Renegade Glamour

The countdown has officially started. One month from today I'll be in Paris. If you could blog a vocalization, there would be a little something after that sentence. I started packing the other day -- not the real packing -- just putting a few things aside and making some lists. #1 on the list -- leaving Clifford the Big Red Suitcase at home this year! The sassy red suitcase I bought last year was a pain in the as...terisk. Today I discovered just one more reason why -- it weighs 15 pounds COMPLETELY EMPTY! I am determined to pack light this year which is another reason I've started packing so soon -- it will take me that long to figure it out. I know people who can live on 3 or 4 changes of clothes -- I am not one of those people. I'm already up to 5 pair of shoes: 2 pair for walking, one pair of gardening shoes, one pair flip flops and one decent pair in case I have the opportunity to go somewhere nice. What I would love is for someone to invent shoes and clothes that were like those sponge thingies that are really flat and small until you add water and then they become regular size -- but could go back to small and flat agin when you needed them to. Whoever figures that out could be a gazillionaire and my BFF.

Last night while hanging out with friends, Aimster says, "You have renegade glamour". Renegade glamour? Yep. That's what you get when you decide on a sort of whim that you're going to take someone up on their chance meeting offer to garden at their chateau in France all by yourself. I guess when you've got renegade glamour, it doesn't matter how many pair of shoes you pack. ;)

One Travel Gal Goes Back To France

So, for those of you who were following along last year, I mentioned the possibility of going back to France to garden at the chateau in Burgundy. Well, it's happening! I'm headed back to the land of wine, cheese, and castles!

This isn't "new" news to most of you -- but if you think I've been holding out on the rest of you, ask Tristan why she hasn't posted about her trip to Egypt and Jordan.

That's right, she went to Egypt -- for real. I'll see if I can get some photos and memories out of her to post.

Many more details to come, so be sure to check back later.

A bientot!

Amy

Provence Photos

Here's the last of the TravelGals photos of mine--Provence.

After two days in Arles, I broke of from the TravelGals and joined up with my husband, the Wise and Bearded One, for another week in France. You can follow our trip over here.

It was a great trip and I feel like I saw a lot of France and learned a bit about the French. However, I am ever so glad to be back home again in Portland where the nights are cool and the days are warm and the food is just as good (in my opinion).

Burgundy Photos

Burgundy photos are uploaded to Flickr.

I think that I actually had the most fun in Burgundy. First of all, the weather was FINALLY decent every day. Secondly, the Orangerie chambre d'hote where we stayed was simply lovely. Third, we had an amazing dinner at Aux Annees Vins--fois gras, escargot, the works. And last but now least (oh sweet serendipity) the Tour de France was passing less than 5 kilometers away from where we were staying.

Here's to sun and cycling!

Alsace Photos

My photos from the Alsace are now uploaded here.

I do think that the Alsace was my favorite region of France. In part I think that was due to the fact that when we were in Paris the weather was grey and gloomy but when we got to Strasbourg the sun popped out and all the bright and festive colors of Strasbourg popped out too.

We stayed in a bed n breakfast in a little town called Bleinshwiller (which I probably did not spell correctly) and enjoyed wandering up and down the Wine Road through little storybook villages and chateaus.

Paris Photos

Hello the few, the very few, who still check this blog, (hi, mom!)

After the rest of the TravelGals returned to the States, I stayed on in France for another week of travel with my husband. We returned this week and now we have that interminable pile of travel laundry to do and jetlag to conquer. We're still waking up at 4:30 in the morning. Oh dear.

Anyhow, I'm slowly uploading my pictures from the trip to Flickr. You can see my TravelGals-Paris pictures here.

My favorite things about our time in Paris were the gardens of Versailles, the Orangerie and Orsay Museums, the Rodin sculpture garden, and the amazing dinner Amy and I had at Camille one night. My least favorite things were my poor tired feet and the five flights of stairs to our hotel room.

Paris Memories

Here's a little collage I put together with some of my Paris pics. You can double-click on the collage to enlarge it. Several of the shots are of Versailles.

Our first "dinner" in Paris was a trip to the grocery store around the corner. We ate it in our room at the Hotel Wilson. Hotel Wilson was a great value -- and though it is in one of the outer arondisements (Asnieres Sur-Seine) the train and metro got you to the heart of the city in no time. They also serve a great breakfast -- especially the pain au raisin -- which all of us loved.
In case you were worried we'd gain weight from eating all those pastries, fear not -- we worked them off trekking up the stairs I began to call "Calf-killer-Asthma-Attack-Stairway-to-Hell" (it didn't actually go to hell, but after walking around Paris for 10 hours, you thought you might die on the 4th floor).



Though more reserved than West Coasters, we met lots of Parisians who were very willing to help us out with directions, etc... and some were up for conversation. There is so much to see in Paris... too much to pack into a few days. My favorite museum was the Rodin Museum, though the exhibit of avant-garde dance costumes at the Fashion and Textiles Museum at the Louvre was a close second. Favorite meal was at Cafe Camille, though this one wasn't too shabby either. Check out those huge raspberries!!! mmmm!

More memories to come... stay tuned!

Amy

CHAMPERS!

One of the things I really wanted to do while in France was have a toast with real French champagne. I’m sure that sounds kind of silly, but given how much French champagne costs in the U.S., it’s not something I do very often… or … pretty much, ever. On about day 14 of our 16-day trip I realized that we hadn't had any champagne and our time to have it was quickly running out. Stacey, Tristan and I decided we would have some in Vittroles – our last destination before leaving France.

If you have never heard of Vittroles, you wouldn’t be the only one. We left Arles with plenty of time to get there, check into the hotel, drop off the rental car, and then go exploring the town. Or so we thought…

Without the Michelin map book, we found our way to what we thought was Vittroles – only to find that about every 2 km. we had left it, then entered it, then left it again. Town boundaries and roads in France are like a pile of spaghetti someone threw on the floor. Finally, we pulled over to where we saw a sign for the Tourist Information office (except that there wasn’t one). I managed to get directions to our hotel at a medical clinic (thank god for IKEA – a landmark which translates in any language). We made it to the Campanille de Griffon, then raced to the airport and returned the car just in time. After an 18 Euro cab ride back to the Campanille, we found ourselves at what might be the French equivalent to Motel 6 – a sort of 70’s ranch style place with metal window shades on the outside that rolled up like cargo doors. I was somewhat thankful that the A7 freeway was practically inside the room, for the sound of speeding cars helped drown out the deafening buzz of cicadas. The Campanille was not exactly situated in a place that was very pedestrian friendly, and aside from a few office buildings, there really wasn’t much around to do. Not only that, but it appeared the place was completely deserted except for Pascal, who took time from running the front desk to water the grounds, and two other employees who seemed to be multitasking between cleaning rooms and running the kitchen.

We turned on the television, and got overly excited about what looked to be a Lifetime Channel movie with Michael J. Fox’s wife, only to realize it was completely dubbed in French. I watched it anyway while T and Stacey napped on and off. When it was over, we found ourselves wondering what to do to amuse ourselves on this – our very last day in France. Determined to find whatever fun we could have, we set off hunting “those damn cicadas” – who are phantom-like ventriloquists if you ask me. About then Stacey and T decided iced coffee would make everything a lot better, and I just happened to have some instant with me. You have never seen three women so excited about iced coffee – especially when you get actual ICE in France. A few moments later, the lawn sprinklers went on, so – buzzed on caffeine – the American girls ran through the sprinklers. We dragged chairs and a table over and played gin outside, I found a cicada shell (I think they molt), and imagined that the roar of the cars was really the ocean and that the Campanille was really the L’Orangerie.

With little other choice, we went to dinner at the hotel restaurant – wondering just what could be on the menu. To our surprise and delight they had… champagne! It was actually very good. We toasted to our time in France, to CHAMPERS, and shared our favorite moments of trip like:

~best meals,
~nicest surprises,
~the day of 5 desserts
~coming across wonderful things like festivals and shows
~Tristan’s bread “for strong personalities” – that brick she gnawed on for days telling us, “C’mon girls – chew it like it’s baby bread!”
~The L’Orangerie and our wonderful hosts, Nils and David
~meeting people from all over – the Germans, the Belgians, Maggie and Jer…
~the Alsace
~running into the Tour de France – what luck!
~Stacey and the roundabouts
~that fricken bus we almost got!
~fireworks on Bastille day,
~the spa in Baden Baden
~the beach at Arles
~road-tripping through France
~Foie gras! Foie gras!
~the best damn mashed potatoes in Paris
~Le Petit Paradis
~Jackie Osama -- Tristan's and my solution to hairstyle boredom
~the Birds
and…
~Sehr schöen!

It was the perfect ending to a wonderful adventure.

We are home now… Deb and Nate are following the Tour.

Pictures and more stories to come… stay tuned.

-- Amy

Sortie

We "sortie" France tomorrow morning -- that means "exit". Last night we picked up Nate from the airport and he and Deb went off for more adventures in France. T, Stacey and I wound up in Martigues in time for a sardine festival. It was a fun night and we made it back to Arles sans map. We are spending the morning in Arles and then heading over to Vittroles to await our departure.

This has, indeed, been a grand adventure.

More photos and memories when we return. We look forward to seeing you soon!

Amy

Blue sky, sand, sun

We went to the beach yesterday... a glorious day with perfect weather. We dipped our toes in the Mediterranean. Today we head off to Aix and another beach.

Even though we are 6,000 miles from home, I still find myself looking across the water, expecting to see you waving at us.

All for now,

Amy (logged in as T)

cheers to new things

I ate escargot... need I say more?

A bientot!
Stacey

Fireworks!

We arrived in Arles late yesterday afternoon -- thanks in great part to the masterful driving of Stacey, who navigated a claustrophobic maze of stone buildings to get us safely to our hotel (props to T as well for some awesome drivage). The south of France is completely different -- much more Mediterannean and HOT. I haven't wanted to mention weather much since I know all of you in Oregon are sweltering but it was cold and rainy from Paris through much of the Alsace!!!

We arrived in time for some Bastille Day fun. We met a nice young guy from Stockton (Tom) and invited him to join us for the rest of our dinner. We saw a beautiful display of fireworks and did a little "baillarin'" in the town square to an amazing steel drum band.

We are off to find a beach and some flamingos today. As we wind down our trip, all I can say is "SER SHUN!!!"

Life is good.

We miss and love you,
Amy

Pinch me... wait... don't.

We are living in a place out of a dream -- literally. We are staying at L'Orangerie -- a charming place in Burgundy (Moroges to be exact) that is out of this world. Today we went to a castle and also met a prince (for real). The prince and his partner are restoring the family chateau and need a little help in the garden -- so it's very possible I will be doing an exchange here next summer (quite seriously) as they have a lot of restoration to do.

I would love to write more about what we have seen and done in the past few days, but there is a queue (line) of people waiting at this internet cafe -- and Mr. Smoky in front of me is hogging the only other computer. I will say that I ate 5 -- count 'em -- FIVE sweets the other day!!! and The TOUR DE FRANCE is comin' our way -- we may even see it!!! Anyway, the Travelgals are all safe and well.

Much love,
Amy

Highlights:

castles
wine tasting
an authentic French dinner (many courses)
wonderful people
beautiful and varied landscapes
roundabouts
l'Orangerie

Alsace---the Route du Vins

Alsace....
...half-timbered houses
...narrow streets
...small country churches
...miles and miles of vineyards and fields
...signs in French and German
...castle ruins on the hilltops
...cheerful colors
...lots of flowers
...cheese, sauerkraut, potatoes, pork products, white wine

We love it here. It would be even better if it weren't cool and rainy.

P.S. We would like to put up more pictures but we're finding our internet time to be limited. Maybe when we're in Burgundy we'll have better access. Thanks for following our journey.

Love

Well, it's happened, I've fallen in love in France - with the Alsace (the land of my people). We spent two days in Strasbourg which was charming and cute == and now are in Blienschwiller. I am borrowing the host's computer, so I don't want to tie it up, but it is incredibly picturesque, and charming doesn't even begin to describe how charming it is. Went wine tasting and castle seeing today. Tomorrow we're off to Colmar.

All for now,
Amy