EXTENDED TOURS
Bruges, Belgium (24-25.05.20)
The day I reached, after lunch, Ajoy, Meera, the kids and I took off for Bruges. It was a good 3 hour drive and gave me an opportunity to see a bit of the countryside whenever I wasn’t sleeping. It was during the trip that I got introduced to pain au chocolat - a kind of bread baked with chocolate chips. It was delicious and I ate it through the 2 weeks in Paris, whenever I got an opportunity – and I am now drooling thinking about it. After we crossed the border (we just drove through – didn’t even have to show our passports) we stopped at a gas station and had coffee and snacks.
We drove into Bruges at about 5 in the evening. It is a picturesque town and without doubt the best part of my entire trip. Photos don’t do it justice and I was quite frustrated that the photos I clicked incessantly didn’t capture the essence of the place.
After checking into the hotel, we walked to the main square which was just a street away. The whole town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and I could see why, Buildings have been preserved the way they have been since the 12th century. This small town was not unaffected by any of the wars as they has been no bombing or military occupation. So there has never been any need for renovation.
We took a carriage ride through the town and our horseman entertained us by telling about the town, the history and the buildings in a strong accent. I think Meera was the only person who could understand most of it for Ajoy and I kept asking her to repeat to us. The kids totally loved it the horse and buggy ride.
The town of Bruges is extremely charming with narrow cobbled streets and the typical ‘rectangular’ box houses. It was like being in a fairy tale. Burges is a canal based town like Amsterdam and is sometimes called the Venice of the North. There are canals everywhere you look and give the town a very peaceful ambience. It was once one of the chief commercial cities in Europe.
Bruges' most famous landmark is its 13th-century belfry, housing a municipal carillon comprising of 48 bells.
We spent the evening strolling about the narrow streets, peering into souvenir, chocolate and lace shops. We had dinner at one of charming restaurants in the market square. The dinner was laid back and it took over two and half hours to have a 3 course dinner. It was past 9:30 by the time we finished . Though I was jet lagged I didn’t feel tired because day light was just fading. We walked back to the hotel slowly savoring in the evening air and the sound people chattering.
Woke up early the next morning, checked out of the hotel and went looking for breakfast. I had the most delicious breakfast ever with mouthwatering waffles (do they called Belgian waffles just waffles?) After a leisurely breakfast we went walking searching for the canal tours. It was a lovely walking, straggling to look at shops. Ajoy and Meera picked up a tapestry of the ‘tree of life’ and I picked up some Bruges souvenirs.
The cruise on the canals and under quaint bridges was also beautiful. The boatman told spoke to us about the various places we passed. Then we went for a chocolate factory tour and learnt about the history of chocolate and how Belgium and Bruges in particular became known for its chocolates.
After lunch we started the drive back to Paris. I had an awesome time in Bruges and would say it was one of the highlights of my trip.
Chablis & Vezelay in Burgundy (29.04.10)
I had booked for two conducted tours to areas outside Paris and the first was to the Burgundy wine growing district. I had to meet the group at the Cityrama Office at 2 rue de pyramids at 7:30 am.
Meera dropped me that the Gare St Nom La Breteche at 5:45 am and I took the suburban train to La Defense, changed trains to metro route 1, got down at Musee de la Louve stop and walked back. At least that is what I intended to do. However, I got confused with directions, on emerging to the pavement from the station, I walked forwards instead of walking back. As I had been to that area the day before, I had gone to the office and figured out the way to get there. I walked on and on, looking for the familiar landmarks. And then I asked someone on the road in French, couldn’t make myself be understood, and then asked for the Tuileries which I knew was across the road from the office, and they pointed me in the right direction. It was late by then and I ran the rest of the way (a good way to warm up on a chilly morning) and just managed to reach in time.
The tour group comprised of Evelyn, the guide who has travelled a lot and was going for a 2 week vacation to Sudan the next week, and 8 co passengers. Because it was a small group, everyone became friends. There were 2 friends travelling together from Australia – both elderly and good fun, an elderly gentleman who looked like Donald Sutherland again from Australia who was travelling with his wife around Europe but was doing this alone as she had some work that day, a middle aged man from Florida, a newly married couple from Mexico on their honeymoon, a single woman from Germany and a young girl from Japan.
Evelyn was well informed about Burgundy and seemed very passionate about wine.. she would take every opportunity to talk about drinking it. I first thought that was slightly alcoholic of her, but then realized that all French people are extremely passionate about their wine. They feel that French wine is the best there is and it is next to impossible to buy wine from any other country here. She was jovial, and made the whole trip fun.
Chablis was the first town we went to. Chablis was a Gallic town in the 2BC. It has a long and complicated history of being occupied by Vikings and Romans. In the 12th and 13th century when a lot of development happened, it was occupied by monks who grew vines and started making the famous Chablis white wine. Now, Chablis is composed of 4308 hectares of vines which produces 4 kinds of wine - Petit Chablis, Chablis, Premiers Crus and Grand Crus.
Meera dropped me that the Gare St Nom La Breteche at 5:45 am and I took the suburban train to La Defense, changed trains to metro route 1, got down at Musee de la Louve stop and walked back. At least that is what I intended to do. However, I got confused with directions, on emerging to the pavement from the station, I walked forwards instead of walking back. As I had been to that area the day before, I had gone to the office and figured out the way to get there. I walked on and on, looking for the familiar landmarks. And then I asked someone on the road in French, couldn’t make myself be understood, and then asked for the Tuileries which I knew was across the road from the office, and they pointed me in the right direction. It was late by then and I ran the rest of the way (a good way to warm up on a chilly morning) and just managed to reach in time.
The tour group comprised of Evelyn, the guide who has travelled a lot and was going for a 2 week vacation to Sudan the next week, and 8 co passengers. Because it was a small group, everyone became friends. There were 2 friends travelling together from Australia – both elderly and good fun, an elderly gentleman who looked like Donald Sutherland again from Australia who was travelling with his wife around Europe but was doing this alone as she had some work that day, a middle aged man from Florida, a newly married couple from Mexico on their honeymoon, a single woman from Germany and a young girl from Japan.
Evelyn was well informed about Burgundy and seemed very passionate about wine.. she would take every opportunity to talk about drinking it. I first thought that was slightly alcoholic of her, but then realized that all French people are extremely passionate about their wine. They feel that French wine is the best there is and it is next to impossible to buy wine from any other country here. She was jovial, and made the whole trip fun.
Chablis was the first town we went to. Chablis was a Gallic town in the 2BC. It has a long and complicated history of being occupied by Vikings and Romans. In the 12th and 13th century when a lot of development happened, it was occupied by monks who grew vines and started making the famous Chablis white wine. Now, Chablis is composed of 4308 hectares of vines which produces 4 kinds of wine - Petit Chablis, Chablis, Premiers Crus and Grand Crus.
We visited the 13th century cellars of Laroche. The mortal remains of St Martin is kept in a crypt here and we saw the 12th century oak wine press. After learning about the wine making process, we made our way to the Laroche offices where we tasted 3 kinds of Chablis. 
We had some time to walk about before lunch. Lunch had been organized for us and the whole group sat together and had good time get to know each other.
It was a 3 hour drive back and we got back to Paris by 7 in the evening.
Reims and Epernay in Champagne (04.05.10)
The second conducted tour I took with cityrama was to the Champagne vine growing district. This time the group was much large with close to 40 people. Hence I didn’t experience the camaraderie or friendliness I experienced on the tour to Burgundy. The weather was bitterly cold too and which I think led me to not enjoy this trip as much.
The trip started from their office at 2 rue de pyrammides at 7:30. The drive to Reims was long and our first stop was at the Mumm cellars where we were taken for tour of their wine cellars and the champagne making process was explained. Mumm started making champagne from 1827. they have 218 hecters of land growing Pinot Noir, Pinot Mennier, and Chardonney varieties of grapes which makes Cordon Rougue Champagne. They have 25 million bottles that are aging the in the 25 kms of the cellar. The tour finished with a glass of their bubbles which I really enjoyed.
Then we made our way to the magnificent Notre Dame cathedral which is the site of coronation of all the kings of France. The good thing of going with a guide is that they know a lot of interesting facts that is not easily available to you otherwise. Spent about an hour looking at the stained glass and hearing about the history of this beautiful church. Then we had an hour of for lunch and browsing. Had lunch at a café and attempted walking the streets but it was too cold. The winds were strong and almost blew me off my feet. I found refuge in souvenir shop and then in another café where I had the most amazing crepe with chestnut sauce for dessert.
Then we made our way to Epernay, to the headquarters of Moet and Chandon Champagne. Their wine cellars were amazing and we went on a tour that went through parts of their 25km of cellars. The guide explained to us the tedious process it takes to produce their champagne. Champagne tasting happened afterwards and as it was less windy I enjoyed walking about the town of Epernay.Versailles (05.05.10)
My one regret in this whole trip is that I didn’t plan on going to Versailles enough. While with the other places I went to, I had planned definite days to go, I didn’t do it with Versailles. I guess it was also because I knew Meera’s suburb was not too far from Versailles. I was supposed to go the morning of Saturday the 1st, but being May Day it was closed. I then thought the Sunday afternoon, after we get back from church. But we went to church and then to IKEA and had a good lunch and it was raining and all I wanted to do was to curl up and sleep. Ajoy offered to drop me after he drops the girls for their birthday party, but I decided not. I stayed home under the blankets and slept 4 straight hours.
My next free ‘slot’ was on Wednesday the 5th. Ajoy drop me at Gare St Nom La Breteche as usual, I took the train to La Defense and then changed lines and took a trained to Versailles. I got lost a bit and wandered about the town a bit. I don’t regret that as it is always amazing to see a bit of the town and see how different it is from the towns I am used to.
Versailles deserves atleast 2 days – one for the palace and 1 for grounds. And if I ever make a trip to Paris, I will plan it better.
GIVERNY (06.05.10)
One of the places I was keen on going to was Giverny. I read about it on the net and in Lonely Planet and was very keen, and on having seen Monet’s WaterLillies, I really wanted to visit his gardens and house in Giverny.
So on Thursday, Ajoy very sweetly took half a day off work, and after the girls school finished at 11:30, we drove to Giverny. It was an hour’s drive and the countryside close to Giverny was very beautiful. The house and the gardens were crowded with tourists, but that didn’t deter us in anyway.
Monet was one of the view artists in his generation to be famous while he was still alive. He had made quite a bit of money through his work. His house was a large cottage, and the kitchen very advanced. The rooms were very quaint. Monet was very interested Japanese prints and had a fine collection of them. We saw some copies of his paintings too. What I loved most was the view from his windows – his gardens are beyond description.
Monet described himself as good at only two things – gardening and painting. And boy is he good at them! The Claude Monet foundation has kept the garden exactly as it was when he was alive. However the new highway cuts through the middle of the garden and the Foundation has made a tunnel connecting the two halves. It works in a way because the garden close to the house is more organized and the laid out while the garden across the highway is wilder, it has the stream running through and the lake in the middle and is very different. You can almost see his paintings when you look at the lake, the famous bridge and the waterlilies.
We spent a good hour and half being awed by the garden.
