France: Part 3

Now that it's been almost 10 (!!!) months since our trip around France, I thought I'd finish blogging about it. Maybe it seems pointless now, but I do want to be able to remember what I saw, and if I don't do it now, I doubt I ever will. Plus, I am well aware that my loyal readers have been anxiously awaiting this post. Keep in mind that I did actually write a lot of this when I was in France - I just never finished it. To read parts 1 & 2 of the story, go here and here, respectively.


Friday, March 9: We headed to Saint Tropez, which is basically a yuppy town full of yachts and rich blond women (I emphasize blond, because most French women have dark hair) walking their little dogs. Oh, and the town happens to be right on the Mediterranean. BEAUTIFUL.


We made the slow but scenic drive along the coast all the way to Nice (pronounced like "niece," not like the word that means "kind"), one of the most popular vacation destinations in France. On the way, we were rear-ended, but thankfully no damage was done to the car. At our hotel in Nice, none of our credit cards would work. The woman at the front desk wasn't very nice about it, insisting that the problem was our American cards. After unsuccessfully trying my French check card, she admitted that it was their machine, and we paid in cash. After that debacle, my mom and I (classic introverts) were on vacation/travel/driving/walking/talking/France/everything overload. Accordingly, we rested in our hotel room (with its tiny, ship-like bathroom) to unwind while Rosemary and Laura walked the famous Promenade des Anglais. When they got back, it was time for dinner. We were all content to have already checked into our hotel and be out (on foot) looking for a place to eat early. We ended up eating outside (no jackets needed in the south of France, even in March) at a walk-up pizza joint nearby. Afterward, we hit up the local grocery store right as it was closing (8 or 8:30pm is normal in France, even for big chains) for some Häagen-Dazs. We had heard that Nice was known for its ice cream, but apparently they didn't find even one place when they were out walking (probably because it was off-season). So we cheated and bought it at the store. As you can tell, we didn't actually do a whole lot in Nice. The appeal was more the atmosphere than the sites. In summer, the beaches of Nice are packed, like any popular beach/resort city. Something I noticed while in Nice was the difference in the levels of cleanliness between Nice and cities in other parts of France. The south of France is generally characterized that way (as, though warm, sunny, and beautiful, dirty).

Saturday, March 10: We headed to a nearby city to visit the Villa Kérylos, the house of a French scholar of early Greek history. He built this villa in the style that would have been typical of 2nd century AD Greece. It had a lot of interesting features, including this shower...

At that point in our journey, we couldn't continue eastward along the coast, or we'd be in Italy. So we headed northwest, in the direction of Lyon. On the way, we stopped in Grasse, a town known for its fields of one of southern France's specialties - lavender. We had no idea how to find the lavender fields or even if they'd be in bloom, so we decided to stop for lunch at the local MacDo and ask. Posing the question to the worker (who skimped us on our fries), she gave me a blank stare and said, "Yeah...they're somewhere around here..." We were a little perturbed about not being able to find the lavender fields, but at the same time, we were amused by the MacDo worker. If your mid-sized town was very well-known for something, don't you think you'd know where it is? Then again, I don't know why we didn't just stop at a gas station or anywhere and try asking someone else. That night, we stayed at the B&B in Valence, about halfway between Nice and Lyon.

Sunday, March 11: That morning, we headed to Lyon to see the ancient Roman ruins.
(Photo courtesy of Laura)

From Lyon's official website:
The history of Lyon, known at the time as Lugdunum (meaning "the hill of light" or "the hill of crows") began under the Romans, in the first century B.C. when the city was proclaimed capital of the three Gauls.

We walked around for awhile among the Roman ruins, eventually making our way up a huge, steep hill to the basilica.
(Photo courtesy of Laura)

Sunday service was in full steam when we peaked in. I listened to the sermon for a little while. I remember the guy was talking about life after death.
(Photo courtesy of Laura)

After leaving Lyon, we made our way to Chambéry, and to my mom's beloved elephant fountain (she had found it in a book before coming to France and really wanted to see it). It was all dried up for the winter, but we still enjoyed it.

The best part about Chambéry was that on the way out, I saw a sign for (drum roll, please) the house of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Even though I don't really agree with his philosophy (I much prefer Montesquieu), it kind of made up for missing Montesquieu's house.
Me philosophizing in the sitting room:


After Chambéry, we made our way to our destination for that night, Annecy, easily one of the most beautiful cities in all of France. We decided to splurge just for that one night and stay in a nicer hotel. We ended up in a 16th century abbey.
(Photo courtesy of Laura)

The only problem is that it's hard to find someplace to eat on a Sunday night. And we hadn't eaten in awhile. The guy at our hotel recommended a restaurant to us. He told us it would be one of the only places open. I don't remember whether he told us if it would be expensive or not, but when we arrived, it was clear that we were out of our league. What we really wanted to do was look at the menu before making a commitment (many restaurants in France have their menu posted outside), however, the server came out, took one look at us, and sat us down, bringing us glasses of house wine before we could even take a breath. Then we opened the menu, and the only meal available would cost us each a whopping €40. Needless to say, we were not too keen on that. We were thinking soup and bread! While the server was away from the table (there was only one other group in the restaurant), we tried to come up with a polite way to say that we didn't want their €40 duck. When she came back out, I told her as diplomatically as I could that this wasn't exactly what we were looking for. She asked what we wanted. I said something lighter. She said they didn't have much, and we wouldn't be finding any other restaurants open at this hour on a Sunday (in a bigger city, you would, but Annecy is relatively small). She told us she'd let us think about it, then walked away. She never came back. We figured out she was probably giving us a gracious out, so we just left. It was kind of embarrassing, though. We ate protein bars in our room that night.

Monday, March 12: After saving money on our dinner the night before, we were seriously considering the €14 breakfast buffet at the hotel. We thought we'd at least peek into the dining room to see what elaborate fare would await us. Expecting to see a lavish layout of breakfast items, we were surprised to see baguette, cheese, charcuterie, and coffee. There wasn't even any fruit. So we blew that popstand and headed down to the lake. After dropping Laura off at the lake to start taking pictures before the morning light would be no longer the morning light, my mom, Rosemary, and I set out in search of a bakery. We found one without too much trouble and ended up being very happy with our find - delicious quiche, pastries, and savory olive bread. We found Laura again and took a leisurely walk, enjoying the view of the sparkling blue water against the Alps as a backdrop. Note that the Lac d'Annecy is reportedly the cleanest in all of France. Nearby Evian (and other cities) are known for their bottled water.

After our walk, we ventured outside of France for the first time, making our way into Geneva, Switzerland. We took our second morning lake walk, but this time next to the Lac Léman (or Lake Geneva, as we know it). We didn't really have a destination in Geneva other than the lake, so we walked around for awhile, as usual, looking for ice cream. We didn't find any, but we did find a small Denner grocery store, where we picked out some snacks to last us until dinner. The store wouldn't take any of our credit cards (not even my French one). Thankfully, they took euros. I got stuck with some Swiss francs for my change, but I just put it away in my wallet to use when I visited Sarah. Heading north out of town, we took the scenic drive along the lake.

We had debated trying to drive through Germany (crossing back into France at Strasbourg) but decided that, due to time constraints, it would be more prudent to stay in Switzerland/France. Also, we decided that we wanted to stop at the Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg, the most important feudal fortress in the Vosges Mountains (which divide Alsace and Lorraine, where I lived from April to August). We drove up the winding road to the castle, unfortunately arriving just as it was closing. Although we were disappointed about that, I had a backup plan. Caroline had kindly written down her suggestions for each region where we would be. As she is from Alsace, that list was the most extensive. After cross-consulting our guide book, we decided to stop in Riquewihr, one of the typical Alsatian villages lying along the Route du Vin, the 90 mile stretch of road that winds through the northeastern wine country.

We all had a blast in Riquewihr, even though a lot of things were closed, since it was fairly cool and still off-season. My main mission for that night was to find us a place to eat tarte flambée, a pizza-like concoction with a thin, flaky crust topped with lardons (little bits of ham), onions, crême fraîche and/or fromage blanc. I can't really explain exactly what crême fraîche or fromage blanc are, since their exact equivalents aren't sold in the U.S., but I can say that they are dairy products. Well, actually, you could probably find crême fraîche, although not easily. But fromage blanc isn't fully pasteurized, so it definitely wouldn't be allowed here (along with most other French cheese!). ANYWAY, the tarte flambée is an Alsatian specialty (although it is eaten throughout France), so I wanted to find a place to eat it. When we were browsing in one of the tourist shops, I struck up a conversation with 2 of the nicest old guys ever! They had the cute German-sounding accents, and they were so happy to make conversation with me. So I sat around shooting the breeze with them for quite awhile, and then I got their advice about a restaurant. They were having a hard time telling us where to go, since many of the restaurants are closed on Mondays (the owners have to take off one day, and they don't want to take Sundays off, because they'll lose too much business, I guess). But when the guys found out we were going to Strasbourg that night, they told us just to go to the center of town, and there'd be plenty of places there. Then they gave me a tarte flambée recipe card - so nice! After walking around some more, we headed into Strasbourg, found our B&B, and then made our way into the centre ville. We got to see the cathedral at night (very impressive), and then we found a place right nearby that was serving tarte flambées for 6 euros a pop. We had a funny server, who I think was amused by me (I had trouble understanding him because of his accent). We topped off our meal with black forest cake and crème brulée, then crashed at our hotel.

Tuesday, March 13: after an annoying traffic jam and a detour, we made our way into Strasbourg again, this time to see the sites. We took a boat ride around the city (Strasbourg has a canal) and saw some interesting things, including these tents, which lined the sidewalk overlooking the canal for several hundred yards:

We weren't sure what the deal was with the tents, and I didn't find out until after I got back to Nantes and showed my pictures to Caroline, who explained it. Apparently in December of 2006, there was some kind of grassroots uprising against homelessness throughout France. The point of the movement was to get government officials to take notice and take action by everyone going out and buying one tent for a homeless person. It turned out to be a huge deal, especially in Paris. Government officials didn't want those tents there. Ultimately, I'm not sure how it turned out. Almost-lame duck Chirac probably didn't have too much to say. It's an interesting story, though.

Strasbourg is considered to be a major EU crossroads, as the headquarters of the European Parliament and the European Court of Human Rights. Here is the European Parliament building.


After our fun in Strasbourg, we headed to Paris. On the way, we stopped in Verdun to see the World War I Memorial. It was quite sobering to see all of those grave markers in the cemetery.


Wednesday, March 14, 2007: our first excursion was to see the Château de Versailles, the former home of Louis XIV and Marie-Antoinette (before they were driven out and later executed by angry subjects) and the site of the 1919 signing of the Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I. The castle is exquisite.
Part of the ceiling:

The Queen's chamber - where she gave birth in front of many members of the court:

The gardens:
(Photo courtesy of Laura)

After leaving Versailles, we had some time to kill before the reduced price admission would take effect at the Louvre. So we went to the Notre Dame, Paris' most famous and beloved cathedral. Next, we walked around looking for one of my favorite Parisian specialties (okay, you can get them anywhere in France, but they just seem to taste best there when you're walking around those crowded streets): crêpes. We must have been in the wrong spot for crêpes, because it took us awhile to find a crêpe stand. But it was worth the walking around, because we got the nicest crêpe guy ever!
(Photo courtesy of Laura)

Next, we went to the Louvre, and everyone enjoyed seeing the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, and other art. Some of my favorites were the crown jewels and crowns in glass cases. Turns out we weren't allowed to take pictures of them - oops! Didn't realize that until afterward.


Afterward, we made our way down the Champs-Elysées to the Arc de Triomphe. Everyone was particularly exhausted at that point, but I told them it would be worth it to see the Eiffel Tower for the first time at night. Once they didn't think their feet could take them any farther, that lighted hunk of metal came into view, and they were impressed. But by that point, it was between 9 and 10pm, and everyone was tired and hungry. So we went into the closest restaurant, an Italian one. It was packed, and we wanted to sit in the no-smoking section, if there was one (by law, there has to be one, but it's sometimes just right next to the smoking section and not very well enforced). I asked the host if we could sit in the non-smoking section. To our delight, he led us downstairs to a huge, empty dining room. We had the whole thing to ourselves, and the rest and quiet was just what we needed after a long day of sightseeing. The only problem was the LOUD radio, which I asked our funny Italian server to turn down. He burst out laughing when I asked him to turn it down. He said, "I'm listening to the soccer game!" But he complied. Close to midnight, when we were on our way home, Laura became seriously ill in the Metro. When we arrived at the station, our shuttle was nowhere in sight, and per the schedule, we'd have to wait 45 minutes or more. Some guy, who I guess was a worker, motioned me over to him and then worked it out for another hotel's shuttle to get us to drop us off at our hotel. He didn't let me leave without making sure I understood that this was a HUGE favor, and that we'd best tip the driver well. We tipped him, but come on - the hotel was located about 100 feet from ours. We got off where the other passengers did and then walked across the lawn. Okay. At least we were entertained in the Metro by an accordion player.


Thursday, March 15, 2007: this morning, we actually had to head back out to Versailles to exchange a t-shirt I had bought for Laura. It was supposed to say Parlez doucement, je suis blonde (speak slowly, I'm blond), but I actually grabbed the one that said Parlez normalement, je suis brune (speak normally, I'm brunette). They didn't have the right size (grrr), and the guy wouldn't let me return it, so we had to exchange it for some other stuff. I never did find that shirt, but I bought Laura a Paris bag for her birthday.

Next, we headed to the Eiffel Tower to actually climb it. And climb we did. Once we got to the point of no more climbing, Laura and I took the elevator to the top.

According to my notes, we thereafter "walked around aimlessly," eventually arriving at the Musée d'Orsay, a train depot-turned museum which holds all of the art from 1848-1914 (the Louvre has everything pre-1848. In the early 1980's, the post-1848 art was moved over to the Orsay.). I could have stayed in this one all day...

Look - it's me!

The Gleaners - my mom's favorite painting:

Although we missed his house, we did get to at least see some of Monet's work:

We had a nice talk with 2 of the museum workers at the Musée d'Orsay and also a couple from Chicago that was vacationing there. I think that is one of my favorite parts about going to new places - striking up conversations with others! Except for our server earlier that afternoon at a café, who, when I asked him what the meat pies were like, told me, "No, no. You don't want that. That'll make you fat." K. Later that night, though, a nicer tourist shop worker told me, "You speak French with a smile!" Why, thank you!

For our final night in Paris, we headed to Montmarte. It was too late to go up to the Sacre-Coeur, but we did see the Moulin Rouge (ha - what a comparison: basilica to...can-can club). It actually was a beautiful sight at night, but that's more than I can say for La Pigalle, Paris' red-light district, in which the Moulin Rouge is located. Ugh. We topped off the night with some street vendor waffles and stood watching a whole army of bagpipe players march by.
(Photo courtesy of Laura)

So there you have it, folks. My trip around France. Hopefully you enjoyed the pictures and stories. At least now I know I'll remember where I went 10 years from now. I do hope I'll go back soon.