Orléans
Sorry I haven't answered your nice Christmas wishes, I didn't feel very well. I didn't eat that much during the festivities so obviously, something didn't agree with me and I still feel a bit queasy now and then. Nothing too serious, though. (But I don't dare trying the brittle right now, sorry, although that smells good ;D)
I'm having a quiet holiday time, reading or watching movies. I did move on Sunday, I went to see one of my aunts with my mother in Orléans. Now this is the "Christmas town" for me, as I spent all my Christmas vacations there as a child.
My grandfather lived there, so the whole family - my mother was the fourth of six children - gathered in his house for Christmas, where I would get to play with my cousins. I have tons of memories of that time, some good, some bad, and Orléans will always be the place for Christmas in my mind.
My grandfather died when I was eight - lung cancer, he had smoked almost all of his life, brown (?) tobacco like those "Gitane" that stink so much even for a former smoker like me - and it was never the same after. I've always regretted not to get to know him better. He was a very interesting man, who liked sciences as much as arts. The little artistic skills I have come from him certainly : he liked to paint, from landscapes to naked women, and to sculpt. I didn't like much his paintings but I think he had a certain talent for sculpture.
So I still have one aunt in Orléans, who's old (the oldest of the four children still alive) and alone, and we try to go and see her as much as we can (about 130 kms from Paris). Sometimes she loses a bit her grip on reality, she has no patience at all, but I'm very attached to her so I was very happy to see her, even if I felt really ill on the afternoon. That's why I went to walk for a bit in the center of the town. I took a few pictures but most of them were blurred, I don't know if it's because I was cold or ill or because of a problem with the camera. So q_spade, don't look at the photos, they're too bad for you ;) I even had to lighten some of them with Photoshop because the night was falling fast.
I think (not sure at all) that the first one is the rue Royale, the second one the rue Jeanne d'Arc. The third pic shows the Marché aux fleurs, with what I think must be a statue of Marianne (symbol of the French Rebublic, which is nice to see in such a Catholic town) and the fourth shows the cathedral Sainte-Croix.
The not very good pics : the first two show the old, but still used, Hôtel de Ville (town hall), the third an old house, and the fourth the statue of Jeanne d'Arc - I couldn't get to see it from the other side because of the Marché de Noël. Jeanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc in English ?) is still much revered in Orléans. The far right politicians have been trying for years to use her as a symbol of the France they want but twisted with their political views (because she got the foreigners out of France, mixing the past situation of the English armies in France back at her time with today's immigration), at the outrage of real Catholic people (like my mother).
This is the end of our cultural program. Please feel free to ask any question you may have. No tip necessary. ;D
I'm having a quiet holiday time, reading or watching movies. I did move on Sunday, I went to see one of my aunts with my mother in Orléans. Now this is the "Christmas town" for me, as I spent all my Christmas vacations there as a child.
My grandfather lived there, so the whole family - my mother was the fourth of six children - gathered in his house for Christmas, where I would get to play with my cousins. I have tons of memories of that time, some good, some bad, and Orléans will always be the place for Christmas in my mind.
My grandfather died when I was eight - lung cancer, he had smoked almost all of his life, brown (?) tobacco like those "Gitane" that stink so much even for a former smoker like me - and it was never the same after. I've always regretted not to get to know him better. He was a very interesting man, who liked sciences as much as arts. The little artistic skills I have come from him certainly : he liked to paint, from landscapes to naked women, and to sculpt. I didn't like much his paintings but I think he had a certain talent for sculpture.
So I still have one aunt in Orléans, who's old (the oldest of the four children still alive) and alone, and we try to go and see her as much as we can (about 130 kms from Paris). Sometimes she loses a bit her grip on reality, she has no patience at all, but I'm very attached to her so I was very happy to see her, even if I felt really ill on the afternoon. That's why I went to walk for a bit in the center of the town. I took a few pictures but most of them were blurred, I don't know if it's because I was cold or ill or because of a problem with the camera. So q_spade, don't look at the photos, they're too bad for you ;) I even had to lighten some of them with Photoshop because the night was falling fast.
I think (not sure at all) that the first one is the rue Royale, the second one the rue Jeanne d'Arc. The third pic shows the Marché aux fleurs, with what I think must be a statue of Marianne (symbol of the French Rebublic, which is nice to see in such a Catholic town) and the fourth shows the cathedral Sainte-Croix.
The not very good pics : the first two show the old, but still used, Hôtel de Ville (town hall), the third an old house, and the fourth the statue of Jeanne d'Arc - I couldn't get to see it from the other side because of the Marché de Noël. Jeanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc in English ?) is still much revered in Orléans. The far right politicians have been trying for years to use her as a symbol of the France they want but twisted with their political views (because she got the foreigners out of France, mixing the past situation of the English armies in France back at her time with today's immigration), at the outrage of real Catholic people (like my mother).
This is the end of our cultural program. Please feel free to ask any question you may have. No tip necessary. ;D