As cliched as it sound, I dreamed about living in France ever since my first visit to Paris in my childhood. Since then I travelled regularly to Europe and Paris was always part of the itinerary. Unlike many childhood memories revisited, Paris didn’t disappoint. But part of me just wondered… how would it be like to be living in the less touristy part of France. I mean to actually become part of the neighbourhood… to know all the best local boulangeries… to have the lady at boulangerie prepared my favorite baguette pas trop cuite without asking… to commute home by walking all those secret shortcuts and to greet neighbours with a “Bonjour”…. While quitting my job and living in France is a dream both abstract and impractical, at least in the near future, I instead signed up for an one-week immersion program. This time ditching the usual tourist trail and hit the French countryside.
Monthly Archives: September 2015
My Délicieux Adventure in Roanne
So there is that place that you have always wanted to… you even had the perfect itinerary planned out… but somehow you can’t seem to convince anyone else to go with you. What can a girl do? Um… wait? Pray that her perfect travel companion with come along one day?
I inhaled deeply, booked the flight and train ticket online after staring at the computer screen for 15 minutes. Finally took the plunge and travel sans accompaniment, and i ended up having one of the best trips in my life =)
Roanne- a little town located northwest of Lyon on the Loire River. It is a commune in the Loire department in central France. For many years, it has been known as a mecca for gastronomy (largely because of the famous Troisgros family, and I will write more about that on my next posts…). After 13 hours of flight and another 5 hours travelling on train, I finally arrived in the little picturesque town. While my mind dizzy with jet lag and excitement, I took a quick shower and couldn’t wait to go out and explore…
I walked around town aimlessly… and so my edible adventure in France began… There were open-air markets that flooded with bright, late-summer produces- soft-skinned peaches, zesty herbs, delicate asparagus, bakeries that enticed me with the aroma of freshly baked croissants, fromageries that lured me with perfectly ripe Brie…