Spending time in France is always wonderful, but to work there adds a unique perspective. Three Kiwi Francophiles share what it's like to get past the tourist veneer.
Paris in the spring time
Imagine being sent to Paris in springtime every year. It's part of the job for Maree Gantley, the sales and marketing Manager of Beaute Prestige International.
The French company is owned by Japanese cosmetics giant Shiseido, and imports designer fragrances such as Jean Paul Gaultier, Issey Miyake, Narciso Rodriguez and Elie Saab.
Every April the French division hosts a three-day marketing conference, inviting its 500 representatives from around the world.
"The presentations are amazing, they are of the highest standard," says Gantley. "They always have a beautiful gala-type evening."
One of the most memorable galas she attended was held at a nightclub beneath one of Paris' many famous bridges; the entertainment was provided by mime artists from the Marcel Marceau mime school.
The French have high standards and a sophisticated attitude towards quality, she says. And it's that she strives to bring to her work in New Zealand.
But the real treat is being able to take a few extra days just to soak up all that Paris has to offer. Gantley has a handle on the city having visited about eight times. And no, she never gets sick of it, even if all she's doing is wandering the streets.
"[I just love it and I can go again and again and again, I always find something new.] In France they just know how to do luxury. And Paris - there's no other city I've been to that knows how to do luxury so well. You can go to a macaron shop and they change the macarons in line with the seasons. They give them to you in beautiful bags, just one macaron. It always makes you feel so special."
Curiously, the majority of Gantley's French colleagues are men. She says the French are diplomatic with strong negotiating skills, more so than Kiwis, who she says tend to be more straight-up and blunt.
"I love dealing with the French. They're always really charming and polite, they love their politics and the history of their country, they love rugby and they love New Zealand."
During the conference, Gantley stays at the Intercontinental Le Grand Hotel, a big, beautiful example of French style which overlooks the opera house and is across the street from the famous department store, Galeries Lafayette.
She has also unearthed a cheaper option in St Germain, close to the Luxembourg gardens and train station and just around the corner from her favourite chocolate shop, for the leisure part of her trip.
Shopping in Paris is another pleasure, and Gantley particularly enjoys the historic Le Marais area. It's here she discovered Merci, a sunlit loft that stocks clothes, books and homewares, including designer brands.
"Last time I bought some light fittings for my house. It's just fantastic. They had these beautiful muslin duvet covers and things which I've never seen anywhere else. It's very styley."
Not surprisingly Gantley has also discovered some fabulous places to eat in Paris, although she has a head start on most with a recommendation from Narciso Rodriguez. His favourite restaurant in Paris is La Chardenoux, "which is not really expensive or high-end and poncy, which you can get in Paris, but really cool".
Her other favourite is Le Relais de l'Entrecote, a chain where there is no menu as such but you can order steak, fries and a salad. It's very Parisian, says Gantley, with diners lining up at the door.
"From the chocolate-makers to the brie-makers to the restaurants, the French have strong traditional elements to their business. I love that about it. There's nowhere else in the world that has that sense of traditional artistry."
- Rebecca Barry Hill
Cooking up a storm
Nick Honeyman is still unsure what to make of foie gras. The chef is currently in Saint-Leon Sur Vezere, two hours east of Bordeaux, an area known for black truffles and the controversial liver dish. Last week he watched geese being force-fed to create the fatty liver required of foie gras, and confesses to feeling ill afterwards.
"It almost changed my mind about it," he says on the phone from France once his dinner service is finished. "But it just tastes so good."
While most of the year he can call himself the head chef at Dallows and Sale St in Auckland, Honeyman escapes the Antipodean winter each year by working at Le Petit Leon, a restaurant that only opens for nine weeks each year. It's a charming old farmhouse where the diners eat al fresco. Even the kitchen is open-plan with a view to a castle nearby. The restaurant entices campervan travellers, mostly from Holland, Italy and a few French, wanting an authentic French dining experience.
"This is the heart of cooking, this is the absolute beginning of all cuisine, all of the produce around here is sensational," says Honeyman. "You kind of feel like you're going back to your roots. The food round here is not necessarily cooked very well, but all of the best ingredients in the world are found here."
This is Honeyman's fourth season at Le Petit Leon where he works with an Australian crew; previously he spent a year in Paris working for Michelin-star chefs Alain Passard (L'arpege) and Pascal Barbot (L'astrance). The South African-born chef has always sought to educate himself, taking off to Sydney at 18 for a three-year cooking apprenticeship before moving to France. During his year in Paris one of his bosses paid him by sending him to French lessons.
"It was difficult initially not speaking French but once you start to understand a little bit of French you create better bonds with the people around you. At first French people seem quite rude - it's quite an abrupt language. But they're not necessarily, it's just that there's a big language barrier. I love them, I think the French people are wonderful. They're a very inviting kind of community."
The hours at Le Petit Leon are long and Honeyman only gets Mondays off each week but the lifestyle is worth it. After a gruelling week in the kitchen he usually spends his day off travelling to a Michelin-star restaurant he has yet to try, even if it takes four hours in the car to get there.
"This is my holiday. I try to make the most out of it, and get as much inspiration from the country as I can."
One Sunday night, inspiration arrived by accident. A chef from another restaurant told Honeyman a wild boar had been run over on the road. After checking with the local council (it's illegal to hunt boar out of season), the pair stayed up until 3am butchering it. Honeyman then spent his day off cooking the pig.
He wouldn't have it any other way. Living in a culture so closely aligned with its food is what keeps him coming back.
"A lot of the culture revolves around food and socialising. We sit down religiously over here at 11.30am every day for half an hour and eat as a restaurant, and at 6.30 at night we eat as a restaurant before service. And that is a must. Even after the lunch service you have a glass of wine and a beer and have a sleep for a couple of hours. They really enjoy life here."
- Rebecca Barry Hill
Beautiful isolation
For any writer, the opportunity to live in the south of France for eight months and let the creative juices flow would be but a dream. For Wellington poet and creative non-fiction writer Chris Price it is a beautiful reality. As this year's Katherine Mansfield Fellow, Price and her partner Robbie Duncan are soaking up the nuances of Menton - the small, yet perfectly formed, resort town on the Cote d'Azur.
Menton with its hot climate and invigorating sea air is, of course, where Katherine Mansfield came to convalesce in her later years. Today, reports Price, Menton's credentials attract a population with one of the highest average ages in all of France - and a vast number of small dogs.
It's a gentle life Price leads.
"In April, the gardens of Val Rahmeh, Villa Fontana Rosa (the former home of a best-selling Spanish novelist) and others are gorgeous - but until the classical music festival in August, and until the brand new Cocteau Museum is completed this November, you need to go to further up the Cote d'Azur for nightlife, great music or art.
"I'm looking forward to the annual jazz festivals in Nice and Juan-les-Pins. Menton has enough distractions, then, but not too many: perfect for a writer.
"The heat makes swimming, eating icecream and drinking chilled rosé seem very sensible and productive activities at the end of the writing day, and dinner around 9pm seems about right. Right now the heat has really kicked in. The cafes and bars along the seafront promenade are full of tourists and locals soaking up the long summer evenings."
Highlights for Price have included, on June 21, the summer solstice and the annual Fete de la Musique which brought all the town out to stroll and listen to the music on the beaches and outside the restaurants until late in the evening, children included. "Another memorable day, after a thunderstorm, we could see Corsica floating on the horizon, and a galleon sailed across the bay like a dream from a previous century."
Price confesses she has enough French to function but not enough to have an in-depth conversation. "Most of my interactions with the locals happen at the daily markets, where the fresh vegetables include big courgettes with their flowers attached, and there are piles of glistening olives and tapenades, delicately marinated garlic cloves, more varieties of goat's cheese than I ever dreamed of, and all kinds of saucisson. You could have something different and wonderful every day from the many patisseries.
"Menton is right on the Italian border - I can walk to Italy from the writing room - and it has changed hands during its history. Back in May the town celebrated the 150th anniversary of its 'rattachement' (reunion) with France. There were many speeches by local dignitaries, women dancing in traditional dress, displays of old crafts such as lace-making, bands playing, and a mass at the Basilique St Michel above the old town. The Palais Carnoles, now an art gallery, is a former hunting lodge that belonged to the Grimaldis, and we are close enough to the well-manicured principality of Monaco to hear the waspish buzz of the Grand Prix drifting over the sea while swimming."
Isola Bella is the name of the villa where Katherine Mansfield stayed for a time during the early 1920s, in search of a better climate for her consumption, explains Price. "It's Italian for 'beautiful island', and to my ear, it sounds like - and is - beautiful isolation."
The villa is a 35-minute walk from the apartment where Price lives. "Each morning on my way to work I pass along the Promenade du Soleil, past the gleaming yachts in the marina and the palm trees and the private beaches with their elegant beachside restaurants. People are already in the water, and by the time I return, the pebbly beaches are dense with brightly coloured sun umbrellas.
"Sometimes New Zealanders on a Mansfield pilgrimage drop by the writing room, and we swap facts and theories about Katherine Mansfield.
"By the time I get back to New Zealand, I will have forgotten how to do 'proper work', and even the Wellington summer will come as a bit of a shock after the perpetual heat of Menton, which has over 300 days of sunshine a year. But for now, it's icecream time."
- Amanda Linnell
