One of you requested some updates on our trip to Europe (France). Thus, you all will receive these delightful travelogues, and there is no simple method to use to get off the list of those receiving.
It is Monday, October 21 and we’ve spent the day in Geneva, Switzerland. It’s day three of a 15-day trip (by auto) that includes parts of France, Switzerland and Italy. Due to technical restraints, me not knowing how to get photos from my phone to the computer and Sophia being in the shower, we’re going back and recapturing a few moments and thoughts from our first seven weeks (we’ll catch up and get to the 15-day trip eventually).
We’re most surprised by the food. And, we’ve found France to be a nation of contradictions (more later). Keep in mind we’ve been in the south of France, which we’re told is quite different then the rest of the country in terms of language, attitude, general culture, food and certainly weather.
The French approach eating very differently than we do. In a large grocery store there’ll be four long aisles of wine and almost as much real estate devoted to cheese. Don’t look for peanut butter, jelly, popcorn, cookie or cake mix or pancake mix, sweet pickles, pepperoni for pizzas or cans of tuna for tuna fish sandwiches. There’ll be a small section of beer (no American beers at all). You see Coca-Cola everywhere, but very rarely as fountain soda, almost always bottles. They have Pepsi, but they certainly don’t own the market. Their diet seems to surround jambon, frommage and baguettes. That’s ham, cheese and French bread (which you see here and there in the U.S., but is everywhere in France) They sell ham 40 different ways and few have much appeal. Baquettes are everywhere for every meal and to be taken in the morning with a cup of coffee like Americans would grab a Danish or a donut.
Breakfasts are almost non-existent. They drink coffee (in little cups the size of a large thimble) and will chew into a baquette or grab a croissant (kwah-sant). By the way, no butter (on anything) or much use of jams. Lunch tends to be a big meal, which we’ll cover later. And, dinner is a pretty big meal that starts after 7:30, if you’re trying to find a restaurant. Much more on finding something to eat, if it is not in your refrigerator. Just a hint, between 2:30 pm and 7:30 pm your basic hope to get something to eat out is McDonalds. Another hint, restaurant chains are essentially non-existant.
Early in our stay, we made a couple of trips to the beach community of Cassis. It’s 30 minutes from the house and just east of Marseille on the Mediterrean. It’s not St. Tropez or Cannes (further east and closer to Nice), but it’s pretty breathtaking (see photos). We dined at a typical small café – looking down a narrow road in town. And, we took a boat ride out to see the calanques (spelling?), which are between Cassis and Marseille and can be reached by land. There are a number of great beaches, one of which you may be able to see in the photo.
Got to run. Having dinner in Old Town Geneva. Food looks a little less French. It looks like fondue may be a fall back tonight.
The Wilsons
