Well, that's kind of a long story. I try to cut the long story short!
The beginning
It all started in the end of July. I had just quit my job and I had (still) a wallet full of money. Slowly these things started to change. For a weekend I went to Helsinki so see some friends of mine - my Finnish friend Kata, Austrian friend Martin and a Latvian friend Milda. It was an incredibly hot weekend and we spent our time by recalling the good old times in a park and around the city, also talking bullshit in one underground bar in Helsinki, like always. I had to admit to myself that Helsinki is not that bad city in fact, even I always kept telling it to everyone. At least in summer.
Too much walking and enough beer in Münich
So, the plan was to go to Toulon with my Finnish friend Kata to visit Marine, my French friend. On our way we had a stop in Münich so we decided to check out what this so famous Bavarian culture actually means. For me it means moreover bier and würst. So that's what we decided to search for! And not just any other biergarten, but the biggest one, Hirchgarten. It was not that easy. Getting out at wrong tram stop, walking few kilometers, then finding some kind of Bavarian palace who knows (extremely huge at least), more and more walking and finally finding a Norwegian older man who thinks he knows where the place is. They managed to hide it extremely well concerning that it's one of the main tourist attractions. The guy in Lederhosen talks only "Bavarian", but finally I get 1 liter of beer in my hand. It seems that it's the only option there. Kata grabs some würst for us. Bavarian experience may start. Beer is good, würst is good, weather is good, we are happy. Let's continue to France!
How much a Finn can feel stupid in a French family
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| "Liebe Deutsche Jungen, wir haben auf euch für 10 stunden gewarten!" Story behind this message remains a secret. |
It's not my first time in France, but I didn't live in a family before. Before I was living in a student flat and eating only in the university and restaurants. Now I got the best opportunity to see how is life in Côte d'Azur. And I still didn't learn to speak French, dammit, maybe some day. My usually talkative myself had to remain quiet in the dinner table. Here is some things that a Finnish girl found rather complex.
The French food culture
The pronunciation of bread and wine includes only two letters "pa" and "va" or something like this, but a Finnish person cannot do even that. I didn't know that A can be different in different countries. These were the first two words. And we used a lot of pain and vin (bread and wine), with of course a lot of fromage, cheese. First I needed to learn how to eat cheese. Rule number 1: more cheese, less bread. A dum Finn tried to cut really thin slice of cheese and make a smooth cover of it in top of the bread. Marine's grand mother looked at me shocked. So I learnt to eat French cheese, and the slices were getting bigger and bigger and there was less and less bread. Well, there was no bread. Now I know what cheese is supposed to taste like. It's not just something tasteless that is supposed to fill your stomach.
Wine is offered to me constantly. With lunch, with dinner. Also I see that the taste of the wine from the bottom shelf of Alko is not the right taste for wine. I love wine and the grand father of Marine notices that too!
Olives. I love olives! I hardly knew there is a stone inside because in Finland we only have those without the stone and with some paprika filling inside (which I eat too much). And so many different kind of olives, I'm going crazy soon! I want more olives! I always remember to remind everyone that 3 olives contain the amount of salt a person needs in a day, but I still keep eating them more and more.
Milk. In Finland we drink a lot of milk. 1 liter a day. Non-fat, ice-cold. With breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner, evening meal, everything. In France they give it for breakfast, a huge bowl of warm and very fatty milk. In this case I prefer the Finnish one. I'm sorry French people.
Variety. Food is not only potatoes and minced meet, surprisingly. Or that's what is sometimes seems like in Finland. The biggest shock was the artichoke. I still didn't survive from the shock what it looked like after I had eaten the leaves. The strangest thing I ever ate. I enjoy the fact how much vegetables they use, in Finland they say there is no meal without meat. I'm mostly a vegetarian so French food culture opened me some new doors. I adore the cooking skills of Marine's grand parents! Every day we ate lunch and dinner with appetizer, main dish and a dessert. Better than in any restaurant I would say. Way better.
Long hikes, noisy cicadas, blue water
The climate didn't come to me by surprise, it was nearly as hot in Helsinki when we left. But hiking in this temperature is another story! Marine's grand mother reminded me how the water in the sea is so cold right now. When a tried the water first time I used the Finnish phrase "lämmintä kuin linnun maito" which could be translated "warm like milk of a bird", meaning it's nicely warm. First we hiked in Port d'Allon, along the coast. Our aim was to find a lagoon with no one else, and we managed to do that rather well! Sometimes in your life you come across moments when you are nearly crying just because you realise how good the life is - and that we realised while floating on a wooden deck alone in the middle of lagoon, the water as blue as the sky. Right time to stop for a while breath the awesomeness of life. Hiking in Port d'Allon would have been a total torture without the sea, but just great when you have the possibility to jump into refreshing sea whenever you want. Without idiotic tourists. The paradise of Côte d'Azur was found. Cicadas were making me deaf but I guess it's part of Provence experience.
The second hike was supposed to be done in Cassis, exploring the calanques. After one hour drive in a hot car, many curves, one twisted stomack, we realised that the whole area is closed because of fear of forest fire. Moments of disappointment and back-up plan. We decide to see Îlez Des Embiez, although it won't be nearly as beautiful. We walked around the island and nearly melted, without the sea we would have probably just died. It was for sure not that interesting, but at least we stole some grapes. And we did something else than just lied on a beach which is the worst I can imagine happening to me! Okay, let's agree, the island was quite nice. I made a new friend, it's a goat living on the highest point.
Third hike was a very bad idea, said Marine's grand mother. It was a hike up on Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume. This means a lot of climbing and there is no sea to save us. Luckily it was windy and even some clouds tried to block the sun (7th day, never saw such thing before). In fact it was easier than the previous two. I was fighting with my acrofobia but we definitely wanted some nice pictures on the cliff. I was sure the cliff will break under my huge body. It didn't and the picture can now be seen! The return trip was an adventurous climbing down along un-marked path. Some stupid ones even followed us, not quite sure if they survived. We did!
Warm nights, hammock and French music
Night is maybe my favorite time in Côte d'Azur. It's not as hot, the cicadas shut up and the moon and city lights flashing like million diamonds make the place look somehow magical. I especially enjoyed bicycling in these narrow, dark streets down the hill. Especially after some wine. Well, also without wine. Hammock brought from South America provided me a quiet shelter to listen some music, look at the moon and think how can it be so warm and why it can't be that warm in Finland.
Some nights I was also doing something else than laying in a hammock and pondering the wonders of the World. We had found a beach which was nearly abandoned in the evening, perfect for enjoying wine and olives. Some German people tried to mingle in. Finally they bought us a bottle of wine and we left them alone. One poor guy fell asleep on the sand. He couldn't even talk English. Poor guy. These long talks at night probably made the World a lot better.
Conclusion
The conclusion after empirical research proves that France is not so bad. I'm more and more sure about that. Already so many French who I like so much. And the olives. And the wine. And the cheese. I think I will need a lesson 3. Sooner or later!
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