Les Ponts De Mai

All across Paris everyone was trying to cram five working days into two this week in order to “faire le pont” (make the bridge) and take advantage of the public holidays on Wednesday and Thursday with a little bonus on Friday. Trying to get anything done from May to September in France is a challenge and I’ve finally succumbed to the rhythm and learnt to strategically prioritise my actual to-do list vs my realistic to-do list, making time for the important things like dinner with a dear friend who was staying with us and swanning around Montmartre on gluten free tours (after the Moulin Rouge windmill dramatically crashed to the ground the meeting point has a whole new story).

By Wednesday all of France was on the move. Signs at the train station announced every train was absolutely full and we smugly noted the traffic jams leaving Paris as we sped past on our TGV to St Malo. After a smooth journey we headed straight to Café de l’Ouest for lunch, followed by enormous salted caramel ice-creams, a stroll around the old walls and a few spins on the merry go round before walking over to the port to catch the ferry over to Jersey to visit my dad and step-mum. Straight off the boat we made a beeline to Pizza Express for gluten free garlic dough balls (IYKYK) overlooking the sea, swiftly followed by bed, the one hour time difference having a remarkably strong affect.

My ideal morning in Jersey begins with coffee at Solshine café followed by time on the wide sandy beach. After that activities vary and we celebrated a birthday with family friends, climbed down to the “secret” Beauport bay and my favourite thing of all, an hour in Waitrose grocery store perusing the aisles and stocking up on things I miss from my many years living in London.

As an Aussie the fact that my small children can’t swim has been weighing on my mind and this trip was the perfect time to do something about it. Arm bands acquired we slipped into the local pool and spent a happy morning floating the children back and forth encouraging them to release their iron grip on our arms and maybe kick a bit. My assumption that they’d be little fish by day two was a tad optimistic but we made great progress to build on back in Paris and they’re no longer terrified of the water.

On Liberation Day (which commemorates the liberation of the Channel Islands five year occupation by Nazi Germany during World War II) we enjoyed dinner at Corbiere Phare Restaurant, overlooking the magnificent view and watching the lighthouse slowly illuminate in yellow to celebrate 150 years standing strong on the rocks. Another evening we stopped in at the Crab Shack for all my favourite dishes and my husband and I snuck off to sister restaurant the Oyster Box on our final evening to sip Shirley Temples at dusk.

After being bombarded with photos of the Northern Lights on Saturday morning I realised we’d slept through one of the best showings in 20 years, which reached right down to the Channel Islands (how did I not pick up on this IN ADVANCE?) and my FOMO was at an all time high, so after the kids were asleep my husband and I hopped in the car and drove to a long stretch of beach to try our luck. While I craned my neck to look at the entire sky I thought he was joking when he said we had to look North and he thought I was joking when I didn’t believe him. I’d sort of assumed the heavens would just conveniently light up moments after we arrived (a worrying insight into my assumed importance in the universe?) but no dice and three hours later we retired to bed, having achieved nothing but wiping ourself out before a big travel day.

We woke early Sunday morning regretting our fruitless nocturnal adventure and prepared to make the return journey back to Paris (car, ferry, bus, train, bus) with a mad dash through Rennes station, finally arriving home to tackle the laundry and start a new week.

Have a great week,

- Emily

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Cheese we’re eating this week:

• Vézelay - a mellow and fresh goat’s milk cheese usually aged just over a week and shaped into a dome from the Yonne area of Burgundy.

• Mimolette - a hard cow's milk cheese that was produced by defiant French subjects in response to the banning of products from Holland in the 17th century.

• Tomme aux fleurs sauvages - a pasteurized cow's milk cheese that’s rolled in a mix of wild flowers after a few months of maturing, which gives it a gorgeous floral aroma.

All three cheeses were bought at Barthélemy.

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Real Life Jersey Photo

Jersey French makes even my grammar and spelling look good.

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