A few days in Strasbourg

One of the big differences we quickly have come to appreciate between this assignment in Europe, and our time in Asia, is the closeness, and therefore ease of travel to "get away". I know, why would you want to get away from Paris? To be frank , we have seen a lot of cities in the past 4 years, and getting out of the city on the weekend is a treat. So, here is the first city we explored - Strasbourg France, a mere a two and a half hours via TGV from Paris.



Our starting point was Gare de l'Est, only a few subway stops from our Bastille station.



They certainly know how to build train stations in Europe.

Having said that, here is the station in Strasbourg as seen from our hotel window.



If this looks a little like an air ship, don't despair. It's only a facade that has been added to the original European structure. It is a little strange, though.... not in keeping with the historic nature of the city.

For your history lesson today, I will tell you that Strasbourg dates back to a Roman settlement in 12 BC. It was devastated by Attila's Huns in 451 AD. To make a long story short, for the next 1500 years, Strasbourg was ruled alternately by the French and the Germans. In 1944, the final turnover went to the French. Before the start of WWII it's inhabitants were evacuated to cities and towns in the middle of France. As you can see from the pictures, (except for the train station which they seemed to feel a need to encase in glass) , it is a picture postcard of Europe. In 1992,Strasbourg was designated as the permanent home of the European Parliament.

For those of you who like looking at architecture, Strasbourg has a never ending supply of architectural masterpieces. Of course, the cathedral is the most stunning structure in the city.

Some miscellaneous pictures....

The picture above is of the Kammerzell house, the largest and most decorated of all the half-timbered houses in Strasbourg. Unfortunately this picture doesn't do it justice.... showing only the short end of the building. There are 75 windows and each frame depicts different characters from the bible and mythology.

This final group of pictures will prove that we were actually in Strasbourg and didn't just download some pretty pictures off the web.

Stephen is in the centre...wearing a hat.

Shutters

Posted by Stephen - July 19 2009

Shutters

Many of you know that my degree is in History. I actually enjoy the subject, still read a lot of biographies, historical novels. One of the things I enjoy about my travel, is I get to see parts of the world where history took place, and for me, part of that enjoyment is seeing places that have not changed over the centuries. I often wonder what it was like "way back then". However, cities and places do change, one persons view of quaint is another persons nuisance. Times move on, technology makes everyones life easier, even if they live in a lovely 100 year old apartment in Paris (By the way, I do not live in a lovely 100 year old apartment) . One of the traditional attractions of European cities is of course the classic architecture, and a very strong feature we recall is the way homes have large windows with shutters. The first photo below is everyones image of France houses and shutters n'est ce pas ?

How it should be....

Or streets like this...
This is the way Paris is supposed to look. Alas, the reality is different.

This is my street, rue Amelot on a Sunday morning.

The local "scooter store"

I guess the reality of crime and security demands that the window displays we used to see at night to entice future shoppers have disappeared for the security and peace of mind of roll down metal shutters. Started in the hood, now is mainstreet across the world.

Even where there are traditional shutters, the combination of white paint and Paris air makes for a strange look to the place when shutters are closed.

I tell you this because my apartment has shutters. Every apartment in Paris has these covering most windows and it is a bit jarring when you first arrive. Genya and I experienced this in Florence when we arrived at our apartment at about 11:00 pm our first night...really felt like a deserted ally. I am now bit more used to it, but on occasion I look up and it seems as if every window is shuttered. I guess with the holiday and vacation period upon us, and many Parisiens out of town, this will get more prevalent. While the picture below is NOT my apartment, the photo is pretty similar. I have a larger balcony, but the same large window and gray metal shutters...or so I thought.

I tell you this shutter story for a reason...

While I am generally a pretty neat person, like everyone I clean up for company. So, this Sunday I was doing a minor clean up, getting ready for Genya's arrival, I was cleaning the inside stoop in front of my window, cleaning the windows and looking at my shutters. For some reason I touched it...to my surprise, it was not grey metal. In fact it was neither gray nor metal, it is white plastic. Very very dirty white plastic...and I am talking about the part facing INSIDE the apartment. I started with Windex and a paper towel, that lasted about 6 paper towels and a third of my Windex. It took about an hour, sponges, pail, strong cleaner. I rinsed the pail about 7 times. As I have a new carpet in the apartment I had to be very careful not to get any of the black water on the carpet. And, as the lock on my sliding door is broken and I can only open 1/2 half the door( This is temporary I am told). So I only cleaned 1/2 the shutter. See below.

I am tired and I am going for a nap... Sunday in Paris, gotta love the excitement.

South Carolina flora and fauna lesson

This blog is in response to Diane's question about wildlife that I might see along my walking path in the woods. So far, I have only seen deer (by the way, this is the official State animal), rabbits, squirrels and a variety of song birds. Fortunately, I have not come across any snakes but they are there, as per the signs along the path. South Carolina is also home to bears, opossums, foxes, minks, and woodchucks (as in how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood). Sorry, I couldn't resist the tongue twister. Again, I can happily say that I have not crossed paths with any wild animals... unless you count the alligators that show up on the golf course. Not that I would go anywhere near one... but they are certainly there, basking in the sun, lurking, waiting, watching...

I don't know too much about the local flora. You see many of the same trees that we have up North but definitely more flowering varieties. I love looking out our back patio at the palm trees - makes me feel as if I am truly on vacation.

Magnolia blossom. This is from the tree in front of our house.

Very southern - big, old, live oak trees with hanging moss

I love all ornamental grasses. This is in our neighbour's yard. I actually planted some of these at our home in Wisconsin. I hope my plants end up looking like this.

Crape Myrtle

Comes in a variety of colours - pink, purple and white. Very pretty.

Morocco

Posted by Stephen - July 19, 2009
I had an opportunity to go to Morocco last week, my first time into Africa. While I was only there for a few days, I did manage to see some sights one afternoon while checking out a new Renault/Nissan industrial complex, and after work on Friday. We have a plant in Tangier, on the northern tip of the country. I left Paris on Wednesday afternoon, connecting in Casablanca. I arrived in Tangier about 8:30 pm and was met by the local HR Manager, Mohamed. Also meeting me was a US based, Mexican national who is in Morocco on a short assignment to help them in their expansion. I have known Guillermo for over 6 years, having hired him in Monterrey. Along with Arabic and French, Spanish is widely spoken in Morocco.

Mohamed, Stephen and Guillermo. (This photo is from the site of the new container terminal east of Tangier. We asked a guard take the shot before he shooed us away)

I flew Royal Air Maroc on this trip. While I do love trains, I must admit I am getting a little overexposed to tracked transportation these days. To get to the airport (Orly) I took the metro, the RER and then an 8 minute ride on a driver less train called the OrlyVal. I am also experiencing the letdown from the days in Asia of getting to enjoy all the perks of Star Alliance 100K club offered on most SE Asia airlines. These include things like getting to wait in business lounges, pre-boarding and economy plus seating when not in business class. United is not a player in Europe, and the Star Alliance members are poorly represented in the southern part of the continent. Also, as we are in the middle of the French holiday period, the waiting area was full of families heading home to Morocco for vacation. The pre-boarding for people "travelling with small children" covered about 1/2 the flight. I got on later with the rest of the self loading cargo as Nicholas likes to call us. The plane however was nice and new, and like in Asia, they did actually serve us a meal.

Morocco is booming. As mentioned above, Renault is building a new plant in Tangier that will directly employ 6,000 people and supposedly indirectly create jobs for another 30,000 with services and suppliers who are locating to the area. Everywhere you look there are cranes atop new apartments and hotels. The King of Morocco (King Mohammed IV) has targeted Tangier as the industrial center, Casablanca the commercial and banking center and Rabat the government center. Wages seem to be about the same as China, educational levels are reasonably high and language capability in French and Spanish. Dell has their Europe Shared Service in Morocco. In terms of size, the country is about the the same land mass a California, and has a population similar to Canada. (Actually, California and Canada have the same population, so I could have said it was the same size and population of California, but then all the Canadians would have had to look up the population of California... the things a blogger worries about)

From my balcony


It is well known in this area that about 80% of the hashish and marijuana entering Europe comes via Tangier, so smuggling is a big industry. As we came back from the trip to the Renault site we drove on a small road along the coast that had many small bays, large (fast I presume) boats and big houses overlooking the Strait.

We stopped in a small village cafe along the coast for one of the local habits: tea. (hot green tea, sugar and fresh mint in a tall glass. It is delicious and surprisingly refreshing and invigorating).

Then, on Friday, before dinner, Guillermo and I went for a walk into the center of Tangier. The picture below shows the gate into the Medina, the market area of town. It is an incredible place, reminding me of the market scenes from the first Indiana Jones movie. The Medina has narrow streets, crammed full of stalls, people, animals etc. There were many fruit and vegetable stalls, and a surprising number of them devoted entirely to dates: date jams, date cakes, candied dates, fresh dates etc. We had been warned that we may get approached by some locals who seem friendly and offer directions or show you where something is sold and accompany you during your walk in the market. As you get ready to depart the market, they strongly ask for money for the "guide" services they have provided. Sure enough, we got tagged by a most persistent older man who took nome of our polite hints or even our attempts to shake him. It got almost to a game of hide and seek as we ducked behind stalls and changed direction suddenly. We would think we had lost him when suddenly he would be at our side again pointing out the most obvious sights "This stall sells dates, this way is the beach" Finally, with our limited French and some of Guillermo's Spanish and numerous hand gestures, he got the hint and left us alone.

Because of its location, the weather was great. The Atlantic and Mediterranean breeze blows all day, and the evenings are very comfortable. We ate outside most nights overlooking the harbour. The city is built on the hills around the harbour and despite only being on the 3rd floor of a hotel and restaurants, the views were wonderful. I am told by Susie, that as prices in Spain rise, more and more Europeans are looking to Morocco to live and retire. If I get a chance, I will stay longer on my next trip and visit Casablanca.

Home away from home

It may not be as exotic as travelling around Europe but this is where I am now - home away from home, in our little place in South Carolina. It's relaxing to be here but I'd prefer to have company. We keep a vehicle here but as I discovered when I arrived last night, batteries sometimes lose their charge after sitting idle for a couple of months. Thank goodness for AAA. As I was planning the rest of my day, I wondered why I was starting to feel the heat. Hmmmm. Could something be wrong with my air conditioning? I have a thermometer in the house and after checking it several times, there was no mistake, the temperature was rising. Summer is South Carolina is very hot and humid and I needed to get this repaired as soon as possible. Fortunately for me, I found a very nice local repair service and all is well again. So after dealing with a few mechanical issues, I was ready to relax.

This is one of my favourite activities: walking in the woods (this is a mile long footpath)

Not a bad place to be when it's 90 degrees F.

Paris, Food and Euros

Food and Restaurants (Posted by Stephen - July 15)

Paris is expensive ! Perhaps the real reason there are not a lot of overweight people in Paris is the cost of feeding oneself. Oh, some food seems cheap, a baguette costs anywhere from 90 cents to a Euro ( $1.20 - $1.40 us or $1.40 - $1.60 CAN). In restaurants, coffee (French coffee, strong, 3 mouthfuls) is about a Euro to 1,20. Local fast food places advertise hamburger, fries and drink for 7,50 Euro, or $10.45 USD. In the restaurant near the office a croque monsieur (one piece of bread, slice of ham and cheese broiled, small side salad) is 8,50 Euro or over $12.00 USD

To be fair, wine is cheap, or put another way, you can get good wine for less. Here is my dinner lately.

As everyone knows, Paris is famous for food. I would not want to estimate the number of restaurants close to where I stay. Genya and I ate out almost every night, and we only went to the obvious. We did discover a lovely (a bit expensive) place right on rue Amelot, about 4 blocks from the apartment. We had a great, leisurely meal there one night. We also found an Italian place on Place Rebublique (in Paris, Place means "place for tourists") . Despite our misgivings, we ate there and the food was incredible. I tell you this because on Friday I had a colleague in town and we went to dinner at the same Italian place. I am a little embarrassed that already I am starting to repeat. (to make it worse, I ordered the meal Genya had)

In Shanghai, Genya and I had a favorite restaurant (Genya discovered it actually) and at least once, usually two times, when she came to Shanghai, we would eat there. Must be a craving for stability. The experience last Friday was the same as Genya and I had, another great meal. Sitting beside us was a large Italian family, matriarch, patriarch, kids, about a dozen, and the place was full of laughter and animated Italian conversation. Could have been in Florence.

My Favorite Paris Restaurant...so far

Lest you think I do this to create a "local" for myself in Paris (Where everybody knows your name, al la Cheers), I do not think so. French wait staff have a lovely disdain for non-french and it would take many years and much money for us to feel at home in any single restaurant.

Our other "favorite" cafe on rue Amelot.

In the local supermarket I have found a brand of yogurt that comes in small glass jars! Amazing in today's age of plastic. I bought one package (comes in 4 small single servings) and it was delicious. I am now on my 2nd package. I was looking at the package the other day, thinking it must be some local traditional dairy that still makes this delightful yogurt called " la Laitiere". Turns out it is made by Nestle!

The problem for me is I do not want to throw out these glass jars, they must be good for something. I started out using them for change, but I quickly filled 3 with loose change, not efficient really. They are not screw tops, so that is not helpful for storage. I was going to use one for measuring my laundry detergent, but I dropped it and had to clean up the glass...will use plastic from now on there. Ideas welcome. Paris does recycle glass, so I do not feel so bad. They do not recycle plastic or cans...hard to understand. I guess with the amount of wine drunk daily in France, recycling glass is more important. There does not seem to be a lot of canned foods in the stores, and I guess most beer is drunk in cafes, so perhaps plastic and tin cans are not a problem.

Yogurt and glass jar...

I mentioned I had to much change for one jar. I am again getting used to the concept that in Europe (like Canada), change can add up quickly. When I counted the other day I had over 59 Euros in change. That is almost $85.00 or $100 CAD. I probably have another 20 in the office. I need to change my mindset about change in France.

I guess if I keep writing about food I need to create a blog called "Fat in France" or "Porky Paris"

Cousins

Travel to England







Posted by Stephen - July 15
Recently I had the opportunity to travel to the UK for work. I was in Cheltenham, a lovely village in Gloucestershire. Like most north Americans with romantic or nostalgic images of Europe, Cheltenham fits the mold in my opinion. Close to the Cotswolds, it has a well preserved downtown, open space for parks and the usual assortment of shops and pubs. As Diane tracks my carbon footprint closely, I took the train versus flying. Eurostar advertises themselves as a carbon neutral transport method, no doubt they build an offset fee into the price of the ticket and plant trees somewhere in the world after each train departs Paris de Nord. In the last few years the Eurostar is now traveling from Paris to London in just over 2 hours due to track upgrade on the UK side. Arrival is at St. Pancras, a light and airy station that was recently restored. In London I must change to Paddington via the Tube to catch the local train to Cheltenham Spa, the station for Cheltenham. I reverse on the way back, except this time I had to get to Marlybone to catch the train to Nicholas on Friday. I saw a lot of stations, trains and track on this trip.



















QUEENS HOTEL and BREAKFAST IN THE DINING ROOM


The Queens is an old Hotel, (One of my taxi drivers told me it was the oldest hotel in England that was originally build as a hotel. Of course I Googled this and there are at least a dozen hotels that claim to be the oldest. Nicholas once told me that there are dozens of pubs that claim to be the oldest as well) It has a classic charm to it. The week I was there one of its charms was that the elevator (lift) was out of order. I guess the hotel knew I liked to exercise so they gave me a room on the top floor...80 steps each way thank-you. (Diane, I want carbon credit for that as well) Breakfast was a traditional English breakfast, right down to the blood pudding. One day we had a busload of Chinese tourists and in the morning they would walk around the buffet a number of times, chat to each other, point, poke etc. I guess they came for authentic England and had to put up with no rice, no miso soup, no noodles, no bao..etc. The dining room was also a very warm and inviting place to start the day.


Cheltenham is actually only about 40 miles (65 kms) from Susie and Mikes place in Bloxom, but it takes you via two lane roads so the trip takes about an hour and 10 minutes. I did it once a few years ago, travelling from Cheltenham through places such as Bourton on the Water, Stow on the Wold and Chipping Norton.


On Friday I went back to London and stayed with Nicholas and Catherine for the weekend. Catherine made lovely meals every evening, so we only went out Sunday for a pub lunch. On Saturday, Nicholas and I drove up to Susie and Mikes . We had a long and pleasant lunch outside on the patio and chatted and visited for about 5 hours sitting in the garden.












Susie and Mike have a pond with fish and lily's in the garden just beyond the patio. It is very relaxing to sit and hear the water gently flowing. they have had it for a number of years, and it is a bit of work, but it is well worth it I imagine.





Having family close is a big difference and attraction of the Europe assignment over Shanghai. Hopefully Susie and Nicholas also see this as beneficial. While I am enjoying the newness, I am sure come fall and winter there will be times I just need some company and will be fishing for an invite. I expect that business will take me to the UK at least once every 2 months.

One of my learning's on this trip was about planning. It has been awhile since I took the London Tube, and I had not done any research on where the stations where, and on what line. Both times I transited London it was rush hour. While there are lots of signs, there were none that actually said "Stephen, take the Hammersmith Line to get to Marlybone" As a result, with two carry ons I had to stand in front of numerous maps and try to figure out how to get from where I was to where I wanted to be. (Being a male of course the thought of asking was not even considered, I can do this myself) . After I had determined the right course, then I had to stand in line to buy a ticket. While I may be dumb, I am trainable, and I now have a London transit site on my PC, and I purchased an Oyster card with about 30 pounds on it. (Transit card, no time limit)

First Blog

First Blog

This is our first Blog. After almost of year of reading other blogs of family ("theinmanscoop" and "islandhermit"), we have decided to create our own blog. Originally Stephen started one, and he called it Paris at 60, but we felt that was not a good name as Genya is not 60, and it is not all about Paris. So, how did we determine our blog name? Not an easy task as the name needed to be relevant, not too cutesy and most importantly, not already taken. As we both listen to Rod Stewart (Stephen perhaps a bit more than Genya), the lyrics of the song "Forever Young" seem to have resonated with us... in fact, Stephen did quote from the song as he gave a tribute to Stephanie at her wedding last month. Long story short .. it seemed fitting to call our blog "foreveryounginmans" Stephen promises not to write about work (actually discouraged by his company) and we will concentrate on photos and stories about our travels and reflections on what we see and do. Sometimes we'll compose our blog jointly and other times, we'll be making separate entries as we are quite often not in the same location at the same time. All this travelling does have some drawbacks.

So, enough said for our first entry. We welcome our readers - family and friends. Join us as we continue our travels, both home and abroad.

The photo above shows us in Pisa, on the top of the leaning tower! (picture taken last November)