Hot Wet American Summer

Puisque mon dernier post en anglais a été beaucoup plus lu que les précédents, je vais me tenter à l'écriture bilingue ! Cela ne sera pas exactement la même chose en anglais en français car je ne suis pas à la recherche de la traduction littéraire. De plus, on n'a pas toujours envie de dire exactement la même chose dans deux langues différentes... Donc voilà je me lance !

As my last post was a big success, because my American friends could finally understand what I am writing about, I will try the bilingual writing experience ! It won't be exactly the same thing in both language because I am not looking for a literal translation, and people who speak different languages know you don't always want to express the same thing the same way speaking one or the other... So let's give it a shot !

Me voilà rentrée depuis plus de 2 semaines chez moi à New York (quoi qu'en dise mon papa chéri, mon chez moi actuel c'est bien ici en ce moment !). Le moins que l'on puisse dire c'est que l'été et chaud et humide. Je ne m'en plaint pas trop car j'adore la chaleur, mais lorsque mon ami Zac m'a proposé de le suivre le temps d'un long week end dans le Vermont, j'ai tout de suite accepté !

So, I came back home about 2 weeks ago. A strange thing about calling NYC home is in the US, When I say I live in NYC, people are like : "ok, cool, when did you arrive ?", and that's it. Unlikewise, in France people are like : "Oh you live in NYC ! But where did you leave before and when are you coming back?". Let's go back to the point, would you ? For those who live in NYC, you know that last week end was very hot (accuweather announced 106°F in Realfeel), and when my friend Zac invited me for a weekend in Vermont I could not say no !

Nous avons donc pris deux bus pour nous rendre dans le Vermont quelque part entre Wallingford, Rutland et Ludlow... Zac se rend tous les étés, depuis ses 11 ans, dans le Vermont pour un "camp" (colonie de vacances) en pleine nature au sein duquel il a d'abord été campeur puis animateur. Cet été il ne pouvait pas y travailler mais il voulait tout de même assister à la fête finale. Le week end a donc été très orienté "camp". Pendant tout le séjour, nous sommes restés chez les parents d'un de ses amis rencontré dans ce camp lorsqu'ils étaient encore enfants. Nos hôtes étaient vraiment d'une grande gentillesse et très acceuillants.

We took 2 buses to go to Vermont, our destination was somewhere between Wallingford, Rutland and Ludlow... Since he was 11, Zac goes every summer in the same camp in Vermont, he went first as a camper and then as a counselor. This year he did not work but he just couldn't not go to the fair during the last week end of camp. Most people I met during this week end were more or less linked to the camp community, and they were nice and welcoming, especially our hosts ! Zac knew them for a long time, because their son, also named Zack, met my friend Zac in the same camp a long time ago !

Le jardin de nos hôtes.

J'ai adoré ce week-end au grand air pendant lequel j'ai pu observer pour de vrai les "camps" américains comme on les voit dans les films, c'est-à-dire en pleine nature, où les enfants dorment dans des tipis, apprennent à reconnaitre les arbres, les feuilles, les empreintes des animaux, etc, avec un spectacle rempli de chansons et des activités en tout genre au bord d'un joli lac. C'était vraiment chouette d'y être allé avec Zac car beaucoup de campeurs le connaissaient des années précédentes, et lire la joie dans leurs yeux après s'être amusés pendant 7 semaines sans leurs parents dans un milieu très respectueux des autres comme de l'environnement.

One of the many reasons I loved this week end is because I was able to see the american camps as in the american movies I watched when I was a kid, or even older (I had to watch Moonrise Kingdom the day before this trip!). In France, most camp aren't so "nature" except for the scout's one but I don't know anybody who was scout. Also, I never saw a community built around a camp in France... I really liked to go there with Zac because as he spent so much time there, everybody knew him and it was so cute and fun to see and hear all this teenagers coming to him and talked to him about the wonderful 7 weeks they just spent in this very special place.

Un des tipis dans lequel dorment les campeurs pendant 7 semaines !

Pour conclure ce premier post bilingue, je vous laisse admirer les cascades de Buttermilk ainsi que la vue depuis le sommet de la forêt d'Okemo où nous nous sommes rendus le dimanche.

To conclude this first bilingual post, I share with you some pictures took the Sunday at the Buttermilk Falls and at the top of the Okemo state forest.

La dolce vita

When I spoke about my European break, a lot of my friends from New York asked me to show them pictures when I be back, so for once this post will be in English ! 

As usual I started my holidays in the northern part of France. As Félix and I lived in Paris for a while we have a lot of friends we want to visit there every year. Furthermore, our parents live in a small city, called Nogent-sur-Oise, 40 miles northern from Paris, and most of our friends from middle school and high school still live around. Finally, my grand mothers live in le Nord (yes the North is the name of a State in France), near Lille. So you can imagine how important it is for me to go to this region.

Le Vieux-Lille

Every time we go back there, it is crazy how it is so easy to find back our old life. For me, the biggest difference between NYC and Paris is how NYC is always changing and how "Paris will always be Paris". Every time we come back it is like we never left. The city doesn't change much, the taste of the good fresh baguette from our bakery is still as delicious, the wines are still incredibly cheap, and more important, our families and friends are always here, and we always spend a wonderful time there.

After 10 days in "Les Hauts de France", we went south to the beautiful city of Biarritz, in the French Basque Country. Félix' family has a gigantic house there, he spent all his summers there and he cannot imagine not going once in a year. So wherever we live, we always have spent at least a few days in a year there. Biarritz became famous since Eugenie, Napoleon III's wife, decided to have her own castle there. After that, a lot of rich nobles from all Europe came to enjoy the good climate, the local food and the ocean.

As usual, we had a wonderful time there, enjoying the ocean waves, the yummy local food (especially sheep cheese with black cherry jam), our friends who came with us, and Félix' family.

Then, we stopped shortly in Paris to watch France losing the Europe soccer championship :-( and to take a flight to Florence.

We spent a week with my parents, my 2 sisters and 3 of my nephews in the middle of the Tuscan mountains, in Pratovecchio. It was splendid !

In this region, we visited medieval castles and cities, walk around in the largest Italian forest, spend a lot of time in our residence swimming pool and again enjoy the local food and wine ( I really need to run a lot when I come back ! ). I was so happy to spend so much quality time with my family. I miss them already...

The beautiful view from our gusthouse

We also enjoyed Florence where we were invited for our friends Ayman and Daphné's wedding. And yes, an Italian wedding in Florence is as good, beautiful and delicious as it sounds !

At this point, Felix had to go back to the US and I follow my trip in France visiting good friends. I choose to take the train for the rest of my peregrinations. 

First, I went north from Florence to Lausanne, Switzerland, where I could take a boat who brought me to Evian (yes the fancy water come from there) crossing the Lac Léman. This trip was sooo nice ! Every time I looked around, the landscape was amazing as you can see :

After a few days, enjoying the calm and quietness from the Alps with my friend Marie, I boarded another train to reach the city of Lyon.
Lyon is one of the most important city in France. My friends Stéphanie and Pierre who live there love the good quality of life you can have in this charming city. Furthermore, a very good surprise was waiting for me : Estelle, my best friend from middle school with Stephanie was also coming. The three of us were reunited like when we were 14 !

Then, I took another and a bus to visit my friend Maiwenn in a region named l'Aveyron. It was so peaceful and calm. I mostly spent my days eating, swimming, eating, swimming, eating again and sleeping. I usually don't do that during my holidays, but sometimes it can be nice !

Before I took the train to go back to the northern part of France, we stopped at Soulage museum. I did not know before this trip that Soulage is today the most famous living French artist and he come from the city of Rodez in the Aveyron where he choose to have his museum.

Finally I came back to my parents home and enjoyed a few more days with my family and friends.

I hoped you liked this post in English !