THE STRIKE CONTINUES....... Day 9

I'M A RACING CAR DRIVER!

Today is the 5th consecutive day of public transport strikes in Paris.... and with another major strike planned for Tuesday, it looks unlikely that things will be back to normal before the end of the week (at the earliest). As I can't take the metro to work, I have to ride a bike. This is all very well, however, with the mercury peaking at a measly 3 degrees today, you can imagine it is not the most pleasant of transport methods at the moment. Until now, at least the weather has been fine, but the forecast for most of the week is rain....

Riding a bike at the moment is pretty scary.... it's like you are in a Nintendo car rally game, where you have to avoid all sorts of obstacles (other bikes, scooters, cars, people) and everyone is driving really erratically because they are pissed that it took them 2 hours to get home. The street out the front of my house is like a car-park, and everyone has stories of how long it took them to get somewhere.... best I've heard is 5 hours!

All I can say is that if it rains, there is no way I'm going out in that!

LE BEAUJOLAIS NOUVEAU EST ARRIVE!

Thursday was the release day of the 2007 Beaujolais Nouveau. A day celebrated long and hard in France (and around the world), the 3rd Thursday in November spells the unleashing of the new beaujolais, an extremely young wine (6 weeks old) on the unsuspecting public. So Valentin and I decided we should hold a party to celebrate the auspicious occasion. Traditionally, its a pretty nasty wine, although I would have to say some of the ones we tried were pretty nice. This year, because of the rain, the wine had a raspberry flavour (?).

10 THINGS I MISS ABOUT OZ.....

Next week will be 1 year since Daz and I left Australia, and knowing that I will be coming back for a visit in January has got me thinking about what I miss in Oz, and the things that will be high on my priority to-do list when I get back... here is a few things I miss (apart from the obligatory family/friends/doggie) in no particular order....

1. TripleJ radio - radio here is completely crap. And a bizzare mix of styles from golden oldies, to jzzz to pop in one set. And its in French!
2. Street presses (Beat etc.)... they don't really exist in a useable format here which makes finding gigs etc. really difficult
3. Indian food (you just can't get good Indian here)
4. Aussie wines - big, fat, heavy reds
5. Barbies - hanging out in people's backyards on a warm evening. Obviosuly this is not possible in Paris cause no one has backyards.... and its bloody freezing!
6. Gigs - the crowds are so much more into it in Oz (Parisians are generally like statues at concerts)
7. Sailing on Sydney harbour (maybe a space thing?)
8. Being able to read the paper and really understand it!
9. All the cool bars in Melbourne that manage to combine dancing with drinking with mingling without being a club (people always sit down in Parisian bars!)
10. Pizza - not the pizza hut variety, but the rocket, pine nut and fetta variety that you can get for $5 at Bimbo Deluxe on Brunswick St.

GILLY'S COUNTRY HOUSE: THE FINAL FRONTIER

Last weekend was another of those magnificent (and multiple) French long weekends. We decided to hire a van and take off to Gilly's country house. It is about 200km south of Paris, right in the heart of France, outside a little town called La Charite-Sur-Loire. As an added bonus, its in Burgundy (mmm... pinot noir)!

So we packed up and headed off to the little country house.....
Where we made bonfires and cooked chicken!
We visited Sancerre (a famous wine town), and several wineries (one which was being run by a kid cause his dad had put a chainsaw in his foot (!?!) and was in hospital.

We went to a flea market where Daniel bought this incredible bottle opener for a steal (amongst other practically useless things)....

Then we patted the baby donkey next door and fed it hamburger buns, before heading back to Paris.
On the way we stopped in the forest, but we were flushed out by hunters (no kidding!) but Daniel was ok cause he was wearing bright clothing (Marie's pink scarf). And to top it all off, I saw a wild deer!

FRANCE IN AUTUMN



FRANCE IN AUTUMN