Eric’s Uninformed Travel Tips: England Edition

I would never claim to be a royalist…Or even one of those crazy plate-collecting royal family fans.  However, as a semi-educated student of history, I do have some respect for the link that Canada has with our polite, warm beer drinking Atlantic neighbors.  In fact, I would even go so far as to say I am glad we still support the monarchy, even if it is just because it distances us from being, “like America, just colder”.

We are NOT this...

So, for me, I feel that any chance to visit the historical homeland (there are A TON of Atkinsons in England…seriously…A TON) is one that should never be passed up. 

Plus…and this is a big plus…it’s English, which means to me that I get to have a momentary break from the madness that is living everyday in a culture you don’t fully understand (PS. I am talking about French culture here).   Seriously, both Julia and I have commented that when we go to England we immediately notice that things are easier…and it’s not because things run more smoothly, it’s because they run the way we, as Anglo-Saxons, expect them to run.

So let’s get down to business…

Locations visited in April, 2012:  London, Didcot, Oxford and Stonehenge, England.

Dates of trip: April 6-9, 2012

How did we get there: Train/car, about 2hrs to London on the Eurostar @ 200€/person return… (Isn’t European travel grand?) Then 40mins to Didcot (This train was not cheap FYI…I’d say we spent about 60£ each to go and return to London).  Thanks to our friends living in Didcot, we then drove to both Oxford (about 30mins) and Stonehenge (about 1.5hrs).

Where did we stay:  In London we stayed at the Radisson Edwardian Berkshire on Oxford St. which I recommend for the chance to say the name of the hotel in a snooty English accent alone…it cost about 100£/night. It was a really nice hotel in a good part of town.  The only downside is that it’s a bit away from the major tourist destinations. The real fun was where we stayed with some friends in their quaint home in the beautiful town of Didcot…0£/night…can’t beat that price!

I am not going to talk much about our time in London:
1. Because it was very short (we arrived late the night of the 6^th and left in the afternoon on the 7^th for Didcot)
2. Because I went back to London at least 1 other time in 2012 (At time of posting).  I will list 3 of the 100s of reasons to go to London though:

1.     Shopping

2.     Pubs

3.     Shows (Plays/Concerts and Musicals,  not “Coronation Street”)

Plus, its got these guys

 There, that’s all you get till I post about London more extensively in the future…

We arrived in Didcot via British rail and were truly instantly hit by the rural “quaintness” of the whole place.  If you don’t pay attention to ever present traffic and the odd development here and there you can almost feel like you’ve gone back in time. 

Small streets are lined with red brick homes that are all a bit mossy and stained with age…and there’s almost always a view of some sheep field off in the distance…really, amazing to see. As I mentioned, we were staying with friends, and their home did not disappoint, it fit into this mold quite perfectly. 

While we were staying in Didcot, our major preoccupations were with preparing a North American style Thanksgiving dinner and sharing it with Sarah and Chris (the aforementioned friends) and Chris’s mother (a small town Newfie) and father (a retired RAF serviceman).  We did however get out and explore a bit…here are what I consider my 3 highlights.

1.  The Didcot Railway museum:  Really something!  It had several working antique trains that you could ride in and was a filming location for Sherlock Holmes 2.

2.  The adjacent village of East Hagbourne: Beautiful little village with thatched roof homes galore…Still no word on West Hagbourne…

3.  The Bear at Home: One of my favorite travel experiences to date…We are driving at night down a lonely road, completely in the dark…and then we come upon 1 solitary light over a doorway…we walk through and it’s just the coziest little pub in the world with great food and beer…amazing!

On April 8 we decided to take a road trip to visit the nearby city of Oxford.  Now in most cases, people would at this point say, “no, not that Oxford”, however in this case, yes, it was “that” Oxford.  We were both honestly blown away simply by the size and grandeur of the old colleges.  The most impressive one was definitely Christchurch, which, if you are a Harry Potter fan you will also recognize as the yard where Harry learns how to fly his broom in the first movie.

Other than that I would say that the real charm in Oxford is simply to be there and soak in all that history and knowledge…it really makes you feel like you are in a place that has played an important role in history.

I have an idea! wait...no...it's gone...

 Finally, on our last day in England we decided to take a trip to visit a place I have always wanted to see since my days of listening to Spinal Tap…Stonehenge.  It turned out to be an incredibly rainy day that day, which initially I thought would be a negative.  However, in hindsight, I think that it added to Stonehenge and the experience in general that the weather was, let’s just say…”moody”.  Every story I have ever heard about the place was that it’s stormy and cold and wet etc. etc. and honestly, as a traveler, you have to roll with the punches when the weather is bad…and we did. 

I really enjoyed myself…it’s literally a circle of rocks in a field in the middle of nowhere…but it’s definitely interesting to see. The only downside is that you have to book well ahead and get approval on the official website if you want to enter the actual ring. We had not planned anywhere near that far in advance, so we only got to do the outside loop…still, neat-o!  PS…bring a rain jacket…umbrellas don’t work…

My Favorite Things: I thought I would start this at the end of my trip blog posts.  In this section I will just name my 5 favorite parts of the trip I have just written about.

1.  Monster Munch: Have never seen these “crisps” outside England, but they are seriously addictive.

2.  Easter Dinner: Having a traditional Easter dinner (With a Turkey) is so North American…I loved it!

3.  Pubs: In particular, I will never forget going to “The Bear at Home”, lovely pub, great food; atmosphere was like something out of a novel.

4.  Wandering the streets in Oxford: I almost felt smarter just being there…you really get the sense that it oozes greatness.

5.  A visit to Stonehenge as it was meant to be:  Rainy, windy, cold…kind-of “end of the world,” “hellish” like weather.

London: (I’ve decided I’ll rank London in this post so I can be lazy on future posts…)

Affordability: 4/10, London is not cheap and that exchange rate is a bitch…

Entertainment: 15/10, seriously…I don’t know how long it would take you to run out of things to do there, but I would be happy to try and find out.

Ease of travel: 8/10, The Eurostar is fast and easy…unfortunately, it’s not cheap…

Overall: *10/10, I thought it would be unfair to go above 10 here…but honestly…If I was told I could only ever return to one place I have visited…this would be my choice.

Didcot:

Affordability: 8/10, the £ is still the £, but rural anything tends to be cheaper.

Entertainment: 6/10, not a lot going on, but there is charm for days in this little town.

Ease of travel: 5/10, you’re going to want a car…

Overall: 6/10, I think our experience was unique because of the friends we had there, but still, the experience of rural England is a must do/see, just not necessarily in Didcot.

Oxford:

Affordability: 6.5/10, Things are a bit upscale here…but it is still a student town.

Entertainment: 7/10, I would say it is good for a weekend, but beyond that I think the snootyness of it may get to you.

Ease of travel: 6/10, would be a better ranking if it wasn’t for the cost of those trains…

Overall: 7/10, I loved the experience, but I think you really have to respect the historical and educational significance of the place to enjoy it…if you don’t care for that sort of thing you won’t miss out on much that you can’t find elsewhere.

Stonehenge:

Affordability: 8/10, still England, but not as much of a cash grab as I thought it would be.

Entertainment: 7/10, It will keep you entertained for 2 hours…no more.

Ease of travel: 4/10, If you don’t have a car, your other option is a bus tour…period.

Overall: *6/10, the star is because I think it is a must see destination…however, once you have seen it…that’s it.

Picture this + rain, wind and cold...oh, and sheep too

There you have it Kids!  Next month will be my first two entry month…1^st up Spain…

Eric’s Uninformed Travel Tips: Netherlands Edition

I debated calling this one Netherlands Edition or Amsterdam Edition, and splitting this post into several smaller posts with Amsterdam, The Hague, and rural Netherlands, however laziness ultimately ruled the day (It always does!) and I decided to cram everything into one post.  It may not be as comprehensive, but dammit…I don’t care!  It’s summer and I am lazy…I will however point out right at the outset that these three locations are very different, and if you only go to one, don’t assume that you have seen Netherlands, it is worth going to these other locations as well.

Houses and Canals, a staple of dutch cities

 I should also point out that after research I have found that although 99% of the world’s English speaking population says “The Netherlands” it is actually just “Netherlands”.  In fact, according to the BBC, CIA Factbook, and US department of state (that’s right, I actually did research…http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18233844, Bam!), only two countries officially have “The” in their names…The Bahamas and The Ghana…while “The Netherlands” is officially, Kingdom of the Netherlands…whoda thunk it?  I should also point out that Netherlands is strictly the English name of the country as in Dutch it is Nederlands and in French it’s Pays-Bas…all of these meaning “Low country” in their respective tongues.  To add to this confusion, the city of The Hague (this one does officially have a “The”) is also different, as in Dutch it is Den Haag and in French it is La Haye.  I have decided I will use all these names interchanging throughout the article just to keep people on their toes…ha!

Locations visited in March, 2012:  Den Haag, Amsterdam, Zaanse Schans, Volendam, and Edam, Nederlands.

Dates of trip: March 10-13, 2012

How did we get there: Train, about 2hrs to Rotterdam then a change and 30mins to La Haye.  The Hague to Amsterdam was then 45mins by train, and then we took a bus tour to the small villages…the trains were about 300/person when you factor in all the smaller legs and the bus tour was about 35 Euro/person.

Where did we stay:  In The Hague we stayed at a Novotel in the center of town and it was about 100/night, but then in Amsterdam we stayed at an Ibis (which is a discount hotel), right over the train station for only about 85 Euro/night…In my experience, this is by far the cheapest hotel in Amsterdam that is not spelled with an “s” between the o and t, and in fact it was pretty nice, I would recommend it.

This trip was actually taken with my parents who were visiting us in Europe for the first time and it was their choice to do Pays-Bas.  Julia had to get back for work and so, she only joined us for the part in La Haye and returned afterward to Paris while my parents and I went on to Amsterdam.

Our first impressions of Den Haag were not that great, but we have learned in doing a lot of train travel that you should never judge a place based on what you see from the train as 90% of the time, the worst part of town is the part near the railway.  And the same rang true here; once we got into the center of town it was actually very nice.

La Haye was split into what I saw as 4 distinct parts:

1.      The downtown area (Old town, if you will), which is where a lot of the shopping, hotels (including ours), and restaurants are.

2.     The park areas:  which are where…well…the parks are.

3.     The residential/international area:  This was cool, if you are not aware, the Hague is the home of the world court…and so, pretty much every nation that has regular dealings with the world court (let’s just say the…not so nice nations) have consulates around there and they are all in this really nice part of town with canals and great streets…very nice digs these horrible 3^rd world dictatorships have…very nice.

4.     The beach: Huge, huge beach…really impressive…it is also lined with casinos, restaurants, and amusement rides…really, I wish we were there when it was even remotely warm because it could have been very fun.

Just chillin' at the Lebanese embassy

In general, each part had its own charms; however, they were relatively separated, to the point where it was quite a hike (about 45min-1hr) to get from the downtown to the beach.  Once we figured out the transit system life was a bit easier, but this was limiting at first. 

Being that I am not a huge, beach or park person, I must admit that these parts were not the most interesting to me…although the amount of distractions (casinos, aquariums…other crazy stuff) at the beach could keep me entertained.  Also, in the downtown there were not the regular wealth of old buildings etc. that there are in most European cities…and so, I found that the part of town that most interested me, was the part centered around the world court…I had fun seeing the consulates homes and walking the canals…but ultimately, more than a few hours of this and I would be bored.

After two days we were ready to leave La Haye, so we caught the local train from Den Haag to Amsterdam…the trains ran every 20 minutes and were much like the Go Train in Toronto…the trip between the two cities was only about 45 minutes in total.  The system was really super easy to use and I highly recommend dutch train travel.

I am not going to go into every detail on Amsterdam, so instead I will go through some of my favorite experiences there in my two trips so far:

1.     Boat cruise on the canals: These are great, cheap, and leave constantly from just outside the train station…highly recommended.

2.     Anne Franck House:  The lineups can be long (we waited about 45mins) but the payoff is one of my favorite museums in Europe and a truly moving experience.  I honestly think people should have to see this…it is a part of history we should never forget, lest we repeat it.

Really moving

3.     Houseboat museum:  This tiny privately run museum is on Prinsengraacht St. (in a boat) and is still the only houseboat I have ever been in, and for that reason it’s a must-do…plus it was 2 Euros.

4.     Red Light District: What to say here…?  Hmmm….?  Well, let me just say this…you need to see it.  It is unique, fun, weird, a little gross, and at the same time infinitely entertaining…also, there are some great bars in this region if you are not interested in the weed and/or prostitutes.

5.     Shopping:  Holy crap the shopping…for my money, it’s better than Paris, but not as good as London.

6.     FEBO:  Greatest invention in fast food since the burrito.

7.     So very many more things:  Seriously…go there.

So, eventually we did have to venture forth into the world outside the cities and we decided to do this as part of a bus tour leaving from Amsterdam.  You can book the tours on any travel site, the one we did was called: “Windmills, Edam and Volendam”.  I will just say a few brief things about each of the three main stops.

Zaanse Schans: This is really just a historic recreation village outside of another town.  The main highlights were a wooden shoe maker, a cheese maker, and 3 of the last remaining working windmills.  It was a more museum-y experience, but worth it for the opportunity to see these 3 different industries up close.

Edam:  The sleepy town of Edam didn’t have much going on when we were there, and we only really did a quick walking tour to the center of town then left.  It was a beautiful place though, and what it lacked in any form of entertainment, it made up for in charm.

Volendam:  Finally, we visited the port town of Volendam.  This was my favorite stop for several reasons…1.  There were actually bars, restaurants, and other things to entertain me.  2. It reminded me of towns in the south of NS… 3. It was a great opportunity to see the famous dikes in action…really impressive.

Finally, when we returned from our bus tour we spent one final night in Amsterdam and then returned to the big smoke (that'd be Paris for those not following along).  Overall, a very good trip.

For the rankings, I am actually going to split these locations up into 3, Den Haag, Amsterdam, and rural Netherlands.

The Hague:

Affordability: 7/10 (it was March, keep that in mind)

Entertainment: 7/10 for a beach holiday, for everything else...5/10…seems like a great place to live…not the most interesting place to visit though.

Ease of travel: 7/10, there is no direct train, but once you get in Nederlands, the train system is amazing and pretty easy to use.

Overall: 6/10, In March the beach scene was not too great…perhaps if we had gone in summer this could have been a 7 or even an 8.

Amsterdam:

Affordability: 5/10, getting around and eating are not expensive…but hotels are ridiculous…

Entertainment: 10/10, there is really something for everyone in Amsterdam…it’s not just hookers, clubs, and pot…although it is that as well.

Ease of travel: 9/10 2.5hr direct train from Paris Gare du Nord.

Overall: 9/10, I only marked this down from a 10/10 because the party scene is not for everyone, and although there is a lot to keep you entertained outside of that scene, it is impossible to completely escape it.

Rural Pays-Bas:

Affordability: 8/10 I can’t say anything about lodging as we didn’t stay there, but as usual, once you get to the country things are cheaper.

Entertainment: 8/10 if you have wheels. 5/10 if you don’t…this is always the problem with travelling in the country.

Ease of travel: 4/10…you better have a car or be on a tour.

Overall: 8/10, you just don’t get to see the stereotypical Dutch things (windmills, tulips, dikes etc.) in the cities and so you need to get into the country.

Got wood?

And for the whole trip: 8/10, the weather was a bit iffy, and it was not a good time of year to visit The Hague, but other than that it was a really fun trip.

Interesting Non-Facts about the Mars Rover

It was recently brought to my attention that with the landing of the new rover on Mars, space exploration may once again be...well...let's just call it "not as lame as it has been the last few years".  So, being that I am not at all interested in space, I thought I would break from the norm on my blog to take this moment and point out some "Interesting Non-Facts" about the images recently sent back by the Mars Rover. 

All of the images are captured from this site...isn't technology cool:

http://www.panoramas.dk/mars/greeley-haven.html

1. Apparently NASA is run by a group of teenage boys...as referenced by the doughnuts they did while pulling into this parking spot to set up the camera...Very James Bond-esque NASA...touchee.

This is the martian version of a 7/11 parking lot apparently

2.  The invasion begins now! 

We are not alone...

You saw it here first...We all know what this leads to...That's right, sexy Canadian starship commanders with interesting speech patterns going fist to fist with the damn dirty reptilian devils...I knew it! 

Hopefully there are some Tribbles in there somewhere...

3.  Either someone at NASA forgot to remove their dinner plate or hollywood has been selling it straight and there is a Transformer hiding under this blocked part of the image...

Alright someone bring out the slo-mo shot of Megan Fox's butt.

Well, there you go, that should keep you conspriacy theorists busy for a while.  This was a interesting diversion...:)

Eric's Uninformed Travel Tips: Brussels Edition

It's another rainy day in Paris...I know, I am a bit let down too...Seriously, where is all this "Wonderful European Summer" that I always heard about...?  So, I have decided to prove to the world that Eric Wayne Alowishus Atkinson is, "a man of commitment!"...Yeah, I actually laughed there too...OK, how about that I, "am a man who can commit to writing more than one blog post every 6 months!"...yeah, that works...So here goes.

Oh, before we get started, shameless plug time!  Go check out my photo blog for some pics from our trip to Brussels...(ericinparis2011pics.blogspot.com)

Location(s) visited in February, 2012: Brussels, Belgium

If Juls had a beer, this pic would sum up all I knew about Brussels before February

Dates of Trip: February 25-26, 2012.
How did we get there: Train, about 1.25hrs from Paris tickets about 80 Euros each return.
Where did we stay: The Royal Windsor Hotel, Grande Place...Great hotel and great location, highly recommended...80 Euro/night.

So let's recount, shall we...

This trip happened to fall right around that joyous time of year known as bonus time in Total circles, so we (myself, Julia and 3 work friends), decided that we needed to celebrate in style...we didn't know what style...but a style anyway.

We only had a normal 2 day weekend, and decided to head to Brussels early morning Saturday and come back Sunday night.  The beauty of Paris, and Europe in general, is that a trip like this is a possibility...although in hindsight, I would have preferred to go up on Friday night instead of Saturday morning.  I always find on trips like this it's nice to get the travel out of the way on Friday so that you can really enjoy all day Saturday.  Not that smelly train stations and confusing cab rides aren't fun but...well...you get the picture.

When we arrived we really didn't know anything about Brussels other than, "There's a big square that's nice"(Courtesy of Julia), "Awesome chocolate"(I believe this one was Andrea), and "Beer's good"(I'll take ownership of that one).  So the first thing we did was head to the aforementioned square to see what we could find.  I must say that the "grande place" is indeed very nice and probably one of the nicest squares I have been in in Europe.

Really, pretty cool...

It also has the added bonus of being right in the middle of everything...In fact, within a 3-5 block diameter around the grande place you can find:

1. The official Tintin store!  Awesome!  So Exciting! ...Sorry, I got a little carried away there...Yes, in case you didn't know, Tintin is Belgian, originally written and published right in Brussels.  They have a comic museum there as well, but we didn't go.  Also, here's an interesting fact...in French, his dog's name is Milou, not Snowy...the more you know ;)
2. Mannequin Pis: This is exactly what you think it may be...a mannequin (a statue of a boy actually), "pis"sing (see my photo blog for a pic ericinparis2011pics.blogspot.com)...It apparently is the most visited thing in Brussels.  Why...I do not know.  To make it even funnier; the female version (Jannequin Pis, photo on bottom) is almost abandoned.  No tourists at all.  Again...why?...You've got me...
3.  The chocolate museum: 'Nuff said...Actually, I will say one other thing.  Try Java chocolate (Chocolate from Java, not java (slang for coffee) flavored chocolate), it was all of our favorite type by far...really good.
3.  Umpteen other chocolate stores, cafe's restaurants etc...Sooooo much chocolate.
4.  Many, many, awesome bars:  The selection of beer is huge, strong and very well developed.  They will ask you more than the typical Canadian bartender will.  They will often ask what you are eating (if you are), what you prefer (don't say beer), and how strong you want it to be (PS...strong is 18% alcohol...it'll put you on your ass).  They also go very far to ensure that the glass the beer is served in is made to optimize the experience...I had a few there that were served in beaker style glasses complete with a wooden beaker holder...awesome!

Needless to say, we found it pretty easy to entertain ourselves within a pretty tight perimeter to this central location.  Oh, and I should also mention that there were plenty of shopping arcades and the like for all your shopping desires.

The one thing that did lure us outside of this central area during our short trip were the EU offices.  Like Luxembourg, Brussels is also a head of administration for the EU.  We made the walk to this side of town on Sunday to check out the offices and were actually quite impressed.  The Parlimentarium museum was particularly impressive, and to this day, remains one of my favorite museums in Europe.

So after all the beer, chocolate, fries, waffles, museums, peeing statues, and comic reporters, how does it rate?

Affordability: Winter 8/10 (Can't beat off-season prices, I can't comment on the cost in high season though...)
Entertainment: 7/10 for shopping, restaurants and bars but for typical European tourist sights...5/10...I recommend no more than a weekend.
Ease of travel: 9/10 short, direct train from Paris, Gare du nord

Overall: 7/10, For the beer, chocolate, fries and waffles...If those don't interest you...5/10.

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Eric's Uninformed Travel Tips: Luxembourg Edition

Well, it's hot as hell in Paris today...I'm a bit hungover, and in short, I find myself dragging my heels this morning to get out and face the day...a perfect blogging scenario.

In case you didn't check the date stamp on this post, it is currently July (almost August) yet my plan is to write about a trip we went on in January...This is partially because I actually hope that to some level people are actually interested in my writing...but mostly it is because if I don't write my thoughts down I am 99% sure I will have completely forgotten the trips we have taken in 2-3 years.

For those of you (I hope there are enough of you to qualify as "those" and not just "you") who have been following my recent posts on my photo blog (2 of them!), you will know that I have started documenting our travels this year.  1 part takes place on the aforementioned Photo Blog (ericinparis2011pics.blogspot.com) and the other takes place here in the form of "Eric's Uninformed Travel Tips".  So prepare to be dazzled and amazed...or at least mildly entertained and slightly caught off guard...

First a few points on where we went in January 2012. I should note that all info is based on travel from Paris, France, as will be all info I give in the future too...It's where I live...

January trip(s) : Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

Luxembourg, The city that thought this statue was a good idea...

Dates of Trip: January 27-29, 2012.
How did we get there: Train, about 2.5hrs from Paris tickets about 120 Euros each return.
Where did we stay: Hotel Novotel...this was actually normally an expensive place but we got a really good deal...75 Euro/night.

For those that don't know anything about Luxembourg...for shame!  But don't worry, I will try to explain some of the highlights.

Luxembourg City is the capital and really, the only city in Luxembourg, a duchy located north east of Paris and crammed between Belgium, France and Germany.  I would say that culturally they lean more toward the French side of things than the German though, and certainly the primary language we heard and used there was French.  Although officially their languages are French, German and Luxembourgish (yeah...I was surprised too).

Luxembourg is also one of the three cities that host the administrative arms of the EU (Can you guess the other two?).

And finally, Luxembourg City is known for its interesting geography.  The entire city is actually built on a canyon with some parts on both the upper and lower levels.  This made for some incredible views from the upper levels along the canyons.

Our personal experience was that Luxembourg was beautiful, if not a bit sleepy.  However, we did visit in January, and I suspect that if we were there in tourism season there would have been quite a few more people.  Being there at off times did permit us a very cool experience however, as it often felt like we had the whole town to ourselves...to the point where we went to visit a historic fort and found it closed and unattended...So being the fine upstanding tourists that we are, we simply climbed over the unattended castle for several hours and were never bothered by a soul.  This is still one of the most unique travel experiences I have had as usually any tourist attraction is an anthill of tourists at all times.

We were not supposed to be here

 The city center, which was located on a plateau, housed the ducal palace and many great restaurants, while the areas on the outside rim around the canyon had most of the shopping (this is also where our hotel, and the train station were), finally the base of the canyon (called Grund) was the location of most of the bars...although I must admit we didn't really sample the nightlife (Juls and I were both actually sick as dogs during this trip). We have since heard that the nightlife in Luxembourg City is supposed to be pretty great, so maybe we will have to return to see for ourselves.

People in the city were fairly nice however not the warm niceness we as Canadians take for granted...overall I would rate them on a 6-6.5/10 on the nice-o-meter.  In terms of language, unless you can speak Luxembourgish, I would suggest reviewing your French or German...People did usually have some English knowledge, but like in France, they are more accommodating if you speak in French (even if its bad French).

We found the hop-on-hop-off buses quite useful as the local transit options were pretty limited.  Although, in truth, given an hour you could walk from one end of the city to the other as it is not very big...

We found our time in Luxembourg City to be entertaining, however overall we both commented that we felt a trip any longer than a few days would have been too much, and felt satisfied with the time we allotted to the trip.  If you were going to get out into the countryside however, I think you could extend your stay as it has some beautiful, wooded, high country vistas that would be worth exploring.

So, how does it rate?

Affordability: Summer 3/10 (we have been told it's quite expensive in summer), Winter 7/10 (great deals to be had!)
Entertainment: 5/10 good for only 2-3 days
Ease of travel: 8/10 direct train from Paris, Gare du nord

Overall: 5/10, not a must see, but if you have an extended trip it may be worth a stopover...if only to see the penis fort!

Tee hee!

Notes And Experiences: France Part 1

Juls and I were talking the other day and thought that we should put some "real" information somewhere on the places we've been and what we thought of them.  So here goes, this isn't an exhaustive list but I'll start with 5 cities in France we have visited and my thoughts.  For all my rankings I am assuming Paris as the starting point for trips to these cities. Rankings are all out of 10 with higher rankings always being more positive (that means I high rank in the cheap category means it costs less).

TOULOUSE

 

Known For: 

1. One of France's best rugby teams
2. Large Student population
3. Great Spanish influenced nightlife
4. The Canal de Midi
5. Cassoulet and Duck

The real draw of Toulouse is the laid back attitude and the beautiful scenery.  My favorite part of the city was getting out for bike rides along the canal in the evenings.  If one were so inclined it is apparently possible to start in Bordeaux and go all the way through to Marseilles.  There also is a great nighlife brought about by the large student population.  The other thing that large student population means is that Toulouse is probably the most "English Friendly" of the French cities I've been to.  I was there in August and the city was pretty much deserted, which I actually found relaxing and may be a good idea, if you can take the 35+ degree average in August.

Getting there: 6/10...5.5hr train
Cost: 7/10
Entertainment: 8/10
Sights: 5/10
Should I go?: For a slower pace and some beautiful country 8/10

BORDEAUX

Known for:

1. Wine, wine and more wine
2. Great food...and wine
3. You get the point

I really did love Bordeaux, but it is all about the wine there so if you are not interested in that I suggest you pick another location.  If you do love wine though, I suggest you look into the day trips to the different wine regions, they are reasonably priced and if you talk to your tour guide you can arrange special trips if you have a specific winery in mind.  It was on one of these trips that I had one of most memorable experiences in France in the Couvent Des Jacobins winery.

Getting there: 8/10, 3hr direct train
Cost: 6/10
Entertainment: 8/10
Sights: 7.5/10

Should I go?: If you're a wine-o 10/10, otherwise 6/10

MONACO

Known for:

1. Most millionaires per capita in the world
2. Being on the Mediterranean
3. The Grand Prix
4. Casino Monte Carlo
5. Nightlife

There are only two words to sum up Monaco, the first is beautiful, and the second is expensive.  And it is every bit as much the second as it is the first and vise versa.  That being said, just for the car and people watching alone I would rank it high on my must do list.  Beyond that, if you are willing to shell out about 15E a drink, the nightlife is amazing!  Oh, and there are also castles, museums, mountains and beaches all within a 3 km radius.

Getting there: 4/10...I flew, but the train is a possibility...if you have 7-8hrs to spare.
Cost: 3/10
Entertainment: 10/10
Sights: 10/10

Should I go?: Must do if you can afford it 10/10

STRASBOURG

Known For:

1. Christmas Markets
2. The Sound Of Music
3. German cuisine in France
4. Beer Halls!
5. Seat of several important EU committees

 I knew very little about Strasbourg before I went there, and the little I did know was from Juls repeatedly telling me its where the Von Trap Family Singers perform in "The Sound Of Music".  I loved it instantly though, I have yet to visit Germany, but as it is right on the border it is easy to see the influences everywhere.  It's really a little bit of Germany in France and it's especially evident with their Christmas markets in December.  If you are going to be in Europe in the month of Christmas, it bears visiting.

Getting there: 9/10 2hr train
Cost: 8/10
Entertainment: 8/10 in December, 6/10 otherwise
Sights: 7/10

Should I go?:In December 10/10, otherwise 6/10

PARIS (of course I had to put it in)

Known For:

1. Great Food
2. The Eiffel Tower
3. The Louvre
4. The Champs Elysse
5. Many Many other things

 I couldn't very well write about the cities I have been to in France without mentioning the one I've been living in.  Paris is, well...Paris.  It is all the things you think it will be and a few more that will surprise you positively and negatively.  There is enough here that I have been here 9 months now and still haven't even been to all the major attractions.  There is tons of nightlife, food, shopping, history, parks...and pretty much anything else you can imagine.  Be aware that the Paris attitude does exist though, and while the other cities on this list have a more quaint charm, Paris has no delusions of this...it knows what it is, and it doesn't sugar coat it.

Getting there: 10/10 (again I'm assuming you are already in Paris)
Cost: 5/10
Entertainment: 10/10
Sights: 10/10

Should I go?:Of course...it's Paris 10/10

Lazyness Is A State Of Being

Well, it's been a long time since I last entered anything in these blogs and I honestly actually feel a little bad about that...not too bad, let's not get carried away...just a little.  I do feel that its time for me to get back up on that wagon though...that's right, I'm going to start drinking in the afternoon again!  No wait, that's not it...right, I'll just write in my blog then I guess.

So where to start, I feel like I should be consistent with my mission statement..although I think that my mission statement is a bit of a sham when I average 1 story per 5 months...but let's not be picky.  Instead of just recapping what I have done over these past few months, I feel like I want to list some lessons I have learned.  So let's go...

1.  You can see the Eiffel Tower too many times:  Trust me...it happens...

2.  When separated from North American TV for long enough you start to lose touch with current entertainment news.  You can detect this when you only know popular films by their French titles.  "You mean the Hangover isn't called Very Bad Trip?"

3.  Europeans are fitter than us because they walk everywhere!  Seriously, I have lost 15 pounds and I am not even trying.  North Americans really are just fat and lazy...sad but true.

4.  You can learn to speak a language pretty well after a year of trying to survive while immersed in it...you also learn the language of blank, "I have no idea what to say" stares.

5.  You have to have balls the size of coconuts to want to drive in Paris...no joke...coconuts.

6.  Scotch to a European is just called whiskey, why we feel the need to take it further than that I don't know.

7.  Apparently the only country that doesn't deep fry all their Chinese food is China.

8.  Go to England for fish and chips, meat pies and roast dinner.

9.  Go to France for duck, wine and cheese.

10.  Go to Belgium for waffles, beer and fries.

11.  Go to Amsterdam for weed.

12.  Do all of this in order for one Hell of a weekend.

13.  To any European who isn't aware of why your economy is in the crapper...I worked a total of 1 week before Christmas 2011 and was told by the employment office that I should apply for unemployment!  Seriously, I: 1. Am not French, 2. Had only worked 1 week in this country, and 3. didn't even ask about unemployment.  She practically begged me to apply...wow.

14.  The Dutch win the title of the nicest people on Earth...Canadians are up there still, but we have nothing on the Dutch...even the ones who don't smoke weed.

15.  The Germans do Christmas right, they really have their Christmas shit together.

16.  Speaking of the Germans...Beer halls!  End of story.

17.  France is a beautiful country from top to bottom and deserves to be seen and enjoyed.

18.  The Viking countries (Norway/Sweden/Finland) speak the best English of anyone I've heard over here, most of the time you can't even hear an accent.

19.  I have to award the hardest names to pronounce to the Russians...some of them have like 6 consonants and only 1 vowel!

And finally,

20.  No matter where you live, there really is no place like home...

Bonne Annee and I will write again...in 5 months if my streak continues.