Le Lockdown: Living Through the Coronavirus Lockdown in France

What is there even to say? The world feels like its gone mad. China, Italy, Spain, now France – and many more to come – are in states of lockdown. Residents cannot leave their homes except for necessities like food and medicine. The phrase “social distancing” will no doubt be in Google’s annual Year in Search video for 2020 and added to the dictionary.

I’m not going to write about the virus. I’m not a medical professional and it’s all over every single one of our news feeds what feels like every waking second. You don’t need me to make recommendations or blast more COVID-19 news at you.

But as a digital content creator, writing is my outlet. And while I don’t think I’ll ever forget this “new” world we live in, nor I am sure I even want to remember with so much uncertainty ahead, I’m writing a daily update of what life is like living through the Coronavirus lockdown in France.

I hope you’ll read. Personally, I’m enjoying others updates from various places like Italy and Spain. Even these countries that are neighbors are so different from what’s happening here in France.

Le Lockdown Day 1: March 17

We’re in Martinique and today is the first day of the lockdown in France. It’s already in effect back in the mainland, and it will go into effect at 12pm local time in Martinique.

We’re on a private island called Ilet Oscar staying in a historical house from the 18th century. It’s run by a couple who live there full time, operates on solar polar and is on an otherwise uninhabited island about 20 minutes by boat off of the Atlantic Coast of Martinique.

We wish we could just stay here! It’s heavenly. We’re the only guests, but normally La Maison de l’Ilet Oscar has four rooms.

We arrived yesterday just after the news broke that Martinique would not be exempt from the restrictions, even though there are relatively few cases of Coronavirus on Martinique and all are tourists.

We were so happy to be on Ilet Oscar. Already yesterday pretty much all tourism activities were cancelled. All restaurants, bars and non-essential businesses shut down. We were in a small village named Les Anses d’Arlet and everything but two boulangeries was closed. We were lucky to get ham and cheese baguettes for lunch from one of the boulangeries.

The lines at every grocery store stretched around the buildings. Gas stations had lines as people rushed to fill up.

Being on Ilet Oscar, we swam and kayaked. We had Josephine’s Bath, one of the most popular spots tourists visit in Martinique, almost entirely to ourselves and could kayak there in just a few minutes from Ilet Oscar. Normally, there would be 40-50 boats visiting the shallow spot in the Atlantic that Empress Josephine is said to have spent much time at when she was a child growing up in Martinique.

We had lobster for dinner last night prepared by La Maison de l’Ilet Oscar’s chef, Benôit. He flambeed it in Martinique rhum. It was one of the best meals we had on Martinique.

We did have to rush a bit to gather up our things and rinse off, because the boat called to say we must leave by 11:30am to get back to Martinique before the lockdown went into effect. And just as we got into the boat, Gendarmes in a boat stopped us. Our boat and the proprietors from La Maison de l’Ilet Oscar explained we had to go back because we are flying home to mainland France tomorrow. We were given an exception, and made it back to Martinique just in time.

Now to move about outside at all, we’re required to have a legal document with your name, date of birth, address and reason for being out of your home. We obviously had no way to print it, so we took a screen shot on my iPhone and filled it in as best we could until we could get to our hotel in Fort de France.

Yesterday McDonald’s was still open, but drive-thru only. The lines were long, but we figured this was the best option to get food for lunch and dinner. Our hotel has a small kitchen with a fridge, stovetop and microwave. We figured we could get some extra hamburgers and heat them up later.

After trying two different McDonald’s and finding they had even closed, we looked up the nearest grocery store. We had to wait in line for about 30 minutes to get in since the store was only allowing a limited number of people in at one time.

It was a Carrefour Market, which we have at home in Bordeaux, too. Everything was pretty well stocked, with the exception of the deli meats/saucisson cases and the pasta/rice aisle being picked over. There was plenty of toilet paper and paper towels, unlike the toilet paper shortages we were seeing all over social media.

We got a roast chicken, a baguette, ravioli and sauce to make later for dinner, a chocolate bar (since we didn’t get to go to the famous artisan chocolatier because the chaos struck) and some banana fritters, plus some water and a bottle of rosé. It was all very civilized, but just took a bit of time waiting to get in the store.

Once we got to our hotel, there was a sign posted in French and English about what had transpired. We had to stay in our room, unless going to for a necessary reason like to get food or medicine. And the hotel had the necessary legal form printed off should a guest need it.

We spent the last afternoon of our trip confined to our hotel room, and it was absolutely gorgeous outside. But we understood the need to stay inside, as much as we would have preferred to be just about anywhere else.

We used the time to get all packed up and ready to leave early tomorrow.

I also made the mistake of checking in our business. It’s depressing with a capital D. This is no time to be a digital content creator. The majority of my income comes from ad revenue and affiliate bookings (when you book hotels, tours or purchase things through the affiliate partner links on this site).

Understandably, the world is gripped by Coronavirus right now. It’s not the time to travel – take it from two people that are living through trying to get home. Travel search queries are way down on Google, which means our traffic is way down. That means our income has come to nearly a grinding halt.

I hope it will all recover when one day it’s safe to travel and discover our beautiful world again. Until then, thankfully we have savings to get us through. And if you’re wondering how you can help, the best way is to take a few minutes and read a couple posts on our site. Then share your favorites on social media, so your friends read too.

Le Lockdown Day 2: March 18

Today we began the journey home from Martinique to Bordeaux on our originally booked flights. We didn’t see any reason to move up our flights since many people would be panicking and we’d be met with even more people along the way home. We knew departing flights would operate until Sunday, when the airport in Martinique then plans to close down.

Originally when we booked this trip, we didn’t mind having a long layover in Cayenne, French Guiana. We planned to use our 8 hour layover to get out and see something like we have on many long layovers. Of course, that now wasn’t possible with everything going on. French Guiana is also an overseas department of France.

Our trip didn’t start out great. We woke up to no water at the hotel in Martinique. With reduced staff, no one was on the premises to deal with such problems. We improvised by using our bottles drinking water to clean up and brush our teeth.

I had a major fail. First, I only rinsed off with my bathing suit still on the day before and washed my hair. With the lockdown going in to effect at 12pm, we had to rush to the leave the private island and get a taxi boat back to the main island. So I decided to wet myself and soap up.

Trying to get the soap off with just a bottle of water wasn’t working. I called Tim for help. He poured a trickle of water on me, but the soap just kept lathering more. Eventually, I gave up and just wet one of my facial cleansing cloths. I wiped off the soap as best I could and figured I was better off smelling like dried apricot soap than salty and sweaty.

Arriving at the airport, it was like a ghost town with the exception of the queue checking in for Air France. We had no questions about our American passports.

There was just one little bar open that had some drinks for sale and croissants, muffins and pain au chocolat. We didn’t buy anything, opting to wait until we got to Cayenne for our first connection.

The plane from Martinique to Cayenne was almost completely full. Arriving in French Guiana, the captain announced that only 10 people would be allowed to disembark the plane at one time. Every passenger had to fill out forms with our contact information, which was presumably to be able to notify us if someone tests positive or presents themselves as unwell.

Unlike when we arrived in Martinique, no one was scanning every passenger to take their temperature. At this point, it was deemed unproductive.

We had a lot of messages on Instagram about how we return to France since we are American citizens. Both Martinique and French Guiana are overseas departments of France, so technically we never left France during this entire trip. But we did pass through immigration in French Guiana and were questioned. I have my French resident card (carte de sejour). Tim has a visa, and won’t receive his carte de sejour until next year when he renews his visa. We just explained we are returning home and we reside full time in Bordeaux.

The international departures terminal was basically one long room with a total of five gates. The lounges were, understandably, closed due to Coronavirus restrictions. There was one bar open that had three different kinds of sandwiches and drinks, so we each had a ham and cheese baguette for lunch.

Up until about two hours before our flight, we were the only two people in the international departures terminal. So we had absolutely no problem maintaining social distancing. With two flights departing, the international departures area is nearly full with passengers.

Once we arrive home tomorrow, we are only allowed to go outside our apartment for essential reasons like grocery shopping, going to a medical appointment and brief exercise within our neighborhood. We will have to go one at a time. We cannot go out together, even for a walk in the neighborhood. And we have to carry a legal document we complete each time we leave the house. Otherwise, we face fines from €135 – €350 if we are stopped by the police and do not have the document and a valid reason for being outside.

Thankfully we have a balcony we can sit outside on to enjoy sunshine and fresh air. The weather forecast looks like it’s filled with lovely spring days for the coming week ahead.

Le Lockdown Day 3: March 19

We flew overnight on an almost full flight from French Guiana in South America to Paris Orly, arriving around 7:30am. We flew Air France and the flight itself was fine, but we didn’t see anything extra special being done. We brought travel Purell hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes, so we could clean down our seats. The try tables definitely had not been cleaned in between the flights.

Paris Orly was the worst of the airports throughout our trip. We’d heard that the terminals had been condensed to one for international flights and one for domestic. In the domestic terminal, we had just a small area where everyone was congregated for five gates. There was one small Relay open where you could buy a drink and limited snacks. It was really busy with people departing to Marseilles and Lyon at the same time as the Bordeaux flight.

Our last leg was Paris to Bordeaux, on a completely full flight. We were actually due to leave on an 8:30am flight, which Air France had already notified us several days earlier was being combined with a 9:30am flight.

Once home in Bordeaux, announcements continually played that said if you did not have a boarding pass, you needed to leave the airport immediately.

We took the airport bus line home, which is still operating but at a reduced schedule. To keep safe, the driver was socially distanced with the front part of the bus roped off so passengers couldn’t sit up front within 2 meters of the driver. Only about a dozen people were on the bus, and we all entered through the back doors.

No one spoke a word. We all rode in silence. Presumably we were all, or nearly all, locals who were returning home. Streets were empty of people, cyclists and cars. Almost all businesses except the occasional pharmacy or boulangerie were closed along the bus route.

Bordeaux is eerie. We live on one of the busiest pedestrian streets of the hyper center, or Centerville. On any normal day at noon, people are dining on the terrace at the restaurants – even in the wintertime. There’s a steady stream of people passing. But with our balcony doors open to let some fresh air in, we could practically hear a pin drop.

There are a few restaurants still offering delivery via Deliveroo (if you’re in one of the 12 countries Deliveroo operates in, you can get €10 off with our referral link) and UberEats (and get €15 off your first UberEats order with our code eats-jenniferd18124ue). We ordered lunch from Edmond Burger, which is one of our favorite burger places in Bordeaux. The new regulations mean contactless delivery. Our delivery guy called to say he was here. I watched from our balcony as he placed our order on the step outside our building door, then they must back away 2 meters and wait to visually confirm you retrieved your food.

We won’t order food a lot because I have basically no income coming now as a digital content creator, but we’ll try to support our local businesses like Edmond Burger that are still able to operate maybe once a week as a treat to ourselves.

The rest of the day, we napped off and on and binge watched Netflix. We’re exhausted from the long trip back.

It was IKEA Swedish meatballs we had in the freezer for the win for dinner. In a pinch, breakfast potatoes we also had in the freezer rounded out dinner.

More strict lockdown measures were put in place as of this afternoon in France, too. Suddenly everyone was exercising. Our quayside was so busy with walkers, joggers and cyclists since the lockdown that it is now entirely off-limits. Cycling is no longer allowed either. Exercise is still allowed, but it must be brief. We must stay within our neighborhoods, only venturing a 1 kilometer radius away from your home.

Le Lockdown Day 4: March 20

Day 4 is really our first full day at home in Bordeaux. We woke up late after 10am since we were both exhausted from the long trip back home to Bordeaux from Martinique.

The first order of importance was getting food to sustain us since our fridge and pantry were basically completely empty from being away for 12 days. I made a menu for dinner for five nights, some of which will give us more than just one dinner.

I actually use to do this regularly, which helps me make my grocery list. I get out my favorite cook books like Live, Love, Eat!: The Best of Wolfgang Puck, The Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook, The Bordeaux Kitchen and The Borough Market Cookbook to peruse for different recipes.

Only one person from the household is allowed to go to the grocery store. Tim took this first turn and went with the list. The challenge for us is both that we have to walk and carry everything home that we buy, plus that – as is typical of French city homes – we have a very small fridge. We typically only shop for 2-3 days maximum at at time (which actually means we have very little food waste).

You must shop at a store in your neighborhood. We needed so much, and grocery delivery isn’t available to our area currently because there has been such a high volume of orders. So Tim went to a big grocery store that is kind of like a super Target called Auchan. It’s inside a commercial center, which is like a mini mall with shops like Sephora and H&M. Only the grocery store is open.

There was a line to get in, since only a small number of people are being let in at one time. This is to help with social distancing in the grocery store. Tim had to wait around 15 minutes to enter, which wasn’t bad at all. Most shelves were restocked.

This particular store had many empty shelves earlier in the week when people were panic buying and made the local news for the craziness like people fighting over things. Someone created a meme about the 2020 Battle of Auchan, which a friend texted while we were still traveling home. So we were glad to see things have calmed down.

We were also on the edge of our seats to see what President Macron would say today at a midday address. People are not taking this seriously enough, and Parisians in particular are treating it like a long holiday and going off to their second homes on beaches and in the countryside. We were prepared for even stricter restrictions and increased fines.

Instead, we got a warning that if people don’t stay home the stricter restrictions will come. But for now, cycling is now prohibited along with hunting, going to the beaches and hiking in the countryside. And people cannot go off to their second holiday homes now either.

For us, the quayside between our two major bridges is off-limits now here in Bordeaux. Too many people were traveling further than 1 kilometer radius from their home we are currently allowed to venture to come run, walk, skateboard and the like on the quayside.

We live in what’s called the hyper centre of Bordeaux in the Hôtel de Ville – Quinconces quartier. It’s basically where ALL the tourists would normally be while visiting Bordeaux.

We are allowed brief periods of exercise outside the home, but you must go alone. This is to limit the number of people going on out the streets. I went out for my walk, and snapped a few photos of the usually tourist trodden streets.

Places like Rue Sainte-Catherine, the busiest pedestrian shopping street in Bordeaux and the longest pedestrian shopping street in Europe, is normally a sea of people. It was surreal to see only a few people walking along it with nearly every single business closed. Even during the worst of the Gilets Jaunes protests, Bordeaux was never so empty.

This evening we had our first Friday window apéro, which began organized as an event on Facebook by a Bordeaux local. Apéro, or a before dinner drink, is a massive part of the French culture. It’s particularly part of the culture here in Bordeaux, where we’re the World Capital of Wine. Bordeaux residents are going to do this every Friday at 7pm.

We have to say, we enjoyed it a lot. Tim and I were able to sit out at a table we have on our balcony. It was a gorgeous first day of Spring evening. Neighbors came to their windows and balconies, and we all wished each other “buon appetite!” We learned a neighbor in the next building over and a floor up has a Siamese cat, as their cat sat with its tail swinging as she joined in to the neighborhood apéro.

We sat on our balcony having a bottle of wine, a Terra dei Ciliegi 2015. It’s an Italian wine from Verona and we had it with some Comté and saucisson. The occasional passerby down on the street would call up “buon appetite” or “bonsoir”. In the Facebook event, many partakers posted photos.

At 8pm every night, we applaud the healthcare workers who are risking so much to tirelessly work through this crisis with a standing ovation. First, we heard applause down on the next block. Like a ripple effect, the applause grew from faint claps and cheers a few streets over to ringing out through the streets of Bordeaux.

It’s a sense of community that is needed so much right now when you can’t gather with friends as you usually would. We are not alone in this.

Le Lockdown Day 5: March 21

It was another gorgeous day in Bordeaux with the sun shining and 70F temps. It was the kind of day that everyone would normally be picnicking in the park and along the quayside.

We tried to be at least a little productive today. After weeding my balcony fruit trees and giving them some TLC, I did some work – because any little work coming in at the moment is a top priority. And I started a daily journal of these Le Lockdown updates which I had only been posting to my personal Facebook profile until now. I plan to make it my nightly routine to update this post with the day’s update before bed.

Some sort of routine is good.

I’ve also got a list of posts that I need to write from various trips we’ve been on over the last couple of months that we collaborated with partners on, so my plan of action is to continue to create content during this time. Hopefully it inspires you, which is always our goal, and you’ll be ready to travel the world again once it’s safe to do so. In the meantime, please be an armchair traveler and enjoy seeing the world through our stories!

In case you missed them, here are a few new posts I’ve written in the last month:

• Longyearbyen: The World’s Northernmost City
• Loisaba Conservancy: The Kenyan Wildlife Park That Needs to Be on Your Radar
• The Perfect 3-Days in Tenerife

While I was working, Tim tinkered with our hot water heater. For a few weeks now, we’ve had air in the hot water. The faucet makes a sputtering noise when we turn the hot water on.

The water heater is located up in our ceiling, which is typical in French apartments as a space saver. He got the ladder, had a look and found the manual online.

While I was a bit worried about tinkering around when we can’t have a plumber come, he managed to find a purge valve. And now the water isn’t sputtering. So good job, Tim!

We also each talked with our families. My mom is sick with the flu right now. She’d been doing some fundraising for a charity she volunteers with, so she’s been exposed to a lot of people recently. But she doesn’t currently have the symptoms of Coronavirus and medicine seems to be helping her slowly feel better.

Of course, that still worries us. Flights will stop soon from France and right now Air France is only operating one flight a day to JFK or LAX to repatriate US citizens stuck abroad.

It’s hard to know that if something were to happen to anyone in either of our families, we’re currently in a position that we would not be able to make a trip back to the USA to be there…as the US Embassy in France said, indefinitely.

I made Better Than Olive Garden Pasta Fagioli for dinner, which I also shared step-by-step on our Instagram Story. I’ve made this recipe for years and it’s one of our favorite dinners. It also makes enough to have it for a few meals.

We enjoyed it with a Maremma Syrah from Tuscany, which we bought on one of our weekend adventures when we lived in Italy. We like pulling out a bottle from our fridge and reminiscing about where we got it. Nearly our entire collection has been bought at the wineries themselves.

There’s some holes starting to appear on shelves in our wine fridge. But not to worry! We cataloged all of our wine when we got the wine fridge a few months ago on our Vivino app. We currently have 191 bottles in our cellar, so we’re well stocked for several months.

And of course, we were sure to go out on the balcony before 8pm to be ready to applaud our healthcare workers as we do nightly. Tonight’s applause was also accompanied by party horns. It starts slow and distant. Then the applause comes from all directions – a reminder that even though the streets are dead, we are not in this alone.

Le Lockdown Day 6: March 22

We slept horribly last night. I’ve suffered from insomnia for years, since back when I worked at Blockbuster and was attacked with a crowbar to the head during a robbery. Over the years, the insomnia has gotten much better with it only popping up when I’m stressed and anxious.

I don’t really feel anxiety. But I just couldn’t get to sleep last night. And I kept Tim awake, too.

We both concluded it was because we were inside all day yesterday. We’re used to walking daily. So this afternoon we each went out separately for our allowed 20 minutes of exercise in the neighborhood. With our completed attestation forms on us, of course.

An emergency bill was passed today. That’s how serious this is – the French did work on a Sunday! Jokes aside, now the fines for not complying with the nouvel ordre will increase with each offense up to 3750€ and six months jail time.

Normally on Sundays we go to our weekly market along the quayside. We get empanadas from a guy from French Guiana. His salsa is incredible, and I’ve long told him I wished he sold the salsa in containers.

I miss Empanada Sunday. I’ll be looking forward to when we can resume Empanada Sunday.

I was actually writing away on a post I’m working on to publish tomorrow while waiting for my turn in the shower when Tim called me to help him. He decided that he could no longer wait, and gave himself a haircut.

Actually, color me impressed. He pretty much got everything but the very back of his head and it was relatively even, too. I don’t cut hair. I’ve never cut his hair in nearly 20 years together. But with his instruction, I helped even out his “fade” he gave himself.

Only Day 6 and we already got home haircuts going on up in here!

It was such a nice day that we sat on the balcony and had apéro as the sunset. We may not be able to walk at sunset while the buildings glow in a golden light, but at least we can watch it from our balcony while sipping wine.

Sitting out on the balcony more, we also discovered a neighbor kitty. New goal: lure cute kitty to our apartment.

Here’s something else that’s like a light in the crazy. We can hear birds singing! Even though Bordeaux does have a lot of private green spaces with loads of hidden gardens in courtyards, we only usually hear birds very, very early in the morning. Then the buzz of living in the bustling center takes over well until after we even go to bed. But now we hear birds singing all day long again!

Of course, at 8pm we once again applauded healthcare workers. Tonight the applause was loud, echoing through the streets and accompanied by cheers and party horns.

So while we started out the day a bit rough, we have so much to appreciate that helps ease the moments of struggle.

Le Lockdown Day 7: March 23

At some point, the crazy starts to set in.

Me: {places 3 pieces of baguette on my plate} “Hey! The baguette looks like seahorses today!” {takes photo}
Tim: {just laughs at me}

We also didn’t feel motivated to get dressed or go outside today for our allowed exercise periods. So we just ran around our dining table for some laps, then reversed direction and ran the other way.

A guy in Toulouse made the news yesterday (or was that the day before…) for running a full marathon of 26.2 miles on his 7 meter balcony. If he can do that, we can get some laps in around our dining table.

We weren’t totally lazy lumps today, though. I updated my post about travel books with a few more I’ve read. So if you’re looking for some great reads, check out these true stories for an armchair trip around the world:

And Tim started working on photos from Austria, so that I can write about Innsbruck and Hallstatt. There’s still work to be done and we’ll all travel again someday, right?

I also checked in by texting some friends I know live alone. I can’t imagine if this had happened a year ago and I was all alone here in Bordeaux. Be sure to reach out to your friends and just see how they’re doing, regardless of if you’re locked down, sheltering in place or otherwise.

And we talked to our families again. My mom sounds better, so that made me feel better.

Some cities and towns in France now have a curfew. The Prime Minister addressed the nation this evening and I felt sure we were headed for a nationwide curfew and more stringent restrictions. For now, we got another warning.

It’s frustrating when we’re following the rules, and see others going out together. Or cycling. Or congregating in groups.

Get it together people! Stay home. Follow the rules. Practice social distancing. The sooner we all do, the sooner we can get back to living our lives.

I made a homemade pizza for dinner tonight with chorizo, yellow pepper and red onion. We spice it up with Espelette pepper infused oil from the Pays Basque, which is just south of us in our region of France.

And at 7:55pm, we opened our balcony doors to be ready to applaud our healthcare workers like we do every night.

Le Lockdown Day 8: March 24

I died a little inside tonight.

It’s been reported that the new Comité Analyse, Recherché et Expertise (CARE), that has been appointed to advise the French government, is recommending SIX weeks of lockdown.

SIX WEEKS

I want to cry. Not because of the thought of being home for that long. But because of the economic devastation this is going to leave as a long lasting scar on our communities. The thought that small businesses I love so much may not weather this storm and ever open again is heartbreaking.

On that note, Tim and I each went out for our allowed 1-hour of exercise separately. On my walk, I also stopped by one of the fromagerie still open. For now, Chez Delphine is open daily and I bought some brillat savarin and comté.

It’s important to support small businesses and shop local during this – if you’re able. Chez Delphine appreciated my business while social distancing.

How it worked: I browsed the cheese selection from outside through the window. Then the door was cracked open and I placed my order. Once my cheese was cut and wrapped in paper, I briefly stepped inside and was asked to stay on the doormat in the entry while the credit card machine was brought over. I used contactless with my Apple Pay, which they also appreciated.

There’s been some clarification to our restrictions. People were continuing to go out together. We get you live in the same household, but the rule of only one adult per household out for exercise at a time is to help limit the number of people out and about. You known, so we can easily social distance.

As of today, we now have to also write the time we left home on our attestation form when going out for exercise.

Tim passed by the same police van four different times on his walk. I, on the other hand, was stopped and asked for my attestation.

The gendarmes aren’t out to “get people”. They were very nice. They greeted me and asked very politely for my attestation. I was even congratulated on completing it fully and correctly, before I was wished “bonne promenade, madame!” and sent on my way.

I made chicken & asparagus teriyaki for dinner tonight. I used to make this all the time during asparagus season for myself. It’s only recently been asparagus season, so Tim had it for the first time a few weeks ago.

Soon one of us will need to go for groceries again. I spent some time today perusing my cookbooks and making our next dinner menu, in order to make our shopping list.

Le Lockdown Day 9: March 25

We’ve been home from Martinique for one full week now. We’re both still feeling fine, so one week down and a little more than one week still to go before we should be in the clear for the incubation period. So there’s that to be thankful for.

Thanks to Chez Delphine yesterday, we were able to enjoy one of our favorite French cheeses today. We hadn’t had Brillat Savarin since before we left for Martinique. Yum!

You might not know this, but I’m also a travel correspondent on a radio show on the American Forces Network. I’m normally on every two weeks, and this afternoon I recorded the show. Of course, we talked about Coronavirus, what it was like going on lockdown in Martinique, getting home and what daily life is like here in France.

I also spoke about how we all need to have a bit of compassion right now. I’m seeing so many opinionated posts on social media about how people can’t follow rules or about how we should leave Americans and Brits stranded abroad instead of repatriating them because they could be infected.

I think we all need to remember that the world literally changed in the blink of an eye. Friends in Venice were still saying now is a great time to come and we’re open for business days before the entire country went on lockdown. We left on March 9th, only to land 9 hours later and learn an entire country and population of more than 60 million were locked down in Italy. COVID-19 was declared a pandemic on March 11.

It may feel like a lifetime ago now, but these events have all occurred so fast. It was only TWO weeks ago today.

And as for people not following instructions and staying home, let me tell you it is exactly the same. I think we all go through some kind of “stages of grief” adjusting to our new normal.

The French were out in the bars partying it up until 11:59pm on the eve restaurants and bars were shutting down. Then the next day, which was a beautiful day, they packed the parks and outdoor spaces.

We’ve slowly gotten better here in France. But in Bordeaux, our quayside had to be banned and fenced in. Day by day more strict restrictions were introduced. Fines were increased. Jail time was added.

We have so many still trying to push the limits, that the government actually created a tool to put your address in and see your 1-kilometer radius of how far you can go from your home.

No, really! https://carte-sortie-confinement.fr/

I’m not at all ragging on the French. I think we’ve mostly done pretty well adjusting to the new normal. The point is it isn’t just Americans or Brits. We’re pretty hard on our own citizens and we should all have a little more compassion, especially now.

Aside from speaking about compassion on the radio, I baked and cooked. I made brownies and then made my homemade sausage lasagna.

We were supposed to have leftovers to make two dinners out of the lasagna, but Tim claimed he was famished and had seconds.

“I looked at a lot of hiking today,” he told me.

Tonight at 7:30pm, church bells rang out all over France as a show of solidarity.

We also lit candles and placed them in our windows for healthcare workers and our police, Gendarmes and other service workers. We put our candle out one of our balconies since we don’t have street facing windows.

And at 8pm, we applauded healthcare workers. Tonight it seemed the applause has been the loudest yet.

I made my rustic sausage lasagna for dinner tonight. This is like one of my ultimate comfort foods because lasagna was a staple on our dinner table growing up in an Italian-American family.

Le Lockdown Day 10: March 26

This year we’ve been feeling ready to add a dog to our family again. And nothing makes you miss a dog as much as seeing all the doggos that live in your ‘hood out for their walks. And everyone you know posting their new fur colleagues while y’all work from home.

Tim had even got us a Furbo (the dog camera that alerts you when your doggo barks and you can shoot out treats to them) for Christmas. All that’s missing is the actual dog.

So we introduce to you Doorstop Dog! She had a busy day recreating all the doggo posts on Facebook and Instagram.

Or, otherwise known as a day in the life of a travel creative when the travel industry is at a standstill.

Other than the doggo escapades, the highlight of the day was a delivery from Hasnaâ Chocolats Grands Crus. Hasnaâ is a local chocolate maker here in Bordeaux. We live steps away from her boutique, which is a must stop when in Bordeaux. But like so many local businesses, Hasnaâ is currently closed.

She arranged to deliver her chocolates to the Bordeaux area. So we ordered to both support local businesses and to have some Easter chocolates to look forward to.

Like when we order food delivery, the delivery person called a few minutes before he arrived. Then he placed the bag on our doorstep downstairs, backed up several meters and waited to visually confirm we got our delivery.

It was my turn to grocery shop. It’s been eight days since we last went grocery shopping. I went to our big super market a short walk from the center, where we live. It’s like a Super Target, which sells electronics and other merchandise aside from food.

The produce section was almost empty. Some things there weren’t even alternate brands to choose from and were completely out, like basically the entire baking aisle.

People need to stop hoarding! Grocery stores need time to restock, but there is no shortage of food. And we won’t not be able to access food.

We’re currently shopping for a week at a time. Before this we shopped about every 3 days because of our fridge and pantry sizes. It might sound tedious since we have to travel longer distances by car in the US to stores, but we actually really enjoy having such fresh food. Not only that, this practice of shopping every few days actually has nearly reduced our food waste to zero.

Normally I love grocery shopping. Today though, it was a stressful experience for me.

What was reassuring is that measures have been stepped up since Tim went last week. The employees have more protection. And while I shop with my own wheeled cart to be able to walk my groceries home, they were cleaning carts for customers as we entered.

At checkout, the cashiers clean the conveyor belt, bagging area and credit card machine between each customer. They also have a plexiglass enclosure around them to keep them safe from possible germ transmission from customers. In addition to that, they had gloves (which they change between customers) and masks too.

We made an easy-peasy dinner fave tonight. A sheet pan dinner. You just slice up kielbasa and veggies like potatoes, peppers, onions and zucchini. Season with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil, and seal it all in foil. Pop in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes.

Le Lockdown Day 11: March 27

It’s Friday in France. And though the temperatures have dropped a bit from last weekend, we’re still having gorgeous sunny days. We’re SO thankful for the sun. It really makes this all that much more bearable.

This whole confinement thing is an emotional roller-coaster and today has been a tough day for me. I so often feel pressure to present this happy-go-lucky and carefree attitude on social media. Who wants to follow an influencer who complains?

But it’s not always sunshine and rainbows…and that is okay. We are ALL going to have hard days ahead. Days where you don’t feel like getting out of bed. Days where you do absolutely nothing. Days you feel powerless and forlorn. When you do, know you’re not alone.

The Prime Minister announced a two week extension on the lockdown, until at least April 15. We knew it was coming. We agree it’s for the greater good. We know it’s even likely to extend still beyond that.

France had its highest death toll yet yesterday, including a 16 year old girl in the Paris area. We have been mostly spared here in Bordeaux, and our hospital is taking in patients transferred from some of the hardest hit areas.

Aside from Coronavirus, the temperatures hit near freezing or below out in the vineyards on the Right Bank last night. We’ve been watching from social media as already stressed Bordeaux châteaux now ready themselves for fighting frost this weekend.

The bud burst has only happened in the past week, and it’s very early this year. The buds are so fragile in this state. And a frost could absolutely devastate Bordeaux, as it did in 2017. So it’s extra stressful times for many right now.

I’m trying to keep my own spirits up with silly things and entertaining our followers on Instagram.

And even though it was quite chilly this evening, we sat outside on the balcony for a bit for the second edition of Window Apéro. There’s camaraderie in this, even if we have to say “bon apéro” online. Maybe when this is all said and done, we’ll meet some new friends for an in-person apéro.

Le Lockdown Day 12: March 28

We finally “Spring Forward” tonight at 2am in Europe. Can’t we just spring forward to June and be done with all of this?

I’m actually not even sure where today went. I finally felt inspired to write and published a new post on Bordeaux Travel Guide about how to Visit Bordeaux from the Comfort of Your Couch. I guess it’s a good thing the days are passing quickly.

If you’d like to take an armchair travel trip today to Bordeaux, my new post has all the ways you can comfortably visit Bordeaux from home from virtual tours to at-home wine tastings.

Last summer, what feels like a decade ago now, I was interviewed (in French, no less!) for the spotlight feature in the annual Saint-Émilion tourism magazine. While the print magazine itself is delayed a bit because of the virus, the digital version is out.

You can read the whole magazine, which is in both French and English, for a further virtual trip to our beautiful part of France.

Tim went out for a mini walk today. The sun was once again shining. It was the kind of Saturday when the park and the quai would have been packed. Instead, Tim said he saw people just standing in a sunbeam to soak up being outdoors for a few minutes.

Le Lockdown Day 13: March 29

Today an operation of transferring COVID-19 patients from the hardest hit parts of France by high speed train to Bordeaux took place. Two TGV fast trains, which travel at 300km/h, were turned into mobile emergency rooms and delivered a total of 24 patients between them to ambulances waiting at the train station. An additional 12 patients are also transferred to other hospitals in our region, the Nouvelle Aquitaine.

While we have cases in Bordeaux and the Nouvelle Aquitaine, we’ve (so far) been greatly spared in comparison to many other parts of France. Our hospitals are able to take on some of the patients from the overflowing hospitals in Mulhouse and the Grand Est.

We clapped extra hard for our healthcare workers tonight.

In other news, snow is predicted for Bordeaux tomorrow. Normally I would be super excited. Snow is a rarity in Bordeaux. It last snowed in 2018 during the “Beast from the East” that hit Europe. I was in England at Tim’s house, when he was still living there.

Even if it doesn’t actually snow, it’s been a cold weekend. Winemakers have had to battle frostbite in their vineyards. The vines have only just budded and they are quite early this year, thanks to the warm winter and early spring. It’s a stressful time.

We’ve been total lazy bums today. The lack of sunshine makes getting dressed hard – so we just didn’t. It’s been a binge watch tv kind of a day. In case you were wondering, it’s entirely possible to watch an entire season of The Sopranos in a day.

Tim’s entertainment highlight is scaring the shit out of me. I’m very jumpy and can easily hit the roof at the slightest “boo”. He loves hiding around our bathroom door and scaring me.

Me: Gets Tim back for the scaring later by pulling his toe.
Tim while all tangled up in blankets and looking like an upside down turtle trying to get up off the couch: “I’m going to do something! I don’t know what. But something!”

Also, le lockdown bottle count is now 6 + a few gin & tonics. We still have 188 bottles in our cellar.

Le Lockdown Day 14: March 30

We woke up to a very cold (for Bordeaux) day. Around 10:30am the rain turned to snowflakes falling for about an hour or so. It’s been so warm lately, that the snow melted as soon as it touched the ground.

A rare sight for Bordeaux. It last snowed and left ever-so-slight a dusting here in the city in early 2018.

As if a late March snow in a city that sees the white stuff about once a decade wasn’t odd enough, a wild boar was spotted running in the streets of a Bordeaux suburb! Without the usual continuous moment of people, the wildlife is curiously investigating.

The most wildlife spotting we get here in Bordeaux Centre is the growing number of pigeons bobbing about our street.

I pulled myself up out of my funk and put on my entrepreneurial hat today. It’s a time when many of us have to adjust how we do business, and even create new revenue streams. When one door closes, as they say…

So I’m working on a new product to launch. I had a couple chat and phone meetings about it today with some potential partners. Stay tuned for more on this soon!

One of my very good French friends called me today on the phone and it was so good to hear her voice!

We get so busy that we don’t always pick up the phone just to say hello in our daily lives. Pick up the phone and give a friend you haven’t talked to lately a call. I bet they’ll be thrilled to hear from you, and it’s a much needed bit of social normalcy we could all use especially now.

I had to laugh at the number of people, especially following our Instagram Stories, that have been so engaged with what I’m cooking for dinner each night. Last night we finally finished off the last of the meatballs I’d made with some spaghetti and meatballs.

Some messages were like “So happy it’s the last night of leftovers. We didn’t know what we were eating because you didn’t cook anything new for a few days!” ? I’m getting stories of what people substituted and how making my recipe went awry. I love these messages!

Tonight I made homemade calzones filled with white wine sausage, red and yellow peppers and mozzarella.

From basically 2003 – 2008, I got every new kitchen gadget that appeared in the latest Williams-Sonoma catalog. At some point, I got a calzone mold. Let me tell you, it’s gotten plenty of use over the years – including tonight.

Our Instagram followers: “Who actually has a calzone mold?!” “Who knew such a thing existed.” “What else are you making this week? I have to go grocery shopping.”

And finally, now that we’ve sprung forward yesterday finally in Europe, it’s now light out still when we applaud healthcare workers at 8pm. As we all leaned out balconies and windows this evening, we all also looked around. We can finally see each other when we applaud.

In our neighborhood, someone plays a bugle during the 8pm applause. We can’t personally see the bugle player from our balcony perspective, but another neighbor captured him in a photo. The whistle blower still remains a mystery.

Le Lockdown Day 15: March 31

The sun returned to Bordeaux today. Sunshine and blue skies really do make all this that much more bearable.

I hadn’t been outside since Thursday last week. With the sun shining, I was itching to get out for a walk. Walking the streets, even if I’m confined to a 1 kilometer radius (0.6 miles) of home, reminded me of the early days when I first moved to Bordeaux.

Emma, our dog, and I would walk for hours. In those days, I really took the time to take in the little details. Our walks are how I discovered and learned so much about Bordeaux so quickly.

As Bordeaux’s tourism grew, I’d find myself dodging tourists and walking on more of a mission from destination to destination. And for so long after Emma passed away, I stopped taking walks for the sake of taking walks.

These days I’m back to just wandering to wander. I stop on the empty streets to take in the details again. And for such a beautiful city to call home and wander around in on my hour of exercise, I am very grateful.

I’m also thankful at least one fromagerie is open. French cheese is life. And stepping in to Chez Delphine to pick out our cheese for the week is like a bit of much needed normalcy.

We’re also happy to support the small businesses of our community when we can. Locally owned businesses are the heartbeat of our communities. They’re irreplaceable. Shopping local wherever and whenever you can gives them a fighting chance.

Of course, I bought our favorite cheese – half a Brillat Savarin. And I bought a piece of Mimolette and a 24-month aged Comté.

This morning we were out of cheese and strawberries. We made our last two Nespresso capsules. We’re nearly out of yogurt.

So I used up some things I had leftover in the fridge to make breakfast burritos.

Tonight I made us turkey cotoletta (a very thin breaded turkey cutlet sort of like wienerschnitzel) with rosemary roasted potatoes. We opened an Italian Traiminer we bought from our time living in Friuli.

As we do every night, we go outside on the balcony a few minutes before 8pm to get ready to applaud our healthcare workers. Tonight an UberEats guy was delivering to someone on our street. He stopped on his bike to join in the applause before continuing on to make his delivery.

Le Lockdown Day 16: April 1

It’s April 1, or Poisson d’Avril (April Fish). And sadly, we didn’t wake up to discover that COVID-19 has been one horrible, distasteful April Fool’s joke.

Like much of the world, April 1 is {normally} a day for playing tricks on each other. Usually kids play a game and stick a paper fish onto the back of as many adults as possible. Then they run away yelling “Poisson d’Avril!”

Of course, this year kids can only play the April Fish game at home – social distancing and all.

Some people hung strings of paper fish in their windows. We’ve got chocolate fish to eat to take part in the tradition! We have the chocolate “fish and chips” one of our favorite local chocolate makers, Saunion, makes each year for the occasion. The owner himself dropped off our chocolates today.

We each took our walks today, enjoying the sunshine and warmer spring day.

I worked a lot the last few days. It’s a time when to survive we have to move our businesses forward. And I’ve come up with a way to do just that.

I am THRILLED to be launching a new product via our blog – LIVE VIRTUAL WINE TASTINGS!

The details are still being sorted out, but I’m collaborating with various wineries in Bordeaux and from other wine regions here in the Nouvelle Aquitaine. Attendees of the virtual wine tastings, which will take place on Zoom, will get to meet winemakers or an expert representative from the château in the interactive tasting. In English, of course.

We’ll also get food pairing recommendations and other valuable wine tasting knowledge. And there will be some exclusive special offers like discounts on wine, world-wide shipping and giveaways.

The first two virtual wine tastings will be April 8 and April 15, with more in the works.

We’re making lemonade over here and staying positive. It all makes the onslaught of bad news that much easier to take.

Le Lockdown Day 17: April 2

Today, I encourage you to pick up the phone and call a friend you haven’t talked to lately. Even if you think your friends are really busy, I bet they’ll be thrilled to hear from you. And they might even really need a friend to lend an ear.

We all have bad days. Meltdowns. Moments of struggling.

How can we not? The world is a weird, strange place right now. We’re all on a roller coaster of emotions and it can feel so overwhelming at times.

It’s also okay to feel upset about things that just don’t seem so important in the scheme of things. Don’t let the judgmental assmunches of the internet and social media diminish what you’re feeling. Those things are still important, because those things matter to you.

I was upset and disappointed last night. We knew it was coming, but MLB finally confirmed that the London Series is cancelled.

Yes, it’s just a baseball game. But it’s something I’ve been looking forward to since we were at the London game last summer. And while I know it’s all for the greater good and that there are far bigger problems in the world, it still was just one of those things that made me feel beat down by all this.

Since it’s Thursday, it’s the day of the week one of us does our grocery shopping. That also makes me feel beat down.

I went for us today. The rule is only one person per household is supposed to go. And it makes sense to help reduce the number of people out and about.

It’s nearly impossible to social distance when the grocery aisles are clogged up by five roommates that all just had to go to the grocery store together. Or couples shopping together with multiple carts or wheeled bags.

Know why we’ll have to be confined to our homes for longer? Because people think they’re above the rules.

Yep, I think the rules suck too. Would I like to go further than 1 kilometer from home? You bet. Would I like to go to the store with Tim so we can balance the heavy load to carry home between us? Of course. But we make do because we’d like to carry on with the rest of our lives sooner rather than later.

At least I got everything on my list today, with the exception of a few baking ingredients since that aisle is wiped out of everything. The produce was fresh and stocked back up today, with most things originating right from here in France.

Sorry, no photos today. After the grocery store I just didn’t have it in me to also go out for my walk.

We even ordered delivery tonight to give me a night off from all the cooking.

Le Lockdown Day 18: April 3

It’s another Friday in Bordeaux, so of course we had Window Apéro to look forward to!

Sitting outside in short sleeve shirts with the late evening sun shining on us, I could hardly believe it was snowing on Monday. I had to look that it was only five days ago.

What has been lovely is seeing our neighbors. In French cities, people don’t really know their neighbors even though we all live feet apart.

But even though we don’t know each other’s names, we wave and share laughs. Being in a city like we are, there’s a camaraderie that develops with those who are now your only other social “contact”.

As soon as we hear the guy that blows the bugle, we know it’s 8pm and we all come to windows and balconies. We applaud our healthcare workers together. And we all look around at one another across, next to, above and below.

Talking to a friend today who also lives in France, but in rural Eastern France, I was so thankful to be in a city. She doesn’t have even a fraction of the shops we have access to. There’s no where to walk to and nothing new to look at on walks. There’s no Window Apéro. And there’s no applause to be heard nightly.

The city presents its own challenges though. Like we don’t have a valid purpose to drive anywhere in our car. So just to start the car up and let it run for a bit, Tim drove some laps around the parking garage where we keep the ca today.

It’s just funny to live even in the same city or same country and have such vastly different experiences with the same confinement. Perhaps that’s why people seem to enjoy reading these posts so much.

It’s the weekend, and it’s the start of school holidays in France. Bordeaux is a place where many Parisians have second homes. So the police presence and road blocks have been stepped up.

People are not allowed to go off to second homes. You’re meant to stay put and stop the spread. Even the renting of holiday homes has been banned. The French government was even asking for Airbnb’s help to ensure rentals aren’t available on the site.

Tonight I made homemade chicken chipotle enchiladas for dinner. Aside from tortillas, we can get just a handful of ingredients for Tex-mex dishes. So I even made the sauce. They turned out really good with a nice amount of spice.

On the agenda for the weekend? Binge watching the new season of Money Heist that just came out on Netflix. There were really too many people out and about last Saturday to go for a walk comfortably.

Le Lockdown Day 19: April 4

We’ve now officially been home from Martinique for 15 days. Will we change anything we were doing already? No. But it is a relief that neither of us got sick.

And was it really only 15 days ago? It feels likes a lifetime ago that we were spending days diving, then soaking up the sun at a beach bar until the sun set.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day in Bordeaux today. It was over 70F and not a cloud in the sky.

But with school holidays and just being a weekend, there’s more people out and about. So despite that it was so gorgeous outside, we didn’t go out for our exercise periods.

It’s funny how in just a little less than 3 weeks, now mostly empty streets can even feel crowded these days. There are sometimes still too many people to really be able to social distance from at least 2 meters apart.

So what did we do? We binge watched tv and had a lazy day.

Le Lockdown Day 20: April 5

We started our day with the distinct gong of Bordeaux’s Big Bell, the Grosse Cloche. It’s something special to hear, and with the silence of a city brought to a halt by Coronavirus, it rang out louder than ever this morning.

It was so gorgeous outside. Really, the perfect weather. The kind of day I wish we could have gone to the market along the quai, eaten an empanada, strolled some more, and then devoured a plate of oysters.

Or even better yet, headed out to the Bassin to devour a dozen oysters at our favorite no-frills cabana with our toes in the sand.

With rain in the forecast this coming week, neither of us could pass up our hour of exercise. I went first, then Tim after.

I walked out of the center in an effort to avoid as many people as possible. But people just couldn’t be contained today. Whole families playing on any public green spaces they could find, people picnicking, couples out walking together and people sunbathing. And this was all in mostly residential areas.

Please. If we don’t all want to be locked up until the fall, respect the rules! If healthcare workers can put their lives on the line for us, we can stay home and follow the rules for them. It’s a far bigger show of appreciation than our nightly applause, singing or other gestures.

We sat out on our balcony for an apéro and soaked up the afternoon sun. We’re getting to know the doggos of our ‘hood, watching them happy as can be and oblivious to why these usually busy streets are now a paradise for their meandering and sniffing.

Dinner was a bit fancy tonight! I attempted Gordon Ramsay’s beef wellington.

Chef Ramsay would have definitely tossed my ass out of Hell’s Kitchen. My puff pastry fell apart a bit when I sliced my wellington, but it tasted damn good anyway. The Teunta Greppone Mazzi 2006 Brunello di Montalcino we pulled out of our cellar was delicious with the wellington.

I suspect I’ll have plenty more time at home in the weeks ahead to work on perfecting my wellington.

Le Lockdown Day 21: April 6

It’s said it takes a minimum of 21 days to form a habit. Three weeks into confinement, I’ve been thinking about what changed behaviors we’ll just keep on doing whenever this confinement eases and eventually ends.

Maybe home cooking much more. We typically do eat at home the majority of the week, but I’ve been experimenting much more. Aside from leftovers when a recipe made more than one night’s dinner, I actually haven’t made the same meal twice…yet.

Making a weekly dinner menu like this isn’t something I’ve done in many years. Probably since we lived in the US and I went to a physical workplace that wasn’t in my home.

The menu creation and cooking is something I really enjoy. It brings me joy. Once upon a time I even wanted to go to culinary school and become a chef.

Having things that bring you joy while we’re staying at home is more important than ever right now. Otherwise, it’s so easy to lose sight of why we’re staying home in the first place.

For the first week that COVID-19 really took hold of the world at large, I was practically glued to the internet. I consumed every article I could read.

It was draining. Exhausting. Soul sucking.

I’m not sticking my head in the sand about what’s happening in the world. But sometimes we just need to step back.

I think there’s no better or more fitting quote at the moment:

“Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it.” – Dennis P. Kimbro

I do think we’re in this for a bit longer. It’s April 6 and our confinement is currently through April 15 here in France. I just don’t see it ending or easing up in only 9 days time when France really hasn’t even hit the peak yet.

Today the French government released a mobile version of our legal attestation form we must carry whenever we leave our homes. It’s very easy to use, with a QR code generated that the police and gendarmes can just scan. It’s actually even safer because now police don’t have to touch our papers.

But to me, the release of a mobile form and development of the QR code is an indication another extension of the confinement is looming.

Overall Tim and I are doing pretty well. We have a lot to be thankful for: a roof over our heads and a safe place to ride this out, a fridge full of food and good meals on our table, and the ability to go outside for what we need and exercise.

Le Lockdown Day 22: April 7

Today some cities in France, like Nice and Paris, had even more restrictions announced. Nice has a curfew. And now both Nice and Paris have only small time periods during which the 1 hour of exercise within 1 kilometer of home is allowed.

Within days, some French cities will also require everyone to wear masks when leaving home. The masks will be provided and distributed by the government.

Let me tell you. That 1 hour outside a day in the sunshine is everything.

Yesterday it rained here in Bordeaux. And today was overcast. It weighed on my mood, and I was feeling much better after my walk outside.

It’s becoming like a challenge to see how much ground Tim and I can cover in our hour out. He got in 7700 steps and I got in 5500.

He’s planning a long distance hike sometime in the future, so Tim has taken to “hiking” with his backpack weighed down with wine bottles as a substitute for the food and gear he’ll be carrying on his hike.

I move at a good clip, but pause to snap some photos and take in details. Plus, shorter legs.

I was also lured in by an open boulangerie. I found canelés there! These are a Bordeaux specialty, and after 22 days any kind of French pastry or dessert I didn’t make at home myself was an absolute treat.

And as is now my Tuesday routine, I stopped by Chez Delphine to stock up on our cheese for the week. Shopping local is so, so important right now. It gives these small businesses a fighting chance to come out on the other side of this still standing.

We also ordered delivery from a pizza place we love for dinner. They do Neapolitan pizza and it’s just as good as when we lived in Italy.

Tomorrow is actually a pretty busy day, with my usual recording slot for the travel talk radio show I do and the first virtual wine tasting event in the lineup.

Le Lockdown Day 23: April 8

While I was transported out of the world of all things Coronavirus for a bit during my first Virtual Wine Tasting event, news was breaking that our lockdown in France will extend beyond April 15.

We don’t know any details, just that it will be longer. President Macron will address the nation on Monday after some discussions have been had and decisions on what’s next are made.

It’s really no surprise. I’ve known it was coming as France hasn’t even reached its peak yet.

And while we’ve been quite lucky here in Bordeaux to not be hit hard, there’s the other side of that. The talk has been about how we aren’t building any immunity to the virus without an outbreak here. So we could potentially see an outbreak later or even during the next “season” if this virus dies off with the heat and returns again come winter.

It’s so many unknowns still right now. And we have no control over any of that.

So what I am choosing to focus on is what I do have control over. While it certainly hasn’t been a rosy picnic 24/7, I’ve managed to mostly stay pretty positive.

The big thing I’ve thrown myself into is developing my Virtual Wine Tastings. Tonight I hosted the very first one, along with Château Léoville Poyferré. A prestigious vineyard in Bordeaux, I am incredibly honored and proud that they had so much faith in me to experiment with this.

I even prepared a typical Bordeaux dish, beef parmentier, as a pairing for the Virtual Wine Tasting. I prepared it step-by-step on our Instagram so that you can also make it at home. Just order a bottle of Château Moulin Riche, and you’ve got the perfect comfort food dinner with an excellent Bordeaux wine.

I think the first Virtual Wine Tasting went great! We had a wonderful turnout of interactive participants. And I absolutely forgot about everything else for those 40 minutes.

I only hope that everyone that attended could also “escape” and enjoy the virtual trip to Bordeaux.

Le Lockdown Day 24: April 9

The ticking clock. While March had at least 300 days and April already feels like a year, the fastest hour of the day is that one precious hour we can go out for our exercise.

Just four days ago France introduced a mobile attestation form. This is the legal document we must carry with us any time we leave the house, even if you’re only going a few meters. It populates the current time when you generate your QR code that police and gendarmes scan when they stop to check you.

60 minutes flies by. And I use every last second of my hour. It feels good to walk, to have the sun on me, to stand among the trees in our green spaces.

And it was like a summer day out. Not a cloud in the sky. It was still 75F when I went out in the early evening.

Tim went after me and was coming back right at 8pm, when we applaud our healthcare workers. He captured the bugle and horn players.

We look forward to hearing those horns every night. It’s become a source of comfort and camaraderie as we’ve all come together for 24 nights now. Some we can only hear as the applause echos down the empty streets. Others we wave to as we all come to our windows and balconies.

Le Lockdown Day 25: April 10

Being an expat, you crave things. Sometimes things you have no interest in eating in any other circumstance, simply because they offer a little taste of home.

This week’s craving has been a McMuffin. I rarely even have McDonald’s breakfast, and serving breakfast wasn’t even something McDonald’s offered in Bordeaux until maybe within the last year or so. And we can only really get a classic bacon, egg and cheese McMuffin.

Even McDonald’s is closed in France during the lockdown.

So I made homemade sausage, egg and cheese McMuffin’s today. I don’t have an egg mold ring, and you get resourceful when you crave something. So I used our raclette trays to cook my eggs into a “patty”.

The McMuffins were damn good, too.

It’s also another Friday in Bordeaux, which means Bordeaux Window Apéro. We do look forward to this each week now, and especially since the sun has shifted and hits us in the late afternoon and evening.

Bordeaux Window Apéro was much needed after my earlier trip to the supermarket.

I should have went earlier in the week. But I’ve really been avoiding going in to the big supermarket near the city centre as much as possible.

Today was an all out nightmare. I rounded the corner to find the line of people stretching down the block. If we could have made it until Tuesday (Monday is actually the Easter holiday in France as they don’t do Good Friday), I’d have turned right around and gone home.

The supermarket is inside a commercial center, kind of like a mall. And the supermarket is all the way at the back, so with the line outside and down the block I knew a lot of people were inside and that I’d be waiting quite a while.

Once finally inside, I had my list and menu for the next week. Lobsters caught my eye, and turned in to an impulse buy.

Totally. Worth. The. Splurge.

Le Lockdown Day 26: April 11

Top healthcare officials said today that a very high plateau had been reached here in France. And while the virus is still very active, they feel the lockdown is working.

We received 48 more COVID-19 patients in our region yesterday, transferred from the hard hit Île-de-France region. They arrived at the Bordeaux train station aboard the fast trains that have been converted into mobile emergency rooms.

And one of Croisieurope’s river cruise boats is now being used to house healthcare workers who need a place to stay in order to keep their families safe. Bordeaux is a cruise port, and these river cruise boats are currently sitting empty along the quay.

Tim went out for a very brief walk in the early evening. I opted not to go at all today, though I was so tempted. It was another perfect day with the sun shining and temps into the 70s.

But being Saturday, Easter weekend and such a nice day, it just feels like there are too many people out and about on weekends.

Remember that we are doing this to stop the spread. We all need to do our part. We can all miss this one holiday so that we can get back to freely being able to spend time with family and friends.

Le Lockdown Day 27: April 12

Happy Easter! Joyeuses Pâques!

First, it was more McDonald’s at home with my sausage egg McMuffins for breakfast. And then I worked on perfecting my beef wellington for dinner.

This time, I think I’d have done Chef Ramsay proud. My puff pastry stayed together during the slicing and this wellington was somehow even more delicious than my last.

Other than that, we didn’t do anything special for Easter. We do have plenty of Easter chocolate from two of our local artisan chocolate makers.

It was overcast with some afternoon showers. Coupled with the holiday, it kept people indoors today.

We stayed inside ourselves and binged some Friends (it’s still on French Netflix). Have you caught references to outbreaks and pandemics in tv shows or movies? In season 2, Marcel is filming a movie with Jean-Claude Van Damme – Outbreak 2: The Virus Takes Manhattan. I’m surprised I haven’t seen it float around as a meme.

What other little things have you caught yourself noticing? When you live your life almost entirely at home and only in a 1 kilometer radius for 1 hour a day beyond your front door, you start noticing little things. At least we have.

For instance, we have some neighbors across the way who I don’t think have gone out at all since confinement started. Every day they seem to add a new pot to their window garden, and today we watched as they planted yet another pot.

We’ve no idea what they’re growing. Or where they got their bag of potting soil and all the pots that are now appearing. But we love their little window garden.

It makes us want to grow something of our own over here. The grocery store does have potting soil currently, but since only one person per household is allowed to go, I have to make the choice between carrying food or potting soil home. Food wins.

Next to the window gardeners, we think an older woman lives alone. Tim noted she spends quite a bit of time out on her balcony talking on the phone. I said I bet she’s lonely.

She waves to us daily now. And she motioned to me to watch, then went to retrieve some bread and fed these little birds that she’s been getting to coming around.

Though our French isn’t good at all, especially now that we have so little interaction with others and opportunity to speak, it makes me want to throw some sort of block party when this is all over. To meet the people that are our social distancing daily interactions from afar properly.

Le Lockdown Day 28: April 13

Here in France we’d all been waiting with bated breath all weekend for President Macron to address us tonight.

Our confinement as it currently stands, with only essential businesses operating and 1 hour of exercise daily within 1 kilometer of home, will remain in place until at least May 11.

Restaurants, stores and our border will remain closed until at least July.

JULY. Well into the summer.

President Macron appealed to us all to remain strong and vigilant with the confinement.

Deep, deep down I know it’s the right thing. This thing we’re doing together is saving lives. But I must admit that this announcement made me feel like I died a little more inside tonight.

The world as we know it will be forever changed. Travel, the industry that is my livelihood, will be forever changed. What will travel look like going forward? Will my business even survive this?

These are the things keeping me up at night. It’s a worrying time for so many.

Tonight I’m going to feel sad. Tomorrow I’ll pick myself up, dust myself off, and keep on keepin’ on. Because what else is there to do?

Much like my mood this evening, it was overcast this afternoon as I went out for my walk. But there’s always a little beauty to be found even in the darkest hours.

Le Lockdown Day 29: April 14

We have a carpenter bee. ? And it was a busy bee at that, boring a little hole right into our balcony door and leaving us a nice little pile of wood chips and sawdust on the floor.

Hardware stores and our stores similar to Home Depot are closed. If you have an absolute emergency, there is a list of supplies and products that you can purchase online and then collect at the store.

A carpenter bee trying to move in with you doesn’t qualify as absolute emergency. Luckily Tim was able to find some Raid and wood filler at the supermarket this afternoon.

Of course the damn bee couldn’t wait until lockdown is over.

Between this and the mouse last month, I’ve had more encounters with “Bordeaux wildlife” in a month’s time than in my four years living here. I swear it’s only because we now own our home, and I don’t have a landlord to call up to deal with the problems anymore.

Tim also got me a bag of potting soil while he was at the store. I have no plants or seeds, but maybe we’ll plant some peppers. We have some in the fridge, and I can dry out the seeds from them to plant.

On my walk, I wandered down some streets I don’t usually walk on. And I came across the most fragrant wisteria in full bloom. I was walking underneath it and I actually smelled it before I even saw it. It was such a lovely surprise to come across.

Le Lockdown Day 30: April 15

We’ve made it to Day 30, though technically Tim and I started Le Lockdown in Martinique. We haven’t yet been home a month yet. At times, it feels like that trip was a year ago.

We have at least 26 days still to go in confinement with our current restrictions. That remains staying within a 0.6 mile radius (1 kilometer) of our home, with one hour of exercise allowed outside daily.

This week has been hard for me. I’m exceptionally emotional. I’m up. I’m down – mostly down. I’ve felt exhausted. I’m not sleeping well. I have to push myself to shower and go outside, even though I do feel so much better once I do.

But France’s Director General of Health, Jérôme Salomon, said that the total number of hospital patients has finally dropped for the first time since the outbreak here. It’s good news and people are feeling confident the confinement is working to flatten the curve.

I didn’t go for my walk today. Wednesday’s have actually become pretty busy for me. I had my second Virtual Wine Tasting tonight, which is a product I’m trying out and offering to my followers to give my business a lifeline.

I made my friend Rachelle’s lemon ricotta pasta with roasted tomatoes to pair with one of the wines tonight. While I didn’t have the exact noodle type she used and had to sub marscapone for the ricotta because the grocery store was out, I loved the recipe. It’s light and nice for the warmer days we’re having. The wine was great with it, too.

Le Lockdown Day 31: April 16

On the news today, we saw a video inside an exposition center that has been turned into a factory to produce masks in our department. The 130 seamstresses are sewing 30,000 masks daily.

These made in Gironde reusable masks will be distributed across our department for our deconfinement. They need to make around 2 million.

The neighborhood excitement today was two people, both wearing masks, who stopped to have a conversation on the street. As the conversation carried up to our apartments, the entire street came to our balconies and windows to glare down at whoever dared to stop and chat with one another.

And on Day 31, we also learned that the woman we think lives alone has an adorable cat. She showed us the floof today (from across the way, of course), and the kitty looks a lot like our Angel did.

We’re also seeing a group who is working together to collect food, then distribute to the needy more and more often. I’ve seen them collecting in the grocery store. And they go around as a group giving out the food to the homeless. While the cause and intentions are good, they are definitely not social distancing.

I’ve been buying a sandwich or something when I go to the grocery store, and then I give it to the regular homeless people in our neighborhood. And some treats for their doggos too. I know times are especially though for them without regular passersby giving them a little something.

Le Lockdown Day 32: April 17

I went to a wine bar today! I got to leave the house with a specific destination to go to, and that destination wasn’t the grocery store. And I spoke to another human being for a few minutes in person (at a safe social distance, of course) who wasn’t Tim.

While I was only picking up wine and epicurean products, and you can’t actually go have a drink at a wine bar, it was exciting just to have SOMEWHERE to go!

The wine bar, Un Château En Ville, is open only on Friday afternoons for sale of their wines and epicurean products for take-away. And the owner is my guest for my next Virtual Wine Tasting.

And since it’s Friday in Bordeaux, tonight was our fifth week of window apéro at 7pm. Though this week more of the neighborhood cats came out on their balconies than our neighbors. Probably because we were expecting a thunderstorm, but it held off and a beam of sun even came out of the clouds.

Our Window Apéro has gotten progressively more elaborate each week. Tonight we had accras, a cod fish fritter typical in Martinique, alone with Bayonne jamon, three kinds of cheese, Espelette pepper confiture and cornichons. We had a bottle of the white wine we tried earlier in the week at our Virtual Wine Tasting.

We each went for our walks today. I know I hadn’t been out of the house since Tuesday. And I think that was Tim’s last time out too. With the rain threatening this afternoon, the streets were exceptionally quiet.

Le Lockdown Day 34: April 19

For the first time since we began this confinement in France, I didn’t post an update yesterday for Day 33. Sometimes you just don’t know what to say, even when there’s so much to say.

I’ve focused on what’s happening here in France, because we live here. But I obviously do read some news about what’s going on in the US, too. And pardon my French, but from my outsider prospective looking in, what a shit show it appears to be.

Protests. Re-opening Florida beaches. Crowding on to Florida beaches. Over 40,000 deaths. And a completely inept leader egging on people to uprise against their state governments with a frigging Twitter account.

Believe you me, I’m itching to be able to leave my home for more than trips to the grocery store and an hour of exercise. Meet with friends. Travel. Go to restaurants. Go to the beach. Rebuild my business. Live life.

But I’d really rather endure a bit more confinement now than to repeat this whole thing over again when the next wave hits because people got antsy and rushed the “return to normal”. What’s that meme circulating about how opening the parachute only slows you down? You don’t just drop the parachute in mid-air because you slowed down.

Here in France, the Prime Minister addressed the nation tonight. The French government’s projections showed that the entire country would have suffered similar infection levels as the hard hit Île-de-France and Grand Est regions. Instead, the “draconian” confinement restrictions helped to contain the virus to mostly these regions. Hospitals were not completely overwhelmed like in other places. The COVID-19 patients could be moved to hospitals in other regions like here in Bordeaux, where we’ve received many patients arriving by specially fitted high speed trains.

With the hospital numbers continuing to fall for the 8th consecutive day, the PM is cautiously optimistic the virus is being contained in France. But he also warned us that if deconfinement begins on May 11, it will be a long, slow process over months – not over days or even weeks. And that we should expect life won’t look the same as before COVID-19.

Le Lockdown Day 35: April 20

As we enter the sixth week of confinement, the rain has returned to Bordeaux. But even a little rain couldn’t keep us each from stretching our legs after staying in since Friday.

I walked down to Place de la Bourse, where the famous 1855 classification of Bordeaux wines took place. It’s been undergoing some much needed restoration work for the past year, and banners cover the scaffolding. Long gone is Brad Pitt, who was larger than life for a while.

Now hangs a mural by local artist JoFo. It was installed over the weekend. Titled Le Toto Soignant, the mural is a dedication to the healthcare workers at the Chu Hospital Bordeaux, where they’ve treated COVID-19 patients from not only here but received patients from the hard hit Île-de-France and Grand Est regions.

You can even buy a print that is numbered and signed, and the artist is donating the proceeds to the Chu Hospital.

On my last time out on Friday, I had passed by another open cheese shop. The line of customers waiting kept me from using up some of my precious one hour of exercise, but I returned today to buy our cheese for the week.

Even though rain threatened and skies were gray, my walk lifted my mood.

The Prime Minister spoke in a 2-hour address to the nation last night. Our deconfinement will be a long process. We already knew restaurants will not open until at least July.

But the PM prepared us that we’ll be hunkered down in France for quite some time. He warned that we will not travel for a while yet and that there will be measures put in place for re-entry to France for residents. Levels of social distancing will be maintained for quite a while. Life will be very different going forward.

We’ll be hearing more about plans for deconfinement as we near the end of the month.

Will it begin on May 11? That remains to be seen. And as grim as it is that France has reached more than 20,000 deaths, the good news is that containment is now moving in the right direction.

Le Lockdown Day 36: April 21

I’ve had a lot of messages and questions about whether protests are happening here in France like in the US. No, protests are not happening with people taking to the streets.

Protesting is basically in the French blood. That’s clear from the more than a year of Yellow Vests protests that carried on right up until the confinement began here in France 36 days ago. It’s clear from the weeks of travel and daily commute disruption during the transportation strikes in November and December.

May 1 is a day that there’s always a protest of some sort in France. And there’s been calls for the French to protest as they would any other year – from the safety of their balconies and windows. Not by gathering in mass on the streets to re-ignite the spread.

Of course we think about our own health, but we should also have compassion and realize that we may inadvertently carry the virus and spread it to others.

In a time when people should be unifying and have compassion for those more susceptible than those of us in relatively good health, the American people are protesting. And in the most ridiculous ways and for the most selfish reasons.

Social distancing works to defeat the virus. That’s clear from the countries like Italy, Spain and France who have strict lockdowns and are seeing the decrease in hospitalizations and critical patients. It’s why places like Munich have cancelled Oktoberfest, their biggest tourism driver of the entire year that brings 6 million people to the city. And why the Fête Le Vin held here in Bordeaux every other year has been cancelled.

It’s unbelievable that there’s those out there in mass that think the world came together and launched this plot to get media, leaders, scientists and essential workers all on board to dupe you in to believing there’s a virus for nefarious reasons.

With the news out of the US putting me in a sour mood, I sat and thought about something positive to come out of our confinement in France for me personally. That thing is getting back to loving cooking much more and having the time to experiment with cooking.

I cook a lot, but I had gotten in such a rut with cooking. I was making the same few things over and over because I knew the shopping list in my head, they were relatively quick to make and I didn’t have to hunt down ingredients or find French substitutes.

While I haven’t been inspired much to write about travel, I have been inspired to experiment in the kitchen. When Tim wanted Chinese food (American Chinese food, that is) I looked up a recipe for Kung Pao kitchen and then massively adapted it for the ingredients I could get. And I enjoy sitting down to plan our menu again, which is something I always used to do.

The meal isn’t always picture perfect and plated like art, but it is always pretty damn delicious.

Le Lockdown Day 37: April 22

It’s Earth Day today – the 50th year of the celebration of Earth Day. And while nearly a third of the planet is in some sort of lockdown, the Earth has been working away on regenerating herself.

It may feel like life has stopped to many of us, but it very much is continuing on without us. Pollution levels have drastically reduced. Air quality has improved in major cities around the world. Animals are getting curious and exploring where they usually don’t because of the hustle and bustle of people.

Life has gone on. And if there’s one positive that has come out of all this, it’s been this time for Mother Earth to heal herself a bit.

It’s definitely something to think about as restrictions slowly begin to ease and we return to life outside our homes. Our presence and daily activities clearly impact so much. How can we make less of an impact on this planet going forward?

Climate change has been a regular topic of conversation here in Bordeaux as wine makers consider how to replan their vineyards for the ever changing weather and global warming. Will it still be possible to grow the typical Bordeaux grape varietals or will they adapt to the changing climate?

Tonight Estelle Roumage, owner and winemaker at Château Lestrille, joined my Virtual Wine Tasting. And we talked a bit about how Bordeaux wine has changed over the centuries. When the English ruled over the Aquitaine, Bordeaux wine looked very, very different to what it does today.

So even while most of us are home and unable to commune with nature on this 50th anniversary of Earth Day, we should give thanks for our beautiful planet. We should think about changes we can commit to that help keep her clean. Because even small things help ensure our planet will still be here for many more generations to come.

Le Lockdown Day 39: April 24

We’ve made it to another Friday in Bordeaux.

This week has been a bit rough. I don’t know if it’s just the days after the 30 day point, the gray and rainy weather, or a combination of it all.

The sun returned today and it felt like a flurry of activity as everyone went outside. We saw more people out and about today than all week.

We hadn’t been grocery shopping since the Friday before Easter. And as I queued up for over 40 minutes just to get in the grocery store, I remembered why. The experience can only be described as hellish these days.

We really only have one big grocery store within our 1 kilometer radius. And it’s the same big grocery store for just about the entire population of the centre of Bordeaux. It’s a stressful experience with too many people not respecting social distancing.

I did a big shop and we’ll be fine with a top up of essentials in our smaller city grocery markets, which are far more civilized. We even said that at this point, if we can’t get it at our smaller stores that don’t have lines and crowds, then we can live without for the time being.

After that, Bordeaux Window Apéro was much needed! In addition to accras, some smoked duck and cheese, I made my friend Lauren’s garlic shrimp from the cookbook she’s recently put together from her Devour Tours food tours.

We paired it all with a bottle of Château Lestrille Entre-Deux-Mers.

Unfortunately, we had to relocate indoors this evening for Window Apéro. It was starting to sprinkle.

The weekend will also be rainy, which is fine. We haven’t been going out for our walks on weekends because it feels like too many people are out and about.

Le Lockdown Day 41: April 26

And on Day 41, we can add no water to the situation.

It would be bad enough to have the water to your entire building go out on a normal Sunday in France. But of course, we are in a pandemic! The water meter is located in the basement, only accessible through one of the businesses downstairs. So the water company can’t help. Our property management company isn’t working because of Coronavirus. And of course, the business isn’t open either.

We didn’t even have bottles of water. We’re all environmentally friendly and use a Brita water pitcher at our house, so only had that water to wash our hands and brush our teeth.

In desperate times, you wait until the restaurants open up and see who is open that you can order water from!

Hopefully we can get in touch with our syndic (French for the company we pay to manage our property) tomorrow to get the water fixed.

Not only am I super irritated that I couldn’t do my laundry, wash dishes or even flush a toilet. But I can’t take a shower or get cleaned up, so that meant no walk today.

I’ve barely been out of the house for my daily hour of exercise this week. The weather has been shit. Today was nice and I was all set to get showered and go out for my walk.

Of course, the weather forecast for the upcoming week is another rainy week. I feel like I’ve been spiraling into a hole of despair this past week and I really needed to have some sunshine on me and that walk to shake out of my bitchy, shitty mood.

At least we had leftovers from the pasta fagioli and biscuits I made last night, so dinner is covered.

Le Lockdown Day 43: April 28, 14 Days until Deconfinement

Today we begin a new countdown. A countdown to deconfinement. The ending of our strict lockdown in France.

This afternoon the Prime Minister spoke, laying out the plan for ending the lockdown. Though he cautioned repeatedly that at any point that cases begin to increase again or that people do not respect social distancing, we could very well find ourselves right back in confinement.

It seems we are heading to a new normal. Living with the virus, while managing to stay safe and healthy. If our cases fall below 3000 per day, from May 11 we will begin the deconfinement in most of France. Regions will be put into two categories: green for those with few cases and red for hot spots.

Here in Bordeaux the plan is for all shops to reopen. Parks and the quais will reopen. School will resume slowly. We will be able to move about within 100 km (62 miles) of home. It will be compulsory to wear masks on public transportation, in high traffic areas like the parks, quais and city centre. Shops may deny entry to patrons not wearing masks if they do choose.

Beaches, restaurants, cinemas, theaters and large museums will remain closed. Trains will operate, but on reduced schedules and pre-booking is required, largely to deter unnecessary travel. Gatherings of more than 10 people are prohibited. Tourism remains largely on hold…for now.

As the Prime Minister said, now is not the time for a weekend getaway.

Non-residents will have to continue to wait to visit France. And as much as I’d like life, tourism and my business to resume, this is the best decision for greater good without a vaccine.

I have so much anxiety these days, to be completely honest.

First there’s the deconfinement. We live smack in the city centre on an extremely trafficked street that has been far from empty even during the lockdown. People from throughout the Bordeaux Métropole will no doubt soon flood the streets again with the opening of the parks and quais. Will we feel even more trapped at home by crowds and an invisible virus lurking? It’s definitely time to investigate nature we can head out to within our 100 kilometer range to escape.

But beyond deconfinement, I feel so much anxiety just about our position. Like it’s now a precarious one. Bordeaux is home in every sense of the word to us, but now I worry over whether our visas will be renewed. We both have to do that annually and it’s very much based on maintaining a good status. It’s something that stresses me out each year under normal circumstances, and more than ever now.

Pictured: tonight’s trip to “Outback Steakhouse” with my version of their Alice Springs chicken (minus the mushrooms since Tim doesn’t like ‘shrooms) served with duck fat fries and an Australian Shiraz.

Le Lockdown Day 44: April 29, 13 Days until Deconfinement

Aside from going to get groceries last Friday, I actually had not been out of the house for the hour of exercise since over a week ago. Between rain and our weekend without water, I just didn’t go out.

Today I needed to go out. Even though it sprinkled on me the entire time, I walked and stretched my legs in the misty rain.

But not even the rain is keeping people inside these days. With every day that passes, more and more people are on the streets. Aside from the shops themselves still being closed, our street now looks like it did on most mornings before COVID-19 with a flurry of activity, deliveries and foot traffic.

We’ve had cheese – good cheese from fromageries – every week. We’ve discovered some new-to-us cheese shops during this time. But I was so happy to find my long-time neighborhood fromagerie has finally reopened. I’ve bought my cheese at this shop for the four years I’ve now called Bordeaux home, and I legitimately missed not only their cheese but the employees.

It’s order online and pick up, so I quickly placed our order and nabbed a time slot to pick up the order today.

Now I have my absolute favorite Brillant Savarin with truffle to look forward to tomorrow. And there’s just something about the Comté, with the little crystals that form as their Comté ages. It’s the most heavenly little bite with the smooth nuttiness broken up with the burst of the crystals in your mouth.

On Day 44, it’s really the little things like a favorite cheese that take the edge off at this point.

And we “traveled in a bottle” tonight, opening up a bottle of Turkish wine from Cappadocia Tim bought on the Mongol Rally last summer. I made homemade meatballs and marinara for meatball subs tonight, and put a little of the wine in both the meatballs and the sauce.

Le Lockdown Day 45: April 30, 12 Days until Deconfinement

You know how all those overachievers are learning new skills in confinement? That has definitely not been me. But today I did successfully shuck my first oysters ever.

I’ve eaten oysters by the dozens and dozens since moving to Bordeaux. But the beauty of oyster cabanas and the market is I’ve never, ever had to shuck one myself.

Desperate times! When one of the restaurants opened up as an epicurean market selling local produce, meat and oysters from local producers who usually supply Brasserie Bordelaise, I couldn’t resist. We bought an oyster knife and “took a trip” to the Bassin with a plate of Cap Ferret oysters.

Shockingly – or should I say shuckingly (see what I did there?), I didn’t hurt myself AND I didn’t have broken bits of shell in the oysters. Nova Scotia’s idiots guide to shucking an oyster with step-by-step illustrations for the win!

So there you go. I learned a new skill. I’m no longer a total slacker, but a shucker.

It’s been a wet one out there today. But the weather let up and the sun even came out for my trip down the street to buy my oysters. And I got a short walk in making a lap down to the river and back.

The French government laid out the initial map of red and green zones, and threw in yellow to the mix. Not surprisingly, the north east of France is almost entirely red. And here in the South West, we are green.

I actually made a hair appointment with my salon, who is now accepting appointments from May 11. I’m giving it a week for everyone to adjust to the new normal. I don’t want to be the first experiment in cutting hair while both me and my stylist wear masks. We’ll see if the appointment happens.

It’s still all very much one day at a time these days.

Le Lockdown Day 50: May 5, 7 Days until Deconfinement

Bonjour and Happy Cinco de Mayo! It’s been a few days. After nearly two full weeks of rainy, gray days, the sun has come back. Literally blazing. We hit 85F yesterday.

With the return of the sun since Sunday coupled with anticipation of the easing of the lockdown, Bordeaux is already bustling. Our street, one of the busiest pedestrian streets in the center, has been an absolute flurry of activity. Businesses long shuttered have been receiving deliveries to ready themselves for re-opening. Construction suddenly abandoned almost two months ago now echoes through the streets as saws buzz and drills drone.

Thursday is the day President Macron is to address us next with the new measures. I have no doubt the deconfinement will proceed. But a lot about what that looks like has been speculation until this point. We’re all anxiously awaiting to see what the next phase will bring.

What we do know for sure is that the state of emergency has been extended until July 24. And what that means is that if cases start to suddenly climb again, the government can reinstate the lockdown or other necessary measures to protect the public health.

How do I feel? Excited for some things like being able to get in the car and drive to our preferred supermarkets, or hell, just being able to go for a drive up to 100 kilometers from home. But also very nervous that too many people will rush out too soon and it will be hard to social distance.

It will be strange. It’s been 50 days that we have been confined to a 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) radius of home and only allowed out for 1 hour per day.

Luckily we have a car and can take a drive to escape and we don’t have to go out if it looks too busy. After 7pm, when all businesses close it should be quiet and after dinner may become our new time to walk. As with so much lately, it’s one day at a time and wait and see.

It’s Cinco de Mayo. There may not have been margaritas, but we had a fajita feast to mark the occasion. And gin & tonics go great with fajitas when margarita fixings cannot be found.

Le Lockdown Day 52: May 7, 4 Days until Deconfinement

Well, it is official. The Prime Minister spoke this afternoon, and to much criticism about it being premature, France will officially start deconfinement from Monday, May 11.

The regions have been classified as red or green, based upon number of cases. As expected our region, the Nouvelle Aquitaine, is green. We never had an outbreak here in Bordeaux, and the CHU Hospital served to relieve hard hit regions like the Greater Paris and Grand Est regions with patients being transferred here.

Schools and all shops can reopen from Monday. Here in Bordeaux, parks and the quai will also reopen. An attestation is only required from Monday if taking public transportation during rush hour. Certain streets in the center that are the busiest will require the wearing of masks. We will be able to go up to 100km (62 miles) from home, and the website that showed our 1km radius has been updated to show our 100km radius.

Restaurants, bars, cinemas and beaches will remained closed until at least June. They could be included in the next phase of deconfinement if the green regions remain green.

Since I get loads of questions about international travel, the Prime Minister also said that the borders will remain closed to non-residents and non-essential travel until further notice. Possibility of opening borders with neighboring EU counties like Germany, Belgium, Spain, ect will be re-evaluated next on June 15 only if the regions already designated green remain green.

I’ve been thinking a lot about deconfinement. Living smack in the center of Bordeaux, this week has already been vastly different despite still being in lockdown. Our street has looked and been as busy with deliveries, people and life as any weekday pre-COVID.

It’s very odd. It’s not that I’ve enjoyed the lockdown, but in a way I already miss parts of it. It was very surreal in the beginning to wander the normally busiest streets of Bordeaux with often not another soul around. But it became very peaceful and that time outside was often everything. I appreciated the time to stop and take in the empty monuments and squares. I got aquatinted with details I’d long forgotten about or maybe never even noticed before. Barring a return to lockdown in the way the first 50 days was, we will never again witness such quiet and serenity on these streets.

Tomorrow is a public holiday in France, marking another long weekend. The weather will be beautiful tomorrow, followed by thunderstorms over the weekend.

I’m continuing to cook loads, of course. I made my sausage and ricotta pasta bake, but this time as stuffed shells. We paired it with the rest of the Château Cantenac Selection Madame from last night’s virtual wine tasting.

And I do have more virtual wine tastings scheduled. The next one will actually be live from the château and I’ll be able to “take” attendees in to the vines and winery.

So I just keep going day to day and adapting as best I can to an ever-changing new normal. What else can you do?

Le Lockdown Day 53: May 8, 3 Days until Deconfinement

We sat on our sun-kissed balcony this evening enjoying our last tranquil window apéro. Already gone is the extreme quiet when you could hear the pounding steps of a lone runner coming from a distance.

As we sat outside on the balcony, someone dropped a pack of tissues on the street. Then a dog sniffed that pack, lifted his leg and peed on that pack of tissues. And 30 minutes later a dude picked up that pack of tissues and put them in his pocket like he’d found a €50 bill or gold on the street.

Humanity is doomed.

In all seriousness, this thing is not over. It won’t be until we have a vaccine. And just because we’re being given more freedom, it shouldn’t be an occasion to throw away everything the last two months of confinement has been for. We must be careful and try harder for our fellow humans.

It was an absolutely beautiful afternoon. We each went for our walks, first me and then Tim.

I lingered longer than usual on squares like Place de la Comédie and Place du Parliament. Life is very much already returning, but in only days we will never again see these places empty of people in the middle of a sun filled afternoon. The sounds of the city will once again fade out the sounds of the birds chirping. I’ll truly miss that. It’s no longer weird and eerie, but instead tranquil.

But I also had a mission and lingering too long isn’t allowed. Two missions, actually.

First to pick up our cheese order. The French are being encouraged to eat more cheese as farmers and producers have been left with a surplus of stock. Well, we’re definitely doing our part and consuming cheese.

Second, I was on the hunt for masks. Lockdown and a French public holiday is a terrible time to hunt for masks. But we realized too late last night that we haven’t received ours let from them City of Bordeaux. And we just happen to live on one of two streets where masks are mandatory from Monday.

I’ll have to go out tomorrow and hope the shop I know selling cloth masks is open or that I can get some disposable masks from a pharmacy. None of the pharmacies I passed were open today and neither was the shop I’d seen selling the cloth masks.

Le Lockdown Day 54: May 9, 2 Days until Deconfinement

I went on what is likely my last walk of confinement. Tomorrow looks to be very rainy all day. It’s unlikely at 5:20pm Place de la Comédie will ever be as empty as this again.

Already this afternoon Rue Sainte-Catherine, Europe’s longest pedestrian shopping street, was packed with people. I only crossed it on my way to the shop I knew of selling reusable cloth masks.

The mask finding mission was at least a success. We each have washable, reusable cloth masks now.

I guess we’re ready for Monday. Or at least as ready as you can be when we’ll yet again wake up to some bizarre “new normal”.

Le Lockdown Day 55: May 10, 1 Days until Deconfinement

It was 55 days ago that we suddenly woke up to a changed world. We were in Martinique, and technically on a tiny little island with a lone historic home serving as a private island getaway.

The next days were surreal as we finished my 40th birthday trip confined to a hotel room. We took the strangest, eeriest trip home with fellow scared and weary travelers packing airports that were largely shutdown and piling on to completely full planes in almost dead silence.

Panic buying ensued. Lining up at the grocery store became the new normal. Something we used to do every 3-4 days was pared back to first shopping only every 8 days, and then further to every 14 days to limit our exposure in our chaotic supermarket. We only visited smaller city markets for essentials between big shops.

We’ve been confined at home with the exception of 1 hour of exercise within 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) of home. Filling out a legal document declaring the purpose for leaving home became as routine as putting on pair of shoes.

Two weeks of confinement was extended into nearly two months.

And for 55 nights we waited for the call of a bugle horn to join our neighbors at balconies and windows to applaud the healthcare and essential workers who put themselves and their families at risk to treat and serve us.

I have no idea what awaits us next. What will be as weird as the lockdown was in the beginning will soon enough become the new normal.

If there’s anything that these past two months has taught me, it’s that the world can literally change in the blink of an eye. And we’re all just along for the ride, trying to adapt as best we can, and that none of us handles that change in the same way.