Today was my last day driving in France as I had to give up the company car I'd been using the last 6 months. I somehow managed to avoid getting in an accident the entire time, even with the crazy French drivers, confusing signs, tight parking, random stop lights, unmarked lanes, and the whole ridiculous Priorité à droite
thing. It's not to say it wasn't stressful at times though, and I'm looking forward to driving back in the US where people follow the rules, lanes are clearly marked, and one way and two way streets don't look exactly the same.
This is our last weekend in France. We both love living in Europe, and Paris has really started to grow on us (though it may be because Kara can finally speak French and that it's no longer dark most of the day). I'm both excited to get home to where things are just "easy", but also sad to leave the mystery of the unknown. I do miss my old role at work so I'm definitely looking forward to that, but there's so many little things I'm going to miss about living in Paris. I know we'll definitely try to come back to Europe one way or another in the future.
Now it's time to start packing and figuring out how to squeeze everything back into our suitcases. You only get 1 litre of alcohol a person so I'm trying to figure out what my two favorite bottles of wine were. I should have been writing this down! If only I could also import the bread too....
Friday, March 28, 2014
Thursday, March 27, 2014
French Music III
One of the things I will miss the most about living overseas is the much wider variety of music on pop radio. So here's what's popular now in France that I like, that may or may not be hitting the US soon:
The translation is actually helping my French!
A lot of French radio is techno heavy with English refrains, like this song
One of the biggest French rappers
Heard this on the radio all the time and it got in my head!
The translation is actually helping my French!
A lot of French radio is techno heavy with English refrains, like this song
One of the biggest French rappers
Heard this on the radio all the time and it got in my head!
Vaux-le-Vicomte
Today was a day of lasts. One of those was visiting our last château on the to-do list: Vaux le Vicomte. We would have done it earlier but it's actually closed most of the winter. It only opened back up March 9th.
Some people argue that it's the best château in France, which is understandable as it was the inspiration for Versailles. But inspiration in a tragic way unfortunately. King Louis XIV was so jealous of what his financier Nicolas Fouquet had built, he had him arrested on trumped up charges and spent the rest of his life in prison. And meanwhile used Fouquet's same architects to build Versailles.
It's actually a bit difficult to get to if you don't have a car (there are some shuttle buses from the nearest train station on the weekends in the summer apparently) so I knew we had to take advantage while I still had car access (which I give that up on Friday). I took the afternoon off work and we drove there.
It was quite eleaborate inside, and the audio guide delved into the history of Fouquet. The grounds are the most stunning part, and a lot of the literally groundbreaking gardening and perspective techniques were then used at Versailles.
But after visiting half a dozen castles around France, the best French château in my opinion is still Fontainebleau. It's got the best and most extravegant interior and has a lot of history associated with it, and is easy to get to from Paris. Honestly I'd recommend it over Versailles. Kara's favorite (and my 2nd favorite) is Chenonceau in the Loire valley. It requires a full day trip with a car, but it does have the most beautiful exterior and has quite a lot of history of its own.
It also marked the last time I'll have to use the portable TomTom my work collegue gave me to use while I was here. It served us well, though sometimes makes some interesting route choices.
We also went up the Eiffel Tower for the last time. Actually the first time for Kara during our trip. The first time she wasn't able to climb the stairs and didn't join my friends who were visiting, and the 2nd time the top was all fogged in. But this time we got reservations (only time available was the last one at 9:30pm) and it actually turned out to be a clear night!
We got there in time to see the lights sparkling from on the tower, which was really cool. I also had my new D70 with much better low light sensor, so I could get some really good shots. We actually ended up getting kicked off the tower because we stayed till closing and rode down with the workers. But of course the numerous Eiffel Tower model selling guys were still downstairs, trying to get you to buy an Eiffel Tower for a euro. We ended up staying until Midnight to see it sparkle one last time up close. It's sad to leave!
Some people argue that it's the best château in France, which is understandable as it was the inspiration for Versailles. But inspiration in a tragic way unfortunately. King Louis XIV was so jealous of what his financier Nicolas Fouquet had built, he had him arrested on trumped up charges and spent the rest of his life in prison. And meanwhile used Fouquet's same architects to build Versailles.
It's actually a bit difficult to get to if you don't have a car (there are some shuttle buses from the nearest train station on the weekends in the summer apparently) so I knew we had to take advantage while I still had car access (which I give that up on Friday). I took the afternoon off work and we drove there.
It was quite eleaborate inside, and the audio guide delved into the history of Fouquet. The grounds are the most stunning part, and a lot of the literally groundbreaking gardening and perspective techniques were then used at Versailles.
But after visiting half a dozen castles around France, the best French château in my opinion is still Fontainebleau. It's got the best and most extravegant interior and has a lot of history associated with it, and is easy to get to from Paris. Honestly I'd recommend it over Versailles. Kara's favorite (and my 2nd favorite) is Chenonceau in the Loire valley. It requires a full day trip with a car, but it does have the most beautiful exterior and has quite a lot of history of its own.
It also marked the last time I'll have to use the portable TomTom my work collegue gave me to use while I was here. It served us well, though sometimes makes some interesting route choices.
We also went up the Eiffel Tower for the last time. Actually the first time for Kara during our trip. The first time she wasn't able to climb the stairs and didn't join my friends who were visiting, and the 2nd time the top was all fogged in. But this time we got reservations (only time available was the last one at 9:30pm) and it actually turned out to be a clear night!
We got there in time to see the lights sparkling from on the tower, which was really cool. I also had my new D70 with much better low light sensor, so I could get some really good shots. We actually ended up getting kicked off the tower because we stayed till closing and rode down with the workers. But of course the numerous Eiffel Tower model selling guys were still downstairs, trying to get you to buy an Eiffel Tower for a euro. We ended up staying until Midnight to see it sparkle one last time up close. It's sad to leave!
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Czechs in France
Kara's host family from her au pairship came to visit us today. They're from Prague but hadn't spent much time at all in Paris, so the mom and the girl Kara took care of for 3 months 5 years ago came to visit for a few days.
While I was at work they visited the Sacré Cœur and got caught by the infamous bracelet guys. For some reason I'd never seen them in my previous trips there (and I'd been looking for them) but I suppose having 2 females and a small child set off their tourist sensors more than my giant SLR. Apparently they only target those who don't look like they're walking with a purpose, which normally I always do so maybe that's it. Anyways, they all got bracelets and the guys got some small change, so I suppose it worked out for everyone.
We then had some crepes for dinner that they brought back. I'm really going to miss convenient and (relatively) inexpensive crepes within walking distance once we get back to the US.
While I was at work they visited the Sacré Cœur and got caught by the infamous bracelet guys. For some reason I'd never seen them in my previous trips there (and I'd been looking for them) but I suppose having 2 females and a small child set off their tourist sensors more than my giant SLR. Apparently they only target those who don't look like they're walking with a purpose, which normally I always do so maybe that's it. Anyways, they all got bracelets and the guys got some small change, so I suppose it worked out for everyone.
We then had some crepes for dinner that they brought back. I'm really going to miss convenient and (relatively) inexpensive crepes within walking distance once we get back to the US.
Monday, March 24, 2014
Pizza
For some reason Paris felt very crowded today. The train home was packed even at Le Guichet way out on the outskirts of the suburbs, and the line at Monoprix was crazy long to get some wine.
We also bought tickets to the Eiffel Tower on Wednesday night, so hopefully the skies are clear. The forecast says they will be, but I've learned that the forecast is often quite wrong in France.
We also finally visited the local pizza place that is literally 10 meters away from us. It was quite expensive (21€, or $29) for a pizza but was pretty good. But not worth the cost. It's ALWAYS packed though, so I guess they're doing something right.
We also bought tickets to the Eiffel Tower on Wednesday night, so hopefully the skies are clear. The forecast says they will be, but I've learned that the forecast is often quite wrong in France.
We also finally visited the local pizza place that is literally 10 meters away from us. It was quite expensive (21€, or $29) for a pizza but was pretty good. But not worth the cost. It's ALWAYS packed though, so I guess they're doing something right.
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Normandy D-Day Beaches
Visiting the D-Day beaches was one of my "must do's" after we found out we'd be moving to Paris, and so I was really excited to finally get to see such an important part of history. But since we were in Bayeux, and after reading about the sights around the area, we decided to go to the two biggest ones suggested: The Bayeux Tapestry and the Bayeux Cathedral.
I had no idea until the night before how important the Bayeux tapestry was to our understanding of French and English history. If you look up any of the major players around that time (1066) like William the Conqueror, Edward the Confessor, or Harold II, it's all images from the tapestry. And it's not actually technically a tapestry, as it's actually an embroidered cloth.
I'd seen other tapestry's before, like the famous Unicorn one in the Cluny museum, but I was actually really really impressed by this 70 meter (230 feet) long story of the Norman conquest of England. Or in other words, why half of the English language has French origins and why I can read French so easily!
There's a really engaging audio guide that talks you through all the scenes on the tapestry, and then upstairs are some models of the tapestry to explain how it was made (a 1000 years ago!) and life in that era. There's also a film explaining the events of the famous 1066 Battle of Hastings which changed the course of history forever.
The cathedral is then very close by, and was amazingly spared destruction during WWII due to a chaplain getting word to the allies that Bayeux wasn't a Nazi stronghold and didn't need to be bombed. It was actually one of the most impressive churches we've ever been to (and we've been in a LOT of churches) and the stained glass was incredibly impressive. If you're remotely in the area and are remotely interesting in church's, it's definitely a must-do. It's the same size as Notre Dame, but older, and dominates the tiny city of Bayeux.
Because we were running behind schedule we skipped the WWII museum in the city, and went straight to the beaches. I really want to go back next time we're in Paris and do a full 2 days in the area since there's so much to see, but I feel we got a good sampling of all the history that area contains.
The first place we visited was Pointe Du Hoc which is a series of cliffs between Omaha and Utah beaches where the Americans made landfall on D-Day. It's where lots of German weaponry was located, and you can clearly make out the massive and numerous bombshells left from our bombers trying to destroy them ahead of time. You can walk through the Nazi bunkers they set up, see the machine gun concrete bunkers they used, and explore where they had their observation posts to communicate to the massive guns to shoot at ships. Over half the Army Rangers who led the climb against the cliffs were killed or wounded, but the area was captured that same day. It was incredibly powerful and they had filmed interviews with some of those brave soldiers who fought that day.
The next stop was the American Cemetery. It was incredibly moving, and I really wish we could have spent more time there. Unfortunately I misread the closing times on the website, and we got there very close to closing time, so we had to rush through the exhibits in order to have some time among the almost 10,000 grave sites of the soldiers who lost their lives fighting for the freedom of Europe. It's an incredibly powerful place and is a reminder of everything that is sacrificed during war.
Heading further East, we stopped at the Longues Sur mer Battery where you can view the actual anti-naval artery that the Nazi's set up to protect against an invasion of France. You could touch the actual weapons that they touched, and walk along the bunkers. It was very surreal.
Our final stop was the cliffs over Arromanches where a massive artificial harbor was setup right after D-Day to transport goods into France. It was INCREDIBLY windy and thus cold, and felt like we were in a hurricane simulator. But it was really neat to see the sunken ships and concrete still visible even today, and I'd love to go back to see the museum and 360 movie there that explore the D-Day invasion.
At this point the sun was starting to set so we started our way back to Paris. It rained on us a bit, but we also got an amazing view of a very bright half-rainbow which lightened our spirits after such a depressing subject day. And finally after a very long weekend we finally made it back home.
I had no idea until the night before how important the Bayeux tapestry was to our understanding of French and English history. If you look up any of the major players around that time (1066) like William the Conqueror, Edward the Confessor, or Harold II, it's all images from the tapestry. And it's not actually technically a tapestry, as it's actually an embroidered cloth.
I'd seen other tapestry's before, like the famous Unicorn one in the Cluny museum, but I was actually really really impressed by this 70 meter (230 feet) long story of the Norman conquest of England. Or in other words, why half of the English language has French origins and why I can read French so easily!
There's a really engaging audio guide that talks you through all the scenes on the tapestry, and then upstairs are some models of the tapestry to explain how it was made (a 1000 years ago!) and life in that era. There's also a film explaining the events of the famous 1066 Battle of Hastings which changed the course of history forever.
The cathedral is then very close by, and was amazingly spared destruction during WWII due to a chaplain getting word to the allies that Bayeux wasn't a Nazi stronghold and didn't need to be bombed. It was actually one of the most impressive churches we've ever been to (and we've been in a LOT of churches) and the stained glass was incredibly impressive. If you're remotely in the area and are remotely interesting in church's, it's definitely a must-do. It's the same size as Notre Dame, but older, and dominates the tiny city of Bayeux.
Because we were running behind schedule we skipped the WWII museum in the city, and went straight to the beaches. I really want to go back next time we're in Paris and do a full 2 days in the area since there's so much to see, but I feel we got a good sampling of all the history that area contains.
The first place we visited was Pointe Du Hoc which is a series of cliffs between Omaha and Utah beaches where the Americans made landfall on D-Day. It's where lots of German weaponry was located, and you can clearly make out the massive and numerous bombshells left from our bombers trying to destroy them ahead of time. You can walk through the Nazi bunkers they set up, see the machine gun concrete bunkers they used, and explore where they had their observation posts to communicate to the massive guns to shoot at ships. Over half the Army Rangers who led the climb against the cliffs were killed or wounded, but the area was captured that same day. It was incredibly powerful and they had filmed interviews with some of those brave soldiers who fought that day.
The next stop was the American Cemetery. It was incredibly moving, and I really wish we could have spent more time there. Unfortunately I misread the closing times on the website, and we got there very close to closing time, so we had to rush through the exhibits in order to have some time among the almost 10,000 grave sites of the soldiers who lost their lives fighting for the freedom of Europe. It's an incredibly powerful place and is a reminder of everything that is sacrificed during war.
Heading further East, we stopped at the Longues Sur mer Battery where you can view the actual anti-naval artery that the Nazi's set up to protect against an invasion of France. You could touch the actual weapons that they touched, and walk along the bunkers. It was very surreal.
Our final stop was the cliffs over Arromanches where a massive artificial harbor was setup right after D-Day to transport goods into France. It was INCREDIBLY windy and thus cold, and felt like we were in a hurricane simulator. But it was really neat to see the sunken ships and concrete still visible even today, and I'd love to go back to see the museum and 360 movie there that explore the D-Day invasion.
At this point the sun was starting to set so we started our way back to Paris. It rained on us a bit, but we also got an amazing view of a very bright half-rainbow which lightened our spirits after such a depressing subject day. And finally after a very long weekend we finally made it back home.
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Mont Saint Michel
After a delicious breakfast and one of the best croissants we've had so far, we drove the 15 minutes to Mont Saint Michel. Our Tom Tom Nav system came up with probably the most convoluted way to get there going through the middle of nowhere (though very very pretty) farm land, but alas we did finally make it to the gorgeous island.
Apparently back in the day the parking lot would actually get flooded during high tides, but they've moved it further back now so it's no longer a risk. You take a free shuttle bus then to get to the island. There's a causeway built to get there, but it's in the process of being replaced by a bridge since the causeway is causing (ha!) too much sediment to be built up. The bridge is supposed to be done in something like 2015 so we still used the causeway for this trip.
Mont Saint Michel has an interesting history dating back to the 700's. It was built because a bishop had visions that Saint Michael wanted him to build a church on a rocky island. The island is surrounded by stores and shops on the lower level, with an abbey at the top. The tour of the abbey was really interesting and I'd consider it well worth a visit if you have the time in France.
The tides around the bay are also supposed to be spectacular in how fast and high they rise, but unfortunately due to other scheduling conflicts we could only go when the tide wasn't high enough to actually surround the island. But it was still really cool and well worth going even if the tides aren't going on.
We ate lunch at a restaurant on the island, and I got one of the famous omelets that are a tradition there since they're fast to make so that pilgrims could make it back to the mainland before the tides came in. Now of course it still took a good while until the food came so I suppose we would have drowned if it were the olden days, but it was a really good and incredibly fluffy omelet. You can take walks along the mudflats surrounding the island, but considering it was really really cold and windy that didn't seem like fun. Also there's quicksand so if you did do that, it's best to take a guided tour to avoid those areas and be aware of the tides since they do come in so incredibly fast. It sprinkled on us occasionally but somehow we missed the brunt of the rain, though we could always see it off in the horizon. We did have to move inside while eating though since it starting dropping some big heavy drops in the middle of lunch.
Afterwards we drove along the coastline towards Saint Malo. There's a really scenic route specifically setup for this, and with our trusty Rick Steves France book, were able to get our nav system to cooperate in finding it. Along the way we passed people land sailing on the empty coastline and actually tried to see if we could join in (as it was a business) but alas you needed reservations. It was still really cool to see it in action. We also passed by a village where the ships were all stuck in the sea floor because it was low tide, which was a really interesting sight.
It also randomly started hailing on us for about 3 minutes in the middle of the drive, and then was sunny again. From reading the news over the last 6 months I knew the Brittany region had some crazy weather, and this just confirmed it.
Finally we made it to Saint Malo which is a really interesting city surrounded by gigantic walls to protect it from invaders. You can actually climb up to the top of them and walk around. We finished the evening by eating some crepes (which the area is known for) as the sunset fell. Interestingly most of the city was destroyed in WWII due to bombing.
After a very full day of sightseeing we drove 2 hours to Bayeux to spend the night in preparation of seeing the D-Day beaches the next day. After a bit of confusion of how to park at the Hotel Churchill (named of course after Winston Churchill, as they were the first major city liberated after D-Day) we could finally get some rest.
Apparently back in the day the parking lot would actually get flooded during high tides, but they've moved it further back now so it's no longer a risk. You take a free shuttle bus then to get to the island. There's a causeway built to get there, but it's in the process of being replaced by a bridge since the causeway is causing (ha!) too much sediment to be built up. The bridge is supposed to be done in something like 2015 so we still used the causeway for this trip.
Mont Saint Michel has an interesting history dating back to the 700's. It was built because a bishop had visions that Saint Michael wanted him to build a church on a rocky island. The island is surrounded by stores and shops on the lower level, with an abbey at the top. The tour of the abbey was really interesting and I'd consider it well worth a visit if you have the time in France.
The tides around the bay are also supposed to be spectacular in how fast and high they rise, but unfortunately due to other scheduling conflicts we could only go when the tide wasn't high enough to actually surround the island. But it was still really cool and well worth going even if the tides aren't going on.
We ate lunch at a restaurant on the island, and I got one of the famous omelets that are a tradition there since they're fast to make so that pilgrims could make it back to the mainland before the tides came in. Now of course it still took a good while until the food came so I suppose we would have drowned if it were the olden days, but it was a really good and incredibly fluffy omelet. You can take walks along the mudflats surrounding the island, but considering it was really really cold and windy that didn't seem like fun. Also there's quicksand so if you did do that, it's best to take a guided tour to avoid those areas and be aware of the tides since they do come in so incredibly fast. It sprinkled on us occasionally but somehow we missed the brunt of the rain, though we could always see it off in the horizon. We did have to move inside while eating though since it starting dropping some big heavy drops in the middle of lunch.
Afterwards we drove along the coastline towards Saint Malo. There's a really scenic route specifically setup for this, and with our trusty Rick Steves France book, were able to get our nav system to cooperate in finding it. Along the way we passed people land sailing on the empty coastline and actually tried to see if we could join in (as it was a business) but alas you needed reservations. It was still really cool to see it in action. We also passed by a village where the ships were all stuck in the sea floor because it was low tide, which was a really interesting sight.
It also randomly started hailing on us for about 3 minutes in the middle of the drive, and then was sunny again. From reading the news over the last 6 months I knew the Brittany region had some crazy weather, and this just confirmed it.
Finally we made it to Saint Malo which is a really interesting city surrounded by gigantic walls to protect it from invaders. You can actually climb up to the top of them and walk around. We finished the evening by eating some crepes (which the area is known for) as the sunset fell. Interestingly most of the city was destroyed in WWII due to bombing.
After a very full day of sightseeing we drove 2 hours to Bayeux to spend the night in preparation of seeing the D-Day beaches the next day. After a bit of confusion of how to park at the Hotel Churchill (named of course after Winston Churchill, as they were the first major city liberated after D-Day) we could finally get some rest.
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