Travel another way

Tonight we had a crepe dinner. Valerie, our chef, made salty crepes but also sweet crepes for dessert. Two of our guests wanted to learn how to make crepes so Shelley and Josepehine watched Valerie and then started making their own crepes. Josepehine laughed so hard making her crepes that everyone else came from the dining room to see what we were doing in the kitchen. 

From Josepehine Takamoto and Shelley MacIntosh: “What fun we had together making crepes!  Josepehine was brave enough to flip the crepes in the air — just like Valerie!  Shelley and Josephine are ready to open a creperie in the US.  Bon Appetit!”

Crepe made by Valerie

Josephine laughing while making crepes

“A most gracious hostess, Chantal Pinaud, granted us a beautiful vista and invited us to paint in her gardens. Although it drizzled and was a bit chilly most of the day, we could not be torn away from our first painting opportunity. Even as the paint refused to dry and little rain droplets did their own special effects on our paintings, we found ourselves entrenched in our positions, determined to finish and conquer our creative obstacles”. Linda Carroll

Here is a picture o f Linda in Chantal’s garden

Here is Linda’s painting of Chantal’s house.

After our painting session, we were invited by Louis Fournier, Chantal’s neighbor. He invited us in his house and served us walnut wine, a local specialty made by his 88 years old mother. Louis wrote a book about the Virieu village. Everyone decided to buy his book. He was kind enough to dedicate every book ( see picture). This was an unique experience and Shelley is sure that this day will be the most memorable and meaningful experience of her trip. From L to R: Jackie, Kathy, Chantal (our hostess in yellow), Shelley, Louis dedicating his books, Linda, Josephine and Sandy.

Since Bonnie was not with us (she stayed home to paint from the house), here is a picture of her when she was still in Chantal’s garden painting her irises.

Our new group has arrived safely yesterday. Sandy Delehanty, the waterocolorist from Sacramento-California (see her site at www.sandydelehanty.com) is here with her group of 6 students, all with different skill levels.

For the first dinner, our chef Valerie, see more about her on our web site at www.frenchescapade.com, has prepared a buffet. The cheese board always comes after dinner in France. On the picture below, you can see Valerie teaching everyone how to cut the cheese. Oups, sorry, I should say how to slice the cheese. Our guests always laugh at us when we tell them we are going to teach them how to cut the cheese, so we now try to say “slice the cheese”.

Shelley is taking note about everything Valerie is saying about food like wine pairing, the origin of each cheese and the demonstration of the slicing. Tomorrow night, Shelley will be the one slicing the cheese for everyone.

Today was dedicated to the discovery of magical Lyon, a World Heritage city known as the Capital of Gourmet Cuisine. The Fourviere Basilica, with its breathtaking view of the city, was our first stop.

We then visited the superb Roman Theater built in 43 AD, and then walked down through the medieval part of the city to the Renaissance quarter, the second biggest renaissance quarter in the world, listed World Heritage by UNESCO.

Lyon was the silk capital in the 19th century. They were thousand of silk workers, called the “canuts”, in Lyon. Today, they are only 9 silk weavers left working in 3 different workshops. We visited one of them. la “Soierie St Georges”.

Do you know that velvet is a technique and not a material? The silk weaver gave us a demonstration on how to make velvet on a 18th century loom.

You can find wonderful silk scarves and some velvet.

Too many choices!!!!!

Patty and Joyce, the 2 shoppers from the group were in heaven and found the scarves they wanted.

Today we went to the Vercors, a pre-Alps range, that is part of a regional park. We painted suspended medieval houses, that are hanging over the Bourne river, in the village of Pont-en-Royans. That is a breathtaking scenery. How often can you get a chance to paint that?

Some of us painted all day while some others spent the morning visiting a cave, called the Choranche caves.

This cave is very spectacular and the beauty comes from  a special type of stalactite called “soda straws”. Their originality is that they are hollow and made of pure calcite when  regular stalactites are full. Some are 10 feet long and 15000 years old.

Today the day started with Tai-chi. Sandy decided to do a few minutes of tai-chi and Susan decided to join her. Five minutes later five of them were doing tai-chi in the living room. A great way to start the day.

In the morning we went to Chamonix to see Mont Blanc, the highest peak in Europe (close to 15,000 feet). We took the train to go up to 6000 feet to go and see the “Sea of ice” glacier that comes down from Mont Blanc. Since the gondola going down to the glacier was closed, some of us hiked down the trail. Here is a picture of Joyce by the glacier.

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It was an incredible clear day so we were able to see the top of each mountains, even Mont Blanc (which is not always a sure thing). Everyone loved that day with a 360 degree panorama view of the mountains. From L to R: Jackie, Victoria, Joyce, Susan, Patty, Sandy and Bev.

Today, we went to the Virieu castle, medieval/renaissance castle started in the 11th century and owned by the Virieu family. A member of the family, Stephanie de Virieu, dedicated her life to her art which was amazing in the 19th century. She didn’t get married and instead, spent her time painting, sketching and doing sculptures. In her eighties, she became blind but kept on doing art.

This castle and Stephanie are therefore a great inspiration for our painters. They started to set everything up in the garden under a bright sun.

Bev is probably cracking up a joke, as always:

Susan is always the first one ready: she’s started when everyone else is still setting up.

Jackie is looking for a canvas.

The final work is terrific (painting by Victoria Brooks, the teacher):

After so much hard work, everyone was happy to sit down and savored the fabulous food prepared by Valerie . Tonight the dessert was: chocolate-covered pears.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s highlights.

Jac

Today we went to the flowery village of Chanaz in Savoie. This village is very tiny but so unique. A little canal goes through the village. It connects the Rhone river to the Bourget lake, the biggest natural lake in France. Nothing is more peaceful than painting in the woods, with the birds singing around you, looking at the village and seeing boats go by.

Everyone found a spot they liked along the river and they painted while Victoria was helping everyone. When everyone was exhausted, they all sat on the grass watching Victoria’s demo. She painted an old boat as you can see in the picture below.

Victoria’s demo.

Students watching the demo

Susan  painting

Bev  painting

Jackie painting

Victoria helping Joyce with Sandy in the background.

We also attended a walnut oil making presentation in a 19th century  mill listed historical monument. The stone mill, the oven and the press were all 140 year old and still functioning. This is the last walnut oil mill functioning full time in France. Tasted it was amazing: so pure. Needless to say that everyone bought some oil, even people who do not cook!!!.

Jac

This is the fourth day of our journey. Jac and Valerie are excellent tour guides. They are able to share fascinating historical information that we wouldn’t otherwise hear.

We spent part of today in Lyon walking through the old part of the city. C’est magnifique! Yesterday was spent in the beautiful village of Chanaz. We are seeing France in a unique way. It’s a wonderful combination of sightseeing and painting opportunities. 

Each day Valerie creatively prepares meals tailored to each town we visit. C’est delicieux! And always the wine and cheese of each region.

Joyce and Patty.

We started the day shopping on the market. Everyone had an assignment written in French of course, with what they had to buy for the picnic. Everyone managed, some took more time than others…. We then went to the chocolate maker. Do you know how to make white chocolate? Do you know if chocolate has cocoa butter or vegetal oil in it? Well, we learned all that and tasted it. It was so yummy!!!!!

Bev wanted the picture below to be posted: it is our dessert plate for dinner with all the delicacies from the chocolate maker. Hmmm, I guess she wants you to drool.

We were so lucky with our painting site. Victoria saw a great house with wisteria she wanted to paint. I asked permission to the owner and she was thrilled to have us paint her house and her garden. Her house was painted by the famous artist Giacomino in 1945. She showed us the painting. Amazing!! She invited us back and offered us to have picnic in her garden next time.

Below are paintings from today’s session: one is by Bev Lindsay, the second one  by Jackie Carroll, the third one by Patty Phillips and the fourth one by Susan Landi.

Until tomorrow. Jackie G

Today, we are starting a painting tour in France. The art teacher is Victoria Brooks. You can see her work on her web site at www.vbrooks.com

She is bringing 6 of her students for a wonderful experience here near the Alps. Right now, it is sunny, so hopefully it will stay that way.

There will be some watercolorists and some oil painters since Victoria is experienced in both techniques. They will have the choice of painting landscapes, glaciers, mountains, medieval villages, flowers, etc..

Below is a picture of a painting done by one of our former guests. To see more paintings from previous tours, you can go to www.frenchescapade.com

Some of the coming guests will start posting on this blog as well about their experience on the tour and hopefully I will be able to display some pictures of their paintings or of them painting.

Stay tuned!!

Painting of Pont en Royans, by Pat Brothen, on one of our tours in 2005

Here is the recipe from our French Escapade chef, Valerie. This is one of the dish that she serves to our guests during their stay with us.

Ingredients: 2 small goat cheeses, baguette bread, mache or other type of salad, chive, honey, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, Maille mustard.

Steps:

Vinaigrette: Whisk 4 tablespoons of oil in a bowl with a tablespoon of vinegar, one teaspoon of mustard, a dash of salt and pepper.

Salad: – Just before serving, heat the cheese in a pan on medium-low for one minute on each side or microwave it for about 20 secondes.

- Toast 2 small slices on bread and serve the hot cheese on the toasts.

- Add 2 handfuls of mache salad to the vinaigrette and stir.

- Dress the plates with the cheese on one side and the salad next to it.

- Poor honey strips with a spoon over the cheese and decorate with chives and cherry tomatoes. 

Bon appetit!!!!

The picture has been taking by one of our guests on a French Escapade tour.

I just came accross this web site and I thought it was cool. You can get a map of the countries you have visited.  Go to this site http://www.world66.com/myworld66/visitedCountries Enter the countries you have visted in the table below the map and you can produce a map of the world with those countries in red.

If you have a web site or blog, you can put the map on  your site by copying and pasting the code.

After mapping my trips, I realized I have been in 22 countries. Not bad, but it could be better. I would be interested in finding out in how many countires you have been. Don’t hesitate to post a comment with your answer.

PS: The picture is from http://www.freeworldmaps.net/

May 1st is a holiday in France. It is ” La Fête du Travail”, the equivalent of your Labour Day. And what do we do on that special occasion beside not going to work?

Even though most people enjoy that day as a family day and stay home, it is also the opportunity to gather in big cities and join a huge parade where Trade Unions, social organizations and associations, as well as political parties (mainly leftist parties) walk in memory of all the workers’ fights to improve their social conditions. It is generally a joyful march instead of a protest, but the recent concerns about the bad economic results and the fear of recession will be in the spotlight today.

May 1st is also the day when everybody buys and offers a bouquet of lilies-of-the-valley, the traditional flower on that day. For 24 hours only, anybody is auhorized to sell these flowers anywhere on the streets, and you can see teenagers everywhere trying to sell their cute bouquets to get some extra pocket money. Florists sell more elaborate compositions. By offering lilies-of-the-valley , we wish good luck for the all year ! We also send card decorated with this flower whenever relatives or friends are too far away to receive the actual flower.

So happy May 1st and good luck to all of you!

The picture comes from www.folp.free.fr