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Created by Eugene Villar.

not france-related but pretty cool.

french lunch should not equal flunch

We were burning through the country last August, trying to get from Paris to Strasbourg and back to Paris in a day. Each leg was 5h long. And of course we did it on a Sunday which meant that nothing was open so we couldn't buy sheets to sleep on at our new apt in Strasbourg but we needed to drop off all of our stuff before we went to the south for some R&R.

On our way back, we got hungry and decided to stop at one of the many stops along the highway. Flunch. My hunch is that flunch = french + lunch. However, what we ended up ingesting there was not so synonymous with the name.

Ax had this:



I had a crepe which I had to pay for and then they gave me this to pick it up with:




I don't think we need to say we aren't breaking down the doors to go back.

Running along the River Ill and stumbling onto an excavation site

Ax went for a run and I joined him on my bike. His route takes him along the river Ill. These are taken with my cell phone while I am riding and slipping through the mud so excuse the non-focus!







On our way back we noticed that one of the construction sites was actually an excavation site! This is right next to the Modern Art museum. Not sure what it is because there were no signs.

Strasbourg Xmas markets

for slideshow comments, click on the talk bubble on the bottom left and it will give you any comments I have written for the pics!



Yesterday, Katelyn who is still in Freiburg, came for the day to see the xmas market. Niki, our local Christmas cheerleader, was forced by us to lead the way through the markets since she had already scouted them last week and was now in the purchase mode. But it was Saturday which meant crowds were insane...and because it was Pere noel day, the germans (visible due to their insistence on wearing santa hats) were here in full force. We got stuck, not moving even a little, for 15 minutes in the middle of the cathedral market. It took us almost 30 minutes to get out. I thought we would never make it out of the crowd. I’ve never NOT moved in a crowd before. This, of course, was due to a tour group that decided that they needed to go against the crowd with arms linked as to not lose each other. So smart.

Anyway, lots of cool things in the market. The vin chaud, or gluhwein, or mulled wine was ubiquitous. And depending on where you go, can range from 1.50 E to 3 E. We found the 1.5 one as soon as we got there to keep us warm. We then wandered through the "sharing" market. This is where different charities have their own cabin and sell wares for their causes. It was there that we found the telethon tents. There was a 24h telethon going on in the city, that happens every year, where different groups raise money for research. It's really cool because everyone does different things and they are all over the city. Katelyn and I saw crepes being sold for it in Petite France, and Ax and I saw a brass band the night before playing music for money. Anyway, in the sharing market, we found some neurology students raising money for neurology research. And it was a quiz you had to take. For 1 euro, you get to spin a wheel and answer a question. I had to do it because the prize was a neuron cookie, complete with a chocolate dot for the nucleus and sprinkles as neurotransmitters (which ended up being the answer to the question I got).

Place Broglie, normally the site for the Wednesday and Friday downtown market, has been transformed into the best part of the strasbourg markets. It's all of the traditional alsatian trinkets. And beer nuts.

I have seen the Colmar and Reims markets and they pale in comparison to Strasbourg. So if you get a chance to see this, do. There is a rumour that next year, the market will be on the water!

Cheryl and Andy visit Strasbourg!

OK...so this is the even lazier way of blogging. Add a slideshow of all of the pictures so you don't have to pick and choose!!!

Cheryl, my cousin from Hoboken NJ, and her main amigo Andy from Yonkers NY (you have to say that with that NY accent) came to visit for a quick few days. But in that short time, we managed to do Strasbourg, the Alsace wine route, [including Molsheim (home of bugatti), Obernai (plain old cute town), Mont Ste. Odile (site of a catholic miracle...chick born blind but then gets unblind during baptism...then heals other blind peeps and managed to get water out of a rocky cliff so now people come to check that out too), and Colmar (ultimate cute town. This town has now made us describe something as plain old cute or colmar-cute)], and Epernay and Reims in the champagne region (epernay is home to Moet-Chandon (where there is a Bergman (axel's dad's side) connection), Mercier, and Castellane as well as Boizel (where there is a Stieltjes (axel's mom's side) connection). Reims is where French kings were coronated so of course there is a big-ass cathedral for that soiree...and a small xmas market...and champagne which we didn't try because we were too hammered from epernay). We managed to also squeeze in a late American Thanksgiving celebration with the N. American crowd of the ISU, thanks to the most organized hostess of a thanksgiving party I've ever seen.

Cheryl left to go back to NJ while Andy kept his euro trip going by heading to Barcelona and eventually Prague. What I think we'll miss about these two is their hilarious take on the french sayings. Like voila. I never realized it but in N. America, we say Voila when it's something that we're proud of showing you, or is just plain brilliant...In France, voila is used all the time. Like when you ask for a pen and someone gives it to you...they then will say "voila". Cheryl and Andy pointed it out when we got our change from the tollbooth man and he gave it to us saying Voila. Now I have to stop myself from laughing everytime I hear it. So thanks a lot guys.

14 year anniversary in Paris

We rarely celebrate an anniversary. And getting married on Leap Day this year really added to the evidence that we aren't celebrating-anniversaries-kind-of-people. However, because it was looking like Axel needed a break from Alsace and all that was school, and because Monica was supposed to be in Paris that week, we decided to use this as an excuse to go and enjoy this incredible city.

We stayed near Jardin de Luxembourg where neither of us had been to before. However, when we wandered through it, we realized we that we have seen this garden in movies, postcards, tv, everywhere! Here's why:



The big head!!
...and then our big heads.




We met up with Stephane for lunch in the Marais district (Mel and Tony and I met up here in September for man-shopping. The best place for man shopping). So we decided to saunter our way over there and thought we should check out Ste Chapelle since I just read something about the stained glass being cool to see. However, time was running short and when we got there we realized it was going to be more than a 15 minute jaunt through that place...so we kept walking. And then we noticed this huge clock on the side of the building near pont au change. We were joking about how in Canada, this would have been a huge tourist stop, but here, it's just a big clock on the side of a building. Axel took a closer look and it turns out, it's a clock to keep track of Leap Day!!! So we had inadvertently found our wedding clock!







So we met up with Steph and searched for brunch/lunch spots...along with everyone else in the city. We managed to find a great place that was warm and had good food. During our search, Axel saw this:



a stationary bike, locked on a rack.

Said goodbye to Steph and made our way back so we could pick up our tickets to the Picasso exhibit (Picasso and his masters. A must-see!! If you have any chance of seeing it, do!! they have every piece that Picasso took his inspiration from and put it alongside his own pieces. And their descriptions and explanations are incredible!). On our way back, we paid hommage to the dude and the dame.



charlemagne


...and notre dame

So...the reason we took three pictures. In our haste in the morning to get out and do something, yet because we were both feeling like crap from being sick and barely sleeping, we ran onto the train...then I saw the next station and panicked and thought we were on the wrong train....




so we jumped off after one stop and went around to take it going the other way...which we did for about 5 stops...and then...




we realized we were going the right way in the first place. F!*K. So we jumped off and ran back to the other side. Yes, we were tired. And stupid.



Voila...our weekend in a blog!

Olives olives everywhere!

The weekend of november 22nd was all about the olive. Axel's mom, Catherine, decided when she started cultivating her property in Sanary, that she would only have olive trees. What this means for her, and this year, for us, is that mid-November every year, the olives must be harvested. Catherine has been doing this for several years now and has made the best olive oil I've ever had. It really tastes like nothing you've ever tried. And last year and this year, she has used the old method of extraction which, instead of 20 minutes in an industrial press, takes 6 weeks using big stones, their weight, and time.

So this year, Axel and I, along with our friends Katelyn, Megan and Niki, headed down to Sanary on the overnight cattle car and became the migrants that work for a bed and food. (photos of this section by Katelyn)




We arrived at 7 am and after breakfast and a little tour, we were put to work.

These pictures are by Megan...olives that Catherine picked before we arrived.





And then...we picked. We had these baskets you wear around your waist for easier, more efficient, and just old fashionable picking. Most pictures by Niki. Please ignore the "Rani Cruz" label on me. (I did a screen shot of all of the pictures off of Facebook....actually, the rest of the blog are mostly a mix of all of our pictures! Sorry, lost track.)













So what I didn't tell you yet is that it was the coldest day I've ever experienced in Sanary. Plus there were 95 km/hr winds in the area which meant REALLY cold. Hence, the arctic look was mode of choice. And apparently, early eighties garb is warmer than modern day clothing.







So day 1 was just cold. But easy for olive picking as we focused on Catherine's trees. She prunes them in a way that allows us to just handpick the trees. The middle is open so that you can go into the tree. And the branches are low. Catherine was smart to make us think that was all there was to it.













Then day 2. The finger machine. This thing was incredible. It basically goes through the branches and with its fingerlike whirring bits, would vibrate the olives out of the tree. It wouldn't pull off any leaves or branches. Amazing. The trick was to make sure you had nets that caught everything that fell out. And yes, it ran off a car battery. This was necessary as the rest of the trees were not so easy. They are all older trees so taller. And not pruned like Catherine's are. So branches aren't so organized. Thus, the finger machine was a necessary tool.















Then we learned how to supervise...





Katelyn always managed to find a sunray to be in that day. She was a trooper as she came to Sanary after being sick for two days. Unfortunately we lost our Hawaiian to the cold. Megan found her sunray and her rubik's cube in the house on Day 2. Niki, however, was probably the most enthusiastic of us all. Is it her ever-positive attitude or is it because she is from Ontario and is used to this temperature?! Her enthusiasm was catchy though so thank goodness she didn't think it was THAT cold.






It was not all work though. We did make it around Sanary and le Castellet. Megan got a thimble (apparently she collects them. And she thinks this is a normal thing to do).










We also went to visit the neighbours who have been family friends since Axel could remember. They are famous in the area for their nativity scenes (or creche). The local schools go on a field trip to see their creche! The first time I saw one of theirs was in 1997. This year it took 11 days to make. Nothing on it is made with anything that isn't from the land. Even the buildings are made by them. I have a video at the end of this...excuse the non-pro videography...but I was cold and excited.

Creches are truly a provencal tradition in my eyes. Nothing beats their figurines (santons). When my cousin Cheryl and I went to Reims we saw a stand of santons from provence and everyone was flocked to it. What is really cool about the santons is that every single santon is tradition...they all have a purpose. And very traditional creches have the santons always facing the baby jesus. This and other traditions in this country only make me love it here more.









The girls left Sunday night on the night train. Because of a threat of a spontaneous strike, Axel and I drove them to the Marseille station instead of bandol. But there was a train and they did make it back. Strikes are a normal part of life. But unlike the strikes in Canada, most of these strikes only last a day or two and move on.

The next day Axel, Catherine and I bulldozed through the day with the rest of the properties. Catherine's trees were all done but there were all of Axel's uncles and aunt's properties left. They don't have as many trees but the ones they do have are old big trees, so we tried our luck with them. Unfortunately, Laurent's trees still needed another week of ripening. And Marianne's trees were not are fruitful. Then, we went to Eric's yard. The last tree we did together reaped about 3 crates!



Ax left that night and I stayed until Tuesday at 11h30. So from 9-10h30 am, Catherine and I did the mega tree on Eric's property. When we did it we realized it was one of the original trees on the property. There were still markings of the big fire. We got about 3 crates from that tree too. So 4 days, 3 nights and 200 kgs of olives later, I zipped back to Strasbourg on the day train.





We're looking for recruits for next year!!!