522 - Join Us in France Travel Podcast

Table of Contents for this Episode

Discussed in this Episode

Strasbourg
Colmar
Eguisheim
Sélestat
Ribeauvillé
Riquewihr
Kintzheim
Troyes
Paris
Belleville
Reims
Freiburg
Vosges Mountains
Notre-Dame Cathedral (Strasbourg)
European Parliament
Strasbourg Cathedral
Les Halles (Troyes)
Noël Alsace website
Atelier des Lumières (Paris)
Nonette (restaurant in Paris)
Mokonuts (restaurant in Paris)
Mumm Champagne
Martel Champagne
Auberge Jenny (Kintzheim)
Galeries Lafayette (Paris)
Champs-Élysées (Paris)
Choucroute garnie
Spätzle
Foie gras
Bredele
Vin chaud
Terrine
Rillettes
Bûche de Noël
Galette des rois
Winstub restaurants
Sixt car rental
Avis car rental
Europcar car rental.

[00:00:15] Annie: This is Join Us in France, episode 522, cinq cent vingt-deux.

Bonjour, I’m Annie Sargent, and Join Us in France is the podcast where we take a conversational journey through the beauty, culture, and flavors of France.

Today on the podcast

[00:00:30] Annie: Today, I bring you a trip report with Eddie Hamalian about his recent journey through the Christmas markets of Alsace.

From the charming streets of Strasbourg to the festive booths of Colmar, Eddie shares his family’s enchanting experiences and insider tips for making the most of a holiday visit to this picturesque region. Maybe you’ll be savoring a cup of mulled wine or navigating the cobblestones with a stroller?

This episode is filled with heartwarming stories and practical advice. Stay tuned for a magical tour of Alsace’s Christmas charm.

Podcast supporters

[00:01:08] Annie: This podcast is supported by donors and listeners who buy my tours and services, including my Itinerary Consult Service, my GPS self-guided tours of Paris on the VoiceMap app, or take a day trip with me around the southwest of France in my electric car.

You can browse all of that at my boutique: joinusinfrance.com/Boutique.

And Patreon supporters get new episodes as soon as they are ready and ad-free. If that sounds good to you, be like them follow the link in the show notes.

Bootcamp 2025

[00:01:41] Annie: What you’ll also find at the boutique is a link to look into joining the bootcamp for 2025. All the details are there, there’s still a few seats left. I very much look forward to that.

Discount on Patreon

[00:01:54] Annie: I’m running a 20% discount on Patreon tiers until Christmas day, for those of you who want to sign up for yourself, or gift a membership to a fellow Francophile at the lowest price you’ll ever find it.

Go to patreon.com/joinus to read more and sign up.

Magazine Segment: Learning a New Language

[00:02:14] Annie: For the magazine part of the podcast, after the interview today, I’ll discuss how long it really takes to learn a new language, including in your 50s and 60s. I know, Americans have a can do attitude that tells them surely I can do this if I hunker down.

It will get done quickly. I had a look at some studies to find out what happens for most people. And also an exciting update about a dog.

Welcome Back, Eddie!

[00:02:56] Annie: Bonjour Eddie Hamalian and welcome to Join us in France.

[00:03:00] Eddie: Thank you very much.

[00:03:01] Annie: Welcome back I should say, you were on the podcast, was it episode 403? I think it was a couple years ago. And we talked about your visit to France with your baby.

[00:03:12] Eddie: Uh huh. Yes, it was.

[00:03:15] Annie: So this time the baby was two and a half, or three, or something?

[00:03:18] Eddie: Two and a half. Exactly.

[00:03:20] Annie: Two and a half. Fantastic. All right.

Christmas Markets in Alsace

[00:03:21] Annie: So we are going to concentrate on a Christmas visit that you did. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about when you came, where you went, and all of that?

[00:03:31] Eddie: Sure. Yes. we arrived in Paris CDG, right at the end of October, sorry, end of November.

[00:03:38] Annie: 2024? No, 2023, sorry.

2024 hasn’t happened yet, so…

[00:03:45] Eddie: Exactly. We haven’t gone that far yet. The last weekend of November is the beginning of the Christmas markets in Alsace.

And we were trying to hit the beginning of the Christmas markets. So we arrived right at the end of November into Paris, and then we went towards Alsace.

[00:04:01] Annie: Okay, very good. And it was you, your wife, and your young daughter.

[00:04:06] Eddie: Yes, the three of us. It was our second trip as a family together to France, but it’s my wife and I sixth trip to France since we got married in 2015.

[00:04:16] Annie: You know the place!

[00:04:17] Eddie: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, we try to conquer a different region every time we go.

[00:04:21] Annie: Yeah, and it’s… they’re very different, aren’t they? All these area of France.

[00:04:25] Eddie: I always tell people, you know, France is more than justParis and maybe Nice.

Every region is almost like another country, there’s some similarities, of course, but there’s a lot of different history and cuisine and experiences and things to see.

So, we want to try to do this across the board, but unfortunately, you know, life isn’t long enough to do this in Italy, and Spain, and England, and Germany. So, you know, we’re trying to conquer France, at least.

[00:04:48] Annie: Not all at once.

You never know, you get older, you have time, you have plenty of time.

[00:04:53] Eddie: Of course, of course.

Differences in experience from home

[00:04:55] Annie: All right, so let’s see, your goal was to see Christmas markets and enjoy the Christmas season in France. How is that different from what you experience at home?

[00:05:04] Eddie: We’re from Los Angeles and you know, we have warm weather, warm weather Christmas, it’s more commercial here, you do feel a Christmas spirit, but you know, Alsace and I think Europe in general, you get that more of that Christmas feeling, and especially in Alsace, especially in Strasbourg and Colmar, the decorations, the lights, the kind of the warmness of the atmosphere. And so, you know, my wife had always been wanting to go to the Christmas market. So this was kind of our, it was always a plan that we wanted to do. So, you know, we decided to go ahead and do it, and take that time, take that time over there.

Journey to Strasbourg

[00:05:40] Annie: Right, so you mentioned that you landed in CDG, how did you make your way to Strasbourg?

[00:05:45] Eddie: Yes, we rented a car in CDG and we immediately left to go towards Alsace, but we decided to kind of break up the trip in ‘Troyes’ ‘Trois’?

[00:05:57] Annie: It’s a very strange spelling. It’s spelled Troyes, like you said, but it’s, we say ‘trois’, like the number three.

[00:06:05] Eddie: Yes, exactly. And that’s in the southern part of Champagne, I believe. And so, you know, that’s like one thing that we wish we did a little bit differently, and I’ll explain as well more later is, instead of driving from CDG to Alsace, we probably should have taken the train, that would have been much faster. But you know, we’ve done the train right after we land in Paris. It just is a lot on ourselves and our daughter. And so that’s why, let’s take it a little bit slower with the car. But you know, it worked, it worked out in the end.

Exploring Troyes

[00:06:34] Eddie: We stopped in Troyes.

It was the first night of the Christmas markets there, and it was a beautiful town center. We stayed right in the middle, right next to the Les Halles.

[00:06:46] Annie: That’s the food market, that’s the covered food market, and most French towns have one.

[00:06:51] Eddie: Yes, and we stayed right next to that, just right across the street from the little town square. And I think because it was the first night of the Christmas market, most things were closed. And so we were kind of walking around the town, trying to stop in and get a bite to eat somewhere, and we just found that everything was closed, so we just walked around the little town square. It’s walking only area, you can’t drive, and there’s this really specific building that everyone goes and looks at because it looks like it’s one building’s leaning on the other building, and they have pieces of wood in between the building to make sure they stay apart.

And so that was really interesting to see.

[00:07:30] Annie: What night of the week was this that you arrived? Because you say everything was closed.

[00:07:34] Eddie: It was a Friday night.

[00:07:36] Annie: A Friday night and everything was closed. That’s weird.

[00:07:39] Eddie: Yeah, and we’re going to talk about it later too, but we had the same issue in Rennes.

[00:07:43] Annie: Rennes.

[00:07:44] Eddie: Yeah, Rennes. It was crazy. And that’s why I kind of like… maybe it was just seasonal, didn’t work out, it was just strange.

[00:07:50] Annie: Yeah, because on a Sunday night or a Monday night in France, you have to wonder how much is going to be open. But on a Friday night? That’s bizarre. Yeah, but I don’t know Troyes.

[00:08:01] Eddie: It might have been a Saturday night.

[00:08:03] Annie: Okay, interesting.

Rental Car Company Warning

[00:08:05] Annie: And, picking up your car in CDG and making your way out of the airport, was that OK?

[00:08:12] Eddie: Easy, yeah, easy. No issues there, and you know, one suggestion I always make is, the rental car company you use, make sure they have a really good presence in Europe and France, and so we usually use either Sixt, Avis or Europcar. You know, we’ve heard horror stories from other people using other ones, like National or Hertz, just because they’re not as well represented all over Europe. And so if you have to drop it off somewhere in a smaller town, they’re not going to have a, or if you have an issue in a smaller town, they’re not going to have an office there, so that’s one thing we always suggest.

[00:08:45] Annie: Yeah, Sixt is always huge in Europe. I don’t know, for some reason they’re the biggest ones, really. Very good.

The Stay in Troyes

[00:08:51] Annie: Okay, so you made your way to Troyes, you were in a hotel or in an Airbnb?

[00:08:58] Eddie: We did Airbnb everywhere just because we like to have two bedrooms, one for us and one for our daughter, so we have that little bitmore room and so we don’t have to just trap ourselves in the bedroom in the middle of the night, or after like 8pm.

[00:09:10] Annie: No, no, I totally get that. For families, Airbnb makes sense. And I wish more hotels would offer, you know, more amenities. Like two, two adjacent bedrooms perhaps, a fridge, a little microwave, laundry somewhere.

Hotels, give us a place to do laundry!

[00:09:29] Eddie: Yeah, we did laundry several times on our trip. We cooked in the flat several times, it was definitely what we needed.

[00:09:37] Annie: I mean, traveling light is really important. And if you can’t do laundry, then you can’t travel light.

[00:09:43] Eddie: Exactly.

[00:09:45] Annie: At any rate, okay. How many nights did you spend in Troyes?

[00:09:49] Eddie: In Troyes only one night, one and a half days, so not that much time at all, so it’s a fairly small place, and I’m sure we could have searched out more things to do, but it was more a… we wanted to have like a place to stop, rest, kind of quickly get over jet lag before we went to Alsace.

[00:10:10] Annie: Yeah. So did you make it to the Christmas market since it was opening that weekend?

[00:10:14] Eddie: Yes, we did. We did see the Christmas market. It was small, you know, I think, generally speaking, it’s more of an Alsacian thing, and then it’s kind of spread throughout the parts of France. But it was, it was small, it was nice, it was quaint. We had our first mulled wine and whatnot in Troyes, so it was a nice little precursor to the real trip.

[00:10:32] Annie: Welcome to Christmas spirit with the mulled wine.

[00:10:36] Eddie: Exactly.

[00:10:37] Annie: That’s great. All right. What happened next?

[00:10:40] Eddie: So, the next day we got up, walked around a little bit, got ready.

Visiting Sélestat

[00:10:44] Eddie: We started on the road towards Alsace, and where we stayed in Alsace was in a town called Sélestat. It’s a beautiful little town right smack dab in the center of Alsace.Which was perfect for us because if you want to explore Alsace and, you know, Strasbourg’s in the North, Colmar’s in the South, and there’s all the little towns in between, and so, since we had a car, we stayed right smack dab in the center, and then we kind of explored around from there.

[00:11:10] Annie: And Sélestat is the town where they have the library, right? The old library?

Or am I? Okay, okay. All right. That’s great. What did you think of the town? Was it a good place to center yourself out of?

[00:11:23] Eddie: It was actually the perfect place to center ourselves out of. It was very nice, very clean, it’s right on the, right as you come down from the Vosges mountains on the main highway. It’s, I think, one of the first big towns that you land in. Especially if we drove in at night, you might be a little stressed out coming over the mountain, especially in the winter, because it’s a little snowy, you come down the mountain, and boom, you’re in Sélestat.

And I don’t think it was too late, but since it was wintertime, it got dark earlier.

We got there, we checked into our Airbnb, beautiful little, kind of like a back house. The person lived in the front of the house and they had an Airbnb built in the back, very nice, very modern, clean.

The couple, they spoke a little bit of English, but mostly, you know, French and German, Alsatian. We started talking to them and we asked them, you know, we want to go to dinner tonight after we go explore a little bit of the city, could you make a suggestion that something that they would go and if they’re going to eat dinner out, something that they would eat.

Not necessarily just a super touristic place. And so they made a suggestion for us. They called the restaurant. They made a reservation, because, you know, anytime you want to eat anywhere in France, if you want to eat at a nice place, you need a reservation, just because a lot of times you can’t walk in, you need some kind of arrangement.

[00:12:41] Annie: In busy places, around Christmas time in Alsace, yeah, you’re better off reserving because chances are the nice places are going to be full.

[00:12:52] Eddie: Exactly. So, there’s a town right next to Sélestat called Kintzheim, and in Kintzheim there was a, like an a small Auberge hotel restaurant, called Jenny, surprisingly. And so that’s where we ended up going, and we had kind of like typical Alsatian cuisine. What’s the food called that’s like the sauerkraut and the meat on top?

[00:13:14] Annie: Yeah, it’s a Choucroute, Choucroute garnie.

[00:13:18] Eddie: Yeah.

So we had Choucroute, my wife had this like chicken with mushroom cream with a schnitzel, not schnitzel, what’s the noodle?

[00:13:26] Annie: Oh, I know this. It’s a special noodle for Alsace.

[00:13:30] Eddie: So we had that, had some, you know, just dessert, and then you know, it’s getting that time that we have to get our daughter down, she did great in the restaurant, and like any other experience we ever had in a French restaurant, the wait staff always loves little kids.

Not always, but that’s the experience that we’ve had, and so they would bring her little things to play with and they didn’t have things set up like a thing, a paper with crayons, but they would just come and play with her, to try to make sure that my wife and I had a nice dinner as well, so they would just kind of distract her a little bit sometimes, which was really nice.

No Devices at the Table!

[00:14:05] Eddie: One thing that we noticed in France, more so on this trip is, you know, a lot of times Americans, when they go to dinner, they just hand their child a phone or an iPad and, you know, just watch it so that, and then that, that they could eat.

What we noticed in France was kids never have phones and iPads in front of them at restaurants because they’re supposed to be, I guess, part of the conversation. And so,

on the occasions that we would give her an iPad or something, people would look at us like, oh, why are they giving her an iPad? But we’re just thinking to ourselves, we just want to have a peaceful meal right now. We don’t want to have a… we don’t want to have an Olympic meal.

[00:14:39] Annie: So two things. The name of the noodle in Alsace is called Spätzle. and you will find that in a lot of different restaurants. It’s a specialty. It’s very good. It’s very chewy. It’s good, I like it.

And the other thing about the devices and kids, there’s a big push in France right now to not give children any devices until the age of five.

[00:15:06] Eddie: Which is great.

[00:15:08] Annie: Yeah, they are actually pushing this quite heavily, like you hear about this on the news and whatever, and so I think French people are more cognizant of this because it’s in the culture, I guess, that young children should not have any devices.

Yeah, and you know, we try to limit it as well, but yeah, you definitely feel it while you’re there.

Yeah.

[00:15:33] Eddie: Yeah.

[00:15:33] Annie: Yeah. You’re like, oh, leave us alone, it’s just five minutes.

[00:15:37] Eddie: Exactly. We just traveled for 11 hours and then drove across the country. We just want to have a peaceful meal.

[00:15:43] Annie: Exactly. I get it. I get it. All right. So that was your first meal and it was a success.

[00:15:50] Eddie: Yeah, it was a success. I mean, I wouldn’t say it’s… it’s sauerkraut and smoked meats or boiled meats and then the cream sauces and stuff like that, that’s much more impressive, but I wanted something real Alsatian and that’s what they said I should order, so…

I did. It was nice. It was good. Will I get it again? Probably no.

[00:16:09] Annie: Yes. It’s a lot of sauerkraut, like you have to like sauerkraut a lot. Like imagine a Reuben, but it’s mostly the sauerkraut.

[00:16:18] Eddie: Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely.

[00:16:22] Annie: All right.

First Impressions of Alsace

[00:16:23] Eddie: So, the next day we, that’s when we startedour tour through the region and going to the Christmas markets and whatnot. And one thing that we discovered that we should have done was just because the Christmas market season starts then, doesn’t mean every town and city has a Christmas market going on every single day or on that weekend.

[00:16:43] Eddie: There’s a lot of small little towns along the way, and the first one that there was Eguisheim. Eguisheim it’s a walled little town, tiny, so picturesque, it’s almost looks like a, you know, a scene from a movie. We drove in, we parked and we started walking around. There wasn’t too many tourists, which is really nice.

But we did notice that there was no Christmas market in Eguisheim on that day, or that weekend. So I guess it’s every other weekend there. Because, you know, people live in the town and they don’t want to be constantly inundated with tourists. So they kind of spread out the Christmas markets.

But actually, I appreciated that because, one thing that we’ll talk about is when you’re in all these towns for the Christmas markets, you don’t get to see the town because it’s so congested with people.

So we had a really, it’s a really nice ring road that goes around the town that it’s a walking ring road that you can kind of see everything. And there’s like this specific little corner that, you know, everyone can go Eguisheim, everyone on Instagram put in that one picture of that one corner, which is definitely more Instagram friendly because in reality, there’s people standing all over the place and you can’t really take a picture of it.

But, we had a nice time having coffee, walking, trying to push a stroller on those cobblestone streets, which is always interesting. So yeah, it was nice, it was quaint, you know, lots of beautiful pictures of the half-timber homes, colorful homes, and that’s in the city center.

And, you know, you can’t spend too much time in these little towns because they are literally like half a mile, one kilometer from side to side.

[00:18:13] Annie: Across. Yes, they’re very small little villages. And you’re totally right about the Christmas markets, they are not on all the time. As a matter of fact, a lot of these little towns, they only do their special Christmas market for like one evening in December. Because everybody goes to the big ones.

So there is a website, in French, it’s called Noël Alsace. I’ll put a link in the show notes for this, where they list them all, and you can see them on the map. And you can see when they happen. I mean, Strasbourg has something on every day, Colmar has something on every day, but the small places will often just have, just on a specific evening, or perhaps a whole weekend, perhaps.

It’s just, you know, you have to be there at the right time, and also, you’re totally right again, you don’t really see the town when the Christmas market is on, because, I mean, it’s made to attract your eye, right? So you just look at the Christmassy stuff, and you don’t really see the rest of it, yeah.

[00:19:11] Eddie: And, you know, especially in Strasbourg and Colmar, the main squares, that’s where the Christmas markets are, and so those are the places you should go and see things.

Christmas Markets in Colmar

[00:19:19] Eddie: And, you know, there’s just booth, after booth, after booth, the Christmas market, and there’s a lot of people, which is part of the experience, but then if you’re going to go see Alsace, see Strasbourg, Colmar, not a good time of year. And I’ll kind of touch on that right as we end Alsatian area. So from Eguisheim, we actually went down to Colmar.

We drove to Colmar, it was like maybe like a half hour, 45 minute drive from there. Colmar is amazing, it’s like a canal city, so there’s canals all over, and there’s little restaurants right along the canals, very walkable, very friendly, and driving in is actually, you just have to pay attention to the parking signs.

As most French cities, you can’t drive into the center, you have to stay on the outsides of the city. We found parking. We verified that we could park there. You just have to know your license plate number and feed the meter. We parked on the outside, walked into the city, and we had our first real Christmas market experience. You walk in, boom, Christmas markets.Of course, we went to the first booth and got the Stetzel, we got the white sausage and the mulled wine. My wife had those the, every town gives you these little cups with the city’s name on it, and then you just walk around, you pay a euro, and they fill up that same cup with wine, and there’s white mulled wine and red mulled wine, and so she just loved it.

Everywhere she went, she got that cup, got that mulled wine, you know, it’s really warm, it’s cold outside, so it’s a nice experience.

[00:20:41] Annie: And you can also make itmulled juice. It doesn’t have to be alcohol. If you want

no alcohol also, they do that as well.

[00:20:48] Eddie: I did get that a couple times, you know, sometimes I just… yeah, there’s too much wine, too much sugar. And so just to have a little bit of the taste of that warmth and then, you know, they get that one. I think I did prefer the white mulled wine over the red mulled wine, but you know, it’s a just a preference.

Munster Cheese vs Muenster Cheese

[00:21:03] Eddie: And then, oh, there’s one thing that we did in Colmar that was fun. So, Munster cheese comes from right around the area and not Muenster that we have here in America. Muenster cheese in France is different. And there is a booth, there’s like a booth doing a Muenster. Because every, the thing with the Christmas markets, they’re not, it’s all very local crafts, local foods.

It’s not very, it’s not very commercial, like you see the plastic toys, they’re handmade toys and crafts and whatnot. So there’s a booth doing Munster cheese tasting in Alsace. Yeah. Yeah. In Paris with the Christmas market, that’s not like that in Paris.

So we had a Munster cheese tasting with different aged and different flavors and with things added to like truffles, or whatnot.

And so we had a, we did a tasting and some Munster cheese was delicious. If you could get past that cheese funk from the snow.

[00:21:50] Annie: You can get it past your nose.

[00:21:52] Eddie: If you get past the nose, it tastes amazing. I love, I love funky cheese, so it was great for me. We actually bought a wheel of it to take back to Paris when we went to our friend’s house.

It didn’t travel very well, but it was delicious.

[00:22:04] Annie: Yeah, not my favorite cheese, I must admit, but I’m not into, you know, strong cheeses. My husband likes that better, surprisingly, because he’s American, but he… yeah… he likes that.

And really, the Christmas market in Colmar is quite big, like they have a lot of booze and you can spend, you know, several hours just walking from end to end.

[00:22:29] Eddie: Yeah, we were there, I’d say from like noon until 8PM. You get a map of the Christmas markets and, it’s not just one Christmas market, it’s, I think in Colmar, they have 11 different Christmas markets. You know, small, they’re not expanded, they’re small little ones, and they’ll have the main big ones in the main square.

[00:22:47] Annie: Yeah, yeah. And you don’t really need the map, I mean, you can see them.

[00:22:51] Eddie: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:22:51] Annie: You walk towards the center and, oh, there you go, here we are, and then you look at the end of another street and, oh, that’s over there… it’s more.

[00:23:00] Eddie: Yeah.

The only reason why you’d want the map maybe is because specific markets have specific things. Like, one might be more of like art installation market, you know, one might have more food rather than like trinkets. And so, and one thing that we did do is we bought Christmas ornaments from each of the markets, from each of the towns, and handmade wooden Christmas ornaments.

[00:23:23] Annie: That’s beautiful. Yeah, I really enjoyed those. I think the Christmas markets, I mean, doing Christmas in Alsace is a treat because they go all in, like they just… all in.

[00:23:35] Eddie: I’m sure historically it’s been like that and then now it’s also an income generator of going completely all in.

[00:23:42] Annie: Of course, of course.

[00:23:43] Eddie: And I think, you know, one of the things with going to Christmas markets earlier on in the season like we did, it’s not as inundated with crowds. And Christmas markets also have a lot of French tourists.

And so, if you go earlier in their season, you don’t have as much congestion and walking and bumping into people in these markets because it’s so early. If you go the week before Christmas, maybe even two weeks before Christmas, it is inundated and you see pictures of just like people standing shoulder to shoulder walking down these streets.

It doesn’t look enjoyable at all. You know, if you go early on, you still get that feeling of the towns, and you can even still pop into a museum if you want, but it has people, but it’s not like the week before Christmas.

[00:24:26] Annie: Mm hmm.

[00:24:26] Eddie: That just looks like not fun at all for me.

[00:24:28] Annie: Yeah. Madhouse. Yeah. There are a lot of French people, a lot of Belgians, a lot of Germans, a lot of Europeans go to these Christmas markets because we all know this is, you know, this is really special what they do in Alsace.

A Taste of German Christmas

[00:24:41] Annie: And in Germany, they kind of do it too, but in Alsace, they really make a big production of it.

[00:24:48] Eddie: And we did actually drive in to Germany one day as we’ll talk about it, we just popped into Freiburg for the day, just to experience the German Christmas market. We did prefer the Alsacian one. It was different, you know, they’re both nice, but we preferred the ones in France.

[00:25:02] Annie: Yeah, was it because it was much smaller?

[00:25:05] Eddie: No, it was actually very, it was pretty big. It’s just German. But I think that the town wasn’t as picturesque, Freiburg….I don’t know the food was, I’d say pretty similar. There wasn’t too much differences with the food, I mean, it’s literally it’s right across the border. They have very similar cultures and cuisines and everything.

But it just, I don’t know we just kind of preferred the Colmar, and the Strasbourg markets, over the German one.

[00:25:37] Annie: I haven’t been to the German one, so I can’t really compare.

[00:25:40] Eddie: Yeah.

[00:25:41] Annie: Good to know. All right.

[00:25:43] Eddie: Yeah.

(Mid-roll ad spot)

[00:25:45] Eddie: so, that was one day. And it’s the next day we went to, we spent the entire day in Strasbourg.

Parking Woes and Strasbourg Arrival

[00:25:49] Annie: Did you also drive into Strasbourg?

[00:25:51] Eddie: We drove into Strasbourg.

[00:25:53] Annie: And you just parked at some parking garage somewhere?

[00:25:55] Eddie: Originally, we parked on the street, and then we went, and then I started looking at the sign as we were walking away from the car, and I realized that it’s a, you can only park during certain times. Once we got into the city, and I got my wife and daughter situated in a restaurant and I ran back to the car, and I drove it and I put it in the parking garage.

[00:26:15] Annie: Yeah, yeah, when you’re going to be somewhere the whole day, it’s best to go to a parking garage directly, because you can stay all day in a parking garage, whereas on the street, they really don’t want you being there more than two or three hours.

[00:26:27] Eddie: Exactly. And I was just having horror dreams of, like, running back to the car and the car being gone and not knowing how to find it, where it got towed to and so I just, I had this, like, heart palpitations as I was running to the car.

[00:26:42] Annie: All right, all right.

[00:26:44] Eddie: So yeah, so we spent the entire day in Strasbourg and now, if you want a true Christmas market experience, Strasbourg it’s the capital of Christmas for sure. The markets are expansive and there’s many. In the main squares. It’s a beautiful city, It’s very magical city. And it’s one that I definitely want to go back to again not during Christmas, Christmas markets, because I did have that, like, feeling that I wanted to see more, I want to experience more, and I just couldn’t because, you know, you’re there for the Christmas markets and that’s just taking up the experience.

Cathedral and Astrological Clock Experience

[00:27:18] Eddie: So we did see the cathedral and the astrological clock and, we had timed it so we could see the astrological clock do its thing, but I guess during the Christmas markets, they do change, they change the schedule.

[00:27:31] Annie: Oh!

[00:27:31] Eddie: Yeah, and so they, they cleared everyone out of the cathedral entirely.

And so it was strange, we were waiting and then they said, okay, the cathedral is closing. And not just the, not just where the clock is, but the entire cathedral, they just closed, they just cleared everyone out. And then they said they’ll be open in like two hours or something.

And so it was, it was kind of a bummer. It’s also we…

[00:27:52] Annie: All right, so you didn’t have the one piece of information you should, that you… here’s what you need to know. They do clear everybody out of the cathedral, but if you walk around the cathedral, so if you’re facing the cathedral again, you walk to the right of the cathedral, and there’s an entrance there where they sell you tickets to see the astronomical clock go off and they start selling those tickets at 11:30 and the clock goes off at noon, if I remember correctly.

[00:28:22] Eddie: Okay.

[00:28:23] Annie: But every day of the year they do this, they clear the cathedral, you have to have a special ticket to see the clock go off, because in France they don’t charge to enter cathedrals, except if there’s a special thing going on inside.

[00:28:34] Eddie: That’s thing.

[00:28:35] Annie: So…

[00:28:35] Eddie: Got it. Yeah. Okay. So yeah, we definitely missed that. But the cathedral is beautiful. I think it’s one of the most beautiful cathedrals in France.

[00:28:43] Annie: Yeah.

[00:28:44] Eddie: Yeah.

The stained glass.

[00:28:46] Annie: Yeah, it’s beautiful. And the clock makes it special. The pillar is very beautiful. I mean, honestly, the clock it’s amazing because of what… you know, when it was built, and that it’s incredible that they could do this so long ago. But I mean, you can watch the whole thing on YouTube and it is, you see it up close on YouTube.

[00:29:08] Eddie: It was beautiful. And I think we probably watched it on YouTube several times because before our trip we were looking at things to do, and that’s always the thing to do and we wanted to do it but we missed it, because we weren’t paying attention to the ticket part.

River Cruise and Local Friends

[00:29:21] Eddie: Another thing that we suggest that we did, we loved, is that we did a group, the river cruise or canal cruise in Strasbourg, and it’s nice to be able to, especially in the winter, get out of the cold, they’re covered, they’re covered boats. And they have a multilingual, you know, you can listen to what you’re seeing. And it’s a really great way, because the city’s built up on the river, and you see everything along the river, and then it ends and turns around right at the European Parliament, which is, it’s a little harder to get to normally, so it’s really nice on the river to see it. It was really nice, and definitely suggest it. We have a friend in Strasbourg, and they suggested we do it as well, so…

[00:29:56] Annie: Yeah, it’s a really excellent river cruise as far as those things are concerned. That’s one of the better ones.

[00:30:02] Eddie: Yes, definitely. And then that night we had the distinct pleasure of having, knowing someone in Strasbourg and they took us around the entire city in the evening and took us to dinner. And the funny part is how we know this couple and this family is, in 2019 we were on a trip in Normandy and we were in a small town in Deauville right on the coast.

And we were sitting there and we’re having our, like, we didn’t have a child at the time, and we were having a drink at this cafe, and we hear the people in front, sitting near us, talking to their kids in Armenian, and so we’re Armenian, and so, ‘Oh, you’re Armenian’, like, ‘oh yeah, we’re Armenian from Strasbourg’, and we connected, and we had a great time, just while we were there in Deauville for that hour.

And we kind of stayed connected then on.

We’d communicate every once in a while. And then when we were in, before we got to Strasbourg, I said, Hey, you know, we’re coming to Strasbourg, because they always said, when you come to Strasbourg, let us know. So then they, that night, you know, we reconnected, they came out, they took us all around town.

Dining Adventures in Strasbourg

[00:31:01] Eddie: The wife works for the European Parliament and the husband is a judge in Strasbourg. And they took us all over town, took us to dinner, and that was like one of our dinner experiences. We had the Tarte Flambée, the traditional Alsatian, like flatbread, and went to this restaurant, it was amazing.

And the one thing that we had was, you know, like, we have a two and a half year old and they’re not going to eat everything. And so we asked the restaurant, can you do one tart filet with just cheese and bread? Just cheese and bread. He said, no, no, no, it’s not on the menu.

We’re like, Okay, could you do it without onions and the lardon, the bacon? No, no, no, only what’s on the menu. So we said, Okay, let’s just get her cheese and bread. Can we just get the one simple type of cheese and some like dark bread? And they said, Okay, we could bring you cheese, but it has to be three different types of cheeses.

Like, we just have one type, and like, no, no, whatever’s on the menu. And so, what was on the menu was, like, three cheeses and some sausage. Our friends were trying to tell him, like, she’s two and a half years old, can’t you just make an exception for her? No, no, no, whatever’s on the menu, only.

Most of the time we didn’t have that issue when we were in France. Most places they would say, okay, we’ll have like a, we have a pasta or we could just do bread and cheese. This restaurant was sticking to their guns. They weren’t going to make any adjustment whatsoever .

[00:32:13] Annie: Which is not great. Like, yeah, that’s not great.

[00:32:16] Eddie: Yeah, the food was good and it was nice, but it just, we had to try to find, our daughter ended up like we scraped off some of the stuff off the top from the, she ate that.

So luckily we had that, but it was just a, an experience where, you know… it’s like, come on, make one little exception.

[00:32:30] Annie: Yeah, and what was the name of the restaurant?

[00:32:33] Eddie: Oh, I don’t, I don’t remember. it was actually a brewery as well. They had their own local brewery and then they were specialized inTarte Flambée. Our friends took us there, so I wasn’t really doing any research or paying attention.

[00:32:44] Annie: Right, you just went along. Yeah.

[00:32:45] Eddie: Exactly.

Charming Small Towns and Scenic Drives

[00:32:46] Eddie: So we got back to Sélestat that night at maybe like midnight or so, a long day, and the next day we got up and we went back on our trip, we went to Ribouville, another small, small town, I think even smaller than Eguisheim. And I believe Ribouville is where the Beauty and the Beast, the movie is…taken after, inspired by.

[00:33:08] Annie: Inspiration.

[00:33:10] Eddie: Yeah, and again, no Christmas market that day. But I appreciated it because by this time, Colmar Christmas market, Strasburg Christmas market, you know, it was actually nice change of pace not to have Christmas market. So I appreciated that. Walked around the town, you know, the half-timber homes, beautiful!

Again, you could probably get through it in an hour or so.

Riquier

[00:33:31] Eddie: And then from there we went to Riquewihr,, another small town. This one did have a Christmas market. Terrine were very popular. it’s kind of very local to that region with truffle and everything.

And so we went to some terrine tastings, and we bought some local terrine. It was a really good experience. Riquewihr, is very popular, if you look on YouTube, you’ll see, like, busloads and busloads of tourists coming to the Riquewihr,. Luckily, we didn’t have that, we had a really great experience of, it wasn’t too busy.

[00:34:01] Annie: We were able to walk around comfortably. Terrine, how would you spell that?

[00:34:05] Eddie: It’s the meat. It’s the… like, the different types of meat. Yes.

[00:34:10] Annie: T-E-R-R-I-N-E.

[00:34:12] Eddie: Yeah. Yes.

[00:34:13] Annie: And it’s a meat thing. It’s a meat paste.

[00:34:15] Eddie: Yes. It’s a meat paste. Yeah. Yeah. In a jar, or there was the one that’s in a jar with a little bit of fat on top? A rillettes?

[00:34:24] Annie: Yes. Yes.

[00:34:25] Eddie: Yeah, they had rillettes too, and different types of rillettes.

So, we had a nice time tasting different, you know, local, local food, But we did, and one thing that I suggest when people go to lunch is, they’re called winstubs.

They’re very local, little restaurants, in all the little towns they have them. The menu price is 8-12 Euros for the day’s menu.

Three courses with a glass of wine, or a bottle of sparkling water.

It’s very local, you won’t see one tourist in there, but you get kind of like the true taste of the region. And so we did that a couple times and it’s a very inexpensive way to eat and, you kind of just close your eyes and order because you don’t know what something is and, I know a little bit of French where I get asked to make sure that it’s not something.

It’s definitely a good experience.

I really suggest, you know, taking advantage of those winstubs, and also the cost is so low, it’s really great.

[00:35:15] Annie: Uh huh. Uh huh.

Scenic Drive in the Alsacian Countryside

[00:35:17] Eddie: And then one thing that we did as well is, instead of going back on the main road when we went to travel between Ribouville and Riquewihr, and we also went to Kaiserberg that day. Instead of going on the main road, we drove on these tiny village roads in between the cities, that go through the vineyards.

And it was breathtaking. That’s one of my favorite aspects of the drive. And on, dotted on top of the, on the hillsides are these castles all throughout the hillside. They’re just like an amazing backdrop.

[00:35:44] Annie: Yeah, the area is just gorgeous. And if you go at a different time of year, you can go do the wine routes.

I suppose you could do it around Christmas as well, but…

[00:35:55] Eddie: It’s too cold. Yeah.

[00:35:57] Annie: There’s more to do there.

[00:35:59] Eddie: We do definitely want to go back again, but we want to go in the late spring or early fall and take the wine trail. And then also you could go up to the castles on top of the hill and explore them. They’re not like, they’re not fixed up, they are in semi ruined state, but you can go walk around them.

They’re all over the tops of the hill. It’s pretty amazing. So, definitely want to go back in the late spring, early fall.

[00:36:21] Annie: Mm hmm. All right, so we need to skip around a little bit, because time is getting away from us.

There are some things that I want you to talk about.

Back to Paris: Belleville and the 11th Arrondissement

[00:36:30] Annie: You went back to Paris afterwards, were you staying in Belleville?

[00:36:33] Eddie: No, we stayed in the 11th arrondissement.

[00:36:37] Annie: But you went to Belleville, and this is a place that gets much hyped.

People talk about it, like, you have to go, it’s amazing!

[00:36:44] Eddie: Yeah. Look, it’s a up and coming, re-gentrified area in Paris. If you’re going to Paris for the first or second time, don’t go. You might hear about some, like, nice café that’s there, but I’d say it’s not necessarily worth it to me.

You do sometimes get the uncomfortable feeling, there’s one situation where we’re just walking on the street, and we’re trying to put a scarf on our daughter, and she was kind of fighting it, and someone just walked up to us, grabbed the scarf from my hand and put it over her head and her neck.

And then he said, see, I helped you, now gimme money.

And then we’re like, huh? What? My wife’s cousin was with us and she lives there. And so she speak French and she’s like, no, you know, we didn’t ask for your help. And then he said, you people have been colonizing us for years, and we’re like, what?

And I guess he was from Algeria, and he was just yelling at us, and it was just like a, kind of an uncomfortable experience. Actually a couple of different occasions where something like that happened. We stuck out, you know, we have a stroller, we have a kid, we look different, you know, like kind of touristy. We kind of walked around a bit, and then I was just telling my wife, I’m ready to leave, you know. We did eat at this place called Nonette when we were in Paris, we were on very much a Asian food kick, we were craving Asian food after all the food in Alsace. They make Bánh mì, and maybe the best Bánh mì I’ve had in my life. It was great.

[00:38:02] Annie: Mhm. Yeah. So, there are some great things about Belleville but like you said, there’s some things about it that are not as comfortable. Yeah, it’s a little rough and definitely not for a first visit to Paris, I would say.

But there are some tour guides that specialize in doing tours in Belleville, and if you’re going with a tour guide, why not?

But by yourself, I don’t think you’re going to get very much out of it.

Very good. Is there something in the 11th? What was it like staying in the 11th?

[00:38:31] Eddie: Yeah. So, because whenever we go to Paris we stay in a different arrondissement, and so this time we chose the 11th and 12th. It’s a fantastic part of town for restaurants, for shops, for walking, a very local experience. It’s not very touristic, but all the restaurants that are now popping up on different, like, food blogs, they’re actually in the 11th.

And so, like, Mokonuts was one of them that we went to that. Usually you have to make reservation months and months in advance. It’s a tiny little restaurant. We walked in and they had a reservation open for the next day. It’s a like, kind of Asian – Frenchfusion. It was good, but it was very expensive. It was very almost like Los Angeles prices.

It wasn’t like a fancy place, it was a lunch. It was good and it gets a lot of, you know, a lot of reviews and most of the customers are actually American because it’s on all the food blogs, to go to Mokonuts.

[00:39:23] Annie: Mm hmm. Right. And if it’s on all the food blogs, it’s going to be mostly Americans going. I mean, honestly.

French people don’t read food blogs, ok? We don’t care. We really don’t care what food bloggers have to say.

[00:39:36] Eddie: You go where it’s good.

[00:39:37] Annie: Yeah, we go where our buddies say it’s good.

[00:39:40] Eddie: Yeah, absolutely.

And then, I want to say we went to the Paris Christmas market as well, very commercial, we just kind of popped in and out. It was the only time that we actually went into the total center of Paris.

We stayed mostly in the 11th and the Marais. We walked everywhere all over the place, just trying different cafes, restaurants, seeing some friends.

Atelier des Lumières

[00:40:01] Eddie: We went to this place called Atelier des Lumières.

[00:40:05] Annie: L’Atelier des Lumières. Yeah.

[00:40:07] Eddie: And that’s the 11th and it’s like an immersive experience.

[00:40:10] Annie: Yes, did you like that?

[00:40:12] Eddie: Yeah, we loved it. It was like a, it was an underwater sea exhibit. Our daughter loved it, it was a perfect place for a two and a half year old. The sights and sounds and you really feel it and it was really nice. And definitely suggest that and that we just kind of walked upon it and we went in. And that was in the 11th.

It’s a very clean part of town, like more, I’d say closer to the 12th. We stayed in the Nation area. It’s very, very clean, very walkable, family friendly. We stayed in an Airbnb there as well. We had one fun experience, I think I sent you a couple pictures, are the elevators in these older buildings that they’ve converted where they’re just tiny.

There’s one elevator I got in when we were in the Marais to go to someone’s house. Literally, it only fit me, and shoulder to shoulder, I was in this tiny elevator. But it was just, it was a fun experience. We’d get in the elevator and take pictures of ourselves in these, like, one or two person elevators.

[00:41:05] Annie: Right, there are one person elevators in Paris. Yes, they are very, very small sometimes. I’ve seen elevators in hotels where you could barely fit one person and one suitcase.

[00:41:15] Eddie: Yeah. I mean, because they essentially, the building was built and then they found a stairwell to add an elevator.

[00:41:22] Annie: Yep, so it’s very small.

Christmas in France: Final Thoughts

[00:41:25] Annie: So what did you think overall about Christmas in France? Was it something that you would recommend for other families?

[00:41:31] Eddie: Definitely. I definitely recommend it. It’s worth going to once. I wouldn’t say it should be the focus of your trip if it’s one of your first time going. But I could also see you could take the train from Paris to Strasbourg. It’s a two and a half hour high speed train. You could go there for the day and come back.

But we love the experience. We do like to explore regions of France very in depth. And that’s kind of our goal, we know we’re going to go back.

[00:41:59] Annie: Right. Right. So from Paris, it’s totally doable. Like you said, it’s two and a half hours and perhaps I would make it one overnight. You just take the train to Strasbourg, take an early train, spend the whole day. The next day you have most of the day and then you head back to Paris.

It’s totally doable, honestly, and around Christmas time, it would be very pleasant or any time. I mean, honestly, Strasbourg is a lovely town, a lovely city. There’s plenty to do. There’s great museums, great feeling, but especially at Christmas, it’s really…

[00:42:32] Eddie: Right, is Christmas capital.

[00:42:34] Annie: Yes, it’s the Christmas capital of the world, I think.

Reims

[00:42:37] Eddie: If we have a couple minutes, there’s also Reims?

Reims? Yeah, Reims.

And this, you know, it’s the Champagne capital of the world. And so we did a stop there. We stayed there for two nights on our way from Alsace to Paris. Again, that was a time where I think it was the first weekend of the Christmas market, which they have an amazing Christmas market, surprisingly. But everything was closed in the city.

We had the hardest time finding restaurants and whatnot open. But we made the best of it, we went to two different champagne caves. We went to Mumm and Martel. Had a fantastic time trying different champagnes, walking and taking the tours. And one suggestion is, if you try to book these tours ahead of time, it’s very expensive.

The booking companies will charge you $60 to $80 for a tour. If you just walk right up to the wine cave and then you see if they have an opening that day or the next day, it’s generally $15 to $20 for a tasting and a tour. That’s what we discovered. But the cathedral there is also beautiful.

[00:43:34] Annie: Yeah, and it’s funny because I haven’t been to Reims in a long time, but that was my impression also, was that it was a dead town when I was there. But I was a teenager, I was a late teenager and more into, you know, looking more for fun stuff to do, and it felt like, oh, there’s nothing here.

[00:43:54] Eddie: It was definitely a dead town, and then also I think that it was extra cold, because I think the Vosges Mountains, they kind of insulate Alsace from getting that super cold.

It was like almost bone chilling cold. We had to go and buy more jackets and scarves because we just weren’t prepared for it.

Paris isn’t like that, and Alsace wasn’t like this. It was very cold.

[00:44:15] Annie: It was very cold, yeah. All right.

All right. Well, Eddie, that’s been lovely talking to you. It’s great to see young families coming to France all the time because so much to do, and I think even with a kid, it’s not that hard. Like, you know… I mean, of course, little kids can slow you down, and sometimes you have to negotiate with waiters, like you mentioned. But it’s doable, right?

[00:44:39] Eddie: Traveling with kids isn’t the same as traveling by ourselves. You’re providing an experience that they’re not going to remember, but they’re learning patience, they’re learning to be able to wait, and you know, not everything’s at their fingertips. We went when she was one years old, and now two and a half, and we’re going again, I don’t know if we’re going to go to France again, but we’re going again this year, and so it just, it creates an experience that is a teaching thing for them, and yes, it’s not the same for us.

We’re lucky enough to, like, know people where we can get babysitters in different areas, so that way we could have one night or two nights where we could go out on our own.

[00:45:12] Annie: That’s good, yeah.

[00:45:13] Eddie: But yeah, definitely travel with your kids. You’ll appreciate it later, and they’ll appreciate it, and you’ll learn when they learn how to be patient, you know, they learn that on these trips.

[00:45:23] Annie: Fantastic. Thank you so much, Eddie.

[00:45:25] Eddie: Thank you.

[00:45:26] Annie: All right. Have a wonderful time next time you come to France with your kid, who knows, she might be four or five by then.

[00:45:32] Eddie: Exactly.

[00:45:33] Annie: All right. Merci beaucoup.

Au revoir.

Thank you Patrons

[00:45:43] Annie: Again, I want to thank my patrons for giving back and supporting the show. Patreon supporters get new episodes as soon as they are ready and ad-free. If that sounds good to you, be like them. Follow the link in the show notes. But if you just want to type it in, go to patreon.com/joinus.

And a special shout out this week to our Join Us in France champions, Peter Brightbill, Kimberley, Deborah Hartman and Robbie. And thank you Andrea Publow for going yearly. And to all of my current patrons, it is wonderful to have you on board in the community of travel enthusiasts and Francophiles who keep this podcast going.

Support Elyse

[00:46:29] Annie: And to support Elyse, go to Patreon.com/ElysArt. And since Christmas is coming up, if you’d like to support the podcast and discover some of my favorite travel products, head over to joinusinfrance.com/Amazon. Every purchase made through this link helps me keep bringing more great episodes and it will not cost you a penny extra. Thank you for your support.

Learning a new Language

[00:46:56] Annie: All right. Let’s talk about learning a new language, possibly in retirement. Is it possible to reach B2 proficiency? One question I get asked often is whether it is possible to start learning a new language later in life, you know, particularly in retirement, and how long it might take to reach a level like B2 proficiency?

The answer is a resounding YES! With a bit of dedication, of course, and realistic expectations.

B2 Level

[00:47:25] Annie: First, let’s clarify what B2 proficiency means. According to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, or CEFR, B2 is an upper-intermediate level. At this stage, you can handle most day to day conversations, express opinions, and even navigate a professional or academic setting in your new language. To get there, experts estimate that it takes around 500 to 600 hours of guided study for a language like French or Spanish. If you’re starting from scratch.

For more complex languages, such as Japanese or Arabic, it would take longer, closer to a thousand hours or more.

Language learning after retirement

[00:48:12] Annie: So how does this translate to retirees? The good news is that retirement offers something incredibly valuable.

Time. Without the demands of a full time job, retirees can dedicate themselves to regular, focused language practice. And consistency is key. Even just an hour a day can add quickly towards your 500 or 600 hour goal. Now, you might wonder if age is a barrier. Research suggests it’s not.

While younger learners have advantages in things like pronunciation, older adults bring cognitive maturity and the ability to use explicit learning strategies. In fact, older learners often progress faster in the early stages of language learning because they’re good at understanding grammar and applying structured approaches.

But what about cognitive challenges? Studies show that learning a language later in life can actually benefit your brain. It improves memory, attention, and problem solving skills, and may even delay cognitive decline. Plus the social aspects of language learning, joining classes, conversation groups, or even traveling, huh?

How about that? Are hugely rewarding. Many retirees say learning a language has opened doors to friendships and experiences they never thought possible. And that’s why at the bootcamp, we include some language learning because that really helps the whole atmosphere, let’s say.

Now it takes time to reach B2 proficiency, and how long it takes depends on several factors.

Languages that are closer to your native tongue are generally easier to learn. Immersive experiences, like spending time at the bootcamp where the language is spoken, can accelerate progress. It’s not a miracle, but it can help. And having clear goals, whether it’s ordering confidently at a cafe in Paris, or chatting with locals in a Spanish market, so that’s my goal, will keep you motivated.

So how should retirees approach this? The key is to start small and stay consistent.

You can use apps, of course, I’ve been trying one called Mondly, I’ll put a link to it in the show notes. It’s okay, you know, it’s Duolingo like, but it’s pretty good. You can also attend classes locally or online. I do Skype classes with a tutor. You can hire a tutor in person or not. You can join online communities. And what’s most important is don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Language learning is a journey and every step is progress.

Annie’s Learning Spanish Journey

[00:51:01] Annie: So, here’s the reality of me learning Spanish. I started in 2022 and I’m just barely reaching B1 when it comes to speaking. I have B2 oral and written comprehension, but my goal is speaking, so I need to keep going and mind you, Spanish is one of the easiest languages to learn for a French speaker.

So, you know, I don’t really have many excuses.

Now, Americans, often fall for big promises from language apps. You need to be realistic. Those apps, they’re not bad, they can’t hurt anything, but it’s really more of a game than anything, especially Duolingo. I mean, they just keep you hooked with those streaks and blah, blah, blah.

And you know, you don’t want to break your streak, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, what matters is if, are you able to use what you’re learning or not? Is the only question that matters.

So I am determined to continue on this path. I got a book last time I was in Spain called Manolito Gafotas.

It’s like Le Petit Nicolas in French. It’s a book about a kid, and it’s not written for children, but it’s about children, and so the language is somewhat easier. I think for French learners, Le Petit Nicolas is equivalent, Le Petit Prince is also a great book to get when you’re starting.

And my method is to not stop every time I don’t recognize a word. I just tell myself I’m going to push through until the end of the chapter, even if I don’t know what I’m reading. And I try to mouth all the words, which also help recognition and it forces me to slow down. I also watched the movie in Spanish.

This is a book that is very popular and it has been turned into a few movies, as a matter of fact. I watched an old version that was on YouTube and it really helped me put the characters into real life. So I would recommend you do the same, you know, surround yourself with as much French as you can.

There’s French TV programs, there’s even whole like networks you can join that just show French content all the time. There’s lots of things on YouTube you can watch, there’s books, songs, all sorts of things. Oh, maybe I’ll put a link to my YouTube list of French songs that I like to listen to.

It’s a bit, you know, heavily skewed towards the seventies and eighties. Such is life. Okay.

Personal Update

[00:53:32] Annie: Let me share a very exciting personal update about a dog. Those of you who have been listening to the podcast for a long time may remember that I volunteered for several years as a puppy raiser for the Toulouse Guide Dog for the Blind School.

So this is a school that raises dogs and trains them to become guide dogs for the blind. And the first puppy I raised, I got to name him also. His name is Igor. He just turned 11 and he is being retired. And I was delighted to hear that I can adopt him and give him a great retirement. He’ll join our family on Monday, so the day after you listen to this, if you listen to it as soon as it comes out, and I cannot wait.

Now, Igor was a Labradoodle, but he’s very, very Labrador and not very Doodle at all. He’s black, he is a heavy dog, he’s 40 kilos, so he’s a big boy, but he’s a gentle giant and he has worked very hard his whole life guiding a man named Nicolas, who is both completely blind and mostly deaf, and has needed a lot of help. The school has trained another dog to guide Nicolas, and so Igor can retire.

And so my plan is to, I’ve already ordered him the best doggie orthopedic bed money can buy. I measured, there’s a spot in my office where he’s going to go, and he will go on walks every day with me and Opie and he will get the best food and medical care that we can find for him.

Apparently, he has a bit of a backache once in a while, and sometimes takes some medications to help with the pain, but he’s otherwise very healthy. Which I’m not surprised because if he wasn’t healthy, he would have been retired sooner. That’s how it works with guide dogs. And the Toulouse school is very good about not keeping dogs in service once they really can’t do this anymore.

You know, guiding a deaf-blind person is a huge job.

And this dog has my complete admiration and I’m just in love with that dog. I was so happy when I heard that I could adopt him. It wasn’t for sure because they like to give, I mean, obviously whoever the dog has spent their life with can decide where the dog goes. In his case, Nicolas didn’t have a very good option.

His mother is too old. His brother already has a dog, didn’t really want a second dog. So he didn’t have a lot of choices and it fell on me, thank God. And the school was totally okay with this because they… last year we had a quick visit, and they saw, I mean, the dog cried for half an hour and so did I.

We were so happy to see one another again. We hadn’t seen each other for eight or nine years or something. So… yes, wonderful news. And, I’ll keep you updated. I’ll probably share some photos of me and Igor with patrons and probably on Facebook as well.

So, I get an early Christmas present.

My thanks to podcast editors, Anne and Cristian Cotovan, who produced the transcripts.

Next week on the podcast

[00:56:55] Annie: Next week on the podcast, an episode with Emily Wimster about road tripping with older teens. Ha! What a… what a plan! Sounds like a wonderful family vacation.

And remember, patrons get an ad-free version of this episode, click on the link in the show notes to be like them, and you get 20% off as well this month until Christmas.

Thank you so much for listening and I hope you join me next time so we can look around France together. Au revoir.

Copyright

[00:57:26] Annie Sargent: The Join Us in France travel podcast is written, hosted, and produced by Annie Sargent and Copyright 2024 by AddictedToFrance. It is released under a Creative Commons, attribution, non-commercial, no derivatives license.

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