Provence!!

I just turned over my work on a research proposal and made a reservation at a B&B in Provence for tomorrow night.  (Les Petite Barrones - http://www.antiqueluberon.com/lpb/accueil.html)  One of my co-workers has made a proposed itenerary for our trip and recommended some great places to see near where "A Year in Provence" was written and filmed.  We will drive South through the mountains early tomorrow AM - the slow beautiful route, and return on the motorways on Sunday afternoon. 
Nancy is still having to adjust to some impatient check-out clerks at the supermarche, but she is well received at the local shops.  She is having some American ex-pats over for lunch today at the apartment.
I am sure we will have some great pictures/adventures to share after we get back.
The drive to work this AM was another breath-taking experience - the view, not the drivers.  There is a tendency for a thin ground fog to form in the valley as I get near Crolles.  It is great; but it does subdue the colors of the leaves by making the scene appear in soft focus. 

Mardi, 27 Octobre, 2009

The only real excitement for today is the car accident I was nearly in last night just as I was nearing our flat.  About half a block ahead of me, a traffic light changed from red to green, and the two cars at the light began left hand turns onto a side street.  As I came upon the intersection, the last car of the two decided not to make the turn (after nearly completing it) and turned right back in front of me - very fast in order to avoid the car coming from the opposite direction.  The anti-lock brakes on my car worked very well as the culprit raced down the street and turned right at the next alley-way - this time without signalling.  (I still did not say any bad words, in either French or English; but I confess my thoughts of his driving skills are probably not appropriate to express.  But then, maybe his skills are fine - just no judgment at all.)
The weather is a balmy, sunny 65 F or so, and the leaves are near the color peak.  The reds are finally showing their beauty while the yellows are already there.  The steep skirts around the mountain cliffs are colored with the full spectrum of leaves.
Did I mention that the Dent de Crolles near my work is a center of European caving and hang gliding?  I don't know if Nance and I can come close to exploring all of this in only 6 months.

Dimanche, 25 Octobre, 2009

Sunday has mostly come and gone.  We had a wonderful day of church, drive through some countryside villages, lunch, nap and reading, followed by a walking adventure in centre ville Grenoble.  I persuaded Nancy to investigate and see if we could find an open patisserie - we did and the raspberry tarte was fabulous, especially when consumed in a tiny park with the attendant pigeons, who became very sure of themselves after Nancy tossed a couple of crumbs their way.  Then we strolled to the center via Place Victor Hugo, and found an extensive flea market.  There we found some cooking utinsels Nancy was missing, and a marvelous street musician.   (see the short video clip on myface.)  Then back for a salad and walnut tarte for dessert, and a quiet evening.  Tomorrow Nancy will have a French lesson, and I am deeply engaged in a work project.  The fall colors are nearing their peak, and are absolutely incredible.  If the weather holds and we do not have heavy wind, rain or frost, they will be astonishing next weekend.

Je suis desole. J'ai fait un ereur. Samedi, 24 Octobre, 2009

Boy, did I ever!  I knew that gazole was their name for diesel, and I knew that essence, san plombe was NOT what my Ford Focus needed to go.  What I did not note, is that whereas in USA the green nozzle is diesel - that is not the case here.  So, les Americain Stupide filled his tank with essence, san plombe.  We spent much of the day waiting for a tow-truck and then the draining and cleaning of the fuel system of our car.  The little car now goes well, again, my pocket-book is somewhat lighter, and it hurts deeply whenever I laugh - that is, if I can laugh.

Nancy was very patient and very kind; but she assures me that this is a tale worth repeating often.  :-(
(So does the French girl who was the receptionist at the garage.  She says that this problem is most often seen with men drivers, not women.  (Nancy says always.  That is my story and I am sticking to it.)

However, we did make it to the street market again this AM and bought our groceries, then to a Bucherie for some roast bouef, then a patisserie for some dessert and a sandwich and some bread.

After waiting for the car to be serviced, we drove to a ski resort village - 12 kilometers from our flat - fabulous views.

Now to relax, Skype, and forget our silly little (expensive) faux pas.  (Essence even cost more than gazole, and I lost a whole tank!!!!! adn had to pay for its disposal!!!!)

Starting to understand-sort of 23/10/2009 Vendredi

Ils vous taquinaient à propos de votre déjeuner.  O.K. so I had to go back to my desk and use an on-line translator to get this right; but I did understand my colleagues were teasing one of the fellow workers over his lunch of bagguette and sardines sandwich.  He did not understand when I asked him if they were teasing him - even though his English is better than my French.  It took a fourth person coming in before someone understoond "tease", and confirmed what I had somehow grasped.  They had been saying to him that if he treated his wife better he would not have to have a sardine sandwich for lunch.

Now I have to grouse a little bit.  Nancy took 6 shirts and one blouse to the laundry and picked them up yesterday.  The cost was 49 Euros - that is nearly $75. US.  (We will not make that mistake again!!!!!)  She also paid nearly 3 times what the US cost would be for a manicure.  Oh well, TIF.   (This Is France.)

View from my car window as I drove home yesterday.

Nancy and I have not yet decided what to do with ourselves this weekend; but I am sure we will find something fun - either a walk around Grenoble or a drive in the mountains if the weather permits.  (There is no highway through the mountains to the Northeast, where an expected invasion from Italy called for the building of the bastille in the early 1800's.)

By the way, the translation of the first phrase is:  They were teasing you about your lunch."

jeudi, 22 Novembre, 2009

Bon soir!
For those of you who do not know French and who do not care to, je suis desole.  I am sorry, but I must practice at every opportunity.  Last evening, the rain made my commute quite tiresome - over an hour in stop and go traffic with a stick shift (no, I did not kill the engine even once.)  It was almost worth it this morning to see the view of the snow on the surrounding mountain peaks - that is, on the western side.  The Dent de Crolles is not high enough to be covered as yet.  The leaves are rapidly approaching their best viewing; and the trees grow right up a steeep slope to the base of the cliffs at the side of the Dent.

One of my colleagues laughingly stopped me on my way in to the office this morning and assured me that the only thing I lacked to be looking like a classical Frenchman on his way to work would be a baggette tucked under my arm.  (My beret and leather pilot's jacket go over very well.)  (Nancy has a high very French hat that she has yet to let me take a photo to show you.)

BBC TV leaves a bit to be desired - the most exciting shows on in the early evening are of a woman exploring hiking trails around Britain or another that has agencies seeking out possible heirs to estates where no will or local realtives can be found.  (The woman really gets escited about abandoned rail beds turned into hiking trails.)  I have begun reading books on my Kindle after exhausting the novels Nancy and I brought with us.  (She is re-reading "My Life in France" by Juliet Childs.)

One more day till the weekend and some more exploring.

Wednesday - mercredi for you Francophiles

It is Wednesday afternoon, and I have begun to aggressively pursue the enhancement of my nearly non-existent French vocabulary. Today is scheduled to memorize the days of the week, the numerals from 11 to 20, and the tens to 100. (For those of you who do not know French, 70 is stated as sixty-10, 80 as 4 twenties, and 90 as 4 twenties and 10 - go figure!) TIF (This is France.)

Nancy had fun learning how to use the washer and dryer - you don't use coins, you use tokens in the machines. I did manage to figure out the microwave ovens at work, and no, the user interface is nothing like those in the USA. (Did you ever have to figure out how to ask for finger-nail clippers when you were not sure of the language. By the way, for some reason left and right get confused by those who say they speak a little bit of English.)

I am not complaining, mind you - just explaining that their are interesting daily challenges.

I have set our car GPS to use French language announcements and metric units, and can actually understand the directions without looking at the screen for the pictorial most of the time.

Not sure what we will do this weekend - depends on the weather which right now is forecast to have a chance of rain. We will certainly do some exploring, however.

Life is good. C'est si Bon!

Sunday evening Oct18

Bon Soir! One week in France.
We had a delightful day yesterday - after going to the farmer's market near our apartment and coming home well stocked with accoutrements of dining, we had rotisserie poulet with marvelous bread for lunch; drove out to Crolles to show Nancy where my office is located, and the view of the mountains along the way -(the drive is only about 20 kilometers.) We stopped at the airport at Le Versoud and checked out two flying clubs so I can decide how best to maintain flying currency during our stay here. We took the slow way home driving through quaint villages and stopping at a patisserie for dessert and espresso. We then drove by the International Church in Corenc where we had decided to attend this morning. Nearby we found a nursery, where Nancy found some herbs to decorate, and to cook with. (We had to return there after church this AM because she found she really needed some sage in addition to what she obtained yesterday.) Then we had fruit, cheese, bread and du vin for dinner and watched two romantic movies on BBC2 - French kiss and You've got Mail. For some reason the blogspot is very slow right now, so will the edit this and publish the pictures later.

We were very pleased with what we found at church - great warmth and mission spirit. Yesterday, they had held a training class for women in service to God, and had several women visiting from California. One of the speakers was a professor of church history from Fuller Theological Seminary, who gave a brief synopsis of his lesson today after the sermon. Nancy hooked up with a women's Bible study group.

After a lunch at our apartment, we read and napped briefly, then walked to a park where a cable car station was located, and took the tram to the bastille overlooking the town - thus some of the pictures. The views were fabulous. We stopped for coffee and crepes on the way home - MMMMMMMM! We found a gourmet coffee shop as we returned to our apartment that features Kenyan coffee that they roast on the premises. Aaahhh!

Tonight is time for blogging, journaling, and chilling.

Saturday morning

My first work week is over, and we have had our first French night out. Last night we went to a very small restaurant just a couple of blocks away. We had a wonderful dinner that began with the tiniest piece of toast, a salmon pate, and a tomato sauce, went on to a salad and jambon, brie, and apple tart, followed by rabbit wrapped in bacon with potatoes (the best Nancy and I had ever tasted), with a zucchini quiche, and finished off with a chocolate cake with a scoop of ice cream. We discussed who would go up the stairs first in order to pull the other up. (This place is definitely on the list of places to go if we have guests from the states.) We did have to spend some time meandering around before we could be seated - they don't start serving dinner until 7:30 around here. It was actually my third restaurant meal - out to lunch on Monday with work colleagues; then again on Wednesday a business luncheon with a potential client.)

It is hard to describe the surroundings, so I will take some pictures today as we finally get to do some exploring - first the farmer's market and then???? The first here is one I took out of the window of the ante-room to the men's toilet at work. The views here are fantastic.

I got a small auto GPS so we can drive wherever and get back without difficulty. I may even set the language to French after a couple of more days.

Nancy and I both bought our French chapeaus - pictures to follow. :-)

I think I will go make a pot of coffee and chill for a few minutes.

Tonight or tomorrow we will add street and apartment pictures

The mountain in the picture is known as "the tooth" for obvious reasons as it looks like a huge molar from one direction.
Nancy was out and about shopping today, and realized how challenging it can be to buy more than one can conveniently carry home and up the stairs to our flat. While it is on the "first floor" that means the first floor above ground level, not ground level.
I did not need any direction assistance in getting to work or home today (believe me, the streets are very unusual, and you need to memorize vectors and landmarks both to navigate.) I purchased a French Navman today to enable us to drive without fear in much of the rest of the town. (Fear of getting lost - that is. I have not found maps that interact with the gps that communicates with my laptop. :-) )
Packaging, weights, and sizes will be a challenge until metric units are familiar to Nancy, and she is not quite sure that the package she bought is really laundry detergent and not cat litter.

Day 3

The view of the surrounding mountains was glorious this morning as I drove to work - I will post pictures this evening. The sun on these rugged foothills of the Alps is incredible.

Yesterday, Nancy was out and about exploring close to our flat, and managed to find a fruit and vegatable stand as well as a full market. We had our first home cooked french dinner last night - c'est bon! The smell in our hallway was terrific as I arrived, and I hoped it was coming from our flat - it was.

We are still feeling our way along. I drove to work without any reference to maps or GPS or phone mapping with no difficulty, and hope to get close to that on the way home. (the route is different in the city due to one-way streets, construction, etc.

All of the people we have met have been very helpful. Nancy is trying very hard to learn French pronunciation; and I am sure she will ultimately learn more French than I, since she plans to take lessons.

Must go to my important meeting; so I will post later.