Shopping And Souveneirs

The honeymoon is coming to an end. I have to admit that it was a fantastic experience. We have bought many souvenirs to bring back to our friends, such as French postcards, clothing, bumper stickers, movies, posters, and books. I have noticed that there were many different types of markets in France (rather than a few supermarkets).

There were separate markets for fruits and vegetables, shops for flowers, and many other simple markets with a narrow list of products. These markets tended to be together in a market place. Here is a list of some of the famous marketplaces that my wife and I did most of our shopping at: -

Guerlain Parfumerie: an elegant old shopping center with many nice stores in Paris

- Printemps and Galeries Lafayette: are huge malls in Paris that are both rivals and typical shopping centers for non tourists in Paris

These places were both in Paris. This is probably due to the fact that Paris is where the majority of tourists who visit France stay. Below is a picture of Galeries Lafayette:

Entertainment

I have found that in many of the cities that I have gone to so far, there are many film festivals. It seems that there are many popular and independent film makers in France.

My wife and I have had a lot of fun experiencing the lively nightlife here in France. We have found a large number of night clubs with great foods and drinks. We have also found many discos and dances. I have observed that there are many plays performed in theaters that also serve food (similar to the Alamo Draft House in Austin, except with plays instead of movies).

French Food And Drinks

Good news: my wife and I are getting along again! It turns out that I forgot to tell her that we didn't have to pay for anything. Oops. Well, we "made up" for our arguments. Anyway, I would like to comment about the great food in France. It's really good! I look forward to all of my meals! Here are some of the foods that I found especially tasty:

- Crêpe: a thin pancake often filled with cheese, meat, and/or sweets

- Croissant: a nice pasty that is eaten for breakfast

- Crème brûlée: a desert consisting of of a rich custard base topped with a layer of hard caramel, created by burning sugar under a grill or other intense heat source

- Blanquette de veau: a dish consisting veal, onions, and mushrooms in a thich sauce

- Bouillabaisse: a stew containing many herbs, spices, and fish shells

- Éclair: a doughnut without a hole, covered in chocolate and filled with cream

Despite the tasty and unique food throughout France, I have not found any special drinks. French people seem to drink a lot of tea, coffee, hot chocolate, milk, wine, and orange juice.

Living Accommodations / New Years

Anyone reading this blog is probably having a very happy new year. Unfortunately, I can not say the same about myself. It is now awkward traveling with my wife, seeing that we are arguing a lot. She now began complaining about the average cost of our basic living accommodations:

- Food: $100 per day

- Souvenirs: $100 per day

- Bus/Taxi Travel: $50 per day

- Total Per Day: $250

- Total For 21 Days (Total Trip): $5,250

So what if we spend extra money! IT'S OUR HONEYMOON AND WE'RE NOT PAYING FOR ANYTHING!!!

Round Trip Cost of Air/Train Travel To Destinations

Today has been a bad day. My wife and I got into a big argument about something stupid. I don't want to talk about it.

Okay, I'll tell you what the problem is: my wife thinks that I am spending too much money on transportation. I don't see what the problem, seeing as we're not paying for it and that she told me I could plan the trip.

Besides, these rates aren't EXTREMELY absurd (seeing as we're first class):

Air Travel
To Paris, France (Charles-de-Gaulle airport): 2 first class passengers $10,909 total (Air France)

Back to Austin, Texas (Austin Airport): 2 first class passengers $11,427 total (Air France)

Train Travel
Eurail: 10 days for 2 month pass - $1,078 total for 2 first class passengers

Bonjour La France: 1 month pass - $567 total for 2 first class passengers

Rail Europe: 3 day unlimited travel pass - $576 total for 2 first class passengers

Historic Places/Sights

Whew! This vacation is getting quite tiring. But it is some of the most fun I have ever had, especially because I get to be with my lovely wife the whole time. Now that we have gone to some nice romantic sites in France, we thought that we would visit some historical sites:

La Sainte-Chapelle – a gothic chapel in the heart of Paris; is the high point of the full tide of the rayonette period of gothic architecture

Gallo-Roman Amphitheatre – a well preserved Gallo-Roman theatre/amphitheatre at Drevant; this site also has two bath houses and a forum

Carcassone - a huge walled city in the Region of Languedoc Roussillon; this site has over two thousand years of history and is still home to one hundred twenty people today

I have always been especially fond of amphitheaters (probably due to the fact that I have studied Roman history so much).

Hotels We Will Stay At

Seeing as this is our honeymoon and neither my wife or I have to pay for it, we will and have stayed in the most nice and expensive hotels we could find in each city we have visited. Below is a list of the hotels we will/have stayed at as well as their location (in case you also want to visit them):

Paris - Hotel Madison
Le Madison 143, St. Germain
Left Bank, Paris

Bordeaux – Château de Vault-de-Lugny
11 Rue de Chateau
Avallon
Burgundy, France

Lyon – Hotel La Residence
18 rue Victor-Hugo
Lyon 69002
France

Corsica – Le Maquis
Corsica, France

Nice – Hotel West End
Nice, 31 Promenade des Anglais

Burgundy - Château de Vault-de-Lugny
11 Rue de Chateau
Avallon
Burgundy, France

Here is a picture of the hotel that my wife and I stayed at in Burgundy: