A Fall Trip to Croatia (and places beyond)

So up we (Kelly, Ted and I) were bright and early Monday the 17th of October to squeeze ourselves and enough clothing for a 3 month stay into our Toyota Avensis bound out to Dubrovnik, Split and Pula via fast expressway. I had figured it to be about 2000km one way, we were soon to find out it was more…Much more. Off to St. Amand and the A71 south to Lyon for a first nights stay in a local ETAP (Accor Hotel groups 35 dollar wonder of efficient design) just south of Lyon in the industrial sector…Large gas flames light up the night and daylight too! Full. Yes, full at 4pm in the afternoon. These wonderful hotels have an automated clerk, ATM-machine like that issues rooms, allows access etc. In a flash of feminine brilliance Kelly ordered up 2 Disabled Rooms! Shame on us but all the disabled spots were taken up by a Huge MAN Tour Bus! The room was specially built for the disabled, with a high potty, low sink and a bit more room around the bed. Room examined, bags strewn, we were off to explore a bit of Old Lyon. The drive thru the mid-day traffic was easy but finding it…finding Lyon while being IN Lyon is quite an amusing trick. No map, 2 rivers, bridges, few signs, poor memories all conspired to have us drive away into the hinterlands west, in the hills, and try from over there instead of the boring flatlands of new Lyon. Paths taken were not remembered (at all!) until at last a glimpse of a familiar wall below the Arena, then we knew Old Lyon was below us on the twistiest enlarged cowpath ever transversed by a automobile at 60 mph. Parking, a miracle! Then a walk thru the old sector and more photos, a hunger filled with a stop at a tiny Turkish fast food joint got us fed in fine style. More pictures, more walking and gawking and then back to the car to enjoy (!!!) the traffic to our little ETAP. Arriving, Ted tucked into his room, we into ours for a rest before heading to Vienne to the Brother’s Cafe for dinner. At 7pm we once again piled into the car once again and drove thru the late day traffic to a traffic jam in Vienne fully 2 kilometers long! A single traffic signal causes this and is not to be avoided as it is the only access to the freeway south and the little town’s ancient heart. Alas, after several laps we found the Brother’s quite closed (a Monday…grrrr) and had to opt for a small chain restaurant that served up bowls of moules and fish in delicious proportions. A walk thru old Vienne after dinner and we had nearly done the day. Off to the trusty Avensis for the ride back to our hotel in Lyon about a half hour away. Ah, the Flame marks the spot as we flew past the offramp in the wrong lane into more speedy and dense urban traffic. Now what? Over a bridge to an offramp on the wrong side of the river, away from there to the west 2 km to the only offramp in a long, long ways and over the top and back onto the road heading back to where we started on this shunt. On the highway south again, back to the Flame and the offramp to the ETAP. Repeat this process many times in the next two weeks, time and time again either abbreviated signage, traffic conditions, or just plain ignorance led to adding many miles and loads of entertainment to this journey of ours. Tomorrow…To Milano!

A Walk In The Forest

We spent today wandering the woods (AGAIN) on a Randonee…a walk…a walk in the woods with 50-60 others, all in walking togs and walking sticks. It was raining a bit so the plan changed mid-stream to that of an extended drive thru the woods on narrow dirt roads and walks to coincide with specific features of the forest that the ranger wanted to educate us of. We had a foriestiere (forest ranger) that explained all the differing levels of tree re-growth in each section…each section being approximately 10 square miles! No we didn’t walk ALL of them but some and sometimes for not a lot to see. But walk we did and talk we did, in halting baby French and better English as we have “hooked up” with a KREW of Brits who find us endearingly un-puritan. Off to here and there by car and stop and walk for a while to a site with cut wood, 1/2 sized oaks being grown for the barrel trade, mixed forest with 120 years to go before harvest and newly cut ones with HUGE 200 year old oaks on their sides, stripped of all limbs. Beautiful things. The French have been managing their forests since before Napoleon as they had spent several thousands of years using up much of the better stock of trees for ancient walls, forts and fortifications, castle interiors, furniture making and the building of bridges and roads. Now they are here, there and everywhere in all sizes and species…making money for the government as LITTLE of it is in private hands. So back in the car again to motor thru the woods one by one to Bommiers (Bow-me_yaA) to a lunch that lasted thru 5 courses starting at 1:30. Lots of wine too, a decent rose but a better red with good body, a fine nose and cherry and tobacco. Three hours later we exited to walk (stagger?) once again to a nearby (this time) church to gawk at the amazingly beautiful carved interior seating and hard oaken benches. The subject of the carving? The slaughter of the Catholics by the local Protestants. Ah, isn’t religion wonderful…love your fellow man and slit his kindly neighbor’s throat. The Wars of Religion and The Hundred Years War just happened last week the way they energetically explain it. It was a Complete Day…we are all exhausted, we have to pack for our Croatian Trip tomorrow but we will NOT need to eat or drink ANYTHING tonight! Croatia, Here we come!

And now…French

We, after a charming month full of familiar faces and typical French fall events, have taken on the French language once again. First a word or two about our language skills. We speak English, were taught English in school for year upon year as a required subject and one of us, not me, was a college English major! That said we have bought MANY French language books, dictionaries, phrase books, audio lessons on tape, French movies, music, five different French language courses on the computer and have a daughter who majored in French and graduated from college. So today we struck out at 2pm sharp to the Lignieres Tourist office to take advantage of thier brand new French language course as taught by our old friend Marie-Christine and an actual teacher Madam Herault. MC had told us there were some 14 brave souls who had commited to the class including us and it was so, even including the new english proprietor/chef of the existing restaurant on the square. It was a jolly group of largely middle aged english men and women (and one American pairing…us!) all chatting over the top of each other and looking like some sort of alien colony about to rise from it’s ignorance. Crowded about the long table in folding chairs with our little papers and pens at the ready we were asked to provide our names and where we lived and how long we have been in France. We found ourselves to be among the longest here, now 4 years in regular cycles of 3 months until now. Some early indications of our skills or lack thereof some understanding of our language abilities by way of interogation we gained by the teacher Madan Herault. The classes were determined to be an advanced class and a beginner class to start this Thursday in the building alongside the tourist office. Twenty Euros (about 24USD) per month per person and a 11 Euro per couple (6 Euro per single) annual fee to go to the Tourist office. After a bit of discussion our teacher dismissed us to go our way and we would see her again at 3pm Thursday.
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Kelly and I exited in the drizzle of the Fall and took off towards Bourges to examine a few cuisiniers (oven/ranges) at the requisite stores, the Geant (Gee-awnt), Carrfour (car-4), Darty and But (Boot). Row upon row were before us in each place and we looked them over top to bottom. We discarded the one electric burner idea and the electric grill both as detrimental to actually getting the new stove installed where the old one was. As it is we have to gain 2″ – 6cm more room to fit the new one in the space. We finally settled on a pair of Brandt stoves that seemed to be what we wanted. Each was the larger size (an additional 10cms…about 2 1/2 inches) that we wanted as some of our skillets barely fit without falling off the current cooktop, they were white which matches all the rest of the appliances and it was in front of us. We called over the sales lady and after a few moments decided on one over the other as it had automatic start on the burners…no pilot, just a piezo-electric spark device on each burner and the oven. The other had a push button. Same price 499.00 and on sale today for $449. Not a bad price, we asked if we could take it with us, yes, they said, “the floor model”. Kelly handed over her credit card and it was done in a few minutes as were several long 8.5 X 14″ legal 5 part forms which had to be signed and stamped and put in binders and handed to someone else and put in a file folder…and that was the sales desk. We were told to go around back to the delivery area and give the person the copy we had of the 5 part form. A similar activity ensued at the delivery desk, with new forms made out, signed by the agent and us, copy to us, one in the basket, one in the folder and another just lying there with no place to go. Out came our stove in less than a minute! All wrapped up in plastic to protect the pristine white porcelin enamel and accompanied by a young man with yet another copy to be signed and stamped. He and I moved the stove to the awaiting car trunk and in she went on her side and scooted as far forward as possible and the hatch was closed and away we went the happy new owners of a Brandt cuisinier. Tomorrow the fun begins…installation. I wonder what Eric is doing after work?