Blogs from Franche-Comté, France, Europe - page 2

Jura – Franche Comte . Its that time of the year again . With vacations starting in a couple of months . families have started searching for hot ( or cold ) spots to unwind and relax . Inland or abroad there is no dearth of destinations and each one can be just as ‘hot’ as the next . I say why not give Franche Comte a try ? Its as common as that place and as unique as this place . Franche-Comte is a department ( district ) in the east of France bordering with its friendly neighbour Switzerland . It houses the region of Jura mountains which forms a major part of the Snowy Alps ranges . The Jurassic period of the geologic timescale derives its name from this Jura range . English is ... read more

We were up early today and out the door by 8:30… on the promise of a Maccas morning tea! The nearest was shut so we headed onward until we found one that was open in Besancon. The real reason was reliable WIFI as we had nowhere to sleep. That was easily solved and we also found that there is a cool old citadel in Besancon which has a zoo inside. Old buildings for the old folks and big cats for the young-uns. Off we went but trying to get there, we realised that we are back in France. Driving is more arrogant here – they simply think you should know where you are going and get it right! Annoying differences between GPS maps and the real roads made it a bit difficult but we eventually got ... read more

Snooper told us this morning that we would only travel a few hundred yards from the campsite before turning left and heading out of town. However it had not factored in the deviations. Besancon was getting a tram system and most of the roads were being dug up. This meant the five minutes we expected to travel before leaving the town environs ended up nearer half an hour as we rode down one street and up another without getting anywhere. Eventually the citadel came into sight and we escaped. What a relief! I thought I had broken the back of my virus as I had stopped coughing at night but this morning- hack hack - it was back. Will I ever get rid of it? The day started grey and threatened rain but even so the ... read more

You can't go far in France without reminders of wars. What struck me was how similar the memorials to both WW1 & WW2 are to the ones we are familiar with in Australia. The monuments and memorials are in prominent positions in a town square, or in a park, near the main public buildings, at a crossroad etc and may be a column or a statue of a soldier in a heroic pose, and with a list of names from WW1 and WW2. Then you look more closely and notice the dates, places and manner of death and that in many cases there is also a list of civilians. Chilling. Besançon has a comprehensive and moving museum to the Resistance movement situated in its wonderful citadel. We found the history of the Deportation and Resistance, told ... read more

Note: All events mentioned in this entry occurred back in October 2006. For more updated entries and trips, please refer back to this blog at a later date. Entries that take place in the present day will NOT include a note like this. Thank you and enjoy! I had already been to Besancon during my, at this point my first three of 9 months ahead of me (I first mention it in my blog entry entitled "First Trip to Paris," for more details). However, I only spent 5 hours and missed out on a lot of very important sites, so I decided to come back for a second visit. I take the train as usual to Besancon, and make my way towards the Musee des Beaux Arts (Museum of Fine Arts). However on my way I ... read more