during the course of the show as a nice little fringe benefit.

Back home on Saturday night, with the hourly light show on the Tour Eiffel in full display just as we arrived at the front door.

Happy children at the end of another eventful week…

 

Paris ~ Lapland ~ Paris

Traviata Drama!

Time for some high culture! We have planned a handful of visits to the opera/ballet during our stay. The first was Sunday afternoon after our return from Val d’Isère, at the Opéra Bastille while the kids were having a quiet recovery day. Our babysitter was the sister of the kids’ french teacher in Sydney which was a nice connection.

We were off to a performance of Traviata where for 3 nights there were “super-subs” scheduled to perform the main 3 roles: Anna Netrebko, Placido Domingo and Charles Castranovo. Much touted by the Paris Opera as an event to be remembered!

Somewhat predictably, a week ahead Anna Netrebko pulled out due to illness. Much grumbling by the patrons, but it still promised to be a great afternoon out, so off we went. 

Great people watching at the more modern Bastille opera house, as Paris turned out for a Sunday high culture event. Simon taking careful note on how to upgrade and diversify his selection of neckwear. 

Just before the opening curtain, the manager appeared on stage to inform the audience that regrettably Placid Domingo had fallen ill and would not be appearing.

Now it was on!

We suspect many in the audience had travelled long distances to see the super-subs, and they were not pleased! The opera is usually a pretty laid back and genteel audience, but they were giving it loads. Jeering, whistling, shouting, requests for refunds. The poor conductor was powerless to start the overture as the crowd got more boisterous. To his great credit he held his cool and let the emotion start to calm, then with some whistling continuing, launched in! 

Thankfully the jeers died away and the music took over.

Act I went ahead without incident, the regular cast + Charles Castraonovo (to us the real star of the show) doing a great job.

A few walk-outs at the first interval, and then into Act II where … Placid Domingo appears! 

Who said opera lacks intrigue, twists and turns. Now thunderous applause for each of his arias, and extended applause for the cast at the end. We should also say that Marina Rebeka was superb as Violetta and had great chemistry with Castranovo.

Great day out – for the quality of the opera, the quality of the people watching and the drama of the event. We now feel ready for the upcoming strike action in response to Macron reforms!

Lapland

Surviving the madness of Venice Carnival with young kids and driving rain emboldened us to take it up a notch. 

So instead we took it up about 5 notches and took the family off to Lapland, above the arctic circle in the dead of winter. What could go wrong??

Kids had a couple of quiet days of downtime after Val d’Isère, then it was back off to CDG and our flight to Kittala (bustling metropolis with a population of 6,000). Charles was quickly mastering his Finnish pronunciation (“KI-ta-la”).

Finland has long hovered between the Soviet Union/Russia and the west, shaped by war, economics and geographic reality. 

It was recently named the happiest country in the world, and we found the people welcoming enough, albeit with a bit of soviet style curtness at times.

We were lucky in the end with the weather. Just before we were there it was a brisk -25C, but on landing it had risen to a balmy -15C and it continued to become more tropical each day. Brilliant northern skies on arrival at Kittala airport…

Checked in to our cozy (and well heated!) hotel in Levi (like the Led Zeppelin song not the jeans) and coaxed tired children through dinner. Want to see my mashed potato trick?

Skeleton training

The winter olympics having just concluded, the first morning we headed to the family sliding area to prepare our children for future competition. The obvious first choice: skeleton!

Great fun had at the hill by all.

Surprisingly enough after all her years of skiing, this was Niamh’s first time sledding, and in true form she was straight into the black diamonds 🙂

The sledding hill came with both a rope tow and a wood-burning warming hut on the side. Much needed every half hour or so!

When you’re above the arctic circle in winter you don’t have a lot of hours of sunlight to play with, but what light you do get is beautiful low angle sunshine which we made the most of whenever we had the chance!

These pics show our long shadows in the midday sun…

Rami’s Huskies

The afternoon of our first day in Lapland we were off to our date with 70 beautiful huskies raised by Rami and his wife on their farm south of Levi.

After a longer than expected tour around the snowy backroads of northern Finland, we eventually found Rami’s place just in time for our dog sled tour. And boy were we glad we did!

Rami’s place was amazing. Set in a beautiful forest, with dozens of friendly dogs itching to get out and running down the tracks. It was a beautiful still afternoon with snow-laden trees all around, and a variety of indoor / outdoor warming huts set between the trees, with plumes of smoke rising slowly from their chimneys.

After a quick pit stop in the hut to make sure we had the right gear (aka size ~20 or so sledding boots that Simon could have put on with his existing boots still on his feet), it was straight out to meet the dogs and get settled into sleds.

Aisling and Charles both quickly making new friends:

Into the sleds! Charles and Aisling were riding in the front of Rami’s sled up front, and Niamh was taking her life in her hands with Simon at the helm of the sled at the back of the pack. The dogs live to run, so before they’re harnessed onto the sleds, the musher has to fix a snow anchor or else the sled will fly off into the distance before the driver even has a chance to step on board.

Blankets at the ready, Charles and Aisling are ready to hit the trails. Mush!

When running, the musher stands at the back of the sled with one foot on each of the two wooden runners, as the sled first glides and then flies along behind the dogs.

In between the two wooden runners is a brake, consisting of a metal loop that the driver can step on and drive into the snow as the sled goes along, creating drag to slow the dogs down. An essential tool when approaching curves at high speed! The dogs are really powerful, and once they get going can work up quite a speed over the Finnish flat lands.

Glorious scenery all around as we slid along the tracks:

After a while the -15 degrees catches up with you of course, particularly if you’re not a husky with a thick pelt doing lots of running and pulling.

When we get back to camp, we pile into Rami’s warming hut for a hot drink and a sausage. Niamh has also in a stroke of genius packed some marshmallows which the kids eagerly roast and share with the other guests around the fire. Perfect way to warm up from our magical husky adventure.

Once everyone was warmed up again, we headed back out to play with the dogs, who were only too happy to oblige. Amazing animals with piercing eyes and friendly dispositions (as long as another husky team isn’t trying to overtake them, that is).

An absolutely magical experience, sure to be one of the highlights of our entire trip.

Snow Village

Only a couple of km away from Rami’s was the Lapland snow village, so after reluctantly bidding farewell to the huskies, we headed over for a look.

The snow village is a very impressive set of buildings constructed out of snow and ice every winter near Levi. It includes an ice restaurant, an ice bar, an ice hotel, an ice slide and a variety of themed rooms in between. 

Kids excited to explore the village, starting with the sloping entrance corridor with sapphire-like ice rocks decorating the walls

Service in this restaurant often a bit cold :-). Aisling grooving to the beats coming from the ice bar…

This year’s theme at the Snow Village is Game of Thrones, providing lots of inspiration for the snow and ice sculptors. Fancy an ice throne? Be careful your face doesn’t end up in the Hall of Faces…

The Snow Village is also a working hotel, and you can choose the theme of your (frigid!) bedroom. Fancy sleeping under a frog or a medusa? No problem.

Or if you really want sweet dreams, how about a romantic evening snoozing under the watchful gaze of a white walker?? Perhaps not everybody’s cup of tea…

Skiing in Levi

After the excitement of our husky and Snow Village adventures, it was back to the hotel for a quick dinner and a long sleep for the kids.

The day we arrived, Charles had spotted a grey streak in the clear night sky which he proudly pronounced the northern lights. It may actually have been the tail end of them, as they had been active around the time we landed according to one of the many Northern Lights tracking apps.

Simon made a valiant attempt to see the lights again the next night, setting alarms through the night to check the apps for signs of solar activity, but to no avail :-(. Very low solar flare activity through the night and then for the rest of our stay, which coupled with increasingly cloudy weather meant poor northern light spotting conditions. Something for next time!

In this case the clouds really did have a silver lining though – warmer temperatures, as the -15 of the day before gave way to -5. Much more amenable skiing conditions, so we headed out to nearby Levi resort to rent some skis and hit the slopes. Aisling quickly into her T-bar riding rhythm, showing off her skills honed all the way back in Saas Fee:

Skiing at Levi entails bundling up well and making the most of the light. Small, rolling slopes a bit reminiscent of Australian skiing, but the trees at the top show signs of rather different prevailing weather conditions…

Great family skiing with everyone in good form. Sometimes the natural light sufficed, and sometimes the lights were on in the middle of the day (see pic at right)!

And just for something a bit different, when we stopped in for lunch beside the slopes, in amongst the light fittings were actual stuffed birds hanging from the ceiling.

Anyone for a spot of skiing-slash-hunting?

After skiing it was back to our hotel to check out the impressive indoor pool & spa complex. When you’re living in a country that is deep frozen for much of the year, you need good indoor entertainment options, and this certainly qualified.

No less than 17 pools where you could choose from the frigid to the steaming, hammams, a heated outdoor pool you reached from an indoor pool by swimming along a little tunnel (we didn’t last long outside!), a large water slide, and everything else you can imagine in between. The swimsuits-forbidden mixed-sex sauna sits between the men’s and women’s change rooms in true Scandinavian style!

Simon, Charles and Aisling had a great splash around to round out a great day. No trouble sleeping that night.

Exploring Levi

Wandering around the town after skiing in search of souvenirs! A reindeer horn anything, anyone? Kind lady in the shop burnt Charles’ name into the slingshot his parents unwisely let him purchase…

Then off into the streets went the ice king & the ice queen…

Glass Igloos

For the last two nights we left our hotel and checked into the glass igloos set up on a ridge overlooking the tiny town. An amazing setting for appreciating the Lapland scenery and sky

The set-up is a central building housing the (glass of course) restaurant, surrounded by individual (heated!) glass igloos nestled in the snow.

Lights of the Levi slopes off in the distance.

Great fun, and taking “glamping” to a whole new level.

An incredibly beautiful setting by day and by night…

And as if they hadn’t already done enough to win us over, when we show up for breakfast Finnish style, what is on offer at the buffet?

Chocolate mousse cake, of course!

“I was right! I DO like chocolate mousse”, our daughter declared.

Back to Paris

Fantastic memories from our time in Lapland. Very glad we took the plunge to go in winter and really experience the land of Santa Claus. 

Val d’Isère ~ Paris

The Top of the World

It may have been the leanest snow year in parts of the US since 1977, but we picked a great year to ski in Europe. After the heavy falls at Christmas in both the Swiss and French alps, the snow kept on coming. 

We shared the ride in from Bourg St Maurice with a French lady and her two sons who by chance were staying at the same place as us, and had been there at Christmas too, so had lots of tips on where to eat and navigating that part of the village. 

Woke in the morning and headed next door to get some food for breakfast at the supermarket, which had been dug out from snow walls as high as its roof. A good sign for the week to come.

Quick trip to “le ski man à côté” and it was off to the slopes. Val d’Isère has some great little chairlifts in the village for an aspiring 4 year old racer, but a huge advantage for learning and intermediate skiers are the massive expanses of gentle, rolling slopes at high altitude that were opened up for learners 2 seasons ago.

They spread as far as the eye can see in every direction, and mean that non-expert skiers can access high altitude skiing and then take the gondola back down when the legs start to give out. 

A couple of warm-up runs for Aisling (and the rest of us!) and then we were up to the top of Solaise gondola to check out the top of the world…

The recent snowfalls coupled with COLD weather (about -15C or so) made for great skiing conditions as longs you rugged up. This time we were really lucky with the weather as it was sunny and still which made the cold manageable, and kept the powder in great condition.

Charles eager to continue his form from Saas Fee was straight into it…

Lunching in style

Bright sunny weather calls for slope side dining after a busy morning’s skiing, and Val d’Isère serves up lots of options.

Charles and Niamh lounging on the sheepskin covered chairs in Solarise with acres of rolling powder beckoning behind them…

Charles and Simon taking a well earned break at Tignes after zooming across from Val one morning…

And if the temperature ever dipped too low, stopping inside for a hot chocolate the size of your head never goes astray…

One of our favourites was a little yurt in Solaise serving hot dogs and churros. The lunch of champions!

And then of course, there’s making like the French, and just lounging in the sun to see & be seen in front of endless powered covered slopes…

Markets & Dining, Haute Savoie style

Back down in the village, Wednesday was market day.

It’s not a cheese stall if you don’t have at least 100 choices. Can you say fondue?? Aisling very taken by the array of soft sheepskins to snuggle in to…

Indeed, the Haute Savoie is all about the cheese.

The welcoming restaurant across the street had a highly dedicated raclette man, who zeroed in on us from the first night we were there and eagerly brought over samples to our table. Not long before Charles was signing up, and had never seen so much stuff arrive for his dinner…

High altitude playgrounds

Back to the slopes, and kids found a great way to mix it up between runs: the swings carry you just that little bit further in the playground at 2,500m up the top of the gondola…

They were even able to rescue their mum using the handy piste basher that was at the ready for the job…

Fireworks & festivals

Just to lay it on a bit more, French school holiday week meant winter festival in the village. There was a flare run by the non-ESF instructors (they of course have their own separate flare run unadulterated by les étrangers), illuminated mountains and fireworks…

…and later in the week, an evening sounds & light festival on the main street which Charles and Simon explored together. 

There was a group of illuminated LED magicians who suspended a woman between two chairs before whisking one of the chairs away, leaving her suspended horizontally in mid air, supported only one one side by the remaining chair.

The act would have been altogether more impressive if it wasn’t clear that the game volunteer hadn’t frozen solid in that position in the frigid conditions, but we clapped them on nonetheless.

For Charles though, the stars of the show were the fire jugglers, who if you stood close enough, kept you not just entertained, but also warm 🙂

By day there was plenty to explore as well, down twisting streets and finding new furry friends to meet

Val d’Isère vistas

Then back to the slopes! Val d’Isère must be one of the few resorts in the world where your fist 5 runs of the day can be 3km, 3km, 4.5km, 3.6km and 5.8km long, with only one lift up between each (that was our Thursday). This is a resort where it pays to have fit legs when you show up!

One way to catch your breath on the way to the top: take the funiculaire train through the mountain 3.5km to the peak.

And when you get to the top, the question is whether to ski or just take in the view for a while. Not too many places in the world that can match Val d’Isère for high alpine vistas:

Even when the clouds rolled in, the valley views were stunning…

Sights and Tastes

Around town, never a dull moment exploring different sights, or munching on an icicle. Even some high altitude sculpture inspiration for Simon…

Graduation!

Friday was Aisling’s graduation from ski school!

She was an absolute star through the week. A fairly handy skier for her age (4), she ended up with a group of 6 and 7 year olds. This made for long days and usually by about 3pm she was ready to trade in the skis for a hot chocolate.

Her two Italian instructors from Oxygene were terrific in helping her along through the week, a big relief for Mum & Dad who were often a long distance away in such a huge resort

Tired children at the end of a busy week…

… ready to head home sporting our Val d’Isère style…

Heading back to Paris

Saturday and time to make our way back to Paris. Nice to relax on the train, watch the scenery go by and have a restful day after a busy week. We’ll be back!