“Oh you’re the people who send me Spam…”

I recently had a tweet conversation on the surprisingly effective and rapidly viral MoonFruit Twitter promotion. It went like this:

@bestofjess Am I the only one who thinks the #moonfruit promo is uber spammy? http://www.moonfruit.com/macbook-pro.html
@[otherperson] Aren’t most promos spammy?
@bestofjess No! This promo has no relevance; mentions just for the sake of mentions.
@[otherperson] Sounds like all contest promos to me

Who among us email marketers has never heard themselves labeled as a Spammer? But is that really all marketing and promotion is? Unwanted, irrelevant, clutter-some content for the sake of mentions?

I won’t bother reemphasizing that this is my own opinion and not fact or even prominent reality, but I will acknowledge that I’m about to choose a side publicly. And I say, of course not.

This isn’t a new question: Marketing and Advertising have been doubted by an entire generation of consumers as Mind Control’s sneakier or at least subtler brethren. And so their next of kin: social media and online promotion are similarly guilty until proven worthy.

But email marketing, online contesting and viral promotions aren’t all Spam. Just like all advertising isn’t one-directional propaganda. Good marketing offers information about a company/product so that when Joe Customer needs something, he’s got options. I’m not just a pusher. I don’t sell ice to Eskimos (those who don’t need it) or ice cream to diabetics (those who shouldn’t have it). I offer information to the consumer about my product. If it’s something you want/need, you’ll come to me to buy it – or go to the grocery store, ticket booth, etc.

But I digress. MoonFruit challenged Twitter users to tweet frantically using their designated hashtag and a link back to their promotional site. The purpose? Inevitably to drive traffic. The real effect? Tens – maybe hundreds – of thousands of tweeple dropping the hashtag into their tweets. Sometimes the tweets are about MoonFruit, sometimes they’re not. Sometimes they’re positive comments, sometimes they’re not (a CMO’s nightmare whether s/he likes to admit it or not). The only common thread for the participants? They want the MacBook Pro.

These tweeple may not even know what moonfruit is. They may never try it, or might hate it and never really recommend it. That is Spam. Mentions for the sake of mentions. Content without relevance. Twitter feeds everywhere are rolling through the daily grind and hitting little #moonfruit speed bumps. The twitterer and twitteree – I think I’m making up tweet vernacular – neither one may care about MoonFruit.

I believe in the power of fun contests to draw in users to learn more about your brand. I believe in having your name out there - sponsorships, branding - for top of mind awareness. But like the guy in legal says: without the intent to harm. Overloading inboxes with pharmaceutical promotions in Russian and contributing to the ever-increasing speed of my twitterfeed with bunk messages are cumbersome, bothersome and dilute the nature of email and Twitter respectively which is for me (User) to delve into the things I'm most interested in by opting in and/or following.

The worst part is that MoonFruit's Twitter Trick will probably be seen as a raging success, further adding fuel to the fire against promotions and adding eager Spammers to the ranks of those trying it out. It’ll fizzle in success as Spammers jump on board, as every good idea does. And anti-ad-ers will point and lump these guys in with the rest of “us marketers.” And it’s too bad. Because marketing and advertising is a valuable part of the communication food chain.

My job isn’t “Spam”. If it were, I wouldn’t do it.

May 29-31: The trip home

I'm home!

As expected, no blog posts Friday or yesterday. Thursday was my last real day and Friday was for travel prep etc. You won't believe it (maybe you will) but I not only got my bag and suitcase closed, I actually could zip the "extension" back up! There's a thing on my suitcase that you can unzip to get like 2 extra inches for the main compartment and I didn't need it! I was very impressed with my packing skills. All of my clothes were rolled up into little croissants and wrinkled within an inch of their lives, but hey, they came back with me... I had a pile of things I was ready to toss: shampoo, conditioner, lotion - cheap but heavy/bulky things I can buy again easily - and I didn't need to. Woo hoo!

I will say, in repacking my suitcase, I realized just how much I've bought here. And rather than being ashamed I'm excited. Besides, what did I save all that money up for if I was just going to try and save it once I got here? Exactly.

Friday's hotel switch went well. I was actually lucky enough to catch a ride from one of my new friends who also offered a side trip for a picnic lunch at Versailles! We wound our way through small towns from Versailles to the airport (ok, a nice way of saying, we got lost a couple times - but after talking nicely to the Garmin, we got there around the multiple road work detours).

I checked in to the Holiday Inn Express in its *** glory and thought I was in heaven: spacious room, spotless shower and toilet in the actual hotel room, elevator! I treated my friend to dinner for his help in getting me to HIE and was even pleasantly surprised at how yummy dinner was. In case anyone needs a spot with easy access to the airport, I would definitely recommend HIE. (Plus, the price was really reasonable.)

I set a wake up call for 5:45a on Saturday and then didn't need it. As has been the custom for me on this trip, I woke up before that and then couldn't get very good sleep so I just got up around 5:30 and started getting things reassembled and ready. I had my last pain au chocolat and took the shuttle to the airport.

My bags were checked in first thing, so all I had to do was get to the gate and on the plane. Things went really smoothly and the timing with layovers and such worked out. The day did, however, leave me with plenty of time to contemplate life: the flight from Paris to Houston took 11hrs 15 min! The flight from Newark to Paris, if you'll recall, was 6 1/2 hours... I mean yeesh. And though there was a 2 year old that may or may not need to see an exorcist on the 11 hour flight, it was really ok. I seem to have an entirely different level of patience for things when in France (or traveling to/from). I watched a movie, read my Kindle, shut my eyes for awhile. Ate every meal/snack they offered...

I arrived in Houston and had to roll through customs. I was actually quite glad I hadn't tried to bring back a bottle of wine. Turns out alcohol or tobacco will get you a secondary search at customs, but I got to roll right through. Rechecked my bags just past Customs (thank goodness) and had to take a shuttle thing to the right terminal the airport is so big.

The flight from Houston to KC went very fast: 1 hr 20 min ish. It was funny to get on a tiny plane (a total of 3 seats per row, 20 rows) after being on the huge trans-Atlantic (seats 300+ people). Mom and Dad were there at KCI with big smiles to pick me up. We headed for Brio for a "last meal before sensible eating" and I talked probably the hole time.

To answer the assumed question: no, I'm not actually sad to be back. I loved (loved) my time in France, but I'm excited to be back home. I'm only filling my schedule with things I want to do, and letting the things I don't really love fall to the wayside. I'm overscheduled I think and I shouldn't be. So I'm ready to add things back into my currently empty planner.

Plus, it seemed so natural for me to have taken the time in France. Like I was doing exactly what I should be. And I know it won't be my last trip. In fact, I think perhaps special trips for the South of France or Shopping trips to Paris with friends are in the near-er future. And then in 4 years, maybe I'll have saved up enough time off to do the "sabatical" thing again. To really go with no feeling of having to "get it all done."

Hope you guys have loved reading about the trip! All pics are at flickr.com/photos/bestofjess and I'm adding another 4 or 5 from Friday/Saturday soon.

See you all for my birthday plans -- Hope to have printed pics there for perusing.

Thursday, May 28: Louvre

Not to be just totally obvious, but how could I possibly only have 2 days left in France? For one thing, I still have more than half a journal to fill up! Guess I’ll just have to come back (take note: I’m thinking 2013 for those who may want to join)…

I’m starting to wear my clothes pretty thin… They’ll be happy to be in a less aggressive rotation when I get back home. In the meantime, I’m actually really sort of out of shirts to wear and as I only have 2 days left, going to a Laundromat seems silly. So I went shopping. (Yeah, I’m serious. I know…)

Made my final trip back to the massive mall that is Les Halles and back to my new favorite store on the planet, New Look (and they have plenty of bad stuff, too, but they have lots of cute things). I didn’t find a shirt there.. *cough* ok, I got shoes. Ok, so it was 5 pairs. I know! I know… 5 pairs of shoes on top of the 2 pairs I’ve bought already in France and the 4 pairs I brought with me. But, but… I got new sneakers, a pair of sporty flats, a pair of flat brown sandals (all of which I needed) and 2 very fun shoes I could not get in the States. There. Whew… first step is admission, moving out of denial. Besides, I’ve been waiting to buy stuff for the last week so I don’t have to haul it everywhere for 4 weeks. I swear I’ve thought this through. I’m only justifying it to whomever reads this blog because as I read, even I can’t help cracking up at myself. Yeesh.

Ok, but then I found a couple of cute shirts at a place called La City that were versatile and Buy 2, get 1 for a Euro. Great deal, right? (I swear I’m done shopping. Really, I promise.)

I had a healthy lunch (pic) and came back to drop off bags at the hotel room. I switched into my new sneakers and headed off for the Louvre.

Man, that place is big. You can’t stand in any one place from the inside or the outside and see the whole thing. Nowhere. It’s so big it eclipses itself! I got my ticket from the nice lady at the counter who must just luuuuv her job (*sarcasm, sarcasm*) and headed off to the popular ground floor level of the Denon Wing to see Greek and Italian sculpture (pics galore – sorry for the blurry but no flash allowed), then back through French and Italian Renaissance paintings. I stopped through Charlesmagne’s special hallway o’ extravagance before heading to the much less crowded Sully wing for Prehistoric Greek/Etruscan hallways, followed by the almost empty Ancient Egyptian and Oriental halls. Got a couple good shots of hieroglyphics… Allise, if you’re reading, please translate! I don’t remember how to read them at all… (pics of all are on Flickr).

There are plenty of people in the popular wings, to be sure, but not really as bad as I’d prepared myself for. I wasn’t really bothered by them and it only smelled a little like sweaty humans. (ha) The big thing I did notice was that people don’t follow the rules. No flash (pish), no eating in the museum (who brings lunch to the Louvre??), no loud talking (bwahahaha, yeah right). Apparently all just suggestions. I did get to see a wide variety of tour guides, each with a different language and a different brightly-colored item held up in the air for the group to be able to see/follow. Mostly umbrellas, but I did see a collapsed/folded up baby carriage for one group. I thought that was an interesting choice as her arm is sure to get tired after about 20 minutes of holding that thing up.

There were student groups, probably with an art class, running around sort of scavenger hunt style trying to fill out a worksheet. That was kind of fun to watch. Their heads were in a lot of my pictures, but they were mostly respectful so they didn’t get too annoying.

Gray day spent at the Louvre was a good choice and I’m glad I got back to it. I haven’t been since my first trip to Paris which has been a distinctly long time, so it was good to not only see the standard hallways of well known pieces, but also to get a little lost in the lesser known hallways and crypts and see the stuff not many tourists get to.

Tomorrow (Friday), I’ll be changing hotels and I’m not sure when/if I’ll get to blog about my final day, but be assured it will be here eventually! See you all (most of my readers are KC, right?) soon ish! The week of my bday I’ll have various activities for fun that you all probably already know about. First plan up: Jazz Jam Session at the Phoenix (8th & Central) on Tuesday, June 9th.

Louvre Pics on Flickr...

Wednesday, May 27: Chartres

Chartres day. I got up uncharacteristically early, got cleaned up and was ready to leave at 8:45a but decided to wait around til the grocery store opened to eat a yogurt/fruit breakfast instead of pastries. I hopped on the metro system during rush hour – my first encounter so far in France – and didn’t even come close to making the 9:34 train I meant to catch. I was still in line at 9:45 trying to buy the ticket to Chartres, behind a very confused and angry American who thought his ticket was fully exchangeable, yada yada… But I did eventually get a ticket and a seat on the 10:34 train.

I arrived just in time to power walk up the hill to the striking Notre Dame Cathedral of Chartres in time for the noon o’ clock tour. Malcolm Miller has just (in April) celebrated his 50th year anniversary of giving English tours of Chartres’ Notre Dame Cathedral and is a decided expert on its stories, commentaries, symbolism and quirks. The hour and a half tour was very interesting: the history, the contributors, etc. He explained that whereas most churches’ stained glass tells the stories of the Bible in sequence, Chartres provides commentary on those stories, teaching its many students throughout the years using the colorful canvas of glass to make comparisons and draw out deeper lessons.

The windows are truly magnificent. In The Book of Love, which I just finished reading, the blue color of the windows is mentioned as unrivaled and inexplicably brilliant and that’s a pretty darn good description. Malcolm called it Cobalt blue, which would explain the color well, but not necessarily the effect. In particular, the window of Notre Dame de la Belle Verriere, of the Virgin in the famous Cobalt blue, is well deserving of its status as one of the 3 most photographed items in the cathedral. The other two are the holy relic for which the cathedral was built and rebuilt (many times: this is version 5.0), billed as the veil of the Virgin Mary from the miracle of the nativity, and the enormous rose window to the North, that was only added in one of the later incarnations of the church. (pics upon pics of this on Flickr)

What captured me the most, however, was the labyrinth. Pre-dating Christianity in its design and even in its execution here, it’s now covered 6 days a week with moveable rows of wooden chairs to allow for more people to seat themselves. In the book, Maureen (the main character) feels personally hurt to see this most ancient and precious “art” covered and walked on and destroyed. For me, it almost helped define the labyrinth. As though no cover could strip the pattern: it’s more than paint on the floor (it’s actually built into the stone pattern on the floor) and even if you couldn’t make out the colors or bricks anymore, the labyrinth would still exist in this spot. The church has been built and rebuilt on this exact spot because even before the life of Christ, it was long deemed holy ground. If the church itself weren’t so magnificent and grandiose, visitors would still come here to worship the space. In fact, the relic, the veil, has made it clear this is where it will stay. Even after a fire that ravaged most of the back half of the cathedral, monks retrieved the veil (pic), completely preserved from the ashes that remained at the site. The 3rd church and 4th church were rebuilt in this spot after gruesome fires because of this.

The labyrinth (pics) spreads across the entire nave from side to side and has been adopted by Christianity with Christian meaning injected. I actually felt strongly connected the idea presented in the Book of Love that in walking the Labyrinth – starting from one point at the edge and winding through the 11 concentric circles – to the center, you are dedicating both the attention of your body and your mind to the “puzzle.” Upon arriving in the center, you see the 6 petaled rose (multiple symbolic meanings here). In the book, Maureen learns to walk out the Lord’s Prayer (Pater Noster), using the 6 petals to pay tribute to the six facets of the prayer: faith, surrender, service, abundance, forgiveness, and strength. When Napoleon said “Chartres is no place for an Atheist,” he knew what he was talkin about. No matter your beliefs, this place will inspire you in one of its hundreds of alluring ways.

I didn’t go up into the tower, feeling like the real show was the church, so what would I look at in the town from the heights? I decided to give a donation instead to the work being done on the cathedral. They’re systematically cleaning every surface of the church (pics) with amazing results. I got a few good shots of the difference between a cleaned spot and a not-cleaned spot. The difference between windows that have been restored and those that are still dingy is probably obvious in China.

I’m now back at the hotel to blog, but thinking I may go to the Louvre tonight. They stay open til 9:45p on Wednesdays and I’m guessing there will be a lot less of a crowd during the normal dinner hour (which is 8p here). Trying to soak up as much Paris as I can before heading back!

Pics of Chartres' cathedrale (lots of windows pics) on Flickr...

Tuesday, May 26: Jacquemart-Andre and l'Arc de Triomphe

Woke up to a very different Paris: drizzly rainy and cold! The good news there is I haven't had to really use the AC, so the dripping has stopped entirely. I find that makes a huge difference in my temperament about the room. It's actually quite functional and I don't need much more than a drip-free area to get clean in.

I figured I could hack the rain with an umbrella in hand, so I went on a neighborhood walk. Ok, ok, shopping trip. But I'm desperate to find cute comfy shoes! Everyone has flats here and I actually like some of them (unheard of for me) but I can't find any that fit. I'm between sizes and they dont' do half sizes, so I'm gonna have to stick to open toed shoes here...

Midafternoon (after re-organizing and planning out my week to not miss the must-sees) I headed towards the Jacquemart-Andre Museum. It’s the old mansion of an aristocratic couple from late 1800s/early 1900s. Without children to dote on, the couple spent their lives and their wealth collecting art as amateurs and furnishing this grandiose palace of a home in the middle of Paris. It was a very cool stop and not just because of the obvious luxury (pics); for example, the stairwell was built by the runner up for designer of the Charles Garnier fantasy that is l’Opera (one of my fave monuments) and he certainly had the last word here (pic).

But it was a cool story, too: two very different people (politically and with different motivations from different walks of life) with a shared love for art, particularly Italian. The Madame, Nelie Jacquemart-Andre, honored Monsieur Andre’s final wish that the house and art be bequeathed to state art society so that it may be “preserved as their vision of what two amateur collectors and art-lovers gathered over a lifetime.” Very neat.

I actually made friends with one of the gentleman running security (I swear I have a neon-clear sign on me that says “talk to me, I’m nice and sociable!”). He mentioned that my French was good, or at least better than his English, and we proceeded to have a pretty robust conversation in French about things like travel destinations in the States/Europe, his jobs and 4 week sabbaticals. It was a good exercise in using my French (as he is among the few people that doesn’t follow along much in English and didn’t try to talk to me in it). But it made me sweat a little, trying to conjugate words in present subjunctive: stuff real French people don’t use. Yeesh.

I closed up that museum and scurried down Blvd Haussman to l’Etoile to see the Arc de Triomphe in the sunlight (my other pics were cloudy). They were having a sort of dedication? Not sure what Tuesday, May 26th honors in France, but got a few neat pics in this very appropriate setting for a military dedication. Bought my ticket to go up the 250+ stairs for the panoramic view of the city. (pics) The gentleman at the window asked me if my ring held a “potion” – I laughed and said it did sort of look malevolent, but no. (see the pic of my ring in the set from Route des Vins).

In the category of random smiles: in the metro on the way back, I stood next to a gentleman in a business suit, a “grown up” person of maybe 35?, playing his handheld PS3 to pass the time on the subway.

I got to have dinner again with one of my new friends, Oliver, whom I met at the front desk of the MIJE hostels during my first stay and we had quite the 4 course meal again, practically closing the place down speaking in French-English (usually both within the same sentence).

Pics of Day 2 of Paris Round II on Flickr.

Monday, May 25: Arrival in Paris (again)

Travel day! I woke up (I'm doing very well without my alarm clock actually) and set off for fruit and yogurt at Galleries LaFayette's grocery dept for breakfast. I packed up in 45 min flat -- I'm now officially a pro! -- and rolled my bags over 3 blocks of cobble stone to the tram stop nearby. I got to the train station about an hour early, so as to avoid the constant clock-watching jitters if I were to just hang out in the room, waiting to leave, and got myself some lunch at the trainstation: particularly yummy sandwich mixte (ham, cheese, butter), pomme grille (an apple tart thingy) and a sort of bread stick version of the olive-baguette.

I actually finished The Book of Love before taking off from Strasbourg and am 100% decided I must go to Chartres. I won't tell you why, you have to read the book, but I'll take lots while I'm there. I started re-reading the 4th Twilight book for something a bit more fun and less think-y on the train.

The adventure of my now 4 bags from Gare de l'Est to the hotel was actually ok. Only one staircase without elevator (whew!). The challenge was the heat, which was flirting with 90 degrees and blaring sun! As it turns out, the hotel only runs the airconditioning from 5p to 9a (assuming probably correctly that most people are out during the day) and let's just say I was less than appreciative of that fact... Plus, not to fuel a stereotype, but as this is the hottest day I've had in a city I've had to use public transit, I did take particular notice of the fragrance on the metro. After about 85 degrees, the general Parisian public sweating it out in the subway doesn't make for a bottle-able odor. Blech.

Anyway, got checked into the Hotel du 7eme Art in le Marais, my same favorite neighborhood between Place de la Bastille and Hotel de Ville. The theme is heavy here: early Hollywood. Movie posters galore and lots of the collage-esque style of art with lots of famous actors of the period. I had requested that if the least expensive room -- there's only one of them, and it was taken when I made my reservation -- came available that I would prefer it. It is 30 Euros (about $45) less expensive per night and if I can help it, I'd rather not stay in the hotel room too awfully much.

Well, the thing about that is, I'm a snob. Not a huge snob, but a little a bit. The room size doesn't bother me (again, don't need that much space), but a lunch box seems to be a good metaphor. Which would make the shower the size of a postage stamp. All this would be fine, except that that means there isn't room for a toilet in my room. I don't have a shared toilet, like for the floor, but I do share the toilet... It's in a supplies closet type room, two doors down the hall. It's ok... sorta, but in the middle of the night I have to amble through the hall to get to the bathroom. And if I pull back the opaque glass door, I can see that they don't seem to care much for organization. A combination of old shower curtains, a ripped up comforter and various broken or old room items are piled up about a third of the way up from the floor and the cleaning supplies bucket/kit sits on top of that pile for lack of a better space to put it in. Doesn't inspire, that's all I'm saying.

Plus, because it was so darn hot all day, the air conditioning somehow managed to collect dew on the spare mattress that is stored above the shower (there's a little cubby thing). So the mattress dripped water through the crack in the shower ceiling all afternoon/night. I guess that wouldn't bother me so much if I didn't have to stand directly under one of the drips in order to brush my teeth/wash my face in front of the sink. Or if I weren't afraid it was less than pristine water after having passed through a mattress and a wooden ceiling. (See? I told you I was a bit of snob.) I think I've corrected the problem... I shoved the mattresses back a couple feet so the AC didn't blow directly on it. The drip stopped sometime before this AM (Tuesday).

So faced with the idea of sweating it out in the hotel room, waiting for 5p, and sweating it up walking around the park/climbing l'Etoile like I had planned for the after, I chose shopping and a movie in an airconditioned mall. I saw Wolverine (VO, which I now know well is version originale) which was ok, but the movie theater was just the right temperature. And, in case you guys are worried I might turn into Isla Fischer, I didn't even buy anything, I just looked!

The neighborhood around les Halles, the shopping center (understatement: this place is the size of an entire suburb), is the spot to go out apparently. Not far away is the jazz club I went to the last time I was in Paris and along the same street are an Irish Pub with live rock every night, another jazz club with a jam session, starting at 10p and a soul bar that had a special concert going. I had lots of intentions of going to all 3 spots after the movie, but I was dressed like it was July in Independence and still felt grimey from sweating all day, so I went in search of a salad instead.

Here's the thing. I had no intention of eating at the Hard Rock Cafe while I was in France. There are a LOT of other things to eat. But in this case... my kingdom for a salad! I just wanted a salad with more than lettuce in it. And since I know the HRC menu well (I find them in every city I go to, usually only to get the pin), I knew I couldn't lose with them. Plus, the atmospher is usually fun and you never know who you're going to meet. I didn't actually meet anyone and the bartenders spoke to me in English. Not because I am American, as I thought, but because it's the thing there... Oh well, I got my salad and it had ranch on it and it was delicious, dangit.

Headed back to the hotel to rest up, thinking that as long as it didn't rain Tues, I'd trip it to Chartres.. Turns out Tues will be the only day for rain all week. And the Louvre is closed Tuesdays. Dang.

I'll upload my sparse pics soon... til then, enjoy the current stash!

Sunday, May 24: Strasbourg by boat and on foot

I woke up this AM thinking I’d be sure to be the first person in line for the Astrological Clock presentation. It was looking pretty gray and I wasn’t sure a boat tour in the rain would be fun… I meandered around the touristy shops and had my apple and fruit juice breakfast (aren’t you impressed??). At 11:30a, no one was in line yet (the doors open at 11:45), so I walked over and clear as day it says on the sign it’s no open on Sundays or holidays. Boo. So since I’m heading out around noon tomorrow, I won’t get to see it. Oh well, that leaves something to see next time.

Actually, I’ve noticed that Strasbourg really isn’t much more than a day trip and so it’s hard to stretch into a weekend. I grabbed an “early” lunch (noon) of gi-normous bratwurst and sauerkraut and had to get a pretzel just in case the restaurants would all be closed. It’s reeeaaally quiet on Sunday before noon here and often, Sunday is a closed day for restaurants/shops. I also stopped in a local bakery for an assortment of tiny spice cookies (one of the few local specialties I haven’t had yet).

Sat down at the closest shaded public bench to eat and seemed to magically wish away the clouds. At noon – almost exactly – the town woke up. Churches let out and tour guides started and the sun brought out whatever locals may have been tucked away in their apartments. The sun has been strong enough this afternoon to give me a bit more color than I would have asked for, so I’m grateful for the surprise of a sunny afternoon.

I figured sun meant the boat idea was back on. I got my ticket for the 1:30 covered boat. A covered boat means a poor shot at pics, but they’re airconditioned, which turned out to be necessary (and appreciated!). I’d already gotten a lot of pics on foot anyway, so the only one I indulged myself in was of my own reflection as we were waiting in the lift thingy for the water to fill in so we could head up to the higher water level. (more proof I’m actually here and not just googling the pics) The tour lasts about an hour and ten minutes and more than anything pointed out the cool buildings I hadn’t even seen in 2 days of walking around “old” Strasbourg (meaning anything encircled in the cities “4” rivers). So around 2:45 I climbed out of the boat, mapped out a walking route and headed back out by foot.

I stopped by the Palais de Justice and the red clay/brick church next to it (they said the name of the church on the audio guide, but it doesn’t list the church name on my map). Then walked through the shady park areas between that and la Republique and its square. Across the square is the National Library (also library for the nearby University) and Theatre National de Strasbourg, which has a healthy line-up for the year! For contrast, Theater League’s seasons were usually 5 week-long shows (nationals tours). I think the Rep usually has 6-8? They had 14! There are pics of all 5 buildings on Flickr.

Just down the road is a huge palace-looking building that I got a picture of, assuming it’d be important… it’s the regional headquarters for the Post Office. Yeesh, Union Square is nice, but come on… we can’t compete with that. (pics) I crossed over one of the many river-lettes, past St Paul’s church and had to take pics of it again. It just begs to be photographed and this time I was pretty close. (pics)

I walked another 4-5 blocks and was about to turn back, sure I had missed the entrance to the Botanical Garden, when I saw a baby sign and walked towards the entrance. I actually found better shots on the walk in than in the garden itself. It was pretty anticlimactic. Except for the frogs. Eeuuuuw! There is a “pond” there that is so covered in algae it looks like pesto and the frogs are almost as high in concentration. (pics)

I figured that after walking from one corner of Strasbourg to another, I was all set for my touristy quota for the day and am now back in the room where the bugs can’t bite me (yeesh) and planning on knocking out some chapters of The Book Of Love. If I read diligently, I may even be able to get it done in the next 2 days. I wasn’t planning on it before, but now I think I may make a day trip to Chartres (about an hour by train outside Paris) this next week, just to see the relics/symbolism mentioned in the book.

Tonight may be my last ‘traditional’ food item: tarte flammee (Flamm Kusch in the local language). Basically pizza toppings with no red sauce baked on a cracker crust instead of pizza dough. I figured after a whole pretzel and some spice cookies, I could lay off the thick bread foods for tonight.

Oh, but on the topic, last night I had Poulet au Riesling (alsacian) with Spaetzle (alsacian). The chicken was good; sauce was sort of a creamy mushroom sauce. Spaetzle and I aren’t really gonna be best friends. It was kinda shoestring potatoes meets spaghetti? Meh. But dessert was chocolate mousse and whoa. I seriously thought I’d met my match, gang. First off, it was the size of a bowl of cereal. Perfectly rich – not too sugary sweet but deeply intense dark chocolate flavor. The texture was something between really good fudge and chocolate frozen yogurt: velvety but dense. It took me 20 minutes and the better part of a pitcher of water, but I enjoyed every last bite of that mousse… *small bow*

Tomorrow I head back to Paris on a midday train and check into a darling hotel in the Marais district with free WiFi downstairs (score!).

Pics of Strasbourg by boat & foot on day 3 on Flickr.

Saturday, May 23: Strasbourg Cathedral

I actually did get up in time to avoid lines at the Cathedral. I even snuck into the Creperie in the Place de la Cathedrale for a very exciting breakfast find: they have galettes (the buckwheat, savory crepes) here! So I had one of those and then a regular crepe with strawberry jam inside. Gotta get some energy before walking up to the top of the church spires!

I got my Strasbourg Pass from the Tourist Info Center and headed up 330+ stairs to the viewing deck of the Cathedrale de Notre Dame. (lots of pics, including one of my head) I took a few shots from the streets as well: it's notorious for only having the one spire temple thing at the top (2 were originally planned, but budget left them with one).

I made the walk from the hotel to the train station to see if it'd be a pain to walk with my bags on Monday. It's mostly flat, so it would be ok... if it weren't for the multitude of people I'd have to navigate around! I'm gonna go ahead with a tram ticket this go around. I hurried back to the cathedral for the astrological clock film & presentation at noon and the line to get in was around the side of the church (it's not a small church). So I think I'll do that tomorrow...

The weather is really being good to me again today, so I walked from corner to corner of Strasbourg's center of town, including stopping back through "little France" (la Petite France) and the covered bridges down on that side of the city (pics).

Since I was over there, I decided to use my museum pass to get into the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art for free. I was about halfway through the first special exhibit when I remembered I really hate modern art. I was fully creeped out by the first exposition, so I tried another one that was supposed to be on color. Turned out to be on yellow. Wow. I'm glad there are those who can appreciate it, but I scooted out. Side story: I tried to get out one of the doors midway through the 2nd exposition and ended up in a fire escape type hallway, thinking I'd gotten locked in when the door shut behind me and that my only way out would be through the door that would set off the alarm... turns out I just needed to pull on the door back to the exhibit rather than push. Genius.

Stopped at Galleries LayFayette for fruit and water and a yogurt drink thing, since my breakfast was hardly digested 3 hours later. I went with a light lunch. I actually found a juice bar (in Alsace? Seriously!) and grabbed some much-needed fruit intake there, too. Now, just so you don't think I'm suddenly changing my ways, I did this for lunch because I knew today would be treat-myself-to-ice-cream-day. Everyone here has ice cream... like, all the time. I found myself in front of an artisinal bakery that served "house-made" ice cream and ordered the "Sesame" flavor. Actually, no quotes needed... it actually had toasted sesame seeds in it, along with shaved chocolate pieces. It was scrumptous and different, so I'm glad I tried it!

I headed back to the hotel to grab the laptop and try to find a WiFi spot closeby. When I asked the front desk attendant where she recommended I go, she actually told me they have free internet at the hotel! Ahhh (the sound of a choir singing)! So I'm finally getting around to some blog posting.

Tonight: some Rick Steves suggested dining and maybe a boat tour (unless it's crazy busy and then I'll save boating for tomorrow).

Pics of Day 2 in Strasbourg on Flickr

Friday, May 22: Colmar & Strasbourg

As per my usual for days I know I’m traveling, my body woke itself up at 7a with no aspirations of returning to sleepdom. So I got all re-packed and fed myself before Anne woke up at 8. We headed for Colmar for the AM before making our way to Strasbourg.

Colmar is the largest ‘stop’ on the Route des Vins, but knowing we’d have to go today, we didn’t end up making it there last night. Anne needed a dossier for her law office from the Appellate Court here, so we took advantage of the opportunity to have breakfast on the terrace outside St Martin’s Cathedral and walk around the shops and windows. It’s a lot like the other villages on the Route des Vins but on steroids: the church was still dilapidated and aging, but most the other buildings have been kept up fairly well or reconstructed.

After a quick stop into the Appeals Court building (which looks more like l’Opera Garnier inside than an appellate court), we were off to Strasbourg with sort of gray skies. We were supposed to meet up with Anne’s boyfriend, Thomas, at the Gare de Strasbourg (he came in from Rennes), but Anne forgot her cell phone at home and we walked around the train station 3 times, waited for 10 additional minutes and never saw him. She finally used a payphone (and luckily remembered the number) and called his cell to find out that he had gone to a friend’s house instead of waiting… K. So with Thomas and his friend, Francois, in tow, we sought out food in town.

It turns out that the last thing you want to do in Strasbourg is drive and/or park a car. The streets are ruled by pedestrians, parking spots are rare, precious things and mostly people who are driving are from out of town and do stupid, stupid things like turn left from the far right lane of traffic. Seriously, after 30 minutes of driving around the same 1 square mile of city, we agreed it was worth a Euro per hour to park in a garage for the day. We were hungry enough that we through the word “traditional” out the window and went for sandwiches and pizza. My pizza had goat cheese and green olives on it though, so I was more than satisfied with the choice.

It was a bit hard to keep up with the conversation between the guys, and so I was very quiet today, leading them to think I was either not having fun or just a snob. Later, at dinner, Francois asked me how much of their convos I was understanding and I explained that I grasped the subject and the general sense, but wasn’t picking up on a lot of the sentences. After that ice was broken (8 hours into the day), I spoke up a lot more often. He had though I was bi-lingual – only proving that if you don’t speak, no one knows you’re ignorance – and assumed I was just bored of the conversation all day. Which, having been mostly about Rennes’ loss to another Breton city in the cup finals of soccer, was not entirely false either. But we managed to all have a great discussion at dinner. (back to that in a sec)

We walked the entire day, checking out the monuments I’ll likely revisit when Thomas and Anne have gone back to Mulhouse and “licking windows”: window shopping here is translated literally as window-licking. Strasbourg is actually quite a bit bigger than I imagined it being. It’s a significant city for France and has a very strong flavor of Germany. Food-wise of course, but also people-wise. The perfect example of both is that the families here are mostly heavy. The children are often obese by French standards and maybe by American standards, too. It’s easier to say no to 14 kinds of local dessert specialties when I look at what the sugar intake does.

The food is a part of it though and I’m happy to try it all, if perhaps more moderately than before. We had aperatifs on a boat bar thing. Basically a café/bar but, ya know, on a boat on the river that runs through Strasbourg. Great view of a smaller cathedral and the bateau-mouches, aka boats-full-o-tourists.

Then we walked around the corner to Les 3 Brassiers where our Routard book got us 10% off the already decent prices. It’s a local brewery serving up regional must-try items. I actually ended up with a salad of some sort that had turkey and goat cheese (twice in one day, I know) and tomatoes and stuff in it. For the first time possibly since coming to France, I didn’t have dessert. *gasp* No worries, I had had 2 chocolate eggs on the ride from Colmar to Strasbourg (which is only 45 min btw).

After dinner, Anne and the guys dropped me and my bags off at the Hotel and headed out. Anne and I promised we’d reconvene soon, maybe even in the States. She and Elodie were such fantastic hostesses! I really am amazingly lucky to have great girlfriends and luckier still that they’re willing to host me for a week each!

I’m at my first hotel of the trip: Hotel des Arts just off the Place in front of the Cathedral. The room is pretty darn small, but the price was good, the location is great and I can shower in a shower that will not get used before or after me all morning. This may not seem like a big deal, but it’s kind of nice to be able to put my crap anywhere I want in the small room.

I’ve got plans to be an early riser (ha) tomorrow to avoid the line to climb the cathedral tower and try the walk from my hotel to the train station to see if I could do it with bags. It really seems silly to take the tram as it couldn’t be more than a mile away, but who knows with cobblestone. Also, I’m now officially at 4 bags: the duffel bag is out and full.

Check out Colmar and Day 1 in Strasbourg pics on Flickr.

Thursday, May 21: Route des Vins

Anne finally got to sleep in this AM, so we were in no real rush to get up and about and that was just fine with me. Today was the day us two fine ladies headed North to travel the Route des Vins: a 10 mile or so stretch of Alsace tucked away in between the Vosges mountains. Overlooking the "wine road" is Haut-Koenigsbourg Castle: a much photographed beast at the very top of one of the higher peaks (none of the "peaks" are that high).

We mentally prepared ourselves with some Chinese food... 5/21 is l'Ascension and a holiday for almost every business in France. So, much like holidays in the U.S., when all else is closed... find Chinese food! It wasn't exactly what I think of as Chinese and I'm sure that people in China would balk, but my “spicy” shrimp was good anyway. We got as cute as comfortably possible – me in a new dress from the Mango store in Paris – and headed off.

After a 5 day fantastic weather streak, Alsace finally saw not only a cloudy day, but at times positively gloomy skies, with an inconsistent drizzle throughout the day (and a downpour that thankfully waited until dinner time when we were inside). It made for a really cool view of the Vosges mountains, which are known as the “blue mountains” because they always seem blue at dusk or in the rain. The photos are terrible quality (we’re moving at 100 km/hr) but you get the idea.

We drove all the way up to the Northern-most city on the Route to work our way back down throughout the day. Each town has its own character, but most are a sort of medieval slice of Alsace with cobblestone everything and a flair for color (my goodness, the colors). In looking through the pics, keep an eye out for storks: they’re the mascot of the region.

Our first stop was the smallest village, a quaint spot that doesn’t make it to many postcards: St Hippolyte. It’s the closest spot to the Castle-topped mountain and so our best shot at pics (I tried!). It was also the quietest and most rustic of our stops for the day. Many things were closed here because of the holiday and it being too small a town to stay open for tourists.

Next came Bergheim, which was a tad bigger and even more colorful (check out the primary-color-neighbors pic), but still fairly small/quiet. We also saw a church of a pretty decent size for a smaller town like Bergheim. As we were driving up the countryside, I could tell that there were a lot more towns than I thought because each town gets a temple or Parish (they’re more Protestant than Catholic here) and you can see distinctly each town by its church’s clock tower. I believe this is where we found a shop that makes literally every flavor of jam imaginable. From strawberry to muscato (meaning flavored with the sparkling wine) to violette, to the equivalent of pine tree-flavored jam. She had it all and we tasted something that was a specialty of the region (of course I can’t remember the berry/plant name). Anne wound up getting the Muscat.

We put some vineyards between us and Bergheim (pic: there are no yards here, only vineyard) on our way to the largest city on the Route besides the grand finale in Colmar: Ribeauville. This is where the tour buses full of retired people were hiding. It was a bit less rickety and way larger than the two previous villages and there was a shop of Alsacian goodies every few steps on the main drag. There was also a shop that Anne’s Routard book mentioned of jewelry made of precious and semi-precious stones. This is where I got snagged. I tried on a couple (pics) and after hovering over one in particular and trying it on 3 times consecutively, I finally had to treat myself to a ring (pic). It isn’t a stone I’m familiar with. Something that, at a certain angle, holds almost no color and simply looks like a cracked old bit of glass, but from a hundred different angles illuminates seemingly from within and shines a brilliant oceanic array of colors in blues and greens. Trust me, it’s worth that description… even more than the other rings in this variety of stone, this was a special *rock*.

Taking advantage of the many souvenir shops in Ribeauville, we also treated ourselves to Alsacian favorites like creamy hazelnut-tinged chocolate eggs (pic) and a soft pretzel from the home land o’ soft pretzels. The region is known for their whites, but Ribeauville is a tribute to Cremant d’Alsace, the sparkling (champagne-like) beverage that was born here.

After Ribeauville, we headed through Riquewihr, again smaller and quieter, this time because it looked ominously dark in the skies and less so because of small village size. As if we needed it, we had to get another Alsacian tradition: a kougelhopf (a sort of liqueur-soaked bundt cake; pic) and we tried mini macaroons of a variety of flavors. Anne also got a spice cake, but we – thankfully – didn’t add that to our immediate indulgences!

We moved along, hoping to catch some of the shops in our final stop of Kaysersberg before they closed at 7. K-berg is much more tucked into the mountains with a notable presence of a Florida-looking knobbly type of tree. It’s also a bit more medieval and in our case: wetter. We were invited into a shop of a local producer to taste, and believe it or not… it was our first taste of wine all day. We had a sip of a non-sweet and a sip of a sweet before scooting off to dinner at another Routard suggestion: Du Chateau. About halfway through dinner, the skies split open of their own accord and dumped buckets on Alsace. It rained through the night, even back in Mulhouse, but during dinner, we could see the rain even through the heavily tinted windows! (pic)

Dinner was well worth the suggestion. I ended up having l’Entrecote de l’Hotel – the “special of the house part just mean a slab of herbed butter on top but YUM – with white asparagus (yet another regional staple; pic) and of course a mound of chocolate ice cream with Chantilly (pic). Of course, being in Alsace, I had to have the Cremant to compliment the meal. Funny side note: my uber colorful dress matched the tablecloth. Seriously. (pic)

After a lot of walking and a really fantastic day, Anne and I treated ourselves to the climate controlled goodness of the Cineplex and Confessions of a Shopaholic (all in French of course, but I kept up ok).

Check out the pics of the entire day (beware: it’s quite the stash for one day) on Flickr.