Store Fronts

Paris has the greatest store fronts in the world (my always-humble opinion). Walking through the city brings constant surprises, seeing these beautiful creations. Here's a few of my favorites:

These little grocery stores are everywhere.	This store sells supplies for cabinet makers; nothing else
Nothing special, just pretty.	A tapestry store!
Restaurant	Ice Cream - the famous Berthillon
Restaurant	Gourmet food treats

The Art of Wine Making

We spent a night in Burgundy at a B & B that was also a real, working winery. This gave us an insight into the delicate and creative process of making wine, as we were there during the time that last year's wine was being taken out of the barrels and bottled, and this year's harvest was going into the barrels.

These two pictures give an idea of the effort involved in creating the great wines of Burgundy.

Wednesday afternoon

Thursday mornng

Some Photos

Laurie has asked that I just post some photos, so I'll do that. I'll start with some of Clara. You can click on the photo to get a bigger view of it.

Sleep-Time: Anytime.
Strapped in and ready to eat! Birthday Party!	"Looks good; let's eat!"
"I don't know what's here, but I'll bet it's tasty!"	"Love that custard!"

Coming Home

Sigh...I never like leaving France, and this trip certainly is no exception. I don't know that I'll ever tire of the place, whether it be Paris or some tiny little town out in the country. Mary Germain always cautions me that what we see isn't real life, and I understand that, but...the country still charms me, after many trips, and we're already planning on coming back next year.

Our last day here was perfect, and we didn't visit one museum or see one "sight." Laurie and Mary went to the local market in the morning while I sat and enjoyed the sunshine. Then we went to the home of our other French "family" for a long, leisurely and delicious lunch with Jamie and Hervé and three of their four children. It may not be real life in France, but it certainly fulfilled what we think of real life there: three hours of conversation, excellent wines, great food, aperitífs outdoors in the autumn sun...waaaaaaah, I want to turn around and go back! Thank you to Jamie and Hervé for a lovely and memorable afternoon.

Then we took a stroll around Jamie and Herve's town, Samois-sur-Seine. Nothing special, just a walk along the river in the late-afternoon sun, followed by a simple dinner at Mary and Gilles' house.

And so our sojourn ended. We could not have better friends in France. This trip, Mary and Gilles opened their house not just to us, but to Derek and Jill and Craig and Annie and Clara. Then they took us off to Burgundy, a part of France we'd never seen. Lastly, they got up early this morning to fight the traffic to the airport. We spent ten days with les Germain this year, longer than our usual six or seven days, and we were both very sad to wave goodby to them at the airport.

But there's always next year!

I'll add some pictures over the next couple days, so stay tuned.

Air France

We're 5 hours into a ten hour flight so I'll take a minute to pass on my thoughts about our airline on this trip, Air France. Overall: better than the other airline we've flown across the Atlantic, British Airways. Service, both on the ground and in flight, has been good, even when our luggage went missing. Food: okay, actually, and we're in coach. But coach has a big drawback: the fellow in front of me has reclined his seat and it is no more that eight inches from my face while I'm typing this. When the meal was served, the flight attendant made people put their seats up, because it would have been impossible to eat if the seat in front was reclined.

I have, sitting normally, about one inch between my knees and the seat in front of me. It's not fun, I can tell you that.

We're on an Airbus A340, which has one feature I like: four engines. The more engines, the better, I always say. Actually, the one thing I notice is that it is very quiet, much quieter than the 747 we flew coming over.

And about that 747: when I got on, got settled and looked around, I said, "Old." It just looked kind of tired and its entertainment system was limited to the old screen in the ceiling type. So when I had a chance after we arrived, I checked the registration number; it was the second-oldest 747 in Air France's fleet - 19-1/2 years old, slated to be retired in the next couple months. I guess it was old!

So Air France has been about as good as a flight can be in coach. Which means to say, not very good.

Catching Up Again

I've got a couple days to catch up on now, a result of a very busy day, followed by a B&B with no Internet connection. I'll start with three entries for our travels Tuesday: Colombey-des-Deux-Îgleses, Vignory and Langres. Uh-oh, that means I've got three days to post before I'm caught up.

Colombey-des-Deux-Ígleses

Although "Colombey-des-Deux-Ígleses" translates to "Colombey of Two Churches," it wasn't the two churches that brought us to this small town in the very south of the Champagne region of France; wasn't the champagne, either. In 1924, a young French army officer bought a house here as a place to raise a family and be a home base as he was stationed in different posts. Forty-six years later, Charles DeGaulle, leader of the Free French during World War 2, President of France after the War and architect of France and its position in the world as it is today, died sitting at a table here in his home.

I've read lots about DeGaulle and know he was a controversial figure. But no one can deny that he was a towering figure in French history. I just wanted to visit his grave, pay my respects, and see the several rooms of his house, preserved as when he lived here.

DeGaulle's grave.


Les Bosseries, his home.



The view DeGaulle had from his desk in his office.