TravelStream™ news feed for member mdoddr on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/mdoddr en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 08 Apr 2009 11:10:38 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mdoddr/1/1239201300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mdoddr/1/1239201300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mdoddr/1/1239201300/tpod.html Wed, 08 Apr 2009 11:10:38 -0400 Moving to France

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Albertville, Rhône-Alpes, France

Not speaking a lot of French it's hard to find a good job. Sophie and I managed to get a job harvesting grapes at a winery in Albertville.

Harvesting Grapes in the French Alps. Sounds romantic doesn't it?

It's not.

The first thing I should say is: A lot of the grapes are mouldy. I saw another harvester knocking some of the mouldy ones off so I did the same. I was later told not to waste too much time doing that. Just knock off the big chunks. 50% of the grapes are mouldy but they still go in with the rest. Honestly, with the process that they go through after being picked, it may not even matter that they were half mouldy to begin with.

It was freezing in the morning and hot in the afternoon. The vineyard was all uphill. We were constantly walking at a 45 degree angle. Grapes don't grow at shoulder level. They grow at knee level. and then droop. You kneel down, cut some grapes, and then you can either crawl along the ground, or stand a little and hobble along. Then you do that all day uphill.

All the rotten grapes ooze all over your hands. There is a lot of sugar in grapes. Your hands end up encrusted in dirt. By 9:30.

They give you lunch though. Then we found out that they were deducting it from our pay. Suddenly the low quality seemed worse

We only stayed three days.

Here are some photos.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mdoddr/1/1223455200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mdoddr/1/1223455200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mdoddr/1/1223455200/tpod.html Wed, 08 Apr 2009 05:47:16 -0400 Moving to France

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain and Canary Islands

On Day 4 Sophie and I went to Casa Batllo. Sophie's parents didn't want to go so we went alone. It was really great.

Casa Batllo as renovated by Gaudi between 1905 and 1907. Gaudi actively tried to avoid straight lines. The windows are round, and the walls undulate. The inside of the house has a water theme. I took a lot of pictures so maybe you should just look at those.

After Casa Batllo we met Sophie's family on La Rambla. This is a big street with a market and such. It's very popular with tourists.

After this we went up to the Olympic Park on Montjuic. and walked around. It started raining later.

I ate some weird spanish things that night.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mdoddr/1/1223221560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mdoddr/1/1223221560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mdoddr/1/1223221560/tpod.html Wed, 08 Apr 2009 04:09:11 -0400 Moving to France

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain and Canary Islands

On day 2 of our trip we drove out to a monastery. Poblet. It was big. there was a nice fireplace in the kitchen and a pretty fountain in the courtyard. We got a guided tour in, well, it wasn't in English anyways. I think it was in French. Anyways, the monastery was nice and all but I don't really know much about it. Check the Photos

That night we went out for Tapas. Now that was exciting. Tapas is a variety of little delicious appetizers. You pick about four or five and make a little meal. The place we went to had a great setup. The menu was printed on the place mat and there was a photo for each one. There was about fifty to choose from so we got some sangria while we decided. In the end I got:

1. Grilled Swordfish with Ratatouille
2. Brie with Sobrassada Sausage
3. Grilled Squid
4. Octopus in Vinaigrette
5. A Salmon roll with Crab and Mayonnaise

They were all delicious. I got a salty chocolate ball for dessert

It is important to realize that we were at a tapas restaurant where everything was somewhat formalized. In Spain most bars will have a selection of tapas but it is more or less just there out of tradition. Where we would have chips and nuts they have tapas. The history of tapas is not really well defined. There are stories involving King Alfonso the Wise being nursed back to health with a rudimentary form of tapas after some illness and being so impressed he ordered every tavern to serve it. A lot of others involve some version of there being a need to cover drinks with some mixture of bread or meat to keep out flies or blowing sand. In one of these tales tavern owners realized salty meat induced thirst and increased drink sales and started serving it more often. In another the owners realized stinky cheese covered the scent of bad wine. As was covered in my last entry Spain, or at least parts of it, have been conquered by many cultures, so over time tapas incorporated lots of different things. Olives are a common staple of tapas as are tomatoes.

On Day 3 we went to another monastery. Montserrat. This one was built on the top of a mountain with some pretty cool erosion going on. The views were fantastic and we ate our lunch in some little garden overlooking this huge valley.

The thing about Montserrat is that it hosts one of the black virgins and it has become a site of pilgrimage. So at this site there is one monetary and four hotels and hundreds of people. We didn't bother going up to see the black virgin, the line must have been two hours long, but I looked at a photo in the gift shop. It's no Eiffel tower.

Thats about it for those two days.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mdoddr/1/1223114160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mdoddr/1/1223114160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mdoddr/1/1223114160/tpod.html Sun, 12 Oct 2008 11:37:10 -0400 Moving to France

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain and Canary Islands

Sophie and I just got back from a vacation to Barcelona with her family. It was very nice. Barcelona is a beautiful city with a lot of history.

Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia. Catalonia is an autonomous region of Spain. This autonomy gives Catalonia the right to make certain decisions and grants official recognition of the fact that the Catalan people have a unique culture and heritage. If we go way back, Catalonia was first occupied 200,000 years ago in the middle paleolithic. Around 900 B.C. Celtic tribes came over the Pyrenees. They merged with the local tribes and eventually became the Celtiberian people. Later the Greeks showed up and established market towns. Then it was the Carthaginians. It is theorized that the Carthaginians were the ones who established what would become modern Barcelona though there had been settlements in the area for a long time.

The father of the famous Hannibal, Hamilcar Barca, a Carthaginian General, has been mythologized as the founder of Barcelona. Though it is usually accepted that the origin of the name is from the Iberic name Barkeno. There is another romantic myth of Barcelona's founding. This one has Hercules on a journey with Jason and the Argonauts. One of Jason's nine ships goes missing and Hercules sets out to find it. He finds the ship ashed up and destroyed. The crew is alive and well. They are so taken by the beauty of the place they landed that they name it Barca Nona (Ninth Ship).

In 218 B.C. Hannibal came through Catalonia on his way to Italy during the second Punic war. During the course of the war Rome conquered Catalonia. They called Barcelona Barcino and used it as a base to conqure the rest of the Iderian Peninnsula.

In the 5th century, after the collapse of the Roman empire, the Visigoths invaded the area. After that it was the Moors in the 8th Century and the Franks in the 9th. Catalonia became part of the buffer zone between the Moors and the Franks known as the Spanish Marches. This area was ruled by the Count of Barcelona. Eventually the Moors and the Franks declined and over time a whole slew of independent little kingdoms sprung up. until the 12th century Catalonia a ruled by the duke of Barcelona it was then incorporated, through marriage, under the crown of Aragon. In the 15th century the kingdom of Aragon was merged with the kingdom of Castile and Spain was born. A lot of confusing and boring crap happened after this but worth mentioning is that Napoleon occupied Catalonia during the Napolianic wars and it was annexed to France.

After this Catalonia and Barcelona's history are more or less just the a subsection of the history of Spain itself and I don't really care to explain The civil war and Franco and all the rest.

Our trip to Barcelona began when we left Meribel at around 8:00 in the morning on October 4th. There was snow on the ground and we couldn't wait to get somewhere warmer. The drive took about 7 hours. We didn't do anything the first night other than a quick shopping trip and getting a cup of coffee at a cafe. They have something called cafe con leche here. I call it a normal cup of coffee.

I will make room here for a little tangent:

There is this problem in Europe where they have coffee and espresso but they don't make a distinction between the two. I can not even begin to describe how frustrating this is. When Sophie and I went to Hyeres I had to go completly without coffee. You go to a restaurant and order coffee and you get an espresso. When we got to Line's parent's house I was offered a coffee. I was so glad to finally get a coffee and I was given an espresso! Why does everyone say coffee if it is an espresso? If you use an espresso machine to make it why would you call it coffee? there are two differant machines; A coffee machine and an espresso machine! Needless to say, at 9:00 in the morning when you want a coffee and someone hands you a shot glass of dirt tasting crap it can put you in a somewhat foul mood.

Anyways, cafe con leche comes in a mug and cream. Amazing! Even more amazing is how the French seem to love it but are unable to decipher the cryptic secrets that lay behind it's flavour and thus make it themselves when they return home.

On our first whole day in Barcelona we went to the Sagrad Familia. I can only say that it was everything I had been waiting to see and more. It is completly amazing. Gaudi has long been my favorite architect. I am completly puzzled that there is nobody emulating his style today. He is kind of like the cafe con leche of architecture. modern archicts see his work and say "Wow, it's so spectacular. Gaudi is one of the greatest architects of the last 500 years" and then they go and build another concrete slab building.

Construction of the Sagrada Familia began in 1882. Gaudi spent over 40 years working on it. It was originally thought it would take a few hundred years to complete due to all the intricate stone work but thanks to computers this process will take a lot less time and construction is now planned to conclude in 2026. I'll let the pictures say the rest.

After Sagrada Familia we went to Park Guell. Another Gaudi creation. This place is also very cool. Originally, park Guell was designed to be a park only for certain people. There were property developements all around the park and it would have been a private park for them. The problem was that nobody bought the properties. A complete mystery to me. I'm sure if people had the opportunity to have their own private Gaudi park today the property would sell for top dollar. Anyways, again, I will let the photos speak for themselves.

That night we did some walking around and I took some more photos. Check them out
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mdoddr/1/1221048000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mdoddr/1/1221048000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mdoddr/1/1221048000/tpod.html Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:10:08 -0400 Moving to France

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Hyères, Provence, France

So, Sophie has a friend named Line. That would be pronounced like Lyne, not line. Line has a husband named Romain. That would be pronounced Romon, not romain. Last year in August Sophie and I came to France to attend their wedding. It was my first time in the South of France and the whole thing was quite nice. Anyways, here we are a little over a year later going to the south of France again to attend their daughters christening. Their Daughter's name is Lily-Rose. No secret pronunciation there. We would be staying in Hyeres, pronounced "yare", with Line's family during the christening but Sophie and I decided to head down a few days early to catch some sun on the beaches. We stayed in a hotel called Formule 1. Since we wanted to save money the Formule 1 was a fine choice. I unfortunately neglected to take photos but there are some here. The place works like this: You get a room with one of those bunk beds with the double bed on the bottom and a single bed on top. There is a TV and table in one corner and a sink in the other. Toilets and showers are shared. When you leave the bathroom or shower the entire thing (or maybe just the floor) is washed before someone else can use it. The shower is on a timer and, I counted, turns off after 30 seconds. This seems more annoying than functional as you can turn it on as many times as you want you just have to do it again every 30 seconds. For the price I would say the place was fine. Could use a fan or AC or something but for the price you can hardly complain.

Hyeres is a pretty old city. It was originally founded by the Phoenicians and was later used by both the Greeks (who called it Olbia) and Romans (who called it Eyras). Since the 1600's it has been a resort town. During World War II a team of US/Canadian special forces landed in Hyeres and from there took a series of local islands.

Sophie and I left early on the 10th. We got there around noon and, after getting lost for a bit and checking into the formule 1, we went to the beach. It was cloudy so we didn't stay too long. We took a walk around the board walk and checked out some restaurants for later. We found a good deal: Mussels, fries, scallops and dessert for 12 euros.

We headed back to the hotel and got ready for dinner. The name of this place was the Lond-on. It was horrible. It was one of these restaurants that haunt popular tourist destinations. Unlike your average small town restaurant that relies on return customers for business, these places will always have new customers. Even if they serve awful food and neglect their patrons there will always be new people tomorrow. We arrived and sat down. The waitress gave us a menu and left. We already knew what we wanted: The meal being advertised on the sign by the door but we killed time looking at the menu anyways. A million years later the waitress returned and asked what we wanted. We told her we wanted the deal on the sign. She told us that they were out of mussels. Now it's not like this is a permanent sign. It's written in chalk. It's portable. I was baffled why they would leave it there when they don't even have the necessary ingredients to make the meal. In retrospect, I realize that it was a classic bait and switch. "No we don't have any mussels. But now that your here why don't you have a horrible pizza instead?". So I had the horrible Pizza instead. Of course Sophie and I now had to think about what we wanted. So the waitress had to leave. I will say that I hate when they only give you 3 minutes to think about this and I hate sounding like I am hard to please but the place was totally empty and it took the waitress another 15 minutes before she came back. Then, she had to check to make sure they had pizza. At this point I really regretted not leaving when they said they had no mussels. Sophie, in what turned out to be a terrible mistake, got the 15 euro menu. This was a salad, some beef, and dessert. Sounds fine right? except for the fact that between each of these stages there was an excruciatingly long wait. When Sophie asked for some mayonnaise for her fries the waitress said sure and then went and had a smoke. She had completly forgotten.

The next day was basically the same. We went to the beach in the morning (cloudy again) and too a bird park in the afternoon. Birds are pretty cool. I can totally understand though why someone may want to shout or poke a stick into the cage. As we were walking down the path we could hear the exotic calls of all differant birds. But as soon as you approach the cage they retreat to the back and stay quiet. I don't blame them. Living in a zoo would suck. But I long for the day when we can just implant microchips in their little brains and watch them perform for us. Sorry PETA.

We had a better dinner that night. We got our mussels. After that we went for a walk and got some gelato. I got Ferrero, Toblerone, Strawberry, and Mango. Sophie got Toblerone, Pecan, Stracciatela, and Nutella. It was very good. Sophie was wearing white pants and of course dropped some chocolate on them.

The next day we, again, went to the beach. It was, again, cloudy. But the waves were huge and I had a very fun time being knocked all over the place by them. In the Afternoon we headed over to Line's parents house. We ended up going into town with Line, Romain, and Lily-Rose.

We hung around on Saturday. There was some crazy wind and nobody wanted to go to the beach. Really, nothing happened. Sophie and I drove into town to go see a movie but we couldn't find the theatre. Later in the evening some more of Line's family showed up and we had some drinks and dinner.

Sunday was the baptism. We all went down to the church and listened to whats his face talking about God in French. The priest/minister/chief was apparently doing some type of rhyming, slam poetry type sermon but I couldn't tell.

We were having a dual baptism. Line and Romain's baby along with Line's brother's baby. Line's brothers baby is 2 and a half. He really didn't seem to pleased when they tried to dunk him into the water.

After the baptism we all went back to Line's parent's house and had a big lunch. after that I went down to the beach with Romain to watch line's sister kite surf. It was all pretty nice, though soured slightly by the fact that I had been shitting blood consistently all day.

At about 5 in the morning after my 4th such experience Sophie and I decided a trip to the hospital may be a good idea. Once there I underwent a series of humbling bum related examinations. I was sent home with instructions to schedule a colonoscopy. Fun.

So that was Hyeres.

Oh, it was hemorrhoids. Internal. And they were getting better by the time I went to see the doctor. The cause: Too much exercise bike. Lesson: Attempting to attain better health will make you shit blood.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mdoddr/1/1220002800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mdoddr/1/1220002800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mdoddr/1/1220002800/tpod.html Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:47:56 -0400 Moving to France

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Meribel, Rhône-Alpes, France

So after Brittany Sophie and I came back to Meribel. I spent a few days writing my blogs about Brittany and since then, as my ardent fans will have realized, I have ceased to blog.

So what have I been up to you ask?

Well, I have spent most of my days on Reddit.Com. If you want to visit this site be warned: It is addictive. I have also, almost every day, worked out. I enjoy the 8 minute abs and 8 minute arms. I also have begun downloading pod casts regularly to listen to while I'm on the exercise bike. It really helps because instead of thinking about how boring it is to just sit on an exercise bike I am listening to a pod cast.

Sophie and I hiked up to a village named la Traie and spent the night in a little chalet her family has there. This village is like a trip to the past. Sophie's Grandmother used to stay up there for a few weeks in the summer when she was a little girl. Back then they were taking their cattle up there to graze. The thing that is cool about this area is that you can really see the edge of modernization. La Traie is a one and a half hour walk from Les Allues but there is no electricity or phones. It is completely cut off in winter. I brought a constellation map with me hoping that there would be no light pollution and that we would be high enough in the mountains to get a descent view. For awhile, while Sophie and I sat next to a little fire drinking some wine, there were a lot of clouds in the sky and I was afraid I would miss my chance. But then everything cleared up and the stars were beautiful. In order to get a really good view of the stars you have to sit out for about half an hour and let your eyes adjust. It was pretty cold though so I just concentrated on picking out the constellations around Ursa Major. So we found Draco, Ursa Minor, and Bootes.

Ursa Major means "The Great Bear" in Latin. It has been interpreted as many things in other cultures. Obviously ho a culture perceives a constellation is flexible. Most English speaking people today call it "the Big Dipper". Interestingly, Native Americans also interpreted the constellation as a bear. Though they, because bears have short tails, interpreted the three trailing stars, Alkaid, Mizar, and Alioth, as hunters pursuing the bear itself. Did the Natives bring these stories with them hen they crossed the Bering Strait? Or did the just happen to look up and see, of all things, a bear in the night sky?

Imagine the big dipper in your mind. You can see the tail and the bowl. The bowl, as you know, is made of four stars. Look at the two furthest on your right. Starting from the bottom star, draw a line through the second and continue until you hit another bright star. This is Polaris, the North Star. Wherever you are if you find this star you know what direction is north. If you were standing on the North pole this star would be right above your head. Polaris is the last star in the tail of Ursa Minor. Which, as I'm sure you have guessed, means "Little Bear". If you look between Ursa Major and Ursa Minor you may be able to find Draco. Draco is just a long, backward S shaped line that, like Ursa Major and Minor, is capped with four stars in a relatively square composition. Draco means "Dragon" and at one time Ursa Minor was considered it's wing. If we go back to imagining the Big Dipper but this time we follow the curve of it's handle and keep bending at the same rate you will meet a series of four stars that seem to continue the same curve. This is the right side of Bootes. Bootes is harder to see. The names origin is lost in antiquity but there are a series of different stories featuring it. In fact every constellation I've mentioned has stories about them. What you have to remember is that the stars were very important. Not only were they beautiful and mysterious but they were indispensable for navigation. The stories attached to them helped to explain which constellations would move where. Polaris stayed in the same spot all night. Orion appeared in the summer. Draco circled endlessly. Important stuff.

Sophie and I hiked back down to Meribel in the morning. A few weeks later there was a family dinner at the same chalet. there was a good pasta salad with crab.

We went for a double date to a chalet in, another town like La Traie, Les Prioux. This place is also abandoned in winter but in the summer it's old fashioned charm attracts a lot of people. We went to a restaurant that was lit entirely with candle light. Very nice. I had a cheese fondue. Also very nice.

Antoine went to Bulgaria for 3 weeks. Sophie and I dropped him off in Chambery. We also picked him up in Lyon. We ate at an indian restaurant.

The fish in the pond are growing up nice. They are baby koi.

Thats all for now
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mdoddr/1/1218310380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mdoddr/1/1218310380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mdoddr/1/1218310380/tpod.html Sun, 10 Aug 2008 13:09:37 -0400 Moving to France

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Ploeuc-sur-lié, France

For the last two days of our trip to Brittany everyone just relaxed. We visited some family and Sophie's Grandmother cooked everyone Galette. Which is a special crepe dish with ham, eggs, and cheese. It was very good. Antoine and I explored the attic and took some scary photos. And I studied French as much as possible.

I think I should go over some of the more interesting things I've learned about Brittany.

The name Brittany is of course an anglicized version of the true French name Bretagne and the name Bretagne is derived from the ancient Celtic "Breizh Izel" which means Little Britain. This is what Great Britain is being compared to. In ancient Celtic times there was a Great Britain and a Little Britain. Brittany is of course historically Celtic as is most of North-Western Europe. However modern Bretons are not direct descendants of the Gauls, the ancient Celts of The Brittany peninsula, they are descendants of the ancient Celts of Britain, the Britons. When the Romans arrived in 57 B.C. they called the place Armorica and over the next 6-700 years they suppressed the local population. In the 6th century A.D. the Romans invited the Britons to settle the coast in order to provide protection from pirates and invaders. With the special privileges they received they came to be more prominent than the ancient Gauls. When the Anglo Saxons invaded Britain the Britons flocked to Little Britain in even greater numbers. With the Franks invading from the east, the Gauls were soon absorbed entirely into other cultures. Brittany has held on to its Celtic origins quite well despite pressure from the French government. There has even been a strong resurgence of local traditions since the 1970's.

The flag of Brittany is guite interesting. It is one of the first things you will notice if you visit Brittany. It looks like a black and white American flag. It features black and white stripes and, where the stars would be there is a pattern of "ermine spots". The stripes represent the dioceses of Brittany. Five black stripes for the Gallo Speaking dioceses and four for the Breton speaking dioceses. The ermine spots have been lifted from the Coat of arms. The first thing you would think is "Hmmm, I wonder if the U.S. based their flag off of this one." Surely this flag is ancient and has a rich history. It must have been held high in front of grand armies marching off to fight for something important. No. The flag was created in 1923 by Morval Marchal a Breton Nationalist. He actually based his design on the flags of the United States and Greece. For many years the flag was seen as a seperatist symbol. Now, however, it no longer has a political conotation and can appear anywhere.

Brittany has two regional languages other than French. The first is Breton which is a Celtic language most closely related to Cornish and Welsh. It was the official language of the Duchy of Brittany for centuries. Some say that French Royalty promoted the use of regional languages as a way to keep information isolated in their own circles. In modern times, however, practices geared towards stamping out its use have prevailed. In state schools humiliating practices were employed up until the 1960's and they have been largely successful. Modern Breton is considered an endangered language only spoken by 200,000 people (190,000 of which are over the age of 60). This is significantly lower than the 1.3 million who spoke it in 1930. At the turn of the century only half of the population of Brittany spoke French at all. By 1950 there were only 100,000 monolingual Bretons left. Breton is the only living Celtic language which is not recognized as an official language. France refuses to change the second article of the constitution (which stretches all the way back to 1994) to allow Breton any kind of official status. There is a strong revival movement gaining ground as part of the overlying nationalistic movement in Brittany and Breton has seen a slight resurgence in recent times.

The other regional language is Gallo. Gallo is, like French, a romance language. It is actually considered a dialect of French rather than a distinct language. It is similar to Norman though it lacks the Norse influences found in Norman. Both are in the langues d'oïl family which is a group of languages descended from the Roman territories in Northern Gaul. Gallo is spoken mostly in the East of Brittany while Breton is spoken more in the West. Gallo has suffered many of the same types of suppression seen with Breton and in modern times it is even seeing suppression from, oddly enough, Breton's resurgence (Which is taking place even in traditionally Gallo areas).

There is a strong Nationalistic movement in Brittany. Brittany's history as part of France stretches back to the marriage of Anne, Duchess of Brittany (Who had been betrothed to the child king Edward V of England, one of the Princes in the Tower, among others) to King Charles the VIII of France in 1491. However its history as being considered a part of France is about 713 years older, stretching back to some battle where the Merovingian kings claimed to have conquered it. The two nations were at war off and on for the entire period of time in between. There are a whole slew of nationalist groups, all with different agendas. Some want separation, others want representation, others just want recognition, there are even some who want a return to monarchy.

The Nationalist movement itself has a history spreading back to the French revolution. This first movement was called the First Emsav. Emsav comes from the Breton word meaning to rise. The goals of the Emslav were mostly centered around preserving the language, oral history, and music of Brittany and between the late 1700s and 1914 a lot of institutions were established that did this. A weekly Breton language magazine, Feiz ha Breiz, helped to promote the language and several associations, clubs, and political parties were set up. But it all began in 1791 with the Breton Association. While the revolutionary army was marching around France stamping out the remaining royalists the Association was busy making contact with the English. Through them they received uniforms, guns, and other weapons. They intended
to raise 10,000 men and force Brittany's separation from France. Their plans were put on hold when they were betrayed and exposed by Valentine Chevetel. Many leaders of the Association were taken to the Guillotine but others continued to fight the revolutionaries as part of the Chouannerie. The battle for Brittany's separation, however, had been lost and, what was worse, Bretons had gained an image as an internal enemy.

This image caused a real problem in the 1870's during the Franco-Prussian war. It had been decided that an army should be formed in Brittany and brought to fight the Prussians. This army was under the command of Emilé de Kératry. The soldiers were grouped in the town of Conlie in Le Mans. Léon Gambetta, a prominent statesman during the war and, ostensibly, Kératry's boss, suspected Kératry of separatist leanings. Because of this the weapons promised to the army were not provided and the army was forced to remain, useless, in Conlie. To make matters worse the army was provided only with tents and was positioned in a freshly ploughed field. Supplies and equipment were sparse and bad weather quickly turned the area into a quagmire of mud. There were about 31,000 men stationed in Conlie for months. Smallpox killed 88 and another 2000 were sent to the infirmary. Gambetta repeatedly refused requests for evacuation. When soldiers were sent to battle they were sick and poorly supplied. In one instance 12,000 men were given 4000 rifles. I can hardly imagine what 8000 sick, malnourished, unarmed men could do in a battle other than die quickly. This is, not surprisingly, exactly what happened. On January 9th the remaining soldiers from camp Conlie were merged with the 2nd Army of the Loire and they were slaughtered in the Battle of Le Mans on January 10th. In the minds of Bretons this was intentional. Though the entire Franco-Prussian war up to that point had been a dedicated worship of disorganization and idiocy, the Bretons couldn't help but feel victimized. They may have had a point. After all what was the point of raising an army and then refusing to deploy them or give them weapons? Why wait until they are sick and starving before sending them into battle? Why send 12,000 into battle with only 4000 rifles? This feeling of victimization lasted a long time.

Weather true or not, during World War I, the people of Brittany got the impression that their sons had been placed on the front line too often and on purpose. This led to the establishment of the Second Emsav at the end of the war. During the second Emsav there were many groups split between regionalism, federalism, and separatism. One group, through tight organization and clear ideals, rose above the others: The Breton National Party. The Breton National Party was closely aligned with fascist ideals, xenophobia, and antisemitism. Before the war Germany worked closely with regionalist movements. They hoped to use this to destabilize France and break national unity in preparation for their invasion. The Germans promised these groups that were they to seize power, they would be appeasing to their needs. The Breton National Party Slowly evolved into a junior Nazi organization. Yann Goulet created the Strolandoù Stourm to serve as a mini SS for the BNP while Célestin Lainé transformed the BNPs terrorist gang (responsible for the 1932 bombing of a statue depicting Anne, duchess of Brittany kneeling before King Charles VIII) into, the Bezen Perrot, a wing of the SS itself. Both of these groups participated in armed conflict against French citizens. After the arrival of allied troops everything became very confused. The Bezen Perrot was supposed to serve as rear guard but instead fled to Ireland. Many BNP members were beaten to death by those they had formerly oppressed and soon the entire party had dissolved. Anyone who could be was charged with collaboration including many non-members. The entire incident has stained the cause of Breton cultural support for years after. The cause remained completely silent for 2 decades. It was during this time that the French Government felt justified in brutally suppressing Breton culture in any way possible.

The 1960s created a welcoming platform for the topic to surface again in the Third Emsav. Bretonic music, fused with contemporary styles, served as a rallying point for the younger generation. The Third Emsav made great pains to distance itself from the second. Even steering away from the term Nationalism. However, in 1966 a municipal tax office in St Brieux was bombed. A group calling themselves the Liberation Front of Brittany took Credit. The FLB carried out several more attacks against "symbols of French oppression" and they always made sure that civilians were not hurt. The only two casualties were FLB members who were killed trying to diffuse a bomb that may have hurt people. The FLB enjoyed popular support and their members came from diverse backgrounds (businessmen, housewives, students, farmers, and even clergy). A 1979 trial of several members only served to bolster their support and during this time a large increase in Breton language courses was seen. In the 1970s several factions splintered off. The most prominent of these is the Breton Revolutionary Army. For years the ARB held to a belief in striking symbolic targets and not causing injuries. However in recent years they have shifted their policies. In 1999 they began associating with ETA (a Basque national Group that has killed over 823 people) and in 2000 they bombed a McDonald's in Quévert killing one person. It would be unfair of me to not mention that the accomplishments of the first, second, and third emsavs have been predominantly linguistic and cultural in nature and that all to often violent nationalism has been fueled by peoples seeming inability to differentiate between violent nationalism and preservation of culture. The current terrorist activity has been caused by anger fueled by France's decades long suppression of Bretonic culture. France suppressed Bretonic culture because they seemed to think it would prevent a recurrence of the sort of pseudo-Nazism seen during WWII. But obviously Bretonic culture is not a prerequisite of fascism. More likely it was the long standing feeling of victimization that had caused rise of Celto-Fascism. A feeling of victimization created intentionally or not by the Camp Conlie debacle which had in turn been caused by fears left over from Brittany's counter revolutionary actions almost 100 years earlier. In retrospect it seems almost obvious that the slightest bit of compassion for the people of Brittany and their desire to keep their unique culture could have saved everyone a lot of trouble but even now, as the ARB takes a more violent stance, the French government refuses to budge on their policies. The only way this makes any sense is if they actually want Bretonic culture to disappear. Either way I'm sure that the Breton language will slowly fade as the 200,000 speakers slowly die off and fail to be replaced. Even with efforts in place to preserve it the damage, for the most part, has been done.

For more information on Brittany visit your local library.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mdoddr/1/1217098560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mdoddr/1/1217098560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mdoddr/1/1217098560/tpod.html Thu, 07 Aug 2008 15:24:28 -0400 Moving to France

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Mont Saint-Michel, France

Okay to be honest I am getting sick of blogging about Brittany and you (the 2 people who read this) may be sick of reading about it but Mont Saint-Michel was certainly the highlight of the trip. The history as I remember it is that, in 700 and something, St. Aubert was told by the archangel Michael to build a monastery on the island. The bishop, being a good bishop, completely ignored him. Not once but several times. I like to wonder what he was thinking. If he didn't think it was serious business to obey the orders of an angel then he must have just assumed that he was insane and imagining the whole thing. But then Michael came back and burned a hole in his head with his finger and the bishop decided to get to work. Over the years the monetary grew and it became a prominent symbol of France during the Hundred Year War when it withstood many English attacks. After the French Revolution the monetary was converted into a prison and then in the 1800's it was declared a historical monument and the prison was closed. Mont Saint-Michel is now a UNESCO world heritage site.

We got there early in the morning. Immediately you are very impressed. This is exactly what old Medieval cities are supposed to look like. When you realize that people actually live here you can't help but be jealous. We were a little miffed at having to pay to enter the monastery. Not just one of those "suggested donations" you have to pay. But whats the point of coming all this way and not going in the monastery? So we payed and did the tour. The view is great from the top. I took a lot of pictures. After we got out we had lunch at an over priced sandwich shop. We quickly realized that that is it. There are only 2 or 3 streets in the whole city and we had walked down them. We left the city and saw that there were hundreds of people pouring in. I wasn't jealous of the people who lived there anymore. In fact I wonder what they do. They must be the people who own the shops. Otherwise how could they stand the crowds?

Final fact: Mont Saint-Michel is the design inspiration for Minas Tirith in the Lord of the Rings movies.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mdoddr/1/1217006820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mdoddr/1/1217006820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mdoddr/1/1217006820/tpod.html Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:36:01 -0400 Moving to France

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Saint-Malo, Brittany, France

On day 5 we all piled into the car and went to Saint-Malo. It is an old walled city. Interesting facts about Saint-Malo include it being the base of operation for the Corsairs, who were basically pirates except that they were licensed by the King of France. The history of the Corsairs begins in 1144 when, for a time, the entire city of Saint-Malo was granted asylum status. This attracted all sorts of nefarious types including many would be pirates. The Corsairs were found to be incredibly useful both for making money and for weakening France's enemies. Politics changed over time, however, and in 1856 the corsairs were officially criminalized. Also Jacques Cartier, who claimed what is now Canada for France, was born in and sailed from Saint-Malo on his way to map the Saint-Lawrence. There is even a place in the city named "Quebec place" and there is a little (crap) museum there to show... something.

As for our trip to Saint-Malo: I tried mussels with curry and it was really hot. It is just a city. Observe the photos and enjoy.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mdoddr/1/1216921800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mdoddr/1/1216921800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mdoddr/1/1216921800/tpod.html Sun, 03 Aug 2008 16:10:23 -0400 Moving to France

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

St Brieuc, France

On day 4 we went to the market in St Brieuc. I bought some new sunglasses and Sophie got a shirt. We met a friend of Sophie's and had lunch in a bad restaurant. I find that French people have a great ability to know what they want to eat immediately upon opening a menu. I on the other had make my choice via elimination. At first glance everything on the menu seems good. Then I pick out a few things I don't want and then a few more. On it goes until there are only two things I want. Then I ask Sophie what she wants and it is inevitably one of my last two. I then pick the one she's not having and we're ready to order. If we were in Canada we would then have another ten minutes before anyone came to take the order. I France however I find they have usually already returned before I have read the menu through. God help you if you are prone to chit chat. We asked the waitress to come back it ten minutes and she reacted as though we had refused to order flat out. She was back 30 seconds later. It really sucks to not be able to speak descent French. When you can't turn to a waitress and say "No, we aren't ready. We just asked for 10 minutes and you didn't even give us one. We haven't decided, thank you" So I ordered a sandwich and immediately realized I wanted something else. But the worst is when the sandwich comes. The ingredients were Ham, 2 kinds of cheese, tomato sauce and some other stuff. I got a melted cheese sandwich. There were a few slivers of ham but, the real problem, no tomato sauce. So, via Sophie, we asked about this. The waitress informed us, before disappearing, that it was made with tomato sauce but there wasn't tomato sauce on the sandwich.

Just meditate on that for awhile. You're in a kitchen. You're making a sandwich. You're making it with tomato sauce. Are you picturing this? if so, could you please explain what you are doing? Because I can't figure it out. How do you make a sandwich with tomato sauce and not have tomato sauce on it? was the bread made with tomato sauce? or the cheese? The mind boggles. Were they out of sauce? did she just make this up? I can't imagine what was going on.

After the restaurant we went to the beach in Les Rousaires. This beach was different than the last one. It had sand and water! Sophie and I went for a swim and it was pretty nice. The one thing all my friends ask me about when I mention french beaches is the toplessness. Every North American has this romantic image of going to the beach and seeing beautiful French women walking topless everywhere. And, yes, women got topless at the beach but never the ones you would want to see topless. If you are sitting on the beach and you see some giant fat 72 year old woman waddling right towards the empty area next to you you can be assured that they will be taking off their top. So anyone who might imagine me sitting on a beach surrounded by gorgeous bare breasted girls who need sun tan lotion applied to their back... don't get jealous too quickly.

That night we went to eat at Sophie's Uncle's. we had a really cool salad with blue cheese, pears, and pine nuts. And the main course was a big fucking roast tomato which I obligingly choked down. You see I will eat almost anything. I would eat bear or moose, I would eat snake if you cooked it first and, cry me a river, I would eat horse. Prepared the right way and after a few beer I like to think I would eat bugs. I would like to eat eyeballs some day and am looking forward to an opportunity to eat tongue. But I hate tomatoes. I don't hate tomato sauce or, like, rice with tomatoes but I don't want a baked tomato. Please don't slice up a tomato and give me some. It is slimy and gross and tastes like metal and I hate it. It is the one thing I don't want to eat. And there it was staring me in the face. And I ate it and it was gross.

Moving on: One of the worst things about not speaking a language is what happens when you are forced to sit at a table full of people who do. The second that the food is gone I am suddenly overwhelmed with boredom. It is horrible. Everyone might as well be saying "wha wha wha wha" the whole night. Sophie does her best to translate and I really appreciate it but all too often she will turn to me in the moment when someone has stopped to catch their breath and say something like: "okay, so, our cousin had a car accident and..." but then she stops. Her uncle has started talking again and Sophie is listening. Next thing everyone is laughing at some joke and then Sophie is talking about something and I am utterly forgotten. I stare at her for a few minutes before submitting to the fact that I will never find out what happened to her cousin. Other times I will be day dreaming about something when I will remember something that I want to tell Sophie. I will wait until a break in the conversation where I think I could probably start talking to her. This can sometimes take awhile because I never know if they are talking about something she cares about or not. When I finally do get her attention and start talking I will almost certainly be cut off by someone asking Sophie a question. It's almost as though they don't even realize that those were words coming out of my mouth. It's very frustrating.

We stayed way too late and I felt sick when we got home. Which made me wonder "can you actually die from boredom?"
]]>