Au Revoir November | Paris

I tend to pass this roundabout at the foot of Rue Mouffetard almost everyday, very often on my way to somewhere else. But the other day, in the blue glow of morning, under a light drizzle, it felt like I was jolted awake to stop and look around me, and to then look again. And not get caught lost in the landscape missing the details,...

If November in Paris had to be defined in photos, this is what it would look like to me... outfitted in a  glistening gauzy gray, cozy in its position between the sleepy floating golds of Fall and the hushed pearly pull of Winter.

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Words & Le Mot Juste: Dépaysement

Dépaysement [day pay eez manh]: disorientation or the unsteady feeling of being displaced,
in unfamiliar surroundings, away from your origin (or simply a change of scenery)

Looking back at my recent posts, I appear to be a hopeless tourist in love. And admittedly I am… Paris is Paris, and by her very nature she draws you in even when you’re too busy looking down or away.

Behind the scenes, however, I have experienced moments of extreme dépaysement - that feeling of tumult after moving from your home country to forge a new home in another. It's the mental and emotional exercises I've been going through during this time of change and adaptation, to feel understood and comfortable and connected. It's the twinge of dislocation I feel when my boys talk about missing friends and family and asking why there wasn't a real Halloween. It's all the why's and other big and small things that make up settling in and settling down somewhere new where the society thinks, acts and talks differently. It's being forced to bend your brain, adjust your perceptions and figure out who you truly are, what really matters and what you believe about the world, for real.

My husband and I joke that living in France makes us feel at times like we're muddling through during the Middle Ages and made to believe we're the ones who need to evolve. As if the country's long and arresting history is weighing down on us. Believe it when you hear that the greatest assets you can have here are patience and a sense of humor. Lots of it, easy to access and then some stocked away for when you get depleted.

But we realize this is all because we now live in another context, another culture, another world. The differences are more pronounced some days, but at some point we'll hardly notice them... that's when the differences will cease being good or bad, they'll simply be differences. And we'll discover that in what makes us dissimilar from our new neighbors lies our similarities - the preservation of customs and need for certain freedoms for example.

My feelings of dépaysement or homesickness are not of the I-miss-home-so much-I-want-to-go-back kind. Not at all. I'm grateful for every second I'm here and get wistful at the thought of leaving. It's just sometimes when everything feels like a foggy reality that I long for no more guessing or confusion, where things are familiar and easy… this is when whispers of wisdom echo in my head "but life is not meant to be familiar and easy." Ah yes, yes of course.

I know there’s not much to complain about living in Paris. Transitions take time and I accept that...with a glass of wine in one each hand  ;)

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La Tour Eiffel

Of all the different angles and perspectives of the Eiffel Tower, my favorites are the ones where she seems to appear out of nowhere, like she's playing cache-cache (hide-and-seek) with us, we turn the corner and then there she appears - larger than life and immensely beautiful,... but more approachable ;)

Do you have a favorite view of La Grande Dame?

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Travelogue: Honfleur

When I asked locals about their recommendations for day trips out of Paris, their lists always included Honfleur, the maritime city in Normandy (just two hours north of Paris) known for being one of the principle birthplaces of Impressionism. And you can visit much of the medieval city in a single weekend, or less.

So during my sons’ Fall break, my family drove up on a Saturday morning and arrived in time to walk through the colorful weekly market, under a light rain that shifted into a sheet of pale grey clouds that eventually collapsed into soft blue skies. It’s commonly said that the region’s magical changing light highly influenced many great painters, particularly Arthur Bodin (the friend and tutor of a young Monet); it was this luminous light that invited them to step out of the formal indoor painting style and instead head outdoors.

Particularly picturesque is Le Vieux Bassin, the old port in the center of town lined with tall narrow houses decorated with restaurants, art galleries/ateliers and local specialty shops. From there, you can stroll along tiny cobbled streets of beautifully jumbled together timber-framed homes, typical of Normandy’s architecture. Bring along a good appetite as shops invite you to taste their overflowing array of local specialties like cheese, biscuits, jams, Calvados (apple brandy) and apple cider.

Needless to say Honfleur is very popular and fairly busy, especially during the summer months - but well worth a visit and revisit :)

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Fromage: Tomme de Savoie

Since moving to France, I vowed to make an earnest attempt to keep up with my husband's love of French cheeses and discover more of the country's over 600 different types... that means moving beyond my standards of Camembert, Comte and Emmental. There's always a blue cheese on the plate for my husband (his favorite), and maybe one day I'll get there but that's much further down in my training! I'm starting easy...

So first up, the popular Tomme de Savoie (from the Savoie valley in the French Alps) ... I was completely smitten by this mild semi-soft Alpine cheese with an ashy grey rind. It is smooth on the palette and has a nutty earthy flavor. It's also lower in fat than many others cheeses since it's made from skimmed cow's milk (obtained after the cream has been drained for butter or richer cheeses). Yum :)

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