Golden Days - Between Paris and Lonlay l'Abbaye - November and December - Holidays 2023

Spectacular early sunsets in Lonlay l'Abbaye in November

At water's edge with leaves turning color

Thank heavens for French rail network SNCF. For various reasons - pleasure, pain (a toothache!) and business, we bounced back and forth between Paris and Normandy several times in the final months of 2023. So this post has a bit of both - for those of you who love seeing Normandy, and for those who have asked for more photos of Paris.

We were lucky to always be able to book inexpensive tickets on the route going west to Flers and back again, even when it was last minute. Such as when I had to urgently see the dentist in November!

IN PARIS

Our Paris dentist's elegant waiting room - antiques, art, plants and Kartell Bourgie lamp!

Our dentist is excellent, and speaks fluent English - a real assist when your French dental vocabulary may not be up to snuff. So glad he could see me right away.

​I was able to walk the city and see its transformation from autumn clouds to holiday lights. The weather was cool, but not too cold to walk along the Seine.

Storm clouds behind Guimard's Art Nouveau metro entrance at Place St Michel

Seine and Louvre at Pont du Carrousel - November

Statue by Louis Petitot representing the City of Paris at Pont du Carrousel

Notre Dame and her attending construction cranes

Inside a warm café

Just a few weeks prior, our daughter had come from Australia to visit us in Paris. We traveled a bit with her to Italy, then had a few more days with her in Paris afterwards to revisit some of our favorite places together.

​One of these, Stravinsky Square, near the school where she attended kindergarten many years ago, has seen its quirky fountain recently restored.

The church behind the Stravinsky Square fountain is called St. Merri. They have free concerts there almost every Sunday afternoon.

​On another day, we all went up to Montmartre, where a visit to the Dali museum was in order. Below is a short slideshow of some of his weird imaginative work exhibited there.

I can't even begin to comprehend Dali's mind or most of his art, but his lobster telephone always makes me laugh. Even an iPhone can feel like you are putting a lobster to your ear when you have to take a call you are dreading!

Naturally, we spent some time admiring Parisian pastries. Can you tell these were being sold at the Louvre? 

We stopped both for meals and for snacks at some of our favorite cafes along the river...

A raspberry dessert at Le Depart

First course of classic "oeufs mayonnaise" at Au Vieux Châtelet

View of Notre Dame from Au Vieux Châtelet

Even managed to get to Caveau de la Huchette for a jazz set on her last night. Great place!

OFF TO LONLAY!

Back in Lonlay l'Abbaye in early November, the season was turning, but the weather was still relatively mild. The tranquility of the village was very welcome.

The last of the white roses were holding out before the frosts.

The bush that had sprouted from a stone wall over the stream in August (image on the left) had turned a golden mustard color (image on the right), as had many of the trees and shrubs around the village green.

A tantalizingly huge wasps' nest appeared high up in one of the trees over the green. Pipkin and I kept our distance from it. I was happy to see it gone when we came back to Lonlay a few weeks later.

The formal hedges on the commons turned to rust

Neighbors put out seasonal decor on their windowsills

And the trees of the square in front of our house blushed a beautiful burnt orange.

As the 11th of November approached, Joseph and I were a little surprised that there was no mention of the usual Armistice Day (our Veterans' Day) ceremony commonly held at the war memorial near our house. Joseph bought a small plant, placed American and French flags in it, and put it out at the base of the memorial, just below the names of the Americans who lost their lives when their plane was shot down here in 1944.

We soon learned that the usual remembrance ceremony had been rescheduled for the 18th of November, perhaps due to the expected heavy rains on the 11th. Of course, it rained on the 18th as well!

The mayor gave a very nice speech commemorating all those who sacrificed in France's wars for freedom, and detailing some of the history of Armistice Day. Accompanied by several honored guests, he placed fresh flowers at the base of the war memorial.

​The local band that plays brass and drums for these occasions accompanied the formal entourage. Then we were all invited for a "vin d'honneur" - a tall glass of hard cider - and to mingle a bit at the community room.

The brass instruments were set out to dry off from the rain while folks chatted and drank. We spoke with the mayor, then a woman who introduced herself as the adjunct mayor, and finally someone who I think is one of the fire chiefs. Everyone was very nice.

French and American tributes in Lonlay

BACK TO PARIS

Upon our return to Paris, we were delighted to receive a visit on Thanksgiving from our handsome grand-nephew from California. He was studying in Madrid for the semester. We zipped around some of Paris's most charming neighborhoods with him.

We began our day with omelets at a Left Bank cafe before walking around Notre Dame and into the Marais. Having introduced our grand-nephew to Napoleon at the Musée Carnavalet, we continued on to the Champs-Elysées and the Trocadéro before heading home for our Thanksgiving turkey. A fantastic visit, a splendid young man, and delicious dinner.

Every year we get our turkey ready-roasted with pan drippings from an American food store here in the 7th arrondissement. They have an arrangement with a local boulangerie to use the bakery ovens to roast pre-ordered turkeys on the big day. Then all the customers have to do is to pick up the turkey, a can of cranberries, and make the side dishes at home. Dessert was a classic warm Parisian apple tart with vanilla Häagen-Dazs ice cream!

Our current apartment in Paris

Around this same time, the owner of our Paris apartment told us that she and her husband had found a large family apartment that they wanted to buy, so they were going to have to sell the apartment we had been renting from them. We had already been thinking of moving to a slightly smaller place, as we are spending more and more time in Lonlay l'Abbaye, but this news kickstarted our search for a new apartment - preferably in the same neighborhood.

We quickly learned that much had changed in the rental market since we last looked (six years ago). For one thing, almost all of the landlords were now requiring renters to have a "garant" - a guarantee from either an individual or a specialized insurance company - that pays the rent if the renters are ever behind or default on the rent. I suppose this is understandable, as tenants' rights are very strong in France, and particularly in Paris. It can take forever to evict a non-paying tenant. For us though, satisfying the French insurance company paperwork was a bit of a Gordian knot, as we do not have French jobs or income, and we had to translate most of our revenue documents.

A fake "stock photo" apartment?

The second thing that we learned quickly had changed was that the number of apartment scams seemed to have multiplied tenfold. Even websites that had previously been reliable in their listings were overrun by fake ads, particularly on the weekends when the staff was not screening the offerings. Most of these scams were obvious to anyone with a familiarity with the Paris rental market, such as an ad promising a 120 square meters apartment for 500 euros/month, but some were harder to discern.

In at least two instances, we contacted the "owners" of apartments with stock photos like the one above, only to be told later by the website managers that they were suspected of fraud. In one instance, we had set up an appointment to see an apartment that was supposed to be just around the corner from us (and was offered at a realistic price) only to then be presented with a bizarre request for Western Union transfers in advance. No thanks!

Another view of our current apartment - beautiful flowers from the apartment's owner

As the owner of our current apartment has always been wonderful with us, we sincerely want to help her sell as soon as possible. To that end, we have been keeping the apartment as clean and neat as possible every day, as realtors, photographers, space and heating specialists, and now prospective buyers are coming through.

It is a bit of a challenge, particularly because we want to vacate with our dog, Pipkin, every time there is a visit. Pip is friendly, but gets overly excited with visitors, so we prefer to take her for a long walk - or ...

BACK TO LONLAY L'ABBAYE!

By the end of November, the wonderful members of the Festivity Committee in the village were already situating fresh cut pine trees along many of the stone houses in the center of town, and decorating them with ribbons of red and gold. Others in the same group began the arduous task of stringing lights across the village streets, and even across the river, in preparation for a friendly competition of Christmas splendor among the local towns.

The fences were decorated as well.

We opted to have a tree put up just in front of our house, and it is so sweet to see it, as well as to look out over it toward the hanging icicle lights at dusk.

PARIS AGAIN

Meanwhile, Paris was putting up its holiday finery as well... 

Along the luxury stores of the rue Royale

Towards the Madeleine

In so many corners of Paris, the lights add to the beauty of the city and are a balm for us in these very short days of the year.

The Champs-Élysées is elegant this year with lights that change from solid gold to a flickering white resembling falling snow.

MEANWHILE, IN LONLAY L'ABBAYE...

As we bounced back and forth between Paris and Lonlay, Joseph and I were sometimes apart for days, depending on our responsibilities. In early December, he and Pipkin took a look at the height of the water from the wooden bridge in Lonlay, and sent me the above video.

A few days later, the water was even higher, flooding the field behind the abbey gardens, an area where the Benedictine monks of old had kept their tanks of live fish!

Going back and forth from Lonlay on different schedules was a bit hard on us sometimes. At one point, I had to go pick up our car, which had had a mysterious failure of its dashboard, from the Renault dealership in Flers.

Coming home, I confirmed that there was a bus at 5:45 pm that would get me to the train station in Flers in time for my train back to Paris. No such thing! Yes, there was a bus, but the driver told me she was forbidden to take passengers on this route back to Flers. Harrumph! I had to impose on our good friend "S" to drive me back in the dark to Flers. Very kind of him. Not a desirable outcome.

A PARIS TOAST

Later, when I was in Paris with Pipkin, and Joseph was in Lonlay l'Abbaye in December (to try to find someone to fix a small leak in our roof), we talked on the phone and toasted each other each night at 7:00 pm.

​Pipkin only had water to sip. I think she knew it was a raw deal.

A classic Parisian lunch

Mid-December:  both Joseph and I were back in Paris, and were invited to the home of some of our most gracious and generous French friends for a holiday lunch. The wine, the food and the company (ten of us) were all excellent. It was, as the French say, a "très bon moment."

VERSAILLES! WHAT?

A view of Versailles in Louis XIV's time

The day after, I was fortunate to have a visit from dear longtime work friend "J" from the Los Angeles area. She stopped in Paris with her adult son as part of a winter trip this year to the U.K., France, and Belgium. "J" and I had not seen each other in person for many years, so it was wonderful to have her come here.

We spent part of one day in Paris together, then went to Versailles the next. Unfortunately, the weather was absolutely freezing on those two days, but "J" and her son were very good sports, so we all made the most of our outings.

A peek into the recently restored royal chapel at Versailles

Looking up

and up...

and up at the endless riches of Versailles.

BACK TO NORMANDY

The indomitable "J" moved on from Versailles with a further plan to visit the Mont St Michel and our tiny house in Lonlay l'Abbaye. She and her son rented a car and managed to do both in one day. I don't know where she gets that energy!

We had lunch at the Relais de l'Abbaye, and they stayed long enough to walk about the village a bit, to see the Abbey, to shop in Lonlay's local shops, and to see the holiday lights come on at night.

In the end, Joseph and I have found a new apartment, and will be moving soon. So much to do, but with bright hopes for the coming year. Best wishes to all of you, a Merry Christmas and a perfect New Year!