The Final Month

What a beautiful day here in Nova Scotia..temperature about 6 degrees C and the sky a clear clear blue, not a cloud.... I am down to the last 30 days before the plane takes off for France.... Last week I sent in my final payment and have already heard that it has arrived. Friends have been asking how I am doing and if I am getting excited. I sat down on Sunday and checked out the Michelin guide ...started to look at restaurants in Lyon and Dijon...Paul Bocuse's famous restaurant named after himself outside Lyon...and then the famous "Pyramide" ( once a 3 star but now only a 2 star)that he trained at in Vienne in the Cote do Rhone....we might drive there and I could see the roads and the markets and actually started to get excited! I am too practical to keep that up as I have my days planned and things I must get done before I leave. Every winter I promise myself that I will get rid of everything in the basement... well as much as I can part with , so I have been doing that...and doing very well I must say. I have boxes ready to take places. I begin by thinking I will sell some of the things and then that task seems too much and I start putting it all at the end of the driveway...someone else can make use of it.
I am also now thinking what books I will take..... My friend Mary on her visit in the Fall brought all the books that were on the Giller Prize list as a present..... The Perfect Circle, The Sea,De Niro's Game and Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures. I think I will take those plus Stephen Clarke's ...A Year in the Merde and Merde Actually.... but then I have a book about the pinot noir grape called The Heartbreak Grape by Marq de Villiers... the major grape of Burgundy is the pinot noir so it might be useful. All suggestions would be appreciated.
I do intend to read as I also intend to cook but I can get recipes from the internet or send home for them. Then there is what CD's to take... that I have not worked on at all. That will be next after I have organized my wardrobe. I still need to learn to put pictures on the blog with the digital camera.... Last weekend we were in to Halifax to a basketball game and sat with a retired lawyer who spends 3 weeks , twice a year in Paris. He loves going back year after year as he feels like he is not a tourist and this justifies not running around during the time there visiting touristy things. To quote him "it has been 10 years since I have been down near the Champs- Elysees.That is actually how I am feeling. Without a car I will need to stay within walking distance most of the time...maybe taking a bus here and there sometimes.....sitting in outdoor cafe's reading and watching..working on the blog. Other times I will visit the market and cook in my apartment. I plan to take long walks and /or rent a bike to get out in to the wine area. But I know there are numerous walking trails outside my village/town. I want to go to church. I have visited so many churches on my travels but I always feel they are empty...this way I can be there when they are being used as they should be...to hear the acoustics and smell the incense.... and then there is the history of the place... this village is ancient has not always been part of France... I should be well versed when I return in June. Last but not least there is the wine..... this is where my sommelier course will keep me in good stead as I go to tastings and try out the various wine cellars... I need to be well versed when Bruce arrives for his visit. And the beat goes on...each day I am doing a new thing toward getting ready.... I have lots of things to photocopy to take with me...walking trails,vineyard routes,the great Burgundy estates and where to find them, Burgundian food specailties, etc etc... so keep in touch!