Last Post Before We Leave
Unfortunately, we are leaving France tomorrow (Saturday). We've had a great time here but could easily have spent another week at the villa we are currently at in Provence. Originally, we were going to take the train back up to Paris today but we love it here so much that we decided we're going to leave early tomorrow morning and just drive all the way back up to Paris (700km) in time to catch our flight at 3:00pm. It'll be a long day but at this point, we'll almost do anything for another day here!

So, this will probably be my last post before getting home. I still have lots of stuff to post though (e.g. my World Cup pics). Thanks to everyone for following so far!

- posted by Tony @ 5:37 PM 0 comments   

 
Colmar
Colmar is in the middle of the Route de Vin, about a 100 km stretch of road that goes through many, many small towns, each of which produces wine. Along the Route de Vin, you will see vines growing right up to people's houses and the road itself.








We stayed at a really nice hotel in Colmar (it used be be an army officer's house in the Napolean days) but since they were booked, we had to switch rooms for our two night stay. The service was OK but they didn't seem very knowledgable about the town (or it could have just been their English). They did help greatly by confirming with our hotel in Lyon that we had received our World Cup tickets by courier. The hotel also had a fantastic restaurant (one of the few hotels we stayed at with a restaurant). The restaurant was obviously one of the town's best because in addition to the tourists staying there, the citizens of the town also had dinner there. Unfortunately, our first night, because it was a travel day, Carter was quite a handful and made enjoying a fine French dinner tough because we didn't want him to cry or yell and disturb the dining experience of the rest of the diners.

Colmar is quite a beautiful little town well situated for tourists. It has a nice little river that flows through it and many of the buildings are built right up beside the river. We didn't do too much in Colmar besides rest (Joyce started getting the cold I had in Strasbourg). There wasn't that much to do anyways but the shopping was quite good and we spent quite a bit of time in their centre. The two days in Colmar were a good rest even though Carter was crankier than usual.



- posted by Tony @ 5:32 PM 0 comments   

 
After Strasbourg - Where To Stay Next?
As many of you know, Joyce and I don't really plan our trips fully. Even with Carter, this non-planning is still the case. The extra stress involved with not really knowing where you will be staying the next day or how good it will be is definitely offset by the flexibility the non-planning gives us.

So, after Strasbourg, all we knew was that we had a couple nights to kill before we had to be in Lyon on June 8. We thought that we might stay in Dijon which is kind of halfway between Strasbourg and Lyon (so that our travel days would be lighter) but one of the things we learned driving around France so far is that if someone thinks it will take 4 hours to get somewhere, you can easily make it in 3 hours. The second thing we learned is that with the big highways having a speed limit of 130 kph, you can easily do about 140! Given this, we realized that the travel days wouldn't be so bad even if we didn't go halfway from Strasbourg to Lyon. So, we decided to stay somewhere along the Route de Vin and chose a town in the middle of the route and only about an hour away from Strasbourg called Colmar.

With the help from the kind folks at our hotel in Strasbourg (the Hotel Dragon), Joyce managed to book a really great place in Colmar called Le Marechal.

It's late here right now so I'll write a new entry about our time in Colmar tomorrow.

- posted by Tony @ 12:12 AM 0 comments   

 
Strasbourg
We didn't really know what Strasbourg was going to be like. Being the "capital" of the EU and home to the EU parliament and EU Court of Human Rights and all those politicians and dignitaries, the city feels larger and more metropolitan than its population would dictate (250,000). We had called ahead from Epernay and found a hotel near the center of the old town that, lucky for us, could put us up for three nights. The hotel itself was quite plain (what we're normally used to) but the service there was probably the best we've ever had.

The center of the medieval part of town is basically an island ringed by the rivers so there are a bunch of bridges into the center. Driving in, you turn a corner like any other corner and all of a sudden, looming over you is the Strasbourg cathedral, the Cathedrale de Notre-Dame. It is the hugest and most ornate we've ever seen and can be seen from almost anywhere we went. I think it will stand as one of the most impressive things we'll have seen in France. The square around it is not open to car traffic and there are just a ton of tourists.



Strasbourg, being on the border of France and Germany, has been, over its history, French, German, then French, then German, then French, German again, and currently is French. The people living in this area (Alsace-Lorraine) certainly have an interesting mix of both French and German cultures. Although we have not been to Germany, many of the buildings look like what we'd expect houses would look like in the Alps or an old German town. The people here speak a language in their homes called Alsatian that is not really German but many of the words sound and look like German. They speak French for day-to-day affairs though. The food here at the "winstubs" or pubs are very German consisting of sausages and sauerkraut, stew, and our favourite (which Joyce makes at home too), spaetzle noodles.

I wasn't feeling well and needed to sleep it off (and let my Super Mutant Healing Factor kick in) so the next day (Sunday), I slept with Carter while Joyce went to do some shopping. Unfortunately, what we forgot is that France essentially shuts down on Sundays and Strasbourg is definitely French in that regard. After a frustrating afternoon of finding nothing open and just window shopping, Joyce showed up back at the hotel room with her purchase...an apple turnover for me (that she found at one of the only open Patisseries).

Because there was no shopping and Carter was less cranky (after napping with me for the afternoon), we decided to go for something to eat. Again, being Sunday, besides some pubs, there wasn't a lot open. We opted for Chinese food (like McDonald's, something we also always try in every country we go to). It wasn't great but the fried rice was pretty good. The people running it weren't Chinese anyways; I think they were Vietnamese. I'd say that this "Chinese" food was better than in India but worse than in Zanzibar.

The next day, we walked to an area of Strasbourg called Petit France which is the quant part of an already quant city. We also took a boat tour of the city and most of the medieval city plus the EU parliament buildings. We stopped to get something to eat called a tarte flambe which is kind of like a very, very thin crust pizza without the tomato sauce. It was very good but Joyce had the worst chocolat chaud that she's had the whole trip. This one really did taste like what you get at home (hot water and chocolate powder).

On our last day in Strasbourg, we did a bunch of shopping (where I added to my shoe collection) and then drove in the mid-afternoon to our next destination.

- posted by Tony @ 11:38 PM 0 comments   

 
Large Update - Trying To Catch Up
Now that we're in the south of France and just hanging out, I'm going to make a few posts today to try and catch up on our trip.

- posted by Tony @ 1:12 AM 1 comments   

 
Epernay
This is a really nice, small-town type of place. It's home to a ton of big name champagne makers. We stayed at a quant little place that only had 8 rooms and was once the home of the Chandon family (of Moet Chandon). We wanted to visit Perrier-Jouet but the person at reception said they no longer hosted tours or tastings. I think she was lying about that and just didn't want to have to take us. She seemed sneaky to me. Anyways, we walked up the block (many of the champagne makers are all located very close to each other) and visited Moet Chandon (owners of Dom Perignon). We didn't take the tour because it was expensive and we had already seen how champagne was made and stored at Veuve Clicquot so we just visited the facilities and the gift shop. Unfortunately, Pol Roger seemed to be completely closed. All these champagne houses have these huge iron gates in front of massive old buildings. Many of the buildings and the impression they give to the public reminds me of the De Beers diamond buildings in South Africa. We were definitely happy to have stayed in Epernay and been able to have a look at the places we'd previously only known as names on a bottle.

After our visit to Epernay, we packed up and drove about 3 hours to Strasbourg, the home of the EU parliament.

- posted by Tony @ 1:11 AM 0 comments   

 
McDonald's In France
No matter what country we're in, we always try to find a McDonald's and try it out. We got our chance on our way to Veuve Clicquot. Yes, I know we're supposed to be gourging ourselves on French food but I figure that if French people eat it, it must be French food so we, as a matter of principle must try it out.

We ordered the Royale Deluxe burger with fries. The Royale Deluxe looks like a Quarter Pounder with Cheese with tomatoes and lettuce and dijon mustard. I gotta say that French McDonald's may be the best of all we've been to. The worst was either Egypt (the burger "meat" looked green) or India (the Mahuraja burger was so non-edible, I didn't even eat the whole thing).

- posted by Tony @ 1:08 AM 0 comments   

 
Veuve Clicquot
Something we learned from our guide book is that we have to book a couple weeks in advance in order to get a tour of our friend, Rachel's, favourite Champagne maker, Veuve Clicquot. So, us being us, of course we hadn't done that. Joyce called them anyways on Tuesday and in another incredible stroke of luck (we always feel blessed when taking a trip), they had a cancellation and could fit both of us in only if we could be there on Thursday at 3:30!

For those that aren't aware, the Champagne region of France is the only place where one can call their product "champagne"...everywhere else in the world (even in other parts of France) must call their product "sparkling wine". Veuve Clicquot is in a city called Reims (the capital of the champagne region) and we were planning on staying there after Paris but decided to book a couple of nights in a smaller town close to Reims called Epernay because it is actually home to more champagne makers.

The facilites are amazingly clean and pristine and has a nice "high class" feel to it. Starting all the way from the front door to the lobby and the hostesses greeting us at the door. The tour costs each of us 7.50 Euro and included a tasting at the end. The history of Veuve Clicquot if very rich and interesting in that "Veuve" means "widow" in French and Veuve Clicquot was actually built upon the estate remains to a widow who actually created the brand and it's place in champagne making. That's impressive for a widow given how hard it must have been for a women to do that during that time period (18th century). The tour took us down to a huge underground network of chalk caves that the champagne is stored in as it becomes champagne. The tour was interrupted a few times as quick moving electric carts towing a bunch of stuff whizzed by us honking. The chalk caves have a history themselves as they were originally dug by the Romans and were used during the world wars to hide out in.

Of course, at the end of the tour, we just had to buy a bottle of Veuve! We're just suckers for this stuff.




- posted by Tony @ 1:06 AM 0 comments   

 
Driving In Paris
Although I was a little nervous at first, I don't think I was too worried about driving through Paris to get back to the apartment. As I noted before, the drivers here really are good and although they will cut you off in an instant, it's one of those cutoff moves where you don't really have to slam on the brakes and you're actually thinking "good move!" Once I got into the car (it's a brand new VW Passat station wagon with 170 km on it), I honestly spent about 10-15 minutes trying to figure out how to turn off the rear windshield wiper. How unnverving. I was already held up for 45 minutes by the "smart" guy at the car rental place and now I couldn't figure out how to turn off the wiper!! France has definitely made me stupider than I already am because I spent another 5-10 minutes sitting in the running car, reading the damn owners manual (it's in French) trying to figure out how to turn off the parking brake (you step on the brake and push the parking button). Sheesh, why can't they just have some sort of handle or stick like everyone else?

I thought I had thoroughly planned my route back. What I forgot is that Paris (and mostly all of France) is mostly one way streets. That messed me up and all I could do was look for a landmark (the obelisk that's by the Champs-Elysees) but I passed by it twice! Anyways, after only about six missed or wrong turns. I found myself back in the apartment with a parking spot right in front. Not totally late either but definitely not getting on the road by noon.

- posted by Tony @ 1:05 AM 0 comments   

 
World Cup Fever!
OK, I know I'm still quite behind on the blog but I thought I'd post a very current one just because the experience was amazing. Joyce and I just attended our first World Cup Soccer match. We flew from Lyon, France this morning to Munich, Germany. Joyce's sister, Karen, flew into Lyon last night to watch Carter for us because the World Cup and babies just don't mix.

I will definitely post some pictures and a full rundown of our experience but the first match of the World Cup, which only occurs every 4 years, was between Germany and Costa Rica. With the host country playing the first game, the atmosphere gave both of us goosebumps. The roar of the crowd, the stadium, the chants, the whistling, etc. It was sensory overload!

We're flying back to Lyon in the morning and continue on our trip to France but this quick side-jaunt to Munich was well worth the experience for both of us.

- posted by Tony @ 12:16 AM 0 comments   

 
Picking Up The Rental Car
On Thursday, June 1, we had to check out of our nice Paris apartment (after staying there for four nights). We're heading to the Champagne region of France next and will be driving around France until the end of our trip. We had planned on being on the road by 12:00 so we could get to a tour we had planned (see Veuve Clicquot) and 10:00am was the earliest we could pick up the car so I figured we had enough time.

I took the metro to one of the train stations (Gare de Lyon), to pick up our car from Europcar. It took me awhile to find the car rental place and when I walked in, two guys behind the counter were helping different customers and tons of French was being thrown around. I got a little nervous just because I'd have to communicate that we had a child's car seat booked (yep, no more Britney!) and we still had to pay the rest of the invoice, etc, etc. Well, the guy who helped me said "Bonjour" and then a bunch of other stuff in French. Like an idiot, I say "uh, I have a rental car". He immediately switches to English. Not just any old French-accented, stilted English, but totally fluent English with a nice, crisp UK accent. He obviously went to school in England or something like that so I'm thinking "Great! This will be no problem". There's something about a nice English accent that makes you think the guy speaking is way smarter than you...which is exactly what I thought...which is exactly the opposite of what I should have thought.

Here's why. First, this "smart" guy takes forever to find a child seat and then looks at my reservation and notices that I'm not going to bring the car back to Paris (we're leaving it in the South) so he says something like "OK, I'll just have to call my colleagues in Marseilles to ensure everyone is on the same track". At this point, I'm still thinking he's pretty smart. Then he decides to go through the whole credit card/ID checking thing and that starts to take some time because he's fumbling with all these papers and he's dropping them and misplacing them, etc. Then, he runs my credit card through the machine to get the deposit and it goes through OK but the machine runs out of paper! So, he starts to panic a bit and tears into the back to find some paper only to show up again empty-handed looking even more panicked. He then starts to open up every drawer in the front of the place until he finally finds a roll of paper for the credit card machine. He takes a couple tries at loading it, succeeds, and then says in a little quiet voice "oh no". He tells me that the authorization went through but he needed to write down the number which should have been printed on the roll of paper except that it ran out so now he has no number. He asks me if he can run it through again and since there's no actual charge being taken on the card, I let him. This time though, the authorization doesn't go through because he says Visa obviously noted something wrong with the second authorization because it was in quick succession.

By this time, I'm onto him. The only thing "smart" about him is his crisp, English accent! So now, this braniac devises a plan to call my bank and explain to them what's going on and get the authorization number. He asks me "what time is it for you back in Canada". I tell him, with the most disgusted look on my face I could muster in the midst of my bewilderment, "2:00am" and I can see his body sink a bit more and his face panic a bit more. After probably 20 more minutes and a bunch of phone calls to somewhere in France, he has a number.

I was so relieved to get the car keys and the car seat and get out of there, I didn't realize until later that he never did "call his colleagues in Marseilles"! Wow, another lesson in never judging a book by the cover or the person by his accent.

- posted by Tony @ 12:15 AM 0 comments   

 
The Louvre & Mona Lisa
The next day (Wednesday), we got up early, had a little breakfast (OK, I had an apple) and walked to the Louvre. A couple of our friends were just there a week before us and told us to get there early to beat the crowds at the Mona Lisa. The museum (the biggest in Europe?) opens at 9:00am and we got there about 9:07am. There was a huge lineup outside the glass pyramid already!

Although we think the glass pyramid is completely gaudy and out of place in the middle of the courtyard of the stately palace that the various Louis' and Henry's and other King-type folks lived in, it is kind of neat to see it having read the Da Vinci Code.

Anyways, as soon as a Louvre guy saw us with the stroller, they waved us through a door beside the lineup! We butted in line again!!! Woohoo! The lineup was a security lineup and people had to put all their stuff through an x-ray machine. I took one of my camera bags and half-heartedly put it through. Man! I'm telling you, if you come to Paris, get a stroller and stick a doll in it.

We also got to ride the super-cool elevator that's in the middle of the pyramid. I saw all the other people (except for the old people and people in wheelchairs) look at us enviously as we got in and the person closed the door....at least that's the look I'd give to people using the super cool elevator that I couldn't use. It's super cool because it's not really an elevator, it's more like a moving platform. Something like what Superman or Batman would have in their various lairs to move them up to ground level.

We got our tickets and took off to see the Mona Lisa first. Gerry was right, it was a good idea to get their early. It was busy already but there were only about 30 people crowded around so we got to the front fairly quickly. Still, the "front" isn't so great. I was prepared for the small size of the Mona Lisa (it's probably only about 2' x 3' at the most) but he set it about 8 to 10 feet away from the crowds so it makes it seem even smaller. Still, for some reason, seeing it in real life, both Joyce and I were able to just sit there for awhile and pick out details of the painting that we had never noticed before (the little path in the background, the way the light reflects off the undulations of the cloth on her sleeve). Pretty neat!

You're not allowed to take pictures of the Mona Lisa. What we weren't aware of was that you're not allowed to take any pictures in that whole wing! Of course, even knowing we couldn't take pictures of the Mona List, I tried to be sneaky. In this pic, the Mona Lisa is on the far end of the room with the big crowd around it.

In the same room as the Mona Lisa was this fantastic painting of what looks like the wedding feast Jesus attended (Joyce figured that one out). An amazing piece of work. We sat there staring at it and calling out new details we saw for quite awhile. No wonder those guys are called the Masters. Because we didn't know you couldn't take pictures and because the guards were a little lazy and unresponsive, we were able to take a shot of Joyce with the painting.

Lucky for us, we heeded Gerry's advice because we went by the Mona Lisa just before we left (about 3 hours later) and there looked to be about 100-150 people crowding around that tiny area with more people streaming in. I can't believe how many tourists must be in Paris right now!

- posted by Tony @ 10:33 PM 0 comments   

 
Paris Supermarkets
We needed to get a few things so went to the Supermarche. It's certainly no Safeway's. We actually walked right by it and had to ask for directions! It looked more like a department store but way in the back and downstairs was all the food (and a ton of inexpensive wine). With Carter getting crankier by the minute (because it was past his bedtime), we got food at the deli again. Sigh....we really wanted a nice French gourmet restaurant!

- posted by Tony @ 9:56 PM 0 comments   

 
City of Paris Taxes At Your Service!
I thought this was a rather nice touch for the city to put up these public toilets for people to use. Here's shot of the toilet and Joyce providing a re-enactment of what a person might look like who felt that the taxes were being put to good use. The city is also quite clean (I'm not sure what people mean when they say Paris is a dirty city). As far as we saw, it was easily as clean, if not cleaner, than Vancouver. In the picture of the public toilet, you can see the garbage bins that are all over the city. I think they get emptied every day (unlike Vancouver garbage bins which are constantly overflowing with used Starbucks cups).





- posted by Tony @ 9:11 PM 0 comments   

 
Traveling With A Kid
I won't beat around the bush. It's tough to travel with a baby. We're used to doing what we want, when we want. With a baby, you have to work around their nap times and their feeding times, and then work those around their cranky times because they're either tired or hungry because you missed their nap or feeding time. You have to eat when you can and learn to eat with one hand or eat quick so that the other person can then eat. Carter is doing pretty well but it's a new place with new smells and he's not 100% comfortable.

[In case you didn't already know, you can click on the small pictures to get a larger view of it.] We're going to see what we can but we already knew at the start of the trip that we might not see everything and that's just going to be OK. After all, we're travelling! I've included a picture of the backpack we brought to haul Carter around in. It's a must if you're going to be climbing lots of steps, etc. We also brought along his stroller though. The only problem with the backpack is that he doesn't really fall asleep in it.

We were going to climb up the 300+ steps of the Notre Dame but went and got something to eat instead after seeing the huge lineup. We then decided to go see St. Chapelle since it was so close. It was named after an African-American comedian who went a little nuts after being given $50 million. We were going to go to the Eiffel tower after that but the weather wasn't very good (cloudy and windy) so we decided that since we were in the area, we'd take a walk around the Latin Quarter. Hmmm, not as much to see as I had expected. As another example of traveling with a baby, we had to stop at a cafe (even though we didn't really feel like it) so Joyce could feed the little guy. We caught the metro from the Latin Quarter back back to the apartment.

- posted by Tony @ 8:39 PM 0 comments