Getting home - part II

Made it! -- although it seems like a REALLY long day!

As I predicted yesterday, I didn't make the start of the Wings/Hawks play-off game...asleep by 7:30 p.m. and up (of course!) at 3:30 a.m....as was Robert. Off to the airport at 7. Check-in a breeze, and we also cleared U.S. customs in Toronto, which was great. Plane on time; no problems, home to AZ by 11 a.m. Picked up rental car and home by 2 p.m.

Now we're all unpacked, laundry in the washer, and we're settling in! So, until the next trip -- another French adventure in September -- take care!

Lots of love,
m

Getting home - part I

Hi!

We're making the home "schlep" in two steps, today -- Paris CDG to Toronto, tomorrow, Toronto to Phoenix. Have to say that we made the flight this morning in good time, but WOW, what chaos trying to find the rental car return! Keep forgetting that there are absolutely NO rental car return signs until you actually get to your terminal! So...did manage to get the car filled up with gazole (another name for diesel) and leave it in the right place ... all good things! The check-in was fine, and we were able to get two first-row economy bulk-head seats -- YEA! SO comfortable! The flight was fine; uneventful, and took a little under 8 hours. Off the plane and through Canadian customs in fairly short order (did get into a discussion with a immigration officer who wanted to know just was up with the Phoenix Coyotes declaring bankruptcy...thank heaven I pay attention to sports talk radio!)

Watched movies over again ... I have now seen Bride Wars THREE times!

Got the hotel shuttle at the airport to the Residence Inn, and settled in. Made it just in time for the UEFA Champions League finals, which I thought we were going to miss! So!! Sorry all you ManU fans, but we Barca fans had a TERRIFIC afternoon!

Then we walked a couple of blocks to The Keg for a terrific welcome-home dinner! R had filet with baked potato, mushrooms and veggies. I splurged and had a sirloin AND a lobster tail!! Also with baked potato...was JUST able to finish eating and stumble back to the hotel -- good timing, as it's POURING outside now!

It's now 7:14 p.m. Ontario time, and I'm headed to bed. Had planned to watch the Wings-Blackhaws hockey game tonight, but may not make it! Whew! Long day!

More tomorrow!
Much love,
m

Okay, the last of the food...

but it has been INCREDIBLE!!
m

Another wonderful day!

Pont du Hoc, Omaha Beach and the American Cemetary

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Bonjour!

Up and out by 8 this morning, as we’ve got a long way to go and wanted to get started. Grabbed croissants and pain au chocolat at a nearby boulangerie, and we were on our way! (I just can’t help it – last hotel was charging 13 Euros each for breakfast, Dinan was charging 14 E each and the Chateau where we’re spending our last night is charging 15 Euros each! That’s INSANE when we can get wonderful croissants and pastries for 3 or 4 Euros TOTAL! Granted it’s not a “buffet” – but neither of us are even breakfast people! Good grief!)

Headed past Mont St. Michel, looking gray and mysterious on the coast, and headed toward the WWII landing beaches. We’d been there years ago (probably at least 15 or 16…where does the time go??) and BOY, have things changed! We’re thinking that in preparation for either the 50th or 60th anniversary of D-Day, and all the special celebrations that were held, that things were spruced up quite a bit. We found Pont du Hoc TOTALLY changed – very attractive, still, but not nearly as wild as it was the first time! The same was true with Omaha Beach, where a huge sculpture had been erected actually on the beach. It was a VERY breezy and cool day, overcast at this time, which was good for us, as I’m not sure I’d want to see the beaches with crowds of people on them – considering how costly they were to liberate. As it was, the weather provided a perfect somber kind of background for us. Our last WWII stop was the American cemetery, where General Patton is buried. A truly amazing place; thousands upon thousands of plain crosses or stars of David with service names, rank, home state and date of death carved on them. Very, very moving, and we were not alone in being moved to tears.

Stopped close to the cemetery at a very nice little hotel for lunch. Place is decorated everywhere with red poppies – my favorite flower! Even the hotel’s resident cocker spaniel had poppies on his collar! It was great! We both had the same thing for lunch – quiche Lorraine (and yes, I know we’re not in Lorraine) and salad – very good, and just what we needed!

From there it was peddle to the metal to get across the top of France to the other side of Paris and our hotel in Ermenonville. Long, very tiring drive, (with only one stop, but it included a Magnum Classic!!) but have to admit – it was through some beautiful countryside!

Oh!! Forgot something! Right around 10:30 a.m., which was our first opportunity to check in on our Air Canada flight tomorrow, R got the brilliant idea of trying a McDonald’s! And, as there just happened to be one near Caen, in we went – free and very strong WIFI for all! It was GREAT! Logged in, checked in and changed our seating assignments – YEA!

Arrived just a bit after 6 at the Chateau d’Ermenonville, which is about 10 km from the back side of Charles de Gaulle airport! We’ve stayed here many times before, but not for the past few years. Still absolutely beautiful; very nice people, and we have an amazing second-floor room overlooking the moat and river. True, the hotel is beginning to show its age a little – but then, SO ARE WE! (R says: Speak for yourself!) Have brought everything in from the car and will repack tonight…but first, we’re heading out to look for dinner. Someplace close would be nice (closer than Senlis or Chantilly, I’m hoping!) but we’ll take what we can get at this point!!

More later!
Much love,
m

Dinner – INCREDIBLE! Actually ended up at the hotel restaurant across the street from the Chateau – and what a find! We were the only people dining in a beautiful room – crystal, china and beamed ceiling. Meal started out with a kir royale for me and a coupe de champagne for R. This came with some home-made cheese straws and little pastries. From there, we ordered dinner, both off the set menu. Before anything else, we were given an amuse-bouche – a fresh pea flan, which was light as a feather, and just great! We both ordered the same starter – tartine of aubergine (eggplant) with goat cheese, served with a bit of salad. WOW! And it only got better from there! R had the Dos de Cabaillaud (fish) which came on a bed of couscous with a parsley and oil sauce. I had CHICKEN – in an incredible Roquefort sauce with what can only be described as perfectly cooked asparagus in a light tempura batter! Following that came a green salad with an oil/moutarde dressing…and THEN came dessert! R had the most magnificent crème brulee. I had a dark chocolate “something” – not sure what exactly – but it came with a bit of Chantilly crème, a scoop of real vanilla bean ice cream, and both desserts had a spun sugar star toppings! We had a bottle of Pouilly Fume 2007 – and it was a great thing that we only had to meander back across the street, otherwise neither of us would have made it! Are now safely back in our room, re-packed (except for the liquids) and ready to go in the morning!!
Love,
m

For our foodie friends...

A couple more pictures of the port at Dinan ... then dinner!

Couldn't resist ... a great dinner!
m

A Magnum Classic at last!!

Robert at the cairn; HUGE structure! Gannets galore! Also, me with my Magnum Classic ... and the house I want to have!!

Monday, May 25, 2009

Bonjour! So hard to believe this is our second (and last!) Monday here! Where has the time gone??

Our plan for today got slightly derailed when we were awakened at 4 a.m. by a thunder storm! Lots of thunder and lightning everywhere. When we woke up at 6, it was raining and foggy, so we decided to stay in bed … for awhile. Finally up around 7, and out by 8:30-ish, by which time it had stopped raining and was beginning to clear! (Being from Tucson, we’re not used to weather changing this quickly; it’s great!) Decided to head to Perros-Guirec, the Sept-Iles and the Cote de Granit-Rose – coast of rose-colored granite. Lovely drive, and arrived around 11 a.m. Went first to the Gare Maritime along a stunning beach, to see about pelagic cruises. Found that the only cruise would be at 3:15 p.m., for two hours. Unfortunately, no stops at either of the islands planned for that day; oh well!

This part of the coast is composed primarily of a pink shade of granite, with lovely huge crystals of some kind of silicate just glistening in the sunshine! And they’re right – it’s really PINK! Hard to believe, especially as it’s a very popular building stone around there – roads paved in it, walls made out of blocks of it; houses completely in granite – really lovely!

As we had several hours before the cruise, decided to head to the Carn of Barnenez, one of the oldest and biggest Neolithic mounds in the world. And WOW, it was HUGE! Had it basically to ourselves, which was lovely. Great location, at the end of a peninsula; estimated to have been built in a stepped pyramid style from about 4500 b.c. Had a good look around, then headed back to Perros-Guirec, not forgetting to stop for seasick pills, as … you never know! (Almost didn’t find them, though, as we forgot … Monday morning! Not being content to have everything closed all day Sunday, most places are also closed on Monday morning!! (Editor’s note: Watching a special Andrea Bocelli concert from the Coliseum in Rome – AMAZING – TRULY hope they do this on CD; definitely worth having!!) So…back to seasick pills … found “Mercalm” – (calm sea)…sure hope they work! Stopped for a quick lunch – R had a salad, I had a sandwich – AND FINALLY found my long-lost Magnum Classic ice cream bar….YUM!

Boat departed right on time. Nice cruise out and around the seven small islands, some no more than huge rocks rising out of the sea. Saw LOTS of birds, including puffins – but by far the biggest population was of gannets – THOUSANDS of nesting pairs, many still in the process of building nests; carrying seaweed back to the island – even watched as one gannet actually did a mid-air steal of another gannet’s seaweed; grabbed it right out of his mouth! Fortunately, there were some clouds overhead, so we weren’t flooded with sun – the wind was sharp enough when we got started. Cruised the islands and then proceeded down the coast – saw several wonderful mansions built on separate islands – all out of pink granite. Imagine that must have been an interesting job!

Landed about 5:15 p.m., retrieved the car, and headed back to Dinan. About ¾ of the way home, the skies just opened up with torrential rain! Luckily, it didn’t last too long, but wow, what a soaking! Got back to the hotel in a sprinkle, and decided to try one of the restaurants at the port for dinner.

Looked at the various menus, and actually managed to find what we thought was chicken at Les Voyageurs. R ordered moules (mussels) again, and they were great! I had a warm goat cheese salad with lardons (type of bacon), lettuce, tomato and hard-boiled egg – terrific! We both ordered the chicken – and it turned out to be turkey – which is fine! It was strips of turkey meat in a mushroom sauce, with boiled potatoes, a grilled tomato, and a grilled apple (among other things). The plate was a beautiful presentation! For dessert, R had the tarte tatin (apple tart) and I had ice cream … yes, again! (Would have had a Magnum Classic if I’d been given the chance…)

Walked back to the hotel across the stone bridge. Will be very sorry to leave this lovely place, but tomorrow it’s on through the beaches of Normandy and to Ermenonville and then home…

Oh well! We’ll definitely be back!
More later!
m

Some pictures of St. Malo - Walled City #2!

Some pictures of Dinan - Walled City #1

TWO walled cities in one day!!

The lovely village of Rohan; some flowers and ducks we found; views of the port de Dinan from our hotel!

Sunday, May 24, 2009 – Late!

Bonjour! Was wondering why I was feeling like I’d already written today – and it’s because I HAVE! So…I’ll try to keep this short, with lots of pictures!

Up about 7:30 and out about an hour later, deciding that rather than circling the peninsula, we’d cut cross country and head to Dinan, our stop for the next two nights. Have read that much of the end of the peninsula, near Brest, was pretty much wiped out during WWII, and that most of the rebuilding was done in a modern style – ie. Not much to see. (Of course if this isn’t correct, somebody, please let us know!)

Took a winding route to Dinan – and drove through some absolutely stunning little towns! Rohan in particular attracted our attention. Lovely, neat and trim houses and farms; nice size with just the amenities one needs – patisserie, banque and restaurants! From there, dropped down into Dinan, which is on the Rance River (which is yet another very large and lovely river that we’ve never heard of!). Our hotel, Le Jerzual, is right at the port, on the quiet side of a small stone bridge. It’s absolutely stunning! Being a beautiful, warm, sunny Sunday, lots of people were out and about. Dropped the luggage at the hotel, as our room wasn’t ready, and then decided to drive UP into the town, rather than walk it … (must be getting lazy in our old age; the steps up remind me a lot of our morning walk in Tucson!) Found lots of parking in the central square, and headed out looking for 1) lunch, 2) the wall.

Found lunch first – a WONDERFUL restaurant called La Lycorne (unicorn). Most of the restaurants in this part of France specialize in crepes or galettes (both pancake-affairs) but this restaurant also specialized in moules (mussels). In fact, there were something like 25 different ways to have them! I had mine with a stone-ground mustard sauce; R had his with tarragon – both were delicious, and came with side orders of French fries, as well as bread. Well…obviously a successful meal when we both think we “won” on who has the best dish! Did trade a few moules back and forth, but really enjoyed mine, that’s for sure. Followed this up with a tarte tatin (warm apple tart) with vanilla ice cream for R, and two boules (balls) of ice cream – chocolat, which was GREAT and mint chocolate, which wasn’t – WAY too minty for me!
Also had a pichet of wonderful French red wine.

From the restaurant, we walked through town and onto a portion of the town walls. Lovely views down the river; beautiful day! Meandered around the walls and streets a bit, then headed back to the hotel and to our room. Room 108, ground floor, little balcony overlooking the pool. Quite peaceful until some kids arrived, as definitely a pool kind of day! Oh well!

Decided to head to St. Malo, about 25 km down the River Rance for dinner. A bit of a traffic jam getting there, but between Emily (the GPS) and Robert, we managed brilliantly, thank you very much! Drove through the modern city of St. Malo, and to the port and the old part of the city – more walls!! Wow! Two walled cities to add to our collection in one day!! An absolutely perfect time of day to visit (unless you’re a shopper, as most of the shops were closed!) – walked around a bit and then decided on a small Italian restaurant, as we weren’t particularly hungry; didn’t want a BIG meal! R ordered pizza Marguerita (plain pizza with cheese and sauce). I ordered my old standby, spaghetti Bolognaise. Both dishes excellent, and we were full without being stuffed!

From the restaurant, found the town walls and headed UP for more views from the top. St. Malo’s walls go on a long way, and they are really beautifully maintained! We walked along the sea front, overlooking sandy beaches and some of the small islands that dot the harbor entrance (although whether they are man-made or original, we don’t know!) Finally made it back to the car and headed to Dinan. Arrived at 9:44 p.m. and believe it or not, the sun was JUST setting! And there are still almost four weeks to go before the days start getting shorter! Just magic!

Will close now so R can download the pictures, and I can get this posted. Our plan for tomorrow is to get up and out early (by 7 a.m.) so that we can see the Rose Granite coast and hopefully get a birding trip out to Sept-Iles to see some puffins!!

So take care! More later!
Much love,
m

It's always about the food...

Sunday, May 24, 2009
Early (8:10 a.m.) Edition!

Bonjour!

Wanted to post our dinner adventure last night, so here we go! Our hotel restaurant being fully booked (and me having promised R a good dinner the night before so we could have pizza…) we asked at the desk for a recommendation. One of the places they mentioned was Edgar’s, a brasserie next to the Hotel Mercure at the port where we’d been for our cruise. So…over we went.

Lovely, HUGE place – black and white tile floors, lots of windows; typical brasserie style; just lovely! We started off with glasses de champagne; celebrating a terrific day! Those came with a small plate of goodies, including some wonderful shrimp and pesto. Then to order…R started with a plate of moules frites – which turned out to be mussels steamed in a traditional buttery broth, with a cupful of AMAZING French fries! YUM!! I had a salad de chevre (goat cheese) orientale – this was a large portion of goat cheese mixed with pimento, peppers and curry powder, wrapped in phyllo puff pastry and topped with sliced almonds! Amazing!! For mains, R had the sole meuniere (fillets of sole in a light butter sauce) and I had homard Breton – which turned out to be chunks of lobster in a sort-of stew, with peppers and carrots, all topped by a puff pastry shell. Wow! Talk about wonderful food! We actually also ordered dessert (although we both could have done without) – R a plate of red fruits – strawberries, raspberries (even some blueberries!) with a HUGE dollop of wonderful whipped cream (which he skipped)! I had mousse au chocolat which was SO rich that I was only able to manage a small portion! A wonderful ending to an incredible day! Oh! Two half-bottles of a wonderful Chablis – excellent! But, it wasn’t the end of the day … exactly!

Got back to the hotel safely (only a mile or so distant) and settled in – in fact, both of us were asleep, when at 11:30 p.m. – FIREWORKS started going off, on the bay directly in front of our room! They went on for over 10 minutes – quite an amazing show for all! So – an even lovelier way to end the day!

Off for Dinan shortly! More later!
Much love,
m

So many boats...

Truly, there were thousands ... wanted to share just a few with you!
m

To megaliths and boats!

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Bonjour!

An absolutely AMAZING day! Up and out about 8:30 a.m., and headed to the Port de Vannes for the Golfe Morhiban to see about cruises. We’d missed the 8 a.m. cruise, and decided instead, to head to Carnac and the megaliths and come back for the cruise which left at 2 p.m. in the afternoon. I’d even taken shorts with us, because there was blue sky when we started out, but it quickly clouded up – and started to RAIN! Found a fun place to stop for breakfast – a shop with all sorts of traditional Bretagne foods and “stuff” – including a great bakery! (Although WHY does it seem like most pastries here have PRUNES in them?!) We got their mini-breakfast, which included jus d’orange, hot drinks (café noir for R and chocolat chaud for me) and croissants for R and a tarte citron (which was delicious!) for me. As Robert plotted our route to Carnac, I poked around in the shop and found a few fun things to bring home. Our first sight was called the “alignment” and it is an incredible arrangement of standing stones/rocks – goes for row after row, sometimes 11 rows deep, and then runs again for hundreds of yards! Had a nice hike to the geant (giant) rock; weather not too bad, but as we got closer to Carnac, it started raining harder. And where were our umbrellas? Why, safe and warm and dry in our hotel room, of course; where else would they be? The alignment is really beautiful, and in the off-season, they open the fences to let people walk through them; very smartly, the fences are closed during the high season (which we’re in now). Headed then to Locmariaquer and took a very soggy walk through the main site past the great broken menhir to the Table of the Marchand tumulus; tried to shatter and/or scramble brains by not clearing it properly on the way out …OUCH! There are some wonderful carvings on one wall and the ceiling; hopefully they’ll reproduce from R’s photographs. We decided to head back at this point, as we wanted to pick up the umbrellas before heading out for our cruise.

Also needed food…..so, voila, drove past a McDonald’s and decided to stop…which must have been what everyone in this part of Brittany was thinking too! Packed with people! I went to get a table; R went to get the food. Why, I’m not sure…however, I noticed that there was an awful lot of head shaking going on in his direction, and when he came back to the table, I found out why! I had a Happy Meal of my very own! (Is that even legal if you’re over 10 years of age?!) Instead of asking for a “Big Mac Menu”, he asked for a “Number 1” … which they don’t even HAVE here … hence, the happy meal! [Editor’s note: Everyone knows that McDonald’s menu is the same all over the world, so I never bothered to look at the menu board until it was too late. No Number 1! Why, you may ask, if Margaret speaks French and I do not, did she send me to order the food? Good question! – RJB] Sent him back for a Big Mac…although the “prize” in the Happy Meal had a Thierry Henry football card and tiny jersey, so not a total loss! (If you don’t know, Thierry Henry is a French football (ie. Soccer) player.)
Laughed a lot over the meal!!

Back to the hotel, picked up the umbrellas and back out for the port. It had stopped raining (of course!) by now, and was even showing signs of brightening up! Our cruise went first to two places (including Conleau, so we could have caught the boat right in front of our hotel!) on the coast to pick up passengers. Then we headed to L’ile d’Arz. More passengers; we were getting fuller by this time. We then were scheduled for a two hour cruise of the gulf. What we hadn’t bargained on – and what we hadn’t really known! – was that today, Saturday, was the grand parade of boats for the Week of the Gulf! As R said, it was truly AWESOME (that which inspires awe; a word we use very carefully, as we are over 14 years of age…) There is a very strong tidal current at one point in the gulf, and boats were heading down the current, and then out into one of the larger bays – and I’m NOT exaggerating when I say there were THOUSANDS of boats of all descriptions! I’ve posted some of the pictures – big boats with sails, little boats with oars, kayaks, canoes, catamarans – seemed like ANYTHING that floated was somehow included in this parade! There were boats from France, England, Holland and Germany. And our boat was able to just run in circles and watch! The rigging on some of the boats, R says is very traditional, although he doesn’t know what they’re called. We watched the parade for almost two full hours – thinking that it was NEVER going to end! After that, our boat turned and needed to retrace its steps back to l’Isle d’Araz, and then the two coastal stops…but WOW, what chaos – everywhere! Once the boats had left the strong current and headed out into the larger bay, apparently the wind died down, as many of the sailing vessels were either still or people were having to row them! What a sight! Some of those people may be rowing all NIGHT! We had a very difficult time getting back to our various stops, as apparently sail boats have priority over power boats! But some of these sail boats weren’t moving at all! Actually great fun, and fortunately we had a terrific captain, so no problems – just took an hour longer than the normal tour, but wow, what memories!

Now back at the hotel, relaxing before dinner. We did screw up, though, as the fancy restaurant here where I promised Robert dinner tonight (if I could have pizza last night!) is fully booked! So, we’re going to have to find something else…

More later!
Much love,
m