Storms, flowers, castles and eggs

Last week spring finally arrived. This week it's wandered off somewhere, but will hopefully find its way back soon. The gardeners have been let loose in Melle, however, and there are flowers everywhere! 

Whilst you may have cottoned on to the fact that I love summer and sun and warmth, I'm also a girl who likes her storms. It must have rubbed off from my dad who will get up in the middle of the night and stand by the window for half an hour if there's a storm. On Sunday there was suddenly a storm here, and the rumbles made the glasses in my kitchen clink. So I threw open the windows and watched the hail come down like I've never seen it, as the thundery sky passed by overhead. It made for some not bad photos if I may say so myself:

The other day I came home to find a LOCAL PAPER in my letter box. No clue why this is the first I've received, but I was intrigued as to what could possibly happpen in Melle to warrant writing a news article about. Turns out Melle is actually an exciting little place when you dig deep. I'm sure none of you care at all about the history of my dear little town, but I'm going to summarise the article anyway:

During the recent lime-tree felling and replanting exercise in the centre of Melle, an interesting discovery was made as the workers uncovered part of a wall that belonged to the old castle of Melle. Apparently this was the last part of the wall in the 'jigsaw' so to speak, but no one had been able to locate it. Until now. The chateau was built during the 11th and 12th centuries, and was composed of a motte-and-bailey, one or two curtain walls, and surrounded by a dry moat. Most of the building was left in ruin in 1577 after Henry III ordered the castle and the town's fortifications to be demolished during the Wars of Religion. As a result all that remains today are some of the ramparts, including the recently discovered 4.5m thick wall underneath the main town square.

An 17th century engraving of Melle with the castle on the right, by a Monsieur Chastillon, which I've stolen from the paper, muahaha.

Other than that, I've had a very uneventful week. Apart from agreeing to receive my first ever Couchsurfer who is going to be staying with me tomorrow night and other Wednesdays over the next few weeks. Yay to potentially having another French friend (who is relatively young at 25), with the added bonus being that she's a music teacher, and not just that but a clarinet teacher. How coincidental is that?! Hopefully she's nice and we can toot away together. 

Dinner time for me now. The pressure cooker is whistling away as if it may explode volcano-style any second now if I don't go and relieve the egg steaming away inside it. Yes, I've made the most amazing discovery of pressure cooking eggs when I want them hard-boiled for my salads. For some scientific reason this method of cooking puts a layer of air between the shell and the white, thus making them easy to peel, and I know no one else in the entire world universe is going to find this piece of culinary genious in the tiniest bit interesting, so I'll just go and enjoy my easy-peeling hard-boiled eggs with a smile on my face.

Bon appétit ;)

Fresh daffodils in front of an 11th century church....poetry right there

Lusignan

I'm writing this week's blog in the wrong order. I told you the other day about my trip to Coulon because I was so impressed with it that I was keen to blog about it straight away. But the day before that Rob and I took the train to Lusignan having awoken to another perfect blue sky.

Lusignan is a small town situated south-west of Poitiers, on the edge of the Vonne valley. Despite being a sleepy town today, Lusignan has enjoyed an eventful history. Named after the powerful Lusignan family in the 11th century, the town has in times gone by been home to Lords that were also kings of Jerusalem, Cyprus and Armenia. Lusignan is at the heart of the 'Melusine' region, an area associated with the Melusine fairy. The fairy is strongly recognized in the town, with a street named after her, several carvings of her on buildings, and even a restaurant bearing her name. Legend has it that the château of Lusignan was in fact built in the 10th century by the Melusine fairy for her husband.

Today all that remains of the château are the outlining fortifications. At the top of this are the old castle grounds, which have since been turned into a large open landscaped garden which are beautiful to walk through as well as giving impressive views over the valley and distant viaduct.

Apart from this there is the imposing 11th century Eglise Notre-Dame et Saint-Julien and the wooden market place. The town itself is also very pretty with its cute cobbled streets, attractive houses, and pictoresque views.

Had the bus and train connections allowed us to spend a couple more hours there, Rob and I would probably have taken a walk in the woods below the town, which we briefly had a look at.

We both really liked Lusignan, but I think if the weather hadn't been on our side we would have struggled to find things to do and we would have got a much different impression of the place. While I wouldn't rush back there, as I feel I've seen all there is to see, I'd recommend popping by if you are ever nearby.

Pros and cons of France, according to me

The Christmas holidays were brilliant. I saw family. I ate. I saw friends. I ate. I saw the London lights. I ate. I celebrated my 21st birthday. I ate. I spoke no French. I listened to no French.

All good things come to an end though, and I returned yesterday to dear Melle. Needless to say, the abundance of English and lack of French that I have been immersed in for the past fortnight made work today pretty difficult. Hopefully I'll be able to get myself back up to speed within a few days though.

It's not that I completely removed France and everything frog-related from my brain over Christmas, however. In fact, I had a bit of a reflection session one afternoon, in which I thought about the things I like and dislike about France having now lived there for 3 months.

1. The first thing that comes to mind when I think about France's plus points is its trains. I know it's something the French pride themselves on, and I'd prefer not to boost their egos any further, but the trains are pretty damn good. TGVs speak for themselves, but even the TERs are nicer than most English trains I've been on. I'll admit I felt a bit embarrassed for England when travelling with First Capital Connect over Christmas.
2. Another thing that I love about France is the fact that it seems that every town or city has a château or overly impressive building that has been there for centuries. And what's more, people just walk past them as if they're nothing special and it's perfectly normal for a town to have a 30ft historical stone monstrosity plonked in the centre. The thought of one in Potters Bar just makes me giggle. But in France it just works.
3. Not sure how this next one ended up third on my list rather than first but, I truly love France for its amazingly-cheap-it-shouldn't-be-legal wine prices in the supermarches. My local Aldi has a bottle of red for 0,99€. WHAT?! It's not even like it's low alcohol. I haven't actually bought this particular bottle yet as I'm a classy bird who splashes out on the 1,50€ bottle, but it would be criminal not to give it a go once before I leave France. So watch this space.

I think 3 compliments are enough. We wouldn't want the French getting too cocky. So, now for the aspects of France that don't please me quite so much.

1. It's something everyone questions, but it's worth mentioning; why oh why are French train tickets so huge?! One third of an A4 page per ticket is just not acceptable in an age where the world is striving to be more green in my opinion.
2. On the subject of train tickets, here is my 2nd dislike. It's not a dislike as such, more something I just don't understand. Composter votre billet baffled me the first time I used French trains. 'Is this some special compost heap especially for train tickets, in order to try and compensate for their ridiculous size' I thought. No, it turns out. Composter simply means 'validate'. So you're validating a ticket that you've just bought for a specific train that you're about to board anyway. Please somebody, anybody, explain this incomprehensible madness.
3. I have been trying to go to Church as often as possible here in France, being a Catholic and all that. The thing that struck me immediately is that the French use the 'tu' form of 'you' to address God. Surely this is totally disrespectful to God...isn't he meant to be the most superior being to us Christians? There must be a valid reason, but once again, I can't work it out. As before, please educate me on the matter if you are able to.
4. Zebra crossings are death traps. For us Brits who have grown up with the knowledge that a vehicle will automatically stop for you if you approach those thick white lines on the road, it came as a surprise when I first started coming to France, to discover that in this country cars are not obliged to stop for pedestrians here. As a result I find crossing roads in this country quite difficult, and am always hesitating as to whether or not to cross, in fear that an approaching car will plough straight into me. Maybe I just need to learn to be more French and just fearlessly stroll over the crossings with that swagger all French people seem to have.

Reunited in Tours

Monday to Wednesday saw my first main excursion of my Year Abroad, and it was a very enjoyable couple of days indeed! I travelled a couple of hours north-east to Tours in the Loire Valley. My very good friend Rachel lives and works there so Morgan and I stayed with her for a couple of nights. I was fairly familiar with the city, having spent a week there doing work experience a few years ago, but this trip confirmed that Tours is one of my favourite cities in France. It's got everything; a big grand station, a huge river, a stunning cathedral, loads of shops, millions of gorgeous churches, an old part of the city where all the streets are cobbled and the buildings are really cute and full of character, a pretty square full of bars and restaurants, and generally a really nice ambiance.

La Cathédrale Saint-Gatien de Tours

The impressive Hotel de Ville, albeit with roadworks all around it

But of course the most exciting part of my mini holiday was seeing my two old housemates and sharing stories of our Year Abroad. Rachel is working in a primary school so it was interesting to hear about the different teaching strategies between her age group and mine and Morgan's.

Despite the low temperatures, we couldn't have hoped for better weather at the end of October. There was not a cloud in the sky as we visited the nearby town of Amboise and had a look at its château. We picnicked on the bank of the Loire eating our way through much too much fresh baguette and cheese. 

Eating al fresco on the banks of the Loire

View of the Château d'Amboise

The next few hours were spent in the grounds of the Chateau d'Amboise, learning about its history and appreciating the spectacular views onto the river. It was interesting to learn that only about 20 percent of the original château is still there, and was hard to imagine what it would have been like in the 13th century.

Château d'Amboise

Perfect weather for a panoramic view from the top of the Château

I realised when we got there that I had in fact briefly stopped off in Amboise with my family years ago as we were driving south for a holiday. I didn't remember the town being so picturesque though.

A typical Amboisien street with its timbered buildings

In our uni house last year, cooking was one thing we all loved to do, so being together again we took the opportunity to make dinner together. The first night we made a courgette, red pepper and mushroom in white wine sauce pasta dish, and day 2 we made red onion and feta tarte tatin. Both were delicious and have made me want to cook more exciting dishes whilst in France. The trouble is, it's difficult when there's just one of you, as you then end up eating the same thing for the next few nights.

Red onion and feta tarte tatin served with a side salad

We then set off for an apparently amazing pirate-themed bar which Rachel had been to before. But in true Rachel style, after walking for 20 minutes, we came to the conclusion that it wasn't where she thought it was, so we walked back to the old part of town and had a lovely drink in an English-themed pub called Sherlock Holmes.

The rest of my time in Tours was spent eating more bread, more cheese, lots of brioche, homemade croissants, gelato, and treats from the patisserie. It's fine, I was on holiday...