Afternoon Tea

A couple of weeks before leaving for France, I remember having a conversation with one of my co-workers at McNally Robinson. He'd just returned to Canada after having spent something around a decade teaching at a university in Poland. He said that one of the things that was hardest for him, in the course of re-adapting to life in Canada, was the change in pace. "You're going to find that life moves a lot slower over there," he said.

I've found this to be true in some ways, but not necessarily true in others. For example, it's unbelievable to me that we've been away from Canada for almost a month now. The time just seems to have dissipated, and five months isn't seeming as long now as it was before we left.

To a large extent, it would seem obvious that life is slower for me: no school, no work, doing things more or less at my own pace, on my own time. But one example of taking a little extra time to enjoy the day-to-day, now that we've gotten more or less settled in, is afternoon tea. We've been sitting down after lunch to enjoy afternoon tea almost every day, made possible by the fact that two days of the school week Lauren's home by 12:30, and a third day she doesn't have class until 2, which leaves us with plenty of time.

It's been a small daily routine or tradition that we've developed, and something that I really profoundly enjoy. Some days we sit and get on an interesting topic of conversation and can chat away an hour or more, while some days there isn't as much to say, and we can enjoy sitting in silence and sipping the tea and just sort of savouring the moment. I've found it to be a really nice way to gather my thoughts and remember to relax, and to enjoy the place we're (so lucky to be) in.

 Lauren likes afternoon tea because it gives her time to stop and smell the roses:

Brock gets very (inappropriately?) excited about afternoon tea:

As an interesting aside, we've sampled a small variety of cheap teas from the grocery store: royal breakfast, earl grey, and green tea (with "natural" flavour...). As of yet we've been unable to find any "plain" black tea, ie. red rose/orange pekoe. Not fancy enough for France, I suppose. There have been a couple of specialty tea and coffee shops with some really exotic looking options, though we haven't really experimented with these because of the equally exotic prices. And without a teapot or a kettle, we've been boiling water in a pot on the stove. Ah, afternoon tea...

Till next time,
-Brock

Untitled No. 23 (blue cat moves like liquid on an esoteric wavelength) take 4

Hello Everyone!

Sorry it's been awhile, somehow the last week and a half has slipped by oh so stealthily. Which is more than I can say for myself; as it turns out, there is more to jazz dance than spirit fingers and fedoras. More, as in more beats than I can count, more battements and elevés than I can do, and more stiffness and calf-pain than I have ever experienced. Hélas, graceful as a swan I am not. Lurching around like a hobbled billy goat is underrated.
  (looking up synonyms for the word 'lurch' turned up this list: blunder, bumble, careen, dodge, duck, falter, flounder, heave, jerk, lean, list, move to the side, pitch, reel, rock, roll, seesaw, slide, slip, stagger, stumble, sway, swing, teeter,tilt, toss, totter, wallow, weave, wobble, and yaw, most of which are fairly accurate descriptors of the way I'm moving around right now)

Anyways. I have a few more pictures of beautiful Avignon to show you guys, mostly of the Palace of the Pope from across the Rhȏne river.

Happy reading week to those busy reading, rest assured that we're keeping it Riel in our new Provence.

Lauren

Views of the City

The other day we finally pulled out the camera and took some pictures of the city to share! They're all of the old city, or the portion of the city within the walls, which were erected in the early 1300s.

This is the view out the window of our apartment. The building to the right is also part of our complex.

The view of our complex, Residence les Cordeliers. Note the sturdy gate.

Entrance to the old city via Rue St-Michel

Entrance via Rue de la Republique, which is the main drag of the old city, containing the administrative buildings, tourist office, and several hotels and restaurants. It terminates in a large square that leads on to the Palais des Papes

The main administrative building of Avignon.

A view along the wall, from the outside. There are a couple of points in the wall where they've been worn down by the centuries and the elements, and there are actually crews working to restore them with new stone. It's pretty cool to watch.

The famous Palais des Papes, constructed between 1335 and 1364, is the largest Gothic palace in Europe. It's hard to really capture its immensity in a photograph. 

Up a steep incline from the palace is an extensive garden that includes a duck pond, much like the one in Assiniboine Park. The difference here is that the ducks are incredibly fat.

The park also offers an excellent view of the city of Avignon.

And it has a giant rock you can climb on.

A typical street in the market section of the old city.

And last, but not least, the famous Pont d'Avignon, built in the late 1100s, and originally possessing 22 arches, of which only 4 remain.

I'm sure we'll post more pictures as we take them, but for now hopefully this'll give you a feel for the city. Despite the small size of the old city there's a lot to see. The streets are maze-like, and it's taking us quite a while to get a feel for how things are connected.

Till later,

-Brock

AT LAST

So I'm sure you can guess what decided to show up today. Everything was inside (I think), nothing was broken, the bag was even in one piece! I'd been speculating that maybe half the bag was lying around Heathrow somewhere, and the other half was chilling out in Geertruidenberg. Unfortunately it was couriered over, so there was nobody I could ask about where it's actually spent the last week and a half, or about whether maybe they have some spare money hanging around that I could have for the trouble. Perhaps another email is in order. But for now, there is nothing to do but rejoice.

49 rue du Portail Magnanen

We poor wayfaring strangers have a home (away from home) at last. 

Welcome to 49 rue du Portail Magnanen, suite A302, postal code 84000, Avignon, France. 

apparently people don't need sheets here, all we get is that blue felt blanket and a mattress cover

wasted no time buying wine and beer

Brock's desk

can you tell whose side is whose? 

My desk

Mini-shower, which I haven't tried yet, but according to Brock the shower head could qualify for a CLR commercial.  

who needs a kitchen when you have a hallway? 

we went to a tiny little grocery store today, just to get some food for lunch and dinner. We're going to the market tomorrow.

our adorable vanity (I particularly like the movie star lighting above the mirror)

and this is the view inside the cabinet. 

So far so good with this apartment; the rent is what we expected (although I had to buy MORE insurance, I must be the least liable person in France), and we have a mailbox (the address is at the top of this post). the building is pretty new, and we don't have any irritating neighbors (yet). 

Time for dinner attempt number one! (Brock doesn't think we can mess up canned ravioli, I'm not so sure)

Lauren