Weekend à la Lavande

Did I tell you that François and I have a pact to go away overnight at least once a month? Well, we do. June was crazy with our arrival in Gap, FQ's new job, the apartment-search, the moving... Despite all that, we still managed to squeeze in our monthly getaway. We decided to go to Valensole, a village about an hour and a half from Gap, that is famous for its lavender fields. After calling the tourist office to make sure that it is indeed the right moment for lavender-viewing (?!), we reserved at a B&B and hit the road Saturday afternoon. I was way too excited to see the lavender fields. Not being a big gardener or crazy about sachets of dried lavender in the undies drawer, I was surprised at how keen I was to go wander among a bunch of purple flowers for the weekend. But really, lavender is so French. How could I not love it?

It was amazing. I'd seen photos galore of rows upon rows of lavender growing next to fields of wheat with a big blue sky above... but the real thing is even more beautiful than I expected. The whole experience reminded me of when I went to see Stacey in Japan for cherry-blossom season. Before witnessing it with my own eyes, I thought, "people sure get excited about a bunch of blossoms!" But once I was there, it was amazing, gorgeous and mesmerizing! Ditto for the lavender fields. And it smelled so good! All fresh and summery... not at all like a dusty old granny's dresser drawer!

We managed to tear ourselves away from taking endless photos of lavender fields long enough to explore the village of Valensole, have a little BBQ on the patio of our B&B, visit a boutique selling all kinds of lavender products (what else?) and go swimming! It was hot hot hot. At least 35 degrees and dry! I felt like I was in a giant kiln. What a relief to find some water to cool down in.

Back here in Gap, our apartment has become "lavender central". Lavender soap? Check! Lavender oil for the diffuser? Check! Lavender water (a kind of spray you can use as air-freshener or put on your pillow to sleep better)? Check!

Think I'm going overboard? Consider this: I've seen lavender-flavoured yogurt and ice cream in the grocery stores here. I imagine it would taste a lot like soap. Non, merci.

So, if you have lavender-scented hand cream or similar, now is the time to bust it out in order to fully enjoy my beautiful photos from last weekend.

Valensole June 2008

Fête du Cinema

Well, France is certainly very festive in the month of June! After the Fête de la Musique on the 21st, we are now in midst of the Fête du Cinema, which lasts three days. It takes place all over France and is a movie addict's dream. Basically, you buy one admission at the full price and then receive a kind of pass that allows you to see any subsequent movies during the three-day period for only 2 euros per film. Ce n'est pas cher! Gap has three movie theatres (all within a few minutes walk from my apartment, hooray!) and they are all participating in the Fête du Cinema.


Sunday I wasn't able to take advantage of the whole deal, as FQ and I were in Provence oohing and aahing at lavender fields (more on that soon), but tonight I made up for lost time by watching two movies back-to-back. First I saw "There Will Be Blood" in version originale (yay, no dubbing!) and then "Sagan", which is about the French author of the same name. And nobody sat right in front of me. And the theatre is air-conditioned. Bliss! Tomorrow is the last day of the Fête , so I am going to try and squeeze in another movie or two in the afternoon. All that before getting ready for "Canada Day en France", which looks like it's going to include tacos (very Canadian, I know) plus vanilla ice cream with maple syrup for dessert. Oh, and I must mention how excited I am about using the maple leaf tattoos that Erin mailed to me! The party never stops around here, eh?

Dîner à la Pastorale

So last night François' friends Les Passeron invited us over for dinner at their humble abode in a small village near Gap.

OK, OK... I can't fool you. They operate a gorgeous B&B (called La Pastorale) six months of the year but they live there year-round.

The grounds are lovely, complete with fountain...

... and resident dog, Carotte. (I know, she's not even orange... but that's what's so funny!)

Breakfast for the guests is served here...

... but we ate dinner outside.


And, as if the outdoor dining wasn't aesthetically-pleasing enough, this was the view across the street.

Ah, France! What else can I say, really?

La Fête de la Musique

Yesterday was not only the first day of summer but also la Fête de la Musique here in France. In 1982, the French Ministry of Culture established June 21st as a day to celebrate music. Free concerts are held in every city, town and village, usually in outdoor spaces. It's a pretty great idea, and one that has apparently spread to more than a hundred countries. According to the official Fête de la Musique website, free concerts were organized in Halifax, Moncton, Quebec City, Montreal and Toronto. (Come on, Vancouver!)

Back in June 1995, when I was just finishing up my stint as an au-pair near Paris, I went to see Edwin Collins (Some of you will remember his big hit at that time, "Never known a girl like you before...") It was hot and Laure & Sophie & I (along with zillions of others) packed the Place de la Bastille to see him perform. So fun! Less fun was after the concert, when we realized it was too late to get a train back to the suburbs and had to hitch-hike home... but that's a whole different story...

Here in Gap, la Fête de la Musique was pretty low-key. There were lots of different local groups playing in the squares and other little nooks and crannies and tons of young folks and families strolling the streets and sitting in the cafés. We wandered around for a couple hours and heard accordion tunes, a swing band (with lots of couples dancing), a local rock group, and some musicians playing music from the Andes... it seems that the pan pipe has international appeal! By far my favourite group of the night was "No Name", which, according to the local programme, promised to pay us pop anglaise. Sure enough, we were treated to a version of "Runaway Train" by Soul Asylum (remember them??) Now I know it's hard to sing, especially in front of an audience, especially in a different language. Really, I don't think I could do it. But that doesn't change the fact that the lead singer's garbled version of the lyrics was totally and utterly incomprehensible and gave me a serious case of the giggles. I could have been listening to pop pig latin for all that mattered! Very amusing. François suggested that I wait until the end of the set, and then hand the singer my professeur d'anglais business card... I would never be that cruel, of course, but I won't deny the fact that a crash course in English pronunciation would really help matters.

In other news, it's hot. The first two weeks after we arrived in Gap, it rained (poured!!!) every single day. This was very discouraging for several reasons:

#1. Trying to visit apartments/drop off resumes in a city you don't know in the rain means huddling under an awning with a dripping umbrella in one hand and a soggy map in another. Fun? Not so much.
#2. I am in France, not Vancouver!
#3. In addition, everyone here assured me that I was going to be living in the south of France, where the weather is always nice. They promised me that Gap is famous for having 300 days of sunshine per year. Huh.

After two weeks of ominous clouds, full-on thunderstorms and constant drizzle, I was having a hard time believing them on point #3. But now it's summer, and, just as if somebody turned a giant switch to "on", it's hot. Very hot. It's 1 p.m. and it's 28 degrees. This afternoon we are going to find a shady forest to take a walk in.

Le marché du samedi

 
 
 

Voilà the view from my apartment this morning! How great is it that the Saturday morning market in Gap is right outside my front door? So great! We grabbed wallets and shopping bags (mental note: must buy a basket to look really French!) and went downstairs. Came back home about 30 minutes later with tons of fresh, lovely, delicious (and cheap!) fruit and veggies. Now off to make lunch!

Je suis chez moi!

Well... chez nous, to be exact!

That's right... FQ and I are all moved in to our fabulous new apartment in "downtown" Gap. The move went as well as moves go... pretty smooth apart from a few tense moments whilst hoisting heavy furniture up the spiral staircase. Let's just say that I got to hear the full range of FQ's dad's very French expletives!

Swearing aside, we owe François' parents a huge merci because, if they hadn't camped out here for two days after the move, we'd still be without an operational stove, washing machine, or kitchen cabinets/counters. They are très handy! Thanks to their help, we are pretty much all systems go, besides a few random boxes left to unpack and a total lack of decor... but not of ideas!

For the time being, I am just so happy to be chez moi and to be able to relax on my sofa with my cup of tea while gazing out the window at my Napoleon! Love it!

Here are a few photos from moving day last Sunday:

Moving Day!

Cours d'anglais, anyone?

Today I placed an ad in Top Annonces, which is similar to the "Buy & Sell" paper at home. It will run for four weeks. Hopefully soon I'll have so many private students that I'll have to beat them off with a stick! Fingers crossed, anyway...

My annonce also gets posted on the paper's website, so click here if you're in the market for an English tutor in Gap!

In other news, today was Moving Day #1 and it was busy busy busy. I signed the lease bright and early. (Was the lease six million pages long and did I have to read and initial each page? The French don't hold anything back when it comes to paperwork!) Then I went to 14, rue de France and spent the morning waiting for/welcoming appliance delivery men, the locksmith, the guy to read the gas metre, the people from the rental agency... The two guys who had to haul our lovely new fridge up the three flights of stairs were not at all impressed. They really struggled. I was seriously worried that they would both have heart attacks! Also that they would slip and the fridge would fall (I was half a flight of stairs behind them) and crush me to death in my lovely spiral staircase! Yikes.

This afternoon we went and bought a bed and frame and somehow FQ and I managed to haul it up the stairs of doom ourselves. So at least we have something to sleep on once we are finally done moving. Tomorrow we are leaving at the crack of dawn to go back to Pommiers to pick up the rest of the stuff, then we'll come back here Sunday to finish moving in. Oof. Bring on the backache!