France...again

May 22, 2012

It was a pleasant surprise when I discovered that I had a work conference in Paris in the first week in April. It seems that after moving to India from Germany that we spend most of our holidays in France. This holiday was slightly different as Lucy has decided that we are not “cool” travel companions so she packed her bags to visit her Aunty Anne and her nephews in Sydney.

Kate, Ada and I had the good fortune to be invited to a to the country house of a French friend, Geraud. His family holiday house is in the Central Massif, the volcanic region in the centre of France which is as remote as it gets in France. The region has some small ski fields, although it was the very end of ski season, and is primarily known for agriculture, in particular the cheese and cured meats which we sampled at every opportunity.

LaBro the small Castle overlooking Chastreix

Ada in her element...mother nature

and buying freshly made french pastries!

and walking in the local forest

The first parts of the farm house (known simply as Labro) were thought to have been constructed in the 13^th century and it has the dominant position over the small village of Chastreix in the Auvergne. It is still a working farm and the land and a smaller house is leased by a French farmer. The views were nothing short of spectacular with the first jonquils of the season just starting to appear.

and bouldering with Mum and Dad!

Chris and Ada bouldering in Fontainbleu

The feature off the house are the two tower, each of which contained a bedroom. In daylight hours, it seem like just the place for Princess Ada to sleep: however, once darkness fell she decided on the couch close to Mum and Dad’s bed.

We spent the day going for walks and runs in the surrounding hills. We also took the time to visit the nearby village of Besse which has a medieval town centre.

After enjoying Geraud’s hospitality we journeyed to Fountainebleau, home of ENSEAD and the second most significant regional Paris after Versaille. However we were there for the sandstone boulders that litter the forest surrounding Fontainbleau that were previously the hunting grounds of French royalty. Since the 1920’s this has been one of the most significant bouldering (climbing without ropes) sites in the world. In French style, it is highly developed with hundreds of boulder circuits consisting of 20 to 30 boulder problems of similar degrees of difficulty. These circuits cater to both professional climber and children and we enjoyed two great days as Ada, with her new climbing shoes, made her way around the various children’s circuits and followed something a little harder. The wonderful thing about the area is that Ada, Kate and I could all challenge ourselves in very close proximity to each other.

The surrounding villages were beautiful and the countryside was dotted with spectacular Chateaus. We stayed in a converted Church and associated buildings that were once the home of Yannick Noah, the French tennis player.

Our last three days were in Paris staying at the Hotel Intercontinental on Rue Scribe just behind Opera and very near Boulevard Haussmann with all the delights of Galleries Lafayette and Printemps. This time though it was less about shopping and more about being. We spent a wonderful day in tulleries Garden whilst Chris was in conference. ada and I met some other children and played with them on swings and trampolines then we went and saw the giant Waterlilly room at L'Orangerie. Al totally made worthwhile by the gasp from Ada as she saw Monets giant Waterlilly paintings and came back to Mumbai to paint waterlillies herself!

Another day saw us queueing to see a Matisse exhibition at the Pompodieu centre. Giving up on that queue and satisfying ourselves with an amazing assortment of modern art including some Matisse, Chagall and a great MAUS exhibition. Ada coped so well...maybe it was the fast pace and promise of shopping at the end. nevertheless we still talk about the art and she enjoys her art even more than before.

Paris is always fun but staying in a nice hotel in an amzing location and not having to rush from tourist attraction to tourist attraction made it one of my best trips ever! Of course seeing friends and doing stuff we would do IF we lived there really helped. Lucky lucky me:)