Counting seems like a pretty universal concept. I'm sure as language was first invented, words to express various quantities of items were some of the first grunts we settled on.
Counting seems relatively standard these days too. Sure every language has its own word for one, but the concept of one remains the same. In fact most languages even have a remarkably similar progression of numbers--0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and we can combine these 10 digits to continue the progression for ever. 11 is very logically 10 and 1, 12 is 10 and 2, 952 is 9 hundreds 5 tens and 2. Quite logical, and it conveniently never ends.
These 10 digits of Indian origin (the country in Asia, not the natives in the US) have even become the standard for nearly all languages on the planet (at least by number of speakers). From English to Chinese to Russian to their origins in India, these digits mostly replace the native numeric representations for most pratical uses. When was the last time you wrote something in Roman Numerals?
Most humans have 10 fingers which are amazingly useful tools for counting in a base-10 counting system, but not all languages originally counted by 10. For example, the original Celts of Europe--who were famous for wearing no shoes and therefore having access to 10 additional counting digits--counted in sets of 20. Instead of having numbers like thirty, forty, fifty, etc. they would just have twenty and ten, two twenties, two twenties and ten, etc. Even in English we still have those weird words like eleven and twelve before we switch back to something that more resembles a base-10 counting system (thirteen, fourteen, etc.) and by 20 we are back to a very systematic base-10 system.
Before being conquered by the Romans, France was a mostly celtic country and some of that cultural heritage is preserved in their utterly bizarre counting system. The French, the champions of the metric system, do not even have a metric (base-10) counting system--at least not entirely. Things start out fairly similar to English and we count quite normally from one to sixty-nine, but for some odd reason the French have no word for seventy. Well, actually they do, they just chose not to use it, and instead the say sixty-ten. Similarly we have sixty-and-eleven, sixty-twelve, all the way up to sixty-nineteen for 79.
The French word for eighty is similarly unused, and instead we have four-twenties. Four-twenties-and-one, four-twenties-two, etc. leading up to four-twenties-nine, and after that, where we would logically expect a word for ninety, we get four-twenties-ten. I would have to say that there is no more horrible number in French than 99, which in this pseudo-base-20 counting system is four-twenties-nineteen!
As mentioned above, French actually does have words for seventy (septante), eighty (octante), and ninety (nonante), the French just chose not to use them. However, some francophones outside of France do use this more modern (and logical) vocabulary, as George and I were a bit surprised to hear when we were recently in Brussels. George purchased some fruit at a small grocery and the grocer gave her the price as nonante-huit (98), and George, being familiar with the weird French version, had no idea what he said. It took me a minute to realize what he said as well, and when I translated from logical Belgian French to weird base-20 French French, quatre-vingts dix-huit (four-twenties-eighteen), she immediately understood and the cashier and another customer in line laughed a bit at us.
We actually have some small remnants of this in English too. We are all familiar with Lincoln's "four score and seven years ago" entrance to the Gettysburg address, but outside of quoting old Abe, I don't think I have ever heard anyone ask for four score of anything, and I have certainly never been quoted a price at McDonald's as four score and eighteen cents.
Welcome to the 21st century France! You can leave your pre-historic counting system at the door.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Weekend in Brussels
I've been working long hours and extra days a lot lately, so when the 3-day weekend for Pentecost came around the wife and I headed to Brussels for a few days of not-working and much needed recuperating.
Brussels is about 400 miles north of Lyon, and just over an hour flight time. It is the capital of the Kingdom of Belgium, and the de facto capital of the European Union. Technically situated in the Dutch speaking part of Belgium it is a mostly French speaking city, but it seemed everyone we ran into spoke 3 or 4 different languages! It's a fairly big city with about 2 million people in the metro area, and given the abundance of international and European organizations located there, it is a very multi-cultural city too. Famous for beer, waffles, chocolate, the Smurfs, comic books, and the birth place of french fries--it seems to have just about all of life's necessities.
We arrived in Brussels just in time for one of the coolest parades I have ever seen--the Zinneke Parade. I have no idea what the origins of this parade are, but every 2 years the people of Brussels come together and put on one of the coolest, weirdest, sometimes creepy, and most creative parades I have ever seen. There were no motor vehicles or giant balloons in this parade, just small hand pushed or bicycle pushed carts, and lots of cool costumes. Some bands and signing groups participated too, and there were even a few fire breathers and other carny folk.
The tall people 2 pictures above kept leaning over and whispering qu'est-ce qui se passe (what is happening?) while being chased by the whatever these things are clinging to the wall here, while the women below where chanting some children of the corn type music. It was really impressive and well rehearsed for a one time event in a biennial parade.
The parade wasn't all creepy. The theme this year was à la table (at the table), so the displays were supposed to be somewhat food or dining related. This wasn't always apparent, like in the pics above, but there were some funny on-theme characters too.
Some acrobats
and whatever this is
Brussels is pretty cool when not putting on Tim Burton-esque parades too. The city is littered with statues, awesome parks, cool plazas, and to George's great delight a gourmet chocolate shop on every corner.
Brussels, well Belgium in general, is also pretty famous for comic books and cartoons. The most famous of course being The Smurfs (Les Schtroumpfs in French), and less famous in the US, Tintin. I think the image below comes from Tintin, and there were many comic style artworks around the city like this one.
And Beer! France is well known for high quality wine, but is not known--for good reason--for high quality beer. I don't drink much, but when I do go out, or when I buy beer at the store, I almost always buy Belgian beer. Even the king of beers, Budweiser, is now owned by a Belgian company, and one of my favorite brewers in the USA is called the New Belgian Brewing Company (even though they are located in Colorado). So when I think of good beer, Belgium usually comes to mind.
George is not much of a beer drinker though. In fact, before this trip to Brussels I do not think she has even drank one entire beer in her life. Well she found a couple beers she could enjoy, and by the last day she was having her first beer before 10am just like a real pro.
Brussels also has a lot of great (and varied) restaurants. I had vegetarian chili for lunch one day! I don't think you can get any kind of chili in Lyon, and you can hardly get anything vegetarian either. Good Thai food, which is also pretty much non-existent in Lyon, was also pretty common, and I even ate at a Chi-Chi's restaurant. While I doubt the Michelin guys will be handing out any stars to the afore mentioned restaurants, it was a pleasant surprise and it's nice to have the options.
So we had a great time in Brussels. I think it was an awesome city, and I could definitely see myself going back a few times.
You will find more pics of Brussels here and more pics of the Zinneke parade here
Monday, May 10, 2010
Tax Time
Being a US citizen living abroad, I have the privilege of paying both US and French income taxes. Numerous forms, W-2s, 1099s, Déclaration Revenus, etc. and lots of numbers, rounding, adding, double checking, guessing at instructions (in English and French), some swearing, and of course ... paying. Maybe privilege is the wrong word. What's the opposite of that?
Last year (this year's taxes) was the first year that I was fully a tax resident of France, so although I still had to file my US taxes this April, I didn't actually owe anything (other than the $30 fee to TurboTax and 10 bucks worth of postage). Similarly, for the tax year before that, I was still a tax resident of the US, so I paid taxes there, and didn't pay anything here in France. This is the first time I have had to file and pay my French income taxes.
French taxes work a bit different than in the US. French income tax is basically broken into 2 parts--social taxes and actual income taxes. Social taxes are what pay for our government healthcare, retirement, unemployment, and basically all the social services that this socialist country provides. Social taxes are taken out of every paycheck and these add up to about 20% of my salary.
The other tax is not withheld from your salary, and you can either pay it in one lump sum at the end of the year, or pay in installments over the next year. This income tax pays for defense, police, roads, teachers, etc. and is paid much like you pay your income taxes in the US. In May the government sends you some forms, and you fill them out and send them to your local tax office.
The form is a little different than the 1040 form from the US. For one, it comes pre-filled out. They enter your name, address, filing status, and even how much money you made last year, and you just correct any errors and add up all your deductions. Being childless, homeless (i rent), and not having anything at all to call a deduction, I simply have to sign my name and that is that. They will then verify everything and send me a bill. According to the forms (the math is pretty easy since I have no deductions) I owe an additional 7% of my salary in income tax.
So in total, the French government takes about 27% of my salary in income taxes.
Oh, there is actually a 3rd part of the income taxes too--the TV tax. In France you pay about $150 per year just for owning a TV. But in exchange for that, you get nearly commercial free TV, so that is a tax that I have absolutely no problem with.
So in revised total, 27% + $150. That's income taxes in France.
Last year (this year's taxes) was the first year that I was fully a tax resident of France, so although I still had to file my US taxes this April, I didn't actually owe anything (other than the $30 fee to TurboTax and 10 bucks worth of postage). Similarly, for the tax year before that, I was still a tax resident of the US, so I paid taxes there, and didn't pay anything here in France. This is the first time I have had to file and pay my French income taxes.
French taxes work a bit different than in the US. French income tax is basically broken into 2 parts--social taxes and actual income taxes. Social taxes are what pay for our government healthcare, retirement, unemployment, and basically all the social services that this socialist country provides. Social taxes are taken out of every paycheck and these add up to about 20% of my salary.
The other tax is not withheld from your salary, and you can either pay it in one lump sum at the end of the year, or pay in installments over the next year. This income tax pays for defense, police, roads, teachers, etc. and is paid much like you pay your income taxes in the US. In May the government sends you some forms, and you fill them out and send them to your local tax office.
The form is a little different than the 1040 form from the US. For one, it comes pre-filled out. They enter your name, address, filing status, and even how much money you made last year, and you just correct any errors and add up all your deductions. Being childless, homeless (i rent), and not having anything at all to call a deduction, I simply have to sign my name and that is that. They will then verify everything and send me a bill. According to the forms (the math is pretty easy since I have no deductions) I owe an additional 7% of my salary in income tax.
So in total, the French government takes about 27% of my salary in income taxes.
Oh, there is actually a 3rd part of the income taxes too--the TV tax. In France you pay about $150 per year just for owning a TV. But in exchange for that, you get nearly commercial free TV, so that is a tax that I have absolutely no problem with.
So in revised total, 27% + $150. That's income taxes in France.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Reminiscing
Much of my free time recently has been spent following the NFL draft. Being a Cowboys fan we didn't have much to look forward to this year, with a pretty late first round pick and couple picks in the later rounds, but we still managed to pick up a good wide receiver with plenty of attitude and off-field problems (including a current suspension from NCAA football) who should feel right at home in Dallas. This bit of "haven't I seen this before" got my reminiscing about life before moving to France, so I wanted to post a few of my favorite pics from the home country.
Somewhere near Forks, Washington looking out over the Pacific Ocean. The Washington coast is not very developed, and much of it is National Park, so you get a lot of trees, rocks, and driftwood, and not many people or buildings. Some spots, like this one, have some really cool rock formations and small islands just off the coast and right behind us is one of the only temperate rain forests in North America--The Hoh Rainforest--which averages about 14 feet of rain every year (400 centimeters).
Seattle is not right on the ocean, but rather on a large bay called Puget Sound, which is separated from the rest of the Pacific by the Olympic mountain range that juts out of the water to the West of Seattle and forms a peninsula about the size of Ireland. The forests out on this peninsula are pretty amazing. The abundant rainfall keeps the plant life very green and very thick, and the low population in comparison to the land area keeps them very tranquil. I usually consider myself a city person, but hiking thru these forests, I often wonder why.
The climate around Seattle is also ideal for growing tulips, and the skagit valley area north of Seattle exhibits this every April. Every spring we seemed to have more and more tulips in our yard in Seattle, and I don't remember ever planting one.
The abundant rainfall of the pacific northwest isn't limited to Washington state, Oregon gets a fair amount of the wet stuff too. The border between Oregon and Washington is mostly formed by the path of the Columbia river as it makes its way to the ocean, and along this gorge you can find some of the most beautiful waterfalls in the world. Multnomah Falls above is one of the more popular ones.
The beaches of this part of the country are also pretty cool. The water is usually too cold for us humans to enjoy without proper mental and physical protection, but for some reason marine mammals love it. Seals and orca whales are probably the most common water mammals, but sea lions and otters are fairly common too. I'm pretty sure I got this picture on one of the San Juan islands.
California has a few cool things to look at too, and probably the most amazing site in the world is the incredible giganticness of the California Redwood trees. I have a giant dog, and that fallen tree makes him look like a chihuahua.
Washington has some big trees too.
Surfing is another thing I miss from living on the coast. I never did as much surfing as I would have liked to, but I got out a few times, and I often dream of warm water and big waves. The west coast of France has a pretty big surfing scene, so I will have to make a trip out toward Biarritz sometime this summer.
And of course, the thing I miss the most from living in Seattle is my dog Tosh :-(
For more random picks from mostly around the pacific northwest, click here.
Somewhere near Forks, Washington looking out over the Pacific Ocean. The Washington coast is not very developed, and much of it is National Park, so you get a lot of trees, rocks, and driftwood, and not many people or buildings. Some spots, like this one, have some really cool rock formations and small islands just off the coast and right behind us is one of the only temperate rain forests in North America--The Hoh Rainforest--which averages about 14 feet of rain every year (400 centimeters).
Seattle is not right on the ocean, but rather on a large bay called Puget Sound, which is separated from the rest of the Pacific by the Olympic mountain range that juts out of the water to the West of Seattle and forms a peninsula about the size of Ireland. The forests out on this peninsula are pretty amazing. The abundant rainfall keeps the plant life very green and very thick, and the low population in comparison to the land area keeps them very tranquil. I usually consider myself a city person, but hiking thru these forests, I often wonder why.
The climate around Seattle is also ideal for growing tulips, and the skagit valley area north of Seattle exhibits this every April. Every spring we seemed to have more and more tulips in our yard in Seattle, and I don't remember ever planting one.
The abundant rainfall of the pacific northwest isn't limited to Washington state, Oregon gets a fair amount of the wet stuff too. The border between Oregon and Washington is mostly formed by the path of the Columbia river as it makes its way to the ocean, and along this gorge you can find some of the most beautiful waterfalls in the world. Multnomah Falls above is one of the more popular ones.
The beaches of this part of the country are also pretty cool. The water is usually too cold for us humans to enjoy without proper mental and physical protection, but for some reason marine mammals love it. Seals and orca whales are probably the most common water mammals, but sea lions and otters are fairly common too. I'm pretty sure I got this picture on one of the San Juan islands.
California has a few cool things to look at too, and probably the most amazing site in the world is the incredible giganticness of the California Redwood trees. I have a giant dog, and that fallen tree makes him look like a chihuahua.
Washington has some big trees too.
Surfing is another thing I miss from living on the coast. I never did as much surfing as I would have liked to, but I got out a few times, and I often dream of warm water and big waves. The west coast of France has a pretty big surfing scene, so I will have to make a trip out toward Biarritz sometime this summer.
And of course, the thing I miss the most from living in Seattle is my dog Tosh :-(
For more random picks from mostly around the pacific northwest, click here.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Hey! Nice breasts!
Growing up I never gave much importance to learning other languages. I spent most of my youth in Texas and therefor had some passive exposure to Spanish and managed to pick up a bit here and there, but I never really put much effort into learning any languages. In fact, when required to study a foreign language in High School, I picked Latin precisely because nobody would ever really expect me to speak it.
Living with George for 14 years has resulted in nearly daily exposure to Cantonese, but to be honest it is usually limited to vocabulary related to food, me being a jerk, or my inability to keep the toilet clean. Visiting her family in Hong Kong I usually have to get thru slightly more complicated sentences related to how much I like Hong Kong, when I will move there, and when I will be having children.
I've been in France now for about a year and a half. When I moved here I could barely say hello in French, but now I think I can pretty much say anything I need to say. I still speak like a 3 year old, have a horrible accent, and rely on short games of charades to make up for my limited vocabulary, but I get by.
French grammar is not too bad, and Chinese (Cantonese) has probably the simplest grammar of any language on the planet, but both of these language are really hard to pronounce for my 'merican tongue. Sounds that I am just not used to making, or hearing, result in some words that are clearly different words for a native speaker sounding almost exactly the same to me. Usually the context of the complete sentence will make it clear what word was meant, but not always. One of the harder sounds in French for us English speakers is the French 'u', which is a sound somewhere between the vowel sound in "loop" and the vowel sound in "ewe", and when I first started studying French, I was watching an educational program teaching french adjectives of location which included the important examples below:
Le lait est au-dessus du pain dans le réfrigérateur.
(the milk is above the bread in the fridge)
Le pain est au-dessous du lait dans le réfrigérateur.
(the bread is below the milk in the fridge).
The only difference between these sentences is the ending vowel sounds in the french words for above (au-dessus) and below (au-dessous), and I must have rewinded and rewatched this video 25 times before realizing that I was simply never going to know if the milk was above or below the bread in the fridge, and that hopefully my life never depends on me solving any French riddles regarding the relative locations of objects.
I haven't yet come across any situations in French where I have made a complete idiot of myself by mispronouncing something, although I have certainly had cases where I was more benignly misunderstood. I've honestly been a bit disappointed by this, as I am always reminded of American movies where the hero's basic knowledge of a foreign language leads to all kinds of hilarious misunderstandings. Like John Candy's character in Splash when he and Tom Hanks are pretending to be Swedish scientists so they can sneak in and rescue Darryl Hannah. As only Hollywood luck would have it, one of the guards is half Swedish and he questions our heroes in Swedish asking what they are doing there, to which John Candy mistakenly replies "Hey babe, I got a 12 inch penis".
I have absolutely no knowledge of the Swedish language, but I have to imagine one would need to speak the language quite well to respond in such a way, and that it would be difficult to mistakenly refer to your genitals when trying to say something more appropriate like "We are here to see the mermaid".
But maybe not. In my infrequent and not very efficient efforts to improve my spoken Cantonese, I will point to random objects around the house and ask George to tell me how to say it. Last night I randomly pointed to George's breasts, and she responded hung bo (胸部), which to me sounded exactly the same as a word I already knew--horrible (hung bo 恐怖)--with the only difference in pronunciation being the tone at which one pronounces the word. To make this even worse, the word for "very" in Cantonese is the same as the word for "good", and so to my ears that cannot hear all the different tones in a language like Cantonese, the phrase "very horrible" (好恐怖) has pretty much the same pronunciation as the sentence "nice breasts" (好胸部).
I can totally see myself walking down the street in Hong Kong, and some women comes running around a corner covered in blood or something screaming about a terrible accident, and in my efforts to say something supportive like "oh, how horrible" I might just inappropriately compliment her on her woman parts.
Living with George for 14 years has resulted in nearly daily exposure to Cantonese, but to be honest it is usually limited to vocabulary related to food, me being a jerk, or my inability to keep the toilet clean. Visiting her family in Hong Kong I usually have to get thru slightly more complicated sentences related to how much I like Hong Kong, when I will move there, and when I will be having children.
I've been in France now for about a year and a half. When I moved here I could barely say hello in French, but now I think I can pretty much say anything I need to say. I still speak like a 3 year old, have a horrible accent, and rely on short games of charades to make up for my limited vocabulary, but I get by.
French grammar is not too bad, and Chinese (Cantonese) has probably the simplest grammar of any language on the planet, but both of these language are really hard to pronounce for my 'merican tongue. Sounds that I am just not used to making, or hearing, result in some words that are clearly different words for a native speaker sounding almost exactly the same to me. Usually the context of the complete sentence will make it clear what word was meant, but not always. One of the harder sounds in French for us English speakers is the French 'u', which is a sound somewhere between the vowel sound in "loop" and the vowel sound in "ewe", and when I first started studying French, I was watching an educational program teaching french adjectives of location which included the important examples below:
Le lait est au-dessus du pain dans le réfrigérateur.
(the milk is above the bread in the fridge)
Le pain est au-dessous du lait dans le réfrigérateur.
(the bread is below the milk in the fridge).
The only difference between these sentences is the ending vowel sounds in the french words for above (au-dessus) and below (au-dessous), and I must have rewinded and rewatched this video 25 times before realizing that I was simply never going to know if the milk was above or below the bread in the fridge, and that hopefully my life never depends on me solving any French riddles regarding the relative locations of objects.
I haven't yet come across any situations in French where I have made a complete idiot of myself by mispronouncing something, although I have certainly had cases where I was more benignly misunderstood. I've honestly been a bit disappointed by this, as I am always reminded of American movies where the hero's basic knowledge of a foreign language leads to all kinds of hilarious misunderstandings. Like John Candy's character in Splash when he and Tom Hanks are pretending to be Swedish scientists so they can sneak in and rescue Darryl Hannah. As only Hollywood luck would have it, one of the guards is half Swedish and he questions our heroes in Swedish asking what they are doing there, to which John Candy mistakenly replies "Hey babe, I got a 12 inch penis".
I have absolutely no knowledge of the Swedish language, but I have to imagine one would need to speak the language quite well to respond in such a way, and that it would be difficult to mistakenly refer to your genitals when trying to say something more appropriate like "We are here to see the mermaid".
But maybe not. In my infrequent and not very efficient efforts to improve my spoken Cantonese, I will point to random objects around the house and ask George to tell me how to say it. Last night I randomly pointed to George's breasts, and she responded hung bo (胸部), which to me sounded exactly the same as a word I already knew--horrible (hung bo 恐怖)--with the only difference in pronunciation being the tone at which one pronounces the word. To make this even worse, the word for "very" in Cantonese is the same as the word for "good", and so to my ears that cannot hear all the different tones in a language like Cantonese, the phrase "very horrible" (好恐怖) has pretty much the same pronunciation as the sentence "nice breasts" (好胸部).
I can totally see myself walking down the street in Hong Kong, and some women comes running around a corner covered in blood or something screaming about a terrible accident, and in my efforts to say something supportive like "oh, how horrible" I might just inappropriately compliment her on her woman parts.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Happy Easter
France is a predominantly catholic country, and Lyon a predominantly catholic city, so we celebrated this Easter the traditional way:
bmx bikes
graffiti
freestyle bikes
breakdancing
and
De La Soul
The 7th annual L'Original Festival of Lyon was this weekend, a 4 day celebration of skateboarding, biking, graffiting, breakdancing, and hip-hoping, culminating today with a free show in the plaza in front of the mayor's office featuring a Lyon-based breakdance crew, The Pockemon Crew, and one of the best hip hop bands ever, De La Soul.
Happy Easter everyone! I leave you with a video of De La's most popular song (which totally makes me feel old :-( )
The 7th annual L'Original Festival of Lyon was this weekend, a 4 day celebration of skateboarding, biking, graffiting, breakdancing, and hip-hoping, culminating today with a free show in the plaza in front of the mayor's office featuring a Lyon-based breakdance crew, The Pockemon Crew, and one of the best hip hop bands ever, De La Soul.
Happy Easter everyone! I leave you with a video of De La's most popular song (which totally makes me feel old :-( )
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Road Trip
When my dad came to visit a year ago, we took the train up to Normandy and rented a car for easy access to all the WW2 spots. Most of the sites we were interested in were pretty close together, so I don't think we put more than 320 kilometers on the car in that trip.
The Spanish border is about 500 kilometers from Lyon, and Barcelona is about 100 km past that. You can drive there in about 6 hours, or take a train in about 6 hours too (there is not yet a high-speed line all the way). Flying technically only takes about 1.5 hours, but with trips to and from the airport, getting thru security, boarding times, etc. it adds up to about 4 to 4.5 hours too. It is just far enough to make driving the best option, especially if you have more than one person to share the costs and if you plan on driving around a bit when you get there.
My friend, used-to-be neighbor, and current caretaker of my dog Tosh was recently in the Barcelona area for work, so George and I decided to grab a rental car for the weekend and put in our first hours on the French highway system.
Not the exact car I had--mine was black
We signed up for the cheapest smallest car they had, but they ended up giving us a brand new Ford Fiesta 4-door. By French standards, this is a medium sized sedan, and by US standards it is slightly bigger than a Smart car. The car was comfortable though, easy to get everyone in and out of, and had cruise control and HD radio to make the road trip more comfortable. As gas is about 6 dollars per gallon in France, I was also quite happy that it got around 50 miles per gallon.
Highways in France are extremely well kept (by the extremely high tolls), so the ride over was easy. We got a little turned around when we stopped for dinner in Perpignan but we ended up making it to my friend's hotel room in Blanes in about 6.5 hours.
View from the hotel room in Blanes
Blanes is a small vacation city about a half hour from Barcelona. Situated right on the beach, it is very popular with the northerners who come down to escape the frigid weather of their home countries. When we arrived it was pretty nice--sunny and about 65 degrees, and maybe even a little warmer when we went over to Barcelona.
The entrance to Park Güell
I've been to Barcelona before, and it is a great city. Tons of cool things to look at, good climate, nice beaches, and great food. We spent a day in the city eating, doing a little sight seeing, and shopping for things that we cannot find in Lyon (like refried beans) before heading back to the hotel to sleep off the food coma.
We spent Sunday exploring the gardens and beach around the hotel in Blanes. The weather was getting noticeably worse.
As we headed back to Lyon the sky was clouding, the wind was blowing, and the temperature was dropping. It was still in the low 50s--not really cold--so I didn't think much about it. As we got about 100 km into France I started noticing some white stuff blowing around the car, and I could not figure out what it was. Pollen? Some kind of bugs? I mean, I am in the south of France, it was 65 degrees yesterday, and I am nowhere near any mountains--this can't be snow. Well, after a few more kilometers it became apparent that it was indeed snow, but it was still just a few flurries on a completely clean highway, so nothing to worry about, right? A few kilometers more, and there is quite a bit of snow on the side of the road, and cars are driving noticeable slower. By the time we hit Nîmes, the roads where covered in snow, cars were barely moving, and to top things off, our GPS died.
The great blizzard of 2010
As I said earlier, it should have taken about 5.5 hours to get to my friend's hotel, but as we got a bit lost it took 6.5 hours. Logically, it should have taken 5.5 hours to get home from the hotel, but as we got stuck in the worst blizzard I have ever driven in, it took 11 hours. The last 7 hours to go only about 250 km (160 miles), with no GPS, nothing to drink, and an extremely full bladder.
Still, it was a fun trip. Seeing friends, eating tapas, and enjoying the (temporarily nice) Spanish climate was worth it.
The Spanish border is about 500 kilometers from Lyon, and Barcelona is about 100 km past that. You can drive there in about 6 hours, or take a train in about 6 hours too (there is not yet a high-speed line all the way). Flying technically only takes about 1.5 hours, but with trips to and from the airport, getting thru security, boarding times, etc. it adds up to about 4 to 4.5 hours too. It is just far enough to make driving the best option, especially if you have more than one person to share the costs and if you plan on driving around a bit when you get there.
My friend, used-to-be neighbor, and current caretaker of my dog Tosh was recently in the Barcelona area for work, so George and I decided to grab a rental car for the weekend and put in our first hours on the French highway system.
We signed up for the cheapest smallest car they had, but they ended up giving us a brand new Ford Fiesta 4-door. By French standards, this is a medium sized sedan, and by US standards it is slightly bigger than a Smart car. The car was comfortable though, easy to get everyone in and out of, and had cruise control and HD radio to make the road trip more comfortable. As gas is about 6 dollars per gallon in France, I was also quite happy that it got around 50 miles per gallon.
Highways in France are extremely well kept (by the extremely high tolls), so the ride over was easy. We got a little turned around when we stopped for dinner in Perpignan but we ended up making it to my friend's hotel room in Blanes in about 6.5 hours.
Blanes is a small vacation city about a half hour from Barcelona. Situated right on the beach, it is very popular with the northerners who come down to escape the frigid weather of their home countries. When we arrived it was pretty nice--sunny and about 65 degrees, and maybe even a little warmer when we went over to Barcelona.
I've been to Barcelona before, and it is a great city. Tons of cool things to look at, good climate, nice beaches, and great food. We spent a day in the city eating, doing a little sight seeing, and shopping for things that we cannot find in Lyon (like refried beans) before heading back to the hotel to sleep off the food coma.
We spent Sunday exploring the gardens and beach around the hotel in Blanes. The weather was getting noticeably worse.
As we headed back to Lyon the sky was clouding, the wind was blowing, and the temperature was dropping. It was still in the low 50s--not really cold--so I didn't think much about it. As we got about 100 km into France I started noticing some white stuff blowing around the car, and I could not figure out what it was. Pollen? Some kind of bugs? I mean, I am in the south of France, it was 65 degrees yesterday, and I am nowhere near any mountains--this can't be snow. Well, after a few more kilometers it became apparent that it was indeed snow, but it was still just a few flurries on a completely clean highway, so nothing to worry about, right? A few kilometers more, and there is quite a bit of snow on the side of the road, and cars are driving noticeable slower. By the time we hit Nîmes, the roads where covered in snow, cars were barely moving, and to top things off, our GPS died.
As I said earlier, it should have taken about 5.5 hours to get to my friend's hotel, but as we got a bit lost it took 6.5 hours. Logically, it should have taken 5.5 hours to get home from the hotel, but as we got stuck in the worst blizzard I have ever driven in, it took 11 hours. The last 7 hours to go only about 250 km (160 miles), with no GPS, nothing to drink, and an extremely full bladder.
Still, it was a fun trip. Seeing friends, eating tapas, and enjoying the (temporarily nice) Spanish climate was worth it.
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