Well darn and damn. Winter still. I’m as tired of it as I am writing about it. Still the mid 40’s, biting winds , sleet, graupel and grey skies. Feels like we’re living in England. And no traveling. Yea, it’s another one of those months but with a bit of fun and of course, chaos. The picture of yesterday, Sunday, a quiet evening when everything is closed.
On the bright notes, our 4th floor neighbor was working part time at a bakery and surprised us with a couple of pastries, one morning, left at our door, to enjoy with our coffee. Great highlight for us as we rarely eat bakery treats.
Our top floor neighbor, Audrey, was kind enough to warm up one of our cold evenings with a tutorial on how to make a local favorite drink, simply called ‘a spritz’ and shared the recipe Ingredients: Aperol (4cl or 1.35oz), Prosecco (6cl or 2oz), Tonic (4cl or 1.35oz) and an orange. Cheese and biscuits (crackers) recommended.
In no time flat, we were MUCH more relaxed and winter outside could take a hike. It’s true, we are becoming a dangerous couple of drinkers as the cold weather continues. I fancy we’ll both start resembling W.C. Fields by spring.
The other nifty bit we got came from a friend who use to be the head of the local Alliance Française here, Frédérique. Meeting for coffee on her day off, she asked if we were still taking language classes or tutoring. Ashamed to admit we were not, I also explained that we had reached a point of burn out. Knowing we need to keep working on it, I was looking at other ways to tackle French without feeling like I was butting my head against concrete. She had three excellent suggestions. The first was an escape video game that previous students of hers had put together, which sounded like a fun way to go. She warned me that it would take some tries and to have a pad/ pen available. We downloaded it and have set it aside to try when we have a better window. https://view.genially.com/67333942ec3cef875d87db6e/interactive-content-escape-game-le-rougail-saussice
The second suggestion was a novel idea of learning to tap into another part of your brain through hypnosis: Hypnoledge.com. The first 7 days were free and then runs about $20 a month. We set an account up and then ran into a tech problem, so I’ll have to update you at a later time, after I give it a try.
The last was an immersion program for seniors (50+), run by Alliance Française. A two week program, you travel to Vichy – staying in a choice of three types of living arrangements; a host home, a flat equipped with a kitchen or a hotel. The days are outlined by 3 hour class, a break for lunch and an afternoon outing in town for history, food shopping or entertainment: www.cavilam.com/programme-premium-senior/
We signed up for the immersion immediately and we’ll cover that when we go in June. Sooner or later, we’re going to make some headway into this. Or go insane. At this point, it’s a real toss up.
To finish out the month, G’s niece, Melinda and her husband, Edward, came from the states on their very first visit to us. Of course, this is where the chaos of the month decided to descend. In our routine of cleaning for their arrival, G set the oven to self clean, as he has done multiple times before. We shut the kitchen door close and opened the windows because the smell is unpleasant. About half way through the process, G heard a loud bang and entering the kitchen, discovered that the inner window of the oven door had shattered. Timing could have been better – or worse if I really think about it. It left us less than 5 business days to get repaired or we’d have to adjust the meals we’d planned for the visit to stove top only. Fortunately, the technician was able to come two days before our departure to join them in Paris and we were back in business. Apparently there are a few possible causes for the oven door to shatter; a scratch on the glass, a freezer item placed in a hot oven (too cold, too hot) or an oven rack resting against the glass when the oven heats up. It happens and now we’re extra vigilant regarding the racks. So, all cleaned up and ready to go, we could plan for oven-cooked meals.
They arrived in Paris to spend the first two days there since Edward had never been there, (or in France for that matter). Then we trained up to Paris to join them for dinner before spending the night in town and then all returning by the train to Lille. We ate at a favorite restaurant of ours, Roget La Grenouille , with them trying both the escargot and the fried frog legs, which they were surprised to actually enjoy. They went off to see the historic cabaret La Caveau de la Huchette after dinner, took in a Latin dance club and the next day we returned to Lille. Did I mention they’re much younger than us?
Both being teachers, and only having a week’s vacation to spend during Spring break, we planned the day to explore Lille, then the next to travel to Ghent, Belgium. The day we spent in Lille we were able to introduce them to friends and take them to a favorite neighborhood restaurant, Sympa, for dinner. We spent the evening catching up and getting reacquainted. It had been ten years since we’d last seen them at their wedding, but it was as if no time had passed at all. They brought a couple of bottles of their favorite wines from the US, some books to enjoy and a couple of things we’d requested that were not possible to get in France – which were all deeply appreciated.
Next day was Ghent and the weather was perfect. Ghent has at least two train stations and two different paths to get into town, as I was to discover. The first time we went to Ghent, the walk was through gardens, along waterways and entered into through a picturesque architectural scene, which is what I had described to them. The second one, which we used this time, is the city main street, lined with modern buildings. Quite different, in fact making me doubt my memory from the first visit. In any case they were both enchanted with the lovely town as we explored it.
Upon entering, we were passed by a group of women wearing the most outrageous chicken hats. I asked for a photograph and then asked them why they had them. Life long friends, they traveled together and every city they visited, they would get matching hats of what the town was known for. Apparently Ghent is known for it’s chicken soup, “Waterzooi”. So when we stopped for lunch, I absolutely had to order it. It was delicious !!
We stopped for a beer along the canal after perusing a few shops and G, M and E decided to take the scenic boat ride tour of Ghent, leaving me to wave them off as I enjoyed my pot of tea on the side.
More walking through the town’s shops before stopping to taste the famous waffles with coffee before we realized that we were really close to our time to leave. Because we didn’t believe we’d get to the train station by foot in time, we grabbed a taxi. We got up to the platform just in time to watch our train pull out of the station. Not deterred, G lined up another train leaving in the next ten minutes and off we went to Brussels Midi for the connection to Lille. Then he ran into problems because there was a train strike taking effect at 7pm, just when our Lille train would have run. Faced with either staying overnight or using a Blacklane driver service, G bit the bullet and we were driven an hour and a half versus the 30 minute (200 miles per hour) train ride. We regularly use Blacklane for our larger city, hotel, train and airport local transportation, but had never used for city-to-city travel. It was very comfortable in a chauffeured van that was station-to-home. We recommend!
We had cancelled our Lille dinner reservations but fortunately had plenty of quick snacks at the apartment to make do. Unfazed by any of the hick-ups, our young visitors then went out to enjoy the evening at the variety of bars available. G and I preferred to jump into bed, considering ourselves lucky to have gotten home. All’s well that ends well and the next day we saw them off at the station, to return to the US. With hugs and promises to return, we were sorry to see them leave.
Then on the last day of this month, we write the blog and do the laundry. No surprises there!
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