It doesn’t seem like such a long time ago since our last holiday (to Japan). But here we go again; off for a week of travelling. This time we had less ambitious plans; the idea was to drive down to Angers via Lyon, and spend a few days with her dad and Francoise there. Then, we intended to continue to Paris, and drive back down to the Cote d’Azur after a weekend there.
Things didn’t start very well, since our 118d was still being repaired at the garage, having suffered a minor road accident a fortnight earlier. So we ended up embarking on the trip in my parents trusty Scenic instead (they were still in Finland so didn’t need it). In spite of leaving a bit later than planned (finding the keys for my parents car, getting the car out, putting our car back, and all that, took longer than expected…), our trip to Lyon was pretty painless (we were a bit afraid of getting stuck in snow or traffic, with all the other holiday makers on their way to the Alps…). We even found Karine and Johan’s place in Lyon (where we were staying for the night) without problems (praise the GPS...).
Karine is an old friend of Mathilde’s from her days of youth in Alencon, who has finally ended up in Lyon (having lived a bit all over France over the last few years), together with Johan and young Lukas. After a very nice dinner (boudin blanc, the real rural French cuisine deal), and quite a few glasses of wine, whisky, and some eau de vie, and some other stuff that all the alcohol I had has wiped off my brain cells, I stumbled into bed. Seems that me and Johan have at least two things in common (the other thing is our interest in nerdy computery things…). Surprisingly, I didn’t even wake up with a headache, so we could continue our journey towards Angers, after a very pleasant stay at Karine and Johan’s.
The journey to Angers took us through a beautifully snow-covered massif central. We felt lucky indeed, going west, as we observed the standstill traffic going the other way (people heading for some skiing in the alps…). The journey was a very smooth one; we weren’t even much slowed down by the snow.
Arriving in Angers, we were naturally greeted by a very tasty dinner a la Francoise. We also had the honour of meeting the latest arrival to Marc’s and Magaly’s family; Iloh (in case you’re wondering, that’s a girl’s name). On Sunday, we were joined by Xavier and Aude (who seem to be enjoying life by the sea in the Vendee very much indeed) as well as Herquise (who seems to be enjoying life in Nantes very much indeed). It was a all a very family-oriented Sunday; with a great sturdy French lunch followed by some Hanafuda (we managed to transmit our addiction to Herquise rather quickly) and general socialising. It was great to see the progress Joel is making, and to see his sense of humour is well intact (I especially liked his remark “Teemu ne boit pas de l’eau normalement”, less so his comment about me being Estonian).
And of course a proper French lunch requires a bit of physical activity afterwards, to get rid of that acquired fat. So we decided to go for a walk around the Lac de Maine (me and Mathilde even scaled the mighty heights of the “Roc de Croix” – or whatever it’s called, where we enjoyed some great views around the surrounding area, all the way to the town centre). Monday was dedicated to more relaxation, the most energetic thing we achieved was a cinema outing at “Le 400 Coups” (a brilliant cinema showing mostly independent films, for a town its size). Unfortunately our first choice, Gainsbourgh, was sold out; so we ended up seeing Une Execution Ordinaire (a very good French movie about communist Russia, with a superb performance from Dussolier as Stalin. In spite of it all being in French, I felt it captured the moment of that time, or at least as I have imagined it, very well).
The following day was gardening day. Cutting the hedge and sawing up firewood, mostly. I very much enjoyed it, believe it or not. Something I miss from the summers back in Finland; where I used to get rid of excess energy sawing up firewood at good old Ragard….). Since we really wanted to see Gainsbourg, we made another attempt, and managed to get seats this time. It didn’t disappoint; and gave me a great lesson about the life of one of great French icons of the 20th century. I suppose he’s a bit of a French Juice Leskinen (or is it perhaps the other way around?), although it has to be said he had better luck with women than old Juice. After this bit of culture, we managed to squeeze in a visit to Delphine and Christophe’s place; where we were treated to some coffee and waffles, yummie yummie. After another filling dinner, we headed back for the town centre with Sandra for a couple of drinks at a nice studenty bar. Good to see her again; one can always count on her to come out for a drink ;-).
On Wednesday, it was time for our customary visit to Patis au Chat, out in the rural Sarthe department, to say hi to Mathilde’s granddad. Good to see him and his wife are still in good form, able to live autonomously in the countryside the way they do. And trust me, where they live, it’s the real countryside (not like here on the Cote d’Azur, where a lot of the villages are filled with 2nd residences…).
That brought and end to our visit in Angers this time, as it was time for us to continue towards Paris on Thursday. As always, it was great to visit, and rest, and eat very well indeed. Angers really does feel like a 3rd/4th (?) home to me… Hopefully, Joel and Francoise can come and pay us a visit around Easter, as planned!
Things didn’t start very well, since our 118d was still being repaired at the garage, having suffered a minor road accident a fortnight earlier. So we ended up embarking on the trip in my parents trusty Scenic instead (they were still in Finland so didn’t need it). In spite of leaving a bit later than planned (finding the keys for my parents car, getting the car out, putting our car back, and all that, took longer than expected…), our trip to Lyon was pretty painless (we were a bit afraid of getting stuck in snow or traffic, with all the other holiday makers on their way to the Alps…). We even found Karine and Johan’s place in Lyon (where we were staying for the night) without problems (praise the GPS...).
Karine is an old friend of Mathilde’s from her days of youth in Alencon, who has finally ended up in Lyon (having lived a bit all over France over the last few years), together with Johan and young Lukas. After a very nice dinner (boudin blanc, the real rural French cuisine deal), and quite a few glasses of wine, whisky, and some eau de vie, and some other stuff that all the alcohol I had has wiped off my brain cells, I stumbled into bed. Seems that me and Johan have at least two things in common (the other thing is our interest in nerdy computery things…). Surprisingly, I didn’t even wake up with a headache, so we could continue our journey towards Angers, after a very pleasant stay at Karine and Johan’s.The journey to Angers took us through a beautifully snow-covered massif central. We felt lucky indeed, going west, as we observed the standstill traffic going the other way (people heading for some skiing in the alps…). The journey was a very smooth one; we weren’t even much slowed down by the snow.
Arriving in Angers, we were naturally greeted by a very tasty dinner a la Francoise. We also had the honour of meeting the latest arrival to Marc’s and Magaly’s family; Iloh (in case you’re wondering, that’s a girl’s name). On Sunday, we were joined by Xavier and Aude (who seem to be enjoying life by the sea in the Vendee very much indeed) as well as Herquise (who seems to be enjoying life in Nantes very much indeed). It was a all a very family-oriented Sunday; with a great sturdy French lunch followed by some Hanafuda (we managed to transmit our addiction to Herquise rather quickly) and general socialising. It was great to see the progress Joel is making, and to see his sense of humour is well intact (I especially liked his remark “Teemu ne boit pas de l’eau normalement”, less so his comment about me being Estonian). 
And of course a proper French lunch requires a bit of physical activity afterwards, to get rid of that acquired fat. So we decided to go for a walk around the Lac de Maine (me and Mathilde even scaled the mighty heights of the “Roc de Croix” – or whatever it’s called, where we enjoyed some great views around the surrounding area, all the way to the town centre). Monday was dedicated to more relaxation, the most energetic thing we achieved was a cinema outing at “Le 400 Coups” (a brilliant cinema showing mostly independent films, for a town its size). Unfortunately our first choice, Gainsbourgh, was sold out; so we ended up seeing Une Execution Ordinaire (a very good French movie about communist Russia, with a superb performance from Dussolier as Stalin. In spite of it all being in French, I felt it captured the moment of that time, or at least as I have imagined it, very well). 
The following day was gardening day. Cutting the hedge and sawing up firewood, mostly. I very much enjoyed it, believe it or not. Something I miss from the summers back in Finland; where I used to get rid of excess energy sawing up firewood at good old Ragard….). Since we really wanted to see Gainsbourg, we made another attempt, and managed to get seats this time. It didn’t disappoint; and gave me a great lesson about the life of one of great French icons of the 20th century. I suppose he’s a bit of a French Juice Leskinen (or is it perhaps the other way around?), although it has to be said he had better luck with women than old Juice. After this bit of culture, we managed to squeeze in a visit to Delphine and Christophe’s place; where we were treated to some coffee and waffles, yummie yummie. After another filling dinner, we headed back for the town centre with Sandra for a couple of drinks at a nice studenty bar. Good to see her again; one can always count on her to come out for a drink ;-).
On Wednesday, it was time for our customary visit to Patis au Chat, out in the rural Sarthe department, to say hi to Mathilde’s granddad. Good to see him and his wife are still in good form, able to live autonomously in the countryside the way they do. And trust me, where they live, it’s the real countryside (not like here on the Cote d’Azur, where a lot of the villages are filled with 2nd residences…). That brought and end to our visit in Angers this time, as it was time for us to continue towards Paris on Thursday. As always, it was great to visit, and rest, and eat very well indeed. Angers really does feel like a 3rd/4th (?) home to me… Hopefully, Joel and Francoise can come and pay us a visit around Easter, as planned!
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