House Hunting.

We have been looking for a place to live. We would really like to live in Vinon ser Verdon. (AKA-Vinon) but finding a house there is difficult, as people don't move all that often... or ever.
Today I drove Mike to work and drove all over Vinon hoping to find something. If something doesn't pop up by next week, we will probablly end up with this one... not quaint or French (except for the fact that it is IN France)
To the right of it is a bunch of other houses... to the left... a fairly busy road... C'est la vie.

Record broken

Gross fish herring bate dinner tonight... stuck in my throat like a cat eating what she shouldn't
Bleck.
The main course was ray.
I got the giggles so hard I almost couldn't eat it...
It was less bad than it sounded.
More soon.
It was a busy day.

Food Log

So, I have a few pictures to share, but I have been talking about the wonderful food here... here is a rundown of the wonderful dinners I've had in France.  EVERY Meal has cheese as the last course.  I have yet to have a dinner that was less than phenomenal.  Mike's new plan to keep me busy is to send me to French cooking class, and I can then teach him what I learn.

The list is in order... the photos are more of a jumble...

Simple dinner of Cheese, bread, olives, meats, salad & oysters.

Cassoulet.  I am going to have to learn how to make this, as it is good.  Mike calls it French beanie-weenie.

Sea Trout.  The fish here is just fabulous.

I got to cook dinner!  Irish Stew.  MMMMMmmmm.  Good to know I can make comfort food over here.  Everyone seemed to like it.

Turkey Curry... contained no actual curry, which is probably why I loved it.  It had this lovely spicy couscous spice in it.  very spicy & very good.

Camilla's Birthday.  A kabab place in Aix-en-Provence.  Doner Kabob...SO GOOD!  Basically a european burrito.

Pizza night.  There is a local guy who sings opera and makes pizza in the tiny little shop just down the hill.  The pizza is really good!  (no hotdogs this time!)

Lamb Stew.

Fish & Chips.  Couscous Salad with Octopus... thought it was gonna make me barf... but ended up loving it.

Roast Lamb with Wild Mushroom Gravy & potatoes.

Dinner tonight is supposed to be fancy and French, since new people are coming to stay at the house.  I'll let ya know tomorrow.

Take Two... Hiking...

Today we slept in, had coffee & breakfast, put on jeans, and attempted to go hiking again, this time with SUCCESS!!!
We went on a 7 mile hike up top of mount Luberon. It was lovely, and you can see Picasso's house from the top :-)
The wild flowers are just now coming up , and we are going to go back soon to see all of them. Crocus, lily of the valley, iris. It was a good, but not easy hike. The reward at the top? Chevre, pepper spread, apples, salami, more cornichons, and water. (we should have brought wine... next time!)
Drove home the long way through Aix, and watched the sunset. So sad the weekend is over.

La Gorge du Verdon

Saturday! Mike off work, and all of France to explore!
We decided over breakfast to go hiking around the Gorge du Verdon, which is like the French Grand Canyon. We packed a picnic,put on shorts, because we are apparently not that smart, and set off for the gorge.
We arrived at the Lac de Ste Croix, to find the weather a tiny bit cold... and since we were going up... it was only going to get colder.
Upon arriving, we proceeded to freeze our asses off. It was cold. Very cold... but at least it was windy. We did manage lots of exploring. We found a crazy tunnel in the side of a cliff, a very cool bridge that we suspect people may B.A.S.E. from.

We drove through Trigance and had a beer just outside of there at a fantastic little italian restaurant.
We found 2 beautiful waterfalls & parked the car in a tunnel we discovered in the side of the mountain... which is good, because it was starting to rain. We had a picnic of sandwiches, cheese, apples, and cornichon, which are my favorite, and Mike has also come to enjoy. They were always expensive in CA, but here they are uber cheap. YAY!
Not much hiking today, but it sure was perdy.

Playing

We went for a walk last night & found a windmill that was open... so we played Rapunzel.

saint julien le montagnier

It's raining again today, but it's Friday, so Camilla (the lady who runs the Inn where I live) took me to saint julien le montagnier.
The weather let up enough for us to walk around the church & fort. A 360 view of the whole region... it was just lovely.
Tomorrow, we are going hiking around France's version of the grand canyon... The Verdon Gorge.

Salsa Dancing for the crabby

We were forced into merriment last night with new friends here as it was someone's birthday. We wanted to be polite and social, but we both had that little voice in the back of our heads screaming "NO!!! Fake a seizure... something... anything... this will not end well!"
We were assured it was going to be drive to Aix(which everyone says is 25 minutes away, but it's much closer to 60)... have a quick bite, have a cocktail... and be home well before 10...
At 11pm we were at Club Havana... we were finally allowed to drive home and get to bed by 12.
Something we are finding out, the truth is very relative here...
Tonight we are getting pizza, drinking wine, and holing up in our room to watch a movie.
It is feeling more like spring here... still chilly, but not the bitter cold Mike experienced when he first got here.
I took a long walk through town and looked at the flowers coming up, while being showered with almond blossom petals. Here are more pictures from the lovely town or Rians.
I'm off to plan the weekend now.
:-)
Bonne Journee!

Driving...

Goodness... Driving in France.
A good point... they drive on the correct side of the road.
On the more challenging side... the roads are very windy, but at least they are also very narrow... Bah.
Mike is enjoying the driving... I am less enthusiastic. Ann, you would love it.
I drove today for the first time solo. It was thankfully uneventful.
I managed not to get run off the road by any of the huge trucks going very fast and taking up 2/3 of the road.
I'm about to get back on the road now... time to pick up Mike from work.

House Hunting

Today, I met Christelle, our real estate agent who is attempting to help us find a place to live...
We drove to a town called La Tour-d'Aigues, through a vineyard, and down a tiny windy dirt road to a quint little house. If it was just me, if would have been fine... but it's not going to work... it had so many great things, but too far away and too small... I show you anyhow.
I go study my french now.
Bisous.

Mosaics & Beer

Today is my first real day in France... no "Bridget Just got here" excitement, no Birthday extravaganza, no weekend... real day.
I did a load of laundry, studied my french, walked to the store for beer, and cheese, and went with Camilla to her Mosaic studio class. I may sign up for one if we find a house. I'm going to try to post at least one picture a day. Today's is Vinon... the town we won't be living in as we didn't get that house.
Birthday dinner was last night, and 8 people came over to help us celebrate, so it's good think I made a vat of stew.
Tonight is Turkey Curry for dinner, so we shall see if the streak of every meal being amazing is broken... as I typically hate curry.
More house hunting tomorrow.
Bisous.

Where there is smoke... there are curlers.

I curl my hair with curlers... it makes it shiny and pretty and it is fast & easy.
I have traveled with curlers in Europe before... (yes I realize that is a bit high maintience.)
Not the curlers I currently have... other ones.
But I figure... Curlers are curlers.
So, today being my Birthday, I plug in my curlers for the first time...
Smoke comes BILLOWING out of the curlers.
It was not pretty.
Bah.
It now smells like burning.
My hair will be in a bun until the transformers we ordered arrive in 2 months.
I say again... BAH!!!
On the up side... dinner smells Delicious!
And tonight... CHAMPAGNE!
Bon!

The villages & towns of France

On Sunday, we explored towns that we may live in.
Vinon & Mirabeau are my 2 favorites... but we shall see what we end up with... it's challenging to say the very least.
Most stuff is closed on Sunday's, but we did find a small pub that was open, and had some interesting beers, bread and cheese.
We had sea trout for dinner and watched crazyheart.
It's raining now. I am going to study my French, then go to the store for ingredients to make irish stew for dinner.

1st Day of Exploring

We explored today. 3 different towns in France. We went to St. Maximin, where there is a Basilica the has Mary Magadalane's crypt... huge church... very creepy... saw a skull.
Went and looked in the window of a wedding dress shop, where they had changed out the dress Mike saw in the window. (bummer)
There are a lot of apparently really good pizza places here... different... but good...
We had a bottle of wine and some pizza... which was delicious... the topping choices are... unique...
Anchovies were on almost every combination... but we found one, which had olives, peppers, mushrooms, and strasbourg sausage... so we got that one...
In case you can't tell from the photo... strasbourg sausage is a hotdog.
:-)
It was delicious and hilarious.
We walked around Aix-en-Provence, found a shop that sold Mariage Freres Tea (Ann & Holly... I found a new flavor... Pleine Lune or Full Moon... I'll let you know how it is)
Mike bought me a pair of Earrings for my birthday that we found in a cute little shop next to the clock tower.
For dinner, we had cassoulet and watched rugby.

We found a grocery store!!! It is not entirely dissimilar to those we are accustomed to... it is called Shope... a baguette & a huge wheel of Brie... 2 euro. Rad.

9:23 + Jetlag + French lecture about Physics=Zzzzzz

Today, after lovely lunch, I went to a class about French Architecture, which was in French, and I actually followed it, for the most part... I even learned something about formal gardens being about control of man over nature.
Then... I cam home... and tonight was Science night at the place we are staying. Tonight's lecture & slideshow was about the e-ray... it was in French... and it was 2.5 hours long... Mike had to keep pinching me to stay awake... it was bad. The speaker wouldn't stop talking... then people kept asking him more questions... prompting him to talk more... it was mind numbing... Dinner was good... Paella with chicken, sausage, fresh squid and mussels.
Mmmmmmm.
I go bed now.
Tomorrow is Saturday & exploring with MM.
Can't wait.
More photo's tomorrow.

Fancy French Lunch

So, thus far, every meal I have had in France has been very fancy and very French.
Yesterday, it was bread, and cheese, and roast chicken with wine and pickles and new potatoes. Last night for dinner was cheese, bread, rosemary olives, custard and wine. This mornings breakfast was fresh quiche & ham & cheese croissant, and lunch was just butterleaf lettuce, monkfish, oysters and bread.
I was very excited to find monkfish at the poissonnerie.
Off to Aix en Provence to go to a class on Art in France.

devons-nous faire une promenade ?

This is where we are living for now. Our room is at the top righthand corner. I have been to the post office, and I have looked around town. It is lovely. A beautiful day. I walked down paths surrounded by rock walls that were build centuries ago.
ON my promenade, I found an old church on the edge of town. It's no longer in use, and through the keyhole, you can see inside it is clean, but empty. The almond thee in front of it, and all over town, smell lovely.
Back in my room now, the church bells are ringing the hour. Time to walk down & find some lunch & provisions for dinner.

Bonjour!

Good Morning! I slept. It was nice. What was nicer than sleeping was waking up to see Mike in bed next to me. We woke up, made coffee, which I was afraid of, as I have always only had coffee with lots of Milk & lots of coffeemate. The coffee was shockingly good with just milk & sugar. We showered & dressed & walked to the Boulangerie for Quiche and a ham & cheese croissant. SO good. Michael is now at work, and I am going to walk around Rians and take photos, then walk down to the store & attempt to shop for lunch & dinner. Kinda nervous about that. I am also going to go to the post office & get some stamps. The remainder of the day will be planning a daytrip to Aux and St Maximan, then getting my ass on Rosetta stone. Photos to be posted later. Happy Friday.

Tired Beyond Belief.

I am here. I am in France. Rians to be specific. It's a very small town with a huge and lovely old church in the center.
This Post could get a little weird, as I am just a little bit punchy from ZERO SLEEP on the plane(s). Too excited to sleep & too worried about doing something stupid to drink or take a happy sleepy pill.
Made it to Frankfurt & through customs. Got a stamp on my visa. Found my gate, made it to Marseille. On the plane, I just kept looking out the window not quite believing that this is actually happening.
My suitcases were among the first off the plane, and my 4 California wines were intact.
Mike was waiting for me at the gate with flowers.
It was weird seeing him. Really weird. It took me a while before it didn't feel like a dream. He looked happy & he still smelled the same.
We had a perfect French lunch or roast chicken, bread, cheese & wine. He is back at work for a few hours, and I am left on my own to get settled. I have been ordered not to nap, as I'm trying to get on France time. This is easier said than done.
Today, I poke around & tonight, dinner at Sergei’s, whose house we may rent beginning next month.
Au Revoir for now.

Airport day

Here I sit in the San Diego Airport, 2 hours before my flight. I have 2 huge suitcases, a backpack that weighs a ton, as it contains my camera, 2 laptops, important paperwork, and my father.
I have opted to not carry a suitcase carry on, and instead have my huge Vera Bradley duffle bag, as it fits more stuff... however, the inconvenience of not having a roller bag makes it a huge pain in the ass. I'm also wearing my fancy france coat, and carrying a blanket I made for Mike out of his old fraternity shirts, as that is his lame birthday gift.
I look like an overly fancy shoppingcart person.
It is early in the morning, and I have a long-ass journey in front of me. San Diego to Chicago. Chicago to Frankfurt. Frankfurt to Marseille. The plan is to sleep as much as I can on the 8.50hour flight.
It's weird thinking about moving to France... still trying to wrap my mind around that one.
I haven't seen Mike since January 27th, so currently, any anxiety about moving is eclipsed by that.