Sunday, 18 December 2011
Les fêtes
It's been really cold and rainy/snowy this week so we've been stuck in the house quite a lot, which is never good. We managed a trip out last Sunday when it was fairly sunny, up another mountain. I have to stop myself from taking it all for granted! Every week we're seeing the most spectacular sights and it's easy to just walk on by and not realise it.
Stu and Max also managed to take some time to see how the RX7 was getting on:
We've had a couple of mini Christmas celebrations with our friends here before we leave for England.
On Friday night we went to Catherine and Eric's house for tartiflette, a traditional Savoyard dish made with lardons, potatoes and reblochon cheese - extremely tasty and something I'll definitely try to recreate soon.
Last night we had a mini party here with Mike, Emily and the boys as well as Catherine and Eric.
Guess where the sun was?
Stu and Max also managed to take some time to see how the RX7 was getting on:
We've had a couple of mini Christmas celebrations with our friends here before we leave for England.
On Friday night we went to Catherine and Eric's house for tartiflette, a traditional Savoyard dish made with lardons, potatoes and reblochon cheese - extremely tasty and something I'll definitely try to recreate soon.
Last night we had a mini party here with Mike, Emily and the boys as well as Catherine and Eric.
Frogs, Rostbifs and Yanks unite
This morning we woke up to a good couple of inches of snow, so we're going to spending today making snowmen and sledging, and tomorrow Stu and Lil are going to go up the mountain skiing again. Their first lesson yesterday was mainly a success although Lily got over competitive with Stu and ended up on her bum a couple of times.
Stu is currently out on his bike. In shorts.
The parties and snow have finally succeeded in getting me into the Christmas spirit. All I need now is a couple of Christmas movies (preferably Elf and The Santa Clause) and I'll be completely ready. By the time we arrive back in Newcastle (IN THREE DAYS) I reckon I'll be as excited as I usually am.
Thursday, 15 December 2011
L'atelier Noël
On Tuesday Max and I went to a Christmas craft workshop in Chambéry (we actually went to one last week too, due to a muddle up caused by my rubbish French but I won't go into that story).
All the children gathered round the table with their mamans whilst the lady in charge explained what we were going to be making. All the kids except one of course. Max has a habit of going deaf and mute whenever we're in social situations at the moment, especially when people speak French to him. After various attempt by various people at getting him to join in, we decided it was best just to leave him to play with the cars on the rug. Which he did for the full two hours, ignoring anyone who spoke to him.
I, however made a fantastic Christmas bauble from thread and old sweet wrappers and a cardboard Christmas tree decorated with feathers and sparkles. Very proud of my work too.
I've noticed that French children in general seem to be a bit less wild than back home. Max's usual toddler group in England can only really be described as chaos, whilst here the kids prefer to sit at a table and get involved with an organised activity. Or maybe it's just the people I'm hanging round with. Either way, Max is still firmly a believer that toddlers equals an opportunity to run wild and play cars.
At the end of the session, everyone joined in singing a French Christmas song. I obviously didn't know the words so just smiled and nodded my head a bit. Then everyone thought it would be a great idea to sing an English Christmas song too for me and Max! So the whole room pipes up with 'Jingle bells, jingle bells jingle all the way'. Lovely I thought. But it seems no-one knew any more words than this, so I had to continue the rest of the song as a solo with twenty people staring at me, smiling and nodding along whilst I got redder and redder until we hit the chorus again. It truly was one of those moments when I wanted the earth to swallow me up.
As soon as we get in the car after the session, Max finds his voice and turns back into his charming old self.
All the children gathered round the table with their mamans whilst the lady in charge explained what we were going to be making. All the kids except one of course. Max has a habit of going deaf and mute whenever we're in social situations at the moment, especially when people speak French to him. After various attempt by various people at getting him to join in, we decided it was best just to leave him to play with the cars on the rug. Which he did for the full two hours, ignoring anyone who spoke to him.
I, however made a fantastic Christmas bauble from thread and old sweet wrappers and a cardboard Christmas tree decorated with feathers and sparkles. Very proud of my work too.
I've noticed that French children in general seem to be a bit less wild than back home. Max's usual toddler group in England can only really be described as chaos, whilst here the kids prefer to sit at a table and get involved with an organised activity. Or maybe it's just the people I'm hanging round with. Either way, Max is still firmly a believer that toddlers equals an opportunity to run wild and play cars.
At the end of the session, everyone joined in singing a French Christmas song. I obviously didn't know the words so just smiled and nodded my head a bit. Then everyone thought it would be a great idea to sing an English Christmas song too for me and Max! So the whole room pipes up with 'Jingle bells, jingle bells jingle all the way'. Lovely I thought. But it seems no-one knew any more words than this, so I had to continue the rest of the song as a solo with twenty people staring at me, smiling and nodding along whilst I got redder and redder until we hit the chorus again. It truly was one of those moments when I wanted the earth to swallow me up.
As soon as we get in the car after the session, Max finds his voice and turns back into his charming old self.
Butter wouldn't melt...
Sunday, 11 December 2011
Perdu dans la traduction
I can safely say my French has vastly improved during the time we have spent here, due to soirées with the neighbours, visits to the doctors, hanging out with the French mammies and general day to day living. However I am still struggling a lot of the time, and continue to make pretty basic errors.
I recently told Eric next door that I like his horses (chevaux instead of cheveux), have been to the sports shop for a chicken instead of a jumper (poule instead of pull), constantly get above and below muddled up (dessous or dessus, not sure which is which and to me they both sound the same), still don't know the difference between my neck and my arse (cou and cul) but I have finally worked out what they've been saying to me in the boulangerie (avec ceci? which means anything else? not ca suffit which means that's enough. I thought it was a strange way of asking if that was all. In any case I've been answering oui instead of non for the last three months).
So my New Year's resolution is going to really make an effort with the language. It would be an absolute waste if I didn't. I've started two books, but failed to finish either so will crack on with those. I'll also make an effort to speak it at length every day with whether it's with the neighbours or with my mate Brigitte the supervisor at the Super U. And I don't just mean just answering yes or no, I mean proactively going out of my way to speak about anything and everything. And I'm also going to try and watch half an hour of television everyday, without zoning out. I will get good at this!!!
The snow arrived on the mountains this week, but unfortunately not enough for the ski. We headed up to Le Revard anyway this morning to do a bit of sledging.
I recently told Eric next door that I like his horses (chevaux instead of cheveux), have been to the sports shop for a chicken instead of a jumper (poule instead of pull), constantly get above and below muddled up (dessous or dessus, not sure which is which and to me they both sound the same), still don't know the difference between my neck and my arse (cou and cul) but I have finally worked out what they've been saying to me in the boulangerie (avec ceci? which means anything else? not ca suffit which means that's enough. I thought it was a strange way of asking if that was all. In any case I've been answering oui instead of non for the last three months).
So my New Year's resolution is going to really make an effort with the language. It would be an absolute waste if I didn't. I've started two books, but failed to finish either so will crack on with those. I'll also make an effort to speak it at length every day with whether it's with the neighbours or with my mate Brigitte the supervisor at the Super U. And I don't just mean just answering yes or no, I mean proactively going out of my way to speak about anything and everything. And I'm also going to try and watch half an hour of television everyday, without zoning out. I will get good at this!!!
The snow arrived on the mountains this week, but unfortunately not enough for the ski. We headed up to Le Revard anyway this morning to do a bit of sledging.
When can I have a go?
Hopefully there'll be a bit more snowfall in the next couple of weeks as Lily is really looking forward to having a go at skiing. I'm slightly nervous about this, given the trouble she has not falling over on snow-free ground but I'm sure she'll love it!
Those skinny legs just look too fragile for skis...
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
Les Dimanches
After just over three months here, I'm finally getting used to the fact that none of the shops open here on a Sunday (apart from one boulangerie which usually has a queue tailing out of the door). I've been caught out more than once with absolutely nothing in the house for dinner.
At first it was quite frustrating, but now I've started to really quite like it. Everyone is forced to slow down and spend time with their family and friends.
This Sunday, we spent the afternoon chez les Américains eating Californian burgers and frites. It's so nice to have some English speaking company who we can really relax with, which I find difficult to do when I'm constantly concentrating on speaking French. Although it's always a bit chaotic and noisy when we get together due to the four little boys aged two and under!
It's been raining all of this weekend, which is good news because on higher ground it means snoooooow! The surrounding mountains look like they've all been dusted with icing sugar, and Decathlon is full of people stocking up on ski gear. We're planning on going up to La Féclaz this weekend to do a bit of sledging.
Lily is off to Paris in the morning on a school trip for the day. It's a great opportunity for her to see the city and hopefully she'll have a great time, especially as we have to get up at 5:30am to get her to the station!
Nothing much else to report on so far this week. It's actually taken me two days to write just this much as Stu has started reading my blog back to me in a slow, posh English voice, which makes everything I write sound really stupid. I hear it in my head now whenever I'm typing, a bit like Carrie Bradshaw does. Argh! That sounds terrible!!
Bizzz xxx
At first it was quite frustrating, but now I've started to really quite like it. Everyone is forced to slow down and spend time with their family and friends.
This Sunday, we spent the afternoon chez les Américains eating Californian burgers and frites. It's so nice to have some English speaking company who we can really relax with, which I find difficult to do when I'm constantly concentrating on speaking French. Although it's always a bit chaotic and noisy when we get together due to the four little boys aged two and under!
The lovely Mike and Emily
It's been raining all of this weekend, which is good news because on higher ground it means snoooooow! The surrounding mountains look like they've all been dusted with icing sugar, and Decathlon is full of people stocking up on ski gear. We're planning on going up to La Féclaz this weekend to do a bit of sledging.
Lily is off to Paris in the morning on a school trip for the day. It's a great opportunity for her to see the city and hopefully she'll have a great time, especially as we have to get up at 5:30am to get her to the station!
Nothing much else to report on so far this week. It's actually taken me two days to write just this much as Stu has started reading my blog back to me in a slow, posh English voice, which makes everything I write sound really stupid. I hear it in my head now whenever I'm typing, a bit like Carrie Bradshaw does. Argh! That sounds terrible!!
Bizzz xxx
Friday, 2 December 2011
Décembre, déjà
Um, December?! Where did the last three months go?!
The first of December never fails in getting Lily all excited as she gets to open her advent calendar. I thought she would have grown out of it by now, but she ran down the stairs as soon as she got up to open it this morning. She carefully explained to Max how it works, but he was still sorely disappointed at only opening one of the doors.
The first of December also means happy birthday to my little bro' Andrew, 19 today! Grosses bises xxx
And the first of December this year means I can finally say we're coming home this month!! I can't wait, although slightly stressed I won't get a chance to see everyone I want to as we're only here for nine days. I'm also a bit stressed that I won't get a chance to fit in a Chinese from Yangtze River, an Indian from the Shahenshah, Pantrini's Fish n Chips, a Nando's and a three course Sambuca's over the duration of the visit. I'm finding life tough without a decent takeaway!
It's been a tiring week without Stu here to help with the kiddas, but he's back now. His bag, however, didn't make it back. Seriously. This is the third time in about five months that BA have just totally failed to load his bag onto the plane. We're flying EasyJet on the 21st, so fingers crossed that they're a bit more competent, although you would think that BA would be the experts at that type of thing.
He brought us all a lovely gift from his travels, which he'd fortunately kept in his hand luggage. Mine was some very nice Clarins cream to combat the wrinkles I've managed to develop over the past three months, probably through a combination of stress, sun and sleepless nights.
The cold weather is supposed to be setting in this weekend, which is good and bad. Good because it means the snow will arrive on higher ground so we can start the skiing and sledging, but bad because I hate being cold and it limits what I can do with the boys during the day.
The first of December never fails in getting Lily all excited as she gets to open her advent calendar. I thought she would have grown out of it by now, but she ran down the stairs as soon as she got up to open it this morning. She carefully explained to Max how it works, but he was still sorely disappointed at only opening one of the doors.
The first of December also means happy birthday to my little bro' Andrew, 19 today! Grosses bises xxx
And the first of December this year means I can finally say we're coming home this month!! I can't wait, although slightly stressed I won't get a chance to see everyone I want to as we're only here for nine days. I'm also a bit stressed that I won't get a chance to fit in a Chinese from Yangtze River, an Indian from the Shahenshah, Pantrini's Fish n Chips, a Nando's and a three course Sambuca's over the duration of the visit. I'm finding life tough without a decent takeaway!
It's been a tiring week without Stu here to help with the kiddas, but he's back now. His bag, however, didn't make it back. Seriously. This is the third time in about five months that BA have just totally failed to load his bag onto the plane. We're flying EasyJet on the 21st, so fingers crossed that they're a bit more competent, although you would think that BA would be the experts at that type of thing.
He brought us all a lovely gift from his travels, which he'd fortunately kept in his hand luggage. Mine was some very nice Clarins cream to combat the wrinkles I've managed to develop over the past three months, probably through a combination of stress, sun and sleepless nights.
The cold weather is supposed to be setting in this weekend, which is good and bad. Good because it means the snow will arrive on higher ground so we can start the skiing and sledging, but bad because I hate being cold and it limits what I can do with the boys during the day.
Wish they would entertain themselves like this all the time!
Sunday, 27 November 2011
Le marché de Père Noël
Usually by this time of year, I'm more than a little bit excited for Christmas but I haven't yet got into the spirit of things this year. It just seems that the French don't go quite as Christmas crazy as we do back home.
The local supermarkets have only just started to get their Christmas stock in and I've yet to see any shops with their decorations up yet. I'm not really watching TV these days so I'm missing out on all the Christmas adverts you're constantly bombarded with and as we're travelling back and forth over the holiday period I'm not really going crazy with the present buying as it will be impossible to carry everything with our Scrooge-like EasyJet baggage allowance.
[Note to anyone reading: Please don't bother getting us any pressies this year! We really won't be missing out. Max and Luke don't understand yet, Lily has everything she could possibly want and being at home with our family and friends is the best present anyway. Just read that back and it sounds a bit mean...what I mean is obviously Lily, Max and Luke will be getting their pressies from Santa Claus and therefore won't need anything else.]
Anyway this morning I thought we'd head to our local marché de Père Noël in the hope of finding some Christmas cheer. The market didn't really inspire much of the Christmas spirit unfortunately as it was super busy and trying to manoeuvre the double pushchair through the crowds was fairly impossible.
In true Max style, he didn't want to go anywhere near Santa Claus, hated the music the band were playing and wanted to touch everything that had a 'Touchez Pas' sign. Fortunately a crêpe calmed him down and a vin chaud sorted me out.
There were a few nice bits and pieces that I could have bought, but nothing that would have travelled home very well, so we left empty handed. Hopefully I'll get in the mood soon somehow!
Another bit of excitement chez nous this weekend was on Saturday when the Batley family from Whitley Bay came to visit for the day. They're considering a move to Geneva, so were in the area checking out some of the international schools. It was great for the kiddies to get together and for us to see some friendly faces from home! If anyone else is in the area, please do call in!
Stu is now over in Ireland for work until late on Wednesday. He's taken jump leads with him and texted me where he's parked the car to avert another airport carpark disaster.
I'm sure nothing can go wrong this time....
The local supermarkets have only just started to get their Christmas stock in and I've yet to see any shops with their decorations up yet. I'm not really watching TV these days so I'm missing out on all the Christmas adverts you're constantly bombarded with and as we're travelling back and forth over the holiday period I'm not really going crazy with the present buying as it will be impossible to carry everything with our Scrooge-like EasyJet baggage allowance.
[Note to anyone reading: Please don't bother getting us any pressies this year! We really won't be missing out. Max and Luke don't understand yet, Lily has everything she could possibly want and being at home with our family and friends is the best present anyway. Just read that back and it sounds a bit mean...what I mean is obviously Lily, Max and Luke will be getting their pressies from Santa Claus and therefore won't need anything else.]
Anyway this morning I thought we'd head to our local marché de Père Noël in the hope of finding some Christmas cheer. The market didn't really inspire much of the Christmas spirit unfortunately as it was super busy and trying to manoeuvre the double pushchair through the crowds was fairly impossible.
In true Max style, he didn't want to go anywhere near Santa Claus, hated the music the band were playing and wanted to touch everything that had a 'Touchez Pas' sign. Fortunately a crêpe calmed him down and a vin chaud sorted me out.
Max's worst nightmare
Where's mine mam?
There were a few nice bits and pieces that I could have bought, but nothing that would have travelled home very well, so we left empty handed. Hopefully I'll get in the mood soon somehow!
Another bit of excitement chez nous this weekend was on Saturday when the Batley family from Whitley Bay came to visit for the day. They're considering a move to Geneva, so were in the area checking out some of the international schools. It was great for the kiddies to get together and for us to see some friendly faces from home! If anyone else is in the area, please do call in!
Max and Joseph
Birthday brownies
Worn out
Lily giving Amy the lowdown on French life. Or not...
I'm sure nothing can go wrong this time....
Thursday, 24 November 2011
Tutoyer, vouvoyer
Along with getting the hang of when and when not to faire la bise, I've also been trying to get my head around when to tutoyer and when to vouvoyer.
You learn in school that you use 'tu' when you know the person and 'vous' when you don't know the person. But when do you know someone enough to transfer from using vous to using tu? And what are the exceptions (as it's French and there are inevitably many)? Here's what I've learnt from my experiences so far!
The other week I accidently tutoyed with the daughter of one of the neighbour's friends, and apologised as soon as it came out of my mouth but it was ok she said because we're of the same age group. During toddler group I was vouvoying all over, which someone explained to me wasn't necessary in that situation.
I've not had the awkward 'you can tutoyer me' moment yet when you move from addressing someone as vous to using tu but an example of when that would happen was when Stu was in the process of renting the gite from Catherine and Eric - the relationship reached a point where it went from that of landlord to that of friend (I turned up when everyone was on tu terms!).
Confused? I am...
You learn in school that you use 'tu' when you know the person and 'vous' when you don't know the person. But when do you know someone enough to transfer from using vous to using tu? And what are the exceptions (as it's French and there are inevitably many)? Here's what I've learnt from my experiences so far!
- When talking to litte children, always use tu.
- Family members, use tu.
- Whenever there is an element of a professional relationship (ie doctor, teacher or someone serving you in a shop) use vous.
The other week I accidently tutoyed with the daughter of one of the neighbour's friends, and apologised as soon as it came out of my mouth but it was ok she said because we're of the same age group. During toddler group I was vouvoying all over, which someone explained to me wasn't necessary in that situation.
I've not had the awkward 'you can tutoyer me' moment yet when you move from addressing someone as vous to using tu but an example of when that would happen was when Stu was in the process of renting the gite from Catherine and Eric - the relationship reached a point where it went from that of landlord to that of friend (I turned up when everyone was on tu terms!).
Confused? I am...
Wednesday, 23 November 2011
Pause Poussette
I braved my first French toddler group yesterday. I probably would have done it sooner, but it has taken me this long to find one! They really don't go in for the whole baby club type thing like we do back home. When Max was tiny, I had somewhere to go every day.
Me, Max and Luke turned up fashionably late (didn't want to risk going for the full two hours, in case I hated it) and found ourselves welcomed by lots of friendly faces. Luke was going all out with the charm offensive which was handy as Max (who had been up since 5:45am) decided to act up, not sharing toys and kicking off big style if anyone invaded his personal space. I had to stop him twice from making a run for it out the door as he wanted to go home. He eventually got into the swing of things though and found a little girl to play nicely with.
Anyway, the people were lovely. A couple of the girls spoke a bit of English, and one of them had spent six years in England as an au pair. It's a great way for me to practise my French and for Max to improve his social life. We've even been invited for café et gateaux at one of the girl's houses this afternoon, so looking forward to that!
(It's a bit of a shame that Max spent most of the time yesterday trying to avoid her little boy and getting extremely pissed off when he came anywhere near...fingers crossed he will be a bit friendlier today!)
Me, Max and Luke turned up fashionably late (didn't want to risk going for the full two hours, in case I hated it) and found ourselves welcomed by lots of friendly faces. Luke was going all out with the charm offensive which was handy as Max (who had been up since 5:45am) decided to act up, not sharing toys and kicking off big style if anyone invaded his personal space. I had to stop him twice from making a run for it out the door as he wanted to go home. He eventually got into the swing of things though and found a little girl to play nicely with.
Anyway, the people were lovely. A couple of the girls spoke a bit of English, and one of them had spent six years in England as an au pair. It's a great way for me to practise my French and for Max to improve his social life. We've even been invited for café et gateaux at one of the girl's houses this afternoon, so looking forward to that!
(It's a bit of a shame that Max spent most of the time yesterday trying to avoid her little boy and getting extremely pissed off when he came anywhere near...fingers crossed he will be a bit friendlier today!)
Saturday, 19 November 2011
Les cuisses de grenouille
The major event chez nous this week has been going out for dinner on Thursday night to try frogs legs. We went to local restaurant Le Grillon, where you can get all you can eat cuisses de grenouilles served with gratin dauphinoise plus dessert for 25 Euros.
The legs were like mini chicken wings, not dissimilar in taste, maybe a bit fishy and quite fiddly to eat. They were served in a garlicky buttery sauce, that got quite sickly towards the end, but on the whole they were nice. Probably won't order them again, but had to give them a go while we are here. Don't think I'll be trying snails, horse or tete de veau any time soon though...
Winter has sneaked up on us this week. I was extremely disappointed to see that it was colder here than it was in Whitley Bay at one point! Mornings are absolutely freezing, but it's still getting up to about 14 degrees over lunch time (although the intensity of the sun makes it feel warmer). We lose the sun behind a mountain at about 3:45pm and from then it gets colder again.
The added extra of winter coats, hats and gloves just makes the whole getting in and out of the car thing even more fun, which means I haven't really done much this week whilst Stu has been working.
Lily's French has increased ten-fold over the past few weeks. I think she could easily sit and pass a GCSE in it now and get a fairly decent grade. She's got so much more confidence at speaking it and reading just seems to come naturally. At the end of this year, she is definitely going to have surpassed me!
It's become one of her missions in life to find French words that Stu doesn't know, which is quite a difficult feat however she succeeded this week when she came back speaking the French word for cockchafer, which she'd learnt in science. It seems that cockchafer wasn't in Stu's French or English vocabulary, so well done Lil.
The legs were like mini chicken wings, not dissimilar in taste, maybe a bit fishy and quite fiddly to eat. They were served in a garlicky buttery sauce, that got quite sickly towards the end, but on the whole they were nice. Probably won't order them again, but had to give them a go while we are here. Don't think I'll be trying snails, horse or tete de veau any time soon though...
Winter has sneaked up on us this week. I was extremely disappointed to see that it was colder here than it was in Whitley Bay at one point! Mornings are absolutely freezing, but it's still getting up to about 14 degrees over lunch time (although the intensity of the sun makes it feel warmer). We lose the sun behind a mountain at about 3:45pm and from then it gets colder again.
The added extra of winter coats, hats and gloves just makes the whole getting in and out of the car thing even more fun, which means I haven't really done much this week whilst Stu has been working.
Lily's French has increased ten-fold over the past few weeks. I think she could easily sit and pass a GCSE in it now and get a fairly decent grade. She's got so much more confidence at speaking it and reading just seems to come naturally. At the end of this year, she is definitely going to have surpassed me!
It's become one of her missions in life to find French words that Stu doesn't know, which is quite a difficult feat however she succeeded this week when she came back speaking the French word for cockchafer, which she'd learnt in science. It seems that cockchafer wasn't in Stu's French or English vocabulary, so well done Lil.
Not just a pretty face
We're having a quiet weekend now as Stu is off to Paris first thing on Monday morning for two nights for work.
Luke is due his next set of jabs on Tuesday, which should be fun as I'll have to take Max along too making it about 100 times more difficult to hear what is being said to me.
Better finish up now as Max has just appeared at the doorway with a razor trying to shave his chin...
Monday, 14 November 2011
Les Alpinistes
We've just had a long weekend here in France as they have a bank holiday for Remembrance day, so we decided to go and explore some of the local mountains and take advantage of the awesome autumn weather we're having at the moment, whilst testing out some rather fetching new snow boots.
On Friday, we went to the Crêt de Chatillon (1699m) where you can see both Lac d'Annecy and Lac du Bourget from the summit. Or you could if there wasn't a blanket of clouds just below us! We did get a spectacular view of Mont Blanc though and had fun checking out the ski runs.
Lily was excused from Saturday's adventure as she had revision to do. This time we went to the Col de Granier (1134m), and had a nice walk through the trees and a picnic in the scorching sun.
Sunday's summit was the Molard Noir (1452m) where we traversed the top of the mountain taking in spectacular views over the side.
To put the heights of these places into perspective, the highest mountain in England (Scafell Pike) is only 978m. Obviously we didn't walk all the way up to these heights as one of our team can't walk yet, another only has little legs and one is weighed down having to carry the non-walker. We usually manage about an hour of walking before Max starts whinging and my back starts aching. Lily tends to whinge before we go out, but when we start hiking you can tell that she secretly loves it really.
It's incredible the amount of breathtaking walks there are literally on our doorstep. I just wish that the babies were able to appreciate it!
On Friday, we went to the Crêt de Chatillon (1699m) where you can see both Lac d'Annecy and Lac du Bourget from the summit. Or you could if there wasn't a blanket of clouds just below us! We did get a spectacular view of Mont Blanc though and had fun checking out the ski runs.
High above the clouds
Snowboots already been pinched :-\
Lily was excused from Saturday's adventure as she had revision to do. This time we went to the Col de Granier (1134m), and had a nice walk through the trees and a picnic in the scorching sun.
Going to try and Photoshop Lily onto this picture
Sunday's summit was the Molard Noir (1452m) where we traversed the top of the mountain taking in spectacular views over the side.
My little mountaineers
Those little lakes in this picture are where we spent the end of summer in our boat!
To put the heights of these places into perspective, the highest mountain in England (Scafell Pike) is only 978m. Obviously we didn't walk all the way up to these heights as one of our team can't walk yet, another only has little legs and one is weighed down having to carry the non-walker. We usually manage about an hour of walking before Max starts whinging and my back starts aching. Lily tends to whinge before we go out, but when we start hiking you can tell that she secretly loves it really.
It's incredible the amount of breathtaking walks there are literally on our doorstep. I just wish that the babies were able to appreciate it!
Sunday, 13 November 2011
L'atelier, Chambéry
One of the bonuses of our visitors the other week was that me and Stu were able to go out for an evening without kids.
After walking round Chambéry and checking all the menus we decided to go to L'Atelier where we were lucky to get the last unreserved table.
I have to say this was one of the nicest restaurants I have ever been to! The head chef Gilles had previously worked in Michelin starred restaurants but had given up his Michelin star dream to spend more time with his family. Once we were seated he came and introduced himself, sat down and talked us through the menu options.
For each course you could choose from either two or three dishes. A lot of restaurants here work like this, which I like. Fewer options means you're more likely to try something a little bit different and it also means you're sure that the ingredients user are likely to be the freshest possible (ie no lasagne that's been festering at the back of a freezer for months).
After ordering we were presented with a little amuse bouche and some strange parma violet flavoured drink while we waited for the food to arrive. For starters I had a fricasée of mushrooms with a poached egg, while Stu went for the lobster pasta option:
Main course I went for the duck and foie gras and Stu had some fish:
And for pud, I had a lime thing and Stu had a chocolate and pistachio fondant:
Including drinks it came to a very reasonable 76 Euros.
We'd intended on taking the opportunity of free babysitting to go and have a few drinks, but by 10pm we headed home as were were falling asleep in our pastis! Oh the joys of never getting more than three hours unbroken sleep.I'd definitely recommend this place (if you're not a fussy eater) and look forward to going again.
After walking round Chambéry and checking all the menus we decided to go to L'Atelier where we were lucky to get the last unreserved table.
I have to say this was one of the nicest restaurants I have ever been to! The head chef Gilles had previously worked in Michelin starred restaurants but had given up his Michelin star dream to spend more time with his family. Once we were seated he came and introduced himself, sat down and talked us through the menu options.
For each course you could choose from either two or three dishes. A lot of restaurants here work like this, which I like. Fewer options means you're more likely to try something a little bit different and it also means you're sure that the ingredients user are likely to be the freshest possible (ie no lasagne that's been festering at the back of a freezer for months).
After ordering we were presented with a little amuse bouche and some strange parma violet flavoured drink while we waited for the food to arrive. For starters I had a fricasée of mushrooms with a poached egg, while Stu went for the lobster pasta option:
Main course I went for the duck and foie gras and Stu had some fish:
And for pud, I had a lime thing and Stu had a chocolate and pistachio fondant:
Including drinks it came to a very reasonable 76 Euros.
We'd intended on taking the opportunity of free babysitting to go and have a few drinks, but by 10pm we headed home as were were falling asleep in our pastis! Oh the joys of never getting more than three hours unbroken sleep.I'd definitely recommend this place (if you're not a fussy eater) and look forward to going again.
Monday, 7 November 2011
La célébration
Max had a fabulous birthday weekend in France. He started the day opening his pressies with grandma and granddad watching on Skype, and didn’t stop playing toys and eating crap all day long. We had our own mini fireworks display when it got dark and finished up in bed watching his new Cars DVD.
Duplo farm!
Birthday pain au chocolat (Stu had to stop me from putting candles in his birthday chicken nuggets)
New car from Lil
Les petits
On Sunday we decided to take a trip out. Three of Max’s current favourite things are trains, tunnels and mountains so what would be better than a train that goes through a tunnel and up a mountain?! Well, lots of things would be as it turns out. After driving for an hour to locate the funicular station, we were greeted by a big red FERME sign. Great.
He wasn’t too disappointed though as it meant he could go home and play with all of his new toys and watch Cars again (and again, and again).
I'm feeling a lot happier after a lovely weekend with la famille, and Stu has got most of this week off work which eases the pressure a bit. I'm hoping to get a couple of hours to myself at some point over the week, which could actually be the first time for 17 weeks. It is honestly miles easier going to work everyday than looking after Max and Luke!
It's quite hard to believe that little Luke is now 17 weeks old. It has flown over! By this age, Lily and Max had started on solid food, however I've decided to hold off this time. He doesn't seem to be hungry for anything more than milky I learnt from Max that weaning makes absolutely no difference to babies who are shite sleepers, and I really cannot be bothered with the hassle of pureeing!
So Lukey will be waiting as long as possible before he gets some proper food. I don't think he'll be wasting away any time soon?!
So Lukey will be waiting as long as possible before he gets some proper food. I don't think he'll be wasting away any time soon?!
Quit stalling woman and pass me the filet mignon
We're off to Decathlon now to get Stu some Speedos so he can take Max to the swimming pool in Chambery, as you're not allowed to wear shorts here. He is less than impressed at the prospect of nugget huggers, but I think it's hilarious!
A tout à l'heure!
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