Blogs from France, Europe - page 1558

Well I suppose those of you who read the news deserve some word from this end of the world. I don’t really know what to say. If you really want to understand the underlying psychology and attitudes, I suggest you rent La Haine, or HATE. I’ve seen it in Blockbusters and independent movie stores. I couldn’t believe when I read this in the New York Times: "This is just the beginning," said Moussa Diallo, 22, a tall, unemployed French-African man in Clichy-sous-Bois, the working-class Parisian suburb where the violence started Oct. 27. "It's not going to end until there are two policemen dead." New York Times, Craig S. Smith, published: November 7, 2005 There seems to be a very tit-for-tat mentality that was represented very well in that film. I warn that the film is ... read more

One of the excursions from CEA was to the Normandy and Brittany regions to visit Rennes (the capital of Brittany), St. Malo and Mont St. Michel. Rennes is a nice-enough town. It has a beautiful parliament building that was recently rebuilt after a fire for a gigantic amount of money (I can’t remember exactly how much). Another interesting thing here is that signs appear in French and Breton (see the picture). St. Malo is on the coast of the English Channel. It used to be an important wealthy area, mostly because of the profiteers (a nice French name for pirates) who were based there. They were famous for being fierce and taking things from ships around the area. The people there don’t like them to be called pirates; apparently there’s a difference if you board a ... read more

After being in England for a couple of months we decided to take advantage of the cheap travel deals and booked our first mini break. We left Waterloo on the Eurostar at 7 am on Saturday morning and found ourselves in the centre of Paris only 3 hours later. Magnifique! Heres our take on the major sights in Paris: Arc de Triumphe - the crazy roundabout where the land of insurance companies is left behind for 'French combat driving'. Sure theres a big statue in the middle, but standing watching the cars hoping for a bingle is the real draw card. You have to go to the Louvre, and for good reason - it blows your mind. Enough said. We attempted to see the Notre Dame cathedral, but it requires hours of lining up so we ... read more

4/11/05 - Mulhouse, not far from Colmar, is the home of the Musée National de Automobile. It includes exhibits of about 400 vehicles and the world’s largest collection of Bugatti cars, including the amazing Bugatti Royale. Some other features of this museum include …. A Peugeot 205 which you can sit in and experience how it feels to roll a car, multiple times, at high speed (not something I want to repeat in real life thanks). A German car called a “Trabant” which is made of “Duroplast”. Sounds a bit like Elastoplast bandages and it is; the body of the car is made from cotton, sandwiched between two layers of resin. There is a classic quote from the Citroen 2CV handbook “A car which can carry two farmers in clogs, 50kgs of potatoes, or a barrel, ... read more

This is an awesome old town with a huge castle!! I was totally blown away by the size of it! We wandered around and ate and shopped some. Lots of midievel sp? stuff. Found a print that I loved and also a statue. People live inside the castle walls. Lots of artist communities here. Mark, I kept saying that I wish you were here. I want to bring you someday. Mrs. Herring will love this also.... read more