Camp vans

By now we have experienced many, many different camp grounds from 1 star to 5 star in a number of countries. In our opinion It is not always the number of stars that makes the campground the best. It is more intangible things like the atmosphere in the campground or the people that you meet that will make them memorable for us.

We will always remember the elderly gent on his equally antique bike puffing around the campground in Slingsby, Yorkshire announcing the arrival of the fish and chip van. The 9am arrival of the bread van at the municipal campground in Epernay would bring all the campers out like a huge flock of seagulls as fresh baked goodies were dispensed from the tiny red van for the next 20 - 30 minutes.

Last night we had another unique experience. We arrived back at the camp ground to find - a wine van! Like everyone else we lined up to taste the samples of the regions Beaujolais.




We proceeded to have a wonderful interaction (conversation would be stretching it as he knew as much English as we did French) with the wine merchant. An essential word we have learned is 'froid' as we like our wine cold.

We will be in the Bordeaux region tonight. I wonder if they have wine vans?

Gayle

Location:Lyon, France

Tastes like chicken

We did it, we actually did it... we've eaten frogs legs and snails.

Today we were in Lyon, the 'gastronomic' capital of France. So it seemed the right place to try these traditional French dishes. We were very nervous as we walked down the main French cuisine restaurant street searching for a restaurant that served frogs and snails. We sat down and ordered the snails (escargot) and frogs legs (grenouilles) as entree. The waiter brought out a pair of tongs (une pince)


and we looked at him confused and he said... "not for de frogs". Minutes later out came the snails and frogs legs, "holy crap, holy crap, holy crap" was all that was going through my head as I picked up a snail, scooped it out of it's shell and put it in my mouth. BUT to my surprise the snail was actually delicious and tender, it really did taste like chicken. We all wanted more, the plate was completely empty when we finished.


Now it was on to the frogs, these were much more nice looking as they were served like buffalo wings. We finished them and enjoyed every bite. But, if you ever do eat snails, don't look at the snail before you put it in your mouth, it's not the prettiest thing you'll ever see.



Unfortunately both Mum and Luke forgot to bring their cameras so we have included a photo of the receipt as evidence.


Jake

All the photos but the recipient were off the Internet because we forgot to bring the cameras.

Location:Lyon

On the road again

Alas, it was time to leave the champagne region of France and continue on our journey. Today's destination was the Black Forest, our last destination in Germany before heading west to Spain.

In our previous driving during Jessie's limited time with us we made use of the toll ways to get from A to B. They were expensive but efficient. We now have the trusty GPS set to avoid toll ways so, although this takes a bit longer and is a bit more tiring for Mark, I get to enjoy to scenery.

Before crossing the Rhine into Germany we travelled through the Alsace region of France and part of the Vosges Mountains. We passed through numerous old and beautiful villages. Nearly everyone had its own huge church and various floral and water features scattered here and there.

Although the photo below does not do justice the houses in Alsace and the Black Forest regions were quiet pretty with their timber verandas and pretty flower boxes. Even though today was a warm 32 degrees you could tell from the unique shape of the roofs that snow here is not uncommon.



We are now set up in Freiburg enjoying the lovely weather. Oh well, time to open the bottle of Riesling or Moselle instead of champagne. Lucky I am versatile!

Gayle

Location:Epernay, France to Freiburg, Germany

Cuckoo clocks and cake in the Black Forest

Today we made our way to the Black Forest to see the Cuckoo clocks and of course have some Black Forest Cake. We entered the Cuckoo clock shop and had a look around at some of their amazing clocks. Some had deer heads made out of wood, others had men in laderhosen with a beer in their hand going up and down on a see saw. We went outside to watch the big clock strike 4 O'clock.







And of course we had to finish our visit off with a mammoth piece of Black Forest Cake(Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte). So we went down to one of the two big rival cake restaurants and had a slice. We finished every crumb of it and when we saw the table behind us we were appalled, two people had left half of the slice on the table and walked away, Jessie would agree that this would never ever happen in the West household, that's for sure.


Jake

Location:Triberg, Germany

Windmills and dikes

The kids were a bit disappointed that during our four days in Paris they only saw one person wearing a beret. While we did not expect to see every one trudging around in clogs and we knew it was the wrong time for tulips, we could not say good bye to The Netherlands before seeing at least one windmill and dike.



With that as our mission we set off to Kinderdijk.





Gayle

Location:Kinderdijk, The Netherlands

Eeny, Meany, Miney, Mo ... ët & Chandon

Today, as Jake would say, we had an interesting and educational day touring the Champagne caves of Epernay.



We started our day with a tour of the Moët & Chandon establishment in the Avenue de Champagne. Not only did we learn that you do pronounce the 't' in Moët and that Reims is pronounced 'Rance' but we also learnt about the champagne making process from beginning to end as we toured some of the 28 kilometres of Moët & Chandon's 300 year old chalk champagne caves. In fact under the one kilometre long Ave de Champagne, which is home to some of the biggest names in French champagne, there are over 120km of champagne caves.


By the end of the tour we could understand how champagne can be so expensive. It is a rather labour intensive process which starts with the hand picking of grapes, 3 fermentation stages and not to mention the hand riddling(the slight turning and progressive upward tilting) of up to 35 000 bottles per day.






Back when champagne was first created they used to leave the sediment in the bottle, which is why champagne flute stems used to be hollow. It was Veuve Cliquot who invented the process of riddling to remove the sediment. In her day they had to be expert in opening the bottles whilst tilted upside down to spurt out the sediment but be quick enough to seal it with their thumb before they lost too much. Nowadays it involves freezing the very top of the bottle whist it is upside down. The sediment icecube is then popped out very quickly and easily thanks to the pressure of the contents in the bottle when it is inverted.


Of course the highlight of the tour was the two glasses of vintage champagne at the end. And then it was time for some champagne shopping at the fabulously affordable local prices. Unfortunately the Dom Perignon, seen below undergoing part of its 30 year fermentation process ...


... was still a long way out of our budget. But a bubbly loving girl can only try!


Gayle

Location:Epernay, France

The Red Light District

When in Amsterdam you must visit the Red Light district. It gets it's name from the brothels on the streets that have red lights that illuminate the windows in which they have women posing in bikinis or lingerie. We saw one or two men open the windows and talk to these women (about what I have no idea... well, maybe just a little). I have to say it is really different, not awkward or exciting it's just different to walk down the street and have partial nude women tap on windows and motion for people to "buy" them for the night.



We got this picture off the net because it's very disrespectful to take photos of the brothels.

The other... let's call them "interesting" buildings on the streets were the Peep shows and coffee shops. The peep shows, from what I gather, is a live sex show that people just walk in and watch. The coffee shops aren't your normal Starbucks, these coffee shops have a distinct smell of pot (I had no idea what pot smelt like until now, so don't get the wrong idea), a thick haze of smoke and people with glazed over eyes and spaced out looks on their faces (I'm guessing that they weren't just tired from a long days work) and were sell things such as herbal energizers, hemp lollipops and magic truffles.


This is an experience that you will never forget. This is very different from everything else in the city which is old and beautiful while this is red and bright. I just don't know what to think about it.



Jake

Location:Amsterdam