The French Village Diaries: Ile d'Oleron

Showing posts with label Ile d'Oleron. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Book review of Friday in France by Judy Block

Welcome to day 15 of my #FrenchVillageBookworm advent calendar where I am sharing a book a day between now and Christmas.

French Village Diaries advent calendar book review Friday in France Judy Block

#FrenchVillageBookworm advent calendar day 15

My review today is for Friday in France: A humorous memoir about leaving it all behind. by Judy Block, a memoir about settling into the gentle sway of life on a small French island in the Atlantic. I sometimes worry when a book is titled ‘humorous’ by the author, but I have to agree in this case as parts of this book are hilarious.

Take one New York executive used to the fast paced life on Manhattan Island and take her across the Atlantic to the small island of Ile d’Oleron, just off the coast of La Rochelle (and somewhere I know very well). It is the early 1990’s and there is no internet, email, Facebook or mobile phones, meaning she is totally isolated from all her friends and family and has no choice but to settle into her new life with her French surfer boyfriend and his mates. Give her lots of new and scary experiences like driving a car with gears (stick shift), topless beaches (who knew you American gals struggle so much with boobies), a strange language where kissing replaces waving and hugging, shared public toilet facilities and local farmers who stare.

Some might go mad, some might run back to their hectic normality, but Judy lets the love of a good Frenchman and the acceptance of the locals slow her down, relax her and leave her feeling calm and at home. Except when it comes to struggling with the supermarkets, cheese counters and shopping trolleys (carts), when (between my giggles) I feared she might need to return her Upper West Side shrink.

I thoroughly enjoyed her funny descriptions of the vast differences between her old and new life and the only thing that disappointed me was the end. I really wasn’t ready for it to end when it did and I do hope there is another book planned. I guess I am just a naturally nosey person, but I’d love to know what happened next.

Friday in France: A humorous memoir about leaving it all behind. is available in ebook and paperback format and links to Amazon can be found below. Do head over and follow Judy on Facebook, where she shares some lovely pictures of Ile d’Oleron.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Ile D'Oleron with our family

For a serial traveller like Ade who is used to sleeping his way around the cheap hotels of Europe, one of the benefits of our abandoned holiday plans was that he woke up in his own bed on the morning of his birthday and the sun was shining. The fridge was bare and the boulangerie closed but the garden provided the main ingredients for pancakes for breakfast and chive omelette for lunch - delicious birthday treats whatever your age.

French Village Diaries Cassis Mont Ventoux Holidays Ile D'Oleron Poitou-Charentes

The closest we got to Cassis and Mont Ventoux

Exploring in France is something I don't think I will ever tire of and having felt a renewed rush of love when we crossed back into Poitou-Charentes that is where we set off to do some 'closer to home' exploring. We may have missed out on the southern delights of Nimes, Cassis, Mont Ventoux, Orange and Le Puy en Velay but there is always next time. Just off the west coast in Poitou-Charentes is Ile D'Oleron, a holiday island with wet lands, bird life, cycle paths, oyster beds and the perfect place to escape to and spend a few days with Ade's parents, Ed and Mini the dog. We laughed, we ate, we walked on the beach, we cycled (120kms) and had great fun, putting the disappointment of the road trip behind us. I can thoroughly recommend Ile D'Oleron for a day trip or a longer stay, especially if you are a cyclist as it is flat and well covered in cycle paths that weave through marshes, oyster beds and forests enabling you to link the main towns without worrying about the traffic.

French Village Diaries Holidays Ile D'Oleron Poitou-Charentes

Birthday aperos on the beach

Life is all about taking risks and learning from your experiences. A road trip in a 20 year old car is more risky than a drive to the shops in a new car, but nothing is risk free and driving in Gizmo is a lot more fun and a certainly more of an adventure. In Gizmo children wave, their fathers smile, motorcyclists give us the thumbs up as they roar past and a Parisian couple in a Jaguar even slowed down beside us to wave and smile as they passed. In our Mondeo we are invisible. In Gizmo we smile and others smile too. We hope to be back on the road soon.