by David McGuffin | Feb 19, 2008 | David's Journal
David’s note – If you are just tuning in, let me get you up to speed here. Back in December, I decided to write about the first big group tour to Europe that I had a part in planning. The year is 1997 and we’ve just traveled all day on a bus from Paris to the Alsace region of France.
As it turned out we did a lot of driving today. The hours added up with the trucker’s strike, taking the back-roads, and the long distances to travel. However, getting off the highway and out into the countryside was a good idea.
REFLECTIONS
Often when traveling in foreign countries, and especially on a bus tour, you tend not to notice the places between destinations. It’s just so easy to get on that bus each morning, let the driver drive, and forget about everything other than where you’re going next. This happened to me thirty years ago on my first trip to Europe. We’d all have a great time for a day or two at each destination, but when it came to our “travel” days all we could do was to sleep on the bus. At times many of us didn’t even know in which direction we were traveling or how far it was. I remember traveling from Tel Aviv to the Goland Heights, sleeping all the way, not knowing how far it was, in what direction it was, or how long it would take us. Basically we all just rode the bus, slept from one tourist sight to the next, and repeated the process day after day.
Getting off the highway for the first time gave me a new perspective on travel. I realized there were people in France living just like I do at home in my small rural town. As we traveled that day from Chartres to Colmar, my outlook and perspective changed too. France is a big country, especially when you start driving through it, and there is a lot of diversity. Until that day, my only perception of France was that which I got while visiting Paris. No wonder we have preconceived ideas about the French people! Paris is wonderful, but it is not a sound representation of the whole country just as New York City is not what immediately comes to mind when we Americans think about the USA.
Since that trip in 1997, I’ve done a lot of driving in France. Many times I’ve rented a car just so I could see and experience the country. Driving really makes you experience the trip. You can’t sleep at the wheel, you have to be alert, so consequently you begin to notice the little things. Kids playing in the school yards, teenagers hanging out, women visiting and shopping, men gathering for a drink or chat at the local bar… it’s the same stuff we do at our homes. The only difference is it is done in a different manner.
I guess the entire point here is that when traveling we should try to see things from a perspective other than as a tourist. There are a lot of people in this world and traveling makes us realize that we really aren’t all that different.
by David McGuffin | Feb 15, 2008 | David's Journal
After lunch we walked back to the bus, gathered up everyone, and headed out of town. Originally our plans were to take the motorway back to Paris and then head south, but the trucker’s strike changed all that. Instead, we took a small two-lane road heading southeast through the countryside. This, being my first experience off the beaten path in France, was an eye-opening journey. We traveled through miles and miles of wheat fields south of Chartres that reminded me very much of those I’d seen in Oklahoma and Kansas.
As we neared the area of Burgundy, the fields turned to mountains with evergreens at their tops. The valleys were filled with grapevines stretching from one small village to the next. Somewhere around Dijon we stopped for a break and many of us purchased little jars of their famous mustard. No “grey poupon” here, just well seasoned mustard laced with that famous white wine.
Dijon gave me a different perspective on France, its people, and its culture. Until this time I’ve only visited Paris, and I soon learned that was not the best representation of the country. Here in Dijon we got off the bus in the town center and walked down the main street peeking in shops and checking out the mustard, olives, culinary items, and wine. I picked up on a different dialect and with it a different attitude for the local folks. They were different than the Parisians.
Yes, I know, the local people we interacted with were shopkeepers who ultimately were there to sell us tourists some of their stuff…but they were nice about it. They weren’t like the Parisian shopkeepers who spoke English in a haughty and curt voice. Here in Dijon they spoke very little English but seemed to go out of their way to help us with our shopping. Between our silly “sign language,” the two or three words we knew in French, and their limited English vocabulary, we all had a great time buying bread, cheese, mustard, and wine.
Later we sat down at a cafe and were presented a menu entirely in French. There was no “tourist” menu as there had been in Paris. Charlotte saw a pile of french fries loaded with ketchup at a nearby table and set out to find them on the menu. After all the pitiful food we’d had on this trip, fries looked really good to me too. So here we were, sitting at this cute little French cafe in Dijon’s town center trying to figure out what the French word for FRENCH fries was!
Well, we couldn’t locate it on the menu, so finally when the waitress came over to get our order she pointed at the table and plate of fries. The waitress laughing said, “ahhh, french fries…pommes frites!, avec ketchup?” Not quite getting the translation but hearing “ketchup” Charlotte knew she had hit pay-dirt and voiced a confident oui, oui, s’il vous plaît!
So goes the story of how we got our first order of FRENCH fries in Dijon, France!
by David McGuffin | Jan 23, 2008 | Eating & Drinking, Essential Travel Resources
McDonald’s for fine cuisine?
I’ve not always been the confident and savvy tour leader I am today. There was a time when I relied on the “expertise and advice” of drivers and guides to lead me and my student groups around the sights of Europe. The trouble was that the bus drivers were always on the take, either for the young girls or for our tour dollars; and the guides were at least fifteen years younger than me with about half as many people skills. The only positive thing they had going was our ignorance and their knowledge of the tourist sights.
To make matters worse, these tours were promoted as providing breakfast and dinner everyday, but I always came home hungry! After those early trips to Europe our first stop, after arriving at our hometown airport, was for a thick and juicy steak! You see, we had been practically brainwashed into believing that everyone in Europe had a hard roll and jam for breakfast and a chicken or pork cutlet followed by a piece of fruit for dinner. No wonder my students craved a Big Mac!
What ever happened to that food Julia Child so eloquently described in her cookbooks? Finally, I took control. Never again was I going to be blindly led through the streets of Europe by a guide who was experiencing a sight for the first time just like me! Never again was a bus driver going to steal from me and my group and blame it on the locals, and never again was I going to come home from Europe craving American food!
It was the basement dining experience in Rome that did it. Earlier in the day our “walking tour” had taken us past outdoor cafes and garlicky smelling trattorie which just pleaded with my senses to come in for a taste. Finally, it was time for dinner and I was ready! But to my dismay, we were loaded onto our bus and transported to the outskirts of town. Here we got off the bus and went underground into a huge 400-seat cafeteria. I think all the student tour groups who visited Rome that day were scheduled to have dinner here. My group was hustled in and seated. We were fed pasta, an unknown cutlet, and a piece of fruit. Then we were hustled out so the next group could take our seats.
It took me a few years to get my act together, but never again will I come home hungry from a European tour. Our Exploring Europe tours are loaded with good food and gourmet meals. Don’t get the wrong impression, this does not necessarily mean “fine dining.” Our meals consist of the best of the local cuisine coupled with a unique and special dining experience. We eat fish by the seashore, pesto in Liguria, snails in Burgundy, sausage in Munich, and omelets in Normandy. Potatoes are a staple in Ireland, and you’ve got to have fish and chips in England. Pasta reigns supreme in Italy and crisp French fries, dipped in mayonnaise, are a delight in Belgium. In Holland you can try a salted herring, only if you like, and the spicy Indian cuisine of London is sure to put a sting to your taste buds. If you don’t like what you see (or smell), there is always another choice somewhere else. You’ll never go hungry on one of our tours! Happy Eating!
David
by David McGuffin | Jan 17, 2008 | David's Journal
“June 9 cont….
After all the traffic associated with the strike we finally made it to Chartres, albeit two hours late. Chartres is a wonderful little town. Although the town is centuries old, it is tidy, clean, and well maintained. The town’s main attraction is the cathedral of Chartres (Notre Dame de Chartres) . Built in the Gothic style during the 12th and 13th centuries, it is well known for its vast collection of stained glass. This is truly the most stained glass I’ve ever seen in one place. I thought St. Chappelle in Paris was beautiful, but here in Chartres, there’s just so much more! Equally impressive is the alter and the walls surrounding it that has a carved granite screen depicting the life of St. Mark. This was beautiful and we took time to study each panel recalling the associated Biblical account.
After spending about an hour in and around the cathedral, we took some time to explore the town center. Charlotte and I stopped at a little take-a-way place and picked up ham and cheese baguettes. Then we wandered around until we found a park, grabbed a bench, and enjoyed our lunch.
by David McGuffin | Jan 11, 2008 | David's Journal
June 9, 1997
This is our last few hours in Paris. I am sitting here finishing my breakfast and thinking that today we are going to travel to Chartres and then on to Colmar in the Alsace region of France. All seems to be going OK this morning, no complaints from the kids and Jason appears to be fine, and no one else is “ill” either.
Later…
While traveling to Chartres we encountered a trucker’s strike on the highway from Paris. This caused us a delay of two hours getting to Chartres. Apparently this strike was a protest of working conditions for truckers and also having something to do with Spanish drivers too. I am not sure of the details but I’ve never seen so many trucks blocking an interstate highway! I cannot imaging this happening in the United States!
We sat at a complete stand still for at least an hour. But we all were entertained! The truckers were making the most of the situation by breaking out their lounge chairs and having parties alongside the highway in the emergency breakdown lanes. We were especially appalled to see many of them, after one too many glasses of wine, non-chalantly relieving themselves along the side of the road. You should have heard the girls in the bus squeal with indignation!
January 2008 Reflections: I did some research about this strike in 1997. Apparently the newly elected Prime Minister Lionel Jospin caused a big upset during this time and it all came to a head in November 1997. I believe the “strike” we encountered was only a sample of what France and the EU was to see in November of that same year. So…Europe is full of surprises and you never know what’s going to be thrown at you. The key, then and now, is to make the most of the situation.
-David
