Review- Osprey Elroy pack

What is the perfect travel bag?  This question has driven me to spend a small fortune in an endless progression of packs.  I have come to view my pack menagerie as a team, rather than succession of tools.  Recently, I sought a bag that was more urban (less technical), and yet capacious enough to handle what normally goes into a daypack, to carry for brief periods.

My most recent analysis revealed that my Maxpedition Sitka is a bit too small, too technical looking for business, and too hard to put on/take off over a dressy coat.  That ruled out upsizing to the Maxpedition Kodiak, at least for this use.

The features of the Sitka I wanted included compartmentalization, and the ability to sling my pack from back to front for access on the go.  The feature which I wanted to depart from Maxpedition was appearance.  I was going to spend a lot of time in Paris and NYC with this bag.  So I ruled out backpacks, and focused on messenger bags, which are innocuous looking, easy to shoulder on either side, voluminous, and durable.

Search started with the standard, Timbuktu.  It is heavy!  But bulletproof, weather resistant, and has a feature that became a requirement- a quick cam adjusting strap.  But it was also just a big bag,  no organizing ethic, no computer section.  The other messenger bags were too small, too poorly constructed, too expensive, and too poorly designed.  Till I got to the Osprey line.  Messenger bags? You bet!

Osprey Elroy in Action

I have a bias toward Osprey packs, some of which are still sewn in Dolores CO.  Alas, not the messenger bags.  They are smart, have great features, have never failed me, and are light.  There are two bags, twins, one small, one large.  I went for the large size, the Elroy.

Padded computer sleeve, check- no need to add a case to the mix
Organizer pockets, check- not too many
Size, check- it is as big as the biggest when expanded
Strap cam, check
Strap pad that stays put when slinging it around, check
Durable, check
Lightweight, check
Post consumer recycled materials, check.
Smart zipper to access things without flopping up the flap, check

I am using it, and realized that I have not had a briefcase I didn't shoulder since the old Samsonite hard sides.  Why did it take so long to go messenger?  I guess because it took Osprey this long to make one.  It holds my needs, has room for extra clothes, protects my computer, is comfortable, and reasonably priced.  A winner that is ExecHobo recommended.

Meli Melo Creperie- French Food, or Faux?

Galettes! Of course we had to try any crepe shop serving buckwheat crepes.


The place is tiny and busy, so the decor is quite worn. This can be good if you aren't starting from a cheap fit-out originally. If it was cheesy to start, it ages poorly.

The menu is full of crepes and soups, with sandwiches thrown in too. We had a couple of galettes, buckwheat crepes. The crepes themselves were quite good, though the wheat de ble, buckwheat flour, was cut with white flout making them more tender and sweet than we are used to. The black pepper In the batter was a nice touch.

The traditional ham and cheese was good, given the limitation that the ingredients are sourced from the US and are not as tasty. We also had a veggie crepe, always a mistake, and it was again this time. Our butternut squash soup had stewed apples in it that really ruined a good soup, and the potato leek soup? We really couldn't tell if it was asparagus or leeks that colored it. It had grains of sand and stems (thyme)? It was just pretty bad.

The most amazing thing was that The bill for lunch was $39!!! Holy shit! An undersized crepe piled high with raw bean sprouts and a smattering of other vegetables was $14! This is effin' spit out your food crazy ! I can't recall a rip off this profound anywhere else.  And how in hell does it relate to the noble Galette of Bretagne?

For the love of God, avoid Meli Mello like the plague.  Save yourself!

- Exechobo

Euro travel remainders

I finally loaded the photos from the trip into my Powerbook last night.  It took quite some time, there were about 6 gigos (as they call gigabytes in French).  The seemingly simple, if time consuming task was complicated by the fact that I am out of hard drive space, and needed to clean the hard drive.  So that dictates a back up, and I did a full mirrored hard drive, so that took a full evening.  

The G9 took very good pictures, even in snapshot mode (Program setting), and of course I have to admit the manual exposures I made turned out good too.  Because this is digital photography, I can bracket, adjust and snap away, with no concern for film costs, so eventually I get a good shot.  I did a few panos and some movies.  We will see if any of the panoramas came out, I took care to apply the lessons learned so far.  I had to use panorama to work around the issue of the focal length of the G9, a 35mm lens equivalent, not a wide angle at all.  The new G10 has 28mm, a more decent landscape focal length, but then it only zooms to 140mm, not quite enough.  I should do a quant analysis of how many pictures I shoot where 35mm is not enough compared to the number shot above 140mm.  But I won't.

Now begins the process of winnowing down the photos to those that are good, then categorizing them into relevant groups.  It will be fun, but will require some focus.  Stay tuned, for this will take a couple of weeks.  

Oct 14: United #916 over the Atlantic

The last few days have been a denoument. I think that means a winding down. We left the Burgogne region hoping to spend the last two days before departure in the region near Paris, so getting to the airport on the morning of departure would be simplified. Good plan, except that the region around Paris has no interest for us. The topography is completely flat, with big farm fields. Think Kansas. So we blew on through.

We stopped to spend a night at Fountainbleau, one of the really big castles of one of the french kings. We found a little hotel that was not insanely expensive, and took a walk to see the castle close and the Sunday afternoon day trippers have their final coffees and beers before hitting the road and trains for home.

In the morning we took a walk to the castle to see what it was all about. Not much. Once you find the entrance to get in, you have to figure out if there is a charge (yes), and if it is worth it (we couldn't tell, no information), and then you can walk in the castle. WE walked around the outside looking into the rooms and decided it is pretty much the same as all the rest. It is true, once you've seen several castles you've seen em all.

The big thing about Fountainbleau is the Gardens. So we took a nice, long walk throught them. Nice, but not really great. Big, huge, yes. But not really groomed, not really colorful. A nice park. Not really worth the detour. Maybe worth a stop if it is on the way. Oh, and the hotel, kind of a dump.

So we took off, headed off to get real close to the airport. Not very high expectations for this stop. We weren't disapointed. We took the opportunity to clean out the car and get all out luggage sorted and repacked, ready to go! Oh, by the way, the hotel was bad, real bad. A plastic drop in bathroom. Shower, sink, toilet all together. Like they put into campers smalller than ours. A no smoking hotel, that reeked of cigarettes. Oh, and plastic floors that wrapped up the walls to form a kind of basin, so maybe the room could be hosed out?

So, after 3956 miles (this trip), here are our key takeaways:
Things France has got right-
- Roundabouts
- Office de Tourisme
- Bread, cheese, pastries
- Bed n Breakfasts
- the national trails system

Things they really need to work on:
- Airports
- Intersections other than roundabouts
- Hotels
- Obsession with the USA

Au revoir, we hope to be back at our regular computer base on Oct 19, and would love to here from you then, and perhaps to give you a chance to send a note and ask a question, or better yet to tell us what you have been doing. Look for our fancy internet slide show then too!

Oct 9: la bourgogne,

Today we explored bourgogne, a wine region very pretty; villages nestled amongst vineyards, casles and stunning demeures (domain houses, mini chateaus).
We decided to stay at this chambre d'hotes (bed and Breakfast) until Saturday. It's a site we very much recommend.

The hospitality is nonpareil. When we mentioned that we were looking forward to being able to cook potatoes again, she did just that. And gave us fruits, nuts, let us use her fridge as well as this incredible room with wood fireplace. This room is about 500 years old, but refurbished with great taste, the floor made of very large stones and the stone walls contrast with the modern lighting and the warmth of antique furniture. Fine dishes for us to use are housed in a massive armoire, while we devoured our jambon persille (parsley ham) and breton butter potatoes on a peasant table that used to welcome some 35 farm workers during grape harvest.

This work is done now by machine, but our hostess still enjoys taking care of her guests.
After a quick walk on a GR (Grand Randonee) trail close to our place, we explored the region by car, stopping in Autun and a few other small villages, commenting along the way about coming back here for a longer period of time. So much to see...

Oct 8: La Rochepot

We made slow progress through the region of the Cote d' Or yesterday, taking back roads and exploring small towns. We stumbled upon nothing of much interest.

Our goal for the day was to make it to Beaune. We did. It was late, and the route we took was surprisingly devoid of Chambre d' Hotes, so we went into a hotel. It was promising, being a conversion from a chateau into a hotel over a hundred years ago. We were very disapointed.

Today, we woke to more rain, but bravely went into Beaune and walked for a few hours. This is the center of the Burgundy (Burgogne) region, historic seat of the Dukes of Burgundy. It is, as a result the center of the Burgundy wine trade. The city is of course, beautiful, and very, very rich. Historically, it is the part of France that was most resistant to being part of the kindom, and the Dukes exerted power that rivalled the King's, till they agreed to be part of greater France, and derived special benefit from that.

Once we had seen the city, and resisited the urge to taste wine for breakfast, we went on the hunt to get a more reasonably priced and better appointed place to stay, still in wine country. That is how we ended up in La Rochepot.

Once we secured lodgings with a lady we took a quick liking to, we walked the village. As in every case, it is easy to cover all the tiny streets and lanes. We had to be careful not to be run over by the tractors bringing grapes in from the vinyards to the barns for processing. As we walked we peeked into the barns to see them handling the harvest. Inside the centuries old stone buildings grapes were being dumped into the stainless hoppers and the crush had begun! Production of the red gold must be maximized!

On such a walk, in a village like this, you always end up at the church, market, or castle. In this town it is the castle. Built by the Chevalier Reigner Pot who was the best knight of the Duke of Burgundy, in the 15th century, it is just outside of Beaune.

When we walked up to it, I thought it must be a building made by some nobleman who was rich and wanted to have a chateau that looked like a real castle. Wrong! It was built to look like a real castle because it was. In fact, it was so well built that it resisited sieges during the Hundred Years War. We ponied up the 7.50 per person, for a tour, and were glad we did.

The castle was maintained for hundreds of years, subject to renovations and updates in that time, until the revolution, when it was mostly deconstructed by the nobles-hating-masses. So many places were destroyed at this time. You really can see why when you consider the power and money these immense buildings represented to the people who were struggling to eat. But anyway...the castle was rebuilt in the 18th century, just after the Revolution, and enjoyed a good history of stewardship until now.

The result is that it is well documented, and rebuilt with historical accuracy. The current owners have installed some really great furnishings, a collection worthy of a museum, and some recreations of relevant pieces of art that came from this castle or the area and are now in museums. For example, the tomb of the original castle owner is so artfully carved that it is now in the Louvre in Paris, so there is a painting of it, made at the time the tomb was carved, on display here. Another neat thing we have never seen is a safe built into the thick stone walls, made of metal with several locks and a bell that rings when it is opened. Cool stuff.

This castle, overlooking vinyards is well worth a detour to see, as is the town if you are "doing wine country" here.

So tonight, after much soggy walking, we spent a few hours meeting and talking with our hostess and her family, who farm grapes here. We did this in the "salle de jour" (big farm style dining room), where she had a fire going all day. Her kitten enjoyed being out of the wet as much as we did. She was kind enough to leave us a bottle of the wine they grow and produce, and give us access to her kitchen so we can cook and properly enjoy our dinner.

Oct 7: Haute Marne

The upper Marne, an area of no real touristic interest. This region seems to be a plateau of gently rolling hills that have been turned into giant ag businesses, with occasional small factory thrown in here and there. It is a perfect place for lazy touring, with small towns and villages interspersed with the green fields and colorful forests. The roads are just wide enough for the big farm machinery to negotiate. This is the kind of travel that yields surprises.

Our first stop was at an historic site, an ancient quarry. We couldn't resist, the name of it pal"Cul du Cerf", translated literally, that is " Ss of the Deer". It is an ancient quarry that finally collapsed after thousands of years of taking rock out. Not recommended. One thing that is worth doing is walking. There are many well maintained trails in this region.

Along the road we stopped at a little village, Orquevaux. There is nothing in any tour book about this little place, it has no Office de Tourisme, not even - astonishingly- a bar nor boulangerie for bread. Life here must be hard! What made us stop and walk the entire town was the beautiful setting (see the photo of the little valley covered in autumn colors), and 3 chateaus. Not like castles, actual homes for some lucky rich people. There were regular homes too, and some new ones, but everyone here seems to have agreed to keep the town clean and quaint.

Congratulating ourselves on such a find,we traveled onward. Next stop worth noting was yet another medieval town. We were expecting to be on our way again in short order. After all, we have seen many of these. How glad we were to have stopped at Langres. The town is located at the junction is 3 regions, and commands a view for miles in every direction. Inside the walls, every little street is a new discovery in Roman (the photo of the gate), 15th, 16th 17th and 18th century architecture. The real serendipity though is that this city functions as a normal place to work and live. No tiny shops crowded into streets selling swords, banners, cookies and all other imaginable trinkets and trash. It is so interesting to see how people have adapted and adapted to the buildings developed hundreds of years ago. We were so enthralled we ambelled most of the streets. While a of work was going on all over town, we hope this place, where Diderot conceived the idea of the encyclpedia, will escape the relentless drive to package places such as this in France.

Oct 6: Loraine, Grand

A rainy day. We decided to make our way toward Burgundy. Along the way are some interesting places, and if we feel like it, we will stop. You can't really stop at every point of interest, or your total daily mileage would be approximately 25. As it ended up today, we made perhaps 75 miles. At the end of the day we were in a tiny town called Grand. Not very imaginative, but a treasure nonetheless. It is built on the site of a Roman town, founded around 58 BC, by the legions under Caesar while he was conquering the tribes around here. This is one of the best archeological sites in the northeast.

Paying a few Euros will admit you to the two big archeological finds here. One is a mosaic floor. It is remarkable in size and completeness, apparently the floor of one of the main civic buildings. The other is the amphitheater, excavated to show how it made use of a natural bowl. It seated about 17,000 people, so we can deduce this was an important center, by combining this knowledge with the fact that the town sits in the center of a web of roads.

An interesting aspect of the town is its location. It is far from any traditional anchor for settlement, no river or natural fortification is nearby. To come here you have to do do for a purpose as we did. It is about 45 KM off the main routes. Historical records suggest the springs, underground rivers and easily dug wells gave rise to a sort of water cult before the Romans came. They continued this by building big bath houses here, as they did elsewhere, like Bath England. For the French this seems plausible. They continue this reverence for water at the many famous spa towns like Vittel nearby, where one goes goes for a water "cure" paid for by the social security system.

We finished a quick look-roud around about 4:00, so on the way out of town when we spotted a sign for a chambre d'hote we stopped to check it out and ended up staying. This enabled us to so more walking and meet more interesting people.

Walking the roads around the town makes one think about the fact that these roads were built by the Romans, and have been in service since then. The walls around the town can be seen as mounds in the fields, uncovered in places. The excavations show that the town is built along the same plan as the original town. What is surprising is that it is little larger than it was in ancient times. There is a system of underground rivers and springs here, that attracted the tribes and after them the Romans. Ironically, the water that runs underground also undermines the old church that was built over the main spring by the Catholic church when the power of Rome waned in the dark ages. They liked to build in such a way as to dominate a town's local spring. Now it is falling down and can't be used due to the instability of its foundation.

Another declining institution is the furniture making industry. As we had a drink with our hosts, we learned about recent history in the town. The man who owns the house had a friend over, a 76 year old farmer with an interest in history. So, we all talked for a while. After the usual questions about what it is like where we live, and what the US thinks of France, we learned that this was once the center of furniture making, with about 42 shops and factories. Now there are 2. It seems all the furniture is made in eastern Europe for less money. This is a theme we have heard repeatedly, as the protections erected by the government to maintain business here have been rendered moot by the unelected bureaucrats of the EU who sit in Belgium and make economic policy. This is not very popular, but is the logical extension of a political belief system that invests complete faith in centralized government.

We also heard about the American soldiers who were here in '44, and the 6 local girls who went home with them. Also that the Germans who were here for the previous years were well behaved, but as usual in these stories, nothing about the girls who went to Germany!

Such are the conversations we sometimes have as a bonus with a bed and breakfast.

Oct 4: Lure, Alsace

Our re-entry to France was a relief. We felt a familiar breath of relaxation once we were back on familiar roads. First night objective: Lure, the ancestral home of Grandma Banbury.It is a small town, not a village.

The region it composed of large farms and small factories. It is hilly, with nice tracts of woods separating the fields and pastures. The woods are mixed, conifers and deciduous, with a smattering of birch. The main topographical feature is the Vosges mountains, an ancient range that has eroded to hills. All in all an attractive area.

I won't relate the history of the region in much detail. It has been back and forth between Germany and France for centuries, was for many years part of the Holy Roman Empire, the King of Poland was for a while the Duke here. These facts are repeated in all accounts, but I was but able to understand why this is so. Were the reasons strategic, or economic? The religious issues were not significant. The protestant Germans and the Catholic French both made generous allowances for religious tolerance, except for the Jews. They were expelled in pogroms in the 14th century. To the locals it was clear that Jews were the cause of the plague and the massive earthquake on the Rhine Rift.

It is an area of big agriculture now, and for centuries has been mined for iron, lead, mercury, coal, and other minerals. Oldest and most important is the wine trade. This was the engine that drove big business from the age of the Renaissance to today. The rivers permitted transport to the big cities and to sea ports.

We drove the wine route for a ways, from Colmar to Ste Die. It is worth doing. About a zillion Germans agreed, this being a holiday weekend. One of these little towns is the second most visited in France. We missed it by mistake. The town we enjoyed is Colmar. It is remarkable to me in that it is still used as a town, not merely a tourist attraction. It is very large for such an old town, and on every new street you turn down you find another Renaissance treasure in the form of a merchant's home. The dates are usually carved into the lentels above the door. Some are well documented on plaques. All in all, a pleasant place to spend a day.

Here a word of warning. If you want a decent meal in France, don't expect one in the tourist towns. It is inconceivable to Americans how cynically bad some of the restaurants are. And how expensive. We continue to find dining out for less than $75 per person a futile pursuit.

Oct 3: Black Forest, Volkfest

First, appologies that I didn't attach any photos of the castle, here is one, along with today's pics.

Today we will explore the Black Forest, if the weather holds. It is dark and windy, with rain intermitly blowing in.

In the meantime we are waiting for the washing machine to be finished so we can do our little but of laundry.

When we arrived in the "Black Forest" we were not really surprised that it is in fact green. The denseness of the woods, the predominance of pine, cedar and fir, make it dark, especially on cold, wet, overcast days like this. These were great woods, like those of Minnesota. The stories of the Brothers Grimm were set here, full of trolls, wolves, witches and wood cutters, wherein children were taught the dark woods were a place to fear.

One thing you don't expect to find in this setting is camels. But here near Rotsfeld you will find Kamilhof, translating to Camel House. Why? We aimed to find out. The establishment is a sizeable farm, with dozens of all sorts of camels, all sizes, ages, colors.a And two hump camels are not camels, but dromedaries. Even llamas, the south American member of the Camelid family. If there is a llama or alpaca in the country, Maryvonne will find it. This is a big regional attraction. We started with the lecture and slide show. The title is: Germany, Land of Ideas. I thought this curious. many years ago the owner apparently simply decided to indulge his fascination with camels. He went all over the camel world and bought and flew them from everywhere. It was quite a challenge, quarantine taking a year in Poland, communist at the time; and needing to acclimate for a year of trial and eerie. Next he had to fight the town, the local people made big demonstrations to keep camels out. They didn't get the idea. Finally he won by showing that the animals could be used as a form of therapy for austistic children. The saga is quite a bit more challenging than out Olympic Game Farm.

After the petting and camel rides we took off for Stuttgart, and the second biggest Volksfest in Germany (first is Munich). A Volksfest is very much like our State Fairs, regional festivals that go on for 3 or 4 weeks. Think of the Texas State Fair, then add a few thousand more barrels of beer for those over 16 and you get the picture. The Midway is bigger, more crowded and noisier than you can imagine, there are dozens of beer tents that serve hundreds at a time. Beer is so central to these fall bachanalias that at any one time after 4:00 PM, there are more guys peeing along the side walk than there are at our county fair. A real treat for the ladies and kids who just gawked with a mixture of astonishment, disgust, indifference and humor.

Maryvonne was satisfied that we had experienced enough Volksfest, so we went home.

Sept 30: Where to now?

We will be meeting a childhood friend of Maryvonne's next weekend, but it is Tuesday, and we need to make a plan. So we for in the car and began to drive. It is easy to decide which way to so, you can go left, towards the big city, or right, away from it. Either way you will be driving right beside the Rhein River. This area is highly developed with tourism. Buses and boats abound. There are big cruise boats built on the style of the big river barges that ply the river with cargo from Hamburg.

This is the big wine region is Germany, Rheingau. Along both sides of the river vines are planted on slopes so steep one can't walk up them. In order to cultivate them, there are little tracks like a monorail roller coaster that have little chairs that the vine tenders use to so up and down the hills.

As well, there are castles situated on the heights all along the river. Some of these can be visited, but all of them lend a romantic feel to the river and vinyards.
The castles were built by the nobles, of course, but rather recently. Most date from the 18th and 19th centuries. The noble families were here, collecting tolls on the rivers as a means of income, but they didn't amass the kind of wealth we have seen on France. As the country was formed under Bismark, and stability spread, the nobles began building. Interestingly, the style of architecture is Gothic and Baroque, at the same time France was building its Belle Epoch. Interestingly, these countries clashes in the middle of this period, 1870 in the Franco-Prussian war. My German history knowledge is very weak.

As we drove on, we made the turn at Koblenz onto the road along the Mosel River. This drive took us back toward the southeast. This is a smaller river,but if anything there is more vinticulture along the banks here. This is also the place Germans seem to flock to, the camp grounds were plentiful and full.

We ended the day driving through Heidelburg and Schwetzingen, places I had worked and had fond memories of. What a difference 20 years makes! The turns have grown, sprawled, intensified to the point that they are dirty, ugly, stressful. We didn't even walk around them. Finally, we found a small town with a hotel and a couple of restaurants for the night. A couple of beers, a flammenkuche and we were set for the evening. A flammenkuche is a thin dough topped with soft white cheese, onions, ham and mushrooms. A pizza, but a traditional German dish.

Carryon packing for weeks/months

We are at it again. The objective: Within carry-on luggage guidelines, pack what is needed for 6 weeks or more, including warm beaches and snowy mountains, rain and shine, city and countryside.

Why carry-on? Why schlep? We don't trust the airlines to get our luggage to us, and we don't want to pay the disincentive fee for checking luggage that United imposes. As for the misery of handling our own luggage, well travel is already a circuit through Dante's Inferno, so why not?

We start with experience, lots of it. This is our umpteenth extended trip to France. We are both million mile travelers. We know what we are going to do, and what to expect from the weather. We have done this before, we are professionals, don't try this on your own. Other advantages: that we have pared our needs down through backpacking to ounces; we don't mind wearing clothes more than one day.

Circumstances: The weather will be variable, from the 80's to the 20's, with ample rain, we will carry our reading material, so lots of paperbacks we then give away along the way, there will be the normal PDA, iPod, phone, batteries, camera and chargers to deal with. There will be no social events or formal requirements. Plan on long walks to and from trains, hotels, and up stairs, as well as a tiny car. Plan on laundering as part of the trip.

So the process begins. We plan the list, jogging our memories about what we took, what we used last time. The list begins. Planning is always a part of the project we savor!

The result is this pile o' stuff, and how it fits in. The electronics, books and a couple of essentials or expensive things go into the backpack. This slideshow shows the layers as they go in, hopefully even in the order I need them. Toiletries are in an outside pocket, in the official 1 liter resealable ziplock bag we used last year.

Mapping out the Destinations

Google Maps are a great tool. We have mapped out the places we will be going, thus far. More will be added, but these are the ones we know about now. There is a cool feature that lets you add photos taken into the map, and I may experiment with that when we get home. Here are some of the places. The distance to merely connect the dots is 2956 km, but this is a 6 week itinerary. The German leg of the trip is another facet that we are anticipating with gusto. In fact, it could be possible to be in Munich for Octoberfest. If one can stomach that more than once in a lifetime. Mmmmm, beeeer!

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An Example of our Dispatches from France

The following was written a little over a year ago, as we began our travels in Maryvonne's land of bread, cheese and wine.

Dispatch 1
August 29: Dinard
Our drive from Paris was about 200 kilometers in a VW Polo. It is a tiny economy car, not much related to the Golf. I was a bit taken aback when I got into it at the airport, with my sleep deprived brain. But like riding a bike, I was soon crashing through the gears in Paris on our way! Our first night was in a small hotel in Hourdan. We slept the sweet sleep of those who have been traveling for 24 hours- a real pleasure. This morning was petite café (espresso) in a bar, and en route! We traveled the Route Nationale, which are side roads, a mixture of two and four lane highways that generally connect small towns. It is like driving in Texas, with a lower speed limit (110 KPH), quite pleasant and scenic.

The town where we now are is situated on the Cote d' Emeraude, where Normandy becomes Bretagne. It is a tourist town now, as it has been for many years. You are as likely to hear English- english spoken here as French. The local cuisine is dominated by Norman butter, crepes, gallettes (crepes made with buckwheat four and suited to savory fillings like ham and eggs), & cider. The history is dominated by the Celts & English. It is a bucolic region, with towns built up around the ancient walled farms. The age of structures still in use is striking. You have to admire the inginuity and creativeness of the workmen who adapt successively new technologies into buildings hundreds of years old.

The cost of living here is quite high, more than I remember. Everything is priced in Euros at the same amount they would be in dollars, only the Euro costs about 28% more. This aspect will be interesting. By the way, our first baguette was delightful, just as we dreamed.


Dispatch 2
August 31: Dinard
Here we are, in one of the famous tourist destinations of northern France. The visitors here are generally older, and promenade in the town dressed up at all hours- white beach sets at the beach, white pants and blue jackets in the restaurants, women in high heels day and night, all dressed to the 9s. The few youths here are even well dressed, or at least as well dressed as kids can be. Still vital, the atmosphere is nonetheless reminscent of the Catskills to me. Overall, Dinard has retained to a remarkable degree the feeling of the classic French beach resort. Cabanas, bars, beach vendors, day clubs for children on the beach where parents can drop them for a few hours or the day, strollers dressed well, evening soirees, a casino, and a calm slowness.

Yesterday we bought postcards (carte postales) for everyone we have on our address list. Good idea till we went to the Poste to buy stamps- $1.15 for postage plus the $.45 for the card- letters and phone calls (of one minute or less), are cheaper. An email would be great, but alas, no cybercafe, nor any open wifi networks.

You may wonder about the food,one of the aspects of France central to it's identity. We have discovered the motherload of great bread, and are in danger of over-indulgence! I will take a picture, but that won't convey how crunchy-crispy the crust is. Otherwise, we are eating very simply, dining alone in a small kitchenette in the basement. We are visiting Maryvonne's Grandmere who is 101, and ailing. As a result we stay quiet, and take care not to disturb her or overtax her. This is part of life anywhere, and one of the reasons we came here, but may not be the experience you may have been expecting to read about.

We went for a walk today along the beach and through the town. Most of the central town was built during the Belle Epoch, before WW I. Houses are granite, brick and steep slate roofs, most of 3 stories and many bedrooms, to house the extended families of the rich. New homes built since WW II are similar, with the well to do trying to replicate the old architecture. The houses of grey granite and slate are well decorated with abundant flowers of red, blue and yellow.

This coast has rugged granite outcrops interspersed with "pocket beaches" of nice sand, and water the color of emeralds. Along the coast here, as everywhere in France, German blockhouses are seen, as little surprise reminders of history. History is important here, a few kilometers east of the base of the Cotentin pennisula. This is the beginning of Bretagne, a region with a distinct heritage. Settled by the Celts, the language that is still taught here is Gaelic, similar to old Irish. This is the Texas of France- a place that sees itself as separate and superior. Fiercely proud, conservative and Catholic, Bretagne has resisted change through it's history. Kings had to compromise to gain peace and allegiance, then the revolution had to prosecute a special violent campaign to bring "Liberty, Fratenity, Equality" here. Later, the Republics continually battled the dissent and Royalists from here. The national drink of Bretagne? Cider. National colors? Black and white. You are more likely to see the Bretagne flag on cars than any other in this region. Even a separatist movement. See what I mean about the resemblence to Texas?

Fixin' ta go ta France

I am writing this a while before we depart. The Trip is occupying more and more of my thinking, and we are acting to get ready, qualifying some of the things we do with the phrase "We will be gone for two months soon..." It is a good feeling, it has been far too long between travels for us. Our anticipation for this trip is greater than normal, because we will be joined there by Tiffany and Sid, and Matt and Anna. They will be in Bretagne for a week with us.

Our plans are loose, except for the week we have rented a house.  So many options!  One idea we are kicking around is to go into Germany.  We both have done work there in the past, and recall Germany fondly.  I for the wurst und pils, Maryvonne for a childhood friend there.  

Last year we did our best to pack in carry on luggage.  Not sure if we will this time or not.  Since United will charge us to check bags, why not?  

Mmmm bread, cheese, sausison!  We will eat well, even when traveling with our little picnic kit which is waiting for us.  

Countdown to France- name the destination!

We are getting to the point of making lists of the things we have to do to get ready for our trip. Thus we are getting excited about it all. Many things to do. It provides a good punctuation to use as a way to clean up some things we are doing now. Busy time. We leave in early September.

Now we will be thinking about how to spend the discretionary time during our travels. Suggestions are invited, so click the comment button at the bottom of the post to give us some ideas. If your idea is selected and acted upon, we will bring you a present back from that location to prove we were there and recognize your contribution. The area of travel will be restricted to France, and Germany. The winner will not be announced until we have completed the trip- October 20. We reserve the role of sole judges and our decisions are final. No opportunities for kibitzing or arbitration will be allowed, and all that sort of thing.

Now, some guidelines: We will be driving, so we can get almost anywhere. We don't go to big cities. We don't spend on high cost attractions, so forget Disney Europe. We don't like the Belge so much, so if you want to send us there, think again. We are going to be heading from Bretegane to Stuttgart, so grab a map and check out the route, anything along the way has a higher probability of success. If you send along a bit of background or history, that may make a difference if it is compelling.



Entries must be received by August 25, that's the way it is.

If you want to see the rest of the blog, to see what we are up to and some random thoughts, click on this link: EXECHOBO

Queen Stage of the Tour de France

We are watching the footage from the most important stage in this year's tour, Alpe d'Huez. In this stage they will ride over 3 major mountains, starting at 911 meters, climbing to 2645 meters, then down to 538 meters, climb back to 2067 meters, then down to 7115 meters and finally on to the finish at the top of the legendary Alpe, at 1850 meters. In all, they climb over 45 miles, on a day when the ride is over 130 miles long. This is the mountain that is most shown in the highlights of Lance Armstrong's 7 Tour wins, where the crowds are so close on each side of the road, running alongside the riders as they struggle, standing on the pedals, inching ahead of each other.

We have been on the roads of the Tour driven them, and they are wicked mountain roads, the likes of which I have not seen in this country. The Pike's Peak climb is higher, but the road is wider and seems less steep. This is the place where legends are made, where Lance, after a day of being spit on by the German fans finally broke Jan Ulrich, looking over his shoulder and taunting him to keep up as he went onward. The cycling world watches this climb as the Super Bowl of cycling.
This year, it is just as important. The top 5 riders, after 16 days of riding, are within less than two minutes of each other. All are great climbers, and all have a chance to win the whole race here, if they can find a way to "put some time into" the rest of the leaders. Cadel Evans, Denis Menchov, Carlos Sastre, these are the men left who look like they could win, and who can do well here today.

But cycling is a team sport, and the name of the game is using teamwork to drive the pace high enough to make the opponents suffer, to break them. This year the only team that looks like a great team is CSC/Saxobank. In the past, Lance surrounded himself with great teams, teams that spawned riders who went on to lead other teams, and be stars on their own, and every member of those teams rode for one purpose, to put their leader in place to win. But make no mistake, after every team member exhausted themselves all day, relentlessly pushing the peleton faster to expose weaknesses in the competition, the team leader had to take the race on his own shoulder and ride on to win. This year CSC is doing this, acting as a juggernaut at the head of the peleton each day, lifting the speed higher and higher. Their members who are in contention have the advantage of knowing the team is there with them, and to be able to ride behind them, enjoying the slipstream effect. They are riding for Carlos Sastre, but one of the other members of CSC, Frank Schleck is also doing well, and is leading as today's race begins. And that is a good position to be in, the same situation as Discovery Channel enjoyed last year when it rode for Levi Leipheimer, but a new rider, Contador, showed he was the one able to mount the final effort at the end of the climb in the Alps, when no one else could keep up.

As the race is unfolding, amazingly, the leaders in the standings are all there at the end. CSC is doing all it can to work together to lift the pace to where someone has to drop back, but no one has. Then, at the foot of Alpe d'Huez, as the road turns left and begins the final climb of the day, it is apparent that this road will be different, it will be every man for himself for these last 15 kilometers. The pace slows, the riders come out of the saddle, and quickly, one man breaks away, Sastre! But not for long, Menchov is right on his wheel, so the pack catches up and they are all bunched again. But as soon as that is apparent, Sastre breaks away again, and this time no one can match him, he is off! For the rest of the climb he is inching ahead. In the pack, the leaders stay together. There are small breaks, but no one can go clear. The favorite to win the Tour, Cadel Evans has no reason to catch Sastre, he can do that on Saturday at the time trial. The American, in 6th place overall, Christian VandeVelde is still there, and looks good! The others are dueling with break aways that get reeled in, using precious energy, but the effect is to actually slow overall pace, letting Sastre open more of a lead. As the thrusting and recovering in the pack continues, he is ahead by over a minute. Then Menchov is off the back, he may lose any chance for a high finish here. There are two remaining CSC riders, the Schleck brothers, and one of those is in the Yellow Jersey, but this is not to be his day, and he is suffering. His younger brother, Andy though, is working to contain the group. No one can get away from him, and he is like a psychological anchor on anyone who tries to close the gap with Sastre.

As they work up the hill, Sastre focused on riding a great climb, putting time into the other behind him, the pack is engaged in wasteful efforts with no clear benefit. Until it is clear that Sastre is capable of getting far enough ahead to build a time cushion that the rest can't close in the remaining few days. Then Evans, finally, takes on the mountain, breaking away, and immediately Schleck is on him, the others catch him. But this doesn't matter to Evans now, he keeps riding, dragging them all behind him, closing in on Sastre, knowing he can't let him get more than one and a half minutes ahead at the end of the day. Is VanderVelde still there? YES! And he looks like he can do more. Now the group is really making time! And what's this? Menchov is back among them. They ride now with no attempt to game each other, the mountain is asserting itself, it is purely a game of survival. If they can keep the pace, the race will remain close, with 4 or 5 potential winners.

Meanwhile, at the line, Carlos Sastre has crossed, finishing a great day of racing for him and his team, and the clock begins. The chase group is working now at their limits, pain in every face, legs and lungs on fire, but wills unbreakable. They all round the final curve and come across the as a ragged group. And for the first time, on the other side of the line, all the racers simply stop, no riding off out of camera range, no seeking out support crews, they simply stop there on the road, heads down, panting for air, utterly spent. What a race!


There was no race winning effort here, in fact, the standings got tighter. There is no superstar, there is no super human performance. In this group, the are no drugs, just riders on the edge of human effort. The top four are separated by one minute, thirty four seconds, and in the time trial on Saturday, it is very easy to see that gap overcome by any of them. Then the 5 and 6 slots are within 4min 41 sec. And number six is the American, VanderVelde. Is it likely he can gain that much time on Saturday? No, not agains Evans and Menchov, but he COULD just get past the other two ahead of him and get on the podium.

VanderVelde has no great team around him, he has never been thought a Tour winner potential. His team Slipstream Chipotle recruited him as an old hand with the right attitude to help its young riders as the team builds itself up, a brand new entity invited to the tour as a gesture to America, to keep the viewership ratings up in this country, with no chance of winning, Just as the French like it. But here he is, a veteran of the US Postal teams, a journeyman, as surprised as anyone he is here. A great story of heart and dedication to a sport that is one of the best there is.

Rest day for the Tour

This is the first rest day in this year's tour, coming after the peloton had a grueling couple of days in the Pyrenees.  At this juncture the tour looks to be in good shape, with Cadel Evans in yellow for the first time.  The climbs yesterday were tough, as the Pyrenees always are.  We have been on some of these roads, and found them challenging to walk, let alone ride.  When the riders are shown with people running next to them, you can get a sense of how steep they are.  

The one team that has distinguished itself was CSC, and that came yesterday as they blew the peloton apart with a gutsy pace driven by German super-domestique Jens Voight- what a ride!  As well CSC had its great time trialist Fabian Cancellara in a breakaway to the front most of the day.  The idea was to force the field to keep up, or put a lot of time into those who couldn't.  It worked, as two potential winners were broken, and will now work to save face, not win the race.  The CSC GC designate Carlos Sastre managed to make good on the work of his team, now is in 6th, 1:28 minutes back.  But on the day, Frank Schlek made CSC look great, finishing 3rd and putting himself 0:01 minutes back in the General standings.  Looking like they will be the team to beat, but who will they choose to win?

Of course, the individual standouts matter, at least for now.  Cadel Evans, the pre race favorite did a good job staying in the group with CSC all day, and putting himself in yellow.  I say himself because his team was not apparent at any time during the day.  A pity.  If he wins, it will be on his talent alone.  It was good to see him push himself and make an apparent effort.  He seems always to wait for things to happen for him.  I want to see him earn a victory with an heroic stage win, like Lance always had.  One gets the idea he wants to be in the hunt and wait for the big time trial at the end of the tour because he is good at that discipline- but that is not what makes the tour exciting.  

For the US, it was exciting to see Christan Vande Velde for Team Garmin-Chipoptle staying with everyone all day, like Evans.  And like Evans, no team was apparent around him.  One can only hope he can keep going like this.   

Tour de France update

The Tour, the greatest sporting event on earth, is under way. Today they ran stage three. Click on the title of this post to go to an excellent blog dedicated to the tour de france.

Why is it so great? Over 20 days, over 2000 miles, and some of the most daunting mountain roads ever built. It is test of endurance, teamwork, tactics, leadership, courage and athleticism that makes it's simplicity quite elegant.