Random road stop: Honfleur

Car = independence.  Having a car means stopping where you want, when you want and being able to see the little hidden jewels recommended by locals (and conveniently, being bilingual, I get many suggestions).
 This is why we rented our little car, Norm.

Nice wheels !

One of our first recommended places was Honfleur, recommended by our short-acquainted french copine Abigail who gave us a bed to sleep on at her place for the night (by the way, couchsurfing.com really works.  So far so good for us anyway!)  She lived in Le Havre, which is the biggest port city of Normandie.  Sorry, but it's kind of a modern hole, and Abigail totally concurred.  She said it used to be a beautiful, quaint port city before WWII, but alas, in 1944 it was all but obliterated during the war.  Now some would say that it's a love letter to concrete.  Abigail then recommended that we go see Honfleur, a great example of what Le Havre would be like today if it wasn't devastated by war.

 Just to show you how modern Le Havre is, this is the bridge leading out of the city.

Honfleur was beautiful ! Such a charming little town with very old yet brightly colored buildings.  We got there around 8am and enjoyed our morning strool stroll around town, taking a few photos, window shopping and starting our day with a nice cafe au lait. 

 

Good morning.

The quaint seaside harbour town

Small narrow streets with a lot a character.

Honfleur is also known as the "old harbour", from where explorers once set sail for the New World.  Samuel de Champlain set sail from this small town in 1608 on his way to founding Quebec City (and some would even say Canada). 

In the memory of Samuel de Champlain who started his journey to the New World here.

The Cider Route

Normands are very proud of their culture.  Go to any patisserie  or charcuterie and ask them what Normand dishes they have available and they will glow and show you with pride what their people like to eat.  One of the things that the Normands are really proud to call their expertise is apple-based alcoholic drinks.  Apple farms dot the countryside in Normandie, especially in the Route du Cidre (Cider route) area.  Driving through this area we frequently came upon signs that read Ferme de Cidre or Calvados ici. We stopped at a few of these cider farms and the producers were always more than happy to show us their facilities, teach us process of making cidre and calvados and sell us a bottle of their delicious home-grown cider (which, when bought on the farm, is really not expensive).  Just a few notes on what the producers told us about the process (all in a very passionate way of course):

"Excuse-me Monsieur.  Can you tell me how it works?"

Cider:
It takes about 6 months to make.  The apples are shaken off the trees (traditonally, the trees are planted only 100 per hectare to ensure max. sunlight) or gathered from the ground.  After beeing stored for a couple of weeks to let them mature, they are pressed. The next step is purification, a process that seperates the floating solid matter (known as le chapeau brun -brown hat) from the clear juice.  This apple juice is pure ecstasy.  Seriously, I had to stop myself from putting my mouth under the spout and swallowing litres full.  We were forced to settle for the cupful the farmer had offered me. Anyway, this juice is then slow-fermented for three months.  Finally, this partly femented juice is bottled with just the right amount of yeast so that over the course of two months, the cider becomes naturally carbonated inside the bottle, like champagne.  Chris almost put a light out and crapped his pants the first time he opened a bottle.  He did not expect the cork to shoot out so violently.  Alcohol content ranges from doux (sweet) at 3% to 5% for brut (dry) and demi-sec (semi-sweet) coming in at 4% (our favorit).

 

The apple orchard.  Nothing big, nothing small, just efficient. 

 Bernard pressing the apples. He was so happy and proud to show us his apple concoction, he even gave us a room to sleep in that night !

 Let's press together, yeah yeah yeah !

That's where the purest, sweetest (naturally) juice goes.  Can we just lay in there and gulp?

The result? Delicious cider !

Calvados (apple brandy):
Known as the "finest destiny of the apple", Calvadoes takes even longer.  First, the raw apple juice, including the chapeau brun left by the pressing, is fermented for 6 months, with a fast fermentation, followed by a slow one. When all the sugar has turned into alcohol, the juice is distilled, usually twice.  The resulting liquid is clear but takes on a beautiful delicate golden color from the oak casks in which it's aged from two years to many decades.  The alcohol content is usually about 30%.

Putting the juice in the cask.  See you in 6 months !

Phew ! Got that?  Ready to make some cider now?

Another Normandie favorit is pommeau, an amber-coloured aperitif made by mixing unfermented apple juice with Calvados.  This was, by far, my favorit drink as it had the perfect sweetness and was not too strong.  A great after-supper drink.

 A very sad day.  We're out of Pommeau and a far ways from Normandie.

And so, we've decided, when we get back home, and rack all the red wine waiting for us in the carboy, our new project will be home-made cider!  

Other regional drinks include cognac, amergnac, floc, champagne...and much more to discover!  

Let's do this forever...

Chris and I are soulmates.  We grow and learn from each other. This trip has really made us realize just how compatible we are together and how well we work as a team. We have gone through many stressful and desperate times together, especially these last couple of months (and more to come in India!), and we have dealth with everything so well.  During our travels, we have become very dependent on each other and this has made us grown so much more as a couple.

With this being said, we have some very good news: Chris and I are engaged !  And we're eloping in India !







Just kidding about the India part!  Just wanted to get your blood going a little bit. ;-)

Chris proposed and it was very romantic.  As you might know, we rented a car for a couple of weeks to drive to the south of France.  We were driving from Limoges to Cahors, which is in the mid-pyrenees region.  For us, autumn has lasted a very long time for we keep moving south with the season.  And so, beautiful autumn colors have been following us throughout the trip. One day, we had a particularly beautiful day of driving with beautiful views of foothills with red, yellow and orange leaves.  We were both in really good moods and both made a point of how perfect the day was (little did I know, it would only get better !)  That night we went out for a beautiful supper and then walked back to where we were staying, a restored monastery. The entrance of the monastery was quite grandiose. You had to enter through a large gateway and follow the alley leading up to the entrance.  The alley was lined on both sides with orange-leafed trees.  Chris then said "baby" in that tone of voice meaning he has something really important to ask.  Then, he got down on his knee, pulled out a ring from his pocket and asked me to marry him.  I said yes so quick that that moment, the moment of him being on his knees, lasted less than a second.  We kissed, I cried and a petite french lady walked past, smiled and said "Awww...les amoureux".  

We are both very excited about what became of us and what's to come.  We are both looking forward to sharing more details with everyone once we get back to Canada!  

Paris Part Deux : Paris, je t'aimerai toujours !

Alright, we've finally found some free blogging time.  So here goes: the second part of our Paris visit.

Another site was La Cathedrale de Notre-Dame.  For those that don't know it, it's the grandest cathedral of Paris (arguably the world) with beautiful gothic architecture. It is also where Victor Hugo's "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame" was set.  The place is really so overwhlemingly beautiful you could circle it over and over again and notice something new everytime.  The gargoyles are just magnificent, and on rainy days, they become efficient waters spouts, directing into the gutter.

 

La Cathedrale de Notre-Dame

 Gargoyles.  They come to life at night. 

Since we went on a Sunday we had the occasion of attending mass (je t'aime maman!).  My eyes teared as I listened to the beautiful choir voices and the exquisite melodies being played on such monolithic organ pipes. 

Another of the great sights (and I mean, so great we were fatigued within a couple of hours)  was Le Louvre.  The large, extensive, overwhelmingly vast museum-converted palace.  At over 60 000 square feet and with over 35 000 objects on display, you have to take this museum in small doses.  It would take over 9 months to see every piece (according to our guidebook) and so limiting yourself to certain exhibitions is a must.  We decided to focus on Egyptian, Roman and Greek anitquities.

  

 

I was dismayed to find out that most of these pieces were acquired by Napoleon thanks to his victorious battles.  So, I wonder, do the original sites of these sculptures and artifacts remain empty in their home countries today?  These masterpieces are the fingerprints of cultural identity. What stands in the place of where Venus de Milo once stood?  Do the Greeks get any compensation for their artifacts,  present in the Louvre?  I mean, millions and millions of people go to the Louvre every year (the most visited museum in the world) to see art that has been stolen by Napoleon from other countries hundreds of years ago.   Who gets the profit of showing these masterpieces?  Does France still own and profit today from what was stolen hundreds of years ago?  That's not right.  Just saying.

 Who owns this?

 

Ancient Egyptian mummy

"Who's a cute kitty? You are !  Wanna play....give me the ball you silly kitty"

Of course, we saw the museum's most famous pieces.....or crowds

The Mona Lisa mosh pit

Alors voila !  That's our time in Paris in a nut shell. Despite everything we saw in Paris....the thing that we appreciated the most wasn't all the world-wide renowned art, nor was it the monuments that date back to historic days that have changed our way of living. It wasn't the wonder of screwing together tons and tons of metal, nor the sounds, smells and sights that the city has to offer at no cost.  What we both appreciated the most of our time in Paris was the wonderful people we got to hang around with, laugh with and share with.  It was being part of the Parisien joie de vivre.

Aurevoir !

Paris,je t'aime !

REWIND !   Back to before we went to Nomandy, we spent an amazing 8 days in the city of sights, the city of love, the city of chic and sexy, Paris. We took the super-fast-high-speed train known as the Thalys from Antwerp to Paris.  Chris looooooved it.

Bring it on, Edmonton LRT !

The first night we went out for a walk we fell in love with the beauty. Being the founders of la joie de vivre, the French are incredibly passionate about everything. Even when they talk, they might sound angry, but they're not, they're just very passionate about what they're saying.  On the Paris streets,  street performers are everywhere and what I found surprising was that many of the spectators who were taking the time to watch them were also French.  Evreyone in Paris loves Paris and that love is contagious. 

 Les Champs Elysées.  Everywhere you look, there is someting beautiful to look at.

L'Arc de Triomphe.  Napoleon built this to celebrate his battle victories.  Unfortunetly, he jinxed himself and lost the battle of Waterloo before it was completed.  They kept building it anyway and underneath lays the body of unknown soldier, to commemorate those who died during those battles.  Here, a candle is being lit to commemorate those soldiers, hence why the lot is empty.  Otherwise, this is the most chaotic roundabout EVER (no lines, therfore sometimes its 6 lanes, sometiles its 7, depending how agressive the driver is).

Love is in the air !!!

We totally lucked out on where we were staying, at Godo's.  It was just him (Godefroy), his daughter Ornella and us in his beautiful home.  He had two extra rooms and and let us stay in one while we were there, From no on, when I think of a passionate French cheese-lover, this image will pop into my head:

On our first day there, we hit a grocery store and I came back with generic goat cheese (the goat cheese version of La Vache qui Rit).  We came back and I said "hey look !  We bought some French cheese !!".  He was NOT impressed.  He asked if I really like cheese and of course I said yes.  After a long night of drinking "Ti-Punch" (Godo's rum cocktail) we woke up extra early to hit the market.  There we visited the fromagerie. Well, 50 € later, I had 25 different kinds of cheese.  I swear, once we left Holland we thought "yes, a break from all the cheese".  Nope.  More cheese, older cheese, stronger cheese.  I found out , my tongue was untrained and had a lot of training to do. 

Hands off my cheese !  Some of these cheeses were so hard you could use it as a hammer. Some of these cheeses were so strong a bite every 10 minutes was enough.  Some of these cheeses were so delicious, I am asking my colon for forgiveness. His fridge was so full of fromage, that when we'd open it a great wall of odour would smak you in the face.  Seriously, when we sweating the stuff.  My armpits smelt like cheese.  When Godo told his neighbour about our lesson on cheese she said that he shouldn't do that because Canadians can't handle cheese like they can and that we were so cheese-sensitive, we could get sick. I love that.  Canadians are cheese wussies.

Trying some cheese.  Intense.

We had such a great stay there.  He even made us some homemade yougurt.  Which was delicious !  

             Okay, so it was better than it looks.  He told us we could the drink the milk (clear-like substance) in there.  We trusted him, we had some.  We were like his guinea pigs and he was testing our limits.

Are you sure this is okay for Canadians ?

After 8 days we did some great bonding and we were, once again; reluctant to leave.  Ornella, his 5 year old daughter, was a blast to have around.  She had contagious energy and kept us on our toes. 

Ornella and I wrestling.  She won.

And she won at the ugly-face-making contest.

Paris family.  Godefroy pretty much met my whole family on Skype.  He even did a presentation for my mom's elementary class on cheese via Skype.  He showed them and ate all the crazy cheeses while the kids were screaming "no ! no ! Don't do it!!"

I also got to visit some long-time friends.  When I was in grade 10, I went to school in France for 3 months. I got to visit with Marianne, my french sister; as well as old friends I went to school with and my french family.  Ten years have passed but we all got along just the same.  I felt like nothing had changed.

Marianne and I at Le Chateau de Versaille

    One happy french family : Les Bruno

 Me, Cécile and Marianne out for some drinks on the town.

We were also  very fortunate to catch a Lykke Li show at a very intimate venue in Paris.  She did an AMAZING show and again, it was nice to see our kind of crowd in a different country.

Sitting and waiting for the show at La Maroquinerie  

Here's a little clip of her show.  She also rapped the Fugees which was pretty sweet.

As for the sights?  Well, we saw a lot of them.  We have SO many pictures of eveything and we really don't want to load up blog with too many of them.  So here are a few.

This is the Hotel des Invalides.  It was the place where injured "invalid" war verterans stayed after battles.  It was also where they kept ALOT of arms and weapons.  When the revelution sparked, people marched to this place and broke in, stealing all the arms.  Then, they went after Louis XXI and his wife, Marie-Antoinette at Le Chateau de Versailles.

Napoleon's tomb can be found in that golden top.

"Hello?  Anybody home?"

 And then there was, of course, the oh-so-beautiful Château de Versaille, where the monarchy lived until the French revolution.  This castle is grandiose in every way. The rooms, the sculptures, the gold, the gardens.  I mean, looking at this we're thinking "Duh Louis!  Like come on! You didn't see it coming?"  (We have a gazillion pics. We'll be posting most of them on Facebook sooner or later)

It's bigger than it looks.

A view of the castle from the gardens.

 We also went to the Conciergerie.  It was the prison used during the Reign of Terror.  Marie-Antoinette was held there before getting beheaded as was Robespierre (the leader of the revolution, who, in the end, was also beheaded)

Marie-Antoinette's chamber when she spent two and a half months.  Creepy. 

Afterwards we decided to go for a walk and we got kind of lost.  Actually, really lost.  We got to this neighborhood I've never heard off and it all looked a little surreal.  Chris and I panicked a little bit but we eventually found our way back to central Paris.  Here's sole footage of the wierd, surreal neighborhood we were lost in:

We also saw (and went up!!) the Eiffel Tower.  Yep, right to the top.  We mostly made out while we were there (just kidding!)

The view from the top.  Unfortunetly, it was a little cloudy that day.

Well folks.  We're running our of time on the internet here.  We're on the road now, so we have limited access.  Every chance I get, I'm on it.  SO I will leave you with that for now.  I guess I'll have to make a sequel for Paris...the Louvre, Cathédrale Notre-Dame. Like I said, so much to see in Paris.  I have a lot of catching up to do as well.  Driving in Cider country (mmm....), Mont St. Michel, the middle part of France.  It'll come sooner or later !