La Vendee

From Paris to the Vendee...by train from Paris to Nantes, then getting the leased Twingo (a car of which Tom says no expense has been spared -- the most essential features only). By some freak of fate, the car leasing office was actually open on a Sunday, and Mattieu arrived exactly on time at the train station to pick us up. The trip to La Gite was the usual hour more or less, probably less, since many improvements have been made to the route, and the autoroute goes farther south than it had last year.

We arrived in time for dinner, and were immediately welcomed into the extended family and friends. Our visit of just over a week included many lovely and delicious lunches and dinners outside with the family, with many friends and family dropping by, the local march and marche de puces, dessert at Odile's with two lovely cakes (a fruit tart with lemon custard, and a St. Honore -- so good as to defy description), and a trip into La Roche sur Yon for a museum viewing and theater tour. we also put in a brief appearance at one of the Stages put on by cousin Mattieu. Mattieu is a very famous singer who gives concerts internationally. In August, when the neighborhood is filled with people on holiday, he gave lessons every morning and afternoon for a week to anyone interested. The turnout was quite good -- about 20 people. As it turns out, most of them were cousins, so perhaps that explains the good attendance. The culmination was a grand fete our last Sunday evening, when pretty much the whole town turned out for an evening party featuring a variety of songs by the group (and anyone else who knew the words), and a huge potluck. Our contribution was an apple and a plum tart from a local bakery and a couple of bottles of local rose.

The first of many fabulous meals at the Gite.


Yelen above, Pauline below.

A little snooze by visiting Sam and little dog Odie.


Our first day in the Vendee Tom and I went for lunch at our favorite restaurant at Jar sur Mer.

Aina and Marie at lunch.

Jeanne
A quick trip to La Roche sur Yon for a museum exhibit of Japanese woodcuts and French cartoons. This is the local theater which was open for viewing.




Napoleon in the square

Would you believe left-overs? The caramelized fennel I could eat all day.





Aina and Yelen





Paul the Tablecloth Man and Aina


Jacques, the eldest brother


Paul, Pauline and Jeanne on the way to a cocktail party.





Marie

Yelen
Bertrand

Solange -- her glasses reflect it all! After lunch
Each person was responsible for dinner one night. Our contribution was a plateau de fruits de mer -- actually two giant styrofoam boats filled with oysters, langoutine, small grey shrimp, clams and bulots. Oddly, I enjoyed the bulots the best. For dessert I made two apple pies, American style, served a la mode. A hit!

One of the two plateau de fruits de mer we provided for a celebratory dinner.

My favorite? The bulots -- they are the fluted shells.






Tom and Paul make a new foundation for a fallen rock "marmot" marking the entry to the drive.


Paul signs their work


The work party returns


Always a cheese course

The lovely light drifting in from the windows above the garden


Mattieu
The food frenzy begins. The hosts offered sanglier (wild boar) that had been dispatched the prior season, and potatoes. The attendees contributed everything else imaginable.

Noelle and Bernard at the potluck


Marie and Aina at the marche, buying armloads of books. When I went closer I noticed silver teaspoons....sigh. They are now in my suitcase ready to be brought home.

The Halle of Moutiers-les-Maufaits all decked out for lunch for the Marche au Puces (Flea Market). Featured: moule frites (mussels and fries) and merguez sausages.





Paul's excellent chicken, pistachio and apple terrine.

Bernard and Noelle brought TWO lovely cream cakes for lunch.

An after lunch chat under the trees.

Chere Odile


Friends Noelle above, Bernard below.

Tom and Bernard pouring over the map of Brittany as Bernard gives us invaluable advice about what to see and do.

Pauline and Paul on the roof, trying out ballet moves while looking for hornets.

Yelen takes over the kitchen for his night as chef -- pizza!

Petit dejeuner in the sunshine

Paul
Pauline
As we depart in the trusty Twingo for Brittany, a bientot to Jeanne, Pauline and Paul....


An exceptionally happy time was had by all, especially us, and we are so very grateful for being included in the family's holiday.

Paris!

We arrived in Paris after an uneventful flight on Air France, which is about as much as we hoped for, not being big fans. Unusually for Air France, the expected great cuisine was absent, with a watery beef bourgonion, carrot salad and brownie (?) -- and you know it was remarkable since I remember it even now, two weeks later. Also, the movie did not work in our quadrant. But we had books, and light naps, and arrived on time.

Shortly thereafter we arrived at our wonderful apartment, lent to us by Peter, a friend of Anne's. Anne's apartment is upstairs, so we were familiar with the building. Upon arriving we walked to the nearby shops to get bread and cheese and fruit and other necessities, which was enough to keep us napping until the next day.

Our apartment -- Anne on the top, we just below.

The wonderful nymphs on the staircase on the way up from our door to Anne's. Her apartment was the atelier of the original owner, a businessman who was also a painter.


The stairs from the metro to the apartment.


Since we were to be in town for only a few days before leaving for the country, we made a list of sights to see that would not be around upon our return in September. First on my list was Paris Plage, when a section of the Seine is given over to the beach scene. So even though you are in Paris, you can walk down the beach, including sand (and sand castles), lawns (with chaise longues), a library (with books to read and trees to read them under), and of course, food stands and restaurants. There is even a pool featuring a hilarious water aerobics class.



We then Made our way to the Petit Palais, which featured a show of Yves St. Laurent. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but the show was dazzling. From his first shows at the beginning of his career until retirement, the clothing and accessories were spectacular. I was particularly impressed by the beaded jackets reproducing Van Gogh paintings of the irises and sunflowers. No photos were allowed, naturally, but imagine a square inch of beading with so many beads they could not be counted, and many kinds of beads in different colors, sizes and tectures, reproducing the heavy painterly style of Van Gogh -- magnificent. The truly unsung heroes (likely heroines) were the artisans who actually made the designs. But it was all lovely.






And all exhausting. For some reason jet lag hit us like a truck, and we spent most of our four days in Paris sleeping. part of it was jet lag, I'm sure, and part of it was simply collapsing after doing so many things our last few weeks in California. But in any event, there were lots of naps -- 3, 4 and 5 hour naps.

Our next day out and about was a trip to the Louvre to see a couple of shows that would be gone by September. On the way we walked through the Fete du Tuilleries, a carnival set up along the side of the park leading to the Louvre.















A lady playing an interesting stringed instrument in the metro.

So a brief stay in Paris, highlighted by time with Anne and many naps at Peter's apartment, the Paris Plage, Yves St. Laurent and the Louvre. Then off to the country....