009 - 010 - Chateoroux ( Where our daughter lived), Ardent

We rented a car. After driving for 5 hours including the time that we were lost in the heart of Paris, we finally made it to Chateoroux, staying at our daughter's little apartment. A SERVAS host near the area had invited us to spend the night tonight April 18th. We had just finished a nice dinner with Mr Henry LORY and his wife Francoise and 18 year old son Benoit. They live in a large house on a 105-hectare farm planting rapeseed for oil (colza in French). Accoding to Henry, this is not a big farm compared to other much bigger farms. The floor of the brick house is made of wood and planks, which makes it more traditional and pleasant. The Lory's are nice family and we thank them very much for their hospitality. 

Although the following events took place in 2007, I did not have the opportunity to report them in 2007. I only did continue the reporting in 2009. ( i know what you are thinking, but please bear with me). THEREFORE, please find the rest of the story of our visit to France in the 2009 ARCHIVE, yes 2009 from story number 011 !. I am sorry if this gets confusing, but unfortunately that is the way it is.

008 - La Chapelle - Paris' Little India and Little Pakistan (009)

Reduane guided us on a walk to La Chapelle area. We were both surprised to discover that all along the street, there are many shops selling Indian products and there were many Indian and Halal Pakistani restaurants and grocery shops, 90% of the people walking the streets at La Chapelle were either Indians or Pakistanis. Our daughter were happy she could have Bryani rice for dinner as she has not had it for several months now.

007 - Gare Montparnasse - Reunited with our daughter

After breakfast, Annie sent us to the nearby train station. We were going to take the train Meet our daughter Arlida at the Gare (Station) Montparnasse in Paris. When we met up with our daughter who took the train from Chateouroux, where she is studying. Chateourous is about two hours away from Paris. We had lunch together at the station and began planning our activities. Since it was already late in the day we decided to rent a car and go to Chateauroux the following day. I called my friend Reduane, who is from Morocco but is now working in Paris. Reduanne was supposed to be my HospitalityClub host in Morocco in 2003 when I visited there, but our plan did not work out well. Reduanne and I made plans to meet. On his suggestion, we met at train station Gare del Est. There he helped us find a budget Hotel Le Voyages just outside the station gate. After that he took us around Rue La Chapelle area. The whole street is filled with Indian and Pakistani shops, Indians and Pakistanis walking around and as if we were in India. We were happy (especially my daughter) coz we found restaurants that sold Beriani rice (after missing rice for quite some time).

006 - Varsailles, the Capital and Glory of France

Friday April 13, 2007

After breakfast Annie offered to take us to Saint Germain again where we could take a bus on our own to visit Versailles, the former capital and Glory of France – The Chateau of Versailles – the palace built by Louis XIII and Louis X1V (in the XVth century). The Chateau has the Grand Apartments and the Hall of Mirrors that made up the ceremonial quarters. A large garden outside built by Le Notre was named after Queen Marie Antoinett. The “Petits Apartments” (Small Suite) are the private quarters of the King, Queen and Family. It was in Versailles that the Revolution began on May 4th. We went home in time for nice dinner that Annie has kindly cooked at home again. We observed that Annie was interested to learn more about Islam. She watched a special Islamic TV channel, bought AlQuran in French, English version that she bought in Turkey.

005 - St. Germain

April 14th.

After lunch on this day, Annie took us with her car to visit around the area including a trip to the adjacent town of Saint Germain en-Laye, a beautiful little town with a castle now converted into an archaelogical museum of France, overlooking the River Seine and ciy of Paris in the distance. Annie cooked a nice traditional dinner and we ate at home.