John and Val’s European Adventure
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Valeria’s first day of work here in Paris for the Bank of New York was October 4th. To properly welcome Valeria into the folds of daily French life, the transit networks, including the Paris Metro, went on strike. Striking French workers does not make headlines, but the achievement of Val being hired here in France should. Immediately following our last update on July 3rd, Valeria received a job offer from the Bank of New York. However, as a non European Union resident, there was the obstacle of changing her resident visa to a working visa. Having carefully navigated our way through the minefield of French bureaucracy the past two years, we knew this was destined to be a struggle. There was also the concern of whether or not the Bank of New York would be patient enough to wait the period of time it would take to receive a decision regarding Val’s visa application. The prescribed waiting time was quoted as being from 3-4 months from the date that her dossier was delivered to the prefecture in Paris. Throw in the fact that the working visa can easily be rejected despite an applicant’s pledge to work no more than 35 hours a week and one can understand our hesitation with announcing this major accomplishment to all of you. As a result, we were relegated to celebrating this momentous occasion amongst ourselves and Chateauneuf-du-Pape.
Trying to expedite the process as much as possible, Valeria whisked off her paperwork to the attorney hired by the Bank of New York in Paris. Having not heard anything one week later, a follow up call to the attorney’s office was placed to confirm that all of her paperwork was in order. On this call, Val alerted the attorney to the fact that her application was for the changing of visa status from that of resident to worker. Silence on the other end of the phone assured our worst fears that the attorney had not yet read her file. He followed up with Ca sera difficile and that he was unfortunately going on vacation for two weeks beginning the next day. His back up in the office was also on vacation for three weeks. Hoping to take matters into her own hands, Valeria tried calling directly to the prefecture in Paris to speak with someone about her situation. She was informed that this department was temporarily unavailable but that they would be happy to receive her call at the end of August. The date was July 26th.
So we started to make plans for the rest of our summer. There is so much of France that we still want to discover and it was obvious that Val’s visa application was out of our hands because of the impending month of August. Through friends of friends in our Anglophone network, I had offered up my name as being interested in playing pick-up soccer on Tuesday nights. The level of play exhibited during these friendly matches was mostly inspired by the notion of avoiding injury and making sure that everyone made it to the bar afterwards to congratulate each other of this fact. After a couple of these evenings, a brilliant idea was struck that we should meet for drinks before the “match” as a warm up. In the end, perhaps more time was actually spent frequenting the bar, but it was through one of these soccer nights that Val and I had the incredible fortune to strike up a conversation with Mike, a transplant from England who has been running a B&B for the past 12 years in Faucon, a jewel of a Provencal village just NE from Vaison -la-Romaine. As it turned out, he was looking for summer help at his property and upon learning about Val and I’s ultimate dream, we mutually agreed that we should work with him for the month of August. On our first day at Les Air du Temps, Mike warned us that his love for the B&B business was almost exhausted and that his job would be to make sure that we were aware of all the pitfalls which come along as part of this lifestyle. While it’s hard to romanticize what it is to run a bed and breakfast on a daily basis, this past month of August confirmed for us that we are justified in our crazy dream and prepared to eventually run a B&B of our own. As with any large property, the daily to-do list is long: yard maintenance, watering, vacuuming, mopping, dusting, window washing, laundry, taking out the recycling and trash… one gets the picture. Add to this the responsibilities of a B&B: setting up breakfast, changing rooms, refreshing the linens, ironing, shopping, checking e-mails, preparing the bills and of course always having the phone in your pocket. Somewhere amongst all of this you fit in time for the guests: chatting at breakfast, giving them directions, making dinner reservations, showing them where they can store their bikes…and Mike does not even have a pool to worry about. The attraction for anyone in this business is all about the interaction with the guests. It is very satisfying to welcome the road weary traveler with a spacious and comfortable room and then to help them into vacation mode with a glass of rose wine or…
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Valeria’s first day of work here in Paris for the Bank of New York was October 4th. To properly welcome Valeria into the folds of daily French life, the transit networks, including the Paris Metro, went on strike. Striking French workers does not make headlines, but the achievement of Val being hired here in France should.
Immediately following our last update on July 3rd, Valeria received a job offer from the Bank of New York. However, as a non European Union resident, there was the obstacle of changing her resident visa to a working visa. Having carefully navigated our way through the minefield of French bureaucracy the past two years, we knew this was destined to be a struggle. There was also the concern of whether or not the Bank of New York would be patient enough to wait the period of time it would take to receive a decision regarding Val’s visa application. The prescribed waiting time was quoted as being from 3-4 months from the date that her dossier was delivered to the prefecture in Paris. Throw in the fact that the working visa can easily be rejected despite an applicant’s pledge to work no more than 35 hours a week and one can understand our hesitation with announcing this major accomplishment to all of you. As a result, we were relegated to celebrating this momentous occasion amongst ourselves and Chateauneuf-du-Pape.
Trying to expedite the process as much as possible, Valeria whisked off her paperwork to the attorney hired by the Bank of New York in Paris. Having not heard anything one week later, a follow up call to the attorney’s office was placed to confirm that all of her paperwork was in order. On this call, Val alerted the attorney to the fact that her application was for the changing of visa status from that of resident to worker. Silence on the other end of the phone assured our worst fears that the attorney had not yet read her file. He followed up with Ca sera difficile and that he was unfortunately going on vacation for two weeks beginning the next day.
His back up in the office was also on vacation for three weeks. Hoping to take matters into her own hands, Valeria tried calling directly to the prefecture in Paris to speak with someone about her situation. She was informed that this department was temporarily unavailable but that they would be happy to receive her call at the end of August. The date was July 26th.
So we started to make plans for the rest of our summer. There is so much of France that we still want to discover and it was obvious that Val’s visa application was out of our hands because of the impending month of August.
Through friends of friends in our Anglophone network, I had offered up my name as being interested in playing pick-up soccer on Tuesday nights. The level of play exhibited during these friendly matches was mostly inspired by the notion of avoiding injury and making sure that everyone made it to the bar afterwards to congratulate each other of this fact. After a couple of these evenings, a brilliant idea was struck that we should meet for drinks before the “match” as a warm up. In the end, perhaps more time was actually spent frequenting the bar, but it was through one of these soccer nights that Val and I had the incredible fortune to strike up a conversation with Mike, a transplant from England who has been running a B&B for the past 12 years in Faucon, a jewel of a Provencal village just NE from Vaison -la-Romaine. As it turned out, he was looking for summer help at his property and upon learning about Val and I’s ultimate dream, we mutually agreed that we should work with him for the month of August.
On our first day at Les Air du Temps, Mike warned us that his love for the B&B business was almost exhausted and that his job would be to make sure that we were aware of all the pitfalls which come along as part of this lifestyle. While it’s hard to romanticize what it is to run a bed and breakfast on a daily basis, this past month of August confirmed for us that we are justified in our crazy dream and prepared to eventually run a B&B of our own.
As with any large property, the daily to-do list is long: yard maintenance, watering, vacuuming, mopping, dusting, window washing, laundry, taking out the recycling and trash… one gets the picture. Add to this the responsibilities of a B&B: setting up breakfast, changing rooms, refreshing the linens, ironing, shopping, checking e-mails, preparing the bills and of course always having the phone in your pocket. Somewhere amongst all of this you fit in time for the guests: chatting at breakfast, giving them directions, making dinner reservations, showing them where they can store their bikes…and Mike does not even have a pool to worry about.
The attraction for anyone in this business is all about the interaction with the guests. It is very satisfying to welcome the road weary traveler with a spacious and comfortable room and then to help them into vacation mode with a glass of rose wine or a cold beer. After a quick tour of the garden we often heard the guests sneak up the stairs to fetch a journal or book and then reinstall themselves outside in the shade of a tree. Breakfast time was the moment to plant the seeds about a pottery fair, an art exposition or a proper local cave. Late in the afternoon, when the guests returned with that beautiful vacation “glow” we knew before they said anything that they had bought a painting or we could tell by the pitch of their car that they had had a productive wine tasting. Dinnertime was always a highlight of the day as the guests perched on the edge of their seats anxiously awaiting the culinary parade we brought out from the kitchen. They ate as if the meal may be their last and rose to a standing ovation when Mike came out for a curtain call. A quick read through Mike’s guest book assures you that many of his longtime guests have become like family and their vacations in Provence would not be complete without a stay at Les Airs du Temps. Often when guests were leaving, we would be photographed so that they could have a keepsake of one of the factors that made their vacation special. While we can never pretend to have been born in Provence, it is through our passion and knowledge of this area that will help visitors discover its patrimoine in a way that is memorable to them, yet still personal.
To fill one’s days, there were endless cycling and hiking circuits leaving from the property; the Provencal market towns of Nyons, Vaison-la-Romaine and Buis les Barronies were each a short drive away; dance, music and village festivals were running throughout the summer, an endless number of wine domaines are tucked into the surrounding hills and of course, mon prefere,Le Mont Ventoux, is visible from almost everywhere.
One of Mike’s favorite itineraries for the guests was to send them to the Vallee du Toulerenc. This river valley on the north side of Mt Ventoux has water through the entire summer offering a refreshing break on a hot day. To appreciate the incredible scenery, there is a fantastic loop trail that leads hikers high up into the hillside and then dumps them down into the riverbed, which means you get wet. While at times the water may only be a few inches deep, there are many sections where you have to scramble over rocks and plunge into pools deep enough to become fully submerged. As great as this riverwalk is, the best part of the day is when you venture a bit further east to the perched village of Brantes. There’s not much in the town, just twisting cobbled pathways, a charming pottery shop, an old church, and a small garden cafe perched at its edge offering a full frontal view of Mt Ventoux; a perfect spot for some local wine, a good book, postcard writing or my favorite pastime – gazing at Mt. Ventoux. Ninety-five percent of the guests that we sent on this itinerary said it was the best day of their vacation. The other five percent went back for a second time to make sure everything was real.
The clientele of Les Airs du Temps was made up equally of repeat customers and new guests. One of the greatest compliments to his business was the fact that whenever possible, Mike’s first time customers would extend their one or two day sejour to three or four days as the property lent itself perfectly to being on vacation in Provence. Was it the superb location, the comfortable guest rooms, the shady nooks in the garden or the charming American couple greeting everyone at breakfast? In all seriousness, it was the table d’hotes or evening meal.
Mike manages over an exotique kitchen that emphasizes distinct flavors and the bounty of his garden. Even the simple act of making the morning coffee became art by adding crushed dried orange peel to the Fench press. In his food stores, one could find kaftir lime leaves, lemon grass paste, pomegranate molasses, syrup of preserved lemons, Ligurian bee honey, lots of stock and always a plethora of unground spices. From the garden there were zucchinis, Marseillaise peppers, chili peppers, tomatoes in infinite quantities, carrots, melon, olives, figs, butternut squash, basil, mint, rosemary and sage. Some of his all star dishes courgette pekora (zucchini fritters) with a minted yogurt dipping sauce, oriental peanut salsa on cucumber rounds, Marseillaise pepper tempura, braised duck breast with a sauce of caramelized onion, roasted garlic, balsamic vinegar, star anise and stock reduced to perfection, roasted St. Marcellin cheese with fennel/chili and poached peaches with lavender syrup over meringues. The education that I received in the kitchen was invaluable. Shortly after we left, a couple of the guests paid to take an impromptu cooking course.
If there’s any sadness in this tale, it only lies in the fact that we cannot market for Mike for the 2006 season as he is taking a breather from the business to recharge his batteries by traveling to India, SE Asia and lots of other places where he can be a tourist rather than catering to them. Perhaps this is a good thing, for should we ever have a B&B of our own, it would be hard to match up to Les Airs du Temps by way of comparison. For the food, value, location, room size and domesticated animals, I can’t think of a nicer place.
Speaking of the animals, they made the property equally special in their own right: Darcy and Endine. As much as we miss Mike and his cooking, mornings were wonderful as we walked Darcy (a 14 yr old golden retriever) through the surrounding vineyards and orchards before picking up bread at the local Boulangerie. As the end of August neared, Darcy took up the habit of running into the vines to check the grapes for ripeness. On one of my last days he did in fact pull off a couple of bunches – truly a French gourmand. After preparing breakfast we were able to treat the pony, Endine, to the melon rinds, stale bread, nectarine skins, banana peels – all those things we couldn’t convince the guests to eat. 
As the end of August neared, it was sadly time for us to pack up our belongings and make our way north to Paris as Val had a date with the prefecture. On the way, we had a chance to visit our French “grandparents” in Montpelier for a couple of magical dinners under the stars in their garden. Arriving in Paris on August 28th, Val dropped off her completed dossier at the prefecture and we settled into the idea of having 3 months to wait for a response. This initial month was to go by quite quickly as we were treated to a visit by Val’s mom and then we were to meet my parents in Strasbourg for a weekend and then to Germany for a week. However, through one of the miracles of French bureaucracy and a well-paid attorney, Val received a call at the end of September indicating that her work visa had been approved. As a quick update on Valeria’s new job – her title is Relationship Manager and she is responsible for managing existing relationships and to explore avenues for providing additional services. As a nature of the job she will do a lot of lunch meetings and true to form she has eaten out everyday the past two weeks except for once. But to dispel the notion that the 35-hour workweek applies to everyone in France, she has been putting in well in excess of 55 hours a week. However, as compensation for working more than 35 hours a week, the bank provides one additional day of vacation per month – sounds fair by all accounts.
I have to admit that for as much progress as I have made with the French language, it seems as if I’ve also done a fine job of coloring my American lexicon with British English as well. As a tribute and to say thanks to all of our English friends who have helped us along they way, I leave them with the following: lift, hoover, bloke, trainers, bollocks, stroppy, pear shaped, quid, ta, tosser, twit, taking the piss…brilliant; just a few of the words that I shall always have at the ready. But, as with any foreign language, there’s a difference between knowing the vocabulary and its rightful use – “I’ve had a bees knees of a day and am so knackered that I’m going to have to nick one of your beers and relax in the lie-low.” Through context all of these words are easily surmised with perhaps the exception of bees knees. However, in American English I had never thought of lie-low as an object (inflatable pool cushion) but more of an action, as in how you act around your coworkers the day after calling in sick, when you miraculously no longer have any signs of illness.
The usual assortment of photos is attached and most don’t require explanation. You will notice that we caught part of the Tour de France in the Alps. As a result of THAT and having lived in the shadow of Mont Ventoux at Les Airs du Temps, I was inspired to make an assault to its summit my last day in the south of France before heading up to Paris. Unfortunately, bad weather moving in along with a preoccupation of filling the boot of our car with Cotes du Rhone wine foiled my attempt. In lieu of a triumphal celebration at the summit, you will see a photo of my descent.
To put this failure into perspective, I should provide some details as to mon petite aventure. I left Les Air du Temps at about 4:15am in the morning and drove to the town of Malucene which lies at an altitude of about 1100 feet above sea level. Departing from there at 5:00am, I was tout seul on the road for the first 15 minutes until I was scared by noises coming from the brush. Wild boar? bear? cougar? or just a couple of pheasants having a row… whatever, my cadence picked up. After another 15 minutes or so, the 10%+ grade began to take its toll on my untrained legs. The route was so severe that I was weaving back and forth in order to cut down on the steepness of the ascent. Around 6:15am, I caught my first glimpse of the sunrise and began to stare reality in the face. More so than CDR wine on the mind, I was suffering from the threatening clouds and the mistral moving in from the west. Mont Ventoux (windy mountain in the ancient Provencal dialect) soars above the surrounding planes of orchards and vines acting as a magnet for foul weather. Climbing above 4500 feet, the gathering wind and smattering raindrops penetrated my sweat soaked t-shirt and mocked me. After about 2:45 of continuous uphill pedaling, I called it quits somewhere around 4800 feet in elevation about two and one half miles short of the summit. To put this climb into perspective, it took me only 20 minutes to descend the same distance that I had climbed. And next year when this ascent is featured as part of the Tour de France, the riders will climb the entire mountain in about 1/3 the time. My sole condolence… we will be there. A la prochaine!
Valeria and John Anderson
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