I’m just going to let the pictures speak for themselves.
“How did you take a bath?” you ask. Though they have an outdoor shower house with a nice view of the mountains it was still a little too cold to be wet and outside at the same time. So, a large kettle of water heated on the stove, a water basin, soap and a wash cloth were the answer. One night, I got to take a bath downstairs right next to the stove. It was wonderful!
This is where I slept.
Coming Next: MUSIC FESTIVALS!
I’m back! It has been quite a while since I last wrote and I promise to make up for it (though I admit that I really enjoyed having a break from the computer). Aloooot has happened so let me start from the beginning.
I took a train from Vichy to St. Entiennes and then an afternoon bus to a very small town called Saint Agreve. The bus ride took me higher and higher into the mountains leaving behind the beautiful, central France springtime and replacing it with a climate almost a month delayed. I had entered the land of Ardeche, an area I feel in love with during the three weeks that followed. I’m sure you’ll see why.
If you look at the map below, near the bottom right corner, you can see Ardeche within in the Rhone-Alps region which is colored green. It’s only a few hours drive from the Hautes-Alps (High Alps) which you can see to the right.
The bus dropped me off near a fountain in the center of town. It was drizzling, there wasn’t a soul in sight (even all the shops looked closed) and I had to pee reeeeal bad . Within 15 minutes Polo and Nadine, my new hosts, pulled up in their white van with all four of their very sweet dogs in the back seat.
We greeted with cheek kisses which is, of course, the normal way in France. After 2 months of meeting new people I was getting more used too this very different way (for an American) of making acquaintance with someone I have never met. In Joelle and Daniel’s town everyone gave two kisses for greeting so after a kiss on each cheek with Nadine I stepped away and she smiled and said, “It’s three kisses here.” I had no idea that some places are two, three or even four kisses. How do know how many and at what time is what I wanna know!
There is so much I could say about my time with Polo and Nadine so if you want all the goods we’ll have to talk in person. But to start, they have a very special way of living, a way that would be very good for the planet if more people followed their example. I was completely inspired.
They heat only with a woodstove and choose not to have hotwater, an inside bathroom or a refrigerator. All of the woodworking, from the woodshed (which Polo built alone in one day while I was there) to the chairs in the house to instrument pegs are made by hand by Polo. Nadine makes wonderful bread, soups, sprouted grains and soy-yogurt. And they both play LOTS of music!
Away from the constant humming of electronic devices, cars driving past, street lamps and cell phones I immediately relaxed in a deep way. I slept really well, pulled weeds in the garden, red books by the woodstove and some nights we played tunes together. I admit that I often thought to myself, “I want to live like this all the time!”
Once again I started to get settled in a new place. Then the good times began…(as if I hadn’t been having a blast already…tee hee).
A few days after my birthday I had my last meal with Joelle and Daniel (pictured below, a traditional meal typical of the Alsace region. You can see the German influence pretty clearly eh?)
Then I said a BIG thankyou to Joelle and Daniel for treating me so, so, SO well and caught a train from Toulon to Lyon for a few days before going to the language school in Vichy where I planned to study for two weeks.
I found a great youth hostel in Vieux Lyon though it was up an incredibly steep hill. The crazy hill meant two things: 1) There was an awesome view of the city from the hostel’s terrace and 2) everyone at the hostel had funny stories about surviving the hill.
My bag is not too big considering that I’m here for months, but all the sudden it felt HUGE (remember I also have my banjo in tow). I have been having neck/back issues and that climb sure didn’t help any.
…then to Vichy. A really sweet town almost in the center of France known for it’s healing, sulphurous springs and for being the only other place besides Paris to ever be the capital of France (temporarily during WWII). Originally, I had planned to stay with a host family. However, since I am spending the majority of my time here in French homes I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to have a little alone time. I fell in love with the simple apartment and had a greeeeaaaat time going grocery shopping. Here is my first collection of riches:
Here was the view from my studio window. There was a nearby river with a perfect walking/running path along its banks. I took a walk almost every evening and enjoyed witnessing the obvious progression of spring…weeping willows with more and more green peeking through every day.
The school is called Cavilam. It turned out to be an incredibly organized, friendly, high-quality school. I was totally impressed. They answered emails promptly, the housing cost as much as staying in a youth hostel, they met me at the train station and when I needed help with my neck/back issues they were the one’s who made the call.
Students who are not absolute beginners are able to start class every Monday morning. They give you placement tests and then you start! It turned out that I had learned more than I had thought in my first month here so I was able to go to a more advanced level the second week.
I made fast friends with a really cool German girl who was also there for only 2 weeks. We talked alot about politics and differences between the European Union and the United States. She had very interesting points of view.
Our class was made up of girls from Japan, Turkey and Korea (I only met one other American in the entire 2 weeks). Our teacher spoke 100% in French and it was very exciting to be able to understand the majority of what she said.
It’s been a couple of years now since I’ve been in “school” and had homework every night. I loved it!
But listen to this! A lady at the school’s reception desk called her chiropractor to help me with my back. I had been avoiding the whole thing because I was afraid that it would be expensive, that I wouldn’t be able to get an appointment in time and that there would a language barrier. However, my neck/back got worse rather than better and was majorly affecting my mood. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask and I’m so glad I did (also thanks to the encouragement from my German friend).
The chiropractor happened to have a cancellation that very day, his office was within walking distance, he took good care of me and not only gave me the phone number of a bluegrass banjo player in Vichy, but wouldn’t let me pay him!!!!! AAAAAnd I had to go back a second time and he still wouldn’t let me pay him!!! I still can’t believe it. I’m here to say that the French are freakin’ awesome!
****ATTENTION!: I leave tomorrow morning to meet my next hosts, Polo and Nadine. They live in a pretty rural area and I don’t think that they have internet access. So, this means a temporary lapse (possibly 3 weeks) in both blog entries and emailing. I haven’t disappeared and I’ll have music/festivals/gardening to blog about upon my return. Cheers!
And then guess what happened? That curly-haired girl went to Nice for a birthday treat to herself. Just you wait and see what she saw. It’s true: Nice is nice.
(O.K. I’m gonna stop with the 3rd person now.)
This is the youth hostel I chose from the list in my guide book, affordable and in disguise as a fancy, smancy 300 year old house.
I think my favorite part of Nice was the colors, both of Vieux (Old) Nice and the bright turquoise of the water. It’s a particular Mediterranean-Southern France-Italy-is-near-by color palette. It made me want to paint, real bad.
Look at that water! I just couldn’t get over it. It was like fake-too-perfect-to-exist-in-real-life water. (Sadly, still way too cold to swim). The picture below shows the Promenade des Anglais, a wide walk-way that follows the coast line. It’s line of palm trees brought Hollywood to mind and there were lots of people, even considering being the off season. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be here in June.
As I sat down for a rest from walking and walking and walking some more, an accordion player busking nearby broke into a waltz from the film Amelie. It’s a really beautiful waltz, one that I’ve been known to put on repeat on my CD player. Even though it was so typical touristy France I couldn’t help, but have a teary-eyed moment of, “I can’t believe I’m really here and I can’t believe I’m hearing this tune right here, right now.”
While I was eating this tarte de citron as luxuriously as possible, an older woman plopped herself in front of me and started chatting up a storm. She was oh-so-talkative that I hardly had a chance to let her know, “Ah! I’m a beginner in French.” I eventually told her so (one thing I do know how to say in French) and we commenced a very sweet and exiting (for me at least) conversation in which she spoke more slowly and I understood soooo much more than I thought I would! Joelle’s daily lessons had really paid off. After a weekend of solo wandering and art seeing (did I mention a guy who worked at the contemporary art museum asked me for coffee?) I was thankful for her company.
O.K. I know all of this looks pretty darned perfect, but keep in mind that travel is incredibly tiring-confusing-sometimes lonely, etc. And yes, Saturday was gorgeous, but Sunday was rainy and cold. I only say this to keep your feet on the ground in the case that these blog entries are making you want to give up your life and run away…But, hey, I’d be the last to judge if you did!
As some of you know, and some of you don’t, I had my 30th birthday last week. I received many a “Happy Birthday” email, which tickled me pink. These next couple of blog entries are in response to the frequent requests to know “What did you do for your birthday in France? Tell me all about it.”
Well…Once upon a time, there was this girl named Annie Fain. She had two wonderful hosts who serenaded her in both English and French on the morning of her birthday.
…and took her out for a birthday lunch at one of their favorite restaurants called Frenchy-Wok Grill.
It was there that she experienced her first glass of kir (Champagne with a little bit of black currant liquor) and a French-Chinese Buffet. What a combination eh?
…then to an island on a boat. It was pretty cold and windy so they had the entire island to themselves.
After wandering for a while they needed a break, but not just any break; a chocolate break!
Then home for a nap and Crepes (imagine an accent mark over the first “e” of “crepe”). Joelle and Daniel showed Annie Fain the tastiest way to eat a crepe: smear it with fromage blanc, sprinkle it with sugar and then squeeze fresh lemon juice on top. Mmm…
The day ended with a Bal Folk dance in town. Since it was Annie Fain’s 4th time going to the dance association with Joelle and Daniel she felt really comfortable finding a dance partner, jumping into dances she didn’t know, attempting to speak French (by now they all knew her as “the American girl” and were very, very friendly and patient about speaking with her) and playing my banjo with Lou Strings. A very nice day indeed!
Stay Tuned for Part 2: A Weekend in Nice
*NOTE: For those of you who receive these entries via email and were confused by the blank spaces in the last post, those spaces were where I had included video clips. If you are interested in checking out those videos go to: http://afainbooks.com/blog/ and got to the previous post called “Bal Folk.”