Ellen
Full Member
Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.'Edgar Degas'
Posts: 193
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Post by Ellen on Aug 9, 2008 15:35:58 GMT -5
Hi all, I just came across this thread and thought I'd better introduce myself. Ellen here, have been around here for a few weeks now, and like Catriona I'm from Ireland too. Tipperary in fact, and lucky for me it's not a long way from Tipperary to Paris. I'm still on the right side of 40,(for another year anyway, sure I'm only a baby!) four children, ages 16, 10, 9 and 5. Busy house we have, so hubby and I take whatever timout we can get. Our next break will be our long weekend in Paris in 5 weeks and 4 days, not that I have one eye fixed on the calender or anything. My hobbbies are reading, travelling and Painting, and listening to David Gray,though I guess painting should be at the top of the list. Art is almost my first love, maybe thats one of the reasons I love Paris so much, I see beauty in everything there. Its great to be a member of this forum as nobody is going to judge me here for 'talking about Paris again'. Thanks for everyones advise in planning what is only my second trip, but I plan to return every year, if budget allows, and my darling younger sisters are still available to babysit while we're away. I brought my daughter last year when she was 15, she just loved Paris. She too says she will be back.
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Post by jo on Aug 16, 2008 21:12:29 GMT -5
Bonjour everyone, I am Jo from Ontario, Canada (originally from Montreal). Found this site a few days ago and looking forward to catching up! My hubby and I first went to Paris last May for our 25th anniversary and were so enthralled by the city, we went back for 2 weeks this May. We have fallen in love with Paris and Den even dreams of retiring there in 10-12 years! We did most of the tourist things our first trip and more of them this trip, as well as some of the more off the beaten path stuff. I kept a blog www.slowtrav.com/blog/joden during our trip and had a wonderful time writing about our experiences. We hope to explore more and more of the city with all future trips, of which there will hopefully be many more. We are probably heading back again next spring. We are both 48 (Ok, hubby won't be 48 until next month and I am older by 4.5 months, which he never hesitates to remind me of!). I work in the brokerage industry and he is a supply chain analyst with a large international food company. We have 2 kids in their 20s and a beautiful, wonderful 4 year old grandson who is the light of our lives (can you guess that we kind of like him!). We are taking him to Disney World in 2 weeks but hope to take him to Paris when he is a little older. He loves looking at our pictures of Paris and recognizes the Eiffel Tower whenever he sees it in movies, on TV, in magazines or books, etc. The only way I could live in Paris is if Sebastian comes visit us every summer! Den and I both really enjoy good food and we are just starting to build a list of restaurants to try in Paris. We were lucky to go to some really good ones this May, including Spring, Robert & Louise, Fables de la Fontaine (my 48th birthday dinner!) and le Petit Troquet, among others. We spend hours on Zagat online, as well as some French review sites (we are lucky to both be fluent in French, actually French is our mother tongue, and it was fun to read reviews written by Parisians for other Parisians, not tourists). I know that food is one of the reasons we love Paris so much and can't wait to go back (the markets, boulangeries, frommageries, and charcuteries are too good to be true in this city and are just as much fun for us to discover as the restaurants), but we also can't get enough of just walking around the city and exploring little rues and neighbourhoods, sitting at cafes, people watching for hours, talking with Parisians about their lives and their work, walking around the Louvre and D'Orsay for more hours, and just falling more in love with the city and each other every moment we are there. We can't wait to go back and I can't wait to take advantage of all the knowledge and experience of the people on this site! Jo
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Post by paris4me on Sept 9, 2008 23:33:43 GMT -5
Hello, I joined today so I wanted to introduce myself. A lot of you already know of me from TA where my screen name is Paris4ever. When I signed up on TA, 'Paris4me' was already taken and I had to make up another name quickly.
I have gone to Paris each year for the past 11 years, but now that I have to start planning for retirement, I may not be able to go to Paris 'forever'. Paris4me suits me better now. I certainly hope to get to go at least one more time. Today I received a birthday card with a newspaper clipping about how to get by in Paris more economically. That was a welcome greeting.
I'm looking forward to joining you in the chat room soon.
Paris4me
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Post by sandypaws3 on Sept 14, 2008 11:19:36 GMT -5
Hi All, I'm a 62 year old mother of 3 sons and grandmother to 3 little girls :-) I had wanted to go to Paris since I was a teenager, but that was put on the back burner when I met my future husband in the Air Force -- I spent 4 years stationed at Charleston AFB, SC. We got married in 1967, raised 3 sons, and while they were growing up I slowly worked on a master's degree in sociology, which I finally got at the age of 50. All the while I never lost my desire to go to Paris, and we finally did in 2001. Since then, we've been back 6 times, and my husband loves Paris almost as much as I do.
I take care of 2 of our grandchildren while their parents are at work, so that keeps me pretty busy, but in the free time I have I research Paris -- new areas to explore, restaurants, transportation, day trips, etc. -- and talk about Paris online. I never tire of talking about Paris and thinking about the next trip. Our oldest grandchild is 4 years old, and she loves hearing about Paris. She enjoys looking at my photo albums and looking at online Paris pictures. We've promised to take her there when she's 6!
Our favorite area is the 6th, but hotels have gotten a bit expensive, so next trip we'll be staying in the 5th -- close enough to walk to the 6th, if need be, but bus and metro are easy. I'm looking forward to staying in a new area! We always like to go to the rue Mouffetard on Sundays, and we'll be close enough to walk there easily. My husband also loves the Arenes de Lutece, so he's happy about my choice of a hotel. Maybe we'll finally try the Boulangerie Kayser -- it's been on my list for the last several trips, but somehow we've never made it there.
Sandy
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Post by SharonM on Sept 22, 2008 10:51:10 GMT -5
Good morning everyone! My name is Sharon. I have been visiting this site for a few weeks now. What a great find ! I am happy to join your community, learn from you and hopefully share my future adventures with you. I will briefly tell you a little about myself. I will soon be 52 yrs. old. I have always had a travel bug. Had little chance to do much travel though. You know, raising kids, tight budget etc. Husband was more like a flat tire that I had to drag around with me than an adventure partner. Don't have to worry about that anymore though. C'est la vie! That's enough for now. I had a trip planned for this October, but family things came up, so I dropped those plans. I am almost glad because now I can learn so much from you and make my trip that much more fabulous when I do go. ;D I am now thinking about 3 weeks in October 2009. Thanks for being here, I will be visiting frequently!
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Post by tammij on Sept 27, 2008 11:16:14 GMT -5
Sorry to have taken so long to do this!
I'm Tammi and my fiance John and I are getting married October 20th in Parc Monceau. Because we can't live in Paris for 40 days beforehand - although we would LOVE to - we are having a civil ceremony in the states. It actually works out very nicely for us. We are having a civil ceremony in Charleston, SC at Battle Park (I think - John is in charge of the US ceremony and I'm doing the Paris one) with my 3 children (2 boys and a girl) and my sister. Then we fly out immediately to Paris.
We live between our 2 houses in Hillsborough and Durham, NC until we consolidate our households. John is in public health and I am in clinical research. We are both steadfastly refusing to leave our 30s - we both celebrate our first 39th birthday in just a few weeks.
I wanted to say thank you for the information everyone has supplied in abundance and I appreciate the friendly atmosphere here.
I can't believe we are leaving in less than 3 weeks already!
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Post by mjcm85 on Sept 29, 2008 15:52:04 GMT -5
Hi, my name is Megan. I will be 23 years old in November and a recent college graduate with degrees in French and Political Science. I will finally be traveling to Paris for my first time ever December 30th-January 6th this year. My boyfriend, who was there last summer while studying abroad at Oxford University will be going with me. I absolutely cannot wait! We have our flights and hotel and now all we need is these next 3 months to go faster!!! haha I have been looking around this site and am getting more and more excited each day!! Thank you so much for all the wonderful information.
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Post by dewtrell on Nov 12, 2008 23:33:58 GMT -5
Hi Everybody!
My screen name is Dewtrell and I recognize many of you from TA, and I found this site from Ouiparis' Trip Report: she is one of my favorite posters, we both hail from Los Angeles and have the same sensibilities. I became an active member of the TA board in 2004 because I was planning a trip to Hawaii at the time, my first REAL vacation: 2004 the year I actively started traveling at 31 years of age.
I always had this yearning to travel but didn't have the means to do so early in my life. After I had the means, I was in a relationship with someone who was in the military (Army Ranger) and could not travel overseas while on leave, this was at the height of the war in Iraq. After three years, the relationship ended and I met my current boyfriend a month later: I believe everything happens for a reason.
My boyfriend is an avid traveler and told me stories about all the places he had visited: in fact, he had just returned from his 4th trip to Europe, and a year earlier had visited Japan. He told me, if you want to be with me, you have to want to travel. So, we started slowly and within 6 months traveled to Hawaii for 10 days. We figured, we both had visited the islands previously, it's paradise and if we hated each other we would be only a 5 hour flight home. Needless to say, we got along splendidly and on the flight home we started to map out our big trip to Europe.
I remember reading a history book in high school which detailed the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. There was a small photo in the book and I thought it was one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen. At the time, it was just a dream and in the summer of 2006, my dream was about to come true.
My boyfriend and I planned a nice trip to Europe, we stopped off in London first. He said it was a great city to get my feet wet, then we went to Barcelona and left six days for Paris toward the end of our trip. Now, when I first started planning the trip, I thought 6 days was way too much. Needless to say, six days was not enough.
As a first time visitor to Paris, I was blessed to be emerged with the locals and see how Parisians lived. My boyfriend's friend owns an apartment in Montmartre: this guy spends half his time in Paris and the other half in Los Angeles. So, there were no hotels, just local boulangeries, cafes, bars, people walking their dogs in the morning, the site of a Parisian moving into an apartment, waking up at 4AM in the morning to go to the bathroom and smell the fresh bread from the boulangerie on the corner: me being among the local class just had me in awe.
When it came time for me to leave Paris, I was sad. I knew that somehow I needed to get back there. My boyfriend and I planned for another trip to Europe, this time to Italy and I told him that I HAD to go to Paris, there was just no way I could be that close and not step foot into the city. So, we went about planning our second return to the City of Lights together, which put me in Paris a year and 4 months after my first trip; this was a year ago last week. And I have been scheming to get back ever since.
My boyfriend and I are planning our next big trip to South America this coming January. If all goes as planned, we hope to be back in Paris this coming summer: it would be my third trip to Paris in three years. Some might say it is excessive, but we're young, have tons of miles and it doesn't hurt that we have a free place where we can shack up pretty much whenever we want. In the meantime, I will live through some of you who have just returned or are going before in the near future.
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fourthrock
New Member
Le Metro ain't such a bad place to be!
Posts: 9
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Post by fourthrock on Nov 20, 2008 6:40:40 GMT -5
Bonjour tout le monde!
My name is Warren, actually it is some long stuffy name with Roman numerals at the end so I had to be given a nickname at birth and it is Rocky, so hence “fourthrock”. Well, I am an Aries as well, you know Mars and all that, so “fourthrock” has a double significance. I was introduced to your forum by “chefhat” whose shop, Mon Bon Chien, has been my first stop in Paris for the last couple of years, sort of a modern day Shakespeare and Company for me, a gathering place. While I didn’t start making trips to Paris until December of 2003, I have probably been fascinated with things French since a high school crush on my French teacher. There must have been something there for her too for she should have flunked my butt after third year, I remember rien! I would have visited Paris sooner but both my ex-wives had been with husbands, lovers or both and both were shameless “been there, done that” types. So once I became a family of one again I spent my first Christmas alone discovering my Paris. J'adore Paris! Just like some other member here whose name eludes me right now, I spend all my Christmases there now. I’ve managed to squeeze a few extra trips in here and there so that when I return for Christmas in just a few short weeks it will be my eleventh trip since Christmas of ’03. I just returned from two weeks in Paris during which I attempted to assuage the guilt of that old high school love affair and start taking French lessons at Alliance Francaise. I also spent a couple of days out in Riems during the coup d’etat in the States and if you all don’t mind I plan to write about that real soon now. I spent two nights there but I now know from that experience and from one prior trip to Epernay, that it could make for a not too difficult, not too expensive but fun filled day trip. Alors, c’est moi. Je suis heureux de faire votre connaissance!
Fourthrock
PS - Merci, Shoesy!
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Post by Happygoin on Nov 20, 2008 7:44:57 GMT -5
Hi fourthrock, and welcome to OPF. Nice meeting you too. Eleven trips in five years!!! Now THAT'S an addiction. Well, we're here to help you enjoy your sickness. And don't worry about your difficulties learning French. We'll embrace you anyway!
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Post by Shoesy on Nov 20, 2008 7:57:10 GMT -5
You're very welcome, Fourthrock. Wow - You really are a Paris lover! I'm sure you'll find this forum a great place to visit whenever you're in a Paris mood. Can't wait to hear about all your experiences.
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Post by ouiparis on Nov 20, 2008 9:22:03 GMT -5
Hi Fourthrock (love the name and the story behind it)! Mon Bon Chien is definitely becoming a regular stop for us in Paris as well. Welcome to OPF!
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Post by sistereurope on Nov 20, 2008 10:06:18 GMT -5
Hi Fourthrock! Welcome to OP. I love your avatar. Would that happen to be in the METRO?! ;D
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Post by joan1 on Nov 20, 2008 13:07:30 GMT -5
Hello to all the page fivers here,, I haven't kept up on this thread, so I have not greeted anyone since who knows when.
You have all found a wonderful site though, and the wealth of experience here is amazing, far more then one usually encounters on most travel forums. This is of course due to the addictive nature of Paris, which has many of the posters traveling so regularly to Paris that it makes moi extremely jealous !!!
I can see that you will all be great contributors, most of you seem to be so thoroughly indoctrinated already ;D what with so many trips under your belts, or planned to be!!
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Post by framboiseetrose on Nov 20, 2008 13:38:41 GMT -5
Bienvenue, fourthrock! You'll be at home in this forum having Paris addiction as a common theme!
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fourthrock
New Member
Le Metro ain't such a bad place to be!
Posts: 9
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Post by fourthrock on Nov 20, 2008 19:37:37 GMT -5
Hi, Hi again, Hi, Hi, Hi and Hi Happygoin, Shoesy, OuiParis, SisterEurope, Framboiseetrose and Joan1! ;-) A “page fiver”, I like the sound of that. And SisterEurope, can I call you “Sis”, I was so hoping you were the woman in all those Galeries Lafayette ads! = There are so many things about our Paris experiences I could comment on, but you all seem so Paris savvy that I’ll try and resist “newbie-itis” and just lurk for a spell. Allow me to just give y’all a bit more background so that if there is something in particular you’d like to ask or have me elaborate on, well, you’ll learn soon enough that I just love to spill pixels across pages about Paris. I’ve made it to and from the aeroport by every means but walking. I have stayed in hotels or apartments in the 7th (think Rue Cler), the 9th (think Pigalle), the extreme Northeastern 10th (think morning jogs in Buttes Chaumont which is really the 19th), the 11th (think that women’s prison they tore down in the 70s), the extreme Western 12th (is all this thinking getting tedious, but think the Bois de Vincennes), the 15th (think Mon Bon Chein and rue de Commerce), and the cozy elegant but somewhat suburban 16th. I have a very nice little set up now spitting distance from the Place de la Bastille on the rue de la Roquette (think Ligne 69 de l’Autobus and, yes, think très busy). I am a huge fan of the performing arts, but then I consider even profession football, on either continent, to be theatre. I almost always attend the ballet or the opera; for instance I will be at the Palais Garnier watching Raymoda on Christmas Eve (yes, in one of those second balcony boxes kind of off to the side) and I will be at the Opéra Bastille on NYE attending their Soirée du Nouvel (there are no bad seats there as long as you have opera glasses). There is a monster Picasso exhibit going on at the Grand Palais and did you know you can go on FNAC.com and get yourself a no-wait ticket? Despite how this is sounding, I really am kind of a budget traveler, have a NAVIGO and get myself around Paris on the Metro (the carte d’orange is now or very soon to be obsolete). I finally figured out how to get a pay-as-you-go French cell phone and now hit the ground at CDG talking. I bet you find that hard to believe. ;-) I am not big into eating fancy. I have my café and my pain du chocolat or croissant of a morning and then go out searching for the perfect plat du jour. I’ve never really understood what plat du jour is, every restaurant does it different and it seems to change every day. %-) By the time one of those lunches is done, I hardly have room for dinner no matter how many stars and I don’t really believe the French stay thin by eating. Oh, one final thing, I always visit the Eiffel Tower, walk, yes walk, up to the first level and mail my postcards home. I can tell you where to pick up the least expensive postcards (Rue de Steinkerque on your way up to Sacré-Coeur) and other touristy paraphernalia. Actually, you can get your postcards free at bars and bistros if you don’t mind sending your friends advertisements and really it’s a postcard from Paris postmarked from the Eiffel Tower, how can they complain? So see, if you have questions, I might just have answers, or at least a good story. Bon soir.
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Post by mossie on Nov 21, 2008 6:01:59 GMT -5
Hi FourthRock Nice to have another male member, I was beginning to feel totally outnumbered ;D
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paul
New Member
Posts: 7
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Post by paul on Nov 24, 2008 20:12:26 GMT -5
Hi everyone , I am Paul, English, and have lived in France since 1975. I lived in Paris until 1986 then went to Normandy in a village 25 kilometres from Rouen. From there I went to Toulouse and since 1993 at Génébrières , about 15 kms from Montauban in the great south west. So you could say I have become fluent in french. I work out here as otherwise life would not be possible! Hope to chat to any of you , whether about Paris or the area where I now live which is on the border of the old Cathare country. still lots of castles around here and very pleasant countryside. If i can help then feel free to shout, but not too loudly though!
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Post by marcybeaucoup on Nov 25, 2008 2:41:27 GMT -5
Allo Allo,
I am a new member, having run into Lucky Luc in two cafes after different flea market excursions on Saturday and Sunday. .....Luc asked me if I was following him! They told me about this forum, which is a treasure trove of impressions and information. I conduct small intimate tours of Paris once or twice a year with my sister. In the states I am a sewing expert, so the tour focus is sewing, design, the elusive pursuit of creativity and exploring Paris. My group of 13 just disbanded yesterday, so I am savoring a couple of wandering days before heading home on Thursday. In between trips I immerse myself in all things Paris and contemplate business opportunities that can bring me back more often. Right now, I import the Groom line of handbags and also vintage buttons. In my back home life, I design my own line of patterns for the Vogue pattern company, have a line of silk screens that I design for textile artists, conduct retreats, classes and workshops and have an active website.
On this Paris trip, we visited backstage at Yves St Laurent, had a wonderful before-opening hours visit and lecture with Dominique at Le Petit Robe Noir in the Palais Royale and spent hours at the new Sonia Rykiel show at the Fashion and Textile Museum. WE shopped all over town for fabric and clothes, ate great food and generally wore ourselves out every day having a great time.
Discovered a good little resto: Le Mestruret at the corner of rue St. Augustine and rue Richlieu. Had a marvelous and opening lunch at Druont in the Goncourt room, where, earlier in the week, the Prix Goncourt had been announced. I stay at the Horset Opera, a marvelous small family run hotel on rue Antin, just off bvd d'Opera, and love it for the location, the service, great breakfast, in-house little bar with simple food and the marvelous staff. On my own, I've rented apartments (once, with a group, in the Palais Royale), but also love staying at Maison Zen between Bastille and Gare de Lyon.
always looking for new Paris discoveries! (and my nickname really is MarcyBeaucoup)
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paul
New Member
Posts: 7
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Post by paul on Nov 25, 2008 14:32:02 GMT -5
Good evening everyone and hope all is well on your side of the world. Yes Andi finally took the leap but not in the swimming pool as I swim like the proverbial brick. With the warm welcome and questions it is hard to know where to start. If I miss any one out then please forgive me. I would like to know if I can post links to websites as this way I can send info , ideas , views etc of the area where I live? Also for you to realise that as I live and work here my view can differ to yours. Bon Demarais. The sites around here are Great with some beautiful countryside to drive through. a trip along the Aveyron valley is worthwhile, leaving Montauban in the direction of Saint Antonin; The touristique as we call it here is in fact a road built on an old railway line after the line closed in the 1960's. The line went from Montauban Ville nouvelle to Lexos where it joined the line running from Villefranche de Rouergue-Tessonnieres, where it joins the line from Toulouse-Albi. So all along the road you will still see the crossing guards houses and the old stations. Several points of interest; Bruniquel, the castle can be visited from May to October. Do any of you know the film Le Vieux Fusil starring Philippe Noiret and Romney Schneider? The castle in the film was Philipe Noirets' house, well and good up till then. Until you get to the end of the film, where he is standing on the bridge overlooking the River Aveyronne! At the time the film took place , during the second world war, the road did not exist as it was then a railway line! An interesting visit at Bruniquel is to go to the glassblowers' shop and admire his work. Further on there is Penne , which is a beautifull village just off the main road. The castle is in ruins now but it can still be seen. At one point on the road you will come to another tunnel, where you have a road going off to the left and a panel indicating, St. Antonin par le corniche. Take this road and it will take you through a small village where in the summer there is a small restaurant well worth the visit. You will find yourself looking over the river Aveyronne, and believe me the view is stupendous. Get your camera's and videos out! If the restaurant is closed then a little further on just before you get back on to the main road , you will find a chalet type bar where you can enjoy a salade or sandwiches. There is a map there of all the possible ways up, rock climbing, for all of the cliff faces around. You will then arrive at St Antonin, where you can walk around the old town. Due to the number of english people living in the area, in one of the streets you will find an english bookshop. Here there are quite a few restaurants where you can get a reasonnable meal. Sunday there is the local market. Not as good as the one at Caussade on monday but worth the visit. Back on the road eventually you will come to Lexos. Nothing to see here but it is where you can either turn off to the right and follow the road to Cordes sur ciel, then to Albi. Or to continue through to Laguepie. A point of interest is Varen where there is still the walls of a fortified monastry. Even with the trap door from where they poured boiling oil on unwelcome visitors. At Laguepie , when you arrive in the village , turn left in the direction of Villefranche. continue on this road until you see the sign St André de Najac. Here is one of the most beautifull castles I have ever seen! Get out of the car at the entry to the village and just walk and bath in the medival atmosphere. To appreciate the castle , go to the valley floor and look up at it sitting on its pinnacle like a fairy castle. Especially on a summers' night when it is lit up. Have I wetted your appetites? As the song went in the film Soldier Blue, "and yes this is my country....". For Cordes you will have to wait for another day as there is such a thing as having too much! For sistereurope, around here there are very good local wines such as Gaillac , Fronton, Cahors , a little further to the mountains you will find the Madiran wine is very good , Bergerac is pleasant as well. For the food then you have as always plenty to choose from . But being the southwest then you will find a lot of local producers of Foie Gras, duck meats of all kinds. A recipe for un Maigret de canard? First grill the the meat skin side up, so as to release the fat and get the skin a nice brown , crunchy effect. Turn it over and then spread some honey on it and put it back under the grill. Do not forget , unless you do not like red meat that duck is served saignant. serve with brocoli and duchesse potatoes. A bottle of Madiran or Cahors will go well with this. Gittek, Carcassone is the other side of Toulouse to me, I have been there and it is a wonderfull place to see. But if you want to appreciate it then go hors saison and you will find the people there have much more time to spare . There you are then a little introduction to part of the area where I live. the door is always open as I have said to Andi. So just knock. Do not worry about Murphy or Piwi, they are very friendly and well fed! Will get back to you soon . if you have any questions then let me know. Salut et à bientôt.
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