Alternative castings

Such a laugh over the last few days. It's that moment in between Christmas and New Year, when nothing in particular is happening, although there's always loads to do and for once, I don't feel guilty about snuggling up on the sofa (with Mike) and catching up with a few DVDs. Some new, some gathering dust having been new a few months back, and which we'd not got round to seeing, some just not seen for a while.  Then of course there are the seasonal favourites. Which has meant that for much of the time we've been crying. Sometimes with laughter and sometimes because we're so choked up. Either way the net result is we have no more tissues in the house. (Note to self: add tissues to Thursday's shopping list).

First up was Scrooge - although some films take their name from the book. There are quite a few versions. The earliest one I can find is from 1935. Since then George C Scott has played the title role, Sir Patrick Stewart, Simon Callow. There are also animations, musical versions and even The Muppets got in on the act. But our favourite is from 1951, with a raft of superb British character actors and the comically bewildered Alistair Sims as Scrooge, once described by Ronnie Corbett as, "a sad-faced actor, with the voice of a fastidious ghoul". Sims epitomises (for me) the perfect actor/character pairing that happens from time to time. Not meaning that the others aren't good, but  those 'alternative castings' don't quite press my button and there's at least a dozen films to choose from.

The idea of 'alternative castings' popped up after we'd watched High Society. Fifty-eight years on, Cole Porter's music and lyrics are still sublime and the performances pitch perfect. To the extent that it's hard to imagine anyone else in any of the roles. But amongst the extras on the H.S. DVD, was an interview with Celeste Holm who plays the photographer Liz Imbrie, in which she spoke about Elizabeth Taylor and Howard Keel being considered as Tracy and Dexter, rather than Kelly and Crosby? The one person I could imagine playing Dexter as an alternative is Danny Kaye. Really good singer, terrific actor/comedien.

After that, the idea of 'who might have been' really intrigued, particularly with the big block busters that we've been watching. . . The Lord of the Rings. I'm trying to visualise
Sean Connery as Gandalf,  Bruce Willis as Boromir, Jake Gyllenhaal as Frodo, Russell Crowe as Aragorn. Seems Daniel Day Lewis was approached for Aragorn, but like the others mentioned, turned the film down. Now he would have been something.

As for Harry Potter: Ian McKellan/Dumbledore, Tilda Swinton/Professor Trelawney, Hugh Grant/Gilderoy Lockhart, Timothy Roth/Severus Snape, Robin Williams/Hagrid. 

Just fascinating. Such a fabulous collection of actors, each of whom would have brought something completely different to each of the films. 

Yesterday we watched The Court Jester. Generally regarded as Danny Kaye's masterpiece. We were speechless with laughter - again, and I must know it frame by frame. I can't imagine it in the hands of Jim Carrey or Steve Martin, so I hope there isn't an attempt to remake it or another favourite that we watched  a couple of days ago, the wonderful It's A Wonderful Life. Although there does seems to be a sequel in the pipeline based on the story of 'George Bailey's (James Stewart) grandson. There's an original idea for you!

Those little extras with coffee

I'm not referring to the alcoholic kind. Don't drink that sort of liquor any more. Never really been into it although in the past, my arm might have been twisted by the offer of a small glass of Drambuie.

The extras I'm thinking about are the chocolates that come with your coffee. At least here they still do. When we're back in Bradford on Avon in the Fat Fowl for example, there's usually a something or other, resting in the saucer. Perhaps a small piece of home made shortbread, or a morsel of a chocolate brownie which by the time the coffee arrives, has already started to melt, so becomes a messy exercise. At least where I'm concerned. Chocolate and y.t., don't go together well. Which is why I seldom wear white. Just a few seconds, even when it's just an ordinary white t-shirt, and I get splashed and left with that tell-tale blotch requiring a machine wash or if I'm quick enough, a vigorous hand wash. The colour white and chocolate are for me, dangerous territories. So anything chocolatey I approach with caution.

Why I'm making such a fuss about it, I've no idea, given that I'm not a chocolate person. As I've probably mentioned in another blog, I can get marginally excited by a pack of maltersers even a cadbury's chocolate flake. A ferrero rocher chocolate is more enticing, but only because it has nutty outer coating, which I like to bite off before I get to the middle with the hazelnut. A friend of ours John, insists on bringing a box round whenever her comes for dinner. But as he's very partial himself it's usually six to him, two to Mike and one to me.

Over here depending on where you go, it's either a chocolate or a biscuit that comes with coffee. As far as the biscuit is concerned, there's a rectangular one, which is hopeless if you're a dunker, as it flops too quickly, and you end up with a ghastly brown sludge at the bottom of the cup, or there's the little galette. All butter, similar in every detail except size, to the large galette biscuits which you can buy in any supermarket and are often sold on Brittany Ferries, which we use for travelling to and from the UK. Then there's the chocolate coated almond biscuit. Must admit that is good. Think they've been rolled in a chocolate powder as the final touch, because when you unpack them, they are matt in appearance.

However a new alternative has emerged. Probably been used this way for ages, but I've not seen them before until a couple of weeks ago, when we were out in Chinon and stopped for a coffee. What was lurking in the saucer - none other than a Kinder Schokobon.  It actually wasn't too bad. Probably the hazelnut filling helped make it acceptable as a coffee chaser. Only seen it this once though, so may be Schokobons haven't caught on - in Chinon.

While I think about it, the other small chocolate things that aren't bad are the baby toblerones. I'm saying this because in theory they are more useful. I admit one doesn't go very far if you're a chocolate fanatic, but enough of them make a decent chocolate sauce to go with vanilla ice cream. But then so do Mars bars - chopped up, with a little water and brandy in the pan. Over a low heat, stir the mars bar as it melts. Doesn't take long before you end up with a gorgeous sauce. It's the toffee that makes the difference.  Been making a chocolate sauce this way for a long time, ever since I worked at a restaurant in Sussex, which it served on their dessert menu, only it was called the 'Work, Rest and Play' sauce, to use Mars's (at the time) own tag line. A great success.

For someone who doesn't like chocolate, I'm not doing badly.

The joys of tinfoil!!

There is something bizarrely exciting about opening a new roll of tinfoil. It's a bit like snow at that point - completely unspoiled! Very shiny and smooth, with no tears, crinkles or wrinkles. The matt side is just as interesting. Such a shame in some ways it has to be used. I've saved a few sheets from Christmas, to re-use, but having been wrapped round various bowls and roasting trays, it looks decidely unattractive - a bit lumpy and definitely bumpy. Oddly the very wide type of tin foil, which is particularly useful at Christmas, I haven't been able to get anywhere locally over here. Sure I can improvise and fold two pieces together, but I rather like swathes of the wider stuff. So when we were back in the UK this last time, I stocked up. Given its foldability, it should be useful for origami and probably the used stuff more than the smooth stuff. I'll see what Mike thinks. Maybe it's not strong enough.

We've had a really fun Christmas. Definitely in merry mode. Not to imply that we've been pulling and popping corks relentlessly. But a few sips have passed my lips! Christmas Eve was great fun. We were round with our neighbour's Jacqueline and Norbert and their family including four grandchildren, two of whom are twin girls. Le réveillon (festive late night dinner), started around 8.30pm and we crawled into bed around 3am. Lovely evening. We'd negotiated taking round fizzy and amuses bouches for the apéros. The origami chef had gone into overdrive and I made a few things as well. So in the pouring rain, (it would be wouldn't it), we marched round to the house with everything tightly packaged up - in tinfoil. Damp and droopy amuses bouches are no fun, especially for Christmas Eve. All arrived safely and all were devoured (with very good feedback), while the children had their own special dinner on their own table. Worked so well. Jacqueline is so organised and thinks about everything and everyone. While in amuses-bouches mode, we were playing one of the games, that Jacqueline had enjoyed at our party and had asked us to bring along. Two small sacks of objects, that you have to identify by touch. Mike got them sorted out, and did one for the adults (17 objects)  and one for the children (7 objects). It's not as easy as one thinks. Everyone knows how many objects there are, but because they fall around inside the bag, it's quite tricky sometimes to find them all.

Le réveillon was of six courses with different wines for each course. Beginning with oysters, then
fois gras, with special bread and condiments of fig and onion, a gorgeous fish dish, then roast capon, cheeses and dessert. It was all fabulous and it couldn't have been a better way for us to celebrate. Very kind people and very generous. Christmas Day was quieter, grey and chilly, we had various things on the go, but spent much of the day at home, which was really nice. Boxing Day is just an ordinary day over here,  while in our heads it's a holiday. However a Latvian friend who has lived a long time in Chinon came round for lunch. It was a beautiful day, so afterwards we went for a walk, before taking her back to Chinon. Lovely lady. Her family are in Latvia. For various reasons she couldn't get back there to be with them.

So a very different Christmas for us in all sorts of ways. But one that we thoroughly enjoyed and were delighted to be here for. Thanks to our neighbours in Cravant for making it so special.

A Christmas Hello!!!

It's a been a great lead-up week to all the festivities. Parties and more parties, Christmas markets and portes ouvertes all over the place. It was Chinon's turn this weekend, with stalls all over the main square as well as inside the mairie. Christmas decorations in Chinon are simple but very effective. The main surprise is the ice rink in the old part of town. It's difficult to give the dimensions, but you can probably get about twenty people on it at the same time. Such fun.

The origami chef has been extremely busy - cooking as well as folding paper. Drinks events have needed a few eats to go with, so he's been in baking mode for the last few days. He's also been making Christmas decorations, so we have some great stars suspended from the ceiling - red, gold and white.  The stars take about two hours in total. Thirty pieces of paper to be individually folded and then stuck together. They look so lovely. He made a couple to help decorate the meeting room of one of our Anglo-French groups. There are also some table top style Christmas trees in sizes of medium and small, in different shades of green and a few presents for friends - a mobile of birds, some spinning tops and a great game of leaping frogs - and they do leap! It's a bit like tiddly winks - only with frogs! Squeeze them down, let go and they leap, ideally back in the box in which they are kept, which is also a Mike origami special.

So one day to go before our Christmas. Dec 24 is the main day here. We're into Chinon early tomorrow morning (23), to pick up our order from our butcher and a few last minute things. We're out for lunch tomorrow over in Ile de Bouchard. Then back home for another baking session and present wrapping. We've been invited to the family dinner of near neighbours Jacqueline and Norbert and their family. We feel very privileged to have been included. We've met everyone before a few times, but this is a little different. Very kind of the family to include us. We wanted to contribute to the meal, which is a big affair. So we're looking after the apéros & amuses bouches, some wine to go with the main dishes. We've made a few small mince pies as well,  to go with the yule log dessert.  Eleven adults and five children. It's been such fun finding little prezzies for the children.  It will be a late late finish, so probably December 25, we'll be recuperating. Boxing Day doesn't happen over here, it's an ordinary day, but we're cooking lunch and have local friends to join us.  It is also market day, so we'll be going back into town, for bread and a few other provisions no doubt, in the morning.

There are various things planned between Christmas and New Year, but N Y Eve itself, we're going round to friends nearby - just a ten minute walk at the most, which will be lovely. New Year's Day, a lot of people go out to lunch, so that's what we've decided to do - Les Années Trente at Chinon.

We're so looking forward to everything - a great way to end one year and start another. And we have our first visitors of 2014 from the UK, towards the end of January. We are all going to the big St.Vincent celebration in Cravant, which happens every year on the last weekend. It's an amazing occasion.

Mike and I have had such a wonderful year. We count ourselves very lucky to be doing what we're doing, and to have such great friends, family and neighbours in our life, albeit scattered about all over the place, as well as here in France and the UK.

Happy holidays to everyone. Have a wonderful time and may 2014 be everything you would like it to be.

It's official.....

Let's Dance!!

We're in Christmas mode! Kicked off last weekend with a road party at our place with our terrific neighbours. We laughed, sang, ate, played silly games, conga'd and zumba'd our way into the early hours of the morning.

Isa

Annabelle, who lives a couple of doors down from us was taking photos and over the last few days, has been loading them on to FB. We know how to party in rue des vignes!! Everyone had brought something or several plates of several somethings, so food was great and in abundance with lovely savoury things as well gorgeous cakes.

nos voisines!!

Love this photo. Not sure who took it. Guess one of the boys. From left to right - Isa, Émilie, Marjorie, Carine et Annabelle!


It was great fun being together and we so enjoyed having our neighbours round. From what we've heard, everyone really enjoyed themselves. So we're very happy bunnies.

Christmas Quiz 2013

Ok - no cheating please!! Here are the French titles for some well-known primarily American films. There's twenty in all. In the rush up to Christmas probably there isn't a lot of time to mess around with this sort of nonsense. But if there's a spare moment - give it a try. Some are easier to work out than others.   Or if any  French friends and neighbours are reading this: peut-être vous voudriez à la mise au point de ces titres de film en anglais?


Le roi et moi

La traducion infidèle

Les guerres des étoiles

Danse avec les loups

Les dents de la mer

Chauffeur de taxi

Le seigneur des anneaux -
Le retour du roi

Histoire de jouets

Certains l'aiment chaud

Le Chevalier noir

Le pouilleux millionnaire

Les Aventuriers de l'Arche Perdue

Mr. Smith au sénat

Luke la main froide

Le troisième homme

Diamants sur canapé

Le Magicien d'Oz

Le Train Sifflera Trois Fois

La Chevauchée Fantastique 

 Le Crime Etait Presque Parfait

To mark his passing

As most of you know we have family and friends in South Africa.  Or to be more precise, Mike has family and friends in S.A. who in the best and kindest of ways, readily accepted me into the Shearing fold some thirty years ago, when we first travelled there together.  This was around '79/'80.

At that time I was working in the theatre in London. The Arts community was fociferous in its condemnation of apartheid in S.A.  So it was rather tricky for me to announce, as a Press and PR officer in the heart of London's theatre land - that I was going there. So I didn't tell anyone. If I'm honest, I didn't want to go. I felt extremely uncomfortable.
My head was full of images and reports from The Observer, who through author and Observer journalist Anthony Sampson and the editorial courage of  David Astor, kept all that was happening in S.A. in our hearts and in our minds. This visit was to meet Mike's family and friends. So I was torn. I went. An elaborate plan was hatched to cover my four weeks away. A friend who was holidaying in the States sent all my postcards from there and even bought an office present for me. How crazy! But the mood was such that I needed this subterfuge. 

Mike and I went initially to Johannesburg and ended up in Cape Town. In between we travelled all over the Karoo, along the Garden Route, visiting as many of our friends and family as we could in the time we had.

This visit changed my perspective and I returned to the UK in a far better informed position than that in which I had arrived. Two of the reasons for this are called David and Taffy Shearing, who is in fact another Hilary. Two Hilarys in the same family. Those Shearings know how to give themselves a hard time! I was better informed, not in the sense that things diverged from what I was seeing and reading about in The Observer, but informed in terms of what David and Taffy were doing, as white South Africans to bring about change. This was a perspective that wasn't so readily available in the UK.

There are many stories to be told about our different visits to S.A., one of which was arriving the same day that Nelson Mandela was released. Our last visit was in 2011.
But for the purpose of this blog and to mark the passing of Madiba, I'd like to include a piece from David and Taffy's Christmas letter to the family, which tells of Taffy meeting him in 1994. I hope David and Taffy don't mind. They refer to it as a 'treasured memory' - it truly is and one I felt I just had to share:

" As a member of the local Peace Committee, I [Taffy] was invited to have breakfast with Nelson Mandela at the Oasis Hotel in Beaufort West in 1994 at the start of the ANC election campaign. The ticket was quite cheap, and there were about ten of us white people among the 50-60 in the multi-racial group.

But the funny thing was that breakfast wasn’t served. An ad hoc choir sang to us instead. We asked the old waiter what was happening. He warned that a procession of pick-ups, driven by khaki-dressed white men, had surrounded the hotel, and were standing in squads all around it. We soon heard they were far right-wingers from the Northern Cape, and our police – caught short – were in vans in the back streets. Somebody asked me what I was going to do. I didn’t fancy pushing my way through the right-wingers, so said I was sitting tight as I’d not yet had breakfast.

Next we heard that Mandela, in a room upstairs, had sent for their leader – a chap called Macdonald, who couldn’t speak any English. His khaki hat was decorated with huge black ostrich feather plumes, and we could just catch sight of them as he jauntily raced up the stairs. They say Mandela’s bodyguards removed a dagger from him. I don’t know if that’s true. He and Mandela had a one to one interview. A few minutes later the same guy, now holding his hat in his hands and his bravado gone, meekly walked down the stairs with his head down. He ran up to each of his squads just paraded outside, and ordered them to go home. “Ons behort nie hier nie,” (We don’t belong here), and they left for their various homes. Minutes later Mr Mandela and his entourage appeared at the main table, and he said in his gravelly voice, “I’m sorry. I got a bit delayed. I’m sure we’re all hungry, so let’s have breakfast.” The tension blew away as we all burst out laughing, and we tucked into our delayed breakfast.

Nelson Mandela’s speech to us was short. He apologized again for keeping us waiting, and then said these most important words, “We’re all going to work together for peace. There will be no persecution of white people, and we will build this country together for a better future.” He spoke in English, in Afrikaans and in Xhosa, so nobody could misunderstand him.
I was stunned. Did we whites deserve this warmth, this kindness?
I’m sad to say of course we didn’t.

Then the local Chair of the ANC brought him over to meet the Peace Committee. Of course I remember that special smile when I was introduced, but for me, what was even more reassuring was that he had a very small hand for a man of his size. And from that hand poured the most tremendous warmth.

So what I remember most of that precious moment nearly 20 years ago was my happiness that, thank God, there was life in this hand yet, and that he would be with us for quite a few years to come as we needed his leadership and his guidance. "

Thanks Taffy and David.

Whoohoo!!!!

We have a Christmas tree!!! First time in probably twenty-five years that we've had a real one. We've had several of the plastic variety. The house in BOA being a narrow, tall town house, hasn't got space for even that, so we've been pretty much tree-less for the last 5 years, since we moved there. Unless you count the three small shelf-sized trees that have been in Mike's family for years. We don't have them here in France with us - more's the pity.  They were made for Woolworths when it was a real store, rather than the jumble sale it became. The tree 'needles' are actually tiny slithers of dark green paper on thin wire. You could mistake them for feathers. They look amazing and are fixed inside painted wooden tubs, which have a lid to keep them stable. Each tree and tub is about 30.48cms high or 12 inches for imperial fans! Apparently the tops and the bottoms were sold for 6d or something around 2.5p. You have to be careful these days, when you decorate them, as  they are now rather fragile. However they still look amazing and at eighty years old are in such fantastic condition, that we've kept on using them. 

The tree this year came from Ikea! Our neighbour's son was doing a Christmas tree run for the family and asked if we'd like one as well. We said yes. We'd been umming and aahing where to get a tree from. So his questioned popped up at the perfect moment. For once  we've got the right shaped space for a tree. Sunday was pre-ordered tree collection day. Can't have been easy, as we heard later, Ikea was heaving, and particularly for the trees. Ikea had/has a deal on. Initially Euros 30, you get a discount to re-spend in the store again, before the end of March, so in the end, the tree price works out at Euros 10. It's a lovely tree as well. So decorating it and the house  has begun!

Great time of year

Been having such fun with the photography lately. The light and the colours have been stunning. So I've been getting out every day at different times. Probably autumn/late autumn into winter is my favourite time of year, particularly first thing in the morning and currently between 3 and 5pm.

Yesterday we got up, to a wall of such heavy mist that we could only see across to the other side of the road. Taking a photo is quite difficult in these conditions. As it turned out it was useful. Got some dust on the camera sensor. A regular hazard for anyone who is a photographer. There's a certain amount you can do to get rid of it. The DSLRs have a built-in sensor cleaning mode which can help. But I need to wipe the sensor itself, very carefully, which hopefully will do the trick and get rid of the last traces. Anyway this shot was taken just at the top of our road on our way into Chinon, and was pretty much like this all the way in. This was taken around 10am.

By 2pm in Chinon the light was just gorgeous. Mike was leading an origami workshop making Christmas decorations, so while he was doing that I went on a photography session by the river in Chinon. The sun by now was fairly low, and offered lovely colour tones and reflections.  As well as the bridge, just behind the trees on the right hand side, is La Forteresse. 

We went drove home around 5pm, just briefly before going back into Chinon for a book club meet to chat about The Dinner by Hermann Koch. The light was starting to go, but in its last throes was delivering a gorgeous sky. Pinky/rose through to a pale gold colour, which was also picking up the remnants of plane trails. A slight haze had come back as well. This line of trees is one that I use regularly. There are interesting shapes, and always something different to capture. 

A few days before we were in Chinon for a late afternoon concert. When we came out the light quality was perfect.  Such gorgeous cloud formations. The river was still, so the reflections really clear and the tonal range was just ideal.
All the different elements came together, so the composition was straight forward.

The real surprise this week, was finding a lake in the forest. We take the forest road whenever we want to pick up the main road to Tours or the motorways to Caen when we're coming back to the UK, so we know it well. We've also stopped along the way quite a few times so as I can take some photos. The ridiculous thing is that we stopped at the lake site before, but never saw it as it was so well camouflaged by trees and bushes. And there are various trails nearby, to take you off further into the forest. This time I guess because the foliage was much thinner, I saw what I thought was the edge of a quarry, so went to have a look. Just fabulous. Although I managed to get shots from all sorts of angles, there is still one section that I haven't checked out. So if another good day comes along, I'll go back for another session.

www.hilaryshearin5.wix.com/imageshms

In training for Christmas

La Forteresse - Chinon

This weekend signalled the start of the Christmas lead-up. Began Saturday night when some French friends came round for apéros at about 7pm. Lots of laughter and chatting till around 11pm. Unfortunately one of them had to work Sunday morning on the early shift. Not something to be envied. Mike had prepared virtually all the food. Very proud of him. Did a v.g.job. One of our friends also brought round a delicious savoury gateau. A really fun evening together over a few glasses of some lovely Vouvray, with the boys following on with some delicious red wine from Nicholas Pointeau. 

Sunday morning we headed into Chinon to meet our friend Sylvie for coffee. Quite chilly, but the small market was up and running and quite a few people were out and about. We dropped into Café de Arts and had a good natter with Sylvie, who lives the other side of Chinon with husband Jacques. Sylvie was at the concert we did last week, and was still talking about it this morning. Sunday evening were over in Chinon at L'Espace Rabelais to hear a Basque choir. A mixed programme of ancient songs and chants in the first half and more contemporary in the second. A big sound - about twenty-five strong.

Received a lovely invitation to spend Christmas Eve with neighbours and their family. In France 24 December is the important day and very much a family occasion. We'd made the decision to spend this first Christmas and New Year in France and have been finding out what does or doesn't happen, or what is or isn't open, so we could get some ideas together. Anyway our neighbours so generously invited us round, so that we could mark the season in a fun way. Extremely kind of them. There'll be about twelve of us - adults and children. Being a traditional meal we were wondering how best to contribute, so having discussed it with them, we'll be looking after the drinks and food for the apéro. Mike being the 'origami chef' makes terrific little savoury tartelettes, so he's doing some of those and we'll also make some mini mince pies, to take round. Really love for us to be doing this.

Monday we met a friend of ours, Marie-Michèle at a lovely restaurant - Les Quatre Vents, which is over in Ile de Bouchard. Very simple but so fresh and delicious. Lovely space. Husband and wife team. He's the chef and she covers the restaurant. Great pair. Got there around 12.30 and left around 3pm. They wanted to have a good chat. We ended up being the last to leave. Going back with M-M just before Christmas. Then yesterday we headed over early to Ikea at Tours, to get some Christmas decorations and few other bits and pieces. Having a tree this Christmas - probably the first real tree we've had in at least twenty-five years. So getting stupidly excited at the prospect. We had brought some small decorations over with us from the UK,  - so needed a few more for the tree. Still on the look out for general decorations. Having an apéro party with the neighbours at our place on Dec 14. Really looking forward to having everyone round. Getting all sorts of music sorted out, as we'll all be up for dancing and singing. Want the house to look very Christmassy!!!!

Women Are Heroes!

Title of a film we went to see last week. Once a year Cinéplus (who we support regularly through their Arthouse programming every Thursday and the film festival) and Chinon council host a documentary. This year the choice was a piece made in 2009 and was shown at the Cannes Film festival in 2010. The director was the French artist JR, specialising in photography, street art and graffiti. Women Are Heroes was JR's first film and took us into the various worlds of a series of exceptional women.  Exceptional, because the individuals we were introduced to, despite living in extreme poverty, being socially deprived, denied education, facing daily political upheaval, rape and sexual intimidation, tribal and civil warfare - somehow managed to hold themselves and their families together, frequently without the help of a husband. The men had died - meaning either disappeared in its most sinister context or were known to have been killed. The film travelled across different continents and countries  including India, Cambodia, Brazil, Kenya, Liberia, Sudan and into conditions which were extremely challenging, and in which somehow these women and their families survive.

JR. used his artistic skills to develop a photographic project, recording each woman's face, and a shot of their eyes in their home environment. The images were enormous. Posted up in each woman's town or village, they would cover the entire wall of a building, or a roof. The effect was dramatic, cutting through the surrounding squalor, to reveal individuals who for the most part were ignored and forgotten.  

The two film clips in the link show on the one hand, elements from the film and some interviews. The second shows the images as an exhibition in Paris along the Seine in 2009. Response is varied! Many interviewed simply loathed it, particularly when the images begin to fall apart, into tatty, smelly, dirty, ghastly strips of rubbish, which the women of course are surrounded by on a daily basis. It's difficult to find much information about the film. The internet reveals very little. In truth as one of the women said, the photography wasn't actually going to help change their situation, but  she at least no longer felt invisible.

A good week

Did a gig last night in Chinon. Three of us - Mike and I and a French friend, Patrick. A hour long programme. The programme was and a mixture of French and English songs. Seemed to go down really well with the audience and the three of us really enjoyed doing it. We got together back in October to sort out the music. Then had a session trying things out about three weeks ago. And that was it until Tuesday morning, when we got together for a run through in the space. Surprised ourselves with such little rehearsal that we left feeling fine with what we were doing, and in the evening it all fell into place. Apéros had been laid on before, at the interval and then afterwards. Lovely evening.

Last Saturday was a treat music-wise. We were over at Fontevraud for an early evening Jazz concert. Don't know how they managed to get him in his very busy touring schedule, but anyway, Jacky Terrasson was playing - solo. Just amazing musically and technically. We've a CD with him and Cassandra Wilson, but that's about it. But his reputation is top flight. When we saw him on the schedule had to get tickets as the concert was bound to be sold out, so we bought them back in April this year. Prior to Fontevraud he'd had a 4-night slot in N.Y. with his trio. Been to Germany and other parts of France. The day before he was in London for the London Jazz Festival and then to Fontevraud. The day after he was in Amsterdam, then back to France for a big regional tour. He's a fluent French speaker - his father was/is French and his mother American. He works a lot with classic pieces, but deconstructs him and takes you for an incredible musical journey, weaving in the original tune along the way. Glorious.

In between time we've seen various friends for lunch and other friends and neighbours for apéros. Been to a great annual event called Voyages en Textiles which is co-ordinated by a friend of ours (with others), in Chinon. There are three venues for it. Our Anglo/French group L'Ecrin provides an exhibition area. Annie and I are on the committee for L'Ecrin and the association's central idea is cultural exchange. Voyages en Textiles through Annie and her husband Mark has very close ties with a village in Nepal. The exhibition was in part photographic of village life, with a display of clothes and practical items, and one of their friends who lives there, was dressed traditionally and demonstrating weaving and sewing. In the centre of Chinon is a municipal space - Maisons des Associations, which is used by local groups. Voyages en Textiles takes over the whole building, which is on two floors, with lots of rooms off. Here a bookshop is set up with a wonderful range of books all round the subject of textiles and crafts. On the top floor is a practical demonstration area with looms of all sizes, shapes and styles and where you can buy hand made cloth by the metre. The remaining rooms in this building are dedicated to knitted items and the raw materials. It's wonderful to look at and the designs as well as the finished items are really something.  The third building is in a deconsecrated chapel, which in itself is fascinating, but here the display is of finished had woven and sewn items. The range and skill was just stunning. You could spend a fortune. Huge success, with a percentage from all sales going to the village in Nepal to help support the educational programme. This event is one that we support every year. Huge amount of work getting it together. It runs for two whole days and is now a major feature on the Chinon calendar. Extremely well done.

Getting geared up!

The wood for our fire arrived yesterday morning. Fabrice the producer and owner of the domaine - La Semellerie and who we know well, drove over with a tractor and trailer load of wood.It was already cut into reasonable sized pieces that will fit our stove, but we have a chain saw, so can always cut it smaller if needs be. Another sign that we're heading into winter, along with various smoking chimneys which have started up in the last few days. Not needed a fire ourselves yet. Still had some wood left over from the last winter, so have a pretty good supply. There's something about the smell of a wood fire which is irresistable, especially when you are out in the countryside for a walk. 

Were out most of yesterday with neighbours for lunch over at Avon les Roches (ALR). As always brilliantly organised and the lunch was stunning. It was a joint club affair, the other one being Crissay.The venue alternates each year, so last year it was in Crissay and this year ALR. 

There were about 150 people. E25 a head inclusive approx £20. Here's the menu:

Apéro: a glass of fizzy - natural or with peach or blackcurrant and individual plates of savouries. Entrée foie gras and smoked duck breast. Fish course: beautiful poached fish in a delicate white wine sauce. Two white wines. A lime sorbet with or without alcohol. 
Main dish: venison with various vegetables. Red wine. Fromages: six to choose from.
Dessert - delicious and super light gateaux with another fizzy. Coffee with a liqueur if you chose to have it.  It was all gorgeous. Really well done. A great atmosphere. And there was some live music, singing at various times.  Started around 12.30. We left around 5.45. Then went back to other friends in Avoine for an hour or so, before coming back to Cravant with our neighbours. It was a terrific occasion. Thoroughly enjoyed it all.

Autumn Mists

We've been shrouded in mist for the last few days. Fortunately not at Brigadoon levels, and usually by mid morning it's lightened up a bit. This morning sunshine and frost.  Either way its been useful for some photography practise. Flat/dull light, slightly brighter, very bright - all present their own challenges, so I've been getting out and about most mornings, sometimes on my own, other times Mike comes along and very kindly chauffeurs me around. It's really helpful. I think he enjoys it. Hopefully he's going to start sketching while I do the snapping. We're working on a joint project that combines paper sculpture and photography. It's at fledgling idea stage. Chucked out loads of photos and have a small collection of around twenty now that are interesting and hopefully give us something to start with. More info as soon as we know what we're doing.

Think Autumn is my favourite season. It's a toss-up with spring. But the colours autumn offers are so wonderful and for photography just ideal. Where we are the leaf tones particularly on the vines are so varied, from palest yellow to dark russet, with the full colour range often in the same row, as the soil changes. This year with so much rain, the colours haven't been so intense. Also the time when they are changing has been in comparison to other years, much shorter, with the leaves dropping sooner than expected. So I've needed to get quick to get some shots in. So far so good.

The harvest may be over but really that's only the start of the process. As well as grapes there has also been a lot of crop harvesting. Fields around us once high with sweetcorn and sunflowers are now covered in stubble. Tractors are out and about ploughing the fields. But not everyone is working on the same thing at the same time, so for me there are wonderful contrasts of golden vines alongside freshly ploughed field of almost chocolate brown soil. 

Keeping fingers crossed that the weather keeps going as it is for a while longer. As we go around we keep spotting new tracks to explore. With the hedgerow thinning out you can see quite a way off and at the moment in virtually every direction there are swathes of golden yellow. It's one of the pleasures at this time of year, that with the harvest in and less foliage everywhere, you can see the shape of the land more easily, and the serried ranks of planting. Very beautiful.

The Act of Remembrance

We travelled back to France on November 11 which is a national holiday over here. In our village the remembrance service takes place in the square, which is next to the village memorial. The memorial is an obelisk shape, with names on each side, grouped as is often the case under the war in which they fought, and the year in which they died. It carries many surnames that we have come to know over the last few years and is very much a link between past and present. In Cravant there are families who have lived here for several generations.  Some individuals were born here, went to the village school, grew-up in the country lanes and played in the fields, together with their friends, and have continued working in Cravant or nearby. It's a very different way of life and with it comes a depth of knowledge about each other, that can only happen when you've lived in close proximity and for a long time.

An interesting article appeared on the BBC website dated 5 November 2013. 'How should we remember a war?'. It raises some difficult and sensitive issues. We were discussing remembrance at a dinner party with friends in the UK, who were concerned that the televised service only served to glorify war. For some this may well be true, but I don't think for everyone, and I'm not sure I could make that suggestion over here and expect to get a polite response. As someone said to me at a dinner party last year, with French acquaintances, the British don't know what it's like to be invaded and what you have to do to survive. I imagine that those memories present a entirely different dimension to remembrance. Just very glad not to have had to experience it.

The Return of the Blog

To get up and running again, here's a two parter. So much has been happening over the last four weeks, that to try and get it all in one blog would be a bit much. Far too long and unwieldy. Although strangely over coffee this morning in Chinon with some friends, we were discussing letters, and the fun of receiving them as much as writing them. There were two people I used to write to regularly. The first was Mike's aunt Dolly, who lived in San Diego. Originally British, her first husband died and she eventually remarried, to an American who was a professor. I can't remember how or why we started writing to each other, but we did, and they were big letters, about seventeen pages each, and usually there were four a year. I'd put a day aside to write each one. This went on for years. Finally in 1986, we met - just the once.  Eventually Aunt Dolly stopped writing as her arthritis was very bad, but I kept on writing until shortly before she died. The second person was a pint-sized dynamo from Tel Aviv called Helen. We actually met on the same trip to see Aunt Dolly. Mike and I went for a five week jaunt, initially travelling from Vancouver across the Canadian Rockies, then down through the middle part of the states and eventually up to LA where we caught the plane to San Diego, where we stayed for about ten days, before flying to San Francisco for our final week. It was on the first leg from Vancouver to LA that we met Helen. Amazing woman - we wrote to each other for years again until she died. Helen would write to me in English and I'd write to her in French. These were relatively short letters - only ten pages long. Now of course everything is typed out in emails and it's had a huge effect on my handwriting.With a fountain pen I can still write neatly and clearly, but when I write with a biro, oh dear - a complete mess. Maybe it's psychological - smart pen = neat writing/cheap biro = sloppy writing.

Anyway our schedule over the last four weeks was a follows: first flying visit to UK; week in Paris; meeting up with friends in Saumur, 2 x dinner dances, origami workshop, three apéro parties, Sunday lunch with neighbours, two funerals, fondue with neighbours, forty-second wedding anniversary, started Landscape Photography Advanced diploma on-line (same team as for my original diploma),  Mike's birthday, second visit to UK -  this time for a week - from which we got back on Tuesday.

The second UK visit was ostensibly for a special 18th birthday, but it was also a chance to catch up with family and other friends. This was our final visit to the UK until spring next year and was a very busy week. Had a brilliant time in Wiltshire and then in London, before travelling back on the overnight again to Caen arriving 7am Tuesday morning. Took a couple of days to get sorted out. When we left the leaves everywhere had started to turn. A week later everything has changed and we've the wonderful rich autumn colours to enjoy. The weather has been reasonable as well, so there have been a few opportunities for some photography.

Into the market this morning, Thursday, at Chinon and we were back again this evening. Called into Café Francais for a quick drink and to collect tickets to a gig by Mellino - who we've seen there before and are just great, before heading next door to the cinema to see a Palestinian film Omar (2013), which won a prize at Cannes this year. Had French subtitles. Superb film. Present day. Best described as a greek tragedy in scale.

More tomorrow . . .

An exceptional lunch break

There's something about a nine hour lunch which is very appealing. Not that I'd want to have one every day. You don't feel like doing much else afterwards. Other than - as we did yesterday - go back to somebody's house and then carry on for another couple of hours, which is why we didn't get in till one in the morning. We had a brilliant time.

Neighbours had asked us to go along for a Pentanque Club lunch in Avon les Roches. On the way we called into the house of some of their friends for an apéro. We'd met them before and they were coming as well, bringing some other friends of theirs from nearby. After a couple of glasses of fizzy we headed off to the salle de fête in the centre of the village.

Not sure how many people were there - may be three hundred - all seated at reserved tables, for a served lunch: Rillette de saumon en cassolette + Bouchée de la Mer+ Confit de cuisse de canard+ trilogie de fromages + Fondant chocolat (chaud) et crème à la menthe+ coffee+ wine.  Five courses, or six if you add in the apéro and nibbles, and seven if you add in the sorbet, which wasn't on the menu, and came with alcohol or without. By that stage, without was the sensible option. The whole thing was done so well. The tables had been so prettily decorated and the lunch itself was really good, with a choice of white and red wines - all included in  the €25 ticket if you bought in advance, or €30 for everyone else. The salle de fête has a large central room, with a decent sized kitchen, a stage and then various rooms off. It's a good space.

Around 6pm the band arrived at started setting up. Electric keyboard + male vocals, two females vocals, accordionist and a multi-instrumentalist, who brought along a trombone, saxophone and an electric violin. They started playing around 7.30pm and stopped around 10pm. In between the whole place had been on its feet dancing. It was great to see different generations all happy to be with each other and leaping about on the dance floor. No one was nervous about getting up and dancing on their own if they wanted to. Such a great atmosphere. Conviviality is at the heart of it all.

From there we went back to the friend's house where we'd all met up in the morning, opened some more fizzy and sat chatting away together for a couple of hours. Such a lovely way to finish. Also for us we realised how much we'd moved on with the language. It was all so easy and just flowed. 

 

The Arts Crowd 2

We'd known for a long time that the Loire was a favourite with Turner. Then as we explored the area better we discovered so many well known artists who spent their time in the Indre et Loire, such as Max Ernst and Alexander Calder.

In this weekend's Nouvelle République there was a half-page feature with the headline 'Champigny-sur-Veude n'a pas oublié Soutine'. Mike spotted it first and showed me the piece while we were having a cup of coffee together. The village, Champigny, we know quote well through various contacts who live over there. It's also close to Richlieu so is often tied up with annual music festival which we like to support. Not once though in five years has anyone mentioned the name of Chaïm Soutine and we haven't seen anything about him anywhere either. If you look him up on the internet you'll read that he was a Belarussian Jew, who was hugely influential in the Paris expressionist movement. There's also reference to him escaping from the capital to avoid capture by the Gestapo.

From August 1941 to August 1943 Chaïm Soutine found refuge in Champigny. Quite how this came about is not explained in the article, but he was hidden in the house of the village policeman. There are many people still within Champigny who as youngsters posed for Soutine and last weekend they came together to commemorate the artist and his work.

Clearly this was an important event and not just locally, but nationally and internationally. Three hundred people came, amongst whom were obviously locals, but also academics, French authors, historians and Maria Ozerova, who is the scientific and cultural attachée at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. Her presence helps clarify the importance of the artist and his work. 

Gabriel Leclerc et Christiane Delaunay

A particularly emotional moment was the meeting of Christiane Delaunay and Gabriel Leclerc. At the time they posed together for one of Soutine's paintings, they were 12 and three years old respectively. They hadn't seen each other since the second world war. One person who wasn't there was Marcel Varvou, the son of the local policeman in whose house Soutine stayed. He had also posed for Soutine and had been given his palette as a gift of thanks. According to the N.R., disappeared from the village. 

In hindsight we definitely did miss out by not getting into The Orangerie during our Paris visit. Although how much we would have seen I'm not sure. But twenty-two of Soutine's painting are held there. The link is in French, but the curator speaks very clearly. We did however see some of his work at  the Musée d'Orsay, when we went to Paris last November. The Musée had a retrospective of his work on display at the time (October 2012 to January 2013). 

When we go back next year to Paris, we'll make sure we're at The Orangerie first thing and at the front of the queue.

Back home

After much discussion we decided to come back to Cravant. Apart from the obvious, we had a good time and seen and eaten some fab things. The deciding factor was that various British papers in my wallet which was stolen, cannot be replaced by UK authorities, which means that I've got to engage with the French system in all sorts of unexpected ways. Given what we have coming up over the next few weeks, we decided it was better to come home and get various things underway on Monday. So it was by by Paris for this year, as of this morning. A shame, but things need to get done. The last sting in the tail were our train tickets. We'd gone in to the station Austerlitz to find out if we could get them changed. (It was from this station that we would have returned this coming Monday.) Yes we could change them, with the option to travel on the same time train (as Monday) yesterday or today. It was our choice when. Fine. The tickets were changed. We're halfway from Paris to Tours when the ticket inspector comes and says we have to pay more money. What the person at the desk at Austerlitz failed to tell us is that there were surcharges for changing our ticket, which didn't appear when she printed our new tickets out. They had the same price on. We explained this to the ticket inspector, but he was adamant that he had to apply the law. At this point I suddenly discovered that I was as capable of being as fluidly feisty in French as I can be in English - those who know me well, know what this means! Not that it was going to or did have any effect. But it made me feel better and ensured that he had to thoroughly explain why.

Anyway we had a great visit to some great places in Paris. We have already said to each other that we want to go back next year. Paris remains one of our all time favourite cities and no way are we going to be put off going again, even again again. What will have changed next time is that we'll be better prepared for conditions and with our London savvy heads well and truly screwed on.

More Tales from Paris 5

Today's cultural menu included a visit to the Pompidou Centre, the Tuileries gardens, an attempt to get into the Musée de l'Orangerie, a walk round various arcades and a fascinating film in a shop window, which we came across purely by chance. 

Must admit my levels of enthusiasm have been hard pressed for the last few days, but particularly after today, having been targeted by yet another con merchant, making it the fourth time in four days in four different places. These are teams of determined people. We watched one lot this morning who were getting organised outside a metro station. The boss was a middle-aged woman surrounded by a dozen young girls who should have been in school. It's a huge and complex problem and is present in so many countries. Right now for us, it's become a really tiring exercise having to watch out the whole time.

As to the good stuff - the Pompidou Centre was somewhere we really wanted to visit as much to see the building as what was in it. Our Paris Pass got us into the modern art section. Some of it I just didn't connect with at all, while other pieces were fabulous. What interested us was the general push towards design as an art form, which opened up so many possibilities for display. It's a concept we are both very keen on.  Artists/Work that particularly impressed us included the Thomas Heatherwick Pavilion Brittanique which was on display in Shanghai in 2010. Obviously what we saw was the scale model! Very exciting piece of work. Hopefully the link gives a good idea. Glenn Ligon's Stranger 56, was just fascinating. A large canvas covered with rows of words, but worked in acrylic and cold dust, the surface was totally black and appeared as an enormous 3D stencil. The link is an introduction to his story. Rudolf Stingel had developed an interesting technique very rococo in style. Sean Scully painter and printmaker- one of his cut ground series: oil on linen. There was a wonderful scale model of the Media Center at Hilversum by Neutelings Riedijk Architects in Rotterdam. Photos by Claude Simon a celebrate French writer and Nobel Prize winner who was also passionate about photography. The final gem was an exhibition of quite extraordinary contemporary drawings from all over the world collected by Florence and Daniel Guerlain. They established a foundation in 1996 which now awards an annual prize for contemporary drawing.

After that we had a break for lunch at a nearby café before heading over to the Tuileries Garden and The Orangery. The gardens are just great to walk around, or to sit and just watch the world pass by. Lovely spot. The Orangery houses Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings. By the time we got here there was over an hour to wait and the numbers of people were impossible, so we gave it a miss. Just one of those things.

Galerie Véro Dodat

Paris has wonderful covered arcades or passages. The same magnificence and range of high end goods as in the Burlington Arcade, but fortunately (at least as far as I'm concerned) without the carpet. We visited a couple. The Galerie Vivienne et the Galerie Véro Dodat.  Mid nineteenth century there were around 140 of them. These days there are around 20 I think, that have survived and they are all around the second arondissement. As you'd expect they are packed with haute-couteur brands, little coffee bars and bistros.
They are quite delightful and have an atmosphere entirely of their own.


Heading back towards the Louvre to pick up the metro, we walked by the Ministry for Culture and Communication. They coordinated a tribute to Jean Cocteau to mark the fiftieth anniversary of his death. A superb film had been made and set up in their front window - images of his work, ideas and writings, and film of him at work. Local shops had linked up with the event, so for example in a fine linen boutique, special handkerchiefs embroidered with some of Cocteau's design were on sale. Simple but they looked stunning. 

Thought we'd get a take away of some kind this evening, so visited the local Greek deli. Really good selection and everything looked good. Tonight's menu included dolmades, stuffed aubergines and Taboulé. What required microwaving could be, as we have one in the studio. All quite delicious and was washed down with some rosé for me and red for Mike. Not a bad end to the day.

More Tales from Paris 4

The mystery of the missing tooth and the tattooed woman will be forever unsolved. Mike's dream was evidently a one-off. Never mind. Other things considerably more interesting happened today. We discovered the RER. It's a combined metro and overland service. 

We went to Austerlitz Station this morning, from where we'll be returning home. From there we wanted to get back to the Eiffel Tower to pick up a Bateau Parisien for a guided tour on the Seine, which was included in our Paris Pass. We've travelled around on the Seine previously by Bateau Bus which provides a regular pick-up/drop-off service. So we'd seen a fair bit of it already. But today's trip was a non-stop. To begin with we thought we'd have to travel back to the Eiffel Tower on the mètro, which would have involved us in several changes. But then Mike spotted a direct line by RER so we plumped for that. Even better we were also able to use our Paris Pass travel ticket. The RER train is a double-decker with upper and lower seating. Really straightforward and we arrived in time for the 11.15 tour, along with most of the Chinese, Korean and Japanese holiday fraternities. The boats are big, so even though there seemed to be a lot of people on board, there was plenty of space. Good fun, lovely day for a river trip, plenty to see along with interesting and often amusing commentary. The Seine was pretty busy as well, with industrial barges as well as tourist boats. We ended where we started at the Eiffel Tower and took off for our next destination, stopping for a bite on the way. 

Why are omelettes so good over here? We've tried a few leathery specimens in the UK, but the ones we had at lunch time were just delicious, accompanied a little fresh salad on the side, a glass of rosé and some bread. Just perfect.

A chunk of the afternoon was spent at the Musée du Quai Branly and I must admit not having a camera was so frustrating, because we found ourselves at one of the most exciting spaces we've been to in a long time. None of the guide books do it justice visually and the write-ups are quite mundane. In fact it is an extremely important centre, exhibiting indigenous works of art from Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania. The exhibits are of breathtaking quality and variety, and are presented in simply wonderful building. Even their website doesn't give an idea of how dramatic the place is, inside and out. Walking up to it you become aware of a huge transparent glass frontage, behind which is a superb garden, through which you walk to get to the entrance. The website link is to a series of videos which give you a glimpse of the building and some of the exhibits. It's worth having a sift through. Once you get into the building a gently spiralling walkway takes you up into the exhibition areas. But as you walk up a river of words flows down projected on to the walkway surface. It's quite fascinating, because the words change direction, merge, separate and undulate as a real river would. We were so impressed by the museum. By the time we came out we were rather brain weary. So much to see and to try and take in. Once outside we crossed over the main road to have a quick look at a major photographic exhibition that the museum has launched. Like the rest of the programming, the photographers come from all over the world. Photoquai began in 2007 one year after the opening of the museum itself. So far it has promoted over 200 photographers, whose imagery reveal details about people and place which cannot be seen unless you go to the countries such as South Africa, Iraq, Panama or Nepal. Terrific stuff.

From there we headed back to the nearby RER station and made our way over to the Rodin Museum. It's a gorgeous place.Lots of work being done to it. Think it was closed for a while. A few people about, so having stuck our head inside the main house, we thought better of it and kept outside in the garden, where the sculptures seemed more at home. It's a real haven in a very busy city. So glad we went.

More tales from Paris 3

It was our wedding anniversary today. Marked initially by Mike's very strange dream. I have since been wracking my brain to see if at any time I knew a woman with long dark and central parting and one front tooth missing. Apparently in his dream, Mike and I were sitting on a bench type seat in a restaurant with our backs to the wall. The woman walks in and says  'Hilary and Mike Shearing how are you?' We look blank and she continues, 'We met at...' Then there's a noise, so neither of us hear where this was. Next she introduces us to her Russian friends - a group of women of a certain age. One has a strappy type dress on, with tattoos all over her shoulders. At this point he woke up. So unless part two of the dream continues tonight, we'll never find out the end of the story.

Louvre: Photo from Garden of Eaden

Rather damp day today, so adjustment of plans. We bought a couple of Paris Passes which we'd ordered on line and picked up Monday afternoon when we arrived. They are available for 2, 4 or 6 days. We bought a four day which began today. They are extremely useful. As well as giving us free admission to all sorts of museums, you by-pass queues and the price includes a metro ticket. We went straight to the Louvre. We've walked around the outside a number of times but not visited any of the rooms and exhibitions as we've never had enough time. It is a huge place. This time we decided to go up to the first floor and visit the Middle Ages display. Wonderful. Just loved the way contemporary design had blended in with the historic parts of the building. A perfect mix which gives the Louvre a totally new life. So architecturally the inside is as interesting as the outside. Then there were the exhibits. A truly fabulous collection. The sheer skill of the craftsmen of that period is quite extraordinary. Being London based for so long, we've been spoilt by the range and quality of museums there. The Louvre was so impressive. Loved it. By the time we left which was around 12.30 the queues were staggering. People were waiting for an hour to get in.

Next stop the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. There were a number of exhibitions here that we wanted to see, including some gorgeous contemporary jewellery and a superb collection of Chanel dresses, accompanied by the video of the fashion show where they were first presented.

Pont des Arts: Veronique Phitoussi

 From there we walked across the Pont des Arts, which now has thousands of 'love locks' fixed to it. Quite a few cities have them apparently, but the only one we've seen is here in Paris. For anyone who doesn't know about it, couples write their names on a padlock, lock it on to the bridge and throw the key away, representing eternal love.  There is another bridge in Paris with locks, but we've not seen it as yet: the Pont de l'Archevêché.

What we were on our way to was the Magnum Photography Gallery. A small place with three small exhibitions: Bad Weather by British Photographer Martin Parr. We first came across his work in the Tramshed in Bristol. Home Town by French Photographer Antoine D'Agata and Japan - can't find a link to this one, but the link I have found ties him in with the Paris Fashion show. Magnum Photographers are regarded amongst the best in the world. A reputation which is carefully guarded by the admission process.

Teeming down with rain we headed back to the apartment, late afternoon, and found that someone had delivered a complimentary box from the Boutique des Saveurs, where we went on Monday evening for an apéro. It's just next door. We think that the Boutique and our apartment are linked together as we were encouraged to go when we first arrived. So we did. Anyway inside the box was a lovely jar of rillettes and a bottle of red wine - French. All looks pretty tasty. We were going to stay in tomorrow night and have something to eat in the apartment. With so many interesting food outlets nearby, it would be a pity not to try some of them. The arrival of the box will get us off to a good start.