Le Tour de France

For the three weeks prior to Christmas I embarked on my own Tour de France, minus the cycling.

I figured this is my last trip to France for a few years so it was time to visit all my favourite family friends. Plus I am broke so bunking with relatives and friends is a perfect way to stick to the old budget.

First stop was my Home away from Home, Mulhouse. The whole purpose of my trip back to Europe was for my Grandmas 92^nd birthday, that and one last cold white Christmas complete with mulled wine and snow! Getting back in to Mulhouse was awesome, I have been staying with my mum’s cousins son, but for all intents and purposes I refer to him as my cousin, Lolo and his lovely wife Sandra. Staying at their place is always fun, between walking the Rottweilers, Greys Anatomy marathons, Sandra’s fabulous cooking and basketball I never get bored. I have my international licence and they’ve been kind enough to let me use one of their cars. The first day I drove it was in the snow, and it took me a bit to get used to driving on the wrong side of the road. I still accidentally set off the windscreen wipers when meaning to indicate! However I, and more importantly, the car, are still fine so I am happy with that.

Together Sandra and I made my first Couronne, a wreath with four candles, 1 to be lit every Sunday before Christmas. We have also been busy sampling the mulled wine at the Mulhouse Christmas Markets... YUM

Seeing my grandma has been fantastic. To say she is in a good shape would be a lie but she did recognise me and still has her wits about her enough to sass me every now and then. All in all, I’m very glad I’ve made the decision to stick around France for a while.

Next stop on LTDF was my uncle Yann’s place in Corbonod, a wee little village on the climb to the Alps. The day I set off they had up to 50cm of snow where he is (beat that Mt Buller!!) and I was certain my train would be cancelled. It seems the travelling gods where in my favour, of the 40 trains on the departures board mine was one of only 3 trains that wasn’t delayed or cancelled. BOOM! There was so much snow that when I got off the train I had snow up to my knees... good thing I wore my snow booties!

I spent a lovely week with the family going for walks catching up with my cousins and sleeping!! We celebrated St Nicholas together, a party for children, baking treats and making sweets and cooking little Brioche Men (aka Manalan). I also went out to Parves to stay with our friends Martine and Patrick for more of the same!

Next stop was Lyon to stay with my fabulous lady cousins and to catch my favourite Frenchman, Sylvain. It was particularly fantastic to catch up with Sylvain, so so far from wee little Merrijig where we originally me and worked together, such a small world!!

In Lyon they were celebrating the Festival of Lights, something they do every year. In 1643 when Lyon was struck by the plague the elders of the community promised to pay tribute to the Virgin Mary if the town was spared. As the death toll was minimal the Lyonaise now put tea lights and candles on their windowsills on the 8^th of December every year, to thank the powers that be and remember the horrors that were the plague.

Next stop after Lyon was Peronne, a town near Lille in Northern France, to see the Dannis, some very close friends of my grandmothers. Nadine had told me to catch a train to St Quentin, but I understood Cinquante Un, which sounds exactly like St Quentin but translates in French to 51. So I spent hours searching for the station 51, whooopsy! Good thing we figured out before I left or I would have been in a bit of a pickle... The joys of being bi-lingual I guess!

On my way to Peronne I was lucky enough to time a lunch with one of the greatest women I know, Deb Barron. We met and worked together at La Cave in London and have managed to keep in contact. Deb is from California but has lived in Paris for years and until recently would split her time between Paris and London. She has created a cheese and wine based tour company called Domaines et Terroirs, http://www.domaines-terroirs.com/, taking people through gourmet regions of France! It was so fun to see her and I look forward to the day when the tours kick off because it is such a great concept!

It was so fantastic to get to Peronne and see the Dannis, they are so warm and welcoming and so openly fond of my Grandma it is beautiful. The kind of friends I hope to still have when I’m 80! Peronne is a town that adores Australia thanks to our Allied Troops protecting the township in 1916 and 1918. I’ve actually written about this in a separate blog so click on the link http://angellemills.blogspot.com/2011/01/lest-we-forget.html to read more about that!

Roget and Nadine also took me to Amiens, a town with quite an extraordinary Cathedral laser show. At 7pm the facade is lit using lasers showing the true colours, the detail is extraordinary!

On the way back through Paris, I met up with my uncle Jean Marc who I don’t see very often. It was nice to see him, if only so I could report back to Grandma on how he is doing!

All in all it was a fantastic couple of weeks and I am truly lucky to have such lovely family and friends! I’m looking forward to having a place of my own sometime soon so I return the hospitality!