Day 1 of France Trip 2010
Today we touched down in Paris and were welcomed by the strike the train workers had. There's nothing like hearing your train was canceled to really light a fire under your ass. Well, not my ass, it was Steph's because I had no idea what was happening to the schedules. Instead of having a leisurely wait for our train after the flight, we had to hustle and catch the only train to Brittany on Saturday. I have to say, when you don't understand a language, every single sign in the place is fascinating, such as this sign of the defibrillators. We ain't got that in Penn Station.
A few things I've noticed about France. The exchange rate of dollars to euros just pains me. It's around $1 to 0.65 euros right now, and four Kinder bars cost $2.70. Kind of amazing actually.
We're in a small town in Brittany. It's very quaint and out here there's cows everywhere. I love it. I love seeings cows, they used to be along side the road on my drive to high school every morning. I still remember how many times I saw cows doing it on the drive to school. For the record, that's Cows, 2: Danny, 0. Those cows...
Anyway, this travel blog is going to be short. Many of you might not like that I'm mixing in my travels along with the food, but tough. I've only taken two vacations (not counting weddings, but counting spring breaks) since turning 18. The first one I chilled at my friends house in Hawaii. This time I'm in France. So when you avg a vacation every five years, I think it's important to document it. Considering that I've got maybe four decades left, five if the McDonald's doesn't kill me.
Each vacation counts, so it's gotta be documented somewhere. There's way more of this to come, and I'll try to take more pictures of the food. I already forgot to take pictures of the first butter I ate in Brittany. It was good. I'm pretty sure that in the U.S., it would be fancy European butter. Here they just call it, beurre. Plain ole butter, and it's awesome.
nice pics, cant wait for your other posts. Enjoy your stay in France bro
steve
April 13, 2010 1:27 am
@martha,
You're right that Brittany is a great part of the country. I'm digging the countryside scenes and it's also close to the ocean which is nice. Thanks for the suggestion for Monoprix. I want to see what super markets in France are like!
@Tina,
Oooh smuggling back salted caramels! I plan on doing some of that. I hope no TSA officials ever see this... yea I'm trying not to worry about the exchange rate. After all, this is vacation!
@Ang,
Traveling definitely is nice. I have to say it's a perk to have a native speaker when I can't understand the language. And it is backwards in America sometimes. For example, it's a huge deal that Barack Obama is president. They have a picture on the living room wall here. It's pretty nice.
Danny
April 11, 2010 5:15 pm
Oooh, I'm excited to see where you go in Brittany - and btw, it's quite famous for its butter and its buttery cakes!
Su-Lin
April 11, 2010 6:09 pm
Danny, TSA shouldn't be on your case about salted caramels.
The possible contraband stuff would be foie gras (I'm trying to bring that, too). It depends how merciful your TSA agent would be when he/she sees that wonderful lub of fatty liver. :-/
Tina
April 11, 2010 6:43 pm
Don't apologize to me. I LOVE seeing pictures of France and Brittany is one of my favorite parts of that beautiful country.
Yes, the dollar - euro rate is crushing just now. Think picnics as much as possible. Also most restaurants are cheaper or have a prixe fix menu at lunch, so eat your main meal then and buy cheese and wine for a supper by the sea. Monoprix is a very good chain of supermarkets.
Have fun
martha
April 11, 2010 1:12 pm
Ooh...You're in France! I'm going to Paris late next month. Have fun!
Yeah, the Euro-US Dollar rate sucks but it was worse if you did travel during the past Christmas season where $1.75 US = 1 Euro. Think about it.
Anyway, have fun and smuggle back some amazing French butter, cheese, salted caramels, and eat all the awesome pastries! (I know I will...)
Tina
April 11, 2010 4:05 pm
I'm glad that you finally get to see firsthand why I love France and why I love traveling in general. Traveling can make you realize how lucky you are to be an American/New Yorker, or make you realize how backwards America can be. France, for the most part, tends to make me feel the latter (especially the metro system). Can't wait to read/see more of your trip!
Ang
April 11, 2010 4:06 pm