Observations on France:

Vignettes from walking around Grenoble last Saturday

Searching in the open-air markets that have sprung up in every square (called places) for gifts that are unique to France, but the only things easily found that are truly “French” (as opposed to stuff mass-produced in China or artisan work that resembles what I’ve seen in Portland and Seattle and Austin and everywhere I’ve gone to outdoor markets in the world) is food. Cheese and bread don’t travel well on a 14 hour plane ride, and the sausages might elicit exclamations of revulsion upon sight of them rather than gratitude for the gift.

Hearing unfamiliar music that must be for Christmas because of the word “Noel” (the French word for Christmas), with the ever present French-cliché accordion in the band, then hearing a tune that is oddly familiar but not recognized until the chorus, “Jingle Bells” in French, an odd, almost surreal experience.

Walking past vendors selling food, sausages, cheeses, breads, searching for a cheese that is not too runny or smelly. I live in a country with over 300 varieties of cheese, and NONE of them is cheddar... I like cheddar, damn it!

A life-sized Pere Noel (aka Santa Claus) hanging from a balcony on one of the buildings ringing the place, looking like he’d slipped off and was holding on for dear life.

Driving up the river valley after a hard rain the night before, and seeing the snow-line marked clearly on the steep slopes of the mountains, and not very high, with a puffy, broken layer of clouds at the same level.

The people at the markets don't look exhausted from hard shopping and rushing around making sure they do everything they have to do in their overscheduled lives, possibly because their lives are NOT overscheduled, and they not only live in the moment, but they recognize there IS a moment to live. There really is joy in the air.

A mother telling her children to thank Pere Noel for the “sleigh” ride on a wagon with cunningly hidden wheels to make up for the lack of snow around the centre-ville, and the children’s voices saying singsong, “Merci, Pere Noel!!!!”

They still believe in magic...