So East it's Ouest

We arrived at the train station in Geneva bedraggled from the metro and train station in Paris.  I would not suggest renting a hotel in Montmatre.  Geneva trains are not as well marked as the other cities we've been to, we had to catch a bus to the airport, then a shuttle to rent our car.  That proved difficult because they did not have our paperwork.  Once that was finished we drove an hour to Chamonix which is actually back in a France, the home of Mont-Blanc.  It is a touristy Swiss Aspen nestled in the valley beside the Alps.  It turned out that there was a festival going on and half of the main streets were blocked, it took another hour to find our hotel.  After having a frustrating day of traveling we toured the streets, had some fondu and some genepi beer, and tried out the outdoor hot tub covered in snow.  (grandma scored us some nice places to stay) In the morning we walked through the city to get our tickets on the cable car going the top of Mont-Blanc, the line was enorm

Back in Paris-gist of what happened  Day 1 Almost got ripped off by scam artists at the metro Mixed my English and French "Bonjour, four timbres s'il vous plait" Ate, meals and crêpes (crap as my laughing grandparents say : ))  Saw the Montmartre cemetary and it's famous inhabitants, Alexandre Dumas and François Truffaut Walked in Montmartre, the Moulin Rouge and it's shops Lots of homeless people in this area Watched artists paint  Walked the hill up to the Sacré Coeur  Day 2 Went from one place to another for food; grocery for yogurt, next grocery for pastries (donuts for grandpa) and Starbucks for coffee Metro to Orsay museum (no pictures inside) -> Louvre is closed on Tuesdays  There was a special exhibition on Gustave Doré which was pretty cool. Saw lots of beautiful artwork including Van Gogh's paintings which made me happy RER to Eiffel tour, said 'voila the tower' and they said 'that's nice where are we going next?',walked around

Today Paris, tomorrow Amsterdam, back to Paris, to Geneva and then back home in Avignon.  Check out allthingsnederlandse.blogspot.com for a post about Amsterdam.  Super excited to start this trip and especially to see Holland.   Plan for Paris-mainly see things I haven't seen ( cemetary bookstores Pompidou Bastille Luxembourg). Save Montmartre for grandparents  Arrive on TGV at the Gare de Lyon in arrondissement 12 (go to le train bleu) Check out place de la Bastille and the opera house ( grap a bite to eat) Go to arrondissement 4 bookstore, hotel ville, centre Pompidou, perhaps Tuileries  Head over the river seeing notre dame to arrondissement 5 Latin quartier go to Shakespeare and co Arrondissement 6 Luxembourg gardens cemetary de montemarrse  Head to hotel to check in and meet up with grandparents ( arrondissement 14) What happened- I thought I would be able to carry my luggage on my bag and walk around but even 5 minutes after putting my rolling bag on my back I was hurting.  I

This post is dedicated to those of us back home whose mouths are more accustomed to eating soft oatmeal bread, or perhaps even wonder bread, rather than baguettes.   Def.-baguette burn: a state of painful rawness in the mouth due to a change in diet; specifically due to the consumption of large amounts of baguettes.   This was something I was not expecting.  You might know about me that I like to make my own rustic bread, with a crunch worthy crust.  So before coming here I did not expect to have a sissy mouth, well I did.  Imagine the first week, I was so excited to be surrounded by delicious freshly baked bread that everyday for lunch I had a sandwich made from baguette and served every meal accompanied with a fresh baguette with butter or some olive oil.  * mental image of Emily with shining eyes, grabbing a baguette sandwich with two hands, biting into it like an alligator *.   The good news is that after weeks of eating baguettes, accompanying nearly every meal, you develop a hard

My bicycle is coming along, as of right now I'm waiting on my tools to come from Germany in order to finish up fixing it.  But so far I've removed all I can, washed and gotten rid of all the grease and rust, touched up the paint job (using two mixed nail polishes), used rubbing compound to liven up the color, waxed the frame, overhauled the headset, conditioned the saddle, and I've bought all of the new parts.  I'm excited to use it both as a French town speedster as well as a grocery carrying mule.  Hopefully before I leave I can either sell it or give it to someone special.       As for my bicylcing adventures I've been having a blast.  I've been checking out other towns nearby so I've seen Pujaut, Rochefort du Gard, Saze, Tavel, Aramon, Valliguères, and Pouzilhac.  All have been nice bike rides except for my horrible escapade of getting lost in the mountains yesterday.  Going up switchbacks and down switchbacks, roads around here don't say that they&#

Thankfully my mother in her wisdom decided to teach me how to cook, no matter how much I made a complete mess in the kitchen, ruined knives, or 'needed' to buy weird ingredients.  Real cooking, when you know how much a tablespoon of oregano is by putting it in the cup of your hand kind of cooking, and I learned to enjoy it too (maybe not when I'm starving or when I'm expected to, but I cook what I like to eat).  This has come in very handy because I am living with a family while the parents are away on vacation, so I have been looked upon as the chef de cuisine.  I've figured out that with the passing of time, just like in the US, the French have gotten away from the 'homemade' style of cooking and have moved toward Picard frozen meals, jarred ratatouille, and bags of frozen pre-sliced onions.  Which to me is sad because they have such an amazing cultural connection to good fresh food.  This is not saying that they do not appreciate good food but that they n