Tuesday, December 27, 2005 After much fear of booking either too early or too late we ended up waiting until November to book flights this year. This was about the same time we booked our holiday flights last year. We paid $920 US each, or about double the previous trip. Here are some notes looking back in time to the beginning of this trip.
Friday, December 23 Although our flights were on time, we were not. Too much to do the morning of departure, I was stressed about being late to the airport. In the end we were not extremely late and we lifted off from Norfolk (ORF) to begin the marathon first day of any transatlantic trip.
Welcome to Miami! We flew into the B concourse to change to the H concourse for our day excursion/break in Miami, as we had quite a long layover. It was a long walk and while doing it we did not remember hearing one person speaking English. Keeping in mind that Severine speaks four different languages, not hearing any English at an American airport in a major metropolitan area for a 20 minute period was peculiar and slightly disturbing to both of us. We were directed to the metro bus to get to Dolphin Mall. We were on time, but the bus was actually early and left without us. It took 20 minutes for us to figure this out. Then we tried a shuttle, which never showed up. That took another 30 minutes. Then we finally broke down and took a taxi for $35. We complained and got a free pass back to the airport. So all in all we were happy. The mall was laid out in a Mills style development. It was full of normal guys and girls wearing next-to-nothing. Gomorrah, hear we come! So after shopping for a while and buying some provisions for our trip, we headed back to the airport and checked in without delay, gladly leaving the scene that is Miami behind.
Christmas Eve 2005 Our flight on Air France was on a 747–400. It was great to finally fly on the Queen of the Skies. The service was superb, even in coach. We were toward the back of the plane where it starts to narrow slightly. Landing softly at Charles de Gaulle (CDG-Paris), we taxied forever, reminding me of a similarly long taxiing experience in Amsterdam two years ago. Clearing immigration was lightning fast, baggage was not. I reserved our rental car in euro instead of dollars and that made for a fast retrieval and got us on the road quickly. Amounts are much easier to double check when you don’t have to do monetary exchange rates for every line item. Our diesel Citroen C3 was almost new, so we began our drive in style and comfort. There was much traffic, and after about four hours I was starting to lose consciousness! Severine took over and we made it to Michele and Jean-Francois’ and arrived at the exact same time as Karine and Elise arrived!
It was not long before the feast began. A cacophony of aromas confused me as we sat down at about 8 PM. We started with hors d’oeuvres. We had Cremont Languedoc (sparkling white from that region) with a splash of Creme Currant (currant fruit liqueur) to drink with so many different foods! We had ham and cheese, dried sausage, prunes wrapped with ham, apricots wrapped with ham, bread with figs, stuffed mussels, escargot, smoked salmon, dates stuffed with almonds frangipane, prunes stuffed with almonds frangipane, and... well, you get the picture. And that was just the hors d’oeuvres! The main dishes included shrimp, roasted stuffed duck, chestnuts roasted in duck fat, foie gras on toast, foie gras pate, salmon terrine, three vegetable terrine, whole poached/steamed salmon, and salad. For dessert we had several cheeses and a cake, along with Eau De Vie (homemade distilled fruit liquor). Of course, everything was accompanied by more wine that included a white burgundy, a red burgundy and Jurancon to go with the foie gras. Of course, I failed to mention that a Mirabelle plum tart and a apple tart were served as we arrived to hold us over to the 8 o’clock dinner time! It was definitely the best night of eating in my life. Gifts were exchanged late in the evening, and sleep came quickly after that!
Christmas day 2005 we woke up at 11 AM! That’s what happens when you have all of that travel followed by all of that eating and drinking. Not long after eating some bread for breakfast the meals begin again! There was an endless fog in the region that day. It was with all of us as we ventured out to walk off some food. I ran late in the day and darkness almost consumed me on the road to and from the town of St. Paul de Loubressac. We stayed an extra night due to the fog as driving in it would’ve been extremely dangerous. It's hard to convey how thick and relentless it was for three days. And cold. Everything was coated with ice crystals. It seemed like it was either dark or dusk... never daylight. Thank God for the food and work cleaning up and for those walk/run excursions. I also did a quick drive into the neighboring town to pick up the roast duck we had on Christmas Eve. A little meat shop was doing quite the business as everything else was closed. That duck was fabulous... I wish I had gone back and told the proprietor.
December 26 We departed Saint Paul after lunch. They live in an ideal place. Large parcels of land prevent neighbor incursion. The views are very nice. And the quiet is enviable. Southwest of France is very nice, and I will enjoy coming back. The drive to Bort was nice and fog free, so we had made a good decision. The city of Brive must have experience some localized bad weather because the town was frozen and covered in ice! Elise made us a hearty egg and potato dish before a plate of cheeses was served. Typical cheeses here are of the region. Ste Nectaire and Chantal are the most common. Chantal may be the finest cheddar type cheese I’ve ever eaten. It has a haughty, more expensive relative from higher up in the volcanic hills called Salers.
December 27 Everyone was sick. So a lazy day of laundry and a doctor house call was the order of things. We went out to get the meds he prescribed after that visit. Lunch was a wonderful mix of stuffed and roasted chicken with prunes, sautéed potatoes, sautéed Cepe mushrooms, chestnuts roasted in the fat of the chicken, and a plate of cheeses.
December 28 The cold really settled in on almost all of France. In fact the pervasive cold-weather was big news on the French TV stations. Froid!!! It has flurried here on and off all day. I went for a walk up toward the pipes (les Orgues) and cleared junk from my email at a local Internet salon. Severine did about 90 minutes of biking. Karine and Elise made a apple tart. I made crème brûlée as it is Elise's favorite. We are all just trying to feel better, too.
On 29 December Despite warnings to the contrary saying everyone should stay home, we took off for Lyon at about 830 in the morning. It was sunny after all! Road conditions were fine through most of the morning. We passed through Clermond Ferrand and were well east of there with roads still okay. We were a little bit over an hour away from Lyon before things started to get a little tough on the roads. We had to go over several large sections of hills and it had started snowing and accumulating quickly. We got locked in behind three snow plow trucks and the wiper fluid in the brand new car ran out! The little Citroen C3 was cool, but we found it’s weaknesses. As we tried to figure out what was going with the fluid on the hood cable got stuck so we couldn’t open up the hood to see anything! We were finally able to work things out and crawled into Lyon behind a jam of cars. We had done a little research and knew where to park, and we drove right to the lot we had planned on using. As a bonus that was underground and out of the weather, and only cost €24 per day. This is actually reasonable for a large city. The central part of this city is bound by two rivers. It is essentially a peninsula running some 30 blocks between the Rhône and the Saone rivers.The width is only about 10 blocks. So it’s easy to walk almost every street worth seeing in one day... if you are in shape. Out and about to stroll and shop, the cold was mind numbing. Air temperatures or -8°C (17F) and were brutal when combined with any breeze at all. I finally went into a Tabac shop, which are a lot like little general stores here in France, and bought a calling card. I checked us into the Citadines Apart hotel, which I booked for an additional 10% fee using the tourist information desk in Place Bellcour. It’s so worth it when all of your guidebook options run out and the weather sucks. It sure beats walking around from hotel to hotel trying to find a room. After calling my relieved mother and talking to her for a while, we all met for a stroll through Vieux (Old) Lyon, just across the Saone. It was romantic, quiet, and freezing cold! There are little tunnels or passage ways that go under the street in the area similar to a few places in Paris called Traboule. We found a couple of them and used them. We went back to the city center in search of good food at a reasonable price. We ended up having lunch at a place called Maison Perroudon. Our €8 lunch included a small salad, a slice of quiche, and a petite tart or cake. It was very modern inside and very tasty. We all ordered something different and shared. Later on our dinner goal was to stay close to our warm hotel on Rue Merciere. North of Place de Jacobins, which is dominated by huge fountain, this street is called "Bistro Row." Plenty of choices from affordable to extortionate. We settled on Le Bistro de Lyon very near the hotel for its plate of the day of sausage and green lentils for €11.20. Of course, I had other ideas and ordered a €15.50 plate of seared duck and braised cabbage. Service was good but a little bit slow in this very lavishly decorated place. I did some investigative work and found out the place is run by the same chef who runs Leon de Lyon, a very famous and touted restaurant known all over France. That place would have cost us €300+ to eat. Severine and I had a tough night sleeping as we were both sick and noisy.
December 30 Our breakfast was included at our hotel, and a super automatic espresso machine helped us get our moneys worth! Severine and I had at least €20 in coffee alone... each! It was brutal cold again, and we went back to old Lyon and caught the Funicular train up to the Notre Dame Fourviere. This church and it’s mosaics were the most lavish I have ever seen. Of course, my camera died just as I started taking pictures of it. The damn cold had completely ruined the battery life. We strolled down to the Theater Romain and took in the Roman "ruins" that were built so well that they’re still in good enough condition to be used for some events. The funicular took us back down to old Lyon and we visited Place Edouard Commette. From there we went straight to the car and drove over to the river-left part of town to visit Gare de la Part Dieu. This commercial center has a nice mall and we needed some items for dinner back and Bort later that evening. Before long we had finished grocery shopping at Carrefour and munching on Fougasse for lunch, which is like a Provençal pizza sandwich concoction. Back on the road, the good weather quickly turned bad at the low passes of hills again. The snow then turned to ice, and then to rain. It was just turning to ice again as we arrived back home in Bort. The microclimates in France are insane.
New Year’s Eve It has rained continuously all night and into the day and was miserably cold. Basically shit weather. We will eat well to bring in the new year before finishing our trip and flying home. Traditional foods included Bordeaux wines, shrimp with homemade mayo (Daniel makes it out in the garage with an immersion blender... colder temps help the emulsification), yule log cake, currant tart, braised Belgian endive, potatoes, and duck confit.
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