Pastis, Profiteroles, and Provence --- France- Sep, 2018

The second I flew into Paris and found Xavier in the airport.

His family was waiting at home for me with a lovely lunch and

I had the opportunity to meet his younger brother’s girlfriend before they move to Austria. We had a lovely lunch, I tried to adjust to being sleepy following months of internal medicine rotations. It was bizarre to switch languages when my mind had been so intensely immersed in sleepless rotations full of medical and scientific english in America.

 

The next day, Xavier and I went to Paris and went to a small café to work on his dissertation some before going to our friends home for the night. 

We went to have dinner with and stay the night with Julie and Marouane, the friends who introduced us. We went to a lovely neighborhood restaurant and all caught up on our lives.

The next morning, we took the train to Marseille and went to Xavier’s work to for their team picnic. They called it a ‘barbecue’ because they were grilling various foods (my Virginian roots had a heart attack) and you'll laugh hearing that the ‘hotdogs’ were spicy german sausages in baguettes.  I had the opportunity to meet more of his coworkers.

Later that day, we made one of our usual giant salads for dinner and enjoyed being back at our place. 

The next Day, I returned to the calanques- my favorite place in Marseille.

I hadn't been in a while, and I couldn't wait to finally get some sun and exercise.

I ran the trails to the calanques, had a quick lunch, and enjoyed some much needed sun.

That night, we took a picnic dinner to Vallon des Auffes-the place we went together our first night that we met- and watched the sunset.

Once we were back in Marseille, we heard that Xavier officially got the post-doctoral job he was hoping to get in Atlanta!!!!! He has been working for so long to accomplish this step in his career.

I joined Xavier at his lab and we worked together on his PHD dissertation.  Xavier has a great English vocabulary, but it’s of course difficult to write scientifically in another language. Additionally, as we learned through many debates, the french use a LOT less commas. I  spent much of my time this break editing Xavier's PhD.

We went climbing after work with our friend Hachedrien at la boite à grimper. The climbing is all "à tête" (lead climbing, where you take the rope up with you as you go) and on an overhang. 

Friday, Xavier and I left for our weekend trip in Provence. We rented a car and drove to Les Baux de Provence.

the Picasso exhibit was incredible. They use the space of an old limestone mine to have art exhibits and did a video presentation of his work.  There were paintings projected on the walls, ceilings, and floors and the paintings were moving ever so slightly to "come alive" and look like you were inside the painting. There was an entire sequence of music along with the art.

The "opening act" was a compilation of 70's music from America and many of my favorite songs. 

Following, we had dinner and stayed with several members of Xavier's family. We had a lovely dinner and told them all our news!

The next day, Xavier and I drove to his grandmother's village of Les Baumes de Venise and had a walk/hike where he used to go growing up. There was a beautiful view.

Our next stop was l'isle sur la sorgue:

And we drove to the tree house we had rented for the night:

We had a lovely celebration dinner in L'isle sur la sorgue that night at a restaurant with umbrellas hanging from the ceiling!

The next morning, we drive to Gordes. Gordes is perched on a hill in the region of Provence, and it is absolutely gorgeous.

We then drove to Roussillon and took a little hike on the sentier des ochres, which is pigmented clay they use to make beautiful fabric dyes and inks. The whole town is built from the earth and beautiful.

the clay and its bright color

 

Back in Marseille, we were back to work. I would visit Xavier's lab and work with him on his Dissertation, then we'd cook dinner together or do something fun at nighttime like rock climb or run. :)

We took the train to Paris that weekend to be with our family and enjoyed Montmartre like tourists.

 We walked around the restaurants by the Seine and had pastis next to the river while the sun was setting. 

oh, paris...

We had a lovely dinner and Xavier insisted that I needed to try Profiteroles- an amazing dessert that is basically pastry puffs filled with ice cream and bathed in melted chocolate. We hunted around the banks of the Seine looking for a restaurant that was open and serving them.

This was the hardest airport goodbye yet, but only 3 months until there won't be any more goodbyes and we live together!

Fire Ants In My Pants- Paris & Marseille & Lyon & Les Cevennes France

May 12 I flew to France to see Xavier. When I arrived I was very sick from Uganda still, but he took care of me and made me a lovely dinner. 

We spent the next day with his family (and made sushi!) in Paris before hopping on a train back to Marseille.

His family's cat, Goose, looking interested in the sushi...

I hadn’t been in Marseille since I met Xavier there, so it was really special to go back and spend time in his apartment and in all the places that are special to us from the start of this relationship.
Other trips that I’ve seen him we’ve spent most of our time staying with his family/friends in Paris,  we’ve been on our trip to Prague, or Xavier has visited me in America.

I went to Xavier’s workplace to have lunch and to meet his coworkers. He showed me his laser setup for his PhD.

We enjoyed being able to cook dinner together after his work, and I enjoyed having his amazing french cooking and the joys of non-african cuisine and french bread.

 

I went for a run in the morning one day and ran into the fans of the marseille soccer league having a rally to get excited for the upcoming match that evening.

The next day while Xavier was at work I explored one of my favorite areas, Cours Julien, and went in the vintage clothing shops and bookstores.
I finished journaling about my time in Africa while sitting by the central fountain and enjoying a Monaco. Xavier came to join me earlier than we’d planned and 'played hooky' :)

We stopped by the local spice shops and markets to get olives, wine, and other appetizers. We then went to the coast of the Mediterranean to watch the sunset.

This spot next to Vallon des Auffes is the place where we went on our first night together when we first met.

Thursday morning Xavier took me to Le Panier to explore more of our favorite areas and then we met some members of his extended family who were in town for the day so that I could meet them.

"they lived like children and lived happily ever after"

so ready to meet all the relatives!
   

After our lunch, we went to the train station to meet with Hadrien and Celia for our long weekend of camping in Les Cevennes. We drove several hours to the national park and found a beautiful area by the river to camp out for the night. Within the first five minutes we were there, I was stung multiple times by a fire ant up my leg!

he's taken, ladies

Our Twingo car for the trip- we could hardly fit ! 4 people + food for the weekend + camping gear + climbing gear

It just so happened that we were camping on top of wild mint.

We had dinner next to the river

The next morning we drove to Gorges du Tarn to do some climbing!

We were doing lead climbing, or “à tête,” which means that you carry the rope with you as you ascend.
You attach your carabiners/quickdraws to bolts on the face of the cliff as you go. It is less restrictive than top-rope because you “make” the rope attachments to catch you as you go.  This is also more dangerous because, if you fall, you fall the distance of  2x however far you are past the last time you attached to the cliff below you.
In other words, there is no anchor point above you while climbing.
 
 

Xavier taught me how to “clean,” which means that at the end of a climbing route I have to switch the rope from belaying me to allowing me to rappel down safely.
You have to anchor yourself to the two carabiners at the top of the cliff with a short tie to make sure something’s secure, then take the rope you used to climb up the cliff and pull it through a new stronghold and tie it back to yourself.
It’s an important process, and you can’t make a mistake. Talk about building trust!

 
  That night we camped in a great spot we found near Les Vignes with a view of the valley as the sunset. We drank pastis, an anise liquor of Marseille, and played card games. 

the view from our tent

The next day we hiked From the area near Rieisse down to the town of La Malène and back up the mountain again.

Here’s a google maps view of the view where we had lunch …

The views were incredible. On our hike down we played memory games in french as a group. Once we reached La Malène, it began to storm and we stopped inside a little shop for a drink. After the storm passed, we hiked back up the mountain to find a campsite for the night. 

spot the  "gargoyles"

That night our campsite was in a field we found, which actually turned out to be someone’s property. Luckily, the owner let us stay since we had already pitched our tents. We played more card games, Hadrien told scary stories, and we all had more than enough Pastis.

Our last day we drove into the town of La Malène and rented kayaks for the day.
Xavier notified me that there was a group of dogs I should meet… about 10 newfoundlands were at the river docks to have their water rescue training for the day!
The largest one was 170 lbs.
The water was frigid but we had great views of the Gorges and the crystal clear water. There was a troglodyte home on the side of the river and the most beautiful stones homes. There were tiny villages on the side of the river with just a few stone buildings.

 

We stopped for lunch on the side of the river and tried to warm up in the sun.

When we were getting into the shuttle van to return, the newfoundlands had just finished their training for the day and all needed to ride back with us in the van.
One of my favorite events of the day was seeing them all sit obediently in the van like humans.

The weather took a turn for the worst, and would be terrible the next day as well, so we decided to drive back to Marseille for the night. On the way, we stopped in the tiny town of Gignac to explore and for dinner at a restaurant called Manine.
We watched the sunset from a park and explored the cute little town.

A cat on her throne with guard-birds

The next day after returning home, Xavier took me to some of his favorite places in Marseille. We also went for a run which I unfortunately got very sick on (still recovering from Africa). When he had to work Tuesday, I met with our friend Hadrien and went rock climbing. The gym is one large archway with all the routes ending in overhangs.

Hadrien and I had a blast and followed our climb with a drink together.

 
Afterwards, Xavier and I went on a date to a local Brazilian restaurant which was absolutely amazing. Our meal included a “sushi burger” which was a seawed/rice bun over salmon and mango in addition to other traditional brazilian cuisine. We had Caipirinha, the traditional drink of Brazil, which is limes and cachaca (sugar cane rum).

    Wednesday Xavier and I visited the Mucem (museum of civilizations of europe and the mediterranean… but also just a really beautiful patio to have drinks on) and walked around.

We then took the bus to Endoume,  an area of beautiful coastline just South of Marseille. The area was beautiful with colored houses and a little port.

 

    I visited Xavier at work again Thursday and we ran up the mountain area nearby to his lab. It was tough, especially after not being able to workout in Africa!
 It was basically a 10K in which the entire first half was up steep hills. We had a beautiful view of the city behind us.

     Our next adventure was to Lyon! I hadn’t been to Lyon since my study abroad there. First, we met for lunch with Xavier’s best friend Stéphane who happened to be visiting Lyon for a conference.

my old stomping grounds

We met with Celia and Mickael, and Celia toured us around the newer parts of the city I hadn’t seen yet.
There’s a whole area of sustainable and eco-friendly housing, new bike trails that run the entire length of the city along the river and are beautiful, and plenty of new businesses and restaurants.  I really loved all the ways Lyon has changed/improved since I last stayed there. It was also fun to revisit some of the places I love.
We ate dinner with Celia and Mickael next to the river and rode bikes home to their apartment.

The next day we took the train to Paris because Xavier organized a party for me to meet a group of some of his closest friends I had been excited to finally meet.

Afterwards we had dinner with his mom, his younger sister, and his grandma on my last night in town.