Our first visit to Marseille
Recently, we decided on a whim to take a weekend trip to Marseille, France. Off we went on a Friday night into the pitch black of darkness and what seemed like the heaviest rain system that France has had in ages! Nevertheless we made it without much issue.
On Saturday, the weather was absolutely beautiful and there was no rain in sight. We started our day off with a little walk down to a little beach we found before having a lovely brunch at a restaurant overlooking the water. Good companionship and delicious food while watching the waves crash against the rocks below us-who could ask for more than that?
After brunch, we decided to walk instead of taking the bus back the way we had come. This is always one of my favorite parts of traveling, because you never know what you’ll find. This time, we found a park complete with a palace! The Palais du Pharo was built in 1858 by Napoleon III for Empress Eugénie. It did not seem to be open to the public, but it was still cool to see anyway.
We followed the paths through the park, going nowhere in particular and enjoying the beautiful view of the Mediterranean! It’s a great spot to get a good view of Tour du Fanal and the surrounding area.
Eventually, we wandered back towards the Vieux Port down Quai de Rieve Neuve, a lovely area with many shops and restaurants on one side and the Port on the other. The whole area around the port is just a fun place, filled with music, people, and food!
The Le Panier district, Marseilles oldest neighborhood, is just a stone’s throw away from the Vieux Port. It has a very cool, artsy vibe and is a must-see if you are going to Marseille! I also loved the fact that there were plants everywhere.
Walking back towards Vieux Port, you pass L’Eglise Saint Laurent and can get a great view of the Notre Dame de La Garde, which overlooks Marseille. That, in fact, is where we headed to after lunch!
You can choose to walk up to La Garde or you can take public transportation. We opted to walk (take note: it’s a steep, steep hike that never ends!) but the view alone is worth it. Unfortunately the inside was closed due to an event, but we enjoyed walking around the outside despite the 60 mph winds.
If you look closely, you can see damage from the liberation of Marseille in WWII.
On our hike back down the hill, we stopped by the Abbaye Saint-Victor, a former Abbey that was founded in the late Roman period. I will never get over the beauty of these old buildings!
After a rest (our feet were feeling it), we headed off to dinner at Le Relais 50. We enjoyed drinks and a lovely meal out on the terrace. The weather was perfect!
While our time in Marseille was short, we had a great weekend and would love to go back to explore the area further. There is so much more to see!
Next stop: Ajaccio, Corsica!
Strange Women Lyin’ In Ponds…Hello, London
Ladies and Gentlemen
“We apologize for the fault in the” regular updates. “Those responsible have been sacked.“
If you got that reference, I like you better already. If you didn’t then, maybe this will help you identify the film. "Your Mother Was A Hamster And Your Father Smelt Of Elderberries!"
If that still didn’t get the job done, “You make me sad. So be it. Come Patsy.”
Ok enough bad jokes and silliness. We do sincerely apologize that we are absolutely terrible about getting updates posted regularly. That being said, this post is being made in a timely manner but is posted out of chronological order. I will work on stealing Beth’s notes to write the stories of our summer vacation in the French regions of Alsace (the region of France bordering Germany) and Bourgogne (Burgundy to the rest of the world) written over the next few days. So just know that during the summer we spend our 3 week trip exploring Alsace and Burgandy, had a few adventures, since then went back to Lyon, and this tale will catch us all up to what happened this past week as we explored the city of London.
We set out on our first British adventure by heading off to the train station. We traveled to Paris where we connected to the EuroStar train which provides services from London to several cities in Europe. All in all it was a lovely way to travel and had the delightful option of being able to prepurchase the public transport “Oyster” cards on the train so we were ready to go on arrival. All in all it took us 8 hours to get from our apartment to London. The first thing that struck us after the train emerged from the Chunnel was, “where did the sun go?” In our mental geography we both had failed to account for the fact we were now considerably farther north than normal and that the sun would be setting about 4:30 PM during our trip.
Our first time on the tube was uneventful, save the newness of navigating another new public transit system and figuring out how people flow through it. When we emerged outdoors for the first time we were greeted by the traditional British rain-fortunately we were prepared for this-and each popped out our new umbrella. We reached our hotel after a brief stroll and were checked into the Premier Inn Southwark Station.
A brief aside on bags… while still looked on as a bizarre in the US, its relatively common in continental Europe and growing in popularity in the UK for men to carry a small bag. The need to carry an umbrella with me at all times gave me the practical incentive needed to give it a go. I wanted to keep my hands free and decided carrying an umbrella all the time was best left to bag. It is a nice leather bag with 4 pockets and long cross body strap. The cut and style of the bag is simple and rectangular so it was a very gender neutral design. All that being said, for the first couple of outings the decades of US cultural machismo took a bit to overcome. I’m happy to report that I’m quite over that now and the little bag is quite useful. I will be figuring out over the coming days how it works with my commuting by bicycle.
So back to our first afternoon in London, we didn’t spend but a minute in the hotel as we needed to scurry off to reach the location of our bus tour. It was Halloween when we arrived so it only seemed appropriate to take a ghostly but tour. Fortunately for us, the rain moved off as quickly as it arrived, and we enjoyed our tour from the open top of bus. It was a perfectly amusing ride around the city at night and the departure point really set you off on the right foot as we started, just across London bridge on the south side of the Thames looking across the river at the houses of parliament and recently uncovered clock tower most of the world refers to as Big Ben. Fun fact that is not the name of the clock nor the tower, but actually the largest of the bells in the clock. After our tour, we scurried to the other side of Southbank, the London neighborhood of our hotel, to a Pub called The Garrison where we had an 8:00 PM dinner reservation. We started our meal with 2 of their signature gin cocktails and a “snack” of Prawn Croquettes. For the “small plate” Beth enjoyed a vegetarian plate featuring a poached egg and Chris indulged in the house Mettwurst Sausage. For the “large plate”, Beth had the Cornish Fish Stew and Chris the porkchop. For “pudding” Beth had a custard with fruit and Chris the lemon tart. We accompanied the meal with bottle of a white Austrian wine.
The following day began with us meeting a new friend for the first time. Beth has a social network she discusses hobbies on called Discord and through this network she was introduced by a friend to a gentleman named Irving who happens to work in the House of Lords at the British Parliament. Irving was very kind to give a private tour of Parliament that morning, sharing more interesting anecdotes and details. We took a small snack of coffee and cakes in one of the restaurants for the House of Lords. After that, he let us visit the House of Lords gift shop which is generally not open to the public where we purchased a few commemorative souvenirs including a 12 year aged House of Lords Scotch Whiskey. After our tour of parliament, we explored some unique shops areas with boutique shops in the Covent Garden neighborhood. We each found a new flat cap hand made in England by Laird Hatters and had lunch at a local pub. Beth paired an apple cider with fish and chips while Chris sampled a small cask pale ale paired with sausages and mash. So far the food was turning out to be as much fun as the sights. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring different areas. Chris was searching for a good shoemaker to purchase a new pair of black oxfords. He succeeded in finding such a shop but they didn’t have the black pair in his size but the shop could have them transferred from another store in London for the next day. We returned briefly to the hotel to drop goods off before we headed off for our next experience, the London Eye. We decided to go full silliness and book it with champagne as it as only £9 more. We had a lovely time as that small extra expense also meant we only shared the pod with 7 other people. Overall an excellent investment.
We failed to make any plans for dinner that evening we scanned google and Beth identified a restaurant called The ArchDuke. We were able to make a 7:15 reservation so killed some time before returning to the restaurant. We had a delightful supper starting with cocktails, a house signature cocktail for Beth and a classic Tom Collins (gin) for Chris. For appetizers we enjoyed breaded shrimp and smoked salmon. For the main course we shared a 600g (19oz) Coté de Boeuf which turned out to be a thick sliced bone in ribeye accompanied by non other than more Chips. It is truly astounding how much Europeans love their fries, but pay attention as each area has their signature version. For the English Chips are very thick sliced potatoes that are cooked a total of 3 times to have fluffy interior and an exquisite crunch. We finished the meal with perhaps my favorite discovery of all, Sticky Toffee Pudding with Custard. Our meal was accompanied by a jazz pianist. Overall a lovely find for dinner and the best steak we’ve had since arriving in Europe 6 months ago. From now on I will listen to my wife when she makes suggestions, won’t I?
The third day of our explorations began in search of more food. The quest this morning was to experience the Full English Breakfast. Our search led us to a well-reviewed small local restaurant styled café, but felt like a classic meat and three diner in the southern US. You ordered your meal off a menu board and they took cash only. Between Beth and I, we got all the elements with way too much food. We sampled bacon, sausages, ham, fried eggs, seared tomatoes, beans, chips, and sourdough toast. We accompanied the meal with 2 gigantic cups of coffee served with milk in the English fashion. We were admirably impressed but are certain this can’t be a normal occurrence as it was a truly massive amount of food and we had ordered strategically to limit how much we had!
Post breakfast found us returning to bus touring as it has proven to be a nice way to identify what you want to go take a closer look at. We have personally had good luck with Big Bus tours, but I will say the commentary on the London one featured more silly commentary than meaningful content. That being said, a bus tour is a decent way to see a city. We spent a couple of hours riding the red route which took us past may landmarks and shopping opportunities. We had a leisurely lunch at another pub, but dined more simply following our massive breakfast. Lunch consisted of simple sandwiches, cheddar and mango chutney for Beth and beef brisket for Chris. We paired our sandwiches with more local brew, a berry cider for Beth and a brown cask ale for Chris. After lunch we returned the shoe store to let Chris try on the shoes transferred in the previous day. Chris is now the proud new owner black oxfords from Joseph Cheaney and Sons. They were a bit of an investment but are quality shoes that can be resoled allowing for many long years of service. Also, they are extremely comfortable and will only get more so as they are broken in.
We took the shoes back to the hotel and set off for our next adventure. We were heading to Camden to walk about the local markets. We found ourselves in an area with tons of local flavor and unique shops. We discovered tons of little food shops, but already had a dinner reservation for the evening had to opt for saving grazing across Camden market for a future visit. We had the impression that we could find anything one imagined there. It was a bright and colorful place filled with amazing smells. While we were content to just explore this time we will be back.
As the early sunset of late autumn approached we headed back towards our hotel, but in search of a proper cup of English tea. We have determined that for us a bit of milk is quite nice, but sugar has no place in a proper cup. That’s of course our taste-yours is up to you to find. We opted for the milk first side of the debate and it has worked well so far. It is supposedly the more traditional way as it was purportedly done to protect delicate china cups from thermal shock of the hot tea. Regardless of your stance on when milk should be added, we enjoyed the charm of getting a small pot filled with hot water and a strainer of loose leaf tea. We now completely understand why neither of us have cared as much for bagged hot teas in the past as fresh teas are much more intricate and flavorful. That or we have just become stuffy jerks and now are obliged to use specific vocabularies to describe our new sophisticated pallets for wine and tea. I like to think we are still mostly normal folks, but ones who are fully embracing our opportunities to broaden our collections of experiences.
A while after our afternoon tea, we set headed for our evening reservation, but arrived in the area a bit early so found our way into the TWG tea shop in Soho to escape the cold rain and blustery wind that made exploring less than ideal that evening. We were immediately struck by 2 things. The numerous varieties of tea available are truly something else and some tea shops are astronomically priced. They might be amazing, but we are not sophisticated enough for that yet. Our dinner for the evening was at a local wine bar and restaurant recommended to us by Irving-The Cork and Bottle. It has operated in London in the care of several owners for 4 decades now and can be found secreted away in a basement hideout in Leicester Square. We had a delightful time enjoying reds wines from Argentina, Chile, Portugal, and even France. We dined on baked camembert with olive oil and basil. Chris had braised pork belly with salad and potatoes dauphinoise while Beth tried another English tradition of Shepherd’s Pie. For dessert we shared absolutely nothing because well, we’d had a bit to eat this day already.
Day four of our exploits found us beginning the day in search of our next quintessential British treat, a scone served with clotted cream. We found it at an installation of Gail’s bakery just a few blocks from our hotel. Our breakfast wound up us sampling many treats-The aforementioned scone with clotted cream (similar to butter but more white in color and sweeter), a cinnamon pecan muffin, some baked eggs with streaky bacon, and 2 pots of English breakfast tea. It was a delightful start to the day and a nice change of pace. It was during this meal we really appreciated how much faster the pace of life in London was from France. London and the US both are in constant motion without it feels any opportunity to stop and breathe. One of the best parts of our time in France has been the opportunity to slow down life and just enjoy sitting at a café or taking a bit longer with a meal. Even while we sat in repose and sipped on our tea, the vast majority of clients at Gail’s popped in grabbed a pastry and a flat white (espresso and microfoam cream if we found the right description) and were off coffee in hand.
From there we headed off to explore Piccadilly Circus. Following Piccadilly Circus, we stumbled upon Whittard Tea of Chelsea and found two delighful blends of loose leaf tea for a much more approachable price. We took home a tin of Piccadilly Blend and also their Christmas tea which has all the scents of the season to come. We’ll open it a bit later this year. Our bookworms crawled as fast as they could to take advantage of the fantastic Waterstones bookstore where we purchased a cookbook resplendent with several hundred British recipes. It is a new book just published this year, but had recipes for all the items we knew we wanted to try and make ourselves. Loaded down with tea and book we headed back towards the hotel, but made our planned lunch stop at the Fishcoteque, for a proper Fish and Chips from a dedicated “chippy.” It was a delightful meal and the malt vinegar sauce of a real chippy was excellent. I’ve never like one in the US but I very much enjoyed the one here.
Following lunch, we dropped off our parcels and set off on tube to catch the blue route bus tour to explore the area of London around Paddington. When our tour concluded we found ourselves on the northern side of Hyde park and elected to stroll through the park to take a peek at the London icon of Harrod’s the store where one can supposedly find anything. We poked around just a bit in that massive edifice of commerce and left feeling in awe of the fashion industry and trends. I’ll stick with timeless classics, less chance I’ll make mortal enemies in the fashion world. From Harrod’s, we jumped on the bus to our dinner reservation at The Curry Room. We had a fantastic meal starting with champagne and a sampling of chutneys. Then an appetizer course of a lamb dumpling with a delightful drizzle of sauce on it. For the main course Beth tried the most famous English curry, Butter Chicken. Chris opted for the traditional lamb curry. For dessert, Chris enjoyed a plum crumble and Beth savored a steamed date and banana pudding. We each enjoyed a glass of red wine with the meal, Chris a pinot noir and Beth something from the Loire Valley of France. After dinner we took a short stroll around the corner to the Apollo Victoria Theatre for the highlight of the evening, a performance of “Wicked”. We loved the show and encourage anyone else who has failed to see it since it opened in 2006 to go whenever the opportunity arises. It is an excellent story. We were very surprised by the London theatre scene allowing snacks in the auditorium. I think I prefer the option without, but we did take advantage of the option of having some water, prosecco, and souvenir magnet delivered to our seats during intermission. It as a bit warm in the theatre so a cool beverage was lovely. After the show we intended to take the tube back to the hotel, but when the crowds from 2 shows were backing up so far that you couldn’t even get on the platform, we opted for plan B. We walked to a bus stop about 2 blocks from the theatre and took a basically empty bus back to our neighborhood. Definitely the best choice and a much more pleasant way to end the day than on a tube train with everyone else’s closest friends.
Our fifth day was our last day to explore London but commenced much as day 4 had with a trip to Gail’s. This time Beth stayed with a scone where Chris branched out and tried a mince pie. We only shared 1 pot of tea this time, but added some fresh orange juice and an americano for comparison’s sake. The baked eggs and streaky bacon got a reprisal as well. All in all, a very pleasant breakfast. After breakfast we headed off to the Tower of London and spent several hours exploring the grounds and listening to Yeoman Warders (aka Beefeaters) tell their tales and using an interactive audio guide. We opted to skip the crown jewels as the line was rather ridiculous and as one of the Beefeaters said “go in there, look at his majesty’s jewels, look at your jewels, and feel poor.” For us the fascinating part was walking through the white tower and getting a better look at the historical artifacts and up-close looks at how truly ornate the engravings were on medieval weapons and armor, especially that of English kings. And if you saw some of the cod pieces you could tell that just because they didn’t have big trucks they found plenty of ways to compensate for their, umm, inadequacies.
We left the Tower of London and headed in search of some lunch. We wound up wandering around a small wharf before setting on a burger shop called Honest Burgers. While it was a chain, it had one of the best burgers we’ve had in Europe and was a nice little taste of home. After lunch we took a stroll across Tower Bridge, the one you see in every movie to tell you it’s in London; yep that’s Tower Bridge. London bridge is a modern concrete thing after a guy in Arizona bought it thinking he was buying the Tower Bridge; sucker. We strolled about a few shops before ultimately realizing our week was catching up to us and catching a little down time.
It was a good thing too as we ended up with a late night. We headed back to Parliament about 6 as Irving had invited us to have drinks he and some colleagues at the House of Lords bar. Beth enjoyed a Pimm’s with Lemonade and Chris tried the House of Lords Lager. We enjoyed our drinks on the Lord’s terrace along the Thames. After our drinks, we headed off to the Civil Service Club for dinner. We enjoyed the most reasonably priced steak as well as a nice bottle of Malbec from Argentina. After dinner we headed back to the Tower of London for a truly special event. Irving got us admitted to watch the Ceremony of the Keys. It is the longest continuously running military parade in history and is the ceremonial locking of the Tower of London each night starting at precisely 9:53 PM and concluding just before the clock strikes 10. The waiting list to observe this ceremony is roughly 18 months so it was truly something special to be invited to see. After the ceremony, we walked just a brief distance to the Wetherspoons by the Tower of London and started with a hot chocolate to warm up as it was a rather cold evening. After that Chris sampled 1 more cask ale, a red this time, as we sat and talked with Irving. We headed back to the hotel around midnight, but took a slight detour at Irving’s suggestion to see St. Paul’s cathedral at night.
The next morning, we packed up our bags then headed off to Gail’s for one last scone before venturing back to St Pancreas station to commence our journey home.
Hey, Beth took her first trip to Paris…4 months ago
So it’s official we are horrible bloggers. Glad we don’t try to monetize this thing. Anyway here is the first of several long overdue updates…
Back in June (Hello October!), Chris and I made a weekend trip to Paris. Originally I was supposed to go with him to Germany for his work trip and then we were going to Paris, but then an airline snafu required a change in plans. I ended up taking a train at the end of the week to the city to meet him there. It was my first time seeing the city with feet on the ground!
We signed up for a tour of the Palace of Versailles. It was busy, but very grand! The level of opulence and the scope is hard to describe, but it was absolutely beautiful! We spent some time walking around the gardens. They are vast and endless, though we were a little disappointed because they were not as well kept up as we expected. There are many stands of trees that have grown up wild in the gardens, and most of the fountains were not on or in working order. Regardless, we had a nice lunch and learned a lot about the history of the palace and the French Revolution.
After that, we headed back into Paris and did some wandering around. Chris took me to see the Arc de Triomphe, which looks much bigger in real life than it does in a photo! I got to see Notre Dame de Paris, which is still heavily under construction at this point in time. We took a wine tasting class, which was really fun. The class was led by a sommelier, and we learned about the different wine regions of France along with how to really taste wine and understand what it is that you are tasting (it’s very complex!)
Chris and I spent some time wandering around outside the Louvre. The only way to describe the Louvre is massive. We have not gone inside yet and are saving that for another weekend trip-it would take weeks just to see all of it. Just the outside itself is amazing-the level of detail in the architecture could keep you busy for hours.
We took a night bus tour to learn a little more about the city itself and hoped to see the Eiffel Tower light up while close to it, but unfortunately we only got to see it from a distance on this trip. It was still beautiful.
The next day, we started by visiting the Montparnasse Building. You can get a better view there than the top of the Eiffel Tower…because you can see the Eiffel Tower when you look out over Paris. After lunch we visited the Catacombs. It’s a bit morbid, but it was very cool. In the eighteenth century, there was a major public health crisis due to overcrowded cemeteries. Someone had the bright idea to transfer the “contents” of the cemeteries and use them to consolidate and support underground quarries, which were causing cave-ins across the city. It was opened to the public in 1809, so that people could go and see-you guessed it-walls of bones.
On Sunday before we left, we had a lovely brunch at a restaurant called Marcelle. Chris and I did a little more exploring before we hopped the train back to Clermont Ferrand, and found a large market that was fun to visit. It really is a beautiful (and walkable) city. For my first trip to Paris, I was very impressed!
Lyon
At the beginning of June, we visited Lyon, which is about two hours away from Clermont-Ferrand. Lyon is known as the gastronomy capital of France, so naturally we started out with a dining tour! This took us to several different places, including a “Bouchon.” This is a traditional restaurant of Lyon that serves homemade regional dishes. We also went to a fromagerie (cheese shop), a chocolatier and a boucherie (a butcher shop). We also tried a piece of praline pie, which is a local dessert, and is essentially candy in a pie crust! It was delicious.
We also got the opportunity to learn about and explore Lyon’s “Traboules”-no longer so secret passageways that were built long ago to help move commerce down to the river and to allow people to get from street to street and building to building. There are still some open to the public and if you keep your eyes peeled you can find them!
After the dining tour we went up the hill to see the Roman ruins. It is a very cool feeling to walk the path of people from so long ago. They still use the amphitheater and were setting up for a concert while we were still there, so there was a bit of modern mixed in!
Next, we walked over to the Basilica of Notre-Dame, de Fourvièrem which was built between 1872 and 1896. It was very crowded so we didn’t stay long, but the architecture and the decor inside was amazing. I would love to see it again when it’s not so busy!
On the second day of our trip to Lyon, we wandered down to the Parc de la Tête d'Or, which is a very large, lovely park with a lake and lots of gardens. We were short on time, so we rode a 2 person pedal bike around and got to see a lot of the park. It was very hot that afternoon, so after lunch (a delicious Mexican restaurant called Los Dos Hermanos) we gave ourselves a break and did a hop on, hop off bus tour that took us all around Lyon. There is so much to see there, and we didn’t even crack the surface on our short weekend trip.
San Sebastian, Spain-Day 3
San Sebastian, Spain-Day 3
On the third day of our trip to the Basque Region, we crossed the border into Spain and visited San Sebastian. It is one of my favorite places that we have visited! The first thing we did was follow the walking path along the coast. It was fun to watch the sailboats come and go.
We hiked up Monte Urgull to see the Cristo de la Mota, a statue that stands over 12 meters tall. It is surrounded by a fortress called the Castillo de lo Mota, which was built in the 12th century. There is a museum inside, so we took the opportunity to get out of the heat and learn some more about the history of the area. There is an open area at the top with breathtaking views of the city below!
After that, we went looking for lunch. Lesson learned: Always make reservations for lunch and dinner beforehand. We wanted to eat down by the water, but everything was booked so we ended up in a Michelin-recommended restaurant. It was delicious, but lunch took about three hours!
We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the Old Town and exploring. There is a beautiful cathedral there, though we didn’t get to go inside. The town shuts down around 3-4:00 for a siesta and doesn’t reopen back up until dinner. We stopped to have a drink in the shade at the Plaza de la Constitución. One thing you’ll notice in the photo is that there are numbers above each the windows. This area used to be a bull ring! Now it is an area where the local festivities take place and where people like to gather with friends.
Overall, we really enjoyed San Sebastian and would love to go back and explore it further. It has a great vibe and I definitely want to try some more of the restaurants! I think that it is one of my favorite places that we have visited.
Plaza de la constitución
Our trip to the Basque Region-Bayonne, Day 2
Sorry guys, I am woefully behind on blog posting. This summer has been very busy!
The second day of our trip to the Basque region was a bit of a lighter day. We stayed in Bayonne, which is where our hotel was located. It was a lovely city, known for its chocolate. Originally, we booked the trip with the intention of going to their annual chocolate festival, but discovered after we had already booked that the festival had been moved to the fall! We did get some chocolate while we were there though, and it was quite delicious. We wandered around the town and visited some of the local sites, including the cathedral and the Château-Vieux, a medieval fortress that is now a military complex.
After that, we went to a Tapas place by the river for lunch. We tried a little bit of everything and it turned out to be quite delicious! Tapas are one of my favorite things now. For dinner, we ate at Michelin recommended restaurant called L’inattendu. We had the eight course meal, which was definitely a unique experience! It is amazing how something can taste unusual, until you pair it with something else and it is absolutely amazing. (avocado ice cream, anyone?)
Our trip to the Basque Region-Day 1, Biarritz
We recently decided at the last minute to make a trip to the French Basque region. We spent three days there, visiting three different cities-Biarritz, Bayonne, and San Sebastien, Spain, which is just across the border.
Day 1-Biarritz
On our first day in the Basque Region, we went to Biarritz. It is a lovely city that sits on the Bay of Biscay, and it is beautiful! We wandered over to Rocher de la Vierge (Rock of the virgin), a rocky outcropping that Napoleon III used as an anchor point for the port. After that we had a lovely lunch at a restaurant called Le Corsaire down by the pier. We tried gâteau basque, which is a traditional french cake that this region is known for. I highly recommend trying it if you get the chance to visit!
After that we wandered for a bit, and I wanted to get a closer look at Hôtel du Palais, which was a palace built by empress Eugénie. Unfortunately, I could only get a view from a distance, as we are mere peasants and the guard wagged his finger at me when we sat foot inside the open gate! It was still very cool to see even from afar, though.
We took a stroll to see the “Phare du Biarritz” also known as the Lighthouse of Biarritz. It offered an amazing view of the coastline! Unfortunately we couldn’t go inside because it was closed. There were several paved trails along the top of the cliffs, however, and we got some great views of the lighthouse from a distance, too!
As in all major cities, one thing that is consistent is…rats. We happened to encounter a rather large one while waiting in line for a public bathroom (which, by the way, were self cleaning…strangest thing I’ve ever seen.) Poor Remy apparently got lost on his way to Gusteau’s and ended up scampering around in a panic looking for a place to hide. Have you ever seen a rat run into a crowd of people? It’s like being inside a Disney movie. …and hilarious, at least until he makes a beeline for your own foot!
The day started out cool, but eventually the sun came out. We dipped our toes in the water, but it was *way* too cold!! Instead we wandered around the shopping area and stopped for some ice cream. I tried the gâteau basque ice cream, which was just as delicious as the real thing.
We finished out the day with dinner at a Michelin recommended restaurant called Le Table D’Aranda. After dinner we caught a glimpse of the lighthouse as we were walking back to the parking garage! We both really loved Biarritz and would definitely like to go back one day.
Here are some links in case you’re interested in finding out more!
Le Rocher de la Vierge
The pier, which was once built by Napoleon III for the fisherman.
Hôtel du Palais, which is now a very fancy hotel but was once Princess Eugénie’s summer palace.
Phare du Biarritz
A beautiful view of the Bay of Biscayne
Stopping for a moment after walking the trails along the top of the cliff
The latest Adventures
Bonjour, tout le monde!
We have been adventuring out to see the world on our weekends. Thiers, the town nearby that we visited a few weekends ago, is known for making knives. While we were there, we stumbled upon a little shop that gives you the experience of making your own Thiers pocket knife. We went back the weekend after to do that and it was fascinating! They walk you through each step and you get to help put it together. Each knife is honed to near-perfect precision. After that, we had a lovely lunch at a restaurant called Le Chaudron (The Cauldron) that was in a very, very old medieval building. The old architecture here is just amazing.
The next day, the weather was perfect so we went to the Puy-de-Dome. We took the train up and wandered around the perimeter. The views were amazing! After lunch, we did a two-hour hike back down, which was tough on the muscles but good for the soul!
This past weekend, we stayed home but wandered around the city and went to various shops. We also went inside the Cathedral, which is its own architectural accomplishment. On Sunday, we went to see the new Doctor Strange movie. Lesson learned: Always make sure that your ticket says “V.O.” (original version) On it if you want to actually hear it in english and not completely in french! Luckily the movie theater was kind and exchanged our tickets for a later showing, and it did turn out to be a great movie!
We have been here almost a month…can you believe it?
Bonjour, tout le Monde!
Our apologies for falling behind on the blog posts. We have been very busy lately!
There is a lot to blog about! Chris has been working hard at learning his new position with Michelin. His French is improving rapidly. Mine…well I will get there. Sometimes it’s frustrating to not be able to say exactly what I want to say in French, or have someone come up to me on the street and ask me a question (that happens a lot, apparently!) but I am learning more every day. I am finding that living in a country that speaks a different language teaches you how to have a lot of patience, and you very quickly learn to brush it off when a local clearly thinks you’re a complete idiot because your brain has gone blank when you’re trying to ask for something. You just have to roll with it!
We have been making many new friends. There are so many wonderful people here. Our friends Karen and Pierre have invited us over for dinner several times, and I can talk endlessly about their cooking! They are also introducing us to amazing wine and cheese. Beth has joined the International Women’s Club, and is hiking with the IWC hiking group almost every week. The other local expats are just delightful and welcoming and we are so grateful that they have taken us under their wings!
We finally moved out of temporary housing and into a permanent apartment! Getting our stuff was fun (we had our first run in with the police because the movers couldn’t get the forty foot shipping container through the gate (French streets and “parking lots” are very, very narrow) so they tried to park it on the street, which made the police very unhappy. Ultimately it all worked out, but boy did move in day start out stressful!
In other good news…we now have our own car! Today we drove out to a town called Thiers, which is known for making knives and other cutlery. It is a lovely little town, and we very much enjoyed taking a stroll through the streets (and finding ourselves some lovely French kitchen knives!) I can’t get over how absolutely beautiful this region is.
Overall, we are settling in and it is starting to feel much more like home. Clermont is a delightful city, and the French are wonderful.
Until next time!
Settling In
Bonjour!
It’s hard to believe that Chris and I have been in Clermont Ferrand for nine days now. Time really does fly when you’re having fun, apparently! Chris started his new position within Michelin on Friday and I have been trying to get adjusted to living in a new country. People here are so nice and helpful! We have even had locals stop and welcome us to France. People are also quite gracious when I start stumbling over my french!
Good news-we found an apartment! We will receive the keys on Friday, and our shipping container will (hopefully) be here next week. Currently Chris and I are staying in another temporary apartment, which is close to where he works and within easy walking distance of downtown. That has been very nice, but I know that I am definitely ready to get settled and get our stuff back! Next up-buying a car.
While Chris has been working, I have been making it a point to go into town and work on using my french/run errands without him there to translate for me. It has helped me adjust to living in France much more easily! The biggest thing that I have learned so far is: to hell with being nervous or scared-just go out and do it. I also have been meeting new people and even went hiking with the International Women’s Club yesterday. They are a very nice group of ladies and I look forward to hiking with them again soon!
The food and wine here is amazing. I’m still adjusting to all of it, especially the wide variety of cheeses! We have tried a number of different restaurants, and so far my favorites have been an Italian restaurant called Bistro Vénetien, a creperie called 1513, and another lovely place called La Cassoulet. Overall, France is a really great place and we are really enjoying living here. It is starting to feel more like home and more “normal” as time goes.
Here are a few things that we have learned so far:
-It’s a normal thing to park on the sidewalk. Space is at a premium here so basically, if there’s not a no parking sign, it’s free game, apparently!
-Make sure to weigh your vegetables BEFORE you get to the checkout line at the supermarché or they’ll send you right back. Also, it’s a thing to rip open packages (like a 6 back of milk bottles or a box of coca cola cans) at the store and take what you need out of it, rather than buying the whole package. Milk and eggs are not refrigerated here, and no, it’s not gross.
-The locals dress for cold weather almost all the time. It could be 65 degrees out and sunny and people will be in a puffy jacket and a scarf.
-Saying hello and goodbye are everything. ALWAYS say “Bonjour/Bonsoir” (hello) and “Bon Journée/Au revoir” (goodbye), no matter what it is.
Until next time!
Sleep is for the weAk
I had 2 objectives for the day. 1 was to collect my badge from the security gate and the 2nd was get cell phone service. Now before we left I made sure I knew where the gate was. So we headed off on the quick 10-12 minute walk from the apartment to the security gate is. I speak with them, they check some paperwork, and promptly tell me I’m in the wrong spot and must go to the main entrance of the headquarters. We walk back around to the front of the campus, we had to pass it on the way to the security gate. We head inside and I speak with the desk clerks. They inform me I was at the right spot the 1st time and call back to the gate to have them get the badge. We troop back around 1 more time (I could have gone through the campus with a visitor badge but Beth wasn’t allowed inside), but this time they were waiting for me and we successfully recovered the badge. Since we had a good thing going we went back to the main entrance declaring success and checked out the public areas.
We meandered through some of the cooler streets and alleyways as I lead Beth to the heart of Clermon-Ferrand’s downtown the Place de Jaude. We meandered past all the shops with me giving commentary all the way. Eventually we stopped for a quick lunch at a Kebab shop. It’s not fine dining but it’s one of my favorite things when just getting off those overnight flights.
while eating at an outdoor, some of the other expats stumbled upon us and we chatted for a few minutes.
After lunch we wandered back to the apartment to meet some folks bring us items we purchased from those who were leaving for the US. By the end of this, we made the mistake of sitting down and almost passed out. We hung on until 5:30 when we ate some dinner that another expat family was kind enough to bring us. After dinner we finally gave up and went to bed. We slept through the night and woke up on the right time zone. It’s a long day but if you can pull it off, you avoid jet lag.
So Two GriFfins get on a plane…
A Brand New Adventure
Good news we made it! We also learned a lot. The first and most important is why did we pack all this stuff in suitcases!! We looked rather comical trying to manage 2 rolling duffels, 2 large suitcases, 2 roll aboards, and 2 backpacks. We had to stack it In interesting ways trying to balance one on the other as we made our way into GSP. I might have practiced some of the more naughty French words each time a bag fell off. In the end we made to the check in desk, where they validated our passports, visas, vaccination status and blessedly took the bags. I gladly paid that fee as I was delighted to stop carrying them. In fact I was so happy to be done with suitcases that when they offered free gate checking to our final destination, I decided to risk not having any clothes for a few days just for the ease of travel. In the end we won out and got to play with all the bags again in Clermont-Ferrand. At least that airport has luggage carts.
The in between times were rather calm we shared a meal in Atlanta and relaxed while we waited to board the plane to Paris. Our flight was uneventful, but we failed to get any real sleep despite our best efforts.
Navigating the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris is always a bit tricky as it is a maze to pass through immigration control and then to one’s connecting gate. We made it to immigration following the normal route that I had prepared Beth for in advance. Of course after that they decided to change everything and we ended up taking a 15 minute bus ride from the airport gate to where the plane was sitting on the tarmac. CDG is never a boring airport. When you come to visit, make sure to follow the signs and know your gate!!
The airport in Clermont-Ferrand is very small and easy to navigate. We just had to wait for baggage claim and were met immediately by a driver waiting for us. He drove us across the city to our apartment where we played bucket brigade passing one back the. The next through the series of locked doors to the elevator. We had so many bags and with 3 people the elevator took 2 trips to get us all. Beth’s “favorite” feature of our temporary apartment building is that all the lights are on timers in the common areas and that means they are off until you push the button. We got a small tour of the apartment and our driver was off and we were on our own.
A quick update
Bonjour!
Just wanted to give everyone a quick update…Visas were approved, and our shipping container is finally on its way to France. Our last car will be sold on Thursday. We have been talking about this move and planning it for so long it’s hard to believe that it is finally here. What a season of waiting this has been!
Some of you have had questions so I thought I would answer some of the common ones here:
How long will you be in France?
Chris’s job will be a four year stint. After that, the plan is to repatriate back to the U.S., most likely Greenville (where we are now) but we will see where life takes us!
Will you be in Paris?
Nope! We will be in Clermont Ferrand, France, which is several hours south. If you’re looking at a map of France, stick your finger in the middle of France and that is where we will be. It’s surrounded by a ring of dormant volcanoes and is pretty outdoorsy, which suits us perfectly.
Will Beth be working?
She will not, but she plans on keeping very busy! One of the first things she plans to do is to wander around town and get lost so that she can improve her French language skills. She keeps talking about wanting to write a book so maybe she’ll do that too.
How does it feel to be moving to a new country?
How it seems from the outside: It’s exciting! It’s an adventure! It’s living the dream! It’s perfect!
The reality: It’s exciting! It’s an adventure! It’s living the dream! It’s…also a bit terrifying. It’s uncomfortable to move out of our comfort zones. It’s stressful. We are absolutely blessed to go but there are MANY emotions involved. Not only are we leaving behind everything we have ever known for a country with an entirely different language and culture, we will most likely not be present for funerals, births, birthdays, etc. That is very humbling. This move was not a snap decision for us. There has been much discussion, lots of praying, and many tears. That being said, we can’t wait for the adventure that awaits us!
So it Begins…
Our first post and little bit about where we are in the process
Everything has to start somewhere and this is where this blog will begin.
What is this thing?
We are moving to France for Chris’ job with Michelin. The idea of this blog is a place for anyone who want to follow us to keep up with our lives. Problem: we don’t want to bombard people by putting everything on our individual social media accounts and annoy everyone. Solution: We made this blog and a dedicated Instagram account.
Where are we in the process?
To date we have sold our house, placed all of our goods in storage (with a selection waiting to be shipped to France), moved into a temporary apartment, and had our visa interviews with the French government. We are currently waiting for our visas to come back. They are expected sometime next week. We fly to France on Sunday March 27.
Follow Our Journey on Instagram
