Blogs from France, Europe - page 3

My last day, I decided that while I was here I would do a day trip to Epernay, kind of the center of the Champagne houses. So, after a quick breakfast with my friends, I bid them adieu and got on my train. After two switches, I had finally arrived in Epernay. I had absolutely no plan here, so I just kind of followed the crowd a bit. I walked through a garden just outside the train station and emerged onto Avenue de Champagne. My first stop was to visit the Museum in the Chateau du Perrier. The chateau was built in the 1850's, but was used during both world wars as first an infirmary then headquarters. It has two accessory buildings which were the caretakers quarters and stables, and now house the ticket office / ... read more

About two weeks before, my Aussie friend that I had made in Dubai and who had moved to Spain last year messaged me and invited me to come to Paris, or Reims actually, to celebrate her milestone birthday. I had not left the UAE except for a couple short work trips since the end of June, so I figured, why not! I took Friday off and flew into Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, arriving at 9:30am and was able to get a direct high speed train to Champagne-Ardenne at 11:22am, with a short local train to the main Reims station. Easy! I had booked a little hotel near the station, Brit Hotel Aux Sacres, which was cute, friendly, and centrally located, with a little extra for a decent breakfast. I had no idea what to ... read more

Well, here we are at the end of another spectacular vacation. This morning before our departure to Paris we visited The 101st Airborne Museum in Bastogne. We have been to many World War I and II museums, but this by far is one of the best. This three story building was constructed in 1936 as a mess hall for Belgium officers. In 1941-1944 it was in the hands of the German Army, and then after the end of the war by the United States and given back to the Belgiums. For those of you not familiar with the history of this area the Battle of the Bulge was fought here in Bastogne. The artifacts of the war that are throughout this museum are incredible. These, along with the scenes depicting the battle with life like figures, ... read more

Holy S—T! Woke up this morning to snow! This trip has been continuously full of surprises. At the sight of the snow Ray and I knew that Diane would be catatonic about our switchback drive back down to Chur. It was however, a beautiful sight looking like a Winter Wonderland. Fortunately the snowfall stopped after breakfast so we were on our way. The clouds had begun to lift, and the scenery was amazing. I forgot to mention that during the snowfall large groups of people from the area headed out to go hiking. These Are truly hardy people. There were so many Kodak moments during the trip down, that I finally had to stop myself from taking any more. The road travel today after coming down from Arosa was all highway and it almost felt boring ... read more

Frankfurt Airport I'm on a four-hour layover waiting for my connection to Marseille, mindlessly following signs, mindlessly following crowds. Occasionally the crowds bunch into queues, queues for shuttles, queues for information, queues for coffee. I've come to accept the dozens of communication failures that happen daily when I'm traveling abroad. My first of this trip came when I summoned my best German to order coffee mit cream and got a cup of thick black ink instead. On the flight I watched a documentary about how we fail to appreciate the miracle of modern aviation. (No doubt produced by some airline consortium.) Each gate in an airport should be seen as a portal, the film suggested, a portal that allows us to step from London to Abu Dhabi, from Montreal to Lima, from Shanghai to Honolulu. The ... read more