Val de Loire

Oh, so yesterday was JUST WONDERFUL!

The early get up was a little messy but Anne-Laure and I met up with Karine (who I knew) and Monique and Jalel (who were new to me) but we all got in their car and Monique drove us to Beaugency, a beautiful little village/town in the Loire Valley. (I had my first experience of a stupid French non-toilet since being here at the service station on the way but I'm glad to report that it was a success!)

The sun was shining in a gloriously blue sky and it felt so good to be out of the city! There was a ruined tower and we went into a BEAUTIFUL church with beautiful modern stained glass windows which cast a beautiful coloured light over the old interior.

Mum & Gragry - I thought of you both and patchwork when I saw these!

My camera did not do justice to the beautiful light that was cast here:

Oh and there were flowers EVERYWHERE and it was BEAUTIFUL.

And then we had a picnic by the river

And went for a little walk!

I loved the reflection of the clouds on the water here:

Along the way I asked to learn more songs and so Monique taught me "À la Claire Fontaine"

The path we were walking along ended in a spot which opened out onto the river and unable to resist I kicked off my shoes and rolled up my trousers and jumped in, the ladies soon followed suit and we stood there in the river for AGES, feeling the current swirling round our legs and leaning over and dipping our arms in and I wanted nothing more than to go for a swim but alas, propriety dictated that I could not! My camera lost battery whilst I was there but there were the most BEAUTIFUL dragonflies flitting around us, deep turquoise with darker tipped wings and they looked MAGICAL (my battery gave out just as I was trying to photograph one) and then I saw a frog and a huge school of tiny fish came right by us and stayed there fighting against the current and big ones ahead which jumped out the water every so often!

We finally turned back, singing and stretching our way to Jalel at the car and drove to another little village where we walked round a little castle and another beautiful church and then walked along another small river before coming home.

More lovely light:
This was a fresco of St Christopher:

And then today I had lunch with some lovely people at church, came back and had a massive clean (I don't think anywhere had been cleaned since I left for England and as a result my skin's been pretty bad!) but needed to go and get some air once I'd finished (Mathilde isn't very well and the room is quite stuffy!) so I went for a walk and found le Jardin de Luxembourg which is HUGE and BEAUTIFUL and then at the end of the garden I found an art exposition with beautiful paintings, but alas I did not have my camera!

All-in-all a very successful weekend but I still haven't had my PIN come through so I may have to go late to work tomorrow as I'll need to get some money out for the train...

I'm back!

Well, after a ticket fiasco on the train to Brighton, where I realised I had the receipt but not the ticket for my journey and ended up having to buy a new one at Brighton, I arrived at the Eurostar St. Pancras departure lounge. There, as I posted some last-minute postcards I met a free-spirited looking man with long dreadlocks and two young children, who stood and chatted with me and as I walked away he called out "See you on the train, yeah?"

I found this peculiar and made noises to the effect of "yeah" and made my way to an empty seat on the other side of the lounge. Upon boarding the train I passed the him again in my carriage and with a beaming smile he said "I told you I'd see you on the train!" and then (to my paranoid mind) he appeared to keep moving seats up the carriage, ever further from his children and ever closer to me. I tried to bury myself in my book but was most disconcerted when he planted himself in the window seat across the aisle from me and spent most of the journey making sure the man next to him didn't want to swap (how thankful I was that he didn't and that I had the other window seat!) I avoided all attempted eye-contact for the following two hours and chose instead to bury myself in my library book.

When the train arrived in Paris I was one of the last to get off and so, to my horror was he! As I hastily disembarked he called out after me "See you later, yeah?"

I was pretty freaked out but it has now been three days and fortunately there's been no sign of him so I think I'm safe!

As I came home I passed my favourite greek man outside his café so I stopped a while and chatted briefly with him before continuing to the foyer. However, upon my arrival I realised I had completely forgotten the entry code for the door and after fruitlessly ringing the bell spent five long minutes trying every combination of the few digits I could remember until at last I heard the buzzing of joy which signaled I'd done something right (though I could not remember what) and with a sigh of relief I heaved my way in.

It turned out I had also forgotten my PIN for my french bank card and so I had to make a stop at my branch where I was helped by some more very lovely staff (I think I must have the nicest branch of LCL in all of France - after being here for almost three months, Chris's account still hasn't been sorted and my people are always SO lovely to me and so helpful!) From there I made my way home, absolutely RAVENOUS (I hadn't eaten since breakfast and that had been at about 7.30!) and as I came in, I met Vanessa who very kindly offered to share the quiche she was cooking but after standing around in the kitchen for what felt like HOURS I felt like I was about to fall over and so practically RAN to La Belle Ronde where, at the recommendation of the young waiter I devoured a Manhattan.

Now, I am VERY sorry to say I forgot my camera and BOY what a mistake that was! This thing was HUGE! Essentially a burger in a pancake, it consisted of a beefburger on a bed of cheese and fried onions, wrapped in a pancake - rectangular, not hexagonal as it wouldn't have fitted! - and served with tomato and lettuce with a dressing. Perfect.

However, I was still feeling the hunger so went for a crêpe with ice cream and hot chocolate sauce - it came in the shape of a smiley face with the two scoops of ice cream making the eyes and a squirty cream mouth! I left very very full - to the point of feeling ill (the crêpe had proved a little too sickly for me!) and came home to fall asleep, still with no sign of Mathilde.

The next day I awoke and as I left for work she walked in, having been at her aunt's, and I later arrived at work to find the world's ugliest cat as my desktop background and also to find I'd been fraped by my charming colleague. This was vastly improved by the fact that I was very warmly welcomed back by everyone, including a surprised Bernard, who had thought I was coming back the following day!

The rest of the week flew by and tonight I returned to La Belle Ronde to a warm welcome from the lovely people there and there tasted a "Neopolitaine": Mozzarella, tomato, black olives and a basil dressing:

and a "Sirop d'erable" for dessert:

and I cannot say enough how well it hit the spot, but it was just perfect and reminded me of the warm maple syrup waffles I used to get late at night at Soul Survivor. I'd had to move indoors for pudding as I had been sat outside but it began to rain! Both these pancakes scored highly, I think I may have found my favourite sweet one but the savoury, whilst excellent was not the top.

Ooh, I also saw this ship-cake in a window on the way home and thought of Jo:

AND, I also bumped into Anne Laure who invited me out tomorrow to go to somewhere where I've forgotten but it's pretty villages by a river - can't wait!

The only downside being we leave at 8.30 so no lie-in...

The most beautiful Enchanted moment ever ... and I walked AWAY?!

(I began this at the beginning of my holidays but neglected to post it! I think I've told this story to most people I've met but if you haven't already heard it, enjoy:)

My journey home on Wednesday was uneventful, save for two things.

As I passed a café on my way to the station there were men sat out on the street and one of them was sat there with a PIGEON in a cage next to him on the table! Just taking in the street, leaning over and talking to this pigeon, as normal as you like.

I suspect this pigeon was really an enchanted princess.

But speaking of ENCHANTED, the second thing was as I arrived at Victoria Station I made a beeline for platform 17 direction which is normally the one I need to get home, and as I marched past, I looked up at the boards just to check and then saw that the train I had wanted had been CANCELLED! So I moved closer to try and see what other trains were going and to work out how I was to get home. I was aware that there were people from southern railway, dressed up as yellow houses giving out flowers and claiming that if you were called Victoria, you could travel for free. I moved closer, interested in the flowers but mostly preoccupied with finding the quickest way home as my journey had already been long and delayed and I was utterly shattered, when suddenly by my side, a man dressed as a mariachi playing a guitar appeared and has evidently just sung me a question! In my half-dazed state I said "Pardon?" and he repeated, in the most wonderfully awful Mexican accent:

"Hello! Is your name Victoria?"

I replied that sadly, it was not.

"What is your name?" he asked.

"Sophie." I said.

"SooooO-phiiiieeEEEE!!" he sang "And where are you going today?"

"Home, to Durrington, but-"

"DuurrrringtooooooooOOOON!" He sang and peered at the boards, and after a pause, "Eh-what train will you take?"

"Well," I began. "I was going to take the 17.17 to Littlehampton but unfortunately it appears to have been cancelled", indicating the boards.

My mariachi man looked up in complete shock and indignation and twanged his guitar vigourously, crying

"I deMAND that this TRAIN be RE-inSTATED for SOOOOphiEEEEE!!"

And there he made violent jabbing motions with his guitar at the boards, as if they were a mighty dragon, with cries of "YA!" and "OLÉ!"

After this impressive display he fell silent and turned to me sheepishly and in his silly little accent said

"Well I hope you have a good journey home."

And I, after recovering from my fit of giggles assured him that I was certain he'd helped and would go to the platform to see if it had worked, set on getting home, still feeling enormously tired but a lot happier.

And that was it! I just walked away!

No dueting, singing my replies, proposals of marriage or even a number! I only realised my mistake once I'd arrived home (it had worked - I got the gatwick express to East Croydon and picked my original train up there) and related the tale to Mike and Dad who looked at me in complete disbelief, saying "But Soph, that's your IDEAL MAN!"

My perfect Enchanted moment... and I walked away.

I am SUCH a fool.

Good Food, Bad Food and Scary Chefs!

All of France appears to be on holiday. I knew the boulanger round the corner would be on holiday from the 2nd of August so I thought I'd just get my morning pastry from the boulangerie near work, only to get there and see that they too were on holiday until the 30th!!!!! So Monday was my first day without a croissant/pain au chocolat for breakfast! I thought I'd be able to make it to 12.30 but I couldn't and ended up grabbing a kitkat from the vending machine mid-morning.

Then even on Tuesday I almost missed my train trying to find a boulangerie that was open - I finally found one who WASN'T on holiday and purchased my croissant. It was different - the pastry felt a bit thicker and not as light and airy but still very tasty! However, when I returned on Wednesday to get one, there was a sign saying "closed on Wednesdays" - AARGH! So I had to go EVEN FURTHER to finally find a bakery who proudly displayed a large sign in their window that read "We are open all summer".

Move closer to me.

Oh and then also on Monday I tried to go to social security as the french government will give me help with my rent but I need a social security number in order to do so but having stood there for fifteen minutes with an impatient old lady waiting for someone to show up, we both gave up and I went to work, not wanting to be late!

Monday night I got back and was VERY hungry and Mathilde brought out some leftovers from this chinese place she'd been to and the thought of it was just too wonderful and rendered my plans for spaghetti so undesirable that we went to the restaurant instead! Turns out it was japanese but here is all the food I got!

a mushroom and spring onion soup (REALLY GOOD)
some kind of salad
ribs, mushroom, courgette, lamb(?) meatball and beef and cheese kebabs (with rice)
salmon and shrimp! The whole meal was just delicious and I'd like to point out that I ate the ENTIRE thing (minus the soup) with CHOPSTICKS alone and that I am therefore AMAZING.

And then we had a cheeky ice-cream on the way home . It was from an italian ice-creamerie which was REALLY quite superb and I went for an ecuadorian chocolate and a nutella-like ice cream combo and they don't work by scoops but by SIZES which is a MUCH better way of doing it and so you can combine as many flavour as you like and they slap them in with a palette and I just think this system is the best ever.

Tuesday was my last day at work and so I thought I'd go and get a steak, and that particular day an entrecote cut was on offer. Now ordinarily I ask for it rare and the man does it well done, so after consulting my friends I confirmed that the next step up was blue and so, filled with trepidation, I asked for it blue. I would not fear for this in England but the French do have a bit of a reputation... anyway I asked for blue, the man even double checked my order later but I ended up being presented with the blackest piece of meat EVER. It was barely pink in the middle and was utterly revolting and I was so upset and I'd complain but the man is big, tattooed, scary and able to spit in/drop my food on the floor and I don't want to confront him. It made me feel a little better when ALL the others said he always gives them the wrong thing too. I think he just hates people/his job/meat/life.