Train Tripping

I think in another life, one where I couldn't have turned into a blogging geek, I might have become a train geek. A really fun part of my day trip to Albi a week ago was simply taking the train there from Rodez.

The Rodez-Albi-Toulouse line is part of the ter regional network, and some of its trains are pretty spiffy:

But somehow I generally don't get put on those models. I took to the rails last week in this:

Suffice to say I'm glad I didn't spring for the above first class compartment.

I imagine trains like this one have a few technical problems, and before leaving Rodez, I got a glimpse of what must be a sort of train ambulance -- SECO-RAIL!

Actually, my second-class car was pleasant enough, although I suspect the SNCF will be rethinking their color scheme when they get around to replacing this set of older regional trains:

The mustard-yellow seats do get a little hard on the eyes, which is why I like to catch bits of the smaller gares along the way:

This weekend I'm off for another little trip: to the Ariège department to see friends. It will be a family car trip though, so don't worry -- I won't bore you with more railway shots.

Bon weekend de Pentecôte!

Wordless Wednesday 17

(Click on photo to enlarge)

(No Longer a) Mystery Meeting

I am sure this mystery will quickly be solved.


But who knows where.....







and whom?

















PS written the next morning: A few faithful readers figured this out quickly, so don't bother guessing!

Yes, I was lucky enough to spend Friday sightseeing, chatting and sharing great food with the delightful Loulou of Chez Loulou.

Function of Time was supposed to be a part of this gathering, and we're sad she was called back to the States by her job. But as the French would say, ce n'est que chose remise...

Loulou has already posted two photos from our outing -- I have so many I don't know where to begin -- and I haven't even finished with blogging about Paris.

Anyway, over the next few weeks, expect some more posts about places other than Aveyron. I have breathed in quite a bit of fresh air lately.

In the meantime, I've been scooped on the details. "Read all about it!"

Wordless Wednesday 16

My Paris

The Paris I visit immediately becomes my own.

No other city takes hold of me and makes me feel a part of it the way Paris does.

Every time I have been to la capitale -- including one-day trips for work this year -- I feel at home there.

Is it me, or is it Paris?

It's been almost one week since I got back, and I'm still trying to decide.

There and back

My five-day trip to Paris was rich in memories, exciting new experiences, and thoughts of what used to be... what is...and what could have been...

It will certainly provide me with plenty of blogging material to take you away from the French countryside for a while.

For now, though, it's time to catch up with everything and face up to a number of things. But I'll post more as soon as I can!

In the meantime, here's proof that my trip took place, and that I am overcoming my acrophobia.

Good-bye to all that

(Click on photo to enlarge)

See you later, laundry.

Ciao, cooking and cleaning.

A plus tard, working hard.

Tomorrow night I'll be at the Rodez train station, settling into a sleeper compartment with one of my daughters and two of her friends.

We'll wake up in Paris for five days of culture, fun, shopping, mouse ears and grandeur.

Salut!

Shut down, emptied out

I started a ten-day vacation this afternoon.


I should be elated, but instead I feel shut down and emptied out.


I suppose that in itself is a sign I need a vacation...

Rodez by dusk

It feels like night, but the changing dusky blue sky reminds us it isn't...

quite yet...

(This post has been submitted to this week's Sunday Scribblings collection: The Photograph.)

Wordless Wednesday 15

The Undisputed Truth

Poor smiling face.

You got left out of last weekend's smiling faces fest because nobody has bothered to deck your window out with red paint.

But as a consolation prize, you can help me reveal the answer to the trivia question embedded in that blog post:

"Who made the song "Smiling Faces Sometimes" a hit?"

In asking that question I was, of course, confronted with the fact that a lot of my readers are too young to remember that song. Never mind. If you had your transistor radio turned on every night in your room in 1971, you know it. So I'm talking to you. Can you dig it?

Originally recorded by The Temptations, the song became a number 3 pop chart hit in 1971 re-recorded by the little-known "psychadelic soul" act "The Undisputed Truth."

Despite the veracity of their name, The Undisputed Truth never made it back into the Top 4O. In a strange twist of fate, they were the ones who first recorded "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" in 1972. Their recording of the song hit a modest #62, but it was re-recorded shortly thereafter by guess who: The Temptations. That version reached number one on the pop charts and is considered an all-time soul music classic.

One of my commenters mentioned that "Smiling Faces Sometimes" used to scare her when she was a kid. She may get scared even now if she watches this:

Wordless Wednesday 14

(Photo courtesy of Thierry Jouanneteau. Click on image to enlarge.)

Smiling Faces

"Smiling faces sometimes pretend to be your friend:

Smiling faces show no traces of the evil that lurks within:

Smiling faces, smiling faces sometimes they don't tell the truth, uh:

Smiling faces, smiling faces tell lies and I got proof:"

The lyrics are an extract from the song "Smiling Faces" by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong.

No links provided because here's a fun trivia question instead:

Who made this song a hit?

Obviously, no online research allowed!

Room with a view

It's probably been quite some time since anybody checked out the view from this window. But someone who went up there now -- and you know how much I'd love to -- would be able to gaze down on this courtyard:

Astute observers will recognize the strange, run-down garden that I featured in my last Wordless Wednesday.

One can find plenty of similar sites in the South of France, but what especially intrigues me about this funny little yard is that it's right smack in the town center of Rodez...and clearly visible from a pedestrian street.

Yes, Rianna, those are probably rabbit coops in the back -- years ago, someone perked them up with a coat of Provençal blue paint, which actually isn't typical of Aveyron.

On the left, you can see what likely used to be "the facilities" -- as late as 1993, friends talked to me about homes that still had their "WC" outside the house, and I'm sure there are still plenty in the countryside all over France.

It's another funky little corner of Rodez that I'm sure will be gone one of these days.

Live in Paris; Read More?

In my ever-active mind, I have been bemoaning the fact that I don't read nearly as much as I used to. I was a huge reader in my pre-motherhood days, and even when my kids were small I managed to get through quite a few books since reading was about my only personal hobby.

Now between work, the house, cooking, driving my kids all over the place and yes, of course, the computer, the only time I find to read is right before going to sleep -- and if you're a busy parent, you know how long that lasts.

This year I have had the chance to go to Paris a few times for work, and was impressed by how many people I saw reading in the metro and RER. As you can see above, there are even poems posted in the trains just in case you don't have anything to read on you -- how Parisian!

When I'm in Olympia for the summer, even though there's no subway, I often see people carrying around books in order to devour a few pages if they find themselves with nothing constructive to do. And I've realized that here in Aveyron, I never see people dragging books around to read on the bus, in cafés, or in doctors' waiting rooms. I wonder why that is?

I'm not saying people don't read here. Au contraire! The main local bookstore does a booming business, as a recent article in Télérama points out:

La Maison du livre,avec son fonds sans défaut (30 000 titres) et ses conseils avisés, dégage un chiffre d’affaires annuel de 3,5 millions d’euros, qui, rapporté aux 272 000 habitants du dépar­te­ment, en fait une des librairies les plus dynamiques de France.

But reading seems to remain a private activity here, carried out in the
confines of readers' homes.

What's the "reading in public" situation where you live?

Wordless Wednesday 14

Retour de saison

After an unseasonably warm and dry February, winter made a comeback last week.

My daughters found themselves sprinkled with snow as they went back to school after the two-week winter holiday; my colleagues and I all bundled up at work as suddenly the heating system didn't quite keep us warm enough.


I've experienced this retour de saison many times in March. Just two years ago, it was also snowing during the first week of the month. And last year we fretted about making it up to Clermont-Ferrand to see Michel Polnareff in concert because it was snowing all over the area on March 19th.

I also remember one year when we had a huge snowfall on Easter Monday -- about a foot here in the Rodez area and at least three feet on the Aubrac mountains.

Winter lingers in Aveyron.

(Photos courtesy of Thierry Jouanneteau)

Wordless Wednesday 13

Montpellier under a different light

While many families are off skiing, my daughters and I often take advantage of a day or two of their two-week February holiday to enjoy shopping, sun and cinema in Montpellier.

It is exhilarating to cross the Millau viaduct, sense the dreary isolation of the Larzac plateau, descend the precipitous and infamous pas de l'Esacalette, and suddenly find ourselves surrounded by vinyards and glorious warmth.

This year was the first time that the weather didn't play the game, which allowed us to discover Montpellier under a new light:

We hadn't come for shades of black and beige, but the tones left us with a new impression of the city.

Wordful Wednesday

I can't quite remember the exact chain of events, but somehow my post about love letters on And So Forth turned into a request to Randal, from me, for a poem...

Le voilà (the link is mine):

Thither and yon through electrons we roam,
exchanging words in the shortest of lines,
you in a land flush with the richest vines
and I in a place that you once called home.

This strained verse is but a miniature tome
painting impressions in vain; all these signs
of the passage of time, kneel at the shrines
of the new; no lost letters on the foam.

A gentle request made; but what to say?
That I purloined a photograph one day?
Nay, a thing as eternal as the sea,

a feeling stronger than the swords of old,
more valuable than the king's store of gold;
the fortune to call someone mon amie.

A moment of sheer blogosphere magic, don't you agree?

The Underside of Renovation

La Belette Rouge pointed out in a comment on my post about the changes taking place on the Rue Béteille:

"Your posts have featured a lot of change and construction lately. There's this post and the tractor (loved that picture). Are you in a mood of renovation?"

I am in anything but a mood of renovation (although I know someone who is -- or at least had better be.)

I watch, intrigued, as icons of Rodez's past move into the 21st century.

My first photo shoot of the changes taking place at the Hôtel Broussy gave a general idea of this major modification, but two months later I had to return to snap images of the grey underbelly of change.

This time a worker came up to talk to me. He was rightly curious as to why I was photographing this:

-Vous prenez des photos de ça?

-Oui, je trouve ça fascinant...

-Pour vous peut-être -- pas pour nous!

-Je veux bien vous croire...avec le froid qu'il fait...

-On espère juste qu'il tient le choc!

Wordless Wednesday 12 -- None of My Own Words, Anyway

Love emails, anyone? Everyone?

I didn't get around to writing a Valentine's Day post, but today this article culled from my favorites got me thinking about how much Internet communication has certainly changed long-distance relationships.

I've written a longer post about it here, full of indiscreet questions that I'm sure some of you could answer...if you're game...

Millau and Gloves: C'est urgent!

At least it seemed like it was at the time I bookmarked this!

An October 2007 Agence France Presse article explains how the glove industry is making a comeback in Millau, Aveyron's second-largest city.

I knew Millau had once enjoyed a booming glove industry; I knew that said industry had fallen on hard times for reasons obvious to anyone who knows anything about manufacturing in the Western world; I knew that there were signs of a renaissance in the industry.

But I did not know this fun fact:

"Millau has been since the Middle Ages the world's centre of glove-making. There is an impeccable logic as to why: in a word, Roquefort. To supply the ewes' milk needed to make the famous blue cheese, lambs were slaughtered soon after birth when their pelts were too small to be turned into anything bigger than a pair of gloves."

So, the Roquefort connection may be omnipresent in Millau's economy. I wonder if there's any link between the cheese and the viaduct?

(Expect more "C'est urgent!" bulletins as I try to wade through my over-flowing "France Profonde Urgent" favorites file!)

Wordless Wednesday 11

(Photo courtesy of Thierry Jouanneteau)

Change on la Rue Béteille

I think you've already picked up the feel for today's post. No scenic wonders -- although you will get a glimpse of Notre Dame de Rodez before the end, I promise.

This morning's subject is la Rue Béteille. Unless you're a Ruthénois/e or know Rodez well, the street means nothing to you.

But to those of us who drive up it constantly, the name conjures up immediate imagery: sooty buildings that have endured decades of traffic, including trucks before the days of la Rocade, the small ring road that allows vehicles to go around Rodez rather than over and through it; a depressing number of shut-down shops; a pervasive sense of gloom.

And to think all of this is changing as I write! I had better start getting out of my car on this street, as I did Friday afternoon, and fast.

Imagine: in thirteen years of driving up la Rue Béteille I had never noticed the former Midi Libre office above.

And it's a good thing I caught it yesterday, because it's on the very lower left of something big that's going on here:

Lest anyone misinterpret me, I'm not criticizing. I don't think a lot of passers-by will miss places like the Midi Libre plus dumpster cranny, nor this forlorn former barber shop:

La Rue Béteille is indeed in desperate need of a facelift, and I'm not sure there's much room for either of the above storefronts in the process.

After all, the street leads directly to the historic town center, and as such is a kind of gateway to scenic Rodez. I've often joked that it's a good thing it's one-way because visitors might be tempted to turn back -- as I was the first time I drove up it in 1995, knowing that the Rodez area would be my new home.

Yet it presents a few hidden treasures that I had better snap before it's too late. Sure, some are of interest only to weirdos (like me) who feel overwhelming urges to stick their noses against windows of abandoned structures, or even find a way to get into them.

Others, like this door, present a true sense of mystery:


I'm glad I captured it yesterday, because here's how it fits into the big picture:

I have a feeling it's not long for this world.

Friday's French Find: Emilie Boudet

I missed out on Wordless Wednesday this week, so I thought I'd share a French find.

Today I stumbled upon this charming blog by French illustrator Emilie Boudet. We were actually on the same Google alert because she had used the term "France profonde" in one of her posts.

All that talent and only 25 years old! The mind boggles...

Emilie's drawings and other creations are oh-so-justifiably copyrighted, so my first version of this post had no illustration. But she just left me a comment giving me permission to share one. I chose "Pianissimo" for its combination of piano and Parisian rooftop imagery.

If you love that French je-ne-sais-quoi, check Emilie's site out. And send her an encouraging comment as she is starting to write her texts in English.

There ought to be a law...

As a huge fan of musical comedies, and a confirmed admirer of Johnny Depp, I found myself in quite the dilemma when Sweeney Todd came to Rodez in "version française" -- or dubbed.

Before making any decisions, my daughters and I checked out the most essential piece of information we needed before shelling out for a movie ticket: is the score dubbed in French?

The answer is no. So knowing that the sung portions at least equal and probably outweigh the spoken dialogue in the film, I decided to take my chances at the cinema. The other option was to wait for the DVD, and I knew this was going to be big screen stuff.

But s'il vous please -- how can a version française of this film even exist? I experienced total language disconnect as I listened to the score, sung in English but often peppered with spoken remarks in French. I ended up not understanding some of the French -- and even some of the English -- because the constant changing back and forth was just too neurologically complex.

So, if you live in France and have the chance to see Sweeney Todd in VF, should you bother?

I would still say yes -- but prepare to leave the theater in a state of linguistic confusion. And I suspect this problem is even worse for the French audiences.

What a difference a few minutes make

After leaving the Rodez train station last Saturday morning, I went up to the market in the town center. I seldom go there, so I had plans to take plenty of photos to share with you -- but it was too darn cold! I sipped a hot chocolate in a smoke-free café instead.

My frozen fingers did at least function well enough to be able to catch a striking change of light on the bell tower of Notre Dame de Rodez.

The photo above was taken at 7:57 am.

The photo below was taken six minutes earlier: