(courtesy of Google Images)Yes, this is the name of a regional souvenir store in Lorraine, in northeastern France, my first stop after Paris. I know you, Alice Wang, with your memory like a steel trap, haven't forgotten the words to this medieval chanson that a certain French teacher taught us years ago:
En passant par la Lorraine
Avec mes sabots
Rencontré trois capitaines
Avec mes sabots dondaine
Oh oh oh, avec mes sabots.
It's about someone passing through Lorraine in sabots (clogs), and the verb saboter, to walk noisily -- presumably in those wooden shoes -- eventually gave rise to the word sabotage, identical in meaning and spelling in French and English.
I still remembered that bit of trivia from good old French 2, but this week, after deciding to clean out my bedroom as a summer project, I realized how much of M. Battle's wisdom I'd disregarded or simply forgotten. In digging through my old papers from his class, I saw that we'd studied (fairly in-depth!) all of the regions and many of the major cities in France, their culinary specialties, notable historical sites, monuments, and the like.
In retrospect, he did a commendable job trying to imbue the French culture on a bunch of apathetic, unmotivated teenagers. Though I completed all my work with flying colors, now, looking back, I realize I didn't truly care. I just wanted to get a good grade and be done with it. My worldview and what I'd experienced were so limited, I never quite made the connection that these were real, live places where real, live people lived and worked and upheld traditions. Back then, France was some vague, mythical place that may or may not have existed in real life.
Here are some quick photo highlights from Lorraine. Historically, it's been among the most looked-down upon regions in France; it's where all the paysannes and farmers and other menial laborers lived and worked, and apparently people also think it's boring and has nothing to do. But I quite enjoyed myself while I was there. The people were warm (and not just for French people!), the cities were charming, and regional culinary delights abounded: quiche Lorraine, Paris-Metz macarons, mirabelles (a fruit kind of like a lychee), German bretzels and spatzles and potato pancakes.
Riding bikes along the Moselle River.
Tulips in Thionville.
The Mairie in the gilded Place Stanislaus in Nancy.
Cathedral Saint-Etienne in Metz.
