How not to navigate across Europe

It is harder than I would have thought to keep this up to date. What to discuss? I am back in Paris again after driving back from Vienna via Innsbruck and Strasbourg. Innsbruck was a marvel after so long staying in bustling cities for the past few weeks. Soaring snow-covered mountains, blue glacial rivers, green pastures and wood-beam houses make Innsbruck one of the more scenic places I've ever been. On Sunday morning I was out exploring and came across a sort of parade next to the Hofburg (Palace). Everyone was in traditional garb, and there was a band and a small militia marched up in their lederhosen with rifles at the ready. There was a small ceremony, the anthem was played and the militia fired a salute. Then the whole parade marched off into town, flags waving. Most curious.

One other curiousity is that I did not see any livestock anywhere in Austria. Miles of green pastureland, but not one cow, sheep, not even a horse. Perhaps they were hiding behind the large barriers along the highway? As soon as we entered Switzerland, there were cows grazing where you'd expect them (see photo below). Given the amount of meat on offer in the restaurants in Austria, they must have a few cows somewhere. Although they do seem to eat a lot of veal, so perhaps most of the cows never make it to pasture?

After Innsbruck we made the decision to not stop in Switzerland, but rather push on to Strasbourg, France for a night so we could arrive back home in Paris a day early. We did stop in Liechtenstein for lunch (and drove across the country in about 20 minutes) and breezed through Switzerland on our way back to France. Cat & I had been to Switzerland on a previous holiday, so we didn't feel bad about skipping our way through. It did mean that we did a classic tour of Europe with four countries in one day (Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and France) .

Strasbourg, France is another connundrum to me. It is a relic of a town, by which I mean the centre is practically undisturbed from the medieval period. It is quite incredible. All these old wood-frame, lopsided and drooping houses with doorways about 5 feet tall, lining the canals that separate the city centre from the rest of the city. The Strasbourg Cathedral of Notre Dame, with it's gothic spire, imposes itself over the town, and must have served well to put the fear of God into the local inhabitants. According to Wiki, it was the tallest building in world from 1647 to 1874 - and is still the 4th tallest church. This fact was of much use to Cat and I as we did not have a city map for the city when arriving, but I knew that our hotel was near the cathedral. We navigated in by the church spire like two pilgrims. I might add a comment now, that if you find yourself driving around Europe, you might want to pick up a map with a bit more detail than the map of Europe that we were using to get around.

The route back to Paris was pretty straightforward, so we thought it might be nice to stop in Champagne on the way to sample some local product. It turns out that the grape-growing region in Champagne is much smaller than one would think, and we ended up driving down 50km of back country roads before laying an eye on a grape vine. At this point we were navigating off of a tiny map in my Lonely Planet France book. Having been on the wine route in BC, California, and Ontario I think were were expecting a little more local guidance to be available in the way of tourist information and signage. We did finally find the Champagne Route signs, but every place we drove through looked like the sidewalks had been rolled up for winter. I guess a Monday afternoon in April is not the best time to go wine shopping in Champagne. So back onto the highway we went, with no champagne. We declined to purchase the champagne on offer at the local Shell station (which is also where we ended up having lunch). I guess we should have read the Lonely Planet and actually gonr straight to Epernay as they suggest instead of trying to discover something for ourselves.

It feels good to back in Paris where I have a good city map and can now find my way without getting too lost.

Vienna Notes

I am in Vienna now, arrived by car (a Mercedes!) via Germany on Sunday. It is strange being in a country where you have no ability to understand the language - you're brain seems to think that you should be able to figure it out if you just focus hard enough. No luck so far though. Germany is much prettier than I though it would be - a marked difference from the region of France I came through, where it is all fields and then you pass into Germany and it is all forested (at least for the first while). Everything seems so green after the grey of Paris. It was a pleasure to be able to stay with friends of Cat's in Speyer, Germany and take a lovely walk along the banks of the Reine River. I really appreciated having someone who speaks German to accompany me to the Apotheke (pharmacy) to help me buy some cough suppressant medicine for a terrible cough I have developed. That might have been pretty entertaining to try to have to act out my symptons to the pharmacist (or would that be the apothecary?)

Austria seems to think that you should focus on the road, because they have put up high barriers along the highway which block most of the view. The biggest adjustment here is getting used to having smoking in public places. Even Paris has banished their smokers outside. We arrived in Vienna on Sunday evening, and the European Geosciences Union conference started at 8:30 on Monday morning, so there hasn't been a lot of time for sight-seeing. Cat & I managed to attract an impromptu tour guide when wandering around the Stephansplatz reading our guidebook Tuesday evening. He pointed out things in the cathedral we would have never even noticed on our own, and then took us to see a portion of the old city wall before showing us a great place for Austrian food. I don't think I've ever seen so much weiner schnitzel on one plate before. It was delicious!

In this photo of the roof of the Stephansdom cathedral (one of the tallest churches in the world), there is the emblem of Austria on the right and of Vienna on the left. The roof was destroyed by fire in WWII, and rebuilt not with wood, but with steel. Apparently, the tiled roof is more indicative of the style used in southern France. I'll have to make the comparison when I travel there in a few weeks.

Well, my break in the conference program is over, so I'd better get back to it!

Auf Wiedersehen!

Finally - the sun shines in Paris!

It was a lovely day today, made even lovlier when I took a promenade along the Seine after french class with some of my class mates. We stopped for Chinese food for lunch (oddly familiar meal for me and a nice change from all the bread, cheese and wine one has over here), and then made our way from the 6th arrondissement where the school is over to le Hotel de Ville (city hall) close to where I live. The photo exhibition we had hoped to see there was unfortunately over, but it was a nice walk and we had lots of opportunity to practice our french and browse the booksellers lined up with their little stalls along the river banks.

French lesson of the day: The word "oui" comes from the archaic verb "ouir" which means "to hear".

Here we go

I've been in Paris for several weeks now, and am starting to feel at home here. The Paris apartment is small but perfectly formed. It has everything that a person could need (particularly now that the internet connection is working) and is in a great location in the 2nd Arrondissement in a neighbourhood called Montorgueil. This is a pedestrian area full of little shops and restaurants. Cat & I go out and do our shopping each day. Cat is able to pick up a baguette or pain au chocolat on her morning run and bring them back for a tasty breakfast.



I can't believe my two weeks of French classes are almost complete already. I have gotten a lot more comfortable speaking la belle langue, and have really enjoyed meeting people from all over the world brought together for sole purpose of learning a language. It is a special thing to meet people from Brazil, Australia, Germany, Russia, Mexico, Venezuala, US. The interesting thing is that speaking french you can't recognize a person's accent, so you can't tell where they are from until they tell you.

I haven't made it to very many museums or monuments since I arrived. Apart from one trip to the Louvre, I have mostly just been walking around and exploring. I did finally get up to Sacre Coeur last week to enjoy the view and sit in on evening mass. Listening to the nuns singing sitting under the spectacular mosaics would inspire anyone.

Alas, the last few days I have been sick so have not ventured very far from the apartment. I have read a few of the books I have brought with me and caught up on my 80's television (dubbed in French of course).