I'm back from grandkid heaven and almost back to normal, whatever that is. So, back to my France posting. On the long plane ride over we met a really nice couple, the Brubakers, who had been on a public service mission in France for the past 15 months but had recently been called home by Elder Boyd K. Packer so he could call Brother Brubaker to serve as the mission president in Brussels. They gave us lots of good suggestions for our stay, some of which we didn't follow (like don't even TRY to drive in downtown Paris. Dave just took that as a challenge) But some we were really glad we did. One of those suggestions was to find our hotels in centre ville - the old French center part of town where we could get the true flavor of old France. Here are a couple of hotels we found.
The beautiful Hotel Continental. We almost lost Brennan finding this hotel, but it was one of the nicest places we stayed. It even had a bidet in the bathroom, although I don't think any of us tried it.
We also spent one night at this charming little place. I wish I had taken a few pictures of the actual rooms, they were amazingly tiny, but cozy and comfortable.
This picture, taken from the balcony of our Hotel Continental, will give you a good idea of the narrow streets we had to navigate. See where the black strips are? That's where you drive. Most of the time I swore we were driving on one way streets. Tiny cars, tiny roads, tiny people! They certainly don't waste space making wide streets!
Another picture taken from street level. Does it look like two cars could pass each other on this street?
One problem with the streets in centre ville is that usually these areas and the buildings in them have existed since long before cars. Here Dave is standing in the centre ville of Mont de Marsan where they have preserved this old street from the early 1500's. Now this is a tiny street!
And this is how Dave learned to park our car. Notice the tires up on the curb. He just tucked it right in as best he could. The car we rented was one of the largest I saw while we were there. I'm sure it was considered a Suburban size in the French world.
So, the question we now have to answer is, was navigating the tiny streets worth it just so we could be in the old French center of town? Well, we got to see things like this . . .
And this . . .
And this . . . yes, if you remember we had Dave with us, which meant we had to spend a few minutes watching men work on the streets - just to see how they do it in France.
So, Brubakers, where ever you are, thank you for your suggestion. I don't think our France experience would have been nearly as rewarding without our trips into centre ville. What beautiful places they were.
The beautiful Hotel Continental. We almost lost Brennan finding this hotel, but it was one of the nicest places we stayed. It even had a bidet in the bathroom, although I don't think any of us tried it.
We also spent one night at this charming little place. I wish I had taken a few pictures of the actual rooms, they were amazingly tiny, but cozy and comfortable.
This picture, taken from the balcony of our Hotel Continental, will give you a good idea of the narrow streets we had to navigate. See where the black strips are? That's where you drive. Most of the time I swore we were driving on one way streets. Tiny cars, tiny roads, tiny people! They certainly don't waste space making wide streets!
Another picture taken from street level. Does it look like two cars could pass each other on this street?
One problem with the streets in centre ville is that usually these areas and the buildings in them have existed since long before cars. Here Dave is standing in the centre ville of Mont de Marsan where they have preserved this old street from the early 1500's. Now this is a tiny street!
And this is how Dave learned to park our car. Notice the tires up on the curb. He just tucked it right in as best he could. The car we rented was one of the largest I saw while we were there. I'm sure it was considered a Suburban size in the French world.
So, the question we now have to answer is, was navigating the tiny streets worth it just so we could be in the old French center of town? Well, we got to see things like this . . .
And this . . .
And this . . . yes, if you remember we had Dave with us, which meant we had to spend a few minutes watching men work on the streets - just to see how they do it in France.
So, Brubakers, where ever you are, thank you for your suggestion. I don't think our France experience would have been nearly as rewarding without our trips into centre ville. What beautiful places they were.
1 comment:
Yikes those are small streets. But some beautiful pictures. I hope you print some of those out and frame them. No one will know they weren't taken by a famous photographer.
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