The French Journal

NYT Day #2: Bordeaux eats, Paris after midnight, lots of opera, Marie-Thérèse

Other items from the NYT:

• The two people who read this blog who have unlimited budgets and who will spend time in Bordeaux in the near future should be sure to read Christine Muhlke's recap of high-end dining in the city. The rest of us without expense accounts may not find the article edifying. Featured are Restaurant Jean-Maire Amat, La Cape, La Grand'Vigne, Cordeillan-Bages, and Hostellerie de Plaisance. (Got to get myself one of these gigs.)
• If I'm reading Elaine Sciolino's article about Paris by Night correctly, after 1:00 AM your best options in the city are some elaborate noshing and a game of pool.
• A more-or-less forgotten survivor of the French Revolution is the subject of Susan Nagel's Marie-Thérèse, Child of Terror, subtitled "The Fate of Marie Antoinette's Daughter." (Apparently, her father Louis XVI is less of a draw and doesn't merit any up-front mention in the subtitle. Ah, the indignities continue!) The NYT review says that "while a biographer's impulse to empathize with her subject is commendable, Nagel's desire to humanize Marie-Thérèse leads her to make some unconvincing assumptions."
• To scope out the future of New York City Opera, music critic Anthony Tommasini has taken himself to Paree to check out productions overseen by Gerald Mortier, who will lead the NYCO next year. Reading between the lines, New Yorkers and opera aficionados should prepare themselves for non-traditional experiences after Mortier hits the town.

Gascony: A France of one's own

Once you get out of Paris, particularly during off-season, you're likely to come across areas where you'll feel like the only tourist for miles. This can be one of the joys of such a visit, to have all of that splendor to yourself.

A writer for the San Francisco Chronicle has many such experiences when she spends time in the former region of Gascony, a part of southwest France, now officially split between the Aquitaine and the Midi-Pyrénées. The visit has a leisurely pace. There are things to see, of course, like the caves of the Grotte de Pech-Merle, where -- unlike Lascaux -- you can view actual prehistoric paintings and not recreations. A number of the "Hundred Most Beautiful Villages of France" are in Gascony, and several others are examples of "bastides," or fortified towns. The spirits of the Romans and of Henri IV are also in evidence. Mostly, the writer has the joy of leaving well-trod roads and making discoveries that seem all her own. 

One such is a visit to a workshop which has dedicated itself to "Bleu du Lectoure," the royal blue color derived from a plant called Woad that was the signature color of kings. The website devoted to the enterprise has a French language video which explains the process (and which -- with its George Winston-like score and shots of golden fields -- you can watch for a Monday morning escape of your own).

French theme parks: Pro and con

There are those of us who stay away from theme parks in the USA (usually).  And when it comes to French vacations, time is so precious that such a visit does not have any chance to make our lists. But if you're neutral on the matter,The Times (London), offers some opposing views.

First, a trip to space, at the Cité de l'Espace in Toulouse, is presented as an entertaining experience, one that's not "dumbed-down." Its theme is becoming an astronaut, so there are training sessions, tests, simulations, and an IMAX film about a space station. Overview: "For a fraction of the price (of a real visit) and a 90-minute flight from London to Toulouse on a conventional aircraft, you can enjoy all the delights of the solar system, weightlessness and even the Mir space station. And you can take your children."

On the other hand, the venerable Charles Bremner assaults Disneyland Paris and Parc Asterix, where "you pay a fortune to queue for hours with thousands of tourists eating chips and ice-cream to experience thrills that last sometimes no more than a minute."

One difference between the two parks the visitors at Disney are mostly British, those at Asterix are French. In the end, he finds Parc Asterix more bearable, but we're measuring degrees of misery.

Six writers, six escapes to southern France

Dream fodder. The Guardian (U.K.) asked six writers, living in France, to name their favorite places to escape to when they want to go far from the madding crowd. Here are their selections; take your pick for a quiet Monday morning.

• Gigaro, Provence. Chosen by Stephen Clarke, who begins by trashing St. Tropez -- the man can't help himself. When he writes of the nearby town of Gigaro, however, his tone (almost) changes: "...in one corner of the bay is the start of a coastal path that winds for 10km through fragrant pine forests. If you don't fancy a long hike, you can stop at one of the rocky coves that might just turn out to be your private beach."
• Buoux, Provence. Jamie Ivey, who keeps the blog Extremely Pale Rosé, says that "Buoux is a small hamlet set amid towering pine-crested cliffs. The shape of the valley contrives to drive traffic away, and only the curious discover the untouched heart of the Luberon."
• Banyuls-sur-Mer, Languedoc. Chosen by Rosemary Bailey, Banyuls is a "modest Catalan fishing village of Banyuls-sur-Mer. I love its old town with its steep whitewashed streets with shady patios filled with palms and bougainvillea..."
• Vence, Provence. A neighbor of Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Vence is the selection of photographer Tania Cagnoni. "Vence's forte is daily life: sipping rosé in dappled sunlight under the plane trees in the square, buying freshly baked bread from the boulangerie and punnets of Carros strawberries at the daily market."
• Eugenie-les-Bains, Aquitaine. Emily Barr, a novelist, reveals that the "test kitchen" of a popular, nearby three-star restaurant is a "sublime experience," and a bargain.
• Northern Ardeche. Correspondent Jason Burke says, "Here there are fewer gorges, fewer people, fewer caravans and fewer German school parties. Instead, you can enjoy a landscape like a warmer, drier Scotland, with high moors, plunging valleys, sheep galore, rushing torrents and superb walking..."

Enjoy. I'm off to speculate whether I'll ever visit any of the hundreds of places in France that I write about and other ironies.

Guess the city: A 48-hour tour of...

I've written about this city a lot over the last year, so to spark your interest, I'm going to give you a handful of facts and see if you can identify the place. It'll be revealed after the jump, which will have a link to a Reuters story about spending a weekend there. (Thanks, Randal, for the head's up.) And as a prize for a correct guess, you'll get the admiration of the writer of The French Journal.

This city...

• Was named in 2007 as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
• Has a historic restaurant, Le Chapon Fin, served as a hangout during various eras for Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and World War I Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau.
• Has three grand churches, Saint-Andre, Saint-Seurin, and Saint-Michel, which were part of the Road to Santiago de Compostela, the famed pilgrimage route.
• Has a mayor who is a former prime minister.
• Offers its own special wine. (You can find a hint in the post about the appelation if you look hard enough.)

And the city is...

The Times (London) goes to France (with kids, pétanque, skiing, and sun)

The Times (London) went fou for France this week in its Travel section. I'm tempted to dole out their stories one-by-one -- content is valuable -- and, indeed, I've already served up Porquerolles and andouillettes from their offerings. But to avoid seeming like I'm just an RSS feed, I'll offer a quick recap of the remaining items for you to explore as you wish.

• Kids with a glass of wine. For family vacation types, The Times visits Château Rigaud in St. Emilion, a child-friendly boutique hotel where kids are tended while the adults lounge around and eat late dinners.
• Kids with bullet holes. Another family rents a spa/villa in Corsica, where they are spoiled with pain au chocolat and massages, and titillate themselves by checking out bullet holes made during regional vendettas.
• France versus Switzerland, ski edition. Two sporting types point and counter-point on the merits of Val d'Isère and Verbier in Switzerland, which I hear is a nice country but which isn't France.
• Back to the Golden Isles. Duplicating its efforts, The Times had a second story about the Golden Isles off St. Tropez, which offers more on Porquerolles and adds a leg to the trip with a visit to Port Cros, "... covered almost entirely in pine and holm oak trees...highly regulated. You can’t even smoke there. There are no forms of transport, not even a bicycle."
• Pétanque at the source, or, How I Learned about Boules in Provence and Met Renoir's Descendant.
• A tour round-up. Need suggestions for a thematically organized vacation? Here's a list: new hotels, surfing jaunts, more options for kids, wine tours, cooking classes, etc.

Pampered, instructed, fed: Five days at a cooking school in the Dordogne

For the first full week after the holidays, the best virtual escape available is a trip to the Dordogne, and a five day stay at a comfortable inn where you are taught cooking techniques while improving your French. This visit, courtesy of The Times (London), is portrayed as a very comfortable pedagogical experience: a cozy, renovated villa near the town of Brantôme, where meals are served "in a walled garden by the heated pool." (Presumably, a time of year other than January.) A trip to the local market is required, and there, "...Beneath the austere shadow of the medieval abbey and alongside the river that curls around the town, local farmers sell organically grown fruit and veg alongside fishmongers, cheese-makers and milliners. Mountains of nuts tumble beside boxes of bright red pimento peppers. Pyramids of creamy cheese sit before great wheels of oozing Brie."  Some French is needed, errors tolerated but gently corrected.The cooking techniques are few and basic; I wouldn't expect to turn into Julia Child by the end of the visit. But one's tummy would be full. And it's better than sitting at a desk...

Twice-told tales: Cassoulet, Armagnac, Tati, No smoking, the Sarko show

For the weekend, I have a bunch of articles which cover subjects of past posts. In other words, old topics, new articles:

• On the road in search of cassoulet. Time offers a story about the history of the hearty French dish, cassoulet, made of beans, pork, duck, and whatever local tradition holds. The prize quote: "When a cassoulet arrives at the table, bubbling with aromas, something magical happens — it's Communion around a dish." For the devoted, there's even a Route de Cassoulets.
• Armagnac, Part II. The NY Times visits a producer of Armagnac, the French brandy that lives in Cognac's shadow. The difference? "If Cognac is feminine...Armagnac is masculine, dense, powerful, individualistic, reeking of terroir." Connections: The Darroze family, the producers profiled in the piece, also claims famed Parisian chef Hélène as one of their own.
• Tati the dancer. Also from The NYT: A "Dance of Film" festival is the pretext for an examination from a different vantage of Jacques Tati, the French film comic whose acting was largely non-verbal. The reason to consider his work "choreographic"? He used movement expressively.
• Defense de fumer: As far as the world is concerned, the biggest news from France this week is that smoking in cafés is now verboten. Here's a sample story, this one from Business Week. There are hundreds of others.
• Nic + Carla, BFF. Second runner up: 'kozy's romance. Charles Bremner has the latest in his Times (London) blog, along with news of a recent book about last year's election, one which highlights how much Chirac and de Villepin loathed Sarkozy. There seems to be a new "sensational" book like this every month -- Reza, Royal, La femme fatale, Jospin, Eric Besson...who says the French don't like political gossip?

All about Noël

In my imagination I see French students all over the world given assignments to write about holiday traditions in France. So, to help all of those dutiful éleves, I'll direct them to a great resource on Christmas in France: the one compiled by FranceGuide, which is the official tourism site of France. In it you will find articles about how the holidays are celebrated in Burgundy, the Franche-Comté, Normandy, Alsace, and elsewhere. Another page is devoted to the best-known Christmas markets, such as Montélimar, Montbéliard, Chartres, and seven others.

There's a bit more.  The wife of the French ambassador to Trinidad talks to a local newspaper (Trinidad & Tobago's Newsday) about how she and her family recognized the holiday in Provence. It includes this local precept: "Christmas is for family, New Year is for friends.”

For the rest of us, the non-éleves, we get to enjoy the articles without having to regurgitate any of them.

Bordeaux, spiffed up

So many features about Bordeaux have shown up in the last several months that I was in awe of the local tourist office and its abilities at promotion. It wasn't until the latest article about the city from The Times (London) that I attached to these efforts the name of Alain Juppé, mayor of Bordeaux, and once the French Prime Minister. Power like Juppé's can make things happen. Suddenly, the repeated imposition of Bordeaux upon my consciousness made sense.

Witness the article. Bordeaux, formerly a town which was ignored during wine tours, has been scrubbed up: "Even the sex shop I passed on the waterfront on the way to dinner was tucked into a delightful 18th-century carved limestone edifice, its neon sign glowing almost decorously in the night."  The article brought to attention canalés, a small, cylindrical cake, crisp on the outside, rummy and soft in the middle. And the tourist board has several guided walks that you can join.

Rarely has a local tourist office been endorsed so strongly in a travel piece: by all means, go there if you're in the vicinity. Tell them Alain Juppé sent you.