Picture this

We've decided on a 'Year Abroad Feature Wall' for our new house, given that all 7 of us have spent the last year of our lives living it up in France, Spain, Italy and China (!). Our difficult task is to find photos that correspond to 11 or so devised categories. Here are some of mine and why I chose them...

How can you sum up a year of your life? Here's my best shot.

1) The 'really nice food' photo. Taken from our Thanksgiving meal, November 2011. Home made stuffing (bread and celery, who'd have thunk it?), sweet potato mash, corn, home made cranberry sauce, roast turkey (*cough* chicken), green beans, more mash and all washed down with bread and cheese, French style. The day before Thanksgiving, several of us spent a few hours peeling, chopping and cooking. I picked up the 3 chickens from the boucherie, dragging them home with difficulty the morning of Thanksgiving. The Americans took control in the kitchen and delivered the goods. Brilliant night- too much food and a pub quiz followed by even more brilliant leftovers.

2) The 'local festival' photo. Take one cold December evening. Take a load of language assistants. Take 25,000 other revellers all crammed into Nancy's Place Stanislas. After downing some red wine, we oohed and aahed as Nancy showed us what it was made of. We watched as the story of St Nicolas, celebrated in Alsace/Lorraine on 6 December was projected onto the buildings of Place Stan, accompanied by music, dialogue and fireworks. 30 minutes of brilliance was followed by a night out where our Irish friends taught us all to Irish dance in L'Envers, Nancy's club with its very own SLIDE. This was the life.

3) The 'city where you lived' photo. Place Stan, forever in my heart. Meeting point du jour, I'd often meet Jackie there after she finished work. Whilst waiting I'd sit and people watch.Then we'd go get food...

4) The 'funny sign' photo. Found in a cheap supermarket in Brussels. Self explanatory.

5) The 'photo from another country you visited'. Budapest, Hungary. Just too cool. Thermal baths, Hungarian folk dancing, stew, amazing red wine, Communist walking tours, ruin bars and dubstep. I want to live there.

6) The 'nice scenery' photo. Taken near Nancy's Parc St. Marie, 2 minutes walk from where I was living. I was walking back from a school trip at the end of October, just as the Toussaint holiday was beginning when I took this photo. My favourite season literally on my doorstep.

7) The 'favourite' photo. Being the world's most indecisive person, I don't have favourite photos. Here are some of them though, enjoy...

Parc-Life

Parc de la Pepinière, Nancy, France. No rain!

Ladies. If you fancy yourself as a bit of a voyageuse, (like me), check out the Travel Belles, a website for females with a real passion for independent travel. Each month readers are invited to contribute to the site across the 'virtual café table' to discuss travel questions and share those unforgettable travel experiences.

This month’s question just happens to be…

‘What’s your favourite spot to have a picnic?’

I’m a firm believer that food always tastes better when eaten outdoors. Perhaps this was thanks to countless days out with the family whilst growing up. Memories of pork pies (Google it if you’re unfamiliar, just don’t count the calories), cheese sandwiches and Hula Hoop crisps take me back to an age where the Spice Girls ruled the airwaves, Sabrina the Teenage Witch ruled the TV and the Furby ruled the playground. Times have changed, but my British picnic food still hasn’t.

A great picnic can happen anywhere. All you need is sunshine (we’ve had about 4 sunny days in the UK this year, so choose your day wisely) , food/drink and good company. And folk/ ambient music if you’re feeling slightly pretentious...

As for my favourite spot I thought of a few favourite picnic locations before settling on the city of Nancy, France. Granted, it’s not the most famous of French cities, but it’s where I worked, partied and lived for the last year, making it a very special place indeed. Nancy’s city park Parc de la Pepinière makes for the perfect spot, situated just behind main square and meeting point du jour Place Stanislas, a World Heritage Site, no less.

Our very own bourgeois pique-nique

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon in April, armed with fresh bread from the boulangerie, Quiche Lorraine, olives, cheese and fresh strawberries from the nearby farmer’s market I headed to the parc with friends. Watching the world go by in France is a favourite pastime of mine and that’s exactly what I did after almost exploding from gluttony/sheer happiness after the pique-nique. I watched as loved up couples laid down picnic blankets complete with hampers, baguettes and organic produce (how bourgeois of them! I can merely imitate). I saw families eating in the sunshine, taking the beloved family dog for a walk and groups of friends casually sipping on supermarket wine, cautiously looking behind their shoulders in case the parc wardens were watching. It is France’s notorious love of food that gives a French pique-nique that reputable je ne sais quoi. Maybe it was the atmosphere in the park that day, maybe it was the way I was feeling....everything was perfect. Yet something was missing. The rain.