Escaping the Olympics… Adieu l’Angleterre, Bonjour Normandie!

So far, all the Olympics has given me has been the worst experience of London, nay of any city in the world, in my life.

It’s a long story, but basically  a wild goose chase around the Olympic park left me fainting in a queue, missing the technical rehearsal of the opening ceremony, and feeling absolutely awful for wasting the ticket my Papa had so kindly given me.

What a fail!

However, I do have the claim to fame that I was the first person to faint in the queue of the 2012 Olympics. BAM! I think I deserve a medal anyway…

After this nasty intro to the Olympics, I was happy to sail off to France avec ma famille, amis et long-suffering petit ami and spend a week in a beautiful 11 bed farmhouse in the middle of nowhere.

Before we packed our bags however we did catch the cycle race over Boxhill, ice cream in hand, sun on our heads, grass between our toes – I’m proud to say that this is how we villagers do sport and at least now I have something to report to the Grandchildren in howevermanyyearstime (aside from my famed First Fainter title of course).

But yes, anyway, here are some pics of where we ran away to…

 

 

As we stayed in an area where no one, no one, spoke English I had a chance to practise my pigeon French and I think I’m getting somewhere you know! I’ve decided France, land of cheese , wine and l’amour, is the place for me. Ehem…Pros:

1. More cheese and wine, croissants, patisserie…and yet the women are thin. It must be all the….

2. …Infidelity…  may be rife, but it seems to work, scientific evidence: more French couples kissing noticed than in UK.- It lacks that lovely work,work,work til you’re dead attitude we maintain in the UK

3. ‘La siesta’ aka napping, is government policy. Wow.

4. Paris. Need I say more.

5.  More space, better weather, you can drive over to mainland Europe if you fancy.

6. Sexy language.

7. Oh and the cold arrogance you’re entitled to maintain as one of the Francais.

Done!

Cons:

- Lacking in London, the Queen and all that rubbish (however number 4 pretty much makes up for that)

- The Euro…?

My Cons are rather weak. Vive La France!

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, in conclusion, I’ve decided to live in one of the below, with one of the above, through which I will collect love lettres from all my french men and I will support myself by going to quaint towns as afore pictured and painting tacky scenes which tourists will purchase for far more than they’re worth.

 

 

 

I believe this is an excellent option, far better than my current situation: broke, bummed and living off Mum.

Mon dieu.

p.s. now I am off to do some research to write a proper, informative blog, less self-indulgent than this rant you’ve just endured. Thank you for your time.

Sunday scrummy sculptures…

I’m home for the weekend so I’ve been baking…3 batches later I have finally perfected stem ginger cookies with a lemon glaze MMM! Yes, home will make me fat.

A couple of people who play with their food slightly more artistically than me are Japanese Akiko Ida and French Pierre Javelle who combine their sculpting and photography skills to produce these witty little tableaus.

Just a bit of fun for a rainy Sunday…

Sunbathing in toffee sauce?

Icky sticky heaven.

Voila! Right time to run off the ginger cookies, I’m doing Race For Life this year so if anyone is feeling charitable, or has ever been entertained by my ramblings, then please help me to help Cancer Research beat cancer once and for all!

http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/chloehodge76

I’m running in the RAIN. Come on.

Huis Clos… surreal, intimate, stunning.

This series was created by French photographers Amélie Chassary and Lucie Belarbi as an examination of our everyday habits, literally turning each subject into a personification of their daily routines. The title, Huis Clos, derives from a French play and translates literally as ‘in camera’, referring to a private conversation carried out behind closed doors; with this series, people’s privacies are exposed as they openly wear their rituals and routines on their sleeves.

Simply conducted but effective, and I think they’re pretty darn beautiful.

Cacher à Paris…

I’ve been a little quiet recently – the last few weeks in uni combined with a weekend in Paris has left me no time for sitting at the computer! However today I am nursing a sore head due to a few too many celebratory drinks last night, I won an award from my university to go travelling (yay! more on this later..) and it’s been my birthday so apparently I had to drink my weight in Blossom Hill. Foul beverage.

Anyway I was in Pariiieee this weekend; I’ll only bore you with a few photos of fine food (I’m rapidly growing outwards) and beautiful buildings, then it’s onto my favourites from the Pompidou Centre..

I was quite disappointed by the Pompidou actually, the contemporary art section was a lot of French Minimalism and that’s not really my thing. I actually made the faux pas of mistaking artwork for, well, rubbish! A grey piece of foam leaning, LEANING, against a wall – can you blame me?

There were a few gems though, and upstairs the Modern Art section was really impressive. Not bad for free entry if you’re under 25!

This film piece was just displayed on a small screen titled Anonyme, but it captured me.

After some research I found that this piece was recorded in 1896 by Auguste and Louis Lumière and it features the Serpentine Dance choreographed by Louie Fuller: a pioneer of modern dance and the embodiment of the Art Nouveau movement. This film doesn’t feature Louie herself, hence the Anonyme title, but she was a regular performer despite having no formal training. Fuller made her own costumes out of silk which were illuminated by different coloured lights of her own design, but in the Victorian era it wasn’t possible to film in colour so to imitate exactly how Fuller’s performances would have appeared to her audience, this analogue film has been laboriously hand-tinted with stencils and coloured dyes.

Fuller is said to have been so enthralled by colour that she once had to be escorted from Notre Dame, after waving maniacally her handkerchief through coloured light pouring in through the stained glass and being mistaken for a mad woman!

Here are a couple more pix from Paris: origami birds made by children hanging in an old church in Marais, and my favourite place in all of Paris – the amazing bohemian half way house and ancient bookshop, Shakespeare and Co. 

….à bientôt!             x