We are headed toward the Spanish part of France, complete with bullgfighring and raising white horses for the "Cowboys" to ride. Their boots are a bit different and for the most part the fights are not lethal to the bull. Instead, the fighters tease the bull and have to hook one of the tassels hanging from it. A few times a year, the fights are traditional Spanish bullfights. This dish of the area is cassoulet, a dish of beans and duck as well as bull stew. We also saw many Spanish dishes on the menu including paella. This area is hot and the wine has a higher alcohol content (to help survive, according to our guide--haha). Our guide told us this area is very salty and has mines. The salt is grey and many purchase it for fine cuisine. If it is white, it has been bleached. On the table, salt is called fluer de sal, or salt flower. Because of the salt, there are many unique plants, ones that can handle the salinity. She also explained that the French are secular and are not allowed to show large outward signs of religion: no big crosses or head scarves. However, most consider themselves Catholics, even if they do not attend mass. Most do not marry nowadays and the church cannot marry people, only do a ceremony, who people have to go to court to be officially married. The ban on religious symbolism started during the French Revolution, when the abuses of the church were shunned. So people weren't even allowed to put up the Crèche at Christmas time, so they started creating their own ceramics, called santons, of village and religious scenes. We stopped at a rest area that had some on display. Then we stopped at Arles for a Van Gogh tour, since Arles is the place the artist went to get away from the gloom and try some lighter, more colorful works in tune with the Japanese works he had studies. He painted the starlit cafe scene and a courtyard here, both of which we visited. Arles also has some of the most amazing Roman ruins, including an amphitheater and theater, both still in use today, the amphitheater for bullfights. We traveled through the wetlands, where flamingos are protected. When we arrived in Carcossone, we had a local expert take us on a tour of the Chateau Comtel, a very intact huge castle that is equated with a Disneyland fairy castle. Inside is a castle within a castle as well as a basilica that is a blend of 8th century Romanesque and 11th Century Gothic. A local artist had created a yellow bullseye temporary design on the castle that is controversial. Most of us liked it, since it is temporary. The Basilica has some of the best intact 12th century original stained glass windows. Amazing.
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(SEE BELOW FOR PRIOR DAYS JUST POSTED DUE TO TECH DIFFICULTIES Today we took an optional morning excursion to two small towns, once fishing villages and castles/chateaus: St. Paul and Eze. The Corniche drive along the coast was magical. Our guide pointed out all of the "Hollywood" and famous people connections along the way, including Elton John's house high up on in the hills with gorgeous views into the alps (right below the white observatory dome), the hospital where Angelina Jolie gave birth to her and Brad Pitt's twins, Dali's home where he and his leopard lived and even Napoleon. This is where many artists such as Matisse, Renoir and Monet got inspiration for lightning and flower paintings. The jasmine was in bloom, creating a wonderful aroma throughout the towns. Then it was a tour of the Fragonard perfume factory, very short, but interesting about all of the different countries where the essences came from, pine among others from the U. S. And talk of the "noses," who are paid quite a bit. It takes 3 tons of rose petals to make on liter of essence. Of course, we received the sales pitch at the end. I purchased some soap for my friend Vicky who loves this brand. A local guide gave us a tour of St. Paul, a fortified hillside medieval town. Then it was off along the Basse., Mayenne, and Grande Corniche roads with wonderful views along the coast to our lunch spot in Eze, which included the traditional salad Niçoise, basically a creamy vinaigrette salad with tuna and hard-boiled eggs. After lunch we took a bit of a siesta before heading out on our own to explore the old town of Nice and hike up to the top of a hill that had an old cemetery and chateau at the top, not to mention fantastic views over the old and new towns and the lovely blue bay. Unfortunately, both of our days in Nice were a bit rainy, so the nice blue skies that give the name Côte d'Azure (Blue Coast) it's name did not come out for us. The cemetery was very interesting, having both a Christian and a Jewish section. The Jewish section had a memorial to the heroes of WWII, those in the resistance as well as an urn with ashes from Auschwitz. We left Lyon and headed into the Provence area with its fields and fragrance of lavender The cheaper shops or less expensive items are made with fake lavender, called lavindin, which is not as strong, so our guide said to look at the label to make sure we were getting the real deal. So make sure to purchase perfume with lavender. The French use lavindin for secondary items such as dishwashing liquid. Our guide said we were headed to the area of the Normans, where the people are tall, blond, and not as dark as the northern. The pace is slower with more siestas too. The name came from "provincial romana," for the Romans, which then became "Provence." With the Roman attitude you have the slower life. It is known as the Côte azur, blue coast. Artist settled in this area, also called the French Riviera. San Tropez was made famous by Bridgette Bardot, glamour, Cannes film festival right now. We stopped at Avignon to see the former papal palace where the popes settled during the schism. The palace has been looted and gutted, but you can still see the papal bed inside. In this part of France, it is more Italian like: Candy like a torone or toblerone. Almond nougat, pizza and pastas and seafood. Famous for bright fabric and scarves and scented soaps.Be sure to get the real ones. I looked for my friend Vicky, who wanted another silk scarf from this area, but everything was cheap, no hand done items (all said made in Provence, but I suspect it is like the cashmere scarves in Israel, made in China but they put the fake tags on. The prices were too cheap and the painting wasn't hand done. I suspect we would have had to get out of the tourist area to find the scarves, which we didn't have time. Then we continued on to Monoco. How fun but also a bit disconcerting to see all of the wealth. So many Lamborghinis and Rolls Royces. They even vacuum the streets and sidewalks so that the area looked more like a movie set than a place people live, all so clean. They were setting up for the Grand Prix, so the streets all had bleachers along them on the curving highway by the shore to the sea. We were able to go inside the cathedral where princess Grace and Prince Ranier were married and buried, seeing their resting places. Then we had dinner before heading into Nice for the night. Tom and I had a nice stroll along the beach at sunset. But we had the terrorist attack in the back of our mind; however, we both thought it was a lovely place, so if we died, we died. It was magical. And then a lightnig storm rolled in, only producing a few drops. What a wonderful day. Day Five: Bye to Paris; Beaune visit Medieval Hospital for the poor; lyon for tour and dinner5/14/2018 Today we left Paris after a short tour around another part of the city and headed toward Lyon, where we would spend the night with a lunch stop and tour of a medieval hospital for the poor in Beaune. A few things from our day The equivalent of the Green Party is in control of Paris so there are more recycling bins around the town but the big controversy is the closing of the river drive to vehicle traffic. It is now bicycle and walking. That makes for more traffic on the other streets. And the traffic is really bad now due to the train strike (luckily, we decided to fly in stead of taking the train from Paris to Nice--we have heard some stories of fellow travelers who have had to pay outrageous prices for plane tickets last-minute due to the train strike.). But the traffic did cost us some of our leisure time in Beaune and Lyon, so we felt rushed all day. Our tour guide told us about the 7 different regions of France that all have their own food and cultural differences. She also said that there used to be 21 different areas but they were reorganized in January , so she isn't even familiar with all of them yet. The poor hospital in Beaune was started in the 1500s by a man and wife who felt sorry for the. poor who had no care. The nuns ran the hospital with benefactors paying for food and supplies. To this day, local benefactors pay for the upkeep of the museum. Originally, multiple patients were in a single bed. We saw the medical implements and pharmaceuticals of the day, scary. We had a quick lunch at a grab and go bakery (cheese and tomato sandwich with a walnut tart) and then headed to Lyon. We learned that Beaune is known for its Burgundy wine, and some did sample it. We leaned that Sunday/Monday were the weekend in Paris. Shops and many nice restaurants are closed except what our guide called the "international" shops, such as McDonalds and United Colors of Benneton, etc. In the old towns and in the old parts of Paris, high rises and modern buildings are prohibited. Any renovations are limited to the inside, which can be modern, but the outside must be keeping with the age in which the structure was built. So that means using wood and plaster. Therefore, due to the wet climate, the outsides must be redone every 10 years because of mildew. Most of the older buildings are 9 stories or fewer. In Lyon, 5-6. The floors start with zero for the main floor, which traditionally held shops, followed by the first floor, which often had a nice balcony. This story was called the "piano nobile" which meant for the "floor of the nobles), so the rich folks lived here. The bourgeois lived higher. The poorer you were, the higher you lived, having to walk more stairs. The floor under the roof was reserved for servants and had many living there with on shared bath. As we travelled, we enjoyed the countryside. There weren't as many castles as we were used to in other European countries, but the green hillsides were pretty and dotted with white Charolais cattle. In Lyon, we had a tour of the old town with a local specialist Christian. he was quite funny and entertaining. He showed us some of the 300 secret passageways that led from one street to another through housing centers. He also showed how several houses could share a central --usually outside--staircase, so not to take up so much space since space is scarce in the city. He also said that Lyon was the site of the first printing press in French. (He said that the IKEA catalog has now outpaced printing of the Bible!) An interesting note: the word "glacier" means ice cream here. So glacier is on my mind! I'm having a devil of a time without my phone to post pictures, but it forced me to figure out how to create a hotspot with my camera to transfer photos to the Kindle and Tom's iPad. We will see if they upload from there to the blog. But we did have an excellent day. It began with news of an Islamic state shooting just a few blocks from us in the Opera district (where our hotel is), which was a bit scary. And the day was rainy too, making it a bit ominous. But we are safe and had a great time visiting the Louvre, seeing five Leonardo's, several Raphaelo's, a few Ghirlandaio's, caravagios and numerous other Renaissance masters. We also saw exhibits on Islamic Art, Egyptian tombs, glass and Etruscan, Greek and Roman .sculpture. Then we had a nice lunch followed by a walk through the Rodin sculpture gardens to see the Thinker among about 20 other of his finished and even more unfinished works. On the way home, we walked by the Hotel de Invalides, turned into and Army museum. We wondered what was housed in the shining golden dome at the one end, and a lady told us Napolean's tomb, so, of course, we had to pop in to see it. It was a spectacle, huge red marble tomb with frescos and his own altar and chapel complete with gold and frescos, just what you might expect from this big ego. We finished with our 10 miles of walking just in time to meet our tour guide and have a nice city tour before our included dinner. We had fun talking to the other guests on our tour and then it was off to bed. The guide gave us lots of information we would not have otherwise gleaned with just our w
We had an exciting first day, looking all around the city. After we settled into our hotel, we walked down to the Tuilleries Palace to stroll though the gardens. Then we walked through the groounds of the Lourve, which we really enjoyed; since hardly anyone was there this time in the evening. I apoligize if I type "Qs" for A's3 as this French keyboard is really messed up; wit the A, W? q, M? ;,/? ETC way out of place: and I have to hold the shift for a period or else I get a semicolon. All of the symbols on the keys are off too; and the spell check is in French. Anyway; we ate qt q quaint café; and to our surprise, everyone was very nice. We heqrd so many horror stories about the French being rude; especially to Americans that we were a bit worried. Our favorite place today was climbing the road an quite a few stairs to the MONTMARTE district to the church of Sacre Coeur, what q lovely day:
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