Trip to Amiens

The trip to Amiens was great! I met Laurent Devime at his house in St-Gratien (a few miles North of Amiens) and we drove to a talk he was giving in Chauny (Aisne). The talk was extremely lively, with traditional Picard tales and legends told by a professional story-teller. I really enjoyed it. I also met a friend of his, a comedian from Aisne. I had a great time! Then, on Saturday June 24th – St-Jean-Baptiste Day, the national holiday in Québec – Laurent took me to Amiens so that I could see a few of the tourist attractions. We went to the Cathedral, which I learned is home to the relic of no other than St-Jean-Baptiste. I though it was a great coincidence that I found myself in the Cathedral of Amiens on that day. Then, while we were having lunch in the Quartier St-Leu, a hip and young neighborhood in Amiens, we saw Jean-Pierre Facquier, a friend of Laurent who is a wood sculptor and makes traditional Picard wooden puppets like Lafleur. He joined us for a beer, and then walked us to his shop, where he builds all his string puppets. I then spent some time touring by myself a bit, and then we went for a tour of the Grottes de Naours that Laurent was leading in Picard. I must admit that I got slightly claustrophobic when we first walked down (33 meters deep), but I felt fine soon thereafter and enjoyed my visit a lot. I got back to St-Valery in the evening for a well-deserved good night’s sleep. I photographed the cows that greet me as I make my turn on the Rue de Neuville in St-Valery; she (or maybe he) looked intrigued by my pulling over to take her (his?) picture by the barbed wire. I though this would give you an idea of where I am spending my time these days…

Not much time this Friday

I don’t have much time to write today: I’ve had two interviews a day for the past few days. I’m a bit tired, and hungry this morning… Perhaps I should go out and get breakfast and a coffee. There were concerts on the 21st (two days ago) all over France for "la Journée de la Musique": choirs, marching bands, bossa nova, big band... I thought the little girl with the cymbals was adorable.

I’m going to Amiens today, and will be there until Saturday. I’m planning a visit under the Earth on Saturday night: there is a grotto in Naours, close to Amiens. I’ll dress so that I don’t get cold. It’s the recurrent theme for this trip!

One week update

One week in France. Only two more to go until I go to Belgium, and my agenda is filling up. I managed to schedule interviews almost every day until July 4th. I have five so far, and the transcription process is underway. I doubt I’ll transcribe much while in France, but it’s a start. I met really interesting people so far, took a few pictures, and got a nice tan on my shoulders. Internet access is really sparse here, the cyber-site – where I can access the Net for free – is open two mornings and two afternoons a week, with intermittent closings due to storms damaging the network or due to days of training for the one employee. I drove down to Abbeville this morning and was able to find a few things I needed (among which a power adapter to replace the one that broke when I dropped it yesterday, a hairdryer to replace the one I can’t use because of a bad power conversion, and writable DVDs to replace the writable CDs that my interviews cannot fit on!). I’m loving it here, despite a few logistical irritants: the people a very warm and welcoming, the food is excellent, the landscape is colorful and quite pretty, and the air is fresh and crisp. I went to the public market here in St-Valery Sunday morning, spent Sunday afternoon at the Herbarium, a few blocks from my place, and learned about a vegetable dye called “la waide”, which is how indigo is called in Picard. It was really hot and sunny; I barely avoided getting sun-burned on my shoulders. Then, I went to the beach in Cayeux-sur-Mer, where the Defente (the people renting me the room) have a cabin by the shore. I met some of their friends, all very friendly, drank a drop of white rum and ate the best blood sausage ever. Things are going well so far. I’m eating well, staying on budget. I have a space heater now; I won’t be cold in the room again.

My contact information in France

Just in case some of you need to reach me, here is my cell phone number in France:

06.62.94.83.07

You need to dial the international code and then the country code (011.33), and then the number, so:
011.33.06.62.94.83.07
I'm not sure if you need the first zero of the cell number. If that doesn't work, try:
011.33.6.62.94.83.07

Just remember the time difference (7h for Central, 6h for Eastern), so make sure you call no later than 5:30pm Easter (11:30pm in France).

First few days in France

I got to Paris at 11:30am on the 13th, and drove up to Picardy straight from the airport. After getting chatting with the owners of the B&B a bit and getting settled in my room, I walked down my street to the local bakery to buy a baguette and the across the street to the “charcuterie” for pâté, ham and cheese. Although the weather was very warm and sunny when I got here yesterday afternoon, by dinner time, the rain had started and the temperature had dropped quite a bit. I had no trouble getting to sleep around 9pm, but found myself wide awake by 2am – probably the effect of jetlag – and decided to get some work done and watch some TV. I was eventually able to sleep again around 4am. Yesterday was my first full day in Picardy, and I am happy about the way it turned out. Woke up at 8am, and got some more groceries, and the breakfast at home (trying to save $$!). Later drove to Abbeville (the closest medium-sized “city”) for a meeting with the “Picardisants”, an association of speakers and writers of the local variety of Picard. I was pleased to finally put a face to names of people I had been told I should meet. I was given permission to record the readings (Julie, more data for you!), and I was then invited for coffee at the Vasseur’s after the meeting. Met really interesting people and started making appointments, starting tomorrow night. All is fine so far. One thing though: I wish the weather was nicer… I’m freezing in my room and can’t seem to get the heat to work, except in the bathroom.