Advertisement
Published: September 1st 2007
Edit Blog Post
A Parisan Sunset
This was looking out from Notre-Dame On Thursday the 16th, Fab and Delph showed me round Quirebon, which was a peninsular close to where they lived. After this I caught the train to Rennes where Julia picked me up and took a small drive to a place called Saille (close to Guerande (close to St Nazaire (close to Nantes (in Brittany, west coast ish, you get the picture)) where Julia and Alex was staying while they are back in NZ for a few months. At this time Alex was in Spain on a surfing trip lapping up the sun while we were close by in France relishing the wind and rain. It didn’t matter though as it gave me the opportunity to meet his fantastic family who lived close by in Guerande so spent a heap of time getting to know his parents and sisters, who were very funny (and who has an amazing voice by the way).
The night of the 17th August Julia and I had dinner with Lorient, someone Julia and Alex works with in the Salt Marshes. Again the English/French thing made things a little difficult but none the less common words such as “rugby” kept things interesting. That night I had
Louvre
Entrance to the Louvre a brilliant drink called the “Water of Life” or “Fire Water” that was home made fermented fruit or something along those lines. It was about 70 or 80% but tasted very nice, with a great big kick of course. The salt marshes were a very interesting place (where they make salt obviously). It was an intricate web of water ponds and reservoirs and salt ponds that looked a lot or work! Basically, the water spends about 3 weeks moving to the final place while the sun evaporates the water and leaves the salt. Wandering round the salt marshes I saw something amazing, Jesus’s dog. Yes he was walking on water. It was friggin awesome!! Just running across water. See for yourself in the picture.
On the 19th Alex came back from Spain so was great to see him again but the rain continued to fall and the sun continued to disappoint. Julia showed me round area and the many little villages scattered everywhere. They looked very French, funny that, small and beautiful and busy with a large number of tourists from around France descending on the area for summer.
St Nazaire was dark and spooky as it was where
the Nazi’s built submarines after taking over France in the Second World War, with the massive rectangular concrete block as a place where they built the subs now a tourist venue and concert hall. One afternoon Alex and I managed a game of tennis in between rain showers where he narrowly beat me after I lost 4 straight games to lose the final set to him but after that had an incredible dinner at his families. His mother was kind enough to not cook seafood (the French LOVE seafood) as I don’t eat it so I was very grateful. The next night I was again invited back and somehow, don’t ask me how, I ended up helping them out in cooking dinner (it’s true Mum, I have photos to prove it and I will send them to you soon). I of course had expert advice from Alex’s sister Do who was very entertaining in the kitchen and his mum Elizabeth.
Normandy
Unfortunately that was my last night in Guerande but didn’t know it, but the next day Alex, Julia and I drove up to Normandy where Julia’s family lives. On the way, we passed by the Mont St
D-Day
Very interesting place Michel which is an old school small town/cathedral with fantastic views and architecture that is as beautiful as it is old. With that behind us we arrived in Normandy and met Julia’s mother Carole and her brother Piere and had a delightful seafood dinner. The next day brought the sun and the beach at Etretat, another little coastal town in between the white cliffs with a golf course on top of the cliffs, where it appeared no one actually playing could play, with a few people having to duck and dive to avoid being hit by stray balls. That night we had dinner with the immediate cousins and with a little English spoken, rugby again was the hot topic. Now this is where I discovered Calvados, a drink as potent as anything I have tasted and they seem to have it in the truckloads. It soon became a favourite to literally finish off the night. After losing all my money in poker we called it a night with a plan to meet up with the extended family again the next day at the family reunion. Boy was I in for a surprise… Turned out the family gathering consisted of about
200 people, yes 200, and that was only some of them. It was fascinating meeting so many different French people all from the same family.
On the 28th we drove across to where the world was turned, D-Day. On the way, we stopped for lunch at a small town where word on the street was the Brad Pitt and George Clooney were turning up that afternoon, but as none of us really cared about that we continued to Bayeux (D-Day). Now this was... Stepping out and actually seeing the horizon coated in white marble crosses really put things in place in what truly happened when the Battle of Normandy began. What those people gave for all this is spelt out when you walk through that military cemetery. This quote says it all as it greets you at the memorial. “Our debt to the heroic men and valiant women in the service of our country can never be repaid they have earned our undying gratitude. America will never forget their sacrifices”. It is a place that must be visited to actually grasp the effect it had. I left that place in a rather somber mood, but at the same time
The Jesus Dog
Now this was impressive a little disappointed as the Americans have made out that they were the be all and end all of WWII, I realize it is an American memorial but still, why do they always do that?
This trip was eye opening for me as being isolated in NZ has meant that I have never being exposed to any sort of fallout from the second world war so getting to see what actually happened and the direct impact on the small towns being quickly rebuilt and the beach where it all happened was educational.
Anyway, so I caught a train from Bayeux to Paris where I stayed there for 2 nights. While I was there I went to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa and the numerous other collections in their entirety. The building alone was magnificent with the work inside stunning. Also in this time I went to the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs-Elysees and the Notre-Dame cathedral with an organ with 7800 pipes.
So, in the three weeks in France what have I learnt?? This…
1. The French love seafood
2. They also love butter, sugar and SALT!!
3. They eat sheep intestine, I mean,
you guys are great people, but sheep intestine, really???
4. The local French people are very very friendly even if they don’t speak English
5. The discovery of Calvados and Water of Life that isn’t actually water
6. The women are very beautiful
7. To inform you you are leaving a village they put a line through the word on the roadsign
8. How expensive it is to live and move around in France
9. No one actually looks at the art displays in the Louvre, they just stand in front of them and takes pictures. Go figure
10. I’m still trying to think of a tenth thing
Thank you France and the wonderful people I met and the hospitality everyone showed me while I was there which included Delphine’s family, Alex’s family, Julia’s family, Thomas, Fabien and Delphine, Alex and Julia. It made for a wonderful three weeks.
Au Revoir. I will be back… Again photos will be posted when a decent internet connection is found
As for now, I will be doing a few small jobs around the UAE and Qatar and then hopefully heading off to Singapore for a few weeks.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.094s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 15; qc: 61; dbt: 0.055s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
dad
non-member comment
jesus the dog
Howdy partner ...and i thought only you can walk on water.