Early on when I first met our beloved châtelaine, Nicole, she told me a story about her long-ago youth, about a tradition très charmant that is uniquely French. It began in the early 18th century but faded away in the mid-20th.
Every summer, she said, little rustic cabarets would spring up on the banks of the rivers (you are never far from a river in France). On sultry summer nights, you would put on your Sunday best: flowered dresses and pumps for les femmes, suspenders and bow ties and straw hats for les hommes. And you would dine and dance the night away in the moonlight by the water. It was a bal-musette, which is a fête consisting of folk dances done to accordion music.
This was a sort of outdoor pop-up night club, and the clubs were called guinguettes (say 'gang-get' fast, and you'll be close). Renoir (above photo) and Van Gogh both captured guinguette moments in their paintings. The French are nostalgic for these halcyon days, and nowadays on riverbanks in the cities you will often find brasseries styled in the romantic guinguette fashion.
This past summer we were invited by French friends to a real live guinguette, a pop-up pique nique and bal-musette by the river at the Château Sainte Sabine.
Ron donned a straw hat and a tie (we couldn't find suspenders), I put on a summer frock and off we went on our guinguette adventure, to immerse ourselves in some serious French nostalgie.
I hope they will do it again next year. See you there?
In the COMMENTS: Laura, what a story about your wine tour. That's what I like about visiting wineries, you never know what you will find. We haven't been there, putting it on our list. Ellen, bisous to ma belle, the beautiful Belle Ly. Natalia, a traveling cat is indeed pénible, but it's so nice to be together, as you say.
Favorite READS and VIEWS: Natalia's recommendation this week is a page-turner: The Women, by Kristin Hannah, about the brave nurses who served in Vietnam.
And if you need something fun to watch, I have ideas this week! All in French, all sub-titled and great for practicing your French (if you can listen and read at the same time! I still lean on those sub-titles a bit). At the theaters, we enjoyed The Taste of Things, a visually lush culinary romance. And if you're a foodie, do not miss the documentary Menu-Plaisir, les Troisgros. For four hours they follow a very famous French chef with three restaurants, one of which is a 3-star (we've been to two, which we can recommend). It's streaming on PBS. We are also really loving a series called Murder in... (in France, it's Crime En...). Each self-contained episode (with different actors) is a romance/mystery set in some beautiful locale in France. There are several seasons, so you get a real tour of the country! It's on MHZ.
