05 October 2017

The lighthouse, etc.

In my mind I'm going to Carolina. Or getting ready to go. Everything I'm doing right now is part of preparing for the trip. All my tickets were bought and reservations made weeks ago. I've been shopping for a few little presents to take home. And thinking about what I need to take with me in the way of clothes. Not much.

The Cape Lookout lighthouse and the old lighthouse keeper's residence

I can't take much anyway because I'll be traveling with a small suitcase this time. I used to go to North Carolina with two big suitcases, back in the day when you could check two big suitcases at the airport without paying anything extra. I took the cases over there almost empty and brought them back full. Morehead City is a kind of shopper's paradise compared to Saint-Aignan.

This is a ghost crab's burrow on a North Carolina beach. I can see that a bird has recently walked by.

As we've settled in here in the Loire Valley over the past 15 years, we've felt less and less need to bring so much stuff back from the U.S. However, the fact is that we live in a place where there's really good food and wine, but not much else to shop for. Unless you're willing to drive 45 minutes up to Blois or an hour over to Tours, and I'm not — at least not often. I spent so much of my U.S. life behind the steering wheel of an automobile, either commuting daily or driving really long American distances, that I'm not eager to live like that any more. I do most of my shopping on the internet now.

Cape Lookout lighthouse is 50 meters tall. The bell towers of Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris are 69 meters tall.

Because you need to try things on before you buy them, I still buy clothes and shoes on my trips to the N.C. You can't try on an Amazon purchase. In the U.S, clothes and shoes are a lot less expensive and of very good quality compared to what I see here. Really, about the only place to buy clothes or shoes in Saint-Aignan or nearby towns is at the supermarkets. And they're not huge stores like a giant Walmart (for example), so the selection is limited. There's nothing like a K-Mart here. The clothes aren't really cut to fit my American body, either.

I've posted this photo before. I took it on the shores of North River near the Down East N.C. community called Otway (pop. 400).

Anyway, here are some photos of Cape Lookout lighthouse in the area we call Down East in Carteret County, N.C. Living in Saint-Aignan is a little bit like living Down East in a place like Atlantic or Cedar Island. You have to drive an hour or so on curvy roads to get anywhere. You'd have to live there, or here, to understand. It's a different reality.

You can walk from the sound side to the ocean side of Core Banks on a wooden boardwalk. That's my mother on the left, sitting on the bench.

On this trip, I'll be helping my mother move from one apartment to another in her retirement complex, so I probably won't have a lot of time for shopping. Or cooking. Or driving around (except the three-hour drive from the airport down to the coast, and back). I'm looking forward to being there, and already looking forward to coming back to Saint-Aignan in a few weeks.

17 comments:

  1. I hope you have a wonderful trip! Interesting that you like the clothes in the States...I don't know why, but I thought France would be a shoppers paradise for clothes. However, as I type this, I remember that my sister had great trouble finding clothes, and especially shoes, that fit when she lived in Hong Kong. Different proportions.

    That photo you re posted is amazing.

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    1. A few years ago Walt said he was going to Paris to buy some new bluejeans. I told him to check the internet to see an indication of the prices he might find. He did, and he said the least expensive jeans in the department stores in Paris cost about 100 euros. I buy bluejeans at K-Mart or Walmart in N.C. and I pay between $12 and $20 a pair. They're really good quality. The same is true of shoes and shirts, socks and underwear, T-shirts etc. in the States vs. in France.

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    2. By the way, I knew a Frenchman in Paris back in the 1980s who was fairly short and kind of round-shaped. He told me he always went to New York to buy his clothes. He couldn't find clothes that fit him in Paris. In New York, no problem. Since he was an executive at Air France, the cost of air travel was negligible for him.

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  2. Love the fourth photo.

    Was going to ask of it was MA sitting on the bench before I read the légende of the photo!

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    1. Yes, MA waited for me and Joanna while we went out for a walk on the beach.

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  3. i always find something in the way of clothing at a Monoprix when I visit France....or even when I go with daughter to Zara

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  4. Tell MA and your sister hello for me. I like traveling with a carry on. I hope the trip goes well and the weather holds up for you.

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  5. I used to go to North Carolina with two big suitcases, back in the day when you could check two big suitcases at the airport without paying anything extra

    Unfortunately, the MBA types or the bean counters at those airlines have found a way to make more $$$$ ( I guess the LCCs are to be blamed also). Instead of hauling passengers' luggage, they prefer selling that space for cargo freight. At least, we are allowed one check-in piece of luggage for a long haul trip but, for domestic flights or short European flights , it has become a circus ( a scary one sometimes when overpacked overhead bins open during a flight and the contents fall on the aisle passengers ) when each and everyone brings everything on board except for the kitchen sink.

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    1. That's interesting. I didn't realize that passenger planes were transporting cargo. I could always pay the $50 for a second bag, but it's just not worth it. And that's a lot of stuff to deal with when I arrive at CDG and then get onto a train.

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    2. Same here. It is not worth it to pay for a second bag nor selecting a seat at the time of purchasing your ticket. You can always go on AF site -30 hours before your flight to select your seat for free and do your check-in. Once at the airport, you only need to print your boarding pass and your bagage tag .

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  6. with family. I hope your time there is great. Leon always waits to get to a Celio store to buy jeans and jumpers. They are a great fit for him. None in Australia, unfortunately.

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    1. I've never even heard of Celio before, but I see there are Celio shops in Amboise and in Romorantin. I'll have to go have a look around.

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  7. Not sure what happened there. My thought was that it's always wonderful catching up with family. Miss our son living in Belgium a lot.

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    1. I'm looking forward to being there in N.C. but it sure is an exhausting trip.

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  8. We are big fans of Kiabi for clothing in France these days. They have stuff that fits Simon!

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  9. Good to know, Susan, about Kiabi. The closest Kiabi store to us is north of Blois and an hour's drive. I'll probably keep buying my clothes on my trips to N.C. It's something that I enjoy doing there. From my mother's place, it's a 5 or maybe 10 minute drive to all the big stores that sell the kind of clothing that I like.

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  10. Oh, by the way, we've had good luck buying shoes at Intersport in Romo and Blois/Vineuil or at GoSport also in Vineuil. We go through a lot of shoes walking the dog out in the vineyard.

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