France and Paris 2024

Toulouse's main square  Hi faithful fans* of travel journals!  Just letting everyone know what to expect - This blog is actually a travel journal of our guided trip (Odysseys Unlimited) around the west and north of France, and Paris, which we took in May of 2024.  The reason there is an extensive travel journal is threefold. First, it's a way of keeping connected with family while we're away; I send each day's post by e-mail to family members who requested it.  Second, it's a way to remember the trip; in two or five or ten years we can look back and relive the good parts.  Third, I like to write.  Yeah, I know.  Weird. On the ship, cruising around Japan last year, there were hours and hours - sometimes whole days - of free time to read and write.  This trip is a lot different, of course.  We're doing something every day, all day, and even when we have "on your own" time it's in a fascinating city that is worth exploring for days, instead of t...

Carcasson  Thursday Toulouse is a very old European city and we just love wandering and looking at the architecture.  Our hotel is in the very center of the city, which is all cobblestones and narrow streets with one giant square in the middle.  Cars and pedestrians coexist well - it's clear that the understanding is that pedestrians have the right of way.  No honking, except once when some dumb American is standing in the street, oblivious, blocking traffic.  Sorry!  I keep thinking that if the street is full of pedestrians, then by definition there'll be no cars.  Lots of evidence that this is not a car-based society. Lots and lots and lots of cafes and restaurants and ice cream places and boulangeres with outside seating, on the sidewalk or on the square.  We sat for about an hour tonight outside a bread and sandwich shop and did not much of anything, watching people stream by.  Abbey thought the lions carved above the door of the bookstor...

  Where to start? We're in Sarlat (not Sarlacc, Randall.  Much nicer) and will be here for three nights.  It's a small medieval town (without walls) that was almost entirely rebuilt in the fifteenth century when the King (of France) rewarded the town for their loyalty during the 100 Years War (which was a lot more than 100 years and which our guide says was “a very silly war”).  The Sarlatians (?) used the money to build the grandest buildings they could, and it's a kind of cartoonish early Renaissance town, almost out of a Disney movie.  We love it. Anyway.  Since actual days begin and end normally now, maybe go day by day.   Saturday:  Another great breakfast in the hotel, and then on the bus to Albi, another small medieval town (sensing a theme here?) that features:  More Cathars!   Did you know that the Albigensian Crusade (1208-1229)(named for Albi), organized by Pope Innocent III, was not created to fight the Saracens in...

  Let's start with foie gras. We are in the foie gras capital of the world. Seventy five percent of the world's foie gras comes from France (most of it from here in the southwest) and ninety percent of it is consumed by the French. It is made of goose or duck liver, but not just any goose or duck. Someone discovered, somehow, at some time in history, that if you force-fed a goose/duck during a particular time of the year, their liver would taste good. Imagine that. “Force fed” means a tube down their throat with grain poured in, direct, I assume, to the stomach. That's all I need to know to never eat foie gras. Torture a duck so you can have a little schmear on a cracker? Our guide was very balanced, and went into some detail about how the French justify foie gras. But they sounded like the arguments of someone who benefits financially from torture. Ever notice that? How easy it is to think of reasons that bad things are not so bad, because they generate an inco...

  Monday:   It's actually Wednesday morning as I write this, the rising sun lighting up our room overlooking the Loire River in Saumur.  This is the top floor, and the ceiling with the skylights, facing east, tilts up at a forty five degree angle.  Ancient roof beams and supports burst out of the otherwise white and blue and dressed stone walls.  It's easy to imagine sitting in a garret in Paris, even though this is actually a pretty nice room. Anyway, Abbey noted yesterday (Tuesday) that it was about the time in the trip where the initial excitement starts to wear off, and she really enjoys the wonderful parts but the not-so-wonderful parts are starting to make her grumpy.  Not that there are a lot of not-so-wonderful parts, but yesterday was also the day that we spent entirely on the bus, driving the 5-plus hours from Sarlat to Saumur.  Not really that bad, but you know how Abbey hates to be cooped up in a seat for any amount of time (the reason...

Chateau de Miniere Winery Tuesday: Usually it is Abbey who does the complaining for us, but I have found something to be grumpy about.  It wasn't easy, but I did it. Today (actually, yesterday, because I'm writing this Wednesday night) we traveled, as noted yesterday (this morning, when I was writing about Monday but mentioned Tuesday), from Sarlat to Saumur on the bus; the trip took all day.  When we got to Saumur, we got off the bus in the middle of town, and walked from there through part of town on the way to our hotel, just to get the lay of the land.  Because:  when we got to the hotel and checked in, we were “on our own for dinner.” So imagine that.  You're in a small city you didn't even now existed a few days ago, and you don't speak the language (and you haven't encountered a lot of evidence that suggests that the restaurant staff will speak much useful English).  You have a list of restaurants recommended by the hotel, and another list recommende...