francofiled

Want one of these!  A French friend brought one of these back from Nice for her young son. He had such fun with it. A mechanical cicada that makes that nostalgic sound characteristic of warm summer evenings in the south of France. She told me that it was available online and I placed an order.  Full of expectation that with some bright lights, a bunch of lavender and a glass of pastis...that winter would be that little bit shorter. Ah, not to be. Yes the cicada arrived but not at all the mechanical version I was expecting. Something of much poorer quality. The other cicada's lavender is always bluer.

So very pleased to have been part of this...

An ambling ambition This was supposed to be a leisurely trip to Amboise.  An ambling ambition. The idea was that we would get a late morning train for Amboise and visit the château. It's within easy reach of Tours where we were staying and that leisure time would include a snack at the Mie Caline outlet close to the station. Sure enough wrapped around a bacon and cheddar filled baguette everything seemed to be going swimmingly. As often before on this trip, I had used the very useful OUI.sncf app to buy two tickets, located the train and boarded with ease. The train was quiet and comfortable and tempted with the strong wifi I got involved in some catch-up messaging. Mistake! Starting to feel drowsy, I closed my eyes. Yes, I had been aware that the train had stopped but since it seemed we had only just left I paid no attention.  Rousing a little later P. remarked that she had seen a château en passant and I figured perhaps that was Chenonceau.  However looki...