Paris Encore

There is so much to do in this city you would have to live here to experience it all. That's Jolene's plan anyhow. Every morning we set out from the apartment with great expectations and our feet give out before we finish our to-do list. We decided to task Allie with being the navigator for the day so we handed her the metro map and it was up to her to get us around the city. We chose a day when our metro stop on the main north/south line was closed for repair. She managed to direct us to another metro stop and negotiate three train transfers with success. One of those transfers involved hiking a mile of confusing tunnels in the world's busiest subway station. Great job!




Yesterday we attempted to go to the Catacombs but the line went completely around a traffic circle and it would have been at least two hours before we entered. As great as Paris is, the crowds here make Disneyland look deserted. We chose to wander the Luxembourg gardens instead.






We walked all the way home and got caught in a light rainstorm.



We finished the evening in a brasserie right next door. In spite of ordering simply by luck, we have yet to be disappointed by a meal here.

Today we went up to the Montmartre area, a hill with a great view and neat neighborhoods. I hate to sound like a broken, cynical record here but the crowds were insane. Jolene and I have wandered the streets there in August, the height of tourist season, and seen fewer people. We headed back down the hill and the girls found a place that had the world's best hot chocolate. We again wandered the streets back home. The great thing about Paris is that the city is so full of great sites that you continuously run across hidden gems that would be 5-star in other places but don't warrant a guidebook mention here. It took us hours to get home because we kept coming across interesting plazas, gardens, and artwork.




Tomorrow is our last day in Paris then we take a late night train down to Spain. We have some big sights planned for the day but who knows, maybe we will just wander.

More Sightseeing

The girls wrote us a note and asked to have a break from Paris sightseeing and after much discussion we decided to oblige them. They have been very good the last two months, listening to our ongoing history lessons, trying their best to speak the local languages, and hiking endless miles. So we got up early this morning and caught the train out to the French countryside for the day. We stepped out of the train and into the most amazing little village with more of the half-timbered houses that we love.








We were glad to find this incredible windmill since we didn't get to see any in Holland.





Next we discovered a beautiful castle. I thought the girls were all castled-out after Germany but they toured it with renewed enthusiasm.






After touring the castle we happened upon an incredible garden.




The tables were turned today as Allie and Noelle had all the energy and dragged the parents along. We caught the train back to Paris and were all too tired to do anything besides lay around the apartment. It was a full day.

Paris

We are enjoying our "spacious" apartment in Paris. It's at least 190 square feet, which is about 180 square feet larger than our last home. We are thrilled with all this space! It's in an area of Paris that up until a few years ago only saw tourists of the lonely businessman type looking for a little temporary companionship. The apartment owner told us that this area was so bad that Victor Hugo mentions it repeatedly in his writing as being hellish amongst other things. It's undergone gentrification and is really great, with few tourists and lots of young artsy type Parisiens. It is a pedestrian-only street that is lined with little shops to please us discriminating foodies as we shop for dinner.



Allie and Noelle were excited to see Paris and we have attacked the must-sees with a vengeance. All of the other tourists have too--don't they know that this is the off-season? First stop: Eiffel Tower.



We then went to the center of Paris, walked around a bit, then got the Notre Dame out of the way.


Is that an Eiffel tower growing out of your head?





Jolene's second favorite hobby: shopping for books. Reading them is her first.




We came across this cool church which looks just like that one in the Disney cartoon about the deformed loner bell-ringer guy. Noelle is sick of history lessons so I'm dumbing things down a bit to keep it interesting. This morning we hit it hard again, only this time we hit the Arc De Triomphe and Champs Elysees then finished off with the Louvre. Heavy stuff. The most interesting part for us was watching the insane traffic come together in the chaotic roundabout surrounding the Arc. The Gypsies were out in force as well and we also got a kick out of them harassing unsuspecting tourists. We are seasoned travelers and too wise for their evil trickery.




The stroll down the Champs Elysees was interesting as there was a building on fire and the acrid smoke was blowing down the sidewalk, choking up all the well-dressed people and driving them from the cafes.






The smoke was very heavy so we didn't take our time looking in shop windows. Our one goal on the Champs was to find a famous bakery that we had heard about and get some lunch items for the park. We nearly reached the end without finding the bakery, doubled back until the smoke was too thick still without luck, so we gave up and got food in the park. Later in the day back at the apartment I looked up the Paris news and found out that our bakery was where the fire started!

Another interesting thing happened to us as we neared the Louvre. This probably did not make the U.S. news yet so you are seeing it here first. We heard some screams and turned around just in time to see the most hideous sight--a giant foot was smashing the Eiffel tower! I'm glad that we climbed it on our first day.




You can't do Paris without getting some new clothes. Allie and Noelle modeling the latest fashions.






While they were touring Paris' finest shops, I picked myself up a hoodie pullover from an Algerian street vendor.

We hit the Louvre late in the afternoon when the crowds were supposed to be thinner. They weren't and we were pretty beat after a full day so we hit the highlights (Mona, Venus, and a few of their friends) and caught the Metro home.

Ode to Dagobert

After two months, Dagobert caused a lot of different feelings towards him. These three haikus pretty much sum them up.

Dagobert
Golden Chariot
Rusty, yellow, bad shifter
Miss you already.
By Jolene


Dagobert
You big rust bucket
Golden Chariot, my foot
Good riddance, I say.
By AllieZ


Dagobert
Cold, cramped, comforting
You kept us dry in the rain
But it's time to go.
By Noelley

Though cramped and rusty, cold and noisy, we'll miss him.

Goodbye Dagobert

We had a tearful parting of the ways with Dagobert at the Cologne train station this morning. When Jolene wasn't looking I booted him in the tailpipe--those were tears of joy on my part. Actually, I have to admit that our little piece of German automobile history treated us very well for two months, with over 3600 miles driven through 10 countries in the heat, snow, and rain.




We are on a high-speed train to Paris now and it's nice to just sit back and watch the scenery go by. I was tasked with cleaning out the van's food supply yesterday, so I ate cereal, yogurt, soup, noodles, cheese, salami, and topped it off with a few bottles of wine we had been carting around since Italy. Somebody had to do it! I almost ate as much as we ate a few nights back in a "hamburger" stand in France.



We ordered hamburgers and they arrived on an entire baguette loaded with sausage, mystery dressing and fries. The portions were beyond American sized and sadly we ate almost everything in the photo.



A few days back while we were strolling along a pond in a park in Maastricht the funniest thing happened. There were a few adults taking kids fishing, using very long ocean-style poles that were laid across the shoreline path that we were walking on. Allie and Noelle drifted back then a few moments later came running up laughing. They pointed out one of the fishing poles heading out towards the center of the pond. They had noticed that one of the unattended poles had a fish on and the pole was wiggling. As they discussed how to say in Dutch, "Excuse me but I think that one of your poles has caught a fish", the pole jumped off the sidewalk and started accelerating across the pond. We laughed hysterically as the pole reached planing speed, cruising the shoreline towards the far side of the pond. Soon a line of ducks began following the mysterious vessel and the whole lot of them paraded to the other side of the pond. We watched as the pole's owner went to check the poles, looked around confused, counted the number of kids, then inventoried the poles and finding one less than the number of kids began to search around. Confusedly, he squinted out over the pond and startled himself as he spied it at the head of the parade, by this time almost across the pond. He grabbed a pole and raced over to the far shore where he attempted to cast a line across the escaped pole. He wasn't exactly a seasoned angler as the first two casts slammed into the pond a foot from shore, then one snagged the bush behind him, another landed halfway across the pond and finally one hit its target. He managed to retrieve the pole but the fish wiggled free as he pulled it from the water. We laughed the rest of the day.

4 Countries in 2 Days

Our icy nights with Dagobert are coming to an end soon. It has been freezing and foggy in Northern France and the low countries and we've been trying to hotel up as much as possible. Last night we got stuck without a hotel in Luxembourg and it was the coldest night of the trip so far. Tonight we are near Maastricht but in the last 24 hours we've been in France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and now the Netherlands.




It's hard to complain about the cold too much after visiting the war sites in Verdun, France. Spending 10 hours in a cold van doesn't compare much to spending months in a frozen trench in wartime. Verdun was on the Western Front in WWI, and is considered one of the most gruesome and drawn-out battles in history. The area was fertile farmland prior to the war but because of the intense shelling, over a million german artillery rounds in the first ten hours, it became a cratered wasteland. It's amazing to drive along and for 30km look into the forest which has grown back and see nothing but hilly, cratered land. There isn't one level patch of ground anywhere. There are still some remains of the famed trenches left disappearing into the forest.



Occasionally you'll pass signs pointing to where a village was with its name followed by detruit (destroyed) and look and see nothing but craters. There are still a few old French forts left, with twisted metal everywhere.







The French were said to have lost as many as 70,000 troops in a single day in Verdun. The battle lasted 300 days and technically the French "won", but at a huge cost in lives and equipment. Two-thirds of the French who fought in WWI served time in Verdun. The military cemetery had crosses as far as the eye could see.




I've always found those jokes about French cowardice pretty funny. My favorite is the classified ad listing. For Sale: 1 used French military rifle, never fired, dropped once. I still think the joke is funny but after spending a freezing day touring the war grounds and seeing old movie footage, I'm not sure why we tell that joke.

We headed North from Verdun into Luxembourg, more to tick it off the "countries visited" list than anything else. It's very hilly and green and judging by the number of luxury cars must be pretty wealthy. We then stopped in Bastogne, Belgium and saw some more war stuff, this time from WWII. The kids climbed on a Sherman tank that was disabled and abandoned in a field nearby. It's now in a square in the town which has a memorial to the American 101st Airborne, who the Belgians still are thankful for liberating them from the Germans. We all felt proud, climbing on the tank as Belgians read the plaques describing the battle.






The gash from the artillery round that disabled the tank. I'm not really sure how the crew fared. After leaving Bastogne, we hit the freeway and headed for Maastricht, where we were glad to find a nice little warm hotel.

Food, Again by AllieZ

If I had to describe French food in one word, it would be: interesting. Eating out is quite the adventure. The menus are always in French, so I pretty much choose whichever one sounds the most familiar. The first time, I thought I ordered pork with a vinaigrette salad. It turned out to be a pink gelatinous hunk of meat and a weird cheese and ham salad with mustard sauce. As you may have guessed, this was not my favorite meal ever.

French meals usually have lots of butter and sauces. They also cook meat very very rare, so if you wanted it medium rare, you'd have to order it as well done. Fondue is very popular, and spetzle, a potato noodle.

Breakfasts are my favorite. We usually go to patisseries (bakeries). There you can get eclairs, croissants, muffins, and tarts. My favorite is " pain aux chocolat, " a chocolate croissant.

Eating out is fun, but an adventure. I'll have to be careful. I might end up with something like goose liver pate for dinner!

Waiting on the Weather

Last night was too perfect. We found a nice campsite in Ribeauville where the weather was warm and clear--and the price cheap! Then we grabbed a few bottles of wine from a nearby vineyard, cooked up some fresh chicken and vegetables, and enjoyed the rest of the evening. Today had different plans for us when the rain began and the temperatures dropped. The van shrinks to half the size in this weather so we headed for a cheap hotel in Colmar. I thought that I'd post some old photos since we haven't taken any today.









We hiked up to some old castle ruins above the vineyards the other day. It seems that every hilltop has old ruins to explore. There were two older French couples picnicking at the ruins. They had packed in a tablecloth, bottles of wine, and a buffet-worthy assortment of food. I brought half a bottle of tap water.

Foreign travel has its relaxing days, but it seems that the way we do it there isn't much "vacation" involved. I packed along a book but have yet to read one page. After map-reading, cooking meals, shopping, driving, setting up and tearing down camp, and writing journals and blogs there just isn't much down time. I like it that way but an occasional day holed up in a junky hotel is kind of a nice rest.

Our biggest moments of comedy come from language misunderstandings. We could write a book about the silly things that we've said or done. One that comes to mind happened in a shopping mall in Italy. The mall corridors had a lot of those kiosks, like the ones in the U.S. where they sell phones and cheap jewelry. They were all manned by aggressive sales people who would come out and try to pitch their wares to you as you walked by. We became experts at waving our hands and saying, "No, grazie", not even listening to their sales pitch. We split up for a while to do some shopping and when the four of us met up again we stopped to discuss our plans for the rest of the day. A vendor came up to us to pitch his wares and Jolene automatically waved her hands and said in Italian, "No thank you". We then continued our discussion, laughing about something. Agitated, the man returned and in broken English asked us to quit blocking the entry to his store. We then realized that he had originally asked us in Italian to please move out of the way and our response was to say "no thanks", laugh, and keep blocking his store entrance. We cracked up thinking about how brash us foreigners must be to say no then laugh at him.

What Country is This, Anyhow?

We left Switzerland, stayed a few days in Germany, and we are now in France. When Noelle gets out of the van and asks, "Hey! What country is this, anyhow?" it's easy to understand why. Fribourg, Germany is a nice little university town just over the border from both France and Switzerland and on the edge of the Black Forest. We really liked it and stayed an extra day. It doesn't have a huge tourist attraction, an over-the-top cathedral, roman ruins, or any other reason to visit except that it's a really nice place. Our campsite bordered the Black Forest and the spooky owls reminded us of that fact all night long. The entire downtown was bombed (except the cathedral) in WWII, but was rebuilt perfectly and looks and feels very original.



Our view from the top of the cathedral.



We've always loved the fanciful gargoyle waterspouts on gothic cathedrals, but this one is our new favorite. We would love to return in a rainstorm just to see it in action! Apparently the Germans had a sense of humor 500 years ago.

Fall has hit us with a vengeance and we needed to warm our bones so we headed to Eguisheim, France and found ourselves a cheap hotel room for a couple of days, but not before stopping for a picnic in the middle of nowhere.



Eguisheim must be the place that they modeled Pinnochio's village after. It was spared the ravages of two world wars and remains a perfectly preserved medieval town with tilting and chaotic half-timbered houses arranged in a defensive circle.





Pictures don't do it justice. Eguisheim is right in the heart of the Alsace wine country and can be crowded with day-trippers during the day but we almost had it to ourselves at night. We never considered ourselves "foodies", but we really enjoy our occasional splurges in nice restaurants. We ate dinner at a dimly lit, wooden-beamed bar one night and a white table-cloth, modern family-owned restaurant the next. Both meals were amazing and with no English spoken or written we had no idea what we ordered. The best plan of attack in this situation is to have everyone order something different. You spread the risk that way and chances are someone will get something palatable. Noelle had the kids menu both nights which would pass for the finest gourmet entree in America. We blew a week's budget in two days but it was well worth it. We also hit town on market day and bought some local foods, just as they have been doing for 500 years.




We drove a whole 20 km from Eguisheim to the city of Colmar. From the outskirts it just looks like a sprawling, modern city. Once you make it to the old town center it is like stepping back in time. It's part Eguisheim and part Venice. Again, photos just don't do it justice.







The adults in this family could hike to castles, taste wines, eat gourmet meals, and wander medieval streets as long as our budgets would allow. We have to remind ourselves sometimes to stop and use the time for education as well. It's pretty fun standing in a narrow lane, surrounded by leaning buildings and explain about life in the 1500's when you're standing on the same cobblestones that our ancestors did.

We have a little less than one week left with Dagobert and I think that we are all ready for a parting of the ways. Those hot days in Greece seem like a distant memory when we're watching our steaming breath over breakfast in the mornings.

Switzerland Revisited

We didn't actually revisit Switzerland--it was just so darned expensive that I figured we had better get two blog posts out of it. You know it's expensive when you return to Germany and are relieved at the "normal" prices. You also know how staunch the Swiss are when you return to Germany and find the people gregarious and free-wheeling! The truth is, you visit Switzerland for the scenery and we have so many beautiful pictures we'd like to share some more.








The Swiss do a great job of preserving their heritage and mixing in modern commercial interests like ski resorts. The continuation of mountain farming must be supported by government subsidies or taxes paid by foolish tourists that pony up $55 for a campsite. Either way, I think it's worth it.









I took this photo to compare it to one that I took in '95 when the glacier was noticeably larger. Darn those methane-spewing mountain cows!



Everyone should have a water feature in their backyard. Or three of them in this case (too many waterfalls-not enough camera lens).


Checking out the rabbit hutch.



Checking out the backside of a waterfall.

Tonight we are in Freiburg, Germany but close to France and we will head there in the morning. Freiburg is a nice little university town and we stayed an extra day because we really enjoyed it.