On April 3rd, Steve & I made the leap over the pond. We'd been scheming our Europe trip ever since Laura & Matt moved to Berlin in October, and timed our trip to coincide with Laura's spring break. After a bumpy travel start due to a bout of wicked New England weather, cancelled flights and nail-biting reschedulings, we finally arrived in sunny, balmy Berlin. Laura & Matt greeted us at Tegel airport and were our guides for the weekend as we bused, trained and walked for miles around the amazing, vast city. We were treated to some beautiful spring weather (blooming flowers and green grass = a luxury that time of the year in Maine!) and hit up their local Saturday market where we stocked up on herbs and spices that are impossible to find so cheaply in the U.S.
I finally experienced my first European soccer game (or fussball/football to be more accurate). The passionate, highly organized fans of the Berlin Hertha and Dortmond teams were fascinating to watch, and definitely as entertaining as the game itself. The Stadio - built by Hitler in the 30's when Berlin hosted the Olympics - was also impressive. We followed the game by hopping on a bursting train full of fans and then took a stroll through Tiergarten Park (the Central Park of Berlin) where people were basking in the sun along the riverbanks and congregating at the park's outdoor bier gardens. Finally, we capped the evening off with a traditional German meal, before a sleepy, (jet-lagged) train ride home.
Our second (and final) day in Germany revolved mostly around the wonderful Berlin pastime of Brunch. Most everything in Berlin shuts down on Sundays - except for the restaurants who serve brunch. Brunch is an extremely popular thing to do - lasting from 10 am to 4 pm, it is a leisurely, drawn out affair usually consisting of a buffet of hot and cold items ranging from crepes to cold cuts to lasagna. We met up with some of Laura and Matt's co-workers and friends and brunched for a good 2 hours in a cozy Italian restaurant. Who can complain about any meal that includes complimentary tiramisu??
Monday we hopped on an Easyjet flight bound for Nice, France. Along the two hour flight we were treated to some spectacular views of the snowy-peaked Alps, and before we knew it we were transplanted into the sunny, tropical Riviera - quite a contrast with the city of Berlin we had just departed. We grabbed the bus and found our way to our hotel along palm-tree lined bustling, narrow streets. After settling into our (tiny) "quad" room, we made plans to meet up with Steve's coworker Denise's parents, who live in Nice half of the year, and Maine the other half (guess which half they live in Maine?) They were kind enough to treat us to cold drinks down on a beachfront cafe and told us all about their life in Nice, plus imparted some valuable tips about where to eat, what to see and do during our stay.
As the sun set that evening, we spent some time on the rocky beaches of Nice, skipping the smooth dark stones into the sea and taking in the energetic feel of the city. The next day, we rose to sunny, blue skies and hit up the supermarché near our hotel to grab supplies for a picnic atop Nice's highest point - the Chateau de Nice. Climbing hundreds of stone cut steps to the top of the beautiful park, we were rewarded with stunning views and our lunch - which consisted of an assortment of stinky but oh-so-delicious cheeses, fresh baguettes, and local olives. My mouth waters just thinking about it... We also had time to stroll through the markets at Cours Salaya and sampled the Nicois specialty "socca"....chickpeas, olive oil and spices mashed up and cooked into a pancake with a crispy outside and gooey inside....it was well worth the half hour wait!
Later we picked up our rental car at Europcar....a Renault "Berlingo" - a Euro version of an SUV similar in size to our Honda Element. Steve was our "Chauffeur" (literally, this means "driver" in French). After a few tense moments circling around the chaotic, nerve-wrecking streets of Nice, we traveled south about twenty miles to our next destination...the seaside town of Antibes. A slower paced, beautiful medieval town perched on the ocean, we loved the little "place" (square) our hotel sat on -- overlooking terraced cafes and a merry-go-round. We found a great restaurant tucked along the cobblestone streets and tried some Nicois seafood dishes. The next morning, we made sure to find the local boulangerie for breakfast pastries and baguettes for lunch. I also added to my ever expanding spice collection with a bag of "herbs de Provence", the local herb blend that tastes good on just about anything (particularly fish, potatoes & olives!)
The following day, we left the Mediterranean sea for the hills of Provence. Avignon, a completely walled-in medieval city, was our destination. The architecture and feel of the city was much different from Nice and Antibes, and we had a whole day to walk the streets of the town and of course, eat more French delicacies...crepes! The skies clouded up and threatened rain, but fortunately we were spared any wet weather. By recommendation of our sweet hoteliers, we ate at a wonderful restaurant called "Love and Spices" and afterward listened to live music at a local English-style pub.
On Thursday we departed Avignon and started our journey north to meet Laura & my French relatives. As Matt later said, "This vacation just went from a B- to an A+." Not that our trip so far hadn't been fun, in fact we were having a great time. But things went to a whole different level once we arrived in Ambert and began our true cultural experience with my long lost French cousins.
About ten years ago, Stephanie Chevaleyre contacted my family in Pennsylvania. She was visiting the U.S. with a group of French high school students and wanted to meet our family. My grandmother Evelyn's father is from France and came to the U.S. as a teenager. He left behind relatives who he kept in touch with over the years and who my grandmother continued to write occasionally and even attempted to find on a trip she took to France. When Stephanie came to visit us back in the late 90's, we never imagined that a decade later we'd be so generously hosted by her family in their hometown in France.
Right from the start our visit with the Chevaleyres was picture perfect. Their home is nestled in the tiny hamlet of Boisseyre, a village of only fifty or so people. Horses and sheep dot the rolling green hills and chickens lazily strut around the yards. It's exactly how you might imagine rural France to be....historic stone farmhouses, meadows of flowers and wooded patches of trees all overlook the valleys and mountains in the distance. Over the next few days we had the privilege to meet many of our extended relatives...Stephanie and her husband Arnaud and their darling two year old girl Nikita, Stephanie's siblings, Eleonore, Amaury and Baptiste, their mother Noelle, their sweet grandmother who had us over for chocolate cake and tea, and another cousin Francois who has met some of our other American cousins. We also were introduced to Amaury and Baptiste's fiancés, Sandrine and Pauline.
Most of our time was spent around the family's impressive dining table. Stephanie and her mother spent hours preparing lavish four-course meals - twice a day! Among some of the courses we were served rabbit paté, potato and carrot stew, black rice, poached salmon ala herbs de provence and pesto marinated frogs legs served over puffed pastry (we all loved the frogs legs!) Each meal also included a cheese course, right before dessert, where a huge platter of impressive hunks of local cheeses were passed around the table and sliced onto our plates. Ambert, the closest town to Boisseyre, is known in France for it's signature cheese (think blue cheese but not as tangy). We learned how passionate they are about their unpasteurized cheese, and would have loved to take a large chunk of Ambert cheese home except for fear of being prosecuted by the U.S. officials who prohibit this. Ah, well....guess we'll just have to go back another time. :) To top the meal off, decadent desserts were served following the cheese course. Think dark chocolate flambé and fruit tartes. It was all pretty amazing.
From left to right, top row: Arnaud, Pauline, Steve, me, Matt, Laura, Amaury, Noelle, Baptiste. Bottom row: Stephanie, Sandrine, Eleonore, Grandmere.Besides eating, we spent time with our cousins roaming the hillsides near their home, visiting an historic paper mill and museum, seeing our great great grandfather's textile factory which is now shut down, and attempting to ride their horses. (See the funny video clip of Laura being taken on a wild ride!) Stephanie's husband Arnaud even took us up in a tiny plane for a bird's eye view of Ambert and Boisseyre. When we circled over the family's home, everyone came outside and waved from the ground up to us. Also, we spent time simply talking together in a mix of broken English and French with them, looked at wedding photos and compared family trees. We discovered that we are fourth cousins with Stephanie, Eleonore, Amaury and Baptiste, meaning we share the same great great great grandfather. By the end of the weekend, we were all invited to Baptiste's upcoming wedding in June and we urged them all to visit us in our homes in Maine and Berlin.
It was truly an extraordinary experience. The opportunity to meet our "roots" in France and gain such an intimate perspective of their lives was something I'll never forget. It makes me smile to think how much this would all mean to my grandmother, Evelyn. She was always interested in our French connection, and if she hadn't happened to leave a note in Ambert for the "Rivollier" family with her address and phone number back in the states, Stephanie never would have found us in the first place.
To see photos of our journey, click on the links below:
Berlin
Nice, Antibes, Avignon
Ambert & Boisseyre
Ambert & Boisseyre con't
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