Noyers

The following weekend, I went with a very good friend Michel, to his mother’s house in a small village—Noyers. This town has about 80 people and Renée lived in the “suburb” of the town of 7 people… needless to say, it was a relaxing weekend. So Michel and I arrived from the big city and took a quick tour of the house. I have been there once before with Matthias, Lori and Max four few years ago so I already knew it but Michel reminded me of a few of the quirks, like the bunnies that his mom raises, the slant of the house, the cellar that houses potato, wine and an eau de vie fermenting barrel.Then Michel and I went for a walk with the cows. I know it is silly, but I was somewhat scarred. I know that cows are not violent animals, however, going into their pasture, they were all quite curious (as chewing and re-chewing grass all day-Michel and I were the highlight of the week!) thus they all ran over to greet us. At this point I ran behind a tree. Yes, I, Nicole Buratovich, am somewhat of a scaredy cat. But, to my defense, I recognize how docile these animals are, yet I also acknowledge that they have about a thousand pounds on me and hunger in their eyes. Well, not so much the latter sounds like the fear talking, but nevertheless, thirty curious cows can be intimidating. So, long story short we walked thought the pasture, and many a poop-pie, to have a rest on the hill with a great view. Then the cows came and I made Michel high-tail it out of there, stick in hand… just in case.

Then we had a very nice lunch with Michel’s cousin Claude, her partner Vincent and their adorable son Gabriel. Lunch was fantastic, despite all of the dissecting of food the French do… a bit dry, not enough crumbs in the baguette, etc. From there we enjoyed yet another very nice walk with the family through the fields. No cows this time, thankfully. Dinner time came quickly and we enjoyed another great meal prepared by Renée. I really enjoyed the family experience: a nice reminder of home as well as a great, super amazing help to my French. All French, all the time… a dream come true! With a dictionary at our side, we ate and drank well then all fell into a deep slumber.

Here is baby Gabriel experiencing a new view

of the world from his papa's shoulders.

The following day Michel’s family left and Michele, a friend from Phoenix who had been studying at the Cordon Bleu in Paris, joined us. We went and found her at the train station, and being the foodies we are, hit the grocery store where we bought a squid—something I would later have fun with! We brought Michele back to the house, and after a play session in Renée’s hay stacks, started to prepare dinner. Squid risotto.

The girls dressed up and played house in Renée’s very nice aprons: Michele taught me how to clean the squid: rid it of it’s innards, brain, goopy stuff and skin. I did the skin, which is no easy task, but after diligent knife work we had a beautiful naked squid.

Good times in the kitchen:

Dinner was followed by an eau de vie taste-a-thon. For those of you who might not know what eau de vie is, it is an alcohol, about 50%, made from fruit: one would take the fruit, ferment it in the barrel in the cellar, then distil it at your local distillery. Michel made a few himself, which we compared with the other bottles and decided his Mirabelle eau de vie was the best-by far! Some of the drinks were quite hard to smell, let alone drink. Off to bed, hiccup.

On Sunday, Michel and I had a few things to do around the house while Michele prepared a lovely dinner. So he and I hoed the potatoes in the garden, then we were spent and relaxed in the grass… it was too hot to do much.

Before dinner was served, we went for a quick walk through the hills all together. Michele and I enjoyed being in nature where we saw a deer and several other wild animals. This is also when we came up with the best movie idea ever, inspired by the romantic horizon and reality of the mosquitoes...

A beautiful house in the village: We had one last coffee the following moring before we returned back to the reality of work and school. I had two massive papers due and a final in the week to come… but the memories of Noyers really made it easier to get through, as did excitement for my next trip to come: Antibes!

Loire Valley

Dear friends
The beautiful thing about Europe is that there is always somewhere new to explore. After my dad left, my weekend get-away’s exploring new corners of the world became a weekly thing. First on the list was the Loire Valley with David, then Noyers with Michel and Michele, next Juan les Pins—near Nice—with a dear friend Ailys and her family.

First up: Loire Valley. After a night out with some friends, David and I left Paris for Tours. There we caught a bus tour and hit les chateaux.
Here we are looking mighty cool in the club
Mix which is at the base of the Tour de Montparnasse

We and eight other fellow explorers, if you will, visited the beautiful castle of Amboise. We were very lucky to have perfect weather… not too cold, lots of sun, and a bit of breeze. Marvelous. We hiked up the stairs to a grand castle complete with flags and breathtaking view of the city.

This castle, as grand as it appeared to little ol’ me, was just a skeleton of the original size and grandeur… during one of the many territory wars back in the day, the king who lived there decided to use his castle as material: steel and stone became armory and the what we see now is a fourth of the size of it’s original size. Nevertheless, it was still incredible: full of history and artifacts, stories and art. The best part about the Amboise castle is that it has its very own chapel, not so uncommon, but what makes this simple chapel so special is that inside is the tomb of Da Vinci! I know I have seen a lot of great dead guys after spending a year in Europe—Sartre, De Beauvoir, Madame Currie, Napoleon… well you get the idea—but for some reason this simple homage was the most inspiring, the most real. The chapel was not ornate: no jewels, no gold, not big, nor particularly beautiful. However, it was far more incredible that the tomb of Napoleon which is larger than life in so many ways. It felt so peaceful to be up on a hill and unknowingly run into Davinci’s grave. What fate…

More views of the castle....

From there, we visited Chateau Cheanonceau. I saw a picture of this castle a year ago with Melissa: we were sitting in a friend’s cluttered house and she had a giant book of European castles and this one was on the cover and the centerfold, castle porn, if you will. Melissa and I both drooled over it as it is very special. This photo I borrowed does it better justice than my photos because one, there were doing construction (story of my life), and two, I was not in a helicopter.

Photo from: http://www.tourismevert-amboise.com/mediac/400_0/media/Chenonceau.jpg

It is fanfreakinfabulamatastic—a word I invented with Melissa and David last year sometime. It suits the amazingness of this humble abode, I feel. The interior was very well arranged and every room had the most, and I am not exaggerating here, incredible floral arrangements I have ever seen. Here is one of my favorites:

So David and I walked around, wearing our respective imaginary crowns, and took it all in. Then we walked around the gardens, like any king and queen would, weaving in and out of the labyrinth hedges and taking the time to smell the roses…
Here is the kitchen:

And a nice view of the river.

Here is the long party room that goes over the river:

Now, I love Versailles. I think it is incredible and beautiful, however, the two castles we saw totally kicked Versailles ass. They were much more real—they had real fires in the fireplaces—we could see the kitchen full of its butchering equipment and pots and pans. SO this is me highly recommending that you visit them if you haven’t already. Very much worth the trip around the world… not to mention the Loire is right smack in the middle of wine country: David and I completed our castle tour with a stop at a local winery and tasted great wine in the mold covered cave. (A quick side note here: I think it is hilarious that anywhere in the world, mold is seen as gross and unsightly, however, put it next to wine and especially cheese and all of a sudden it is a great thing that enriches your experience and the taste.)

Here is a photo of the winery in the hillside taken hastily as we drove away:

The following day we took a quick train trip to Blois, a very nice city. We wandered around found a market and started buying. Bread, wine, ham, strawberries, and of course, moldy chevre to top it off; we took our little picnic next to the river and enjoyed our delicious and fresh lunch. The picnic culture is something I will dearly miss…

David and I found we had a few hours to kill before our train left for Paris, so being well fed, sufficiently hydrated and sight-seeing-ed out, we decided to see Angles and Demons… in French! My French is good enough to get most of what goes on in a film, so that was a relief…sarcasm and humor are another story, but I am proud to report that I got one joke. Hooray!

And that concludes the first of my many weekend adventures.

Dad's visit and a whole lotta Paris!

The time has come, the walrus said, to talk of many things: of trips, and dads, and eating times, of sweet breads and flings… And why the rain is pouring down, and what the future brings…

Dad and I met in front of his small hotel on Boulevard Edgar Quintet which is shadowed by the towering Montparnasse tower. We said our hellos and set off to start dad’s whirlwind week in Paris. First stop was lunch; we went to a crêperie in Odeon and enjoyed sitting on the street watching the busy Parisians dash by. From there we wandered along the small streets of Odeon toward Saint Michele. After seeing the Seine for the first time, we made our way for Notre Dame.

Montparnasse sticking out of the skyline.

Upon entering, dad was quite impressed with the dramatic Gothic architecture. We lit a candle for my grandfather, Luke, warmly known as Dida. From there, we went to the gigantic Louvre to enjoy the architecture. Hundreds of statues looked down on us as we had our first view of the Eiffel Tour from the court yard and as we enjoyed the first pastry, a pain au chocolate, of the trip. We ate under the trees in the Tuileries garden, enjoying the warm sun rays and lively Parisian atmosphere.

From there, dad got a quick glance at the exterior of Sciences Po as he could not enter: they put in place strict restrictions for entering because of the semester-long strike that was going on for most French higher education institutions, except ours (thankfully).

To finish the first day, we ate dinner in the very lively Latin Quarter. I took dad to my favorite kebab shop with very colorful décor and great fries!

My colorful dad in my colorful Kebob shop.

We wandered in the rain towards Shakespeare and Co because it was in the neighborhood but had to expectation of it being open at 10 pm. But, as luck would have it, it was open and was our savior from the downpour outside. We took a long time looking around the dusty, kooky shop and both found great books as souvenirs. We took a quick tour around Notre Dame, which is when we took this dramatic and beautiful photo before falling into bed.

Day 2: I had class until 5pm or so, so I sent dad off into the city all alone with a map and a few key phrases. We met up for dinner at my place later where I head all about dad’s day meeting nice people in the market and exploring the depths of Paris. He had spent the day visiting my colorful open air market which is where he got our fresh fish for dinner and delicious strawberries. We dined chez moi then took a stroll around Montparnasse at night which is filled with people and lights any night of the week.

Day 3: Dad and I met for lunch in the Luxembourg garden after my classes finished for the day. We managed to find a place to sit among the sea of people also enjoying the cherished sunny day. We ate very well: pâté, cheese, bread, salami, and again delicious strawberries for desert. The best part about eating in the garden is that there is no rush… you can stay as long as you like, long enough even for a quick nap which is exactly what we did. Upon waking refreshed and ready for the next adventure, dad and I went to Montmartre, the very ethnic and colorful quarter in the north of Paris with a great view of the whole of the city.

Montmartre!

We climbed quite a few stairs to the top where we explored the Sacré Coeur and the art market just behind. We ate the best nutella crepe while wandering around looking into the shops and, once again, people watching.
A true work of art... for the taste buds.

From Montmartre we hit the metro towards a more posh quarter: Place de la Concord. We walked all around this area, discovering places I had never been before. We saw the Madeline, Galleries Lafayette, and the Grands Boulevards… Oh my! It was quite a tour especially since we ended up in the Marias.

Finally, very hungry and tired from our long day of sightseeing, we had dinner and the Ton Tons, a restaurant recommended to dad by a woman he met in the market. It was late so when we entered I asked if there were still serving dinner. The man answered yes, but asked it we knew what tartar was… for those of you who don’t know what it is, I will explain: raw (100% raw) ground beef mixed with different herbs and spices, maybe an onion or two, and to top it off, it can be occasionally served with a raw egg yolk sitting just atop. I kid you not. Raw hamburger meat with raw yolk. Luckily they had a few other dishes so we decided to stay. The restaurant had a great vibe… very real—translation: kinda of dirty, but in a good way. We enjoyed nice cooked meals and a great bottle of wine followed by a fantastic crème brulé. A perfect French meal in an ideal French atmosphere.

Day 4: Thursday was the only day expected to be beautiful, and beautiful it was. So… dad and I went to Versailles to visit the magnificent chateau. We saw the interior: all of the paintings, the fancy furnishings, everything that was a view into the world of the flamboyant Louis’. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon in the gardens! Sitting in the sun by the canals, having yet another great picnic, wandering around the labyrinth gardens…

After soaking up the sun, we headed inside. We traveled back to Paris and went to the Musée d’Orsay. We were running around that old train station like it was going out of fashion! We saw the whole museum in 2 hours! Woe is me… I was tired!

Here is a Rodin sculpture inside the Museum, which is an old train station.

Day 5: Friday was a national holiday which means in France that everything closes and everybody goes outside. This was our Friday… full of people. We first went to the Rue de Mouffetard which is a great area full of life and food. We bought some goodies and went for a picnic in the Luxembourg garden once again. After lunch we went to the Marais again because it really is a great place. We wandered around the area, practically swimming through bodies. We finally freed ourselves of the crowds and made our way to the 10th arrondissement where I showed dad my beloved Canal St. Martin. We decided to see Wolverine (which had just come out that day) so with an hour to kill we had a quick bite to eat on the canal. Then we saw the movie, which we both enjoyed, then headed home.

Cafe livin'

Day 6: On Saturday, we had a very long lunch with my roommate and his girlfriend. It was really nice. Anas cooked a lovely meal, which we had with good wine followed by cheese and more wine. After digesting a bit from this 3 hour repas dad and I decided to hit one more landmark: Hotel Invalids. It was just before closing time, so we practically ran through the exhibitions which were extremely interesting. I must return there before I leave…

Here are all of the soldiers... a bit intimidating!

And here is dwarfed Dad next to a awesome alter, in typical Napolean fashion.

(sorry I forgot to turn it... and it's too late now!)

Later in the evening we had dinner plans with an American friend, Michele R., living in Paris studying at the Cordon bleu and a French friend Michel H. Michele R. needed to practice for her exam so she was going to cook an excellent meal for us and we were to critic. A tough job! She prepared margaritas with a fun amuse-gueule. We then, over the course of several hours, enjoyed a sea bass entrée, then a plat of pistachio covered veal, beat flan, sweet bread shish-kabob (which is not the same thing as the sweet bread everyone re-gifts during the holidays), followed by cheese and deserts. Here a few photos from this phenomenal meal:

Don't ask what it is... but, yes, we ate it.

Day 7: the final day, Sunday. Dad and I slept in a bit then head over to the art market new my house. It is really a great market; there are dozens of local artists who make beautiful masterpieces of all kinds. We walked up and down and one thing caught dad’s eye which he got as a very nice souvenir for himself.

After the market, we went to the Centre Pompidou because it was the first Sunday of the month when all national museums are free to all. I was slightly under-whelmed by the museum. It was confusing and gigantic, and full of people (which I expected on the free Sunday… We’re all radins!). But we managed to find an area which had some really beautiful pieces of art which we lingered around before heading out.

Dad in the escalator tube thing...

And that was that. Dad left early the next morning. Thank you dad for a great, action-packed week! À la prochaine!