Honest Omissions - looking beyond the gay-eye: Paris

Showing posts with label Paris. Show all posts

Thursday, 6 February 2014

Booze cruise to Calais

It's becoming an annual tradition, the three men jump in the back of a van heading south to escape, Dover is where it starts. It's the crossing to France, the country that will return us our liberties; for Grandad, Dad and I it's the time of year we stock up on booze!

Late November/Early December we make our way to Calais for no other reason than cheap wine. From London the journey is quick, 1 hour on the M20, 30 Minutes on the Eurostar and within 15 minutes we're at one of the largest supermarkets in Europe Carre Four, all for a tiny £23 for a car plus petrol.

The journey is so quick that the day then needs to be spent wisely, follow this itinerary and you won't go wrong:

7am: depart from Dover

8am: arrive at Carre Four

8.10am: enjoy a French breakfast: baguette, croissant and coffee

8.45am: shopping time

10.45am: coffee break

11am: head to specialist wine shops

1pm: lunch (baguette and wine)

1.30pm: walk around Calais town

3pm: coffee time

4pm: final wine store/duty free at Eurostar

5pm: return to Dover

7pm: home

This is a very easy days shopping trip and the savings that can be made are immense, especially when selecting wine, spirits and cheeses (cheese can be frozen without a problem).

I spend most my money in Carre Four, it has the best deal and everything in one place. I'm fact there are about 6-7 aisles with booze, imam always amazed and the special offers are usually immense. I have found prices to be 20-50% cheaper than London Upermarlts, so I definitely feel it's more than worth the trip.

In the last trip I spent €280 = £233, which consisted of 10 boxes of wine including 3x brut. That works out at just over £2 a bottle even with Brit at nearly €5 bottle each!!! That's why I love the booze cruise - each bottle I open I know it costs me half the price to one from a corner store!

Admittedly there's not much to Calais, but drive 3-4 hours south and you will be in Champagne. Check out my visit from last year for more details.

For £23 euro crossing, and about £50 in petrol, you make your money back easily in wine and have a fun day out! It's a must!

Sunday, 18 December 2011

Le Fete Des Lumieres - Lyon, France

The second weekend of every December Lyon is lit up in tremendous displays of light. The second city in France, near the Alps while usually bitterly cold, the city's key buildings and monuments are draped with incredible projections for Le Fete Des Lumieres.

Visit the old theatre and see a live light ping pong machine, you can even queue up to join in the fun.

Visit the grand square and experience a 360 degree light theatre spectacle. The Town Hall and surrounding buildings showed a montage of lighting techniques - the buildings shook, horses galloped across the open space and dancing ladies were projected across the plaza in this 10-minute presentation.

Head to the churches to witness light displays to music, these can last between a few minutes and 10 minutes and keep the entire audience in awe.

Walk around the rest of the inner city, enjoy warm wine, crepes or waffles - walk across the River Rhone and River Saone to watch displays across the rivers and light projections from Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière.

The city is packed when the lights are switched on at 6pm until they finish at 1am during the four day spectacle.

When you arrive in the city, you're advised to buy a travel pass for the metro - it only costs €2.50 but except for using it to get to your hotel, it is unlikely you will need it at all during your stay as Lyon is very walkable.

A weekend trip to the city is perfect, it's easy to walk around and it is steeped in history. Plus being famous for its Gastonomie you can enjoy the amazing French cuisine.

Sunday, 4 September 2011

France - a week to learn French, Video

I knew my summer holiday was going to be different the moment I made the decision not to follow my partner for a 10 day jungle break in Venezuela but to spend a week with friends in the South of France. It was time to learn french, delve into the language, culture and people - exploring the country in another language.

I headed to Draigignon, flying London City Airport - Toulons - friends picked me up for the one-hour journey to the 1,000 year old historic town in the countryside just in from the coast of Frejus and Saint Rapheal. Arriving on the Sunday afternoon we headed for a beach picnic with several other accomplishes.

The sun set; the sea a warm 26 degrees and the sand still emitting the heat of the day's 37 degree sun rays. Volley ball, swimming with beer, salad and cheese was like being in paradise.

The Monday was the start of my french. My teacher Anne persuaded me to start early, 9am and I had to be ready and raring to go. It was time to put 18 months of basic learning to the test and take this ability one step further - question and sentence forming. Throwing in various verb conjugations, vocabulary caused peculiar sounds to come from my lips creating a somewhat furrowed brow on Anne's fore-head.

I was speaking Franglais! The 90-minute lesson vanished and I was soon back at the flat bashing new words around my head. My hosts, two wonderful ladies, took me shopping and to the beach - it was time to tune into the sound of french. We basked in the sun before heading home for a workout (where I nearly killed them) followed by dinner.

Tuesday - I was more determined. Learning another language is hard especially when being me - I love to talk and discuss. It was the day to start digesting vocabulary and using sentence formations; new challenges of past and future started fooling my brain.

10.30am - and I headed to catch the bus to Frejus to bask in the sun again. I ordered a salad, asked for change and listened to my Learn French by podcast - words were starting to emerge from the noises and I was actually beginning to 'get' what they were saying.

That evening was pizza and french film night. So we indulged in light-comedy washing it down with some local wine.

Wednesday's class was pretty similar to the day before, yet that evening I was taken to some friends for a BBQ, there I was at a dinner table with 12 non-English speaking french. All fine, I can do this! Suddenly words were sprawling from my mouth, maybe slow and considered and well slightly off-key but a new confidence welled inside me.

Thursday I left the class grasping sheets and sheets of new vocabulary. It was as though my personal trainer was trying to beat that extra scoop of ice cream from my body - giving those brain cells a bit more muscle. That day I spent in town and decided to do some shopping; I bought some vegetables from the market, chatted to the manager of the shoe shop and negotiated a deal with the man in the sunglasses shop. That evening, we took Anne for dinner in the Port of Frejus before calling the extensive day's learning to an end.

I was learning a lot about life in a town in the warmth of the South french countryside. This was not London and certainly not England. Friday I challenged myself to ask for a haircut, and 15 minutes later I was left with the barnet of my choice! (Though it could have gone horribly wrong).

Saturday I headed to Paris to meet Francois and head to Evron in the West of France. Deep in the countryside this little farming town is a place I have visited three other times. Introduced to 40th birthday celebrations with 150 french all in exuberent moods - well I struggled, further the accent is somewhat different...hmmmm - challenge number 2!

We danced til daylight before collapsing back at the farm in a deep sleep.

France - yet to return!

Friday, 6 May 2011

Overview: Argentina – North-East

South America is my favourite part of the world; a mix of climates from the ice and snow in the south, the sheer phenomenon that is the rainforest together with the excitement of the Latin culture and superb food.

We chose Argentina due to Iguaçu Falls; Cuba had the year before showed us an interesting Spanish culture but we wanted more nature; Brazil had given us a taste for the countryside and the food. The time; Christmas and New Year – a 16-day vacation with our bags on our backs and the freedom of our feet to roam the country as we wished.

Argentina however is much larger than we initially thought; it’s not straightforward, you need to limit yourself to truly enjoy it (unless you have months on your hands and even then our friends who have visited you need 3 months minimum). Even for us 7 cities in 16 days was too much and we only discovered the North-East; we still need to go back for Mendoza wine country and experience the spirit of Patagonia in the south.

However, I hope our journey, the experiences and my imagination provide you with a little insight to this beautiful country and wonderful people. Read on: