Dutch cops in France

Dutch police on French freeways!

During the summer season the south of France is overrun by tourists, French and foreign alike, flocking southward like migrating birds. Trains and planes are fully booked, but many vacationers take to the road and move their families to rented houses, hotels, and campgrounds throughout Provence. This massive migration always takes place on the weekends because people rent from Saturday to Saturday, and on every Saturday between early July and late August the freeways clog up with cars. Even though the roads are excellent and well maintained (paid for by tolls) the French do not have a good safety record. Speed limits are broken routinely, especially by motorcyclists who fly like bullet trains past cars and trucks, and radar does not seem to slow down the speeders for more than the time it takes to pass the road-side speed traps. Highway police do their bit but are overwhelmed, so the authorities have now come up with an unexpected strategy. They have asked the Dutch government to send in DUTCH HIGHWAY POLICE to assist the French police during heavy-traffic weekends, especially to pull over the Dutch drivers who often speak little French (and to help out the French police who speak little English). Every summer, more than 1.5 million Dutch people descend on France, often with caravans in tow, with little concern for a French speeding ticket. Nowadays, the ticket will be explained in plain Dutch, including its obligation to pay.  

Dutch police with French colleagues

After a rather hectic schedule of music and theatre in July, we enjoy the quieter month of August to visit friends who have second homes here. Sometimes they are Americans who tend to favor the Var area (incl. the Côte d’Azur), oftentimes Parisian friends who tend to congregate in the Luberon area of Provence made famous by Peter Mayle. There, in the beautiful villages of Lourmarin, Bonnieux, or Ménerbes we get away from urban Aix to find the rugged nature of the Luberon mountains and the cool thick-stoned houses with their shaded gardens and swimming pools. At less than an hour’s driving distance from Aix, this is a favorite getaway during hot summer days. We have a soft spot for the village of LOURMARIN where Albert Camus lived and is buried.

Lourmarin 

Lourmarin, like many other villages in Provence, has been described in Taking Root in Provence. For more about Village Life in this area, click here.

Summer Festivals

Beginning this month and up until the first weekend in September the French highways will have “orange, red and black weekends.” Literally thousands of vehicles back up at toll stations between Lyons and Nice in the south and around Paris and major cities in the north, when the summer arrivals and departures cross each other. These weekends are designated as orange, red and black (worst) by the Highway officials and warnings are issued via radio and television, signaling the worst backups and urging people to take secondary roads, but nothing seems to stop families from traveling by car on those weekends and enduring the hardships of heavy traffic to and from their holiday destinations.

Summer traffic

As always in July, the city of Aix is full of musicians and music lovers. It’s OPERA time! Five or six operas (depending on budgets) are presented this month, as well as several concerts conducted by the “big” guest conductor of the year – this time Sir Colin Davis and his London Symphony Orchestra. The operas run from early music (Monteverdi) to a commissioned work by a contemporary composer. We have been delighted and disappointed in equal measure by these new works, but we do like the adventure of discovery.

At this time also, the city of Avignon holds its annual THEATRE Festival with an incredible concentration of plays all squeezed into one month of performances that start at 10 in the morning and run until about 2 a.m. at night. Some 30 “official” plays take place in the evenings in the huge courtyard of the historic Papal Palace, while more than 1100 (!) shows of the “Off” festival take place in numerous other venues (theatres, cloisters, courtyards, schools) throughout the city. The joyful street scene of posters, actors in dress, theatre amateurs and merrymakers is part of the pleasures of Avignon this month, but is also a reason NOT to visit as a tourist at this time.  

Both the opera festival in Aix and the theatre festival in Avignon are featured in Taking Root in Provence. Click here.     

Art and Architecture

We discovered a very unusual new art center, still in the making. CHATEAU LA COSTE near Aix-en-Provence has long been known for making wine but has recently expanded into the world of art and architecture. You can still buy wine at the chateau, but today the premises have been expanded and embellished with new buildings by leading architects such as American Frank Gehry, Japanese Tadao Ando, and Frenchman Jean Nouvel, and a number of sculptures by artists from the US, Brazil, Ireland and elsewhere dot the hilly landscape. Further art works are planned, as well as additional buildings by Brazilian Oscar Niemeier and Italian Renzo Piano. All this in a tiny village a stone’s throw from Aix!  

Chateau La Coste

On the subject of art, it was just announced that the PICASSO CASTLE in the village of Vauvenargues, where he lived for a number of years with his last wife Jacqueline and where they are both buried, will be open to visitors again this summer. This is not a museum, and the private property belongs to Jacqueline’s only daughter who lives in Paris. At the occasion of a blockbuster show on “Cézanne and Picasso” in Aix a few years ago, the local museum director persuaded the owner to open the chateau to visitors for the summer months. It was such a success that this year the place will be opened again for an exhibit of Picasso’s etchings.

Picasso's castle

We are starting to hear the first stirrings of the upcoming Opera Festival with the artists settling in for a month of performances in July. In June, some 30 young singers who have been selected from music schools worldwide will be following Master Classes that are open to the public, and perform in open-air concerts at various venues in and around the city of Aix. These concerts start at sundown and at first the birds chirp along with the singers as if in competition until the dark calms them down. Music is indeed a universal language.

DID YOU KNOW... that a “pretzel” is a “bretzel” in French?  

Scandals and Differences

The case of DOMINIQUE STRAUSS-KAHN, accused of assaulting a hotel maid in New York, has caused a stir on both sides of the Atlantic with markedly different public reactions. In the US a rich, womanizing public figure would have little chance before a jury, while in France DSK remains a man of considerable accomplishment whose dalliances are seen as a “boys will be boys” kind of petty flaw or even as the characteristic of a great seducer. The initial shock at seeing their man in handcuffs doing a perp walk in front of the cameras of the world shocked the French and was roundly condemned as brutal and savage. “Innocent until proven guilty” means don’t show him guilty until you have proof, say the French, and sending him to Riker’s Island was meant to humiliate him and bring him down a notch to please the public and the voters. 

As the story evolves, the perception of American vs. French legal systems is becoming clearer. While a former French Minister of Justice had declared earlier that she was “glad that in France we have a different system” it is now nevertheless accepted that there is something to be admired in the equal treatment meted out in America, whether you are a VIP or a nobody. It is even admitted that in France this would not be the case, particularly for the offense that Strauss-Kahn is accused of. A certain droit de seigneur seems to have survived the ages and a “great man” would not be brought down in France for what is still generally considered a peccadillo. Boys will be boys indeed.

To be continued…

In another area, here's another difference between France and America. We had a car accident here where a distracted driver sideswiped our car, doing significant damage to two doors. A passing policeman asked if anyone was hurt and when told that was not the case, he got back on his motorbike and took off. I had hoped that he would draw up a police report for our insurance company, but it turns out that such a thing is not necessary here. Each driver is supposed to carry an accident form in his car that is filled out and signed by the parties involved in case of 'material damage only'. The insurance companies do the rest. While our car was being repaired we received a replacement car and we never saw a bill. No need for lawyers. How simple - how nice - how cost saving.

DID YOU KNOW…  that a “walkie-talkie” is a “talkie-walkie” in French?  :-)

For some unusual French/English translations in Taking Root in Provence, click here.

Art and Cupcakes

This year the month of April was set aside for our annual pilgrimage to the Washington DC area to visit our children and friends from those many years we spent there. As always, we had a wonderful time re-visiting favorite sites and discovering some new ones. We never tire of the wide choice of museums in Washington and marvel at the fact that they continue to be free (in Europe we pay). On several occasions we have come across treasures from American museums right here in Aix-en-Provence, during major exhibits on CEZANNE and PICASSO in the local Musée Granet that contained loans from the National Gallery and other American collections. A reminder that Americans often appreciated French masters (notably the Impressionists and Cézanne) before the French did.

Guess what's getting popular in France? Cupcakes, that's what! Apparently the TV show "Sex and the City" had something to do with that, and since its introduction in Paris last year the little cupcake now has its very own little shop in Aix-en-Provence where two young sisters bake and sell "le cupcake" they got to know on their trips to the United States. On Saturday mornings they even have a stand at the market where they do brisk business in this novelty. 


     

Back to French food, here's an easy recipe:

Brandade de Morue (Cod Fish Spread)

Cod is a fish of the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. Dry salted cod was shipped from Portugal to the Caribbean to feed the plantation slaves, and has become popular along the Mediterranean.

Fishmongers often carry two kinds of salted cod: the mildly salted kind that is less dry and only requires one or two days for desalting, and the traditional dry salted cod, stiff as a board, that takes at least three days to be desalted before cooking. Either of these kinds of salted cod is suitable to make brandade de morue. As with so many traditional recipes, there are two schools for preparing brandade -- with and without potatoes.

Preparation:

Start by desalting the fish. Soak it in the sink or in a large pot of cold water, changing the water frequently, for two or three days depending on the type of cod. Once desalted, put the cod in a large pot and cover it with water (or with milk) and gently boil it until it flakes easily with a fork (about 20 minutes). Drain it, let it cool, and puree it (in a mortar or a blender) together with as much garlic as you like, adding olive oil and milk (or, if preferred, some cream) until it has the consistency of a thick mayonnaise. Adding boiled potatoes helps achieve a creamy consistency (you may wish to experiment preparing brandade with and without potatoes).

Serve on slices of toasted bread or baguette, with a fresh rosé wine.

Click here to see more recipes in Taking Root in Provence. 

Mane and Marseilles

We just re-visited the beautiful site of SALAGON in the village of Mane which started as a Gallo-Roman farm before it became a Benedictine priory in the 12^th century. Today it is a museum with guided tours, conferences and special events. Other than the well-preserved archeological remains and beautiful architecture of the Romanesque church, Salagon is surrounded by ethno-botanical gardens including a mediaeval garden that features traditional medicinal plants for ailments such as ”female humors, vapors and nervous states.” Wonder if they still work today?  

Salagon 

Another reason to visit Mane is the luxurious hotel-restaurant-spa "COUVENT DES MINIMES" which opened last year in a beautifully restored 17th-century convent of the order of the Minimes Sisters. A major investor in this luxury project was the Occitane company, maker of nature-based beauty products, that is located nearby. The sober decor and the vaulted ceilings of the arcaded cloister surrounding the old courtyard still hint at the original convent, but the discreetly hidden spa with its indoor/outdoor swimming pools, saunas and all manner of massages is more likely to heal the body than the soul. No need to be an overnight guest here to enjoy a lovely lunch on the poolside terrace, or dinner in the indoor restaurant.

Couvent des Minimes

Some months ago, Marseilles was elected European Capital of Culture for 2013. Beating a number of other contestants, Marseilles won because “it reflected an especially nice balance of cultural qualities, political engagement and economic support”, according to the president of the international jury, Bob Scott. No mention, of course, of the city’s reputation for frequent strikes and its tough unions. Perhaps promises of good behavior were extracted in exchange for the expected economic rewards. But rumblings are being heard these days about discord between city officials and builders, promoters and other parties that threaten to slow down the various projects yet to be built. (Shades of the Olympic Games in Athens that weren’t ready until about 10 minutes before opening time – in a manner of speaking). 

Marseilles

Difficult to govern, defiant and with a character all its own, Marseilles with its big commercial port and its trading routes to North Africa and beyond has so many unique assets that its tantrums are invariably forgiven. Click here for a special chapter on this blessed city in Taking Root in Provence.  

Foods and Festivals

I just came back from the gym with two new recipes. Some time ago, I joined a class for women of my age that focuses on stretching, some abdominal exercises and maintaining flexibility. No machines or aerobics for this group. We do many of our exercises from a prone position which lends itself to chatting and, not surprisingly, the subject of discussion is usually food and how to prepare it. This French obsession has its good side: recipes, advice, and good addresses are constantly being offered. Curiously, these women never talk about diets and not, I can assure you, because they are all pencil thin. In fact, the prototype of the elegant petite Frenchwoman is rapidly changing and a French fashion industry study has shown that French women have gone up one size since the 1980s. When they do acquire bulk, I believe French women simply cover it up better. They have a way with scarves that draws the attention to this accent and away from the waist; they will wear an elegant loose blouse rather than a tight top that reveals bulges, and they will wear high heels till they drop rather than go for the comfortable but sloppy look of running shoes. It’s all in the packaging and the presentation.  

Speaking of food, this month we pay homage to a lowly cookie – the age-old boat-shaped NAVETTE – which either represents the boats that brought the Phoceans to Provence where they established the city of Massalia (Marseilles) more than 2600 years ago, or it replicates the boat that brought Mary Magdalene, Lazarus and others to the Mediterranean shores where they spread the gospel. The celebration takes place in Marseilles where church-blessed navettes are distributed freely and often consumed with a little Pastis in a nearby cafe. In Aix, another sweet – the famous CALISSON – commemorates the city being spared from the plague by its patron saint, Our Lady of Seds. Religion and food are often intertwined here. Taking Root in Provence tells the story -- click here.  

A great getaway from winter chills is the Lemon Festival in MENTON in mid-February. This pretty town on the Riviera near the Italian border has a micro-climate that favors citrus fruits which grow in abundance here and are piled high on the many magnificent floats rolling down the sunny avenues. Almost makes you forget it is still winter elsewhere.