...but "Christian Troll" is a helluva name for its author!
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Monday, February 13, 2012
Frozen Loire
I had the day off on Friday, which I promptly wasted by helping someone move. Sucker! It was meant to take a couple of hours, which it did - if by couple, you mean 7... I hope the gods of moving karma were looking down on this event! At least it was crisp and sunny instead of snowing, and - bonus - I got to see inside my first HLM (State/council housing). Engrenages led me to believe it would be a den of drug dealing, murder and prostitution. There was a mysterious yellow puddle in the stairwell, but otherwise it seemed basic but decent. Where can I sign up?
My good deed done for the week (year?), on Saturday I made it down to the Loire to take some photos (along with everyone in Tours and their dog, it seemed). The Loire is much more frozen than the Cher - I think cos it's shallower?? (I'm not even 100% sure it is shallower, looks it though, especially at the moment.) We're probably all sick of snow photos, so good news - although it did actually snow again a little bit overnight, temperatures are rising. When I got up this morning and saw it was 0 degrees, I thought spring had arrived!
My videos have a reputation for being highly exciting, which I'm pretty sure will be preserved by the following offerings:
My good deed done for the week (year?), on Saturday I made it down to the Loire to take some photos (along with everyone in Tours and their dog, it seemed). The Loire is much more frozen than the Cher - I think cos it's shallower?? (I'm not even 100% sure it is shallower, looks it though, especially at the moment.) We're probably all sick of snow photos, so good news - although it did actually snow again a little bit overnight, temperatures are rising. When I got up this morning and saw it was 0 degrees, I thought spring had arrived!
My videos have a reputation for being highly exciting, which I'm pretty sure will be preserved by the following offerings:
Thursday, February 09, 2012
Hadn't seen nothin' yet
Turns out the snow the Monday before last was just a dusting compared to the snow on Sunday (which had already fallen by the time I blogged, but I hadn't been out in it yet so I didn't really realise). According to what I read online, we got about 10 cm of snow - the local newspaper had interviews with a bunch of people saying that this was the most they'd ever seen in 20 years or whatever. And it has been fu-reezing. This morning when I walked to work it was supposedly -11 ("feels like -14") Celsius, but actually it didn't feel quite as cold today as it has been. It was sunny today, so technically a bit colder, but definitely more pleasant than yesterday when we had wind and light snow falls all day. Consequently it's been taking ages to get around town because I'm petrified of slipping on the icy pavements! It is still kind of cool to have snow though!
For some reason, the park has been shut since it snowed on Sunday, so the snow is pristine (took these photos through the gates)
One possibility is it's shut to avoid accidents on the frozen lake
No work going on on the new tram in this weather
Ice on the Cher
For some reason, the park has been shut since it snowed on Sunday, so the snow is pristine (took these photos through the gates)
One possibility is it's shut to avoid accidents on the frozen lake
No work going on on the new tram in this weather
Ice on the Cher
Wednesday, February 08, 2012
Skyrockets in flight...
AFTERNOON MARMITE!
Ha ha, my Mum and Dad brought me over a few jars of Marmite from New Zealand, and I'm pretty pleased about that. For our American friends who might not know, it's everyone's favourite yeast spread made from byproducts of the brewing process! (And yes, it does have competition in that category!) It is not the same as yucky Vegemite by any means. People who didn't grow up with Marmite usually think it's gross, but you're wrong. If nothing else, you've got to admire a product that's not afraid to write "yeast spread" front and centre on its label.
For our English friends - NZ Marmite tastes different from UK Marmite. And by "different", I mean "better". I suppose you can't tell from the photo, but it is darker in colour, thicker in consistency, and most important, yummier. I was mucho disappointo the first time I went to the UK and was disabused of the notion that our Marmites would taste the same. Now I do my best to keep my own stock in hand.
Ha ha, my Mum and Dad brought me over a few jars of Marmite from New Zealand, and I'm pretty pleased about that. For our American friends who might not know, it's everyone's favourite yeast spread made from byproducts of the brewing process! (And yes, it does have competition in that category!) It is not the same as yucky Vegemite by any means. People who didn't grow up with Marmite usually think it's gross, but you're wrong. If nothing else, you've got to admire a product that's not afraid to write "yeast spread" front and centre on its label.
For our English friends - NZ Marmite tastes different from UK Marmite. And by "different", I mean "better". I suppose you can't tell from the photo, but it is darker in colour, thicker in consistency, and most important, yummier. I was mucho disappointo the first time I went to the UK and was disabused of the notion that our Marmites would taste the same. Now I do my best to keep my own stock in hand.
Sunday, February 05, 2012
Baby, it's cold outside
Some of us (me!) thought that because we'd got to late January with very mild weather, then it was plain sailing till Spring. This past week has proved me wrong, however. We got a fair bit of snow on Monday, and after a very cold week (it was -8 walking to work on Thursday morning, -12 with wind chill, and even lower temperatures overnight), the last bits of snow were disappearing from the streets when I woke up to snow again this morning.
I get pretty excited by snow - it doesn't snow where I'm from in New Zealand (well, a few flakes were noticed in high places last winter, which was very very unusual) so it still has novelty value for me. Especially since last winter it snowed once, lightly (in early December) in Tours and lasted a couple of days on the ground, and the winter before that I was in Nice, where it did actually snow a few times, but it's not exactly Winter Central. I got my fill of snow in England both years though, unlike this Christmas where there was no snow to be seen.
But I must say, snow is more exciting when it's either sitting on the ground looking pretty, or falling when you're inside looking out. I made the mistake on Monday of deciding to walk home regardless, since I thought otherwise I'd just be stuck freezing my arse off waiting for the inevitably late bus, and then have a long journey home in traffic packed in like sardines on the bus. It was not very fun to be out in, though - the wind was blowing the snow directly at me under my umbrella, especially on the bridges across the Cher and the railway, where it was absolutely freezing cold. I had my fingerless gloves on, and my fingertips puckered up like I'd been in the bath for too long - I couldn't keep them in my pockets due to holding my umbrella. By the time I got home, I was wet, my shoes were leaking and I was very cold! I made home-made chicken soup followed by hot chocolate with Baileys to perk myself up a bit.
On Wednesday I went to the gym - I'm used to walking home in my gym gear and shower at home, so I forgot until I got outside that I was in shorts with bare legs! I basically ran all the way home, so maybe that's a good training technique!
Yesterday was a bit warmer (about minus 3) and nice and sunny. I went to the "cat expo" with a couple of friends. Bit disappointing - I was expecting to be able to pat/play with the cats, but they were all in plastic-covered cages :( I suppose I understand they don't want everyone hassling them, but it was a bit of a bummer. Paying 5 euros to look at 800-euro cats in plastic boxes isn't my idea of fun. We followed up with a nice lunch - a "tourangelle" version of tartiflette, where they replaced the lardons with rillons, a special Tours kind of pork confit, plus a litre of wine between the three of us. Very ladies who lunch.
Some photos from the last week:
I risked turning into an icicle to take a photo of the Cher in Monday's snow-shower
Sunset over the Cher on Wednesday or Thursday - not snowing, but very cold!
The half-frozen lake in the park
A bit of snow on the ground in the park - I'll try to brave the outside world and take some more pics today since it's stopped snowing
Snow falling in a different park
The view from my bedroom window this morning. Since all my other windows are skylights, it's pretty dark in the flat today and I can't see out!
I get pretty excited by snow - it doesn't snow where I'm from in New Zealand (well, a few flakes were noticed in high places last winter, which was very very unusual) so it still has novelty value for me. Especially since last winter it snowed once, lightly (in early December) in Tours and lasted a couple of days on the ground, and the winter before that I was in Nice, where it did actually snow a few times, but it's not exactly Winter Central. I got my fill of snow in England both years though, unlike this Christmas where there was no snow to be seen.
But I must say, snow is more exciting when it's either sitting on the ground looking pretty, or falling when you're inside looking out. I made the mistake on Monday of deciding to walk home regardless, since I thought otherwise I'd just be stuck freezing my arse off waiting for the inevitably late bus, and then have a long journey home in traffic packed in like sardines on the bus. It was not very fun to be out in, though - the wind was blowing the snow directly at me under my umbrella, especially on the bridges across the Cher and the railway, where it was absolutely freezing cold. I had my fingerless gloves on, and my fingertips puckered up like I'd been in the bath for too long - I couldn't keep them in my pockets due to holding my umbrella. By the time I got home, I was wet, my shoes were leaking and I was very cold! I made home-made chicken soup followed by hot chocolate with Baileys to perk myself up a bit.
On Wednesday I went to the gym - I'm used to walking home in my gym gear and shower at home, so I forgot until I got outside that I was in shorts with bare legs! I basically ran all the way home, so maybe that's a good training technique!
Yesterday was a bit warmer (about minus 3) and nice and sunny. I went to the "cat expo" with a couple of friends. Bit disappointing - I was expecting to be able to pat/play with the cats, but they were all in plastic-covered cages :( I suppose I understand they don't want everyone hassling them, but it was a bit of a bummer. Paying 5 euros to look at 800-euro cats in plastic boxes isn't my idea of fun. We followed up with a nice lunch - a "tourangelle" version of tartiflette, where they replaced the lardons with rillons, a special Tours kind of pork confit, plus a litre of wine between the three of us. Very ladies who lunch.
Some photos from the last week:
I risked turning into an icicle to take a photo of the Cher in Monday's snow-shower
Sunset over the Cher on Wednesday or Thursday - not snowing, but very cold!
The half-frozen lake in the park
A bit of snow on the ground in the park - I'll try to brave the outside world and take some more pics today since it's stopped snowing
Snow falling in a different park
The view from my bedroom window this morning. Since all my other windows are skylights, it's pretty dark in the flat today and I can't see out!
Friday, February 03, 2012
What do you get if you cross a rat and a log?
A ragondin, of course!
Last night I went over to a friend's for drinks with her neighbour and a girl she met on a training course whom she'd invited specifically because "SHE'S SINGLE, YOU'RE SINGLE, YOU MUST GO OUT TOGETHER!" Turns out, as well as being single (rare among Frenchies), she's pretty cool. We have already talked about how we must get drunk and sing karaoke together and also get dressed up all fancy and go to the opera (different evenings, presumably). And she works at the markets and has offered to get me sweet deals on cheese. May be developing a girl crush.
Anyway, the point of this blog post is about the joys of cross-linguistic/cultural communication, or, how I learned what a ragondin is. Communication can sometimes be difficult, but it can also provide different ways of seeing things (or bizarre ways of learning new information). Sometimes it's like your whole life is a game of Taboo, where you can say anything except the name of the thing you're describing. And then sometimes it's more like charades!
We were, for some reason, talking about the botanic gardens at Tours and she mentioned that there were ragondins there. When I asked what a ragondin was, my friend Liz said that it was an animal that "didn't exist" in England and it looked like a big rat. Charlie the Frenchie defended the honour of the "cute" ragondin, and chose to describe it as a cross between a rat (pronounced "rah" in French) and "a big stick that you hit people with" – that confused me, but turns out she meant "rondin" – a log. How rat + rondin = ragondin, or how exactly rat + log is a sensible way of describing an animal, I don't know. This is, after all, a country that decides the most notable difference between a mouse and a bat is that the bat is bald (a bat is a "chauve-souris" – a bald mouse). Also, a log is a "big stick to hit people with" - this may be a worrying sign of violent tendencies chez New Droog.
I was also amused by her description that ragondins love dirty water and eat everything. If you have a dirty stream – why, get yourself a ragondin, pop it in, and it will eat up all the sewage tout de suite. But – attention ! A ragondin will eat anything, so if it runs out of sewage (apparently its meal of choice) it will start eating plants and fishes. So you must monitor your ragondin, and take him out of the stream once he's done his job. Presumably you then pat your ragondin on the head and take him to another dirty stream to feast on more delicious sewage.
If, by any chance (and I don't see how it's possible) you still don't know what your friendly neighbourhood ragondin is – apparently it's a coypu, and they don't get a very good rap in Wikipedia.
Oh and I also learned that in French "Little Women" is "The four daughters of Dr. March". Come on, France - he's not even in the book. Yeah, "Little Women" is pretty patronising, but how man-centric can you get?
Last night I went over to a friend's for drinks with her neighbour and a girl she met on a training course whom she'd invited specifically because "SHE'S SINGLE, YOU'RE SINGLE, YOU MUST GO OUT TOGETHER!" Turns out, as well as being single (rare among Frenchies), she's pretty cool. We have already talked about how we must get drunk and sing karaoke together and also get dressed up all fancy and go to the opera (different evenings, presumably). And she works at the markets and has offered to get me sweet deals on cheese. May be developing a girl crush.
Anyway, the point of this blog post is about the joys of cross-linguistic/cultural communication, or, how I learned what a ragondin is. Communication can sometimes be difficult, but it can also provide different ways of seeing things (or bizarre ways of learning new information). Sometimes it's like your whole life is a game of Taboo, where you can say anything except the name of the thing you're describing. And then sometimes it's more like charades!
We were, for some reason, talking about the botanic gardens at Tours and she mentioned that there were ragondins there. When I asked what a ragondin was, my friend Liz said that it was an animal that "didn't exist" in England and it looked like a big rat. Charlie the Frenchie defended the honour of the "cute" ragondin, and chose to describe it as a cross between a rat (pronounced "rah" in French) and "a big stick that you hit people with" – that confused me, but turns out she meant "rondin" – a log. How rat + rondin = ragondin, or how exactly rat + log is a sensible way of describing an animal, I don't know. This is, after all, a country that decides the most notable difference between a mouse and a bat is that the bat is bald (a bat is a "chauve-souris" – a bald mouse). Also, a log is a "big stick to hit people with" - this may be a worrying sign of violent tendencies chez New Droog.
I was also amused by her description that ragondins love dirty water and eat everything. If you have a dirty stream – why, get yourself a ragondin, pop it in, and it will eat up all the sewage tout de suite. But – attention ! A ragondin will eat anything, so if it runs out of sewage (apparently its meal of choice) it will start eating plants and fishes. So you must monitor your ragondin, and take him out of the stream once he's done his job. Presumably you then pat your ragondin on the head and take him to another dirty stream to feast on more delicious sewage.
If, by any chance (and I don't see how it's possible) you still don't know what your friendly neighbourhood ragondin is – apparently it's a coypu, and they don't get a very good rap in Wikipedia.
Oh and I also learned that in French "Little Women" is "The four daughters of Dr. March". Come on, France - he's not even in the book. Yeah, "Little Women" is pretty patronising, but how man-centric can you get?
Thursday, February 02, 2012
Musee des vins de Touraine - Tours wine museum
The lovely Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris recently visited the Paris wine museum and came away less than impressed. When I was out for a walk on Sunday, this sort of inspired me to take a look at Tours' own wine museum. After all, there's not a lot else to do on a Sunday in these parts. It was actually closed for lunch when I went past, so I went home, ate some cheese, blogged about eating cheese, then headed back out.
I had read on I think the official Tours website, either that or the website of the tourist office, that you could get in for cheap with your local bus pass. The girl on the desk had never heard of this, but she made a couple of calls and said that she would let me in for half price anyway. Sweet. So I think it was 2.50 instead of 5 - something like that.
The museum is just in one room, in the cellars of the abbey of St. Julien, dating from the 13th century - and very pretty it is too.
The church of St. Julien - it always seems closed and I'd always assumed it was ruined and not used anymore, but on closer inspection, although it was locked up, there was a sign mentioning church groups for youth held inside, so I suppose it must be open sometimes
A capital on the columns of the church
The back of St Julien's
Museum entrance
Inside the museum
Remarkably for a museum about the wines of Touraine, there is absolutely no information about what the most popular wines of the region are, their characteristics, what you might drink them with, especially good years to look out for, how the wines are made, a map of the different AOC areas... !!! There were about 5 pages that looked like they had been cut out of an encyclopedia from the 1970s which listed the different cepages (grape types) used in the region, and that was pretty much it as far as information on the wine went.
The rest of the room was mostly taken up with display cases on such themes as "Wine and Religion" "Wine and Social Life" and "The Benefits of Drinking Wine", which mostly contained photographs of people and wine and quotes from the Bible or famous authors. (My favourite of these was Victor Hugo saying that "God only created water - man made wine".) There were also cases in the middle of the room which contained wine glasses and jugs and associated implements through the ages.
Luckily enough, I am rather easily pleased with museums. I would rather a museum that's somewhat on the ridiculous side and hence amuses me, then one which is very serious but also lacks anything of particular interest. (Of course, a museum with spectacular exhibits and informative displays is also good.) I would rather hate to see these sorts of museums all die off and be replaced with the type where you spend the whole time pushing buttons and reading stuff off computer screens and the like (not that they can't be very good in their place, of course).
Here's some of my favourite things from the museum:
This is a bowl for a rôtie, a traditional drink of warm wine with sugar given to newlyweds the day after their wedding. I find the eye and the caption saying "I see you, naughty monkey" (exact translation up for debate) a little bit creepy! I looked online for a little more information on this tradition and found an article (first page only available for free) saying it was a tradition in the Auvergne to burst into the bridal room and present the bride and groom with a chamber pot filled with a mix of chocolate and champagne, which looked disgusting (and reminiscent of what normally would go in a chamber pot, of course) but tasted good. Everyone there would share the contents of the pot. As I said, the museum said the rôtie was wine and sugar, but if there was chocolate in the mix that might explain what's all over their faces in the photo they had of the ceremony (plus that pot does look a lot like a chamber pot)
I'd love to know who Martin Bigo was and what's going on here. It's around the time of the Revolution, but that doesn't clear anything up for me.
I thought these were pretty spiffy
A stained-glass window showing the AOC varieties of the region (so there is sorta a map)
A stained-glass window showing drunken people cavorting with a lion and a goat. Hey, why not?
Only in France would:
A picture of Mothers Day celebrations be considered ideal for a display on how wine accompanies us at all our important life events
A picture of schoolchildren looking at wine be captioned "Desire" (this was in the "Negative Effects of Wine" display by the way)
Someone write a book called "heal yourself with wine"
You get away with labelling a photo of a breathalyser "Alas! The alcohol-test"
I had read on I think the official Tours website, either that or the website of the tourist office, that you could get in for cheap with your local bus pass. The girl on the desk had never heard of this, but she made a couple of calls and said that she would let me in for half price anyway. Sweet. So I think it was 2.50 instead of 5 - something like that.
The museum is just in one room, in the cellars of the abbey of St. Julien, dating from the 13th century - and very pretty it is too.
The church of St. Julien - it always seems closed and I'd always assumed it was ruined and not used anymore, but on closer inspection, although it was locked up, there was a sign mentioning church groups for youth held inside, so I suppose it must be open sometimes
A capital on the columns of the church
The back of St Julien's
Museum entrance
Inside the museum
Remarkably for a museum about the wines of Touraine, there is absolutely no information about what the most popular wines of the region are, their characteristics, what you might drink them with, especially good years to look out for, how the wines are made, a map of the different AOC areas... !!! There were about 5 pages that looked like they had been cut out of an encyclopedia from the 1970s which listed the different cepages (grape types) used in the region, and that was pretty much it as far as information on the wine went.
The rest of the room was mostly taken up with display cases on such themes as "Wine and Religion" "Wine and Social Life" and "The Benefits of Drinking Wine", which mostly contained photographs of people and wine and quotes from the Bible or famous authors. (My favourite of these was Victor Hugo saying that "God only created water - man made wine".) There were also cases in the middle of the room which contained wine glasses and jugs and associated implements through the ages.
Luckily enough, I am rather easily pleased with museums. I would rather a museum that's somewhat on the ridiculous side and hence amuses me, then one which is very serious but also lacks anything of particular interest. (Of course, a museum with spectacular exhibits and informative displays is also good.) I would rather hate to see these sorts of museums all die off and be replaced with the type where you spend the whole time pushing buttons and reading stuff off computer screens and the like (not that they can't be very good in their place, of course).
Here's some of my favourite things from the museum:
This is a bowl for a rôtie, a traditional drink of warm wine with sugar given to newlyweds the day after their wedding. I find the eye and the caption saying "I see you, naughty monkey" (exact translation up for debate) a little bit creepy! I looked online for a little more information on this tradition and found an article (first page only available for free) saying it was a tradition in the Auvergne to burst into the bridal room and present the bride and groom with a chamber pot filled with a mix of chocolate and champagne, which looked disgusting (and reminiscent of what normally would go in a chamber pot, of course) but tasted good. Everyone there would share the contents of the pot. As I said, the museum said the rôtie was wine and sugar, but if there was chocolate in the mix that might explain what's all over their faces in the photo they had of the ceremony (plus that pot does look a lot like a chamber pot)
I'd love to know who Martin Bigo was and what's going on here. It's around the time of the Revolution, but that doesn't clear anything up for me.
I thought these were pretty spiffy
A stained-glass window showing the AOC varieties of the region (so there is sorta a map)
A stained-glass window showing drunken people cavorting with a lion and a goat. Hey, why not?
Only in France would:
A picture of Mothers Day celebrations be considered ideal for a display on how wine accompanies us at all our important life events
A picture of schoolchildren looking at wine be captioned "Desire" (this was in the "Negative Effects of Wine" display by the way)
Someone write a book called "heal yourself with wine"
You get away with labelling a photo of a breathalyser "Alas! The alcohol-test"
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