Travel journal: 2 months in France, August – September 2023
If the blog is less updated than before, it’s because when we travel, we travel too much and no longer have time to blog, and when we rest, we rest too much and don’t feel like blogging either 😀 It will take me a long time to write the missing travel journals between April 2022 and July 2023, but we’ll try, slowly.
August 2023
In August, after touring Europe (making a quick stop in Turkey), we returned to France to look after my sister’s cat while she was on vacation. As usual, JB rents us a Fiat 500 from Leclerc, whose price is always unbeatable for a one-month rental
Since I’ve been working very little since May 2023 (I’m following the FIRE movement and currently in Barista FIRE mode), I have almost all my time to do only activities I love. My sister loves crafts as much as I do, so she’s well-equipped. All my leatherworking and linocut tools are also stored at her place. During the summer sales, I also spotted a machine I’d wanted for a long time: the Silhouette Portrait 3. My sister and I are going to share custody of this cutting machine 😀
During my stay at my sister’s place, I mainly worked on paper:
These weeks are intense because every day there’s a new creation. It’s not because I’m ultra-fast, but knowing I’d have access to the tools and especially the cutting machine, all the projects were already prepared in advance and just waiting to be executed.
I started bookbinding by following very very easy tutorials online. I really enjoyed it and it reinforced my decision to take a real 3-day bookbinding course in Tours in September.
Being at my sister’s and able to receive packages, I was in bibliophile mode for several weeks, before parting with part of my collection (as soon as a beautiful book is read and I’m convinced I’ll never read it again, I get rid of it).
Two significant finds stand out: the bible paper edition of The Lord of the Rings and the deluxe edition of The Hobbit, never read.
Farm stay
After these weeks of intense work, we spent a week on a dairy farm 30 minutes from Le Mans. The farmers are very proud of their work, especially since they try to provide almost 100% of the cows’ food solely from their fields. That’s an achievement because many farmers supplement 15% to 20% of the feed with imported soy. Our farmers claim their cows eat better than at other farms, so the milk is of better quality.
We got to have unpasteurized milk, straight from the morning milking. Not used to drinking milk, the two of us struggled to finish 2 liters in 2 days. This milk tastes completely different from supermarket milk. Every other day, a truck comes to pick up the milk, which will be used to make Président emmental.
I’ve watched Love in the Meadow for over 10 years, so this kind of farm is totally familiar to me. The farmers take care of their cows as much as they can, but it’s certain that the pace is intense for the cows: always pregnant, with their legs in the sh*t most of the time. The best time of their lives is between birth and 2 years old, when nothing is expected of them. The males are immediately let go, sayonara.
But we can’t really blame the farmers either; they’re not making ends meet either, working from morning to night. And I won’t even tell you about the smell! It was so intense that over a week, I went to see the cows only once, because afterwards I smelled like sh*t from head to toe. Plus, with the manure storage, there’s a cloud of flies permanently, very happy to come into our apartment.
However, one can note the peace and quiet, good products straight from the farm (the farmer’s wife gave us some tomatoes and mirabelles from the garden). Even at the local Super U, there’s a section dedicated to local farmers (because there are plenty).
Everywhere I went, people stared at me from head to toe, because either my heels are too high for the countryside, or I’m too dressed up to swim in the lake, or too Downton Abbey to trek. It’s a bit like the Parisian contestants on Love in the Meadow; you wonder what they’re doing there, in white sneakers or a dress next to the cows.
The 3 outings we did were to go see Le Mans, a trekking path, and a lake nearby, so JB could train with his new hiking shoes.
September 2023
We returned the car, I picked up my leatherworking tools and my cutting machine, and we went to Chalmazel, where V., JB’s brother, currently lives.
V. ordered a leather wallet from me, because his is too old and too big. I offered him the leathers I had in stock, and we went with a novonappa wallet lined with zermatt, like my handbag. Thanks to my cutting machine, I saved half a day and finished it in 4.5 days. V. is very happy because it’s his very first handmade, custom wallet. We measured all his cards and papers to make sure they fit in the wallet. I also made him a small leather document holder (for the car papers) and a coin purse. Thanks to these little creations, I got back into the leatherworking groove.
A follower on Facebook showed these photos to her husband, who’s a cobbler, and he complimented me on my finishing. I’m so happy because out of the 3 wallets I’ve made, one was a total failure, so my success rate is only 66% for now 😀
The rented chalet was a bit far from the village, but it guaranteed us a nice view and peace and quiet. Even the birds were quiet—none of them woke me up at 5am like in Nicaragua.
Even though I didn’t have much space for crafts, I managed more or less with the available area, sometimes working in bed.
And here are the new creations made in the mountains:
It was truly a relaxing time for us. V. and JB went hiking every morning, preparing for their trek in Nepal. A few times a week, we’d get together with V. and his girlfriend P. for a good homemade meal.
Since I had no desire to cook twice a day, we made very, very simple dishes, and by the end of the month, we both lost a few kilos. Since I work less, I eat less, and also meat doesn’t keep long, so I didn’t have it every day and lost weight unintentionally. My blood tests after this minimalist month are excellent 😀 Even though we weren’t at high altitude, the clean mountain air did me a lot of good.
All four of us visited some lovely spots, like Montarcher and this incredible view:
or Saint-Bonnet-le-Château which houses mummies in terrifying poses (likely killed by a blade), but has beautiful stained glass windows.
JB and I visited a Paper Mill and I left with lots of handmade, high-quality sheets.
We celebrated both our birthdays here—it’s rare that we celebrate them with family, so it meant a lot to me.
We also had a great BBQ with our neighbors and picked blueberries in the garden (there were so many that I had to put blueberries in everything I ate, including salads and teas).
We attended a match between Saint-Étienne and Valenciennes in the stands. It’s a pretty tame section because there are kids and families; there’s not enough insulting for my taste 😀 The section opposite looks more hard core because there are many banners insulting BOTH the players AND the coach. The match was boring because the players were too bad, and there was no popcorn like at the movies, but I enjoyed it—I got to think about lots of things during the game: my DIY projects, books I plan to buy/sell, which article I’ll post first on the blog…
I thought I could stay here for several months, with my leatherworking, linocut, bookbinding tools and my beautiful books, until a real storm hit and I spent 2 hours soaking up water coming in through the living room door, in the middle of the night. Just before, JB told me not to wake him up under any circumstances (since I go to bed later and usually wake him up with my noise), so I soaked it up alone, more or less effectively, but it especially reminded me of the horrible night we spent in Montenegro, waiting for dawn. It’s funny how patient you can be in all your hobbies—putting 10 layers of paint on a leather wallet—and lose patience at the first weather hiccup.
Of course, the next day JB told me I should have woken him up.
The mountain had completely lost its charm, and I couldn’t wait to get back to France’s third most populous city.
We’ll spend 1.5 days in Lyon, and I don’t know why, this city makes me dream so much that I could hardly believe I was really there. I told you about my visit to a silk printing workshop, and I’ll also tell you about its printing museum, which left a big impression on me.
I also really liked the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière . The advantage in Lyon is that you can pay for bus or tram tickets with your bank card’s contactless feature—it’s convenient.
On the way back, the rain whipped our faces and soaked half our clothes, but in the middle of the city it seems bearable, whereas in the mountains you feel vulnerable and fragile.
Right after Lyon, we returned to Paris (JB mistakenly buys tickets from the TGV station near the airport). I returned the machine to my sister, and downsized my suitcase from 22kg to 12kg. In Paris, I visited the Rare Books Fair with my friend M. before heading alone to Tours to my bookbinding workshop, in Chartres for my stained glass workshop, and then a mini road trip across Europe. Meanwhile, JB and V. flew to Nepal, with a stopover in Abu Dhabi, with the goal of reaching Everest Base Camp.
