2007-2008 Holidays In France

December 21-22, 2007
By the time 2007 came around, flying to France and traveling within the country was becoming routine. And that’s good. So for the holidays in 2007 including the 2008 New Year, I decided to do some very advanced planning. We drove from Portsmouth to DC Dulles and parked in row 29C. We had a direct flight from there to Paris. That was one thing that made it easy, limiting the flight time to only seven hours. The other thing was that I had actually booked the flight 11 months prior in February 2007. So there was no searching for weeks on end for the best flight and the best deal. On the flight itself we had marginal food and were actually saved by the chocolate bars I bought at World Market the previous week. Baggage was the normal one hour ordeal at Charles de Gaulle. We had to change from terminal 1 to terminal 2D to find an open Budget rental car counter because we arrived so early. We ended up with a Nissan Note with only 5 km on it! It was very nice. We drove into Paris and found a sweet free parking spot right beside Karine’s building. The rest of the day we explored Montparnasse shops and the Luxembourg Gardens. Things kept getting more crowded as the day progressed. By the time we found our way to the Paris Opera area to see some lights and window displays, Paris had exploded into a summer like pedestrian condition. That means chaos, rudeness, smelly people... just crazy. After a few minutes of swimming through people and getting separated again and again we realized that our play for the evening was over and took the Metro back toward Karine’s apartment and bought evening provisions at a nearby Monoprix. Sev and I polished off the Moulis-Medoc Bordeaux with dinner and we all slept well. 

Daylight is about 8 AM or later this time of year, so we got up after that on 23 December. We ate and loaded up for Orleans only about one hour south of Paris. It was nice... not crowded, and pretty so we made a fine choice. The bad part was the traffic out of Paris. Once again everyone seemed to be leaving Paris. The highway was an endless jam. We were lucky to have a national route option and we bailed off the autoroute toll road and took it instead. After touring the old town on foot the ladies ate food from a market while I had to get the requisite regional French salad. As usual, it was perfect. Dressing on the side this time. Two lettuces. Ripe tomato. Roasted potato. Cured ham. Lardons (pork belly cubes). A poached egg. Homemade croutons. Cucumber. Dry cured sausage. This type of salad is mostly lost in America. Restaurants apparently do not know this simple rule – if an ingredient can’t stand alone it has no place in a salad. Superior ingredients equal superior salads. Later that day, the drive to Saint Paul de Lubressac just south or Cahors was long. We arrived with no gas left in the tank, both the car's tank and our own energy levels, at 7:30 PM we settled in to some dinner of warmed potatoes, cheeses, and cured meats with salad. Tomorrow would be Christmas Eve and we had been moving hard and fast for 2 1/2 days.

On December 24, 2007 we woke up close to 9 AM. We were sleeping downstairs where there are very small windows so it was very dark and quiet. After the sound sleep the day was the usual chaos of socializing and eating. All day long. Actually, Christmas Eve is a gastronomic blowout. Breakfast is as usual. That means croissants or brioche and jam with coffee. Lunch is usually normal as well... a sandwich and a vegetable. But, on this day Michelle prepared green beans and pork loin with onions and prunes in the pressure cooker. I could eat this dish every day for the rest of my life. But the real action started at 8 PM and we ate from that hour until after midnight. Oysters, shrimp, snails, salmon... it was a seafood feast. The hors d’oeuvres included prunes wrapped in bacon and then baked. Christ! Just kill me now! I loved the bacon and prunes! There will be a tray on the way to heaven and most certainly an endless supply once there. Before all this gluttony, we ran about 10 km to Fountain La Boeff. The land in the Tarn-Et-Garonne  and the Lot regions is pretty. It is rolling and pastoral. France is the land of moss. Any organic object facing the sky with a good amount of shade will succumb to a green sheet of the stuff in time.

On Christmas day we just recovered. Of course, and this is a good thing, we had a two hour blowout lunch with a round of foie gras from both duck and goose. The livers were served with homemade fig preserves and wine from the region that was slightly sweet call Jurancon. It’s just not possible to describe how good this food was. Oh, there were more bacon wrapped prunes, too!

On December 26 we left before 9 AM to take a side trip away from the family to the Languedoc and Roussillon regions along the Mediterranean. This would be our first venture there. The Tarn region gives way to the Haut Garonne. It is much less pretty there. The large city of Toulouse comes and goes. Soon enough we arrived in Carcassonne. The Cite is in an old fort/castle, built to mythological proportions. It has more than 48 towers and turrets. It was never taken by force. After visiting it is easy to see why. Only a fools fool would attempt to penetrate it. We had crepes for lunch and listened to a happy man talk of the never-satisfied French worker for about 20 minutes or so. This old guy had been around, so he knew things from experience! We drove around town by accident as we got lost trying to leave. They are modernizing the plaza there and we drove around the construction and up a lively shopping street. Heading out of town, the Roussillon vineyards started right away. Gnarly old head pruned vines and strong winds were with us through the rolling hills and wind power farms as we approached the Mediterranean. With the Mediterranean in sight, we descended to Perpignan and arrived in Collioure before dark. We parked and strolled along the sea in this pretty city. There was a port in the cove and pebble beach. They were also several castles and ramparts within the city. It is quite beautiful and reminded us of the Cinque Terre in Italy without the crowds. We found a hotel with the help of a friendly tourist information desk employee. One thing to keep in mind is the small letter”i” in blue can be your savior. The Hotel Teapliers Was a decent place and only cost €62. We walked to the local shops and bought cheeses, bread, yogurt, cured meats, and wine. We feasted on this food and drink and the local red Cote de Coulliore wine before watching some TV and going to bed.

On December 27, 2007 we woke up to our grocery provisions for breakfast, that being breads and apricot jam that was of local origin and a regional specialty. Then we walked up to the old windmill to the south of town. This mill actually was used to drive a stone press for olive oil and is still functional. Beyond that we walked on up to a  ridge line panorama adjacent to a very imposing monastery. After returning down into town we had coffee and some great chocolate pastries delivered to us by a really happy lady on the beach/cove area. We drove out through Seret and over a pass on the D618 road through the town of Oms. The pass was pretty and impossibly long. We took a national route to Villafrance de Conflents. There is a beautiful castle and a fortified old city there. From there, we headed up into the Pyrenees where the ski areas started to appear. Lots of traffic on two lane roads with no passing available. Then we connected to the national route number 20 through a tunnel and took 30 additional minutes to clear Ax de Thermes. I know I’m repetitive here but the traffic was really pretty bad. Slow drivers were having a hard time realizing that they should use the pullouts and let all of the backed up traffic behind them pass. It was just a slog that seem to go on forever. As we cleared another tunnel at Foix, the fog followed us all the way back to the Lot region. What a drive! We had a Cepe mushroom omelette, salad, and fruit for dinner back at Michele’s that evening. 

On December 28, 2007 we were up at 9 AM, again! After some breakfast and talking we said our goodbyes and drove the two hours and 15 minutes back to Bort. On the way we left and joined the fog over and over again. It’s seem to be sucked in to the valley from the Atlantic ocean some one hundred kilometers or so away. Then the valley somehow compresses and gathers it. It becomes palatable, spoonable, impenetrable. We finally left the fog for good around Brive en Gallard. Bort was actually sunny, thank God, as there are not many sunny days in the winter there. We had sausages and veggies for lunch. I did a hike to the cross of the Bastides across the valley and above town. The ladies hiked on the other side at the Orgues. In the evening we had another mushroom omelette. No complaints here! Cepe mushrooms are very special. They are similar to shiitake mushrooms and grow on and around oak trees. 2007 was not a good year for these types of mushrooms but 2006 was a banner year. Since mushrooms freeze well we were actually eating mushrooms from the previous year! 

On December 29, 2007 we had a simple day. We ate breakfast, went to the market, ate lunch, hiked, ate dinner, and went to sleep! More specifically we ate pork fillet at lunch with prunes and onions. We hiked the Orgues in the rain in the afternoon. Then we ate Pot Au Feux in the evening, which is a traditional dish of beef parts boiled with potato carrot and rutabaga. It’s seasoned with the green parts of a bunch of leaks tied together as a garni. As usual, Severine’s mother Elise never stops. Always chopping, shopping, cooking, cleaning. That is why I bought flowers today for her at the market. 

On December 30 and 31st 2007, we had two more glorious days of eating and walking and reading. I forgot to mention that I usually go through at least two books on these trips. Thanks to my mother gifting me a Kindle a few years ago, reading has become a new passion for me. On both of these days there was fog in the morning that cleared by afternoon. The days have been cool at about 7°C, but not bad for this time of year.

On January 1, 2008 the sky was blue in the morning for a change! We packed everything into our luggage and ate our New Year’s dinner early. Then we drove to Paris. On the way we went through about four different climate zones. We actually had sun in the Dordogne valley, ice in the high Massif, fog on the Cher plains, and clouds in the Loire valley. We had dinner back at Karine’s apartment before going to our hotel near the airport. The Holiday Inn Express we stayed at was actually very nice. Returning the car was not so easy. Bad signing, rude people, and freezing cold made it a little bit of an ordeal. At least we wouldn’t have to deal with it on our departure day.

On January 2, 2008, our trip back started at 8 AM with a wake up call. We were in the check in line by 9:30 AM. Our plane was supposed to depart at 12:30 PM. By the time we cleared security, our plane was boarding! It took three hours! There were four separate passport checks, long queues at each... just awful. The flight was fine. We landed back in DC at 2:30 PM and we’re home by 8:30 PM. Traffic exiting the DC area was OK that evening. So our travel time back home that day was 18 1/2 hours total.

2006 Summer Trip To France

July 8, 2006 We made another trip to Cancun prior to this summer trip. So we stacked up international trips fairly close this year. It was a business trip that took us to Cancun, and we had a great time at Moon Palace. It’s a huge place but it’s first class and we would probably stay there again if the opportunity ever presented itself. We took a side trip on that visit to Isla Mujeres. There’s a little bit to see there but not too much. It’s always a nice little getaway from Cancun though. Now we are in Bort-Les-Orgues France and with family. We are four days away from heading back to the US so I need to go back and recap the first eight days here and catch up!

On July 1 and second, our departure took us from Norfolk to Dallas to Paris. That is a long way to do the journey! I think I have learned to travel these distances well mentally. My back, however, has issues and some of these airline seats! We were on time with our arrival into Paris with reasonable weather. Terminal 2B at Charles de Gaulle was under siege from construction, so finding Karine‘s silver Peugeot 206 diesel among the many silver Peugeot 206s was not easy. After loading up at the arrivals ramp, we took a different way out of Paris to get down into the center of France. We still hit traffic once we circumnavigated the south east of Paris and hit the toll auto routes. We probably had an hour and a half of traffic delays. I know that sounds like a lot but that’s actually pretty mild when leaving Paris. It’s just ridiculous traffic leaving there. The seven hours did include a nice picnic at a rest area along the way.

On July 3 and fourth we just hung out and ate good food at home. We hiked up to the organ pipes (Les Orgues) and took a longer way back jogging on the fourth. Strange not to hear any fireworks on July 4! On the fifth we actually drove down to Michelle’s place in Saint Paul de Loubressac for the drive on into Bayonne the next day. We swam in their swimming pool and ate in the country setting. Very nice.

July 5 and 6 were spent in the Pays Basque region. The first stop was Bayonne. The town is bisected by the rivers Nive and Adour. It’s encompassed by ramparts of many centuries past. Exiled Jews have brought chocolate, while the Basque people have their cured hams and sheep’s milk cheeses to mingle with seafood from the coast. It is a nice little town, and it is a bit like a coastal version of Arles for me. The gardens are lovely and the winds are calm here, which means I may have liked it better. Remembering back to the first time I’ve visited Arles, the Mistral winds were unbelievable.

Biarritz was our next stop down the coast, and it was pretty nice. The town was covered with hydrangea of all different colors blooms. A rock formation called Rocher de la Vierge to the south and the lighthouse to the north frame the town nicely. All the tourist traps in the city are a quick stroll away! We stayed back in the Bayonne are... north of town by about 10 roundabouts in a country home called a Chambre d’Hote. It cost €65 for the three of us and included a very nice breakfast of homemade bread’s and jams and coffee. 

The next day we drove to St. Jean de Luz and things became very Basque. Lots of Xs and As in the words. I liked the town, but there were more chic and snobby people there in my view. Most of them older and with an unfortunate air of entitlement. The fishing industry is the only real work that is left there outside of tourism. We visited a couple of sites that were nice... Maison de L’Infante and the Eglise. We then drove a little south to Hendaye and took the ferry across the harbor to the Spanish side and the Basque town of Hondarribia. Both of these towns were quiet and clean little yachting communities.

So today, July 8, the weather is superb. The girls are peeling rhubarb for a tart while Elise organizes her medications. Daniel is working odd jobs all over the place around the house, as is his custom. I have only seen him wear a shirt at dinner time for this entire trip! I spend most of my idol time journaling and reading novels.

On July 10 and 11th we headed back into Paris. Paris is a true dichotomy! Yesterday we did a bike tour in the city during the day and saw quite a few sites from the Louvre westward. Champs du Mars/Tour Eiffel & Monument Deportacion among them. We also went to the Notre Dame. This is my first summer visit here and the crush of people is amazing compared to the offseason. Today is the 11th as I write this entry, and here is the dichotomy. I am in a metro train one minute face-to-face with all kinds of people from around the globe... a cultural melting pot. I exit the Metro train to a string octet strumming Bach in the subway tunnel that sounds so beautiful people crowd around to listen. The music drifts for hundreds of meters as you exit the tunnel. As I continue to hear the music I walked by a beggar sobbing on the hot black, painted, concrete floor. Now I'm about to exit the tunnel at street level at the Arc de Triomphe, a true work of art. All of this happened in just a few hundred steps. Earlier I walked into a beautiful garden near Saint Michele. While just a moment ago I walked into a shit hole melange of ethnic eateries in a neighborhood called Belleville. It was filthy. Paris has a way of inspiring you just before it bludgeons you senseless.

2005-2006 Holidays in France

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.