If it's Tuesday, it Must be....Strasbourg

“Remember that happiness is a way of travel – not a destination.” – Roy M. Goodman

Our journey from Paris couldn't have been easier and we arrived in Strasbourg in time for a late lunch. Strasbourg has luggage storage, which not available in all stations due to the need for X-ray machines for security. By the time we had stored our enormous pile of bags and had purchased our Europass Family 24 hour pass (which saved us €20 on our journey to Hausach and gave us free public transport in Strasbourg) we had two hours for lunch and sight seeing.

 I really wish we could avoid rushing around, but the choice was a quick visit or no visit at all and I know which I would rather have. And so armed with a map and some good advice from the lovely lady in the Office de Tourisme we jumped on a tram across the town to the cathedral. As I walked I took photos of everything I saw so I could have a good look later on at my leisure.

We visited the cathedral  after a quick and fairly average lunch in a cafe outside. The exterior is a lacy masterpiece, which from a distance  appears to be made of metal but on closer inspection was a reddish stone. Inside my breath was truly taken away and I was not surprised to hear others give that same little gasp on taking in the lofty gothic nave, which appears even higher as it is painted white. 

The stained glass was truly magnificent and as soon as I could I looked into its history and found that most of the magnificent glass from the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries was stored in a salt mine for the duration of World War II. I can't say I have seen a cathedral that has made quite the same impression on me as this one. It could of course be that fewer tourists gives you a better perspective and you don't miss than the feeling of being driven like cattle that we have experienced elsewhere.

After lighting a candle we visited the astronomical clock and were lucky to see it strike the half hour and saw a few little figures come out in the style of a cuckoo clock. 

The clock told us it was quarter past three, which gave us a false sense of security,  so we head outside intent on buying ice cream and strolling the streets of Petit France. It was actually  quarter to four and so our usual rush rush rush began again.

All we had time to do was race along the canals snapping photos and regretting that we had such a short time here. It would have been too easy to miss the best bits as a walk down the Grand Rue was lovely but nothing compared to the classic black and white buildings along the canals only a block away.

And so we continued our race back to the train station and not surprisingly we were early as usual but only comfortably so, around fifteen minutes before our train was due to leave once we had collected our bags from storage.

And then we were off and as the train arrived at the second station after Strasbourg we had left France for the last time and had arrived in Germany. 

At the very beginning of our planning process, some two years ago now, I had considered renting a home in France for three months and not travelling so extensively. While this idea has its appeal there is so much in France alone that we would have missed which would have been such a shame.

We have come to think of our holiday as a taster, a sampling of the highlights with the hope of one day coming back to get a real taste of our favourite places.

We are looking forward to a relaxed week in the Black Forest, and hopefully we can leave the rush rushing behind us for a while and take a well earned rest.

 

We are sad to be leaving France, probably for the last time on this trip. We have found it to be a wonderful land of contrasts, from dry and dusty to lush and fertile, busy with tourists to the slow pace of the small village, blazing sunshine to pouring rain. Thinking of France I will always be reminded of a nice glass of Rose, delicious salads and a crème brulee as wells as a field of lavender and everywhere sunflowers, corn and a sprinkling of poppies.

 

Returning to the Beginning: Another Five Nights in Paris

 “We must not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we began and to know the place for the first time.” ~ T. S. Eliot

When we walked out of Gare Montparnasse for our returned Paris in July we were immediately reminded of our visit in December. It was not just the lovely familiar buildings, it was the people heavily muffled with scarves and wearing winter coats. In fact it was much wetter in July than it had been in December, but this did not put a dampener on our enthusiasm.

We returned to the same apartment in Saint Germain des Pres we liked so much at Christmas and took time to review our plans for our four days. It was lovely to be able to take this visit very easily as we had already ticked of most of our “to do list” in December.

It looked like the weather was going to be unreliable and so we just got up early the next morning and head for the Eiffel Tower. Arriving fifteen minutes before opening time we were at the very top thirty minutes later. It was a cold blustery day and so we spent most of our time on the Champ du Mars side of the Tower as the Trocadero side was very windy.

Up at the top level we set Emma the task of finding where is the world’s tallest building, using a comparison table shown around the walls above the windows. She took off on her mission and found it was definitely not in Australia, though the Q1 building on the Gold Coast is about the same height as the Eiffel Tower. It was in fact in Dubai and she was very pleased with herself for finding it.

As a reward we head down in the lift to level 2 for hot chocolate, not what we expected in July but lovely never the less. We sat there and discussed our options as we had all day left to do as we pleased. I suggested the Musée d’Orsay, not expecting that anyone would agree but I was pleasantly surprised.

While worrying about the potential queue without having pre-booked tickets we jumped on the RER and where there in minutes. There were maybe twenty people in the queue but after waiting two minutes, already feeling pleased with our luck, a security guard came over and took our family and another with children out of the line and took us in through another door and we walked straight to the ticket seller.

I was feeling like a child in a lolly shop but I was also aware that while I could spend the day, experience has shown that the kids attention span wouldn’t last that long. So after a brief look in a few rooms of the lower gallery we took the escalator up to the Impressionists. I had taken a look at a Rick Steve’s Paris guide in our apartment and it explained very well to a non-artist like myself the technique used by the Impressionists. I explained this to everyone as we rose up the escalator and it was fun to watch them looking really closely at the little dabs of paint and then moving well back for a different perspective. Other people probably thought we were crazy.

Luckily at one end of the gallery is a café, so having seen one half, and Julian was starting to act like he had ants in his pants, we had a nice lunch and were able to see the second half in relative peace. After this we head for the Van Gogh and Gauguin rooms and while we all really enjoyed the Van Gough we decided that the post impressionists were not our cup of tea.

When it was time to leave the kids wanted to have a look around the gift shop. I was surprised and delighted that they both choose to use some of their holiday money to buy some prints of their favourite paintings to put in their rooms. Julian chose Bonnard’s Le Chat blanc and Van Gogh “La Chambre de van Gogh a Arles while Emma chose Degas’s Groupe de danseuses vers 1884-1885.

We then head home for a relaxed afternoon, the kids returned to playing the same game they were playing in this apartment six months earlier and I got to catch up my blog a little (Carcassone and the Dordogne if memory serves me), taking advantage of superfast internet for the first time in weeks.

 All year every time someone mentions Paris the kids have always talked excitedly about the Jardin de Luxembourg and so Rob decided to spend the day morning there with the kids while I had some mum time planned. So I packed up my yoga mat gave the family a kiss goodbye and hopped on the metro over to Gard de Est and after a short walk, with a little help from a local, I found the Shivananda Yoga Centre. Regardless of the fact that the class was all in French the routine is the same and was easy to follow. Mind you I had to stop myself from giggling during the meditation as I had no idea what was being said so I gave up and just relaxed which was absolutely wonderful. As was the delicious vegetarian meal I shared with the others after the class.

It was almost like attending a silent retreat, I spoke to no one and no spoke to me and it was perfectly peaceful. And so feeling completely contented and intent on retaining this feeling as long as possible when I arrived back at Blvd St Germaine and spied Café Louise just around the corner from home I thought it was fate calling and who was I to argue. And so I enjoyed peppermint tea and a delicious crème brulee without having to share and enjoyed just sitting for some time. When I arrived back the kids didn’t recognise their blissed out mother. Now that’s what I call a holiday.

 The following day we had plans to meet our good friend who lives just outside Paris, for a magnificent home cooked meal (you may remember she cooked us an amazing Polish Christmas dinner last year) and a sleep over. We had all morning free first so we decided to attend the International Mass at Notre Dame and then visit the antiques market, Les Puces de Saint-Ouen Market.

On the way to Notre Dame we stopped for a light breakfast at Café Deux Magot, sitting inside to avoid the torrential rain. Sitting in this famed meeting place of early 20^th century writers, hoping that perhaps some literary inspiration might rub off, we enjoyed our baguettes and croissants. We loved out visit to Angelina’s for breakfast in December and learning from that we ordered two petite de jeuner to share that was more than enough. Forgetting from previous experience just how rich hot chocolate in Parisian cafes can be Emma and I struggled with our jug of chocolate that was as thick as mud.

The service at Notre Dame was a real experience, we lined up for some time not knowing that you don’t need to so we got in with ten minuted to spare luckily. The international service is still all in French, except for a couple of lines in English during communion, but we were given a handout that had the readings in English.

So all in all we had no idea what was going on but the music was divine and this really is the way to visit a cathedral, even for a non-catholic, as you feel connected to place and the people who have worshipped here for over 800 years.

Emma wanted to go up for a blessing during communion, as she does with her grandpa when she visits him in Busselton (south west of Western Australia), and she was adamant that she would go by herself. Julian was too busy colouring in his order of service sheet to go with her.

Ever since our visit to Notre Dame Julian has measured time against the length of the service “how long are we on the train today mum?” ”Two lots of church honey”. But he was very good and I think he enjoyed it, but when we joined the throngs walking around to look at the cathedral afterwards he was ready to go.

In retrospect I wish we had stayed and climbed the towers but instead we went to the antiques market at Porte de Clignancourt and this proved to be a mistake. Emma does not like crowds (the metro is another place she does not like) and as soon as we left the metro station we were surrounded by people hawking mobile phones and perfumes and on the way to the antiques there is stall after stall of new clothes and rubbish we are just not interested in looking at and so it proved for us to be a mistake. I have visited before many years ago and have memories of picking up wonderful things, like roman coins, you could never find easily back home, but there was nothing like to be found, at least before the kids had quite enough.

And so we headed off for a visit to our friend, taking the bus as Emma had quite enough of crowds for one day. We had a fabulous dinner and once the kids were in bed we sat up talking until the early hours of the morning which was a delight.

When we woke up the next morning it was Bastille Day and due to our late night we were much slower and less enthusiastic about an early start. We had been planning to visit Versailles for a picnic on Bastille Day since I read about it somewhere some time ago. We were aware that we were missing a big parade in Paris but dressing in white and relaxing by the Grand Canal, with music and food stalls advertised sounded wonderful.

It was a wonderful day but we never found the music or the food stalls and so we were very lucky we brought our own. Hardly anyone was dressed in white, and we have been carrying these white clothes with us all year in anticipation of this day, but it did not matter it was a special day with a special friend.

It was also a perfect final farewell to Paris as we were off the next morning to the Black Forest to relax for six days on a farm. Paris will always hold a special place in all of our hearts and I don’t think it is possible to spend too much time there. As Audrey Hepburn once said "Paris is always a good idea".

 

 

Le Grand Parc Puy Du Fou: Our Kind Of Fun Park

“Once in a while it really hits people that they don’t have to experience the world in the way they have been told to.” – Alan Keightley

I really am very proud of these children. It is asking a lot of kids this age to uproot themselves and travel halfway around the world for an extended period.

While it may sound rather odd considering the odyssey we are undertaking, we really do live very simply. We enjoying seeking out the simple pleasures we seek at home such as parks and we enjoy spending time together.

 So for our planning this means ignoring the usual “what to do with kids” information on tourist bureau websites, as these are full of theme parks and amusements that we are just not that into.

So don’t ask me where I came across the Grand Parc Puy du Fou, an historical theme park in the Vendée region of western France. But once I had read about the wonderful attractions there, and had taken a sneak peek at YouTube, I was hooked on the idea. Everything tied into the basic home school plans I had for France and it was a lovely reward for all of us.

To ensure we had enough time to take it all in without the rush we decided to book accommodation at the Parc. It had been my intention to book a room in the Gallo Roman Villa but once booking opened for this year’s season a new accommodation option became available. 

The Field of the Cloth of Gold was a meeting many centuries ago between King Henry VIII and the French King Francois where they had camped in wonderful tents. This has been recreated in a field behind le Grand Parc and it was such a fun place to stay.

What looks like a tent on the outside is on the inside a lovely Tudor era themed room, with a four poster bed for mum and dad and a separate bedroom for the kids. Even the loo was more like a wooden throne and the kids got a huge kick of the whole experience.

Instead of having thrill rides like your usual theme park Puy du Fou has shows or “spectacles” as they are known. Each based around a different historical theme, generally French in origin. I should probably give a spoilers warning in case this inspires anyone else to visit the park, so consider yourselves warned though I will attempt not to give too much away.

Having two nights accommodation and a two day pass to the park is the only way to make sure you don’t miss anything. There were five main spectacles and then other things to see as you walked between these main shows. Each attraction open thirty minutes before the show started but the queues started much earlier. I am pretty sure that we visited in a quieter period, it was only the first few days of the school holiday and it was midweek.

The first show we watched was called The Vikings, a re-enactment of Viking Longboat raid on a Gallic village. The special effects, the use of animals and magical elements were amazing.

The music was loud and rousing but all in all it was a bit overwhelming for poor Julian. As it was the only show which upset him I imagine it was because it was the first and we hadn’t properly prepared him for the fact this was all make believe, a new concept for him as he doesn’t watch TV.

Needless to say the rest of us loved it and it was probably Rob’s favourite and we would have watched it again the next day but Julian really didn’t want to.

Once the show finished we were carried like fish in a stream to the next show, The Sign of Triumph, set in a full sized reconstruction of a Roman Amphitheatre. The wait for the show to begin is made much more fun by a group of people employed to start chants in the crowd (Gauls versus Romans) and get mexican waves going too.

Set in the time Emperor Diocletian, when there was unrest in Gaul, this amazing show included chariot racing, gladiator battles with plenty of fake blood, real lions and a tiger as well a host of animals from all corners of the empire displayed in a grand parade.

Having looked at Roman in Gaul during our travels everything tied in nicely and we were all wowed by this spectacle. We made sure Julian new it was fake blood and when it looked like the Christians might be eaten by the lions we would speculate on how they might have hidden somewhere and he thought that it was all in fun. Sadly at this point my cameras battery went flat and as we hadn't checked in yet I had nowhere to charge it.

The Puy du Fou Animations Team Getting the Crowd Warmed Up

We next moved on to the Phantom Bird Dance, a bird show that included some one hundred and seventy birds. To follow the shows we had a headset that translated the French commentary into English. We may have been better off without it, especially in this visually splendid show with a terribly corny script.

Sitting high up in the stands the birds, mostly birds of prey, swooped low over our heads. There were all kinds of birds from homing pigeons to owls, bald eagles and buzzards. We watched in wonder at how so many birds, apparently over a hundred in the last scene, can fly freely and return when trained to. After the show finished we were not surprised to see the odd bird still flying freely.

The next show, our last for our first day was the Musketeers of Cardinal Richelieu. The kids decided that this show, with flamenco dancing, sword fighting and general swash buckling, and gorgeous dancing horses was their favourite. Also after spending half a day out in the elements on a rainy day we were grateful that this show was indoor, but sadly this meant no photographs allowed during the show.

And so our first day ended and we had already seen most of the main shows but had more saved for the next day. We enjoyed buffet dinner and basic continental buffet breakfast the next morning before he head back in for day two.

We started off with the last major spectacle, The Secret of the Lance, all while I would find it difficult to choose a favourite this one was pretty amazing.

We forgot our translator headset and had to guess what was going on, which wasn’t too tricky. There was jousting and amazing horse riding stunts and then the donjon was attacked, by the English of course, and I will leave it up to you to guess who was victorious.

After the show we visited the Renaissance Chateau, which you walk through to see various sights such a hall lined with twenty four suits of armour that lower their spears as you walk down their line. There were also beautiful dresses dancing on ceiling and other assorted spooky scenes.

We visited the various minor spectacles, such as scenes from La Fontaine but after such amazing shows the kids found them pretty tame and difficult to understand being in French with no translations.

One so called minor show that we went to watch was really just as spectacular as the main shows, just a little shorter. This one was called The Knights of the Round Table, and while a little scary for Julian, it also included some really amazing magic.

Again it didn’t matter that we had no translator for this show as we watched all the usual Arthurian characters, such as Merlin, the Lady in the lake and Sir Galahad, go through their paces without losing track of the plot.

As there was a show on late at night the kids were given the choice to sleep in the afternoon and watch the show or go to bed after dinner, which would finish at about nine so already a late night. They both swore they would sleep, and much to their credit they did try, staying quietly in bed for an hour but these kids just can’t sleep on in the day time.

And so we head out to watch one more show before dinner and while Rob said “Vikings” the kids said “Musketeers” and the vote carried. So we enjoyed watching it for a second time. Afterward we had just enough time for a couple of rides on the carousel while musical marionettes performed in the shop windows around us.

For dinner that night I had booked a Tudor banquet in a theatre restaurant. We had a seat right at the front and between courses,  we watch the court of King Francois entertainer the English King and his courtiers, all in French of course but still a lot of fun and a great night out.

We enjoyed our dinner and the entertainment very much. The French tried their skills against the English in feats of strength, and even with Rob helping out with a tug of war on the side of the English the French were victorious.

After dinner we walked down to the lake where the night time show, the Organs of Fire, was to start at sundown, around ten fifteen. There is a second night time show, only on the weekend called Cinescene but I did not want to visit on a potentially busy weekend night especially if the kids wouldn’t last the distance.

While Emma managed to stay up for the whole show Julian was fast asleep on the grass at 9.30 and the rest of us sat shivering for another hour to watch the show.

While it was beautiful to watch we had no idea of the story but we did see people zooming around on the top of the water in beautifully lit costumes while water fountains sprayed spectacularly. Again no photos allowed so I can’t share this one but imagine that YouTube could give you a good idea.

The next morning after breakfast, to which we were ten minutes late and they were already clearing the buffet, we were ready to checkout and head for Angers. We had such a great time and would recommend Puy du Fou to everyone, even without children, with an interest in history, or magic, or who simply enjoying a great spectacle.

Angers

And so we were on our way to Paris for a second visit, the kids were very excited and so were we.