I noticed you guys have better weather than we do right now. Hmph.
You are currently browsing the archive for the France 2008 category.
We just sent back our bikes from our daytrip out to one of the more remote beaches. Nice drive, nice beach, and a restaurant on it to boot. I had a salad of in season fruits and veg that was dressed with shrimp mousse and “garnished” with Gambas, or Scampi. (the scampi were bigger than the glass, let alone any of the individual parts of the salad) Then, there was tanning, reading, lazing and more biking. Nice picnic if you ask me.
I think one of the major differences to me (Chris has a different perspective) between this place and other resort towns I’ve been to, is that the beaches have all these restaurants on them, and you can use their beach chairs, or just drink on the beach and not have to be staying at that hotel, or whatever. I kind of like it. Going off in the middle of nowhere, finding a beach, and low and behold, there is a bar there! and it serves haute cuisine!
Calvi is a beautiful town, no question. I can’t provide pictorial evidence of that right now because it’s raining to beat the band and I didn’t bring the camera with me, but take my word for it, it’s spectacular. A 20-km bay with white sand and blue sea, capped on each tip by rocks and on our end a citadel, backed by mountains, and 50% of the time a clear blue sky.
Note the percentage 
It’s been sporadically nice here; yesterday was alternately 3 hours of rain and 3 hours of sun, today was 6 sun, and rain since, and if the pattern holds I expect clear sky by sundown. Char and I took yesterday to walk to the top of the second hill in from the sea, where there is a small 19th-century fort (the dates on the wall indicate 1849-1852 for construction) that is completely derelict now. We simply walked in through the front gate, and poked into all of the rooms. More pictures will come from that, but suffice to say that there were bits of it that were genuinely creepy. There was a room, third and last in a series of high-ceilinged subterranean chambers, with a window high in the west wall admitting indirect sunlight, with red paint handprints covering the whole wall, around the room, as high as a child could reach. Char has pictures of it, so you can see it later, but I won’t lie: I felt a chill seeing that, and even I know it was just some kids spooking it up.
Today was snorkeling. Both Char and I were fine on the boat, but it turns out we’re both prone to mild seasickness when IN the water. Who knew?
So, we made it to the island! So far, we’ve walked around, snorkled a bit off the beach, and ate. We’ve got a pretty sweet little set up here, Right beside the church (I’m not even melting! I think it’s presbyterian, that might have something to do with it) so we always know what time it is and a couple markets, a laundrymat, many many restaurants and shops, and of course the beach. Also, it’s like 10 steps from the port, which makes carrying baggage quite easy. The NGV (Navir grande vitesse) is unbelievable! It is so fast, and amazingly smooth (I coule barely tell we were moving, even while I was peeing) and it only takes 2h55min to travel the 180km.
I have to say, I’m not sure if it had anything to do with my mood, or what, but I wasn’t really all that impressed with Nice. It seemed touristy, with little to offer other than bars and beaches. Cab fare was incroyable! 14 Euros for 800m. that’s like 20 bucks! could you imagine? Anyway, I’m left with the feeling that we missed out on something, cause everyone was so enthused about it.
So far the food here is really good, understandably, and the local animals are primarily goats and boars, so my beach towel is one that has the head of an goat superimposed on the map of corsica. It’s delightfully kitch. The cheese and the beer here are amazing, I don’t even know how to describe the cheese, but it’s really good
More stories will follow, I’m sure. This place is really laid back, and nice. A good change
So, much like Char’s post below, this one is from Reims, at a local cybercafe. Not a cheap hobby, this mobile internet thing…
Anyway, I’m not going to cover the same ground as she did, nor in fact am I going to bother with a lot of detail at all; I’m tired (again!) and I have only one thing to add (and that’s for Amy): Gargoyles!
That’s one big freaking bottle! Although we did not drink *that* much champagne last night, We did drink about a Rehoboam of Champage yesterday, starting around noon It turned out to be a pretty expensive night, lots of champagne, lots of shellfish (cold raw sea snails, yuk!) and missing the last train: 70Euros for a cab from the equivalent of Leduc to our house. Ouch. But well worth it all, in my opinion.
The Champagne making process and some other things were well learned and appreciated, the samples at the ends of the tours were nice, and each house had its own different flavor of tour, as well as champagne. At one of the houses, I ate some pilfered grapes from outside. The Pinot (noir or meunier, I couldn’t tell) were really good, but the chardonnay were yuk! really small, tart, unripe.
I’d love to recount everything, but I’m distracted, and just really don’t know how to tell of all the super fun times we had. We met some people, laughed, ate, drank.
Reims (pronounced just like France the french way, but without the F. wierd, eh?) Is a beautiful town, 120 000 people live there, and beacause it’s “small” the streets are wide and you can see the beautiful majesty of the French architecture for a good 200 meters at a time, something that you can’t do in Paris, or even in Prague. It’s a place where they’d crowned kings from the mid 5th century, so it’s well kept, lots of gorgeous monuments etc. Just an all around beautiful place to be.
But I think I forgot to eat today. Sure, I had breakfast, but that was like 10 hours ago. I’m feeling pretty queezy right now, and I think that’s why…
Oh well. So Chris and I did, in fact visit the catacombs, and they were every bit as cool as an ossuary should be and a bit cooler to boot. I liked the winding damp tunnels and all the dark French poetry about death. Some were really touching, some were religious, some were just nihilistic. Not nearly as informative as the Sewer museum, but that could be just because we were self guided. Speaking of which, I was proud of myself yesterday for totally following the tour in French. I was worried in the beginning, since I had no idea what she was getting on about, but I soon realised I just needed a bit to get used to the “accent”. We’ve been making a concerted effort to read all in french, listen and speak (to others) and I think to good effect. We’ve only run into one Surley french man, and many many awesome ones. I even wrote in French in my “diary” this afternoon.
Chris and I just got back from the Mussee D’Eroticisme, and it was OK. The feature exhibit was a Japanese one, which chris and I both agree, is not our kind of thing. I’ve never been able to find anything erotic about Japanese Porn, or whatever, They’ve lost the sensual and gone straight into the extremism of sexuality. There were some neet things to see, and some very well executed pieces. We stood beside the Moulin Rouge, not nearly as grandiose as I’d expected, and Chris had his life threatened on the subway.
I’m all over the place in this entry, mostly because I just can’t focus on anything other than that I want some fine french food. On that note, I will end with a highlight:
Last night, Chris and I went out for dinner, it was good, yes, but I racked my brains for about 35 mintues trying to find a desert I’d enjoyed more that the one that I was served, and I came up short. “Figues Roti” was all it was. Roast Figs, Fig puree, and creme anglais or vanilla creme fraiche, I’m not sure. It was so intensely flavorful and perfect. I don’t know if there was any added sugar at all. Wow. It knocked my socks off. Miam Miam
Probably not as tired as Char, but at least I ate today. I’ll leave the details of the day to her, but suffice to say I’m enjoying it. The language is coming a bit more naturally to me, although it’s pretty clear I’m an Anglo here.
Tomorrow it’s off to Rheims, which is bubbly country.
Beers tried so far: Abbey de Leffe (Blonde, belgian, and sweet) and Ch’ti (French, light and crisp). I’m trying to remember these as best I can, because I know I’ll be quizzed on them when I get home.
Hope the cats are doing well.
I had so many things to say, yet now I don’t know what to say. The pressure of Chris behind me posting of the same experiences, doesn’t help
We are here, we are acquainted, and we are comfortable. I think the hardest thing to get used to is that we are not required or expected to know what to do. It’s the norm to let the experts, be it of the restaurant, or market or whatever, make the decision for you. Anyway, to the real thing:
Last night, we were tourists, and went to the Eiffel Tower. It was really windy, and the top of the tower rocks like a 1980’s Singer-Songwriter. Appropriately, I was nauseous, and wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.
We were tired, and had a glass of wine, and went to bed. This morning, we visited the market, and bought La pain, and then Lapin to put on La pain. As well as cheese, and what I require in any country I visit: Strawberries. Breakfast was awesome.
Now, I have to check train schedules, and have moments to do so, so more later, my friends:)
rock on
Chuckles.
Well, it’s Paris.
Time is tight (I prepaid for 15 minutes in an internet cafe) so I won’t go into excessive detail here, but it’s pretty nice so far. Expect Char to get detailed to a degree I can’t hope to match, but here’s a scattering of impressions:
I’m insecure about my french, which should not be surprising. I do okay, but the sewer tour pretty much flew over my head, whilst Char followed along pretty well. I’m not bitter, but I wish I’d gotten more out of it.
The food is every bit as good as rumour and legend have it.
We hit Paris in time to catch a well-regarded outdoor market, which provided us with rabbit, cheese, and pain italienne for breakfast. Mmm.
The weather has been windy and humid. The Eiffel tower was high and crowded (and windy!) and a bit too vertiginous for Char.
Tomorrow, we’re going to try for the catacombs, I hope. The Louvre is still on my list.
That’s all I’ve got for now.
Date: 09/19/2008
Backtalk