Joyeuses Pâques!

Salut!

Given that it's a long weekend and we are staying in town, I have plenty of time for blog writing this weekend! We don't have too many updates since I last wrote, but there are a few things worth noting:

Visitors
Two weeks ago, our friends Jane & Joe visited us from Strasbourg, which was a ton of fun. We had a lovely weekend of catching up, eating at local restaurants and visiting the Canadian war museum at Juno beach.

Joe, Jane, Alex & I grabbing a drink at a bar in Caen

We also checked out some local sites, like the Chateau de Caen and the Abbaye-aux-Hommes (men's abbey), which houses William the Conqueror's tomb.

The tomb of William the Conqueror (or Guillame le Conquérant, as the French call him)
in the men's abbey in Caen

Some beautiful stained-glass in l'Abbaye-aux-Hommes, Caen

St. Patrick's Day
The next week was St. Patrick's day, which, as it turns out, the French don't really celebrate. I was kind of bummed, but I wore green and attempted to make green muffins, as outlined in the guest post I did for my friends' nutrition blog #DomesticPhD, here. Later in the day, I had the bright idea to Google whether there are any Irish pubs in Caen, and it turns out there is exactly...one! So I made Alex meet me at the Irish pub after work and we had a beer surrounded by the entire population of Caen that celebrates St. Patrick's Day (hint: they all fit in one Irish pub). It was festive, I heard some middle-aged British men speaking English, I wore a green dress, I got a free hat, and I was happy.

Joyeux St. Patrick!

Afterwards, we went to Dolly's British pub (the closest we could find to an Irish or North American establishment in which to continue our festivities) and grabbed another drink and a delicious burger. It was a fun, albeit low key, evening.

While Alex drank his Guiness, I had La Caenette - a beer from Caen

Easter
This weekend is Easter, and in France we have Easter Monday off, rather than Good Friday. As we are staying in town this weekend, it has been pretty quiet. However, I've been enjoying peering in the shop windows all week and marvelling at the goodies made by the boulangeries. 

Some beautiful gateaux on the shelf of a boulangerie - this is the kind of temptation I am faced with everyday.
Look at all the fruit piled on the cake in the middle. Forget glazed kiwis - there is a whole pomegranate on this one!

In France, all the chocolatiers and boulangeries make beautiful handmade Easter chocolates in a variety of shapes and sizes. I saw all the usual Easter shapes, plus cows, hens, lobsters, pigs, fish, frogs...you name it. Like at home, the grocery stores also sell mass-produced Easter eggs; however they are a step-up from the kind-of-crappy-almost-milk-chocolate eggs that line the shelves of North American grocery stores. (You know the ones I'm talking about -  they come in a mesh bag and give you a stomach ache if you eat too many because they are more sugar than chocolate.) I have nothing against those eggs, as I grew up eating them myself - but as usual when it comes to food, France does it better. Instead of the super sweet, solid eggs, the standard supermarket eggs here are sold with a variety of yummy fillings. The most common is praline (which is delicious), but there are also other flavours like cookies and cream, Milka, Kinder, etc. They also come in dark chocolate, which I appreciate!

North American Easter Eggs

Milka Easter egg mix from France

Homemade Easter chocolates at a boulangerie- check out Mr. Potato Head (Monsieur Patate) in the top right, and the Easter fish on the shelf below.

I bought these Nids de Pâques (Easter nests) from a local boulangerie on Good Friday.
They came in many different flavours, like coffee, praline, chocolate, and even Grand Marnier!

When it comes to Easter, I have observed a couple of other differences between the two countries. From what I understand, many French citizens are secular, and it's actually not very common to go to church on Easter. I also learned that rather than ham or turkey, the typical Easter dinner here revolves around l'Agneau de Pâques (Easter lamb).

However, the biggest difference between France and Canada is that rather than the Easter bunny, French children receive their eggs from the Easter bells (les cloches de Pâques). Legend has it that before Easter, all the church bells fly to Rome (explaining their silence in the days leading up to Easter), and they return on Easter with eggs and chocolates for the children. Interesting story... but really, come on. Bells can't hop. Given the cost of airfare these days, we felt very grateful that the Easter bunny made his way over from North America and visited us in France.

Treats from the Easter bunny! I got Alex a large selection of grocery store eggs to search for, while he got me the really good-quality, dark chocolate Praline eggs from a chocolatier (top left), because he's nice like that.
Quality over quantity... they are sooo decadent! Yum!

Alex's grenouille au chocolat (Easter frog) from our local boulangerie.

I found the equivalent of Pilsbury crescent rolls in the store here, except in Pain au Chocolat form. They're pretty tasty. although nothing beats the real thing. Combine those with some French cheese, a baguette, fruit, and a whole lot of chocolate eggs, and you've got (a very sweet) Easter breakfast!

We are sad to be missing family get-togethers in Canada this weekend, and made sure to plan a big dinner for the two of us, with mashed potatoes, vegetables, etc. Alex wanted to have a ham for Easter dinner, so we went to the local market this morning in search of one. Unfortunately, buying a whole ham doesn't seem to be common here (um, what?? There is ham in everything here!!). We bought a pork roast instead, which is currently marinating in the fridge. (I also have turkey cutlets as a back-up, since I have never tried a pork roast!!) Although I have been feeling a little homesick this week, I am not so sad about missing the weather back home, as it's 12C and sunny here. 

Travel plans

Next weekend we're taking a long-weekend and going to Copenhagen. French schools have a two-week vacation at the beginning of April, so I don't have class, and Alex is going to take a couple days off so we can travel together. We're excited to check out a part of Europe neither of us has ever visited, and to experience the Danish culture. (We're really hoping everyone speaks English there, as we don't know a word of Danish. They don't even use the Euro in Denmark - gasp!!). More updates to come in a couple of weeks!

Joyeuses Pâques!