Le Mariage de Sarah et Nicolas

Fortunely for this major event I have some photos. Unfortunately for everything else I forgot to bring the cable! So these photos will be posted after I come back;

Now for the wedding! Sarah and Nicolas were married in the Nancy City Hall which is a very impressive 18th Century building forming one side of the equally impressive St Stanislaus Square. The marriage was at 3.00 pm and was followed by a reception and a wedding dinner at Heillecourt which did not finish until after 3.00 am the following morning with music and dancing going continuously. The French like their wedding parties. The food was superb and Sarah and Nicolas and their families put a tremendous effort in setting everything up with decorations and table settings. I have photos of all this which I will post later.

That's enough from me now for some photos.

La Salle d'Attente

I arrived at Lille railway station early, in fact two hours early which then became five hours when I learnt that my train was cancelled. What to do when you have a heavy suitcase and no storage facility in this era of security? You go to the waiting room. Fortunately Lille station waiting room is clean and under steady use. People were coming and going and not of particular attention. But a wait of five hours made me seek distractions other than reading Le Monde and writing.

I began to notice a woman speaking almost continuously in muted tones to a man whose only response was also a muted "eh" of acknowledgement. There is nothing special about such an engagement except the duration. It went on for most of the time I was in the waiting room. The man appeared to be "of the cloth" judging from the gold edged book in his hand. He was extremely attentive to the woman's tale and her distress. Eventually after such a long period of listening he appeared to give his judgement. As they eventually left I could only speculate on the purpose and effectiveness of this consultation and on the patience of some.

My other longterm co-occupants of the waiting room were a vagrant man whose stench was as pervasive as it was overpowering and an old woman whose tirade to some expressionless travellers was as intense as it was incomprehensible to me and, I speculate, to them.

Such a long wait needed to be punctuated by a search for food and the toilet. In Gare du Lille the toilet was hard to find and privatised. At first I pretended to ignore, as an ignorant foreigner, the many signs for a toll for my brief and efficient male toiletry. However, as I went to leave, a formidable looking woman made such a strong blocking movement that surrender to this outrageous brigandry was my only option. After paying I left, thankful for my life but with some residual resentment over the need to pay for basic human needs.

The train to Le Tourquet sur la plage eventually arrived and I had the pretty French landscape to entertain and distract me from Le Monde and writing.

Right now I bet you are hoping I can improve on this drivel. However, waiting is one aspect of travel so be prepared for such boring stories:

Le Café en France

D'autres préférent prendre le café à la mode italienne. Mais j'ai pris le café français. Mais c'est important où vous prenez votre café. Si vous preniez le café à le table vous paieriez deux fois le prix du bar. Aussi, comme en Australie, cela depend où vous prenez votre cafe.

Je prefère le café francais parce que j'aime son goût. Ce n'est pas plus fort et la quantité n'est pas plus petite que le café italien ou moins fort et plus grand que le cafe americain ou allemand. Aussi vous devez prendre le cafe noir, ou, comme le français disent, "un cafe simple" ou "un cafe".

Pour le petit-dejeûner, vous pouvez prendre le café avec du lait, mais ce n'est pas classique.

Pour cette partie, j'utilise l'expression de la comparaison et le verbe au temps présent, passé compose, conditionnel et subjunctif.

S'il vous plait corrigez ce que j'ai écrit.

C'est tout

Lille - La Belle du Nord - Peut-Etre!

Lille, an old industrial city is, I think, the fourth largest city in France. It has a very pretty town centre full of beautiful Flemish architecture that has been recently restored. However it is no Brugge or even a Cambrai. Beyond the town centre is still depressed and as ugly as any English mill town. It has a touch of Germinal still.

Denis, always one for a good deal, booked me into a hotel to the south of the city. It is here that I can see a more representative Lille. That is, a place seeking rejuvenation. Denis is right, the hotel is probably more modern than any in the centre and is what the travelling French might choose if they have a car. However, even for me after two trips on the small metro, I discovered I can walk to the city centre in about 30 minutes and this is what I have been doing - walking, walking and walking.

Lille has a very impressive Fine Arts Museum. The building itself is very ipressive even by French standards and has a very good collection of 16th, 17th and 18th Century painting. Not my favourites but really worth a look. My problem was that I was dead beat before I got there so I "did it" in a shuffle and thinking all the while how nice it would be to have a shower and a rest! What a pleb!

Today I got a personal tour of the Pasteur Institute Museum. I rang because it was closedand that is what the sign said you could do. Any they very nicely delivered on their promise. The guide and I in broken French and English got along very well. I learnt that as well a Pasteurizing milk, Pasteur and his collegues Calmette and Guerin developed snake anti-venim, vaccinations for typhoid, diptheria, TB and the rabbit myxo (sorry can't spell the rest). They even developed activated carbon for water treatment. The thing is they were all chemists and as a result the medical profession for a time derided them for a time. Isn't it the way. My guide told me it took them 28 years to develop the TB vaccine through over 200 test tube proecesses using potatoes as food for the bacteria. Such marvellous persistance. Also appropriate in this centre of the French fry - Flemish France. The institute is very active now and there are about 30 associated Pasteur Institutes around the world with what seems like a big focus on TB which unfortunately is an emerging disease. One we thought we had eradicated.

Lille is the birthplace of Charles DeGaulle. He belonged to a wealthy industrial faMily. The house is a National monument in the Vielle Ville. Later in lifehe moved to somewhere more picturesque like Franch-Compt or Burgundy.

There is also a very good example of a Vauban fort. These are scattered all over the north, built by Louis XIV (The Sun King I think). I walked right round this perfectly preserved example. It has all sorts of well used walking and running trails and even nature areas and a small zoo. The centre is still a military base used by the French equivalent of the SAS.

Maintenant, j'écrirerai un peu français, parce que mon français est tre mauvais. Je dois exercer! Lille est un belle ville que il s'agit renouveler. Si le gens duLille etaint recycler,la ville serait encore devenir La Belle du Nord. Alors! Mais franchement, Lille a un mauvais ordorat. Je pense que les egout cassent.

Demain, je vais à Le Torquet, encore à Nancy pour le mariage.

La classe est fin

Our last class is this morning. In two weeks I believe my French has improved so in spite of my initial impression of a daunting task, progress has occurred. Both my comprehensions (listening and reading) are better and even my near mute speaking has improved a little. C'est vrai je suis heureux avec ma classe.

In the two weeks there has been insufficient time for our group to really bond but in these last few days some semblence of association has emerged. My group, who have gathered for four hours each morning, are Michael from Ireland; Ji Min and Hae Jin from Korea, Joanne and Pam from the US, Angela from Austria and Darja from Latvia. Various others, particularly the Japanese seem to come and go. A special mention of Darja who speaks four languages and now she is our star in French. She came here directly from Toyko from a language school there. Whilst you would think there was not enough time, she has a boyfriend here. Peut etre c'est par-ce que elle se ressemble Maria Sharapova! However she is my favourite because she told me she admires my persistance! Some might call it pigheadedness but not Darja so there you go.

Language learning is quite an industry in the Tower of Babel that is Europe. There are some like Darja who are what might be called language professionals and others like Anibal from Spain who is and aeronautical engineer and has a French girlfriend and wants to move to France for work and love. The largest groups are younger students from Germany, other germanic language countries and the US who are forfilling their language course requirements.

The afternoon has been Atelier (workshop)which has been of mixed intensity, interest and usefulness. Drama has been my low point. In one workshop I met Eric, a Gay psychariast from the US. Eric reakons that the best way to practice speaking is to go shopping! It makes sense.

After class today I will have lunch with Claudio who is from what appears to be everywhere and who has studied at Bond University. Then I will do a walking tour of the Latin Quarter. Tomorrow it is Musee D'Orsay and les Printemps for the wedding tie and chocolates for Jacqueline and Marine my very friendly and warm hosts. It has been great to stay with such a family.

On Sunday I leave for Lille. I should say I will miss my daily walk from Opera up Rue Des Italiens past Le Cafe Grand Capuchins but I won't. As with all travellers, the horison beckons.

PHOTOS ARE COMING

La Vie à Paris

Jardin du Luxembourge on a sunny Sunday in early summer

Not much to add to the last posting. On Saturday I had a busy weekend visiting the Pantheon and the Jardin du Luxembourg and then later visiting Edith's friend Frances, who lives outside Paris. Frances and I visited the home of Emile Zola, which is near her home. It was good to get a better idea of who he was through this experience. Thank you Frances! Whilst I have only read two of his books (and only as translations)he made a big impression on me when I was a young. I am thinking particularly of Germinal. Zola's grave(tombe)is at the Pantheon so it was a bit of a Zola day. I have it on my list to read more of his books.

On Sunday I walked through the Bois de Boulogne including the Bagatelle. This is a huge nature reserve which is undergoing natural restoration such there is real bush and I think i saw a wild fowl. I learnt today that at night it is a bit of a hangout for transvestites but what I saw wasnt that type of bird. C'est vrai!

On Monday night I met Denis and Stephane for dinner. I didn't know it before but Denis doesn't have a good sense of direction and is too impetuous. A bad combination in Paris but we eventually found an Indian restaurant. C'est bon. Stephane is very patient with his father. I also discovered that all Frenchman are not as casual as Denis. Perhaps it is just a matter of engineers being engineers. Au contraire, Stephane est tres chic! I am off to Printemp to get a tie to ensure that Sarah lets me into the wedding.

The French language course is, to use the title of the other Zola book I have read, is a bit of a debarcle. Actually it isn't but it is tres tres dur! I think that my brain is saying "this is French, I refuse to listen!". It is a real battle between my will and my body.

I have been commuting to school by Metro and bus. Each has its advantages but after a while both are just like Melbourne, boring! What is different for the locals is the price and area of appartments. Stephane has only been in Paris a short time and he lives with his girlfriend in 2.9 square metres or in our units about three squares. I suspect if Melbourne property continues to go up, it will be like this for us too. Only if you have lived in Paris a long time is it possible to live reasonably. Stephane says that he will move away from Paris after a few years and probably when he begins to think about a family. A pity how a city and an economy can destroy itself such that the only ones who can live reasonably in Paris are the old and the rich. You need the young,the brightest and the energetic to maintain the life of a city. Making property horribly expensive is not the way to do this.

C'est tout. Je dois retourner a chez Jacqueline pour mon diner et plus tard révise la travail du jour.

Au revoir

Il y a six jour j'ai arrivée à Paris

Dimanche a Jardin du Luxembourge
Dining out with the Finnish Ladies - Helena and Eva

Vendredi, 14 Mai 2010 - Whose idea was it to go to an intensive French course? Who would be silly enough to sit through four hours not understanding more than about 20% of what is being said and living in fear of being asked a question? Yes, you all know the answer to these questions. Picking up the basic theme of what teacher is saying and responding in whatever basic way are the challenges. And no, you can't ask the teacher to repeat something in English; you can't even ask a question in English. Of course I shouldn't leave out the joy of learning about the subjunctive and the objective-possessive.

I am in a class of around 10, all of whom are more than 30 years younger. This is in an environment where youth and its associated adsorption capacity is supreme.

I have deliberately delayed making this posting because I wanted to avoid sounding too negative. As well as negativity I have managed sarcasm too! Honestly, it is a struggle but just hearing so much French is, I am sure, doing me good. Let's see what next week brings.

I am planning a busy weekend of visiting places in Paris and hope to catch up with some friends. More on this in the next posting.

Oh, some want details on the food. Well, this week I have had the worst duck of all time (one of those bad spontaneous decisions) and one of the nicest steaks. I have also had some convivial meals at my home stay and out with some people I have met at the school (yes there are some oldies here). Did I mention the creme brulée. C'est Magnifique!

C'est tout et au revoir

Mon Famille et Mes Amies

May 2010 - The Journey Begins/Le Voyage Commence

This is my new journey. I leave Melbourne tomorrow, Saturday 8 May 2010 at 2250 and fly via an impossible route (who invented frequent flyers?) and eventually get to Paris on Sunday evening. I then begin a two week intensive French course including homestay where there is more French! Hopefully this will bring me across a threshold that has eluded me in two years of studying this beautiful but frustrating language.

After the two weeks I will head north by train to Lille. As I understand, Lille is a rejuvenated old industrial town with a strong Flemish architectural style. After two days in Lille I will again take a train to Le Touquet, which is south of Calais on the Channel Coast. I meet Denis there and go to Nancy/Heillecourt by car with him. I will be attending the wedding of Sarah and Nicholas. Sarah is the daughter of Denis and Farida. Denis is my long time friend from Stanford days.

After the wedding, I will leave Heillecourt (pronounced "ei-coor") and the Maillets with my newly purchased bike. I will catch the train to Nevers at the foothills of the Massif Centrale. The bike ride begins: firstly south and up to Vichy, then Clermont-Ferrand then west into The Dordogne and north to Limousin. If I have time I will cycle all the way north across the Loire Valley and on to the fringes of Paris. I hope this little diary can be entertaining and interesting for you and me.

Oh, for those like me, computer illiterates, the map below is a linked Google Map which you can move around and zoom in and out and go to a satellite image. I had thought to edit it along the way but maybe I will and maybe I won't. Ah, the whims of the traveller and the joy of an unconstrained world.


View The 2010 Trip in a larger map