New Smoking Ban in France

All bars, restaurants, etc in France officially became smoke-free on January 1, 2008, woohoo! I think that the official smoking rate in the country is something like 40% of the population, but it has always seemed like a lot more than that to me. And I don’t know the break-out by age, but I’m assuming it’s a lot higher among the younger age groups … who are the people out at the bars & clubs. I’ve had to leave places before due to the effect of heavy smoking on my eyes, so there is a remarkable (positive) difference now. However, as excited I was about the arrival (and subsequent strict enforcement) of this law … it has also altered the social atmosphere in bars. Since the ban was put into effect, there are tons of smokers who spend (what it seems like sometimes) half the night outside smoking. It seems like the majority of the people I go out with smoke, so it’s not uncommon to suddenly find myself alone (or with 1 or 2 other people) at a table that was just filled with 8 or 10 people. And then the smokers end up creating a fun, lively atmosphere outside, and it’s like we are in two different bars! Are the smokers having more fun than us?? So although I am most definitely in favor of the smoking-ban, that is just my beef with the differences that it leads to in the social environment. Here are a few pictures from one of our first smoke-free nights out .... with my American friend Colleen and her English bf Dave.

Ice Skating ... a la Strobe Lights and Techno Music

We live right down the street from an indoor ice-skating rink, so on Thursday night 6 of us decided to give it a whirl … literally, haha. I was actually dreading it because my last memories of ice-skating are from the Mall of Memphis, trying to skate in a pair of legit figure skates (complete with a toe pick!) … a “great bargain” found by my mom for $2 or something at a yard sale! Anyway, that didn’t leave me with a great memory of ice skating. But it actually turned out to be a really fun evening! With the funky lighting and techno music, it kinda felt like we were in a club, minus the dancing and drinks. Here are a few photos from the night:

My First Haircut in France!

Even though I lived in France for 10 months in 2004, I never had the guts to get a haircut during that period. This time around, I’m not as interested as the shaggy, natural look … so I made an appointment for a cut and highlights at a local salon. I’ve walked past it a few times and it looked fine, so I called and made an appointment. But during the 2 hours that I was there, I was definitely the only customer under the age of 45 … so I don’t think I choose the “hippest” place that I could have. But the results are good, so I guess it doesn’t matter! I honestly only said about 4 sentences in French while I was there – something along the lines of “I have frizzy, curly hair … I need a cut with layers … and maybe some bangs but not real bangs … and for the color, less blondish.” Well, props to the stylist for working off of that because I ended up with a pretty similar cut to what I got in the US before coming over here … which is what I was going for! Ah, another quick anecdote regarding the haircut. While eating lunch in the teachers’ café before my haircut, I wanted to ask if tipping stylists is customary here … so I was describing to a teacher that I had a haircut that afternoon. Well, I don’t pay much attention to details in French pronunciation … when writing I don’t make many mistakes in words that are very similar, but when I try to pronounce them, I’m not very good at making necessary distinctions. So the teacher understood that I said “chevaux” (=horses) instead of “cheveux” (=hair). I knew something was wrong when he started asking me if I was an equestrian at home … when all I had asked him is if I should leave a tip at my haircut appointment!

Broceliande Forest ... Merlin, Fountain of Youth, Gnomes, Oh My!

Sounds exciting, right? Well, that’s misleading. On Sunday 5 of us drove to Le Foret de Broceliande, fabled for its association with the legends of King Arthur, the wizard Merlin, Lancelot, Guinivere, etc. Supposedly Merlin’s tomb and the Fountain of Youth are there, so we parked the car and started off on a path through the forest. I think the path is a huge, several-mile circle and apparently we chose the wrong side to start on. We ended up getting lost in the middle of a big, boring, muddy forest … and actually never found Merlin’s Tomb or anything! My friend had her car navigation system in her bag, and at one point we actually tried to use it, but that didn’t help at all. The most exciting part was the discovery of a little gnome ... well, discovery, or we planted him there :) It started raining and getting dark, so we luckily found our way back to the car in time. Here’s a picture of us posing at “King Arthur’s Round Table”:

Trying to figure our way out of the forest with a GPS ... didn't work ...

Since we live so close to this “legendary” forest, we had to go see it … but as the guidebook said, it was “more fanciful than literal appeal.” And that fanciful appeal wasn’t even that apparent :)

Toute Seule (for now) in Paris

My parents and Alec left early this morning.. Traveling is pretty tiring and I’m sure to some extent they are all ready to get home and relax, but it was such a great family vacation!! Hopefully they will be able to come back at some point while I am still over here because it’s awesome to get to experience France with them! This morning I politely declined an invitation to go to Versailles with my friend Andrea because I went there a few years ago. I started off the morning at Starbucks to write about the past 10 days ... and I know it seems like a cop-out to go to a Starbucks while in Paris, but it's a reliable place to find a plug for the computer and offers a pretty relaxing atmosphere. But don't worry, from there I moved to Cafe Felicie, a venerable French cafe, for lunch and Internet access. I can now say that I've eaten and spent 3 hours alone in a cafe ... and love it!
But now I'm ready for some company - I'm meeting up with a couple of Chilean friends later, and we're spending the night at the apartment of their Parisian friends in the 13th ... I'll take it :)

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's and can't wait to catch up with some of you!! Bisous bisious ... :)

Paris!

We left Dinard early on Wednesday morning to drop the rental car back off at the airport in Paris. By the time we got to our hotel it was already 5 or 6, so we relaxed for a bit and then took the metro to the Marais district to find a restaurant. The Marais is the former Jewish neighborhood of Paris, and is now the gay/lesbian center of Paris. It’s recognized for having lots of unique galleries, boutiques, restaurants, and bars … so it was pretty easy to find a good place to eat. We ended up at a really small restaurant – Les Bourgesses – and we all agree that it was probably the best meal we’ve had here. The food and atmosphere were fantastic – the small, warm dining room was in the lower, stone-walled cellar of a building. The walls were painted deep purple, and they had stained glass/mirrors hanging at an angle from the side walls. I loved it! After dinner Alec and I met up with one of my assistant friends and her Parisian friends. We started off at a fun bar behind Centre Pompidou, continued to another late night bar, and capped off the evening with crepes and fries from a street vendor. We took the metro back to our hotel at 6am and somehow managed to wake up at 10am for breakfast with Mom and Dad. Quite the evening! Unfortunately, the only picts I took were in the Metro, here ya go (and Alec's action-shot above is a 6am'er from the Metro, as well):

My parents walked over to Notre Dame on Thursday and let Alec and I sleep a little bit on Thursday afternoon, luckily! Then all of us went to Les Invalides, the former military hospital that has Napoleon’s tomb, but the museum had already closed for the day. But we were still able to walk around the perimeter of the building and enjoy the large collection of old cannons. Thursday night we ate in the Bastille district, which is supposedly the up-and-coming Montemartre/Boho capital of Paris. We had a really fun meal at Chez Paul, a lively restaurant close to the Place de la Bastille. Everyone was too tired to go out afterwards, but after just walking through the Bastille for a few minutes, it’s clear that this is the area to go to for a long night of partying! There were tons and tons of different types of bars and cafés and it looked really fun over there … will let you know if I get to check it out soon!

New Year's Day in Erquy

We started off by exploring more of the coastline in Dinard, which is dotted with really nice houses and hotels. It was been nice to be here during the low season, but we would all like to come back when it’s warmer to experience the true beach atmosphere.

For the afternoon we drove to Erquy, a town further west along the northern Brittany coast that is hailed as the scallop capital. The drive over was great because we drove through several really small coastal villages. A lot of the small towns look the same (plaza centered around the town’s church in the middle of the city), but I love small Breton towns! Erquy has a huge bay filled with tons of fishing boats and a large, flat beach. We made reservations at one of the beach-front restaurants and then drove to the nearby town of Val d’Andre to kill some time before dinner. Val d’Andre was another coastal city with a large boardwalk, and we had a cocktails at a cozy café before going back to Erquy for dinner. In Erquy we ate more mussels, scallops, and fish … you really can’t go wrong with ordering seafood anywhere in Bretagne!

Ok, now these are just stupid pictures of Alec and I dedicating a small shout out to Soulja Boy and our Southern roots … in northern France, why not? Superman ….

Bonne Annee 2008!

For the day of New Year’s Eve we went to Rennes, and it was really fun to finally show my family where I live! We ate a traditional Breton meal of galettes, crepes, and cider at my favorite creperie and then just walked around downtown. I made sure that I showed them the main “highlights” of the city, but the best part about Rennes is really just walking around and enjoying its lively, young atmosphere. Here is a picture of us in front of the Parliament de Bretagne.













For New Year’s night we ended up eating at our place in Dinard because we never decided where to make a reservation. We walked around to a couple of places that night, but it was clear that you had to have made reservations well in advance for the evening. But we had already bought fresh foie gras pasta at the market, so we made that and had a really great dinner at home. A little after midnight Alec and I started a little New Year’s Eve bar-crawl in Dinard, which turned into a very fun night! We started at a casual, beachside bar, continued on to a pretty chill bar, and then ended the night at another bar next to our apartment. Well, at least that is what the pictures from the night tell us, since neither of us can really remember specifics of the last bar. But we have several pictures of Alec hugging a huge champagne bottle, so I think we had a good time! The night ended with us back at the apartment, and a video of a bunch of French people celebrating in the street below. So we didn’t make it to any crazy clubs or anything, but it was a great way to spend New Year’s!

Sunday in Normandy

On Sunday we drove into Normandy to go to the Omaha Beach, the Pointe du Hoc, and the American Military Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer. My parents and I had already visited these sights a few years ago, but it was the first time for Alec to see any of them … and regardless of how many times you visit them, it’s always a pretty significant experience. And there is now a small museum (with a few short films, bio info on some particular soldiers, and general D-Day Landing information) below the American Cemetery that wasn’t there last time. As it was before, walking through all of the white crosses overlooking Omaha Beach is very moving. After Omaha and Colleville-sur-Mer, we went to the beach at Pointe du Hoc, where a famous group of U.S. Rangers scaled the cliffs to get to the German artillery stronghold. There are still remains of blown-up bunkers with huge bomb-holes in the ground, so this is definitely something really interesting to see.

Sunday night we ate in the small town of Cancale, which is known as the oyster capital of Brittany. We had our choice of about 20 different restaurants along the bay and decided on the Restaurant Saffron; it was full of locals, so I think we made a good choice. We had fresh oysters and huge pots of “moules frites” = mussels and fries. The seafood in Brittany has been amazing!

Mont St. Michel and St. Malo

Saturday morning we headed to Mont St. Michel – the huge abbey that dates from 708, or something crazy like that. Mont St. Michel is a huge gothic abbey built on a tidal island that becomes inaccessible to the rest of the mainland when there are high tides; it’s pretty impressive to this huge structure pop up out of nowhere from the middle of the Normandy countryside. This was the second time that I’ve seen it, but the weather was a bit nicer this time, and it was actually really cool to see it again. We didn’t pay to go inside the abbey, but even without paying you can walk up as far as you want towards the top, go in the small gardens surrounding the abbey, and enjoy some great views of the surrounding countryside. Check out the below video of Alec doing his best “monk in Mont St. Michel” impression … possibly my favorite highlight of the whole family vacation :)

Then we drove to St. Malo, a really well-known seaside city whose old town center is completely enclosed by fortified stone walls. It was a pretty cold day, so first we stopped in a little café and had hot wine to warm up; the “vin chaud” was awesome … hot mix of red wine, rum, sugar, and oranges. The tide was really low, so we were able to walk out to one of the nearby islands, where the French author Chateaubriand is buried. The views from the island back to the walled city were pretty amazing, so check out the pictures below. You’ll also notice that we took individual family portraits in various wooden cut-outs that were spread out throughout the city, how cute!

Daytrip to Dinard & St. Brieuc ... topped off with an awesome French meal

On Friday we drove to nearby Dinan, which is about 30 miles south of Dinard, at the mouth of the Rance River. Dinard is a really cool medieval city with old ramparts surrounding most of the old town. We just spent the morning & afternoon walking around, checking out shops, etc. Then on the way home we decided to stop in St. Brieuc for a drink … don’t really have anything exceptional to say about St. Brieuc.

Back in Dinard we had dinner reservations at a restaurant in the Hotel Didier-Meril; we sat in a small dining room directly overlooking the beach. This was definitely the most formal meal that we had during the trip. After dinner Alec and I had a drink at a local bar, which we will fondly remember as the Red Dragon (long story) since we really have no clue what its actual name is.

Our Apartment in Dinard ... Fabulouso

So it was pretty much the best idea ever to find an apartment instead of trying to live out of a hotel for a week. We rented an apartment in the small city of Dinard, a coastal resort area on the eastern edge of Bretagne. It’s located in the middle of downtown, with several restaurants, a small grocery store, and two bakeries within two minutes walking distance. The town’s main beach is about 200 yards from our place, and we took a great coastal walk the first day; the coast is lined with gorgeous belle-époque mansions & hotels. Minus the small fire and a couple of small issues with warm water, it has been a perfect place to start each day and take off to other cities. Each morning we’ve woken up, sent someone to the bakery for bread & pastries (my favorite = when Alec went alone on the 2nd day with a handwritten list in French from me, detailing out our croissants and pains au chocolat … after that, the bakery ladies loved him!), and then gotten in the car to explore different towns nearby. Can’t complain too much about any of that! There is also a large indoor market that’s open everyday, and three days a week there is a big outdoor market. We’ve gotten fresh paella, homemade pasta, olives, etc … and I snuck in a couple pairs of boots with our “grocery” purchases the other day, hehe J Oh yeah, and there is a giant iridescent Christmas tree in the plaza in front of our apartment that is lit up 24/7. Here are a few pictures inside and around our place and in Dinard.