Valentine's Getaway

For Valentine's Day, C & I decided to do a little weekend getaway.  We wanted something within 1-2 hour of Paris, in a quiet area and with a cozy fireplace.  I started looking around on AirBnb and came across this adorable place.

 

We had the whole house to ourselves, and it was absolutely lovely.  There's a little river just behind it, so with the window slightly open, we could hear the water running by and a whole host of birds singing.  The covered patio on the left of the house had heaters and there was also an area for BBQing. 

The inside was adorable - the owners used very high quality materials to renovate the place, and also left a lot of the originals architecture in place - exposed beams, the fireplace, etc. There are two bedrooms upstairs (one with a bathroom), and the beds were soooo comfortable.  

I never got a chance to talk to her about it, but apparently the owner is half-American, and had mentioned her grandma had been staying there.  She must have been the American grandma then, because there were a lot of American books, magazines and products lying around (like Centrum Vitamins), so that was kind of funny and made it feel a bit more like home.  The kitchen was also extremely well-stocked and had much more than your usual rental apartment. We definitely had everything we needed to cook a nice meal.

We were mainly there to relax, but we took a nice walk around a nearby lake:

And there was also a château just down the road:

As well as a super adorable village about a 15min drive away:

The only two downsides were the breakfast (which was pretty sparse) and the cost.  This place was a bit more than we were wanting to spend, so what we did was have C sign up for AirBnb so he got an 18€ credit to use on his first rental (and as a bonus, I got an 18€ credit too).   As a side note, if you're not signed up for AirBnB yet, you can go through my link and get the same bonus offer off of your first rental here!  I haven't used AirBnB that many times yet, but so far it's been a great way to stay in some unusual spaces at a reasonable cost (and usually with more room than a hotel room).

All in all, it was an excellent spot for a relaxing getaway from Paris, and I would definitely spend another weekend there.  If you don't have a car, I think I remember seeing that she will come pick you up from the local train station for 5€/person, which I thought was a nice offer.  The place is also close to Beauvais, so it would be good for an overnight stop before a flight. 

Metro News

I'm about half-way through my 3 crazy month travel spree:

• Week 1- near Cholet
• Week 2- Thailand
• Week 3- China
• Week 4- home (woohoo!)
• Week 5- near Cholet
• Week 6- Istanbul
• Week 7&8- Thailand
• Week 9&10- US
• Week 11- Return to France
• Week 12- near Cholet
• Week 13- nothing booked yet, but that's still a ways out...

It's starting to make me regret getting annual passes for the metro, the gym and the cinema...but oh well, too late now.  And I hate using the individual metro tickets anyways, I always end up with a million of them everywhere, and never know if they've been used or not, etc.

But I did actually take the metro yesterday and picked up one of the free newspapers, so I thought I'd share a few interesting articles.

First of all, the Regional Tourism Committee has started renting out these little wifi boxes to tourists in order to give them better mobile access during their vacation.  The box is about the size of a telephone, has a 6h battery span, and allows you to connect up to 10 devices to it.  There are about 100 available, and you can rent them at the information booths at CDG and Galeries Lafayette.  The cost is pretty reasonable too - 7,90€ per day. 

There was a second offer for tourists too - Appart'City is offering a special for the month of June that allows customers to name their price for a hotel room.  The promotion is valid all over France and can be booked online at www.appartcity.com.

And lastly, if you don't like speaking in French on the phone or can never get your doctor to pick up, there is a new website called www.RDVmedicaux.com.  The site has over 2600 general practitioners and specialists (including ophthalmologists) in over 500 cities through France, and basically lets you book a doctor's appointment as you would a train ticket. They will send you a confirmation via SMS, as well as a reminder SMS the day before your appointment.  I can see how something like this would be extremely practical, both in helping you find an available doctor near you and also during les vacances.  I know there have been times in the past where I've had to call as many as 10 doctors before finding one available during the month of August!

Passation 2012

I'm currently watching the swearing in of the new French President on TV.  One of the things that has really struck me in this campaign is how little François Hollande's female companion has been brought up.  For those of you who don't know, he started a relationship with Valerie Trierweiler back in 2005. At that time, François Hollande was still with Ségolène Royal, the candidate defeated by Sarkozy in the 2007 elections.  And Ms Trierweiler was also still married to her husband. And yet it was a complete non-issue during the campaign - the other side didn't even think to bring it up as a defense mechanism.

Can you imagine a couple like this ever even having a chance in hell of making to the White House in the US? Hell, Bill Clinton was almost impeached for his dalliance with Monica Lewinsky - yet in this case, both spouses were full-on cheating on their partners and here they are, about to take over as France's head of state and move in to l'Elysée.

I'm not writing this to judge them, more so to comment on the difference in mentalities between my two countries. I find it interesting that Americans tend to feel that one's personal actions are also a reflection of how they will react in their public life. Whereas they are completely separate for the French - a politician can be sleeping around with anything that moves and yet still be considered a perfectly good candidate (example: DSK).

Historically-speaking, what French politicians have done on their own time has always been hush-hush, even though it was quite well known in the journalistic circles that many of them had mistresses (and some even had children with them).  But up until recently, they were never followed by paparazzi and those kinds of subjects were just left alone. 

That tide started to change with Sarkozy however - known as the "Bling bling" president, he was followed anywhere he went in order to find proof he was living the high life.  He and Carla were even photographed on a yacht in their swimsuits, which was quite the shocking revelation as no other president had ever been photographed in such a "private way" during his off hours.

I'm not sure what my feelings are exactly on this subject.  On one hand, I do think that if someone thinks it's okay to cheat on his wife, he might not have the best scruples and that does call into question his ability to make sound decisions for an entire country.  But on the other hand, I'm not sure if I agree with people's private lives becoming such public domain.

So let's put it to a blog poll: