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Saturday 8 June 2013

Pants.

So today, while the children were at school, we ventured into Avignon for a fancy lunch. I frocked up in this little number that I bought when out and about shopping in London with Faux Fuchsia and Janet last week.....it was on sale at Anthropologie for the grand old sum of £55 (around AUD$80):


It's emblazoned with flowers, which seemed appropriate, considering that we'd just been OD'ing on flowers at the Chelsea Flower Show. Of course, when I wore it in the depths of a freezing cold London spring, I had to workshop it with a long sleeved black tee shirt, thick black tights and boots. Not today. Appropriately, espadrilles were the accessories of choice for the South of France on a gloriously sunny day.

Our lunch destination was the courtyard at Les 5 Sens and seeing that I'd lugged myself over hill and down dale in the valley de l'Eure on the outskirts of Uzes this morning, jogging no less, we opted for the 3 course Menu Gourmande. Look how delicious it was. 

Foie gras....bien sur:


Magret de canard:


And for desert a chocolatey concoction of cake, mousse and ginger ice cream:


A lingerie shop opened onto the courtyard in which the tables were set....with the usual scanty confections of lace and not much else, on display in the window. At the table next to us were a couple of French twenty somethings....obviously on a date and experiencing the first flush of young love. When she sloped off inside to the loo, he left the table and dashed into the lingerie shop and in less than five minutes, purchased her a present. Impressive. On her return she was delighted by the surprise on her chair....and even more so when she grilled him as to what size whatever in the bag was and that it turned out to have been the correct 'trente six'. My husband and I  were speculating how long they had been together....obviously long enough for him to know what size to buy....but not long enough for him to register the shop as wallpaper.

Afterwards, we had a quick turn around Avignon before we had to rush back to Uzes to do the school pick up and provision for dinner:




We just had enough time to nick into Petit Bateau to buy the 2 year old some big girl pants as a reward for doing a poo in the toilet and into H&M to stock up on boxer shorts for my husband. Guess we'll be watching TV tonight.....or maybe not....after all we do have four children.

Rx

14 comments:

  1. I love doing that in restaurants with my husband as well! If a older couple is chatting a little too much or are still flirting, we are so cynical we always nod and agree they must be having an affair.
    Buying lingerie at your local high street shop - mind you no other country seems to have so many lingerie shops so that is such a French thing. That duck looks fab. Good to see you are making the most of your time there!

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    1. You would never mistake us as having an affair as we are usually lunching with our 2 year old! The duck was delish...and I'm loving absolutely every second of being here! Rx

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  2. Love the young couple story! Sounds like a lovely day x

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    1. Young love as opposed to almost 15 years of marriage and 4 children! It was a wonderful day! Rx

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  3. Love the young couple story! Sounds like a lovely day x

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  4. Love the dress - looks fabulous and love the Red Phoenix necklace. Lunch just looks to die for. It must be wonderful having this opportunity. I bet your kids are just loving it and such a great experience for them.

    Laughing about the story of the young couple and the surprise lingerie purpose. We had the opposite experience in NY. We were out for dinner sans kids and were at a little restaurant called Hudson Clearwater which is like a speakeasy. All the tables were crowded in and you could hear everyone's conversations and there was a young couple on a date next to us. She was beautiful and doing a Masters in some sort of business law and he was an out of work actor who obviously took himself incredibly seriously. His conversation was so painful that when he went to the loo The Farmer and I wanted to tell her to just run away! We decided that may not be acceptable in the West Village and it would be our luck he was the next De Niro....

    Love all the posts from France - living vicariously.

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    1. Thanks....and the dress was such a bargain! It is amazing having this opportunity and I'm relishing it all....even jogging in the mornings! Getting the children across the line at school was initially v difficult...we even had a runaway....but now that things have sorted themselves out we are all enjoying the plethora of experience. How funny re your dinner....the young chap who bought the lingerie was a chef who'd been in LA and is heading to Sydney so if it doesn't work out with this girlfriend I'm sure he'll have lots of luck with the Aussie ladies with such cute French mannerisms! Rx

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  5. I luff that lunch! The day we bought that dress was just so much fun!!! I remember feeling sad I couldn't find anything to buy- made up for that now! Love al the Uzes snaps x

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    1. So much fun....can you believe that we drank champagne at 9.30 in the morning...seems surreal now! So glad that you got your shopping spree in the end! Rx

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    1. The lunch was superb....the French now how to do lunch....especially when the sun is shining! Rx

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  7. You look a million dollars!

    Victoria x

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  8. Thanks Victoria......the dress it getting some wear! It looks a tad different to how it was worn in London...all layered up! Rx

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  9. Love your dress. I posted a pic a couple of weeks ago on my blog of a floral watercolour style dress - it was from Anthropologie too. They do a good line in quirky and pretty dresses. Funny story about the young couple at lunch. I've checked out a few of the French lingerie lines in the past, and wondered if they really wear it every day, as they supposedly do - while quite beautiful it does not often on the whole look particularly comfortable.... guess that the French are willing to suffer for the cause more than I! How exciting that your youngest is in pants too! xx

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I LOVE hearing your thoughts! Rx