Happy Easter!!

Well, I'm back to post some pics of our trip up to Paimpol in the North of France.  The Brittany coast of France is rugged, dramatic, and very beautiful.  There are tons of quaint, sleepy villages all throughout the area.  They are connected by a road that winds around the cliffs above the ocean; the waves down below never cease to crash against the giant rocks causing the sea to spray high up into the air.  When we were there a couple weeks ago, it was still very much early spring; if not still winter.  The sun only showed its' face once the whole time we were there, and the rain that fell all the while was cold and almost mist-like, instead of big, fat drops of rain.  This was ok though, because we were equipped with proper Brittany outerwear by Yann's parents.  Big, oversized rain jackets of his dad's, that I was swimming in, but I did stay warm and dry.  Plus, everyone is walking around with these massive coats too, so you actually blend in more with the Paimpol crowd if you sport one.  I do have to mention that the weather is not always this bad in Brittany.  In fact, I will be going back in May when my parents are here and the weather then will be warm, sunny, and beautiful.  They just suffer a particularly harsh winter.  However, I think all the horrible winter weather must be worth enduring, because once the sun comes out, I think Brittany, France must be one of the most charming and beautiful places on Earth.  While we were there we saw old, dilapidated castles covered in bright green moss, we walked in the country and fed horses hay through the fence.  We ate amazing food every night; Yann's parents are really incredible cooks and in Brittany there is an abundance of fresh mussels, clams, oysters, lobster, crabs, and any other yummy creature of the sea you could want to have on your plate.  Let's just say we were eating good!  Yann and I drove to villages and had beers and crepes in cafes by the sea.  We went to the Paimpol outdoor market and wandered through the tiny, cobblestone streets in the village looking in store windows.  While the tide was very far out we went searching on the beach under the rocks and seaweed for tiny fish and crabs.  We went to the place where the fisherman bring in all the fresh catch of the day and we saw them harvesting the oysters from the bay, packaging them and bringing them to the little store right on the dock.  We went in the store and you can pick your dinner from about five very large tanks: one for lobster, one for Spider Crabs, ect..  Also, one day we packed a lunch and drove an hour to this really cool aquarium called Oceanopolis.  It was a really good aquarium, with a polar exhibit with penguins, a tropical exhibit with tons of really beautiful fish and sharks, and also a Temperate exhibit, where we got to see the sea lions being fed and getting scratched on the bellies like they were dogs.  

It was such a fun trip and his parents really showed us a great time.  They are such kind, loving people; the perfect future in-laws! They are such interesting people; their lovely, historic home is filled everywhere with antiques and artifacts from Africa, Brazil, South America, and Europe.  And each one has a story behind it; how they bought it, what it was used for.  They lived in Mali, Africa when Yves was young (Yann's older brother).  His mom was super-pregnant with Yann in Mali and she travelled back to France three weeks before Yann was born to deliver him in a proper hospital.  When Yann was just two weeks old, she travelled back with the new baby to Mali to join her husband and other son, Yves.  Talk about a strong woman! His mom, Daniele, is this tiny, cute woman, and she is just great; and so sweet too.  His dad, Pierre-Yves, is this big, fisherman guy, who has a big smile and a huge laugh.  He's travelled all over the world on fishing trips, bringing his two sons when they were boys.  I asked to see the family photo albums from Yann's childhood in Brazil and so I learned a lot more about this really unique and cool family.  In every picture, Yann is almost butt-naked, with skin as dark as a little native boy, either swimming in the ocean, fishing, or paddling a boat.  This was his life growing up in Brazil; pretty much a dream childhood for boys.  Anyways, I was just so happy to be invited into their home and get to know them better.  They love Yann very much and want to see him happy and they've been so helpful in researching Visa information for us, so that Yann and I can be together.  It will be so fun when my parents are visiting in May, when we can all hang out in Paimpol together.  

So, now I'm in Marseille just hanging out with Yann here.  We've been cooking a lot, so I'll have to post pics.  He made me this shrimp, coconut milk, and roasted red pepper dish with rice from Brazil; it's called: Muqueca de Camarao and it was awesome.  We also cooked a Turbot, that I bought from the neighbour.  It was this giant, whole fish in a bag, it's little, clear eyes staring up at me.  I had Yann hack off it's head and filet it.  We put that head and the bones  in a pot with some onion, carrots, celery and peppercorns and made a damn good fish stock.  We baked the filets in the oven and topped it with a saffron butter sauce.  We served it with potatoes that were cooked with white wine and fish stock and we then added to the potatoes some fresh tomatoes and Coques, which are little, delicious clams. That was a great dinner.  Tonight we are just roasting a chicken and we are going to test our new deep fry basket and make some pomme frites.  So, to counter all the eating yesterday we went on a long run to one of Marseille's calanques, which are these places outside of Marseille where the ocean comes in to make a cove.  Each calanque is different; there are about ten or so and the most beautiful ones are accessed only by foot.  As were were running yesterday in the sunshine, there are people out hiking with their dogs, rock climbing, and backpacking.  We only ran to the top and looked down at the calanque, but in the summer you can hike down to the water and go for a nice swim.  The water is turquoise and aquamarine and from our view point from high above, we could see the different areas of light and dark of the reef.  

Last night we went out with some friends I made in Marseille.   My French friend, Malou, who is a really cool person.  She worked as a deck hand on private yachts around the world for six years.  She is completely fluent in English, but has a New Zealand accent because that is where she learned English.  And we also hung out with a couple, Micheline and Freddie, from Tampa, Fl.  Micheline is French/American and so she speaks perfect English and perfect French.  They are really fun, and it was so nice to go out with people and not have a headache from trying to follow the conversation in French.  This is what happened two nights ago at our neighbour's house, where we went for dinner.  There are super nice people, and they can speak pretty good English, but when the majority of people at a dinner are French and you are in the country of France...the conversation will be in French!!  The solution is easy and very evident...I NEED TO LEARN FRENCH ASAP!!! So, that is my task for this week; finding a good French school.  Also, on the agenda: compiling a list of all the English Schools in Marseille, so that I can begin to schedule interviews and drop off resumes. Whew...If I'm going to live in France, it can't be all fun and vacation all the time.  Reality will be hitting soon....