The Video Diary of an American in France

The French Garden

We heard on the radio the other day that 50% of all French households have vegetable gardens. Even many of the apartments come with little plots of land belonging to each resident for the purpose of gardening.  If not, most cities have areas of land that you can rent for less than 100 euro a year to plant your garden. The French Garden is a way of life in France, a carry over from their long history of farming. This video shows our garden, which is fairly typical of most in France.

 

Viva Voce Annual Chorale Concert

Every year Viva Voce Chorale has their major concert in Chambery. Here's this year's concert which occurred the last weekend of May.  They have been invited to sing at the Verona, Italy opera coliseum next year so they're moving up to a whole new level. My husband sings in the chorale. He's the cute one on the front row, second from the right.

For online voice and singing lessons, Click Here!

Artists of Savoie in the French Alps

On a couple of motorbike day trips we ran across two artists, more specifically sculptors. One worked from his home in Le Noyer en Bauges, a rural area about 30 minutes outside of Chambery. His name is Michel Giachetti and he's the first featured artist in the video. The second artist works from the Barraux Fort, also near Chambery. His name is Jean Claude Clapier (www.jean-claude-clapier.odexpo.com). Both artists sell their works and have regular exhibits. I hope the video will give you a little insight into some of the unique and beautiful creations of the Savoyarde artists in the French Alps.

 

Hautecombe Abby and King Umberto of Italy

This is the day I learned never to go on a motorbike ride without my video camera. We were going to do a quick loop around the lake but then I said, 'well, let's make a quick stop at the Hautecombe Abby that we've never seen.' We did and ran smack dab into an amazing event that only happens once a year. The descendents and relatives of King Umberto II, the last king of Italy, were at the Abby commemorating the King's death. They came from Piedmont, Italy, specifically Turin, the King's home. I learned a few details with my pathetic Italian - Umberto served as the last King of Italy for slightly over a month, from 9 May 1946 to 12 June 1946. He was buried at the Abby.

We couldn't believe we timed our visit so appropriately.  My husband fortunately had more sense than me and had brought his camera so we managed some photos of the event. The Abby, which sits on the lake at Aix les Bains, is worth seeing for its beauty even without a fantastic event to attend.

Castles and Ruins of Savoie

We take regular motorbike trips into the French countryside when the weather is good. We never go out with the intention of finding something unique or amazing but almost always run into it anyway. This video captures a few of the ruins and castles we found just by accident by wandering the 'less traveled' roads in the countryside. Of course, my husband's fabulous sense of direction helps a lot.

Things I Miss and Don't Miss about Los Angeles

Things I Miss:

1. Pickle relish, canned pumpkin, ground turkey, chili pepper flakes

2. California Wine!!!

3. Toilets that don't have little plateaus where everything falls (and therefore don't need to use those nasty little toilet brushes)

4. 'Real' clothes dryers

5. Great ethnic food restaurants (instead of pretend ethnic food restaurants that cater to the French palette, i.e., no taste or spice);   I guess you can't send Thai or Mexican food in the mail?

6. Computer keyboards that don't have the damn 'a' where the 'q' is supposed to be and an @ sign that doesn't require three fingers to type

7. Sunshine year-round

8. My housekeeper

9. People who aren't paranoid about 'killer drafts' and therefore don't yell at you when you open a window

10. Customer service

11. Baskin Robbins ice cream and Trader Joe's grocery stores

12. Did I already say customer service?

13. Bureaucrats who write things down instead of making up the rules as they go

14. Not having to give the right of way to little allies and streets that suddenly appear on the right while you're driving - this stupid traffic rule leads to many near-misses

15. Upright vacuum cleaners

16. Great educational TV shows, including my cooking, history and travel channels

17. Decent radio stations

18. Having my own bathroom and office

19. Having the option to use a microwave to heat up a frozen meal on occasion (sacrilege in France!)

20. My convertible car

21. Being able to return something to a store because the color is wrong rather than because it has a major defect, and then being interrogated and treated like a huge liar and scam artist

22. Rooms that aren't painted in orange or some version thereof

23. Public bathrooms that aren't co-ed - I still get startled when coming out of a toilet stall and running into a man at the sink

24. English language movies and bookstores

25. American prices at the stores and restaurants, and a huge variety of shopping options

26. Entertainment opportunities: concerts, music bars, Hollywood bowl, wine clubs, plays, movies, etc etc etc.

27. Stylish clothes for women who wear sizes larger than 8

28. No strikes

29. The international, multi-cultural society of Los Angeles

30. English!!!

31. And of course, my friends  (thank goodness for SKYPE!)

                                                                                     

This was my house in LA. It's 2-bedroom, 1000 sq feet, with a small guest house, in a decent neighborhood.

It cost $480,000! That's the price of housing in LA!   

 

Things I Don't Miss about Los Angeles: 

1. Traffic

2. Stress

3. 50 hour work weeks with only 2 weeks a year of vacation

4. Long lines everywhere

5. Pollution

6. Crime and gangs and the need to be slightly paranoid about your safety at all times

7. Did I mention 'parking lot, stop and go, and rude, aggressive, crazy drivers' traffic?

8. Insanely high housing costs

9. Los Angeles Airport

10. The eternal youth and perfect body culture

11. Neo conservative, religious fanatic, Bush-loving Republicans

12. No universal health care and greedy medical insurance companies

13. The culture of workaholism

14. The dating scene, including my past boyfriends

15. A 'survival of the fittest' society where the middle class carries the weight and the tax laws benefit the rich

16. Little public transport

17. The need to make a six-figure income in order to have quality of life

18. Superficiality

19. The 'you are what you drive' culture

20. The need for some people to project an image of wealth and success even if you're poor as a church mouse and living on credit cards

21. A landscape of buildings, cars and concrete

22. Hollywood

A Visit to Chartreuse

Chartreuse is a small region about 30 minutes outside of Chambery in Isere. There are several quaint, mountain villages which are worth driving through, but what's even more beautiful is the scenery of the mountains, hills, forests and pastures.  It may be the most gorgeous scenery I've seen yet in the region which explains why we frequent it on our motorbike. 

The main little town is called St. Pierre du Chartreuse; near the town are the museum and the Abby, which was first settled in the 1100's by a Monk who came to the area for isolation and solitude. The Abby is still occupied by monks who have taken an oath of silence. Visitors are usually not allowed.  Their income is made from the liquor they produce which is also called 'Chartreuse.'  It's quite famous in France. It has an herbal taste, and frankly, I don't care for it, however you can take a tour of where they make it and other liquors in Voiron, which is a 45 minute drive away.  The tour includes a tasting of the local liquors - some of the fruit flavored ones are excellent. The monks run almost the entire operation from their computers back at the abby and only two monks know the Chartreuse liquor recipe, which dates back to the 1700's. 

For me, however, the best place to stop in St. Pierre du Chartreuse is the Saint Hugues Church. It is filled with contemporary religious art by Arcabas and is glorious to see. Most French people in Chambery don't even know about the church so this is truly a wonderful secret to discover.

Scenery of the French Alps

Now that the warm weather is moving in along with summer, we occasionally have a day when we can go motorbiking again. It's one of our favorite things to do, particularly given the beauty of the area. Here is a compilation of a couple of our bike trips. Enjoy the scenery!

The French Wedding Cake

One of the biggest differences between the French and American wedding experience is the wedding cake. Americans make 3 or more tiers for their cakes, covered in icing. The French make a cake called a Croquembouche, which is typically in the shape of a tall skinny pyramid and is made of chocolate or vanilla-filled puff pastries stuck together with caramel and honey. Our lodge restaurant where we had the dinner gave us the option of having the cake made into the shape of a wishing well. What we didn't know until they brought it out was that it included fireworks too!  This is an unedited short video of the surprise.

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Here's a photo of a more traditional Croquembouche (French wedding cake).

   For books on cake decorating, Click Here!

A French Wedding with a Few American Traditions

For those of you who are interested in seeing the differences between French and American wedding traditions, here are some photos and short videos of Bernard and my wedding which took place on April 25th. Firstly, all weddings must be held in the Marie (equivalent to the Courthouse in the US) and the Mayor performs the wedding. Church and State are separated here, and unlike in the US where you can do the entire ceremony in a Church if you choose, in France you don't have that option. You must do the civil ceremony in the Marie and can do an optional religious ceremony at another time. Our Mayor was quite nice and did some special touches, which we were grateful for since otherwise weddings can be a cold and sanitized event. Martine, my French friend who's fluent in English, composed and read the story of how we met in both languages, so it is possible to personalize the ceremony and give it a less 'sterile' feel. Some traditions remain the same in both cultures such as exchanging the rings, the kiss, the pronouncement, the 'oui's', the first dance, the throwing of something on the couple upon leaving the place where the wedding took place, and the wedding cake. These traditions however can take very different forms than in the U.S.

Bernard's friends composed two songs in French and sang them to us at the dinner celebration at the mountain lodge we rented for the dinner and party. Once again the love of singing that the French have came through in this simple, heartfelt gesture. It was a wonderful surprise.