I very much enjoyed reading your thoughts about Paris and your life in Chinon. I stayed at Hotel Diderot during my first trip to France in October 2007. It was quite cold then and my most vibrant memory is of having breakfast near the warmth of the massive fireplace, sitting at the community table with an impossible variety of jam jars lined up down the middle. Although born of necessity, thank you for carrying on the hotel’s traditions and writing about them! It brings back wonderful memories!!
Thank you, Lori. I always get a kick out of meeting people who have stayed at the Diderot before us. But now it is time for you to come back now that I'm here! That would be fun!
Create your own opportunity to stay at Jamie’s hotel. It’s an easy side trip from Paris. Totally charming guest rooms and Chinon is worth exploring. You won’t be disappointed!
I love this Jamie. I have always loved reading about your life in France, but especially now that I have been there. You bring it all to life so beautifully as only you can do. I (we) absolutely loved Chinon, and will be forever grateful to have been introduced by you to your beautiful corner of the world. I haven’t felt as “at home” as I did there, in most places I’ve visited. This is in spite of , or maybe because of, language and ( less than I anticipated) cultural differences.
I hope to one day return.
Thank you for being you, your beautiful writing, and for allowing me the opportunity to share a bit of it. 💕🤗
Thank you, my lovely beautiful friend. One of the greatest highlights of my 11 years here was have you (two) at the hotel. Reconnecting with you! I still can't get over it. I do hope you come back! xoxox
We felt exactly the same way! I feel like Chinon and the Hotel are my happy place, the place where I can step away from the madding world and breath more easily, sleep more peacefully, and reconnect with a sense of grace which the rush-rush-rush of everyday life makes elusive.
I really must focus on food now in order to save my sanity. And it always makes me so happy that my writing, stories, and recipes can be someone else's escape.
My first love is Paris! Other girls swoon at the idea of New York, but I loved the place since I stayed with a girl I met on exchange when I was 13! I had the privilege of staying with a girl who knew Paris from birth (can’t remember the number of the arrondissement). Went to a family wedding, a Dior retrospective, saw La Giaconda for the first time, and fell in love with pate baguettes! (Also Crepes de Sucre)
I marvel at the grit you and your husband have! I adore cooking, hence me following you originally. But I can’t imagine running a hotel, at least without a healthy dose of doubt!
When/if we ever get out from our own financial crisis, Chinon will be on our list! xx
Your writing is divine. I was so entrenched in the Paris story, I was disturbed when you moved to the Chinon part, and then, I was entrenched again. Writing has in no way eluded you, it has embraced you, and you it. And you turned a magical story into magical stories, with lovely, involved tributaries. You so beautifully report on everything from marmalade, to the history of France….it is quite something. I was thinking about the group of folks I met on Twitter, and how fantastic many of them are, and how the conversations were so rich, when the entire platform was hi-jacked, and stolen, and those people scattered. It was indeed a theft, yet another of Musk’s, damn that group is good at theft. But they can’t take away the good stuff. That you are still at it, and sharing so prolifically, is precisely that. Good stuff. Big hug.
Darling Marc. I don’t know how to respond to that beautiful comment except to say I agree with you about losing our wonderful twitter community and that I’m so happy we’re still in touch and I dearly love and appreciate you xo
Thank you. I really need to add more of these personal pieces to my food. Thank you, Lisa, for reading and sharing. It makes ma happy to know you enjoy my Substack.
I understand this in ways it's hard to explain. Never thought I'd be a national political radio talk show host, but here I am, doing that, for similar reasons to you.
So much of the world today is focused on the young, and when we reach a certain point of age, where we're no longer young, but certainly not old, it seems that so many societies no longer have places for us. To believe the attitude they display is to believe we're all to have been lucky, worked hard, made any significant monies while we were truly young, and now that we've reach middle age, we're to go away and not bother them, if we're not already locked in somewhere at the top of the wealth pyramid.
It's a sickening and disgusting attitude, with no realization of reality. And yet it clearly exists, here in the States, and there in France.
For now, we'll push forward, doing what we can, for as you note, there's no real chance to just drop it all and run away.
If I did have such chance, I know that I'd go visit Hotel Diderot.
Thanks for this thoughtful (and thought provoking) comment. I sadly agree with you. But it makes me think about how all of our lives we are put into boxes with rules, regulations, expectations. I never fit in the mold - I ran away from the mold whenever I could - and we're usually punished in some way for breaking out of that societal mold and those expectations. It's stressful, but it would be so much worse if we shrugged our shoulders and said "well, why not? It'll be so much easier just to fall in line and conform. Most people do." I don't know how to express beyond that thought - we should talk about it on your show (wink wink) but even on the days that I am so sad and hopeless I think "well, gosh, at least I did what I wanted to and lived some kind of weird adventure."
Agreed, being outside the mold is rarely easy. At this point in my 50-some years, I don't know how to live any other way, and I'm not sure I'd want to.
It would be fun to have you on the show, and we do have some listeners in Europe. It would need to be the correct set of topics, but I've kept that thought in mind, and am just looking for the right opportunity for it.
As for visiting, I too would love that at some point. For now, back to doing prep work for this weeks' shows. Porte-toi bien, mon ami, and keep finding those moments of peace among the busy hustle of our lives.
"But we’ve never had the pleasure or privilege to live solely on our dreams, no matter how many quirky, risky, ultimately exciting changes we’ve made in our lives. We had to earn a living."
I loved this piece and learning more about how your Chinon hotel "adventure," in other words job, came to be. My French life dreams were also constrained by the annoying necessity of earning a living -- why do we not read that much on here about that? (Rhetorical question.)
You've done so well with your writing and research considering everything else that you've had on your plate, so congratulations!
Oh, I definitely get it. It makes me think of when friends in the US say to me “I bet you just go to Italy all the time!” I usually end up explaining how it is actually further away than they think, but it’s not really that, is it? It’s life marching on.
I had the pleasure of staying in your hotel in the spring of 2024 when I was in the region for Vignerons Dans La Ville. It was utterly charming! I had a wonderful stay - and your preserves were scrumptious! I spend a lot of time in the Loire for my work, and I adore this region so much. I recommend your hotel whenever I’m asked for travel tips for the region.
I wish you could come back now that we "know" each other better. It would be fun! Next time you're in the Loire, do come to Chinon so we can lunch-and-wine together!
I liked your approach to Paris and I understand that it makes a good break for you, probably not often enough, in between the hassle of your business.
My husband, French, at 53 and later myself at 50, found ourselves needing to create job situations and make them stick, like you say, to make a living and raise our kids.
I'm glad you do find some corners of time for your recipe research and to write these pieces with your particular point of view!
A lovely reverie, Jamie, thank you! My husband and I recently returned from our first trip to Paris to celebrate my 70th birthday and our 40th anniversary. We traveled with a US group (Road Scholar) and I credit Odile and Jerome for giving us a strong historical, architectural, artistic and geographic foundation to Paris. Now that we are home again, I can foresee a "next" trip to Paris, but just the two of us to see and do things we certainly missed. Maybe we will take the train to Chinon and explore!
Thank you, Amy, so much. And a very happy (belated) birthday and anniversary. Traveling to a new place is definitely the only proper gift! Yes, you must return on your own - traveling in a group is an excellent way to understand and feel comfortable in a place, and a good way to understand what you need to go back and see on a deeper level. And you must travel outside of Paris to see the "other" France....
Yes, more travel outside of Paris is what I'd like to do next! In fact, after our group experience disbanded at the end of the week, my husband and I took a regional train to Lille (which, coincidentally is the "sister city" to Buffalo, NY, where we live) and we spent 4 days exploring that lovely, smaller city. We also enjoyed a day trip to Robaix, where we discovered La Piscine Museum, a fantastic re-purposing of a former indoor swimming facility that had been abandoned for decades. I think La Piscine was one of the top 10 experiences of our adventure. Astonishingly beautiful and the collection is amazing. So much more to experience in France.
So good, Jamie, and we are aligned on the real world as opposed to the glitz and glamour. I cannot wait to come see you and your lovely hotel (and of course the food)! Really such a lovely article, just love the way you write, like we’re at a table having a conversation.
A lovely piece. Thank you Jamie. As you seem to have been living in Chinon for quite a bit, i suppose you recite the following poem on your train ride home from Paris:
I very much enjoyed reading your thoughts about Paris and your life in Chinon. I stayed at Hotel Diderot during my first trip to France in October 2007. It was quite cold then and my most vibrant memory is of having breakfast near the warmth of the massive fireplace, sitting at the community table with an impossible variety of jam jars lined up down the middle. Although born of necessity, thank you for carrying on the hotel’s traditions and writing about them! It brings back wonderful memories!!
Thank you, Lori. I always get a kick out of meeting people who have stayed at the Diderot before us. But now it is time for you to come back now that I'm here! That would be fun!
Bon Chance! Your article was wonderful. Mercci
Thank you, Deena!
Create your own opportunity to stay at Jamie’s hotel. It’s an easy side trip from Paris. Totally charming guest rooms and Chinon is worth exploring. You won’t be disappointed!
Thank you so much, Bonnie! xo
I love this Jamie. I have always loved reading about your life in France, but especially now that I have been there. You bring it all to life so beautifully as only you can do. I (we) absolutely loved Chinon, and will be forever grateful to have been introduced by you to your beautiful corner of the world. I haven’t felt as “at home” as I did there, in most places I’ve visited. This is in spite of , or maybe because of, language and ( less than I anticipated) cultural differences.
I hope to one day return.
Thank you for being you, your beautiful writing, and for allowing me the opportunity to share a bit of it. 💕🤗
Thank you, my lovely beautiful friend. One of the greatest highlights of my 11 years here was have you (two) at the hotel. Reconnecting with you! I still can't get over it. I do hope you come back! xoxox
We felt exactly the same way! I feel like Chinon and the Hotel are my happy place, the place where I can step away from the madding world and breath more easily, sleep more peacefully, and reconnect with a sense of grace which the rush-rush-rush of everyday life makes elusive.
I found your writing very refreshing after my usual read of latest alarmist (and yes, alarming) news headlines.
I really must focus on food now in order to save my sanity. And it always makes me so happy that my writing, stories, and recipes can be someone else's escape.
My first love is Paris! Other girls swoon at the idea of New York, but I loved the place since I stayed with a girl I met on exchange when I was 13! I had the privilege of staying with a girl who knew Paris from birth (can’t remember the number of the arrondissement). Went to a family wedding, a Dior retrospective, saw La Giaconda for the first time, and fell in love with pate baguettes! (Also Crepes de Sucre)
I marvel at the grit you and your husband have! I adore cooking, hence me following you originally. But I can’t imagine running a hotel, at least without a healthy dose of doubt!
When/if we ever get out from our own financial crisis, Chinon will be on our list! xx
Thank you so much, Hannah, and thank you for reading my Substack. I would love to be able to welcome you to Chinon one day!
Your writing is divine. I was so entrenched in the Paris story, I was disturbed when you moved to the Chinon part, and then, I was entrenched again. Writing has in no way eluded you, it has embraced you, and you it. And you turned a magical story into magical stories, with lovely, involved tributaries. You so beautifully report on everything from marmalade, to the history of France….it is quite something. I was thinking about the group of folks I met on Twitter, and how fantastic many of them are, and how the conversations were so rich, when the entire platform was hi-jacked, and stolen, and those people scattered. It was indeed a theft, yet another of Musk’s, damn that group is good at theft. But they can’t take away the good stuff. That you are still at it, and sharing so prolifically, is precisely that. Good stuff. Big hug.
Darling Marc. I don’t know how to respond to that beautiful comment except to say I agree with you about losing our wonderful twitter community and that I’m so happy we’re still in touch and I dearly love and appreciate you xo
I enjoyed this piece Jamie, trailing behind you on your escapes to Paris and the twists and turns we take in our lives.
Thank you. I really need to add more of these personal pieces to my food. Thank you, Lisa, for reading and sharing. It makes ma happy to know you enjoy my Substack.
Dido Jamie
I understand this in ways it's hard to explain. Never thought I'd be a national political radio talk show host, but here I am, doing that, for similar reasons to you.
So much of the world today is focused on the young, and when we reach a certain point of age, where we're no longer young, but certainly not old, it seems that so many societies no longer have places for us. To believe the attitude they display is to believe we're all to have been lucky, worked hard, made any significant monies while we were truly young, and now that we've reach middle age, we're to go away and not bother them, if we're not already locked in somewhere at the top of the wealth pyramid.
It's a sickening and disgusting attitude, with no realization of reality. And yet it clearly exists, here in the States, and there in France.
For now, we'll push forward, doing what we can, for as you note, there's no real chance to just drop it all and run away.
If I did have such chance, I know that I'd go visit Hotel Diderot.
Thanks for this thoughtful (and thought provoking) comment. I sadly agree with you. But it makes me think about how all of our lives we are put into boxes with rules, regulations, expectations. I never fit in the mold - I ran away from the mold whenever I could - and we're usually punished in some way for breaking out of that societal mold and those expectations. It's stressful, but it would be so much worse if we shrugged our shoulders and said "well, why not? It'll be so much easier just to fall in line and conform. Most people do." I don't know how to express beyond that thought - we should talk about it on your show (wink wink) but even on the days that I am so sad and hopeless I think "well, gosh, at least I did what I wanted to and lived some kind of weird adventure."
I wish you could visit, my friend.
Agreed, being outside the mold is rarely easy. At this point in my 50-some years, I don't know how to live any other way, and I'm not sure I'd want to.
It would be fun to have you on the show, and we do have some listeners in Europe. It would need to be the correct set of topics, but I've kept that thought in mind, and am just looking for the right opportunity for it.
As for visiting, I too would love that at some point. For now, back to doing prep work for this weeks' shows. Porte-toi bien, mon ami, and keep finding those moments of peace among the busy hustle of our lives.
"But we’ve never had the pleasure or privilege to live solely on our dreams, no matter how many quirky, risky, ultimately exciting changes we’ve made in our lives. We had to earn a living."
I loved this piece and learning more about how your Chinon hotel "adventure," in other words job, came to be. My French life dreams were also constrained by the annoying necessity of earning a living -- why do we not read that much on here about that? (Rhetorical question.)
You've done so well with your writing and research considering everything else that you've had on your plate, so congratulations!
Thank you for this.
I am truly happy you get this!!!
Oh, I definitely get it. It makes me think of when friends in the US say to me “I bet you just go to Italy all the time!” I usually end up explaining how it is actually further away than they think, but it’s not really that, is it? It’s life marching on.
But Betty!!! You’re living the dream!!!! 🤯🤯🤯
😅😅😅😅
I had the pleasure of staying in your hotel in the spring of 2024 when I was in the region for Vignerons Dans La Ville. It was utterly charming! I had a wonderful stay - and your preserves were scrumptious! I spend a lot of time in the Loire for my work, and I adore this region so much. I recommend your hotel whenever I’m asked for travel tips for the region.
I wish you could come back now that we "know" each other better. It would be fun! Next time you're in the Loire, do come to Chinon so we can lunch-and-wine together!
I would love that ! 😊
I liked your approach to Paris and I understand that it makes a good break for you, probably not often enough, in between the hassle of your business.
My husband, French, at 53 and later myself at 50, found ourselves needing to create job situations and make them stick, like you say, to make a living and raise our kids.
I'm glad you do find some corners of time for your recipe research and to write these pieces with your particular point of view!
Thank you so much, Kathy. And I'm glad so many people understand all of that! Thank you for always being such a wonderful support!
Je t'en prie. 😊
À un de ses jours à Chinon !
Oh j’espère bien!!
A lovely reverie, Jamie, thank you! My husband and I recently returned from our first trip to Paris to celebrate my 70th birthday and our 40th anniversary. We traveled with a US group (Road Scholar) and I credit Odile and Jerome for giving us a strong historical, architectural, artistic and geographic foundation to Paris. Now that we are home again, I can foresee a "next" trip to Paris, but just the two of us to see and do things we certainly missed. Maybe we will take the train to Chinon and explore!
Thank you, Amy, so much. And a very happy (belated) birthday and anniversary. Traveling to a new place is definitely the only proper gift! Yes, you must return on your own - traveling in a group is an excellent way to understand and feel comfortable in a place, and a good way to understand what you need to go back and see on a deeper level. And you must travel outside of Paris to see the "other" France....
Yes, more travel outside of Paris is what I'd like to do next! In fact, after our group experience disbanded at the end of the week, my husband and I took a regional train to Lille (which, coincidentally is the "sister city" to Buffalo, NY, where we live) and we spent 4 days exploring that lovely, smaller city. We also enjoyed a day trip to Robaix, where we discovered La Piscine Museum, a fantastic re-purposing of a former indoor swimming facility that had been abandoned for decades. I think La Piscine was one of the top 10 experiences of our adventure. Astonishingly beautiful and the collection is amazing. So much more to experience in France.
Every post you make is a love story to Chinon. Even after all these years, I can still see it, hear it, breathe it, because of your posts. Merci!
Thank you, James, my friend. I would love to see you both here again.
So good, Jamie, and we are aligned on the real world as opposed to the glitz and glamour. I cannot wait to come see you and your lovely hotel (and of course the food)! Really such a lovely article, just love the way you write, like we’re at a table having a conversation.
Much love, my friend 💙
John Paul, darling.... are you saying that I have no glamour??? Or glitz???
Thank you, my love, for your love and support and I am waiting for you to visit! We have so much to talk about! xoxo
Ha, no one has more than you! I literally can’t wait to make it over there. ❤️
A lovely piece. Thank you Jamie. As you seem to have been living in Chinon for quite a bit, i suppose you recite the following poem on your train ride home from Paris:
Heureux qui, comme Ulysse, a fait un beau voyage,
Ou comme celui-là qui conquit la toison,
Et puis est retourné, plein d'usage et raison,
Vivre entre ses parents le reste de son âge !
Quand reverrai-je, hélas, de mon petit village
Fumer la cheminée, et en quelle saison
Reverrai-je le clos de ma pauvre maison,
Qui m'est une province, et beaucoup davantage ?
Plus me plaît le séjour qu'ont bâti mes aïeux,
Que des palais Romains le front audacieux,
Plus que le marbre dur me plaît l'ardoise fine :
Plus mon Loir gaulois, que le Tibre latin,
Plus mon petit Liré, que le mont Palatin,
Et plus que l'air marin la douceur angevine.
Joachim du Bellay.
Enjoy!
Nicolas
Nicolas, that's so lovely! And I have never heard it before. I guess I need to memorize it. Thank you for sharing!