Category Archives: France2009

France 2009 Travel

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

In 2009, I have travelled extensively. For 2 1/2 month, I studied Spanish in Spain. During that time, I also visited Morocco. After coming home, we (my parents, brother, I, and our dog) had a big road-trip and visited several western states. Along the way, we visited New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, as Wyoming. Although YellowStone N.P. was quite famous, as for me, the Garden of Gods in Boulder and Vail, Colorado, and the Arch National Park were the top scenic locations. Then, I decided to refresh my French knowledge. Where else to learn a language than physically present in that country. It was October and November, I studied French in Bordeaux and Nice. Right after my course, my parents came to visit France. Together, we rented a car and visited Mont St. Michel and castles in the Loire Valley. Yes, having some rudimentary French really helped us during the travel, e.g. booking hotels, ordering meals in the restaurant, … And, it definitely aided me in understanding the French history and culture.

With Christmas coming soon, I decided to pull my photos together and create a greeting card for my friends. So, here it is. There are 2 versions. One with my western-state trip. And, the one does not.

Everything goes in Amsterdam

I had a lay-over in Amsterdam on my way back home. I decided to take advantage of this situation and ventured into the city.

Three things makes Amsterdam world famous – Van Gogh, Coffee house, and lastly the Red-Light District. My hotel was near the airport. After taking the train to the central railway station in Amsterdam, I walked to see the Van Gogh museum, which is 30 minutes away on foot. Before seeing Van Gogh’s exhibits, I did not know if it was hype, like Picasso, or not. But, after seeing the exhibition, I was impressed by this mad-genius, who cut-off his own ears and committed suicide by shooting himself in the heart. Nowadays, it is easy for us to say what is abstract or modern art. However, it took a genius to define the style of Van Gogh. His approach was quite unique and original. He rarely mixed paints on the color-palate. Instead, he dabbed the canvas with the raw pigments and using contrasts between the colors to create image and depth. This was truly pioneering, especially the art-scene of Paris was busily occupied with painting bourgeoisie ladies. Monet ounce said that he was heavily influenced by Japanese art. However, he never visited Japan. I guess that he must have been influenced by the impression of Japan rather seeing it with his own eyes.

Amsterdam has many Coffee House. But, it does not sell Starbuck Coffee. Rather, they sell Marijuana and other narcotic drugs. To return to the train station, I also crossed the flower market. The street of Amsterdam is filled with bicycles.

The Red-Light District is worldly-renown. The Dutch has turn it into a prosperous industry. There are over 900 legal prostitutes in Amsterdam. Walking down the canal, the tourist can window-shop the goods, who are dressed in lingerers and occasionally throw an enticing look and even open doors to strike-up a conversation with pass-byer. According to the tourist magazine, the red-light district is one of the safest neighborhoods in the city with low crime. And, the surrounding streets even have many day-care centers. Live Sex show is also a popular attraction over there, where you can see couples engaged the real actions, and old lades teasing audience with banana show and funny S&M. While next door to the sex-shop, you can enjoy a nice meal, ranging from Donerkebab, to Sandwich, to Peking Duck, and to the Amstel beer, I did not feel hunger. Instead, I returned to the airport and had a microwaved Indian dish for dinner.

An afternoon in Paris

After returning the rental car @ Avis, we ventured into Paris via public transport. Paris is an expensive city. The round trip train ticket + metro in the city cost 28 Euro per person, $42. But, it was well worth it.

Most museums are closed in Paris, because all museum workers are en grève (on strike), protesting the government plan to reduce museum employees through attrition. Therefore, the Louvre, the Versaille, the Orsay museum were all closed on Friday.

Fortunately, the Napoleons’ tomb & National Veteran/Army Musuem (l’hotel des invalides) was still open. After 4 p.m. the admission is at reduced rate of 4.5 euro vs. 6.5 euros. The tomb of Napoleon is in the cathedral. He is buried in a gigantic mabel coffin. The WWI and WWII museum is also quite interesting. It shows the French perspective on the 2 world wars. Because the museum was huge, I did not get to visit the other sections, e.g. armor, medieval chivalry, … In the central court of the museum, there are over 100 bronze canons from various times of the past.

Paris by night is a truly magical experience. Les Champs-Élysées is the street of light. Trees alone the avenue are all dressed in lights. And, the christmas market runs along both side of the avenue, with vendors selling from sweets & food, toys & souvenirs, glass & artworks, …

We had planned to see a show in Paris, e.g. Moulin Rouge or Lido. However, all the shows were sold out.

Also, before arriving in Paris, we visited the village of Giverny, which is the home of the famous impressionist painter – Monet.

Chartres

Today, we are on our way back to Paris after visiting the Loire Valley. We made a stop at Chartres and visited the famous Chartres Cathedral, which dates back to the middle ages. The construction of the Chartres Cathedral started in the 12th century and is now over 800+ years old.

According to description (written in French), the cathedral is called the Royal Cathedral of Chartres. This is not because that the French kings supervised the construction; rather, it was to honor the king-of-all-kings and the virgin Mary.

Azay-le-Rideau, Langeis, Chinon

Today, I visited Azay-le-Rideau, Langeis, Chinon. Those chateaus and fortresses are located on the west side of Loire Valley. Those buildings are from an earlier era of the French history. It was here, in Fortress Chinon, Joan of Arc in 1429, proclaimed Charles VII, as the legitimate leader of France and predicted the eventual unification of France and independence from the English rule.