What France Was Like
Wow, what a trip. I'm tired, so I'll try and keep this short.
We went here, as opposed to France proper. This island is an French overseas territory. Based on numerous conversations leading up to the trip, I was surprised at how little people around here seem to know about it.
This was no casual endeavour. We logged about 30 hours of driving and 13 more in boats to get there and back. Good preparation for the BB tour.
As we were getting ready to board the boat to France, it occurred to N that we'd be there on the national holiday. A lucky stroke of accidental planning, to say the least.
It was clear from the getgo that we were essentially in Europe. Knowing we would not have many shopping opportunities over the weekend, we hit the liquor stores right away. There's a lot of wine there, and it's cheap. And good.
Our haul:
This was not as expensive as you'd expect. We had wanted to bring back souvenirs, however all but three bottles were consumed on the island. I brought back some bread and cheese instead. Mmm, cheese!
Renaults, Fiats and Citroens lined the streets, with a roughly equal number of North American vehicles. Check out the shape of this SUV:
I was surprised that many people needed cars. This is a small town on a small island. They certainly wouldn't need much gas. Good thing, because the price at the pumps was almost 5€/l... about 8 times what we pay here.
The houses are very brightly coloured, and often had neat little statues outside.
While we predictably saw evidence of soccer and even hockey, there was also a pétanque grounds and even a pelote court.
I mistakenly thought people were going to play jai alai there, although I guess that sport uses a similar type of court.
The town is about this big (apologies for the sloppy editing):
The rest of the island pretty much looks like this:
Although St-P is a great place to drink, it is a less than optimal for vegetarians to eat, especially on days when the few restaurants are closed, ie. the holiday celebration. At one point we waited nearly an hour for two orders of onion rings at what must have been France's busiest snack bar. We were in very buoyant moods and didn't care. Another thing we noticed is that no store there opens over lunch. Every store is closed on weekdays from at least noon until one thirty, if not two o'clock.
The national celebration was not unlike that of my own home country. The flags had an extra colour and the bad food for sale in the concessions tents was slightly less bad (except for the fries... they looked nearly inedible). Beer, cigarettes and red, white or rose wine were all available. Here's the part I loved the most: you can drink outdoors in France. I and some other young Cdn tourists used the opportunity to walk down the street drinking cheap, good wine right out of the bottle in broad daylight. This really made me feel alive. And drunk.
The street party went on all day. I took pictures while the sun was out, but felt less like doing so as the revelry continued. Trust me, the crowd only got bigger.
All in all we had a blast, and I definitely want to go back at this time next year. I can think of quite a few friends who would have really enjoyed themselves there.
We went here, as opposed to France proper. This island is an French overseas territory. Based on numerous conversations leading up to the trip, I was surprised at how little people around here seem to know about it.
This was no casual endeavour. We logged about 30 hours of driving and 13 more in boats to get there and back. Good preparation for the BB tour.
As we were getting ready to board the boat to France, it occurred to N that we'd be there on the national holiday. A lucky stroke of accidental planning, to say the least.
It was clear from the getgo that we were essentially in Europe. Knowing we would not have many shopping opportunities over the weekend, we hit the liquor stores right away. There's a lot of wine there, and it's cheap. And good.
Our haul:
This was not as expensive as you'd expect. We had wanted to bring back souvenirs, however all but three bottles were consumed on the island. I brought back some bread and cheese instead. Mmm, cheese!
Renaults, Fiats and Citroens lined the streets, with a roughly equal number of North American vehicles. Check out the shape of this SUV:
I was surprised that many people needed cars. This is a small town on a small island. They certainly wouldn't need much gas. Good thing, because the price at the pumps was almost 5€/l... about 8 times what we pay here.
The houses are very brightly coloured, and often had neat little statues outside.
While we predictably saw evidence of soccer and even hockey, there was also a pétanque grounds and even a pelote court.
I mistakenly thought people were going to play jai alai there, although I guess that sport uses a similar type of court.
The town is about this big (apologies for the sloppy editing):
The rest of the island pretty much looks like this:
Although St-P is a great place to drink, it is a less than optimal for vegetarians to eat, especially on days when the few restaurants are closed, ie. the holiday celebration. At one point we waited nearly an hour for two orders of onion rings at what must have been France's busiest snack bar. We were in very buoyant moods and didn't care. Another thing we noticed is that no store there opens over lunch. Every store is closed on weekdays from at least noon until one thirty, if not two o'clock.
The national celebration was not unlike that of my own home country. The flags had an extra colour and the bad food for sale in the concessions tents was slightly less bad (except for the fries... they looked nearly inedible). Beer, cigarettes and red, white or rose wine were all available. Here's the part I loved the most: you can drink outdoors in France. I and some other young Cdn tourists used the opportunity to walk down the street drinking cheap, good wine right out of the bottle in broad daylight. This really made me feel alive. And drunk.
The street party went on all day. I took pictures while the sun was out, but felt less like doing so as the revelry continued. Trust me, the crowd only got bigger.
All in all we had a blast, and I definitely want to go back at this time next year. I can think of quite a few friends who would have really enjoyed themselves there.
posted by the baron ash von foolishness at 6:10 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home