Weather was definitely warmer than last month. Temperatures climbed to the high 70’s although there were days with some terrific rain. We still love rain because we spent too many years without enough.
The new closet was still an item of shock and awe for us. It’s the little things, it really is. Couldn’t find the right sized curtains for the closet so we settled on some that were a good six inches above the floor. The only alternative was online at places that didn’t ship to Europe and the complications of having a friend receive the order, then send it forward to us, was just too much. We can put up with this arrangement for now. The striped curtains took away the boxed in feel, which was our goal. We got in some shoe racks that we ordered and it pleased my little, over-organized heart, to have them in place. Like I said, it’s the little things.
A family member, who we share a U.S. address with, moved into our condo. The move had to be recorded as an address change and it amazed me how many accounts were affected. It took the better part of a week to make sure everything was right. Just because everything is online, doesn’t necessarily convey into it being easy to take care of.
Visitors – the key word for this month. We spent time with spring cleaning – the kind you always promise yourself you are going to do but never quite get to it. Well, at least that’s how it goes for US. Then we needed to do some planning on the trips for our incoming visitors. The to-do list was slowly whittled down and included planning easy and tasty meals so we weren’t bumbling at the last minute, when brains are tired.
See – Planning:
After re-laundering the guest linens, we moved one of the clothes racks, that the closet construction eliminated the need for, into the 2nd bedroom. Perfect to park luggage on the bottom and hang clothes. I tidied up the desk, pulling off our electronics, repositioning the printer out of the way so that the desk is usable for others. Then we felt more than ready. The other two racks we gave to a neighbor who, like us, has an apartment with no closet.
For ourselves, it was time to pull out the travel suitcase, update the contents of the toiletry bag and pull out the ready bag of electronic charging cords. We keep them on hand for traveling – separate from our permanent set up on our home desk – and we use them in the bedroom while we have visitors. The only thing we can’t take care of is shopping for fresh foodstuffs until we all return from Paris, but the freezer and pantry had been bulked up with the accompanying ingredients. For both sets of visitors, since neither batch has been to France, we are picking them up at the airport and staying over in Paris for a few nights. We have planned itineraries to match the things they’ve said they’d like to do while here. Yep, pretty much felt ready for everyone.
We’ve had a problem vanity sink in the shower room that occasionally decides not to drain very well. Numerous attempts to correct the problem, did not have any effect. Then, in using the nail cutter above the sink, that useless little link chain they put on them slipped off and went down the drain (yep, you guessed it – that was me). G had to get the P trap off, we got the chain (which I tossed) and in the process, found a huge amount of hair (certainly not ours) in it – further along the line than we could reach, which accounted for the slow drainage. Washed that all out and the water drain improved immediately.
On Cinco de Mayo, we stepped out to get a Mexican meal at one of the places that cook it decently and of course, we paired it with margaritas. A really happy set of stomachs over here, who returned home to nap. That combination will definitely do that to us.
The day our first guest was arriving, we were up early to train to the Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport. In arriving, we realized that we’d only been in the airport to depart, never to pick up arrivals. So this uncovered an odd discovery; the airport has huge displays in several places, with all of the departing flights and information but NO DISPLAYS regarding arrivals. Absolutely none. You have to go to the specific airline ticket counters to see their posted arrival information or already know that most U.S. flights arrive at 2E. BUT the specific airline counters are also not posted on any signage. You can not find the information in the airport as to which terminal has which airline (available online). Incredibly bizarre. It’s like they can’t wait for you to leave – at the same time, they really want to make arriving difficult. You literally have to ask airport staff where to find the different airlines. But we arrived an hour in advance to deal with unforeseen issues, which was plenty of time.
Found the right terminal and the exit gate for passengers. There was a cafe right next to it, so we had coffee while we waited. As soon as K landed, we texted each other through her progress to the exit. Gotta love technology when it works! It only took her a half hour from disembarking, through customs, to picking up her luggage and getting to the exit. A pretty straight shot. And how great it was to see her masked face! She had never seen Paris or any of France and had a few things on her ‘bucket list’; She wanted to see the monuments, she wanted to go to the Louvre and she wanted to get a real feel for Paris. In two days.
A ride service to the hotel – one room was ready so we parked all of our luggage, pared down what we needed for the day and went back out. We walked to a nearby cafe – the trick was to keep her awake and moving to avoid jet lag – so we had coffee and a fois gras appetizer to fortify.
The biggest mistake people make is to take a nap when they arrive, since the flight is exhausting. But in doing that, they spend the entire vacation having trouble getting over jet lag. A big dose of caffeine and she was good to go.
We booked tickets for the Big Bus ride so that she could see the monuments of Paris (since time was not plentiful) and get a feel for its layout. On the way to the bus pick-up point, we stopped at Laudurée, the most famous macaroon shop in Paris. Of course we bought one each and shared – all very tasty. The first stop we exited on the BBus, was at Galeries Lafayette, to walk though the multistoried stained glass dome department store institution and to the terraced top floor for a spectacular view of the city. The restaurant we’d planned to have lunch at was closed, even though it said it was open on the website. Tortuga is known for its fabulous local fish dishes. Not to worry – Paris is FULL of great places to eat. We did enjoy the terrace and took pictures of her and the view. It’s a terrific place and the day was simply gorgeous – sunny and clear.
Back on the BBus and a tour of the city for an hour and a half. We got off at the Eiffel Tower and walked through the 7th arrondissement to soak in the flavor of Paris. We stopped at an outdoor cafe and had a great lunch sharing three platters; one of white asparagus with a light mustard sauce, one with an assortment of meats and pâtés and the last with smoked salmon. Simple, great, tasty.
Then it was time to return to the hotel. We checked K into her (now ready) room and met the Retro Vintage Sidecar tour drivers outside at 6 pm. K was in one sidecar, I was in a second and G was sitting on the back seat of the driver of my side car. Off we went for a two hour ride through the streets and neighborhoods. We stopped at a point on the Seine, with the Eiffel Tower in the background, for a rest and a requisite glass of champagne. The drivers were two very personable guys, Max and Louis, who were kind enough to recommend a very local, small restaurant named Chez Fernand, for dinner. We changed our plans from our original pick to their recommendation and Louis even called his friend, Fernand the chef, to secure a reservation for us. Off again for more sights and finally they dropped us off directly at the restaurant.
It was just as promised. Small, quiet – the chef met us at the door. Nice fellow who got his picture taken on one of the motorcycles before we all headed in. The meal was sublime and all dishes offered were decidedly French. K had bone marrow on toast and a green bean salad, G had a tongue dish accompanied with mashed potatoes and I had the beef bourguignon. All were absolutely delicious. K was practically swooning. Back to the hotel, we were tucked in by 10:30 and ‘mission accomplished’. She stayed awake all day and was set to have a solid, good night’s sleep. Riding a sidecar in Paris is like biking in Lille – the cobblestone is tough on your backside. But it really worked to keep her awake.
The next day, after breakfast at the hotel, we walked to the Louvre . K wanted to at least walk inside and see the Mona Lisa. You could spend months in the Louvre and two hours were really not suitable. She did get to see dearest Lisa and I got to take a picture of the Marie Antoinette bust which I had failed to on one of our trips. It still was a chilling encounter for me, when one considers all of the history. It had the amount of visitors that we encountered on our first visit in 2003, so we had plenty of space walking the museum – clearly the tourist numbers are not back up to pre-Covid times.
When we left the Louvre, we hopped on the metro to make our way to the quartier Montmartre in the 18th arrondissement to see the café and neighborhood used in the movie, “Amélie”. We passed the Moulin Rouge as we made our way to Café des Deux Moulins, the café that the character, Amélie, had worked in, for a glass of wine and to relax. As chance would have it, all of the front, sidewalk tables of the café, were filled with about thirty or so 50- to 60-year-old biker types, wearing the soccer team colors and all of them very sloshed. As we sat at the window inside, enjoying our drinks, we were treated to quite the floor show. Hooting and hollering at anyone they knew – plus several young women that they did not – they were spending the afternoon enjoying the weather, the anticipation of the upcoming soccer match and their libations. Life was good.
After we were done there, we walked the street, looking at the variety of restaurants available to stop for lunch. We finally settled on an Asian restaurant filled with dumplings, noodles and a variety of multi-ingredient dishes. Everything we picked was just wonderful. Back to full speed capacity, we walked the neighborhood before returning to the hotel. K was able to find a leather bag of her favorite designer, Hervé Chapelier, at one of his shops, which thrilled her.
In the late afternoon, we made our way to the Marché des Enfants Rouges, an outdoor and covered food market, to wander through and admire the variety of vendors. We decided on a Thai stall called Rosie’s, to have our dinner. The weather was absolutely perfect. We left there to get to a neighborhood bar called The Red Door but unfortunately the place was packed and extremely noisy so we moved on. The speakeasy, The Laundromatic, had a long line waiting to get in, so we continued our stroll until we came to Bara Naan.
Bara Naan is an Indian restaurant, with a backroom speakeasy which had not yet hit the rush hour. The interior, after you push a door hidden in the wall mural, is a copy of the interior of an Oriental Express train car. The “windows” show a passing landscape – an ongoing film made from a moving train. The back “window” shows a film of the scene a train caboose would have, with the tracks and landscape receding in the distance, behind the car. There were brass luggage compartments hung above for coats and bags and had the lighting of a vintage train compartment. When the menu for the drinks arrived, it was printed on replicas of passports and the tapas’ menus were printed on train tickets. Much quieter than the Red Door, we sampled Indian gins and whiskeys, while eating fresh, hot naan. Done very well, all the way around. It was time to head back to the hotel and turn in. K said she’d gotten to see all the things she’d hoped for and gotten a real flavor of Paris. She said she understood why it was so difficult to describe.
The next day was spent transporting home to Lille – an hour train ride journey. We walked down the street from the train station, pointing out the architectural highlights and in ten minutes were at our apartment door. After dropping her bags in her room, we gave her a tour (albeit a quick one) of our apartment. We’d picked up fresh baguette bread from the corner boulangerie to go with the sausages and cheeses we had in the fridge. Then we settled down with plates and wine glasses, talking long into the evening as we used to in Oakland, when we all lived there. Comforting and thoroughly enjoyable to have her company again.
We also discussed an issue with our mobile phones that we rely on so heavily, which had just become a real problem. Apple had done an update right before her arrival and the update had the side effect of draining our phone batteries quickly and completely and not opening critical apps (Messages, FaceTime). Even the phone battery cases we carried were getting drained faster than the day lasted. We relied on them for texting each other when we were separated and more specifically, for the GPS when navigating the streets we were walking. The only thing that saved us in Paris was that K had brought back up battery packs which she generously lent to us. But this would not be something we could deal with for very long. We began to turn them off for large periods of time, to preserve what we could – which created a major issue later on our journeys.
The next day we hopped the train to Bruges (Brugges), which takes about 30 minutes. She’d seen the film and had a hankering to see the city. Like most, it is extremely easy to walk though. We went from the station, toward the city center, going through a beautiful route of tree covered lanes. It was a lovely 8 minute walk to Minnewater (Lake of Love) and another to the Church of Our Lady (dated 1500), which has a Michelangelo sculpture of Madonna and Child. Walking past the square with the four horsemen sculptures and over the often photographed pedestrian bridge, we discussed going on one of the different canal tours but finally chose not to go.
Further on, we reached the Old Town Grote Square, less than a 30-minute walk from the train station. The square houses several café umbrella’d tables and is surrounded by the town’s historic Gothic buildings. We identified the town hall, built in 1376, the Belfort Belfry (83 meters tall, 366 steps up to the top – and no, we didn’t do that), which had a fabulous bell serenade and the 12th century Basilica of Holy Blood. It was simply a medieval wonder. There were chocolatiers, lace shops and more breweries and distilleries than we could count. It was a lovely day that began to get too hot, when we stopped for beer (of course) and later, lunch. We headed back to the train station by 4pm, having bypassed going to the Torture Museum and the Groeninge Museum of Flemish Art. It made for a very light, pleasant outing that didn’t push us too far or fast. We needed to do that because the next day we were headed to London.
We’d gotten tickets to see The Corn is Green at the London National Theatre with Nicola Walker, so the next morning we were up early and on the Eurostar, through the Chunnel, to London. K had also never been to England. As a matter of fact, she’d only had one real vacation for herself that did not include business, meetings or her family. It was a college trip to Hawaii with a friend, some thirty years ago. We were impressed that she had decided to come and visit us. We planned out both Paris and London to include as much as she wanted to see, in the time we had.
Landing at St. Pancras Station, there was some (not small) confusion on which of two trains to catch to the correct Tube station (Waterloo) that was located next to our hotel, the Ruby Lucy. G was very frustrated and was beginning not to feel well. The problem with the mobile phone batteries were extended to his hearing aids’ app which work with BlueTooth. It was an utter disaster trying to communicate. After quite a bit of bumbling about, we located the correct train and got to the hotel. On the street as we approached the doorway, there was a row of vendors selling street food, each tent more mouth watering than the next. We dropped off our bags at the hotel and metro’d to Oxford Street, walked the street shops and when we got to Carnaby Street, G needed tea and toast so we stopped for that. During this break he decided to return to the hotel because his stomach was in knots. Hadn’t happened since the US, before he retired. We always carry meds for it but of course, that was in our bags at the hotel.
He decided to return to the hotel for rest, hoping to be up to attend the play that evening. K and I continued to Leicester Square, then Trafalgar and eventually got back to the hotel. She went up to her room to freshen up and when I got to ours, G was absolutely miserable. He’d been unable to locate his meds and with the phone problems, was unable to reach me. I located his meds quickly and he admitted that he would not be able to make the play – which was so disappointing to both of us – then he was off to sleep.
With time to kill before the evening play, I went back down to the lounge and ordered a cocktail. The theater was a 5-minute walk from the hotel and we had four hours, easily. The hotel was a boutique and the lounge was just adorable, with mismatched furnishings and funky artwork. K texted and I let her know where I was, she came down and joined me. We relaxed in the odd arm chairs in the corner window, people watched and discussed the world over our cocktails like we would at home. I with a gin and tonic, she with a Johnny Walker black label whiskey, with Nero d’Avola red wine, cherry and orange oil, called Persephone’s Kiss. As odd as it sounds, it was actually rather tasty. As we relaxed, we noticed the street food vendors folding up and we both commented that it was a shame they weren’t available for dinner.
However, across the street, in plain sight was a Chinese restaurant and a bit later, K scampered over to get take out. While she was there, the theater sent an email canceling the night’s performance (due to staff Covid). No need for us to rush off anymore. She returned with a nice variety of dishes, which we ate leisurely – still talking and watching life outside of the window. It was a great way to spend a rainy evening. Finally with as much food and drink that either of us could fit in, I went back over and got soup for G and K and I bid each other good night. G was a bit awake when I arrived and could be talked into the soup without too much difficulty. When he went back to sleep, I worked a little on the computer before turning in myself. It was quite a day.
The next day, G was up and good to go. We had breakfast at the hotel – good fare, then we walked to the London Eye. We were early, so we had a cup of coffee at a nearby cafe to kill time. Then, since we had fast track tickets, we got on rather quickly. The pods were like a comfortable lounge. A center bench which no one used and plenty of space to walk around the window panel-built pod, with the other 8 other people. For 10 people, it was a huge space – about half the size of an apartment living room, without furniture. Really amazing and it moved so slowly you couldn’t really feel it most of the time, similar to a ride in a hot air balloon, as we ascended and then descended.
It had begun to rain when the London Eye ride was over so we took a taxi from there to Borough Market, which is a real foodie paradise. You could truly get anything you were looking for. Since the day had gotten colder and quite a bit more rainy, we opted for a tavern for lunch. I had a steak and ale pie, G had broccoli soup and K had chips and fish – seriously, a fish as big as her head. We took a taxi to the Waterloo station, stopping at a Marks & Spencer to see if we could take their wonderful, uncooked sausage on the train into France (it wasn’t allowed, since Brexit). Kat did pick up a round carousel biscuit tin that was for the Royal platinum jubilee and it was also a spinning music box, even though she was unsure as to how she was going to fit that in her luggage. We were dubious as well.
Next, getting on the Chunnel train to leave England, was a wild zoo and quite painful – reminded me of the last train out of Casablanca. Their computer system was out and they were noting the confirmation numbers of the tickets by hand, then releasing the gate for each, while time was running out to board the train. No one was happy, most were grouchy, kids were screaming – I am proud to say that as nasty as I felt, I did not bite, hit or skewer anyone. It was truly a concerted effort not to.
Back at our apartment in Lille, we all decompressed with leftover rice, shrimp and ribs, while we watched something on Netflix that K hadn’t seen and liked, a comedy called Saving Grace, with Brenda Blethyn and Craig Ferguson. It was just perfect to relax with, considering the journey we’d endured.
The next day, after we lazed in the morning, we walked both old and new Lille and shopped. We stopped for lunch – K tried the signature mussel (moules) dish of Lille, G as well, and tasted my carbonade – a beef stew, a signature Flemish dish. We stopped for a cocktail at our favorite café, Fool, where she met Remi, one of the three owners. Next we stopped at our Italian market, introduced her to the son and mother (Loailo and Balkisi), the owners, and picked up G’s favorite, Truffle potato chips. Back at the apt, naps and no one was hungry so we had white wine and truffle chips for dinner (Yes, we did and you can file that under the heading of how to treat your guests decadently). We watched a British detective series called “River” that K hadn’t seen, with Nicola Walker, before turning in.
Next we took a train to Ghent early. We walked the streets, admired the architecture, which is quite different from Brugges and Lille. Did some shopping, stopped for a Belgian beer and lunch, did more looking and took the train home, arriving about 4pm. We had a pasta dish we had gotten from the Italian market for dinner, and watched the last of the British detective series. She really liked it – didn’t see the end of it coming. It was a good arc, a bitter sweet story between the two detective partners.
To finish off the visit, she was here to witness Lille’s triennial arts event, which has different themes each time. We wrote about the one held in 2018, called El Dorado, with its huge animal statues and parade. This year’s theme is called Utopia, with several French artists contributing a wide variety of arts. Again the street was lined with huge statues, this time they were childlike figures in mossy green, wearing fairytale woodland clothing. The town was packed with visitors for the weekend celebration and the weather was in the high 70’s, with clear skies.
We spent the day walking old and new Lille. K had a list of items she needed to get, so she and G took off to take care of that and picked up a fresh baguette while out. While they were gone, I boiled eggs, made up the dining table, got out the salad makings and uncorked a nice, crisp white wine. When they got back, I threw on the fresh green beans and small potatoes to cook and assembled a Niçoise salad. After a nice leisurely lunch, we left to find an eye glass frame shop that she had researched and carried a brand she liked and she found a very nice pair.
Next we took her to our now-beloved whiskey shop and we had a wonderful conversation with the owner, Denis, who she fell it love with as well. The whiskey store, Ernest Jacques et Fils, is in a part of the historic Old Lille, so the building is narrow, sandwiched between other buildings as they all are and the shop is long. The inside, the gins, whiskeys and spirits run along on the right on shelves literally from floor to ceiling which is 20 feet high and at the end of this span, running along the wall facing you, is the same span of shelves, floor to ceiling. It is a beauty to see. Of course, there is a ladder for him to reach the top shelves. The top shelves carry the rarest bottles, which serious collectors are interested in, so that he doesn’t have to traverse the ladder as often. An interesting supply is putting it rather lightly. Don’t even ask how many whiskeys we came away with. It’s embarrassing.
Back home to rest before eating a Greek salad to go with the lamb chops G cooked. The parade started at 7:30pm and we watched it wind down the street past our balcony. Loads of interesting costumes and the weather was utterly fantastic. We ate the lamb and salad while watching the whole thing. Fireworks started about 9pm and could also be seen from our balcony.
On the last full day here before her return, we made one last trip for souvenirs and played Pétanque at the park around the corner. I had given G a set of Pétanque balls (known in Italy as Bocce) for Christmas and as the weather was still beautiful, we decided to give the set its maiden voyage. We called our neighbor, Audrey, and met at a corner café which has a suitable outside area to play. Sipping wine, enjoying the sun, and working out the rules, we played a few games before folding. It was a nice way to spend time together.
Regarding food, overall breakfasts are Greek yogurt with, on the side, fresh blueberries, nuts – then because we have a guest, cheeses, salami’s, hard boiled eggs, croissants and baguette. Lunch is a variety of salads and of course, baguette. Dinner is a protein, veggies and – wait for it…. baguette. The dinners we planned are our favorite dishes geared to have a different meat each meal; chicken, fish, pork, lamb – rather easy but tasty. We made butter braised lamb chops, herb infused duck, a pork loin braised in milk. During the visit here, K not only sampled the standard Lille dish of Mussels and frites and beef carbonade, but also a street vendor’s warm waffle with chestnut butter, fresh croissants, fresh baguettes and tasted a variety of wines.
She has fallen in love with Lille, gets why we like it so much, and thanked us for the fact that we pressured her to come. Well, truth be told, there may have been a few 3am phone calls involved. But whatever she wanted to do, we did. She got to see everything she wanted to in Paris, in two days. She’d never been to London and we went. She wanted to go to Bruges and we went. She was offered the opportunity to see Brussels or Ghent and she decided she wanted to see Ghent, so off we went. She of course got to shop for souvenirs for family and friends – always fun. I loved her souvenir mantra; light and flat. She has tasted the local signature dishes, not just in Lille but wherever we’ve gone and as a foodie, that has thrilled her. To round out the visit, she’s been to our café haunts, met the cast of characters in our life and witnessed the once every three-year parade passing our balcony.
What was new to us in this visit, was how good K is at languages. We knew that she had studied German for years with a small group, spoke some Spanish and understands Japanese. But she works on Duolingo to keep her skills up and for the trip she added French. Watching her ease of adding French, definitely pegs her as a polyglot. I’m positively green with envy. She is such easy company that it was with heavy hearts that we saw her to the train platform at 7am the morning she left. She texted until she got on the plane, so we’d know she was safely on her way. In saying hello and goodbye with her – I realized that I sorely miss hugs. People don’t hug here, they bisous. They don’t even sign off with “Hugs and Kisses” on correspondence, according to our French teacher. They just say ‘Kisses-Bisous’. I miss hugs. I’m American. 😀
We also really learned quite a lot from her visit. K was a willing guinea pig for the next batch of visitors. We’ve gotten verification of the walking spans, a better picture of the metro switches and jettisoned some activities that were not worth the time. Plus two restaurants we counted on were closed, so they were struck off the list. We also found out why G had to ride on back of the motorcycle, instead of having his own sidecar. It was a matter of how it was booked and since our next visitors will be enjoying the same outing, we updated that booking. The map I had copied in advance was extremely helpful to have in my pocket with our destinations marked, especially with all our mobile phone troubles. As I said, an update drained our batteries to the point that the mobiles were rendered virtually unusable during K’s trip. Extremely frustrating and hampered us quite a bit. Having plotted the map in advance, saved us. However, I also learned that I needed to note more information than I had regarding specific addresses and Metro lines. And as a result of the troubles we had, G has ordered us new mobile phones.
K was keen on specifics that will not apply to our next visitors. Whereas a previous friend’s visit was focused on the hunt for lotions and K was enamored with Chapelier bags, those approaches will not work this next go-around with P & A in June. P is ready to shop and I’ve no idea what a man would be interested in shopping for in Paris. Definitely need to research that arena. I’m really going to have to do some looking into quality, men’s clothing. Maybe we’ll go to Brussels where he can taste fresh Belgian beer and get great chocolates or some of their fine lace souvenirs for friends. I don’t really know yet. Like K, P has never been to France but is not the church, monument and museum type. He wants to stroll the neighborhoods and Paris is nothing if not walkable. I’m sure we’ll keep him entertained. However, A has been an absolutely thorough Paris and France tourist, so finding things she hasn’t done will be the trick.
The following week after K’s visit, we spent the day righting the apt. The TV is back in the 2nd bedroom and all the electronics are plugged in on the desk instead of laying on our bedroom floor. I recopied the Paris map I did for K’s trip and marked out the plan for P/A’s trip. Did all the laundry and some cleaning. G ran over to Apple to get me a new battery and he’s also redoing the factory settings, according to the internet buzz, to try to fix the situation. In looking at our bedroom and traveling cords, he found a couple were not working, which exacerbated the issue and they’re getting replaced. Refreshed the traveling suitcase in preparation for the P/A’s Paris stay.
We ate left overs – fortunately, I was good at gauging meals so we only had the last meal – the pork, to finish off. Drank wine with every meal and thank goodness, that’s ended too. Parts of my body will be happier without the baguette, croissants, wine and meal diversions. We eat much plainer, ordinarily. Out at restaurants so often, is a bit much for me. When I traveled for work, I would order off of the appetizers or just sides like a soup and salad. With a guest, I’m not about to do that because I don’t want to hamper their choices. So, like I say – I’ll miss K, she is fabulous company – but my body won’t miss the overload that I, myself chose to put on it. Hopefully balancing that, according to her watch, we averaged about 20,000 steps a day.
Other big news. G killed a mosquito in the bathroom in the last week of the month. First one of the season. Well, it’s big news to him. He really, really hates mosquitos. He’s the ‘Monk’ of mosquitos – it’s quite the drama.
Other things ending out the month was that we had an appt with our new podiatrist. He spoke passable English, did all the regular things in the check up. We go back after P/A leave, to pick up our new orthotics. Got to keep our walking capacity up to snuff if we’re going to clock in 20,000 steps a day. We also witnessed the most amazing lightning storm that we’ve ever seen. Just indescribable, the way it danced across the sky, under and over the cloud cover. No picture did it justice.
We worked, over a video chat with a relative, on clearing out the small storage unit we still had in our condo in the US. Over two different sessions, we were able to extract the few things that we really need to keep, mostly documents and photos. Personally, it was a hard, draining process. G and I discussed later that it left us both blue because it was cutting the remainder of our emotional ties to our life in the US. With the insane increase in shipping costs, it was impossible to send it to us. Our relative, as we identified the items, made the comment that each item had a story and I explained that the storage was a concentration, or distilled essence, of who we are. A byproduct would naturally be that the items were the things that meant the most to us. And of course the fall out, as we climbed into bed that night, was the sadness to have said goodbye to parts of ourselves. Kind of like retiring from a beloved job, leaving that life and those people which you spent time enjoying. As hard as it was, there is a relief that this final loose end is taken care of. Worrying about it would keep me up nights. Having faced it and finished it, will not.
The only item we asked K to bring from the US, was a block of Monterey Jack cheese. If you had a different cheese a day in France, it would take over a year and a half to taste them all. Jack cheese is unique to the U.S. and we do miss it, despite all of the varieties available to us here. When K’s trip was over, we turned our attention to the reason we asked for her to bring the Monterey Jack; to find what the French make that might be similar.
We set out and visited five different cheese mongers after she had left for the U.S., to get their take on Monterey Jack and offer their closest similarities. Each shop was intrigued with the cheese and most interested to hear that it had been made since 1903 – apparently cheese makers love the stories behind the cheese making. They all pointed out that they would never find the equivalent because Jack is made with pasturized milk and French cheeses are made with raw milk. They each had us write down the name – I’m sure that they’ll be researching it on line – and they saved half of the piece we gave them to share with their store colleagues.
It was a very interesting exercise for both sides and each shop recommended a different comparison to Jack cheese. Thibeaux, at the first shop, said that the acidity was interesting and that he would be hard pressed to match it. His choice was La Marotte de Brebis. which was similar but stronger in flavor. The next, Pierre, told us he’d read recently that in the U.S., Vermont has established caves to create raw milk cheeses, which has upped the U.S. cheese making game. He went on to say that American cheese makers were beginning to win global awards for their cheeses. He has established a relationship with British cheese makers and he carries some of their products – most notably their hard cheddars. He was currently working on an American cheesemaker connection, to include a line of their products. He was interested in the taste and the softness combination and his choice was Sans Nom (No Name – made by a cheese maker for himself) which had more bite than a Jack.
Aurelie at the third shop spoke so little English that we had trouble deciphering her opinion and her choice was Kaltbach, also interesting and in the same neighborhood but not close enough. Christian, the fourth, spoke no English at all, so information was difficult for us to understand. His choice was a Salers cheese and he wrote specifically a “young Cantal” on the receipt, which we assumed he didn’t have and was recommending. The last was a set of three people, only one – Thomas – spoke English. They were all very interested in the cheese and went back for second pieces. Their collected choice was also a young Cantal, which they carried but it was not called or referred to as a Salers, which was confusing for us. But there is clearly a difference from Christian’s. It was not the same as Jack but it was very similar that we surmised it was the use of raw milk versus pasturized. We thought up to the last try that the La Marotte de Brebis was the closest but the young Cantal was spot on. It was well worth the effort. We bought a chunk at each shop of what they recommended, after they all offered us a slice to try. It was our way of thanking them for their time. Heading back to the apt, we naturally picked up a fresh baguette to eat the purchased cheeses. We didn’t have any crisp white wine on hand but did have a very nice red to accompany it all with. The afternoon was quite enjoyable as a result. AND we made a note to pick up some nice white wine to go with whatever cheeses may come our way.
As the month came to the end, we worked on the next visitor trip – sewed up some reservation issues, pinpointed planned places on the map and started to note walking times, developing a general route. G is sending them both a link to the airline forms necessary to have ready for the trip. Covid changed so many things and the ease of travel has been just another casualty. K’s trip allowed us to go through the process of getting her the Covid test required 24-hours before travel back to the U.S. It was relatively easy with the pharmacy below us, taking less than 20 minutes, tops. They could only send the certified results by text to a FR phone, so we went through that iPhone issue and then transferring it to K’s mobile. All good to know and step through in advance of the next set.
A very busy May to be sure. June is looking to be a repeat, so we’ve decided to close this month’s chapter a little early. We know much more this time around and at the very least, the apartment is clean.
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