Pâques

Pâques (pak : Easter) is here, marking the arrival of spring and--even for the French--chocolate eggs, bunnies and hens who lay said chocolate eggs, and lots of cakes and other delicious food.  Like any other dimanche (dee-mansh: Sunday), restaurants and shops on Pâques are shut and families are out enjoying the warmer weather in the park.  As a 24 year-old American in Grenoble, how did I celebrate this holiday, you might be wondering?  With alcohol and mes amies (mayz ahm-ee: my girlfriends), of course, who when loneliness kicks in substitute as a very fine adoptive family great for parties and English conversation.


This holy weekend was spent on Saturday lapping up the vino at lunch over pizza in le centre ville (luh sen-trah veel: downtown) followed by a happy hour cocktail at a bar followed by more pizza and cocktails over a dinner that ended at 11:30, followed by French club music and "wine juice" afterward.  We left the bar tipsy and tired as bells were ringing-in the holy day and fashionably dressed actually pious French women were leaving the Saturday vigil.

Naturally, a samedi (sahm-dee: Saturday) like that would have to be followed on Easter Sunday by a trip to Chartreuse, the famous distillery in Voiron (vwar-own) which manufactures industrial strength, green alcohol made by Chartreuse monks from an ancient secret recipe.  The distillery offers free tours and tastings of this blessed liquid  named Chartreuse, which happens to taste more like ancient cough medicine than it does an ingredient in world-famous cocktails.  The entire distillery smells just as strong as the liquor tastes: earthy, musky, spicy, with a bit of holy mixed in (thanks to the monks).  All in all, a very blessed French Pâques, a holy Sunday when oddly enough the one place in France still open is an alcohol manufacturing plant run by monks.  Joyeuses Pâques,tout le monde (joy-oos pak too luh mohn-d: happy Easter, everyone)!