Tis the season to share photos from your trip to the fabulous Strasbourg Christmas market!
france
Paris: Third Time’s The Charm
Paris seems to be a love it or hate it kind of city. I have a few friends who have visited and feel no need to return, unimpressed by the graffiti-covered walls and the “cold” Parisian persona. But then I know others who have visited, felt the “magic” and absolutely fell in love with the city of love. One friend, in a text before we left Geneva, called the French capital “the closest thing to paradise.”
Évian-les-Bains: Free Evian For All
If you ever find yourself in the charming French town of Évian-les-Bains, bring a water bottle: Anyone can walk up to the beautiful Cachet Spring and get their fill of Evian straight from the source (even if your fill is 36 giant bottles, as was the case with one guy we saw, but then everyone waiting for their turn will hate you). The water is cool and refreshing, and I was totally tickled by the novelty of filling and refilling my Klean Kanteen with special spring water (apparently it cures kidney stones, or at least that’s how it became famous). Of course, some people may not be quite as impressed with a water spigot and prefer to skip the trip and grab a bottle of Evian from the supermarket, but for us it was a cool part of a really enjoyable afternoon.
Provence: Lavender Fields Forever
Last week was our return to “real life.” I started my all-day summer French language intensive, Guillaume was busy at work and in my downtime I was trying to catch up on more than two weeks of neglected housework (laundry, cleaning, restocking the fridge and attempting to revive my sickly plants). So when Friday night rolled around, Gui and I weren’t feeling enthused about our original plan to wake up early the next morning and drive three and a half hours to Provence. Instead, we decided we would take it easy and let ourselves sleep in. Then, if we woke up refreshed, we could head to Provence later that afternoon for an abbreviated visit.
Burgundy: “Terroir” is Everything
Yes, yes, I’m still here — just extremely behind on logging my adventures after spending a wonderful two weeks with my family visiting from the states. FaceTime and Skype are great, but nothing beats actually having your favorite people right there in front of you, showing them around your new city, with a few fantastic trips thrown in for good measure. I’ll catch you guys up in reverse order since our most recent adventures are the freshest in my mind. First up: Burgundy!
Annecy: Un Dimanche Parfait
Annecy is beautiful. I mean, everything we read said that it would be, but gosh, it’s a lovely town. Just an hour’s drive from Geneva, it was the perfect place to take my sister for a little taste of France during her visit from the states.
Corsica: Napoleon Had It Good (Part 2)
Sunday was another early start because we wanted to arrive in Bonifacio with enough time for a boat tour of the chalky-white cliffs before the afternoon storms hit: We were up at 6am, in the car a little before 7am and pulling into Bonifacio just after 9am following another winding mountain drive. Gui had done some online research Saturday night and decided we should book a tour with SPMB, so we headed to the company’s kiosk to pick our route. After settling on option two, which included both the cliffs and the nearby Lavezzi Islands, we walked down to the docks to prepare (i.e. scarf down some croissants, buy bottles of water, use the restroom and stop at the pharmacy to get me sea sickness medicine). At 10:30am we were perched on the top deck of a boat headed out into the Mediterranean with a clear blue sky and sunshine overhead.
Corsica: Napoleon Had It Good (Part 1)
My husband the European history buff loves all things Napoleon, so when I spotted bargain plane tickets to Corsica on Thursday I took Easy Jet’s “only three seats left at this price” warning seriously: I confirmed the 24-hour free cancellation window in case Gui had a conflict, raced through the checkout process and had an email confirmation in my inbox a few minutes later. After work, Gui eagerly signed off on the flight times and early Saturday morning we were up and ready to go explore the French emperor’s birthplace. Just not early enough, it turned out…
Le Salève Between Rain Showers
Our first house guest arrived from London late Friday night with grand plans to spend the weekend hiking the nearby mountains and sailing Lake Geneva, but Saturday’s weather refused to cooperate (rain, rain and more rain). When we woke up Sunday to a forecast predicting a few dry hours, we shoved some breakfast down our throats, took a quick bus ride to the Swiss-French border and walked past the security hut into France. We arrived at the foot of Mont Salève a few minutes later, determined to get a hike in before the sky opened up again.
Lyon: For Meat Lovers
When we climbed aboard the train for Lyon Saturday morning, I had my sights set on having a fabulous meal in an authentic Lyonnais bouchon: I pictured rows of tiny tables with checkered tablecloths, complete with generous helpings of wine and delicious, fresh food. That scene totally exists in Lyon… if you like calf brains, foie gras or other adventurous meat dishes. I should have gotten the hint from our Lonely Planet France guidebook, which describes a local veggie restaurant as “manna from heaven for Lyon’s oft-neglected vegetarians,” but I was still completely unprepared for the lack of options at the little bistros dotting the city.
The Plaid Shirt Diaries 