Champagne, crazy consumers, and crackberries

Salut!

I decided this entry I would treat you to some pictures from the past week or so since I've been back in France after the vacation.  One is from a Chateau I visited by Paris, and the others are from the weekend I just spent in Reims.  Reims is a little city North and a bit East of Paris, 45 minutes by the TGV.  It's in the Champagne region which I imagine each and every one of you recognizes for the renowned product that comes from that area!  Grâce à ça, there are also some pics of a champagne cave/winery I got to visit while I was there. 

Outside of the champagne cave/winery.  La Pommeraye

One of the little cubbies with a city name and bottles lined up there busy fermenting and making yummy champagne.

Yes, that's a little finch sitting on a guitar.  A real live finch.  When we walked into this room, I was totally expecting (naturally, I'd like to think) another room that had to do something with, you know, champagne.  But as is often the case in chateaus/old French exhibits, they mixed the old with the new.  Throughout our visit in the cave, there were various modern art displays.  This being one of them.  They were cute, but it was a littttle bizarre. 

Inside the Reims Cathedral.  The pic is kinda blurry, but I wanted to get a shot of the alcove in the entryway which I thought was quite unique.  In each little cubby is a Saint or Apostle, it was impressive.

  

An outside view of the Cathedral from up close.  It was a beautiful sunny and freezing day.  

The Chateau, Vaux le Vicomte which we visited outside of Paris.  It was where Tony Parker and Eva Longoria had their wedding reception after they were married in Paris.  Fun little piece of trivia. 

So there are some pictures to illustrate my week/weekend.  Reims was a charming little town, and I really enjoyed my visit there.  It was cool to be able to see another region in France.  There are only a couple now that I haven't been to yet!  Saturday was spent exploring the city, visiting the Cathedral etc.  The Reims Cathedral is where every single one of the French kings was coronated, and there was a pretty big thrown to set the scene.  The enormous wooden doors at the entrance of the cathedral also helped to imagine many a regal ceremony taking place inside the church walls.  The beautiful stained glass reminded me of Chartres, the vibrant blues standing out next to the soft greens and reds in the rose petaled windows.  

After the calm of the cathedral came the absolute contrast of the crazy consumer attitude that takes France by storm each January.  The famous soldes, where stores slash prices dramatically to get rid of winter inventory.  I've seen more than one sign announcing at least 70% off clothes, books, dvds, shoes, etc.  It was particularly hard to resist the shoes.  

We peeked into Galeries Layfayette which wasn't as crazy as it could have been, H&M and Zara were much worse.  I don't think I've ever (or it's been a long time) been shopping on Black Friday in the U.S., but I'm imagining it was something along very similar lines.  Women throwing sweaters this way and that, shoes strewn everywhere, it was la folie!  I could only put up with it for a couple minutes before I was completely exhausted.  I would have to say though, the moment that could embody the whole soldes mentality was in a men's suit store.  Sales people were literally running throughout the whole store.  I almost had to hide behind the suit racks to avoid getting knocked over by the frantic salesmen.  And that didn't work for long, since anxious French people were trying to flip through the racks at the same time I was seeking refuge from the craziness.  My eyes must have been the size of frisbies, trying to fathom the madness that was going on around me.  At one point, waiting in the line to checkout, I just stood in awe watching and listening to the cashier.  She had 3 credit cards in her hand, all of which had sticky-notes attached to remind her how much she was charging each one for.  After she finished punching a number into the card machine, she held up the card to the 10 customers standing around the table and literally said, "Who's card is this? 345 euros, who's card is this? Monsieur Matthieu?  Matthieu?"  WHAT?!  Cards flying everywhere, checks written, euro bills flapping out of wallets.  I would have erupted in laughter if I wasn't so shocked by the absurdness of the whole thing.  Needless to say, it was very tiring very quickly!

The weather here this week and a half since I've been back has been really exceptional.  Most days have been absolutely clear as can be, which also means that it happens to be freezing.  It snowed last Monday which caused quite the ruckus.  All school transportation was cancelled on Tuesday, even though only about an inch and half of snow was on the ground.  I was tempted to tell them stories of Park City buses coming down to Waterford in Utah through canyons and blizzarding snow just to get to school, but I decided to tenir ma langue, hold my tongue.  

Classes are going pretty well.  Today I had my busiest day of the week, with 5 classes.  It was definitely a Monday, at moments pretty tough to get my students interested in a conversation.  Or even to start a conversation in most cases.  We did end up talking about French and American high schools, Obama and whether or not he should be allowed to keep his Blackberry, or 'crackberry' (that was fun to describe) once he gets into the White House, and what New Year's Resolutions we've already managed to break.  It was really a blast from the past to describe a high school prom, school colors and mascots and yearbooks- none of which exist in France.  I got quite a few rallies for yearbooks.  Couple less for football teams.  And a not-so-surprising support of cheerleaders at sporting events.  Or should I say, les poms poms guurls. Beh ouais.  

Wishing all of you a great week!

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