Shelley finished doing the Camino and flew into Touloose to join us in touring the French countryside. We picked her up at the Touloose airport and spent that afternoon at McDonalds catching up and swapping stories.
Bunny and I will be spending October in France this year. She is going to French Immersion school the first 2 weeks we are there and then we will be traveling around France for the next 3 weeks. We fly into Nice and her class starts a couple of days later in Villefranche-sur-Mer. We will then travel to the Brittany area of France which is in the NW corner. We will be staying in a town called Rochefort-en-Terre. It is quite a drive from Nice but it is a beautiful area we want to visit. We will then be traveling back towards Nice to an area around Toulouse a town called Estang. Then back to Nice and fly out at the end of the month.
Voila! 🙂
While we are there we will be meeting up with Bunny’s friend Greta (in Brittany) and, perhaps, Bunny’s sister Shelley in Estaing. (Shelley is currently walking the Camino de Santiago!)
Our goals? Besides learning a bit more French, they are: to see beautiful medieval towns, eat fantastic French food, visit as many boulangeries as possible, and have some French adventures! C’est tout!
Well here we are … The final day of our month in Europe. Its been a Great trip. Our final day was spent driving along the Rhine river in Germany. The stretch of river we were on had 42 castles.
I love this area of the world. I wish we could have spent more time in this area.
We are both tired and ready to be home. The flights tomorrow are 12 hours flying time from Frankfurt to Las Vegas. We then have a 5 hour layover (do they take Euros in those machines?). Then we have a 2 1/2 hour flight to portland.
We have alot of Great memories and experiences.
Thanks to those of you who have followed along and especially to those who make comments. Its really nice to know that someone besides us are reading our ramblings.
It turns out flat Ben and Scott made appearence
Thanks again for following along. Be sure to go to our photo album and view our photos from the trip. Click on the “Photo Albums” tab and answer the password hint. Its not too tough a question. Bye to europe ….
Before we launch into this blog, we need to make it perfectly clear: We are still having fun! We are still glad that we planned and executed this somewhat unorthodox vacation! We do not have “vacationers remorse” and we will remember this journey fondly!
Having said that, we have noticed a few things in this final week of the trip that may indicate that a three week period (versus the four weeks we opted for) may be the “Goldilocks” time frame – not too short, not too long. Here are our observations (these are in no particular order, except number 1 :):
Yawn… Another 12th century church…
Number 10: Read Marty’s blog “I’m usually religious about blogging”. Toward the end he notes that that fourth week means you run out of personal hygiene items, you may need to clip your fingernails (not a true vacation pastime, you know?), and you start missing English (the subtext here is that Marty is just tired of only having Bunny to talk with). (He mentions one more “fourth week hazard” – see our number 1 reason below.)
Number 9: You have time to check your VISA statement. Our advice: DO NOT DO THIS. It will only bring sorrow, weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Number 8: You start worrying about your gutters clogging (back in Portland!) due to the combination of a Halloween deluge and all of those leaves from the *%$#^+@ heritage tree across the street.
Number 7: Your attitude may become distorted (see # 8 above – we actually LOVE that tree!)
Looks like Oregon, right?
Number 6: Your face lights up when you hear bad/mediocre American/English music in stores or on the radio. Think Journey, Robin Thicke and Queen. (True confessions: Bunny loves Queen, even in America.)
Number 5: You begin to think it’s acceptable to pay 20 euros for the privilege of driving on the highway (and that’s basically every time you hit the freeway).
Number 4: Marty has quadrupled the number of French words he can say. He began with “Bonjour” and “Merci” and now can say, seemlessly, “Deux pains au chocolat, s’il vous plait!” (This SOUNDS like a good thing – Marty embracing the French language – but you have to realize here that pains au chocolat are French pastries…).
Beware the boulangeries!
Number 3: You begin to revolt – just un peu – against the French culture. An example: The French are very aggressive drivers. Marty acknowledged this for a time and adjusted his driving to accommodate them, pulling over when a French driver tailgated him, etc. He is not inclined to do this any longer. He sometimes slows down (passive aggressive, oui?). Or he will yell “go ahead and pass me, ass hat!” (Actually, that’s Bunny yelling that, not Marty. 🙂 )
Number 2: You become immune to many of France’s charms. This is a HUGE RED FLAG that you are in danger because this magical appeal is a big reason why you came here. You drive by an 800 year old church or a delightful medieval town – and you don’t try to take a photo, you may not even slow down (why should you? The French don’t). Marty started saying “looks like Oregon” (A LOT) as we drove through the beautiful French countryside.
And the number 1 sign you’ve stayed in France too long: Three words: Marty going commando.
Commando Marty – or Regular Marty? Only Marty (and Marco Rubio’s dry cleaner) knows for sure…
We got into Annecy Thursday night around 6 pm. We have spent the last 2 days exploring the city. It is a bigger city than anything we have stayed in yet this trip. The city has 50,000 people. The “Old Town” is a mix of Old and new. Several canals crisscross Annecy, making it another of France’s “Petite Venices”.
There is a big beautiful lake right next to the old town lined with big beautiful mountains.
The water in the lake is incredibly clear.
The town is mostly full of restaurants, gift shops, boulangeries, and gelato shops.
That is the biggest Pano Chocolate I have ever seen ….
Bunny and I had dinner at a restaurant which Rick Steves recomended Saturday afternoon. It was called Le Freti. Its specialty is Fondue and Raclette. We sat down and made the decision to get the fondue. We had Raclette with Claudine, but we were not sure we would know how to eat it – or rather how to MAKE it because we had read that they bring this raclette-making gadget to your table. We were glad we chose the fondue. Here is what the Raclette machine looks like.
What it does is melt the cheese to then be put onto items on your plate like meat and veggies. We got the fondue with a basket of bread and a bowl of boiled potatoes. We knew what to do with the bread but weren’t quite sure what to do with the potatoes so we just treated them like bread.
After dinner in France you finish with a coffee. I ordered a Cafe Grand.
A little different than a Cafe Grand ordered in the US (by about 15 ounces).
After dinner we were stuffed and took a walk around the lake. Sunday in France is a holiday. It’s also All Saints (Souls?) day, so we are not sure whats gonna be open in Annecy. So we stocked up on food at the Monoprix and retired for the evening.
Forgive me family and friends for I have not blogged. It has been 6 days since my last blog. I will now do 2 blogs and post 50 new pictures as my penance…
Here I am with our rental car. Its an Opel .. not sure which model but its a 5 speed manual. The driving has been pretty easy up until Annecy. This city is rather big and busy. It reminds me of driving in Amsterdam. There are pedestrians and bicycles everywhere. its one thing to hit another car .. its another thing to hit a pedestrian. So we drove 6 hours from Beynac to Annecy and parked at the pay lot down the street from our apartment. Later that day we moved the car to the free parking lot a 10 minute walk away from the apartment. During that drive I found myself following Garmin into a construction zone which I had no options as to where to go. I had a bus zone ahead and construction cones on my left. Those were my choices. The funny thing was that I had 12 cars behind me. All of these drivers had followed me into this street which was essentially a dead end. I was able to back up past the car behind me and sneak thru a small access in a parking lot to get out of the situation. The really funny part was that there were still cars going into that street. There must have been 20 cars going into that dead end. We finally found the free parking lot and got back to our apartment after a long day of driving.
Many of the roads around Beynac were essentially one lane roads on which at any point in time you could meet another car or even truck coming the opposite way. We found our selves on these roads which didnt even look like roads. but our Garmin was telling us that was the way to go, and we always do what our Garmin tells us to do… Also the speed limit on most of these roads is 56 miles an hour. I would just pull over whenever I got a local behind me because they would tailgate and push me to go faster.
The one thing about driving around the French countryside is the fall colors. They talk alot about the NE USA fall colors, but we have been driving trough some wonderful countryside fall colors. They should advertise driving around France for the fall colors … like they need more tourists.
The internet at the places we have stayed have been GREAT. I am currently streaming 2 college football games and have had no problems with the internet services. We did lose our internet services for the last 2 days at Beynac. There really is no free internet services while you are out roaming the cities. They say they are free and then they want a log in and the intructions are in french, so thats no help.
Its been almost 3 weeks since I have talked with anyone except Bunny in English. We were in the grocery store today and there was a mother and daughter behind me talking in American English. I turn around to talk and they had disappeared into the next aisle. I wanted to track them down just to talk with them. I miss English.
There is a HUGE difference between a 3 week vacation in France and a 4 week vacation in France. It doesnt seem like it would be that much of a difference, but there are many things that happen in that 4 th week that you dont realize would happen. First off is that you have to do wash for the 3rd time. Before yesterday I had worn the same underwear for 3 days. You probably didnt need to know that. Then you start to run out of those essential personal cleaning items, such as soap, shampoo, deordorant, and your finger nails need clipping. Just some of the things that happen in that 4 th week that you dont think about.
Its 11 pm on Halloween night. The 4th game of the world series comes on at 1 AM. Not sure if I am going to make it through the whole game. I watched the whole Oregon Ducks football game yesterday morniing. The game started at 3:30 am. Bunny watched the end of the game when she got up at 7:00 am….What a GREAT game….
Be sure to click on our photo album and answer the question to view ALL our pictures.
I think I may be a little late to the party but I just learned about lavoirs, public “laundries”, nearly ubiquitous in small French towns, where women gathered to wash clothes from the 1700s until the late 20th century. They were built on rivers or streams near the edge of town and were likely considered cutting edge technology when introduced.☺
Apparently lavoirs were used mostly for rinsing out clothing and linens that the women had already handwashed at home. The women of the village carried their buckets down to the lavoir, threw the items into the water and then wrung them out – or, some sources say, beat them with a bat or stone. They would either kneel or simply bend over while doing this (either way – ouch!!). Repeat as needed (!) until the laundry was ready for the clothes line.
The first two photos above are of the inside and outside of the lavoir in Noyers-sur-Surein, a small but beautiful village near Montbard. Claudine, Bunny’s French teacher, told us that she had talked with an elderly woman in Montbard who said that she had used a lavoir into the 1980s.
The mechanics of lavoirs were interesting but perhaps more fascinating was pondering the role that these gathering spots played in women’s lives. They were undoubtedly a social refuge for women who didn’t have many other options for connecting. I imagine they made a tedious chore a WHOLE lot more pleasant!
Once we knew what to look for, we saw lavoirs everywhere. Here are a few that we found as we drove the backroads…
The above photo represents a typical French breakfast, according to Bunny’s French language (and culture!) instructor (there should be a bunch a jams and marmalades in the photo; all we had for this photo shoot was some honey from a food market…).
So we are told that your morning coffee is drunk from a bowl, never a cup. A routine French breakfast is bread or toast with jam or honey on it. And you do not use a plate for breakfast. Ever. You use a place mat which is then wiped off.
That’s it for now from your on-the-frontlines, cultural reporter…
Yesterday was our last full day in Beynac and we got up early to “queue up” at Grotte de Font-de-Gaume. You’ve probably heard of Lascaux, site of the world’s most famous cave paintings? Well, the original Lascaux was closed in 1963 because the art work was deteriorating. A replica (Lascaux II) is now available for viewing. But we decided to try to see the last of these 15,000 year old multi-colored cave paintings sites open to the public, Grotte Font-de-Gaume. They only allow 54 visitors per day in small guided tour groups. We arrived at 8:30 and, after standing for an hour in heavy rain, snagged an 11:15 English tour. It wasn’t as miserable as it sounds – the couple in line behind us was extremely entertaining (thank you Sue and George from Sydney!).
And the tour was fantastic! No photos were allowed (there were sooo many rules; we were surprised we didn’t have to take turns breathing). Here’s a shot from a postcard:
Sorry that it’s sideways – it’s a bison…
We traveled the backroads again that afternoon, saw more beautiful villages including Rocamadour, sorta (very?!) touristy but still interesting. It has been a pilgrimage site for over a millennium. Bunny really liked the Chemin de la Croix, the Stations of the Cross (brought back pleasant memories of Catholic grade school ☺😇☺).
Stations of the cross area
It is now Thursday, 29 October ☺ and we will be leaving Beynac in a few hours. I’m going to try to catch up a bit in this blog (and the next). Our Internet has been down since a thunder/lightning storm of truly biblical proportions on Tuesday night. Here’s an update:
Tuesday (Day four in Beynac): After another long walk on the banks of the Dordogne (where bunny became obsessed with the acorns), we decided to drive east to a town that we had heard was quite beautiful. It took almost two hours to get there – and if you could see the backroads here you would understand why it would take that amount of time to cover about 30 miles. Some roads were barely wide enough for one car and there were many sharp turns and healthy climbs and descents. And then there were the locals driving. O. M. G. Marty did a great job of keeping us alive (goal #1) and getting us there (very much a secondary aspiration).
But more remarkable than the wild driving (and the scenery ?) was the sheer volume of very small, very old and very lovely towns we passed through. Some photos:
Sometimes we would stop and stretch our legs but most of the time Bunny snapped photos (not very good ones!) from the car. If we had stopped at every beautiful, old village we encountered we would still be making our way home…
We finally arrived at Loubressac. Magical…
