Word Of The Week

couac

This word, I was told, is an onomatopoeia. That is, it's a word that sounds like what it is.

If you read Ken's blog, you know that we went to a little party at our neighbors' house a couple of weeks ago. During the long evening (five hours), part of the conversation turned to language. This often happens; French people are curious about how and why we speak French, and they have questions about English that they're dying to ask.

A young woman at the party asked what the word "tummy" meant, and said she heard it when someone said he was hungry. "He had zee 'couacs' in heees tummy," she said, mixing both languages. I explained that tummy was a familiar term for stomach, a word that children use, mostly. But then I had to ask what "couacs" were.

She explained (in French), "You know, when you are hungry." Oh, growling, my stomach is growling ! But couac does not mean growling. It simply means a wrong note, as in music when you hit the wrong note on the piano.

I found out later that this woman's use of the word couac to describe hunger pangs is not normal in French, and most people probably wouldn't use that type of slang, if indeed it is slang, in the type of company our neighbors were hosting that evening.

Image from : http://www.mamashealth.com/organs/stomach.asp

Kitchen Collection [9]

Last Friday was la fête de la chandeleur here in France. It's a catholic holiday that, I think, is called candle mas in English. According to Wikipedia, it commemorates the presentation of Jesus at the temple.

But for most French people, it's the day that you eat crêpes. For many years now, Ken and I have been making crêpes for la chandeleur. Since we've been living in France, we've purchased a couple of crêpe pans to make the task easier. One of them is pictured here.

This year we made crêpes au sarrasin, or buckwheat crêpes, the traditional Breton variety. We sautéed a bunch of mushrooms and covered them with a cream sauce to fill the crêpes. A green salad along side completed the lunch.

For dessert, of course, we had the crêpes with jelly inside. What a delicious feast !

Loches

I've posted photos of Loches on the blog before (link, scroll down to see all the posts), but here are two images that I haven't posted before. This historic little city on the Indre river is well worth a visit even though it's a bit far from the well trodden Loire Valley sights.

A church tower in Loches seen from the garden of the renaissance château.

Up on the bluffs above the river is the historic center of town, where the amazingly intact ruins of the medieval castle rise into the sky. It's a blast to explore the dungeon and castle rooms of this place. There's even a restored medieval castle garden in one of the courtyards. The views from the top of the keep are terrific.

On the opposite end of the bluff is the renaissance château, also open to the public, and worth the entrance fee.

Sculptures of dogs in granite adorn the stairs leading into the renaissance castle.

Down below the castles, les Lochois (the population is about 7,000) enjoy a lovely city with a wonderful outdoor market on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Montrésor

Yesterday's photo was taken in Montrésor, a small town just to the south of us. It's officially designated as un de plus beaux villages de France (one of France's most beautiful villages) and its situation in the valley of the Indrois River is part of the reason.

The village of Montrésor and its château.

The old town in clustered around the base of an 11th century fortress, which was perched up on the bluff at this spot along the river. What remains today are some of the ramparts and the intact 16th century château built on the site.

Ken has blogged about Montrésor before - this is where our friend Laurie played a piano that the classical composer Chopin once played. His post includes several photos of the château both inside and out if you want to see more.

Photo Du Jour : Where Now ?

This intersection could be almost anywhere in France. In fact, I'm not certain there's anything in this photo that gives away where it was taken (but I know where). Oh, there may be a limited number of towns in France that have a street named "Grande Rue." And you might be able to identify the stone used in the building and narrow things down a bit. But I'd be surprised.

There are châteaux all over the country, from the Paris region to the Loire Valley, from Champagne to Bordeaux, from Bretagne to the Dordogne, everywhere. Each region has a particular predominant style, depending on when and why the castles were built.

Medieval defensive fortresses, Renaissance royal palaces, modern mansions of wine makers, fabulous restored and converted hotels. There exist all manner of castles in numbers too great to even count - although I'm sure someone, somewhere has counted them all. And I'm just talking about France.

So many châteaux, so little time.

Chambord

The Château de Chambord's southern façade.

The Château de Chambord is arguably the granddaddy of all the French châteaux. That is, if you don't count Versailles and the Louvre, the latter of which is technically a palais, anyway. It certainly is the star of the Loire Valley castles.

Roofs and chimneys surround the central lantern on the castle's rooftop. You can walk around on the terraces up there.

The short story of Chambord is that it was built as a hunting lodge by king François I. The grounds were already a royal hunting reserve when, in 1518, François ordered the existing lodge razed to make way for a building more suitable to his reign. Nineteen years later the castle was complete.

A view of the canal and the forêt de Boulogne from the castle's terrace roof.

Chambord sits in an immense park in the forêt de Boulogne, not far from the City of Blois. This hunting lodge boasts 440 rooms, 365 fireplaces, and 83 staircases. My favorite part of the place is the huge outdoor terrace high up near the roofline. Great views !

A black & white view of the castle's terrace roof.

The place is immense and can overwhelm the first-time visitor. Most of the castle is not furnished, owing mainly to the pillaging of the place after the revolution, but certain rooms have been restored. Visitors can wander the grounds around the castle free of charge, but there is a fee to enter the building itself, and audio guides are available in many languages.

A Glimpse Of Tours

Tours is one the larger towns on the Loire river, located just upstream of its confluence with the Cher. It's at the center of the Touraine region and is a university town, so it has a younger, hipper side, some nightlife, lots of restaurants, and some shops and galleries of interest. It's a city of about 136,000 people, les Tourangeaux, but the larger metropolitan area is home to more than twice that.

On the streets just outside les halles, local farmers set up their stands.

Tours also has a food market hall (les halles) near the center of town that's open every day and a large regional flower market along the Boulevard Béranger on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Sunflowers for sale at the market.

I've lived about an hour from Tours for nearly four years now, and I've only begun to explore the place. Ken and I have been to a few concerts at the very modern Vinci theater and meeting center (Alain Souchon, Julien Clerc, Isabelle Boulay, and we'll see Laurent Voulzy there this spring).

A ticket for Alain Souchon at the Vinci Center in Tours.

We've seen the cathedral and walked around the old roman part of town. We've shopped along the rue Nationale (they have a FNAC !) and explored the historic Place Plumereau with it's 15th century buildings and its many shops and restaurants. We've even been to a museum of colored glass art (thanks, Sue !).

A vendor at the Tours flower market on the Blvd. Béranger.

We also go to the suburbs of Tours to do shopping at some of the big-box retailers like LeRoy Merlin (a Home Depot kind of store) and similar places. Tours has our region's closest commercial airport, although it's a really tiny place with very limited service - mostly to England and Ireland. Tours is only and hour away from Paris by TGV (high-speed train).

But I think there is still much more to explore in Tours. We'll get to it over time.