Category Archives: France

France visa

France is broken

2015-01-17 – 16:51

There are many things I like about France. I like the tourism. I like the cheese, wine, and cuisine, for example. We have a good time driving around Burgundy on weekends visiting wine festivals in small historic villages.

However, France is a very hostile place to foreigners trying to live here. I do not mean the people. Though the French have always been known for their dislike for foreigners and their languages, and they are becoming well known for their racism recently, that stuff is another story for another time. Overall I have not had big problems with individual people and I find that people all over the world have similar desires, goals, and needs, and really we are all the same. What I want to rant about here is the bureaucracy, though I do recognize that it is really the emergent sum of the people.

Everything here takes forever and it is often done incorrectly. First, this is true with the government. We spend a lot of time at the local sous-prefecture (administrative office) dealing with slow and incompetent bureaucracy.

  • It took us nearly a year to get our health insurance cards. We have heard stories of others taking a couple years. Sure we can still get medical care in the meantime, but it means that we must submit the paperwork ourselves. This is obviously not ideal when you cannot speak the language or understand the system, but this is what all immigrants deal with.
  • The immigration system is awful, though probably better than that in the US. They take so long (on the order of several months) to issue visas so people often end up with what is called a recipisse. This is a receipt of an application for a visa. It is valid if the cops need to see paperwork while in France, but it is not valid for entry at the border. This means that they are giving foreigners, the very people who might have a reason to leave France a lot, a document that does not allow for them to leave France. Tiffany had one of these for almost 6 months. In her case, the short story is that they lost papers and were generally slow. The sous-prefecture told her that if she wanted to leave France she should just lie to the border control upon reentry. When you have one government office telling you to lie to another because their bureaucracy provides no way to obey all of the laws, then you are dealing with a “broken” country.
  • Each employee at two different prefectures gave us a different story regarding my ability to legally drive with my license. Some of these people had a very wrong understanding of the basics of the law. This is ongoing and I hope to write more once it is resolved, but so far it has already been five months (with no driving) that we have been querying these authorities.
  • I got a photo citation more than a year ago. I still haven’t been given a court date to appeal it. But don’t worry, they made me pay immediately so they have had my money for the whole time.

This is also true in the workplace. It is comically absurd how many things are broken in our building and in our organizational systems. I cannot usually blame any one guy. I believe that the problem is cultural throughout the organization.

  • It took me about 3 months to get paid when I first started working here.
  • I work at a national university, with campuses all over France. To hire a new researcher, the paperwork must be signed by the head of the entire university. (Yes, take a moment to think about how ridiculous that is.) So this means that every new contract has to go to Paris and wait to be signed, as part of a two month process. In some cases I guess people can start working in the meantime, but it is also a roadblock for getting visas.
  • Countless things are actually physically broken. I have never before worked at a university where you cannot just call maintenance if something breaks. As an example, our building’s work centers around a large room full of virtual reality equipment, but unfortunately the light switches to that room barely work. It is nearly to the point where we will no longer be able to turn the main lights on in that room. The first switch failed in May (8 months ago)!
  • I waited more than 3 months to get a key to my new office.
  • When I go on missions, I sometimes get under-reimbursed. There is no recourse. At every level of the hierarchy, unless something goes horribly awry nobody cares about the misfortunes of others.
  • I have a bunch of vacation days (which is great), but because the system is so complex (long story) I never know ahead of time how many days I have in order to plan trips far in advance. I can email the human resources people and they rarely reply, but if I did get ahold of them in most cases they will not know the answer either.

The French always talk about their quality of life. But I ask you: How high is my quality of life when I go months without a paycheck or the ability to drive? I think the French system is unrealistic. Though it is the largest country in Europe, it is a mere footnote when it comes to the world’s economy. There are lots of resources and a good strategic location, but with all of these inefficiencies the French are increasingly unable to compete with the world around them. For these reasons and others, I do not see a bright future for France and I believe the quality of life is going to go down before it goes up.

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car France

Car care in France (or “Bumper cars in France”)

2014-11-27 – 11:51

This could be a short post. As it turns out, the concept of “car care” is somewhat mythical in France. After our first visit to France and seeing that all of the cars are dented and missing parts (mirrors, etc.), Tiffany and I decided that we had to buy our car in Germany where things are very much the opposite.

This is probably the number one reason why I couldn’t see staying in France forever. It is nearly impossible to keep a car in good condition here. French drivers (in general; there are many exceptions) treat the other cars in the parking lot as if they only exist to help them determine when they are all the way in their spot or when their door is open all the way. I always park in a nice end spot at the lab, where only my coworkers park around me. Even though Chalon-sur-Saône doesn’t have particularly tight parking, drivers can’t be trusted. In the United States this can be a problem too, but there they at least know in the back of their minds that they are doing something wrong.

The French explain it away, saying they treat their cars like tools. This is a bad attitude for a few reasons. First, driving is a big responsibility and I can’t respect anybody who does it but doesn’t take pride in it. If they can’t be bothered to avoid other cars in the parking lot, what about small children? Second, the car represents a large investment, both financially and environmentally. It’s only responsible to treat it well to maximize its life. Even if they don’t intend to keep it long, they could leave some life in it for the next guy. Finally, I don’t really care how they treat their cars (well, I like the environment so I do care a little). When they damage my car is when we have a problem.

Repair shops

Despite this, I have managed to get decent car repairs in France. The Volkswagen dealership is about the same as in any country (high priced, but seemingly solid work). My biggest problem with the VW dealership in Chalon-sur-Saône (Saône Automobiles) is that I caught the service advisor resting my door on another car one time. He said, “Oh there’s a plastic strip so it’s OK.” Some of my coworkers are pretty car-conscious and they agreed this was unacceptable.

For little stuff we can go to Feu Vert. It’s a chain of general-service garages something like Goodyear in the US. I don’t like to trust chains like this for VW-specific stuff, but they are friendly and fine for the little standard stuff. We also go to Profil+, which is another such shop. They are great because they do free inspections. In two visits they have found nothing wrong, so I guess they are pretty honest. Of course, I suppose they are also French so maybe their calibration is off. Both of these shops and the dealership have always been able to communicate with me in some combination of English and basic French with no problems.

Finally, I discovered a place called L’Atelier Self Auto. This is a really cool concept where they let you rent shop space to work on your own car. They have tools, lifts, and fluid catch pans. For extra, they will allegedly help with the repair. I just went there one time to do an oil change and I was very happy with it. I’d like to see more of these places around the world. I suppose liability is tricky but it’s really awesome to facilitate car owners trying to learn about their cars. Plus I get to do the repair the right way with the best parts.

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France visa

Applying for French Residence

2014-06-22 – 20:26

If you’ve ever heard anything negative about French bureaucracy, let me just confirm for you right now that it’s true. The French have really perfected the art of creating tedious, drawn-out, ineffective, and incomprehensible government processes. If you ever have the pleasure of living in France, you will, without question, experience fits of hysterical laughter and from time to time shed tears of overwhelming frustration after interacting with the French bureaucracy.

Today I’ll be explaining the nightmare of attaining a French residence card, the carte de séjour. First, you have to have the right type of visa to enter France and apply for residence. You cannot merely enter the country as a tourist and convert your visa status. Before moving to France, Eric and I lived in Germany, and therefore we had to obtain our French visas through the French consulate in Frankfurt. As I recall, Eric had an extraordinarily difficult time emailing back and forth with the consulate to arrange an appointment, and we were required to have an appointment. Eric had to have this one sheet of paper from the university before we could apply for his scientifique-chercheur visa and my conjoint visa. It took at least a month to get this piece of paper, because it had to be completed by Eric’s lab, signed the university president, and then get a special stamp from the local French prefecture. This document had the least extraordinary appearance of all the documents in our application package, but naturally it was the most important one for obtaining the correct visas. Once we had all the paperwork submitted at the consulate, the process took two to three weeks before we could go retrieve the visas.

After entering France, the real fun begins. Within two months of entering as a conjoint, you have to apply for French residence at your local prefecture. When I first arrived I had very little idea what this entailed, and a few well-intentioned locals told me all I had to do was mail in a couple of documents. My request was denied. My documents were mailed back to me along with a checklist of about fifty documents one might possibly need to apply for residence, 10 of which were checked off for me. I gathered up all the documents I needed, and submitted them in person to ensure there were no problems. At my local sous-prefecture they are nice enough to accept submissions in person, but some prefectures require you to mail in your application.

Weeks passed by with no communication from the sous-prefecture. The expiration of my three-month visa drew imminently nearer, and still there was no news. I took measures into my own hands and visited the sous-prefecture about two weeks before my visa expired. They issued me a récépissé, a receipt of my request for residence. At first I thought this was a success, but then I researched the document. You can’t travel on a récépissé for your first request of residence. If I traveled, it would essentially be illegal for me to try to re-enter France without applying for another visa while I was out of the country, an excessively burdensome requirement. When I asked the sous-prefecture about this issue, they would only tell me that it was “risky” to travel on a récépissé.

Well, as long as I had no plans to do any travel by air, it wasn’t that big of a deal. Three months passed by, and OFII, the French immigration and integration administration, finally contacted me for the required medical exam. I was checked for TB a full five months after I first arrived in France; if I had it, I would have spread it to everyone in Burgundy by that point, I’m sure. There was also a brief French language test, but the required level of knowledge was very low. OFII gave me a bunch of papers that they said I would have to turn into the prefecture when my carte de séjour arrived.

My récépissé was set to expire about a week after the OFII appointment, and the sous-prefecture told me I would need to get another récépissé. However, the sous-prefecture would not issue a new récépissé before the old one had expired. I explained that I would be out of town when it expired, and that I didn’t want to go without proper documentation of my status. The administrator at the sous-prefecture treated the prospect with a blasé attitude, and told me to come back as soon as possible after my récépissé had expired. I did so, but did not get my new récépissé until after they wasted a day trying to locate my misfiled dossier.

Well, nearly another three months has rolled by, and two weeks ago I went into the sous-prefecture again to check the status of my carte de séjour. Initially the answer was that nothing had happened with it yet, and I would have to obtain a third récépissé when the current one expired. I again asked about the travel situation, because I may travel to the US at the end of the summer. This time the administrator basically told me that if I am still on a récépissé by the time I travel, I should lie to the immigration officer when I re-enter the Schengen area; I should hide my récépissé and pretend to be a tourist, and because I’m American it should not be a problem for me to re-enter this way. Yes, the French government told me to commit fraud to regain entry to their country. Then the administrator asked me if I had had my OFII appointment yet, and I replied that I had, back in February. Her eyes grew wide, and soon the truth unraveled. Apparently I was supposed to bring those OFII documents to the sous-prefecture before they could process my carte de séjour, not after it had arrived as OFII indicated. I took the documents in the next day, and hoped for the best.

Last week we had to go down to the main prefecture so Eric could begin the process of renewing his residence status, and I was able to find out that my carte de séjour is now in fabrication and should be ready the day after my current récépissé expires. How it possibly takes more than 10 minutes to “fabricate” a card, I have no idea. Leave it to the French. So now I am waiting to see what happens when I next visit the sous-prefecture. Hopefully when I finally get this card, it will be valid at least long enough for my summer travels. I really have no idea though, as it could possibly expire as soon as August when Eric’s titre de séjour expires.

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food France Germany technology

Apps for travelers and expats

2014-06-17 – 20:45

Technology allows us to travel and move much more efficiently than would have ever been possible 20 years ago. I do try to be as minimalist as possible in my technology usage. Having accounts all over the world can present security threats. Additionally, simplifying our technology means less to carry around when traveling and moving, and less data to be stolen or lost. But, that said, I also like to be prepared. I have a 3-year old Macbook Pro and Tiffany has an older Macbook. These are pretty versatile, light, and have good battery life. For phones, I use a Galaxy Nexus and Tiffany has an iPhone 4. We also have some external drives for Time Machine and storing TV shows and such.

Keep in mind that we don’t just travel, but we are also expats. Every day is sort of like traveling for us, so our needs are broad. I will be listing the apps we use for our Macs and our phones (the OS in brackets just tells where we use it). Also I will break them into categories for general travel apps, apps for traveling Germany, and apps for traveling France.

 

General travel/expat apps

  • Aperture [Mac]: This is important for me, because I take a lot of photos when we travel, and I usually post the best ones to Flickr. This is why I’ve included it, though realistically it’s generally the sort of thing that you just need once you get home. Aperture is Apple’s pro photo processing app. If you are serious about photography, I highly recommend it.
  • DEVONthink Pro Office [Mac]: We use this to manage our paperless office. There is a lot of bureaucracy in France, and a lot of paper. I scan every paper we get, use OCR in DEVONthink (available only in the “Pro Office” version) to convert it to a searchable PDF, and file it in the database. Tiffany and I are currently sharing the database using the built-in Dropbox sync feature which saves the “sync store” to a shared Dropbox account. Note that you cannot store the database itself in Dropbox as this can lead to corruption, particularly if you access it from two computers at once. The Dropbox sync feature locks the sync store during writes, to prevent corruption. Unfortunately this makes use of Dropbox’s “Apps” feature, storing the files in a directory that cannot be shared using the normal sharing mechanism in Dropbox. To get around this, we both share a single Dropbox account. I must say that we had a sync problem last week that led to some changes being lost after a really big revision on one computer. But, I think if we are more careful when making large changes going forward we will be fine. I chose this solution over others, like Evernote, because I wanted the ability to control the database for security reasons and because free solutions go away.
  • Dropbox [Mac], JottaCloud [Mac]: The cloud is important when traveling around. If my laptop is not handy, or broken, I may need to access files from another computer. You probably already have Dropbox (if not, click here for referral), but it’s a good way to have free cloud storage. The NSA undoubtedly has access, but it is more mature and stable than JottaCloud. I use JottaCloud for files that don’t change rapidly, due to past experiences with sync bugs. The nice thing about JottaCloud is that it has no operations in the US, meaning that the NSA will have a harder time getting access. JottaCloud doesn’t have a referral link, but if you ask me I can refer you with an email address.
  • Skype [Mac, Android]: I don’t like it much. It’s closed-source and buggy. But for some reason everybody uses it so it’s a must-have.
  • Google Hangouts [Android]: It’s horrible compared to Google Talk, which it replaced, but it’s my primary way of messaging from my phone (which I rarely do, really).
  • Wunderlist [Mac, Android, iOS]: As expats, there are always a lot of gears in motion to satisfy bureaucratic requirements. We use the free version of this app to sync our todo lists.
  • Tunnelblick [Mac]: This is an open source VPN app that I use with the VPNBook service. I also used Hotspot Shield for a while, but I didn’t like the ads. Sometimes things (videos, etc.) are blocked in certain countries or establishments. These apps can often get around that. They can also  I don’t have any loyalty to a particular app or service, but it’s a good idea to have one installed if living overseas.
  • Google Authenticator [Android]: This mobile app generates verification codes for 2-factor authentication on many websites, including Dropbox, Google, Linode, and GitHub. Security is extra important when traveling. If a laptop is stolen or data is intercepted on an insecure wifi network, 2-factor authentication provides great additional security to prevent unauthorized access to your accounts. Of course this means you should try not to lose the phone, but even if you do most accounts will still allow you to login from trusted devices for some time period before requesting a new code. In this way, you can likely still access Google from your laptop even after you lose your phone.
  • Google Maps [Android, iOS]: This one is kind of a staple and its use should be self explanatory.
  • Google Translate [Android]: This translation app even allows me to take a picture of some text, highlight it with my finger, and get a translation. Between this and normal keyboard-based translation, it’s very handy.
  • OnTheFly [Android]: ITA Matrix is the most powerful flight search engine, accessible via the web. You still have to buy the tickets on another site, but I know from first-hand experience that searching here can save you money. In my understanding, many other search engines actually use ITA Matrix under the hood. This is the mobile app. I don’t use it much, because normally I book from my couch. But I figure it’s a good idea to have for unexpected itinerary changes.
  • TripAdvisor [Android, iOS]: We use this to look at restaurant reviews almost every time we eat while traveling, though I guess it also works for other attractions.
  • Where’s My Droid [Android]: I’ve luckily never used it, but it should help find a stolen phone.
  • Undercover [Mac]: Again, I’ve never had to use it, but it helps locate stolen Macs.
  • Moni [iOS]: Tiffany uses it to categorize our expenses while we are traveling.

Germany apps

  • DB Navigator [Android, iOS]: We can search for trains all around Germany, purchase the ticket, and just show the conductor a QR code on the phone’s screen. When I last used it, I had a German bank account. I’m not sure what the payment options are if you don’t. However, the app is extremely valuable even if you must go to a machine and buy paper tickets. For example, an ICE ticket can be used anytime in a given day so this app makes it easy to search for alternate trains if you miss one or one is late/cancelled.
  • VBN [Android]: This app allows me to search and plan tram and bus routes all over Bremen.

France apps

  • FreeWiFi [Android]: If you live in France, Free is an inexpensive choice for home internet (also TV, phone, and mobile phone). The home internet package comes with a router that can broadcast two SSIDs, one private and one public. If you have Free and enable the public SSID (I have, but my box must be broken because I don’t see it), you can access Free hotspots all over the country. This Android app saves time by automatically signing me in.
  • TheFork [Android]: This is the mobile app for LaFourchette, a restaurant search engine that is used around France. In the big cities it can be used to find discounts. It is easy to save 30-50% at a nice restaurant in Paris, for example, if you book through the app.
  • Voyages-SNCF [Android]: This allows for searching and buying train tickets in France. We don’t travel by train much here, as train service is much worse than we are used to from Germany, so we don’t use the app much. I recall that you can only buy tickets through the app if you have a French phone number.
  • SNCF Direct [iOS]: This tracks trains in real time.

One final tip: I always keep scans of our passports and visas on my phone.

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food France

Easter Weekend: Wine Tasting and a Château

2014-04-29 – 16:54

For Easter weekend Eric and I decided to save money by staying local. Luckily there were several wine tasting events to keep us occupied. First through, I have an observation about Easter celebrations in Chalon-sur-Saône. I have never thought of Chalon-sur-Saône as a particularly religious town, primarily because the largest market of the week is held on Sunday mornings right in front of the most prominent church. I thought surely Easter Sunday would be an exception and there would be no market. When I asked some of the locals, the general response was along the lines of “why wouldn’t the market happen?” Sure enough, there was the usual large market just like on any other Sunday. Other than a small choir passing along our street at 9am in the morning, it seemed like any other Sunday morning.

On Saturday we went to the 11ème Printemps de Monthelie. Monthelie is tiny vineyard town in the middle of the Côte de Beaune, adjacent to Meursault. Most of the wines are red there. At the festival we purchased wine glasses for five euros a piece and could taste as much as we wanted at 16 cellars. For lunch we had some regional favorites that were for sale at the local community hall. Eric had boeuf bourginon and I had a plate of charcuterie and cheese. It was a satisfying lunch before we continued our wine tasting. We had a pleasant afternoon, and the wines were generally good.

After we finished the tasting, we decided to visit Meursault. While normally the main activity in that town would be wine tasting, we decided we had already done enough of that for one day. Instead, we admired the views across the vineyards, visited the small local church, and took a walk to one of the châteaux in the area. Then we enjoyed a couple of hot chocolates at a local café.

On Sunday we visited the hill town of Dezize-les-Maranges, on the southern edge of the Côte de Beaune. There was another spring wine festival there, with nearly 30 wine producers offering wine tastings. The best we tasted were the reds at Domaine Edmond Monnot & Fils. For lunch we had French street food — a crepe with egg, ham, and cheese; a sausage with a potato; and a waffle with a dusting of sugar. The village was delightful to walk around.

After the festival, we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon visiting the Château de Germolles in Mellecey. This ancient home was once owned by the Dukes of Burgundy, and then later by the King of France. Though it was partially destroyed in the French Revolution and has since been transformed into a private home, it is still worth a visit. There was a lovely farm area behind it. The history and meaning behind the interior decorations were interesting to learn about. Overall the tour in English was very good, though I was disappointed we could not see more of the rooms.

I think for a holiday weekend staying local, we did a pretty good job of exploring the sites and culture of Burgundy. I think all the towns we visited are worthwhile if you are interested in finding and tasting wine off the beaten path. Germolles is also a great attraction that is not too far from Chalon.

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France technology

Very happy with my Apple Store repair in France!

2014-04-28 – 20:25

In spite of what I have heard about Apple customer service/repairs in Europe, my recent experience was great. I had been experiencing intermittent lockups for around a year (sudden graphics freeze even with light load, necessitating a hard reboot) and in the past month or so my trackpad seemed to be less sensitive to physical clicks. I delayed addressing the problems due to the stories I had read about European Apple support. But, because my Applecare expires soon, I decided to finally get it looked at.

First I called the American Applecare phone support. The agent was understanding, but ultimately he claimed to have no ability to help me overseas. He said to ship it in I’d have to send it to my parents or somebody in the US first. This wasn’t really acceptable for me because it would take a lot of time and cost a lot of money to ship and insure it. He did say that the Apple Store here might help me, though curiously he did not make any guarantees that they would be willing. He tried but was unable to search for stores here, though I found one with no problem on Google.

I made an appointment for 9AM on a Saturday at the Apple Store in Dijon (La Toison d’Or location). The repair guys spoke sufficient English to understand my problems. They made me leave it but they let me take my SSD (they didn’t want it because it was aftermarket). A little after 5PM on Monday they called to let me know it was ready. We made an appointment and drove there immediately to pick it up just before closing, which is 7PM in France. They apparently replaced the trackpad and, though they didn’t replicate my problem, replaced the logic board for good measure (logic board would have been my guess as well). This took less than two business days and I’ve gone over a week now with no crashes. This is undoubtedly anecdotal, but it’s been a more successful repair than most of my past experiences with Apple Stores in the US. I’m really not sure why the Applecare representative didn’t just tell me to go to the store in the first place.

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France

A Visit to Cluny

2014-04-11 – 20:17

Eric and I have been doing a lot of traveling lately, and I am way behind on posting about all of our adventures. Hopefully I will catch up one of these days, but that’s probably just wishful thinking. One of these adventures was to the town of Cluny, a rural Burgundian town that is steeped in history in a grand way. Cluny is notably home to the Abbaye de Cluny as well as the Haras National (the national stud farm), but on this visit we primarily kept to the abbey.

Upon arriving in town on a Saturday morning, we found a pleasant market with a good number stands selling the usual fruits, vegetables, meats and cheeses. I recognized some of the vendors as the same ones that come to the Chalon market on Fridays and Sundays. We bought some white mulberries to try in our morning oatmeal, and they turned out to be unique addition with a strong floral quality. They were a nice alternative to the standard raisins or cranberries we usually mix in. Unfortunately, I haven’t found these anywhere else yet.

For lunch, we ate at the Café du Nord, close to the entrance of the abbey. Our meals were adequate and the price was fair, but I wasn’t overly impressed with the food. It did seem popular though and the service was reasonable.

After lunch we moved on to the abbey and spent two or three hours visiting it and wandering the grounds. The history of the abbey makes this a fascinating place, but visiting requires one to use a great deal of imagination in the process. The abbey was founded in 910, and over they centuries it developed into the epicenter of the powerful Cluniac order of the Benedictine monks and the largest church in all of Christianity until St. Peter’s Basilica was constructed. The order began to decline in the 12th century, but the church remained intact until the French Revolution. Sadly, during the French Revolution the abbey was seized as public property and was largely dismantled. All that remains today is a small part of the transept. There are some augmented reality screens throughout the grounds that will help you imagine what it used to be like, and for more context you should try to find the remains of the church that extend into the present-day town. The grounds of the abbey and the cloisters are also delightful and will give you an impression of just how large and important this place once was.

After the abbey we visited the abbey’s archaeological museum, which is free with a ticket from the abbey. It displays some of the remains of the church, including the abbey’s carved emblem. Another site in town worth visiting is La Tour des Fromages, or the Cheese Tower. It has a good view over the abbey as well as the town. We also discovered other churches in town and saw some examples of Roman houses.

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food France

An afternoon in Buxy, France

2014-03-09 – 15:37

Another nearby village we recently visited was Buxy. We had a very French day in Buxy filled with food, wine, and cheese. Unfortunately we were stuck wandering around in the rain again, but it was still a nice visit.

The first thing you notice driving into town is that there are some prominent towers and rock walls that remind you of a fortified castle. There is no castle, but there are some very nice ancient buildings. We started with lunch at Aux Années Vins by the Tour Rouge (the red tower). Their lunch hours are very brief, from 12h to 13h15, but we were the first ones to arrive. We had very good meals. I had salmon with a carrot mash, and Eric had the three course menu with a shrimp and smoked duck terrine, a main dish of chicken and crayfish with vegetables in a creamy sauce, and then fromage blanc. I guess we were lucky we got a table without a reservation because I saw the staff turning away others without reservations when most of the restaurant was still empty. The restaurant filled up throughout the course of lunch, with couples and some groups enjoying the cuisine and wine. The cheese cart looked wonderful, but we decided we were already full enough at the end of our meals.

We next wandered around town until we couldn’t take the rain anymore. The church looked particularly interesting, but naturally it was closed that day. Mostly there are interesting old stone buildings around town, but nothing of significant historic importance as far as we could tell. Perhaps the tourist office would have more info on the buildings in town, but we didn’t attempt to ask because was not located nearby in the center of town. It is actually a bit out of the way along the Voie Verte cycling path, across from La Cave des Vignerons de Buxy, which we visited next.

Buxy Stone House

La Cave des Vignerons de Buxy is the storefront for the local wine co-op. We tasted a variety of local wines, but decided not to buy any this time. La Cave des Vignerons mostly sells wines produced at the co-op combining the grapes various producers, though were were surprised this time to see there were some wines offered from specific domaines, i.e. individual estates. In the fall we had visited the co-op during the harvest season and got to see the grapes going into crushers. The tastings are free here, and it seems you can taste any of the wines in their large collection.

To complete our day trip, we drove down the road a couple of kilometers to Les Filletières to pick up some cheese. La Chèvrerie des Filletières is a goat farm where you can visit the animals and buy a variety of goat cheeses at very low prices. It is a small production, but it offers some our favorite local cheeses. Some of our local friends recommend going the “extra mile” to this place even though goat cheese is widely available in the markets, so you know it is good.

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food France

A day trip to Givry, France

2014-03-05 – 16:36

A few weeks ago we started our new mission of visiting a small town or village in the region every weekend. Our first town was Givry. Though we had passed through Givry before when we were on a bike ride, we had not seen any of the sights.

Givry is about 10km west of Chalon-sur-Saône, and is known for its red wines, which were supposedly a favorite of King Henry IV. It is a quaint town of old stone buildings, monuments, and vineyards.

We first tried to visit the church, Église de Givry, a surprisingly imposing structure just outside the center of town. Sadly every door was locked, but perhaps if we go back during tourist season it will be open to the public.

We next walked towards the old hôtel de ville, which is a building with a large arch built over the main road into the center of town. The arch is a unique site, and it is decorated with a “France moderne” emblem on one side, and an emblem representing Givry on the other side.

Givry hôtel de ville   Givry vineyard

At the center of town there is an ancient grain market, the Halle de Blé. It is a round structure with a spiral staircase at the center. It too was closed, but we peaked in the glass windows.

Across the street is a cozy restaurant where we ate lunch, La Cadole. I had the Œufs en Meurette paired with a local red wine. Eric had some type of white fish covered in a creamy sauce and accompanied by vegetables. We also had a wonderful cheese plate of mildly sweet to pungent cheeses. One cheese plate between the two of us was plenty. Our simple meals sated us for our afternoon of exploring.

After lunch we walked over to the local tourist office and picked up a some information about the area. They suggested a self-guided walk around town showing more sites. Supposedly they have the pamphlet for this walk in English, but on the day we were there they only had German and French versions available.

We first stopped to do some wine tasting at Domaine Thénard. The tasting was free, and we liked both the local reds and whites. We purchased a red to add to our “cellar” of whites. Our “cellar” consisted of three whites placed on the fireplace mantel, which Eric thinks we probably won’t ever drink because we always go wine tasting rather than drink at home.

We walked around the town getting soggy in the perpetual rain. We saw the local lavoir, as well fish- and sea-themed fountains. There was also a statue of the town’s protector built into old fortifications. On our walk we wandered off course when we spotted the vineyards. We were rewarded by finding an area with vineyards that surrounded old stone houses or possibly sheds halfway up the slope. The view was quite nice on a wet February day, and I want to return in the summer to see the vineyards in their full glory.

We had a nice time in Givry, but I am looking forward to going back in better weather when there might be more picturesque photo opportunities.

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food France Switzerland

Raclette and Fondue in the Alps

2014-01-29 – 21:46

When Eric and I visited the French and Swiss Alps a few weeks ago, a friend told us to try the Raclette and Fondue in both countries because of the regional differences in preparation. This was good advice for the Fondue, but I didn’t notice much difference when it came to the Raclette.

Raclette is a dish where a hunk of cheese is melted by a heat source and then the melted part is scraped onto boiled potatoes and dried meats, accompanied by pickled pearl onions and gherkins. For the best experience, you have to eat fast once you scrape the cheese onto your plate, because the cheese hardens again after a minute or two.

Raclette is a fun meal to share with others, and the cheese is tasty. It is a simple meal in terms of ingredients, but it does require special equipment to melt the cheese. I wonder if it is not better in a home setting though. Since we only had it at restaurants during our trip, our vegetable selection was limited to the potatoes, pickled onions, and gherkins. You could easily have a more interesting spread of vegetables at home.

When we had Raclette in France, we were served half a wheel of cheese. Needless to say we did not come close to finishing it. In Switzerland, however, we were only served a block, probably around half a kilogram or one pound of cheese, which we finished. The amount and the style of heating device were the only real differences we noticed between France and Switzerland.

Raclette in Annecy, France    Fondue in Chamonix, France

The Fondue was delectable in both France and Switzerland, but there were some differences. Since there is a variety of regional cheeses in this part of the world, the cheese used in the Fondue naturally changes from place to place. In France we had Fondue savoyarde with Comté and Beaufort. In Switzerland we had “moitié-moitié,” or half Gruyère and half Vacherin Fribourgeois. The Swiss one tasted the closest to what I expect traditional Fondue to taste like, but they were both deliciously cheesy. I think the French one had more white wine in it, or perhaps omitted the classic Kirschwasser in the recipe.

As with the Raclette, I think you could have more interesting Fondue dinners at home by picking out your own veggies and sides. In the restaurants our choices were limited to bread and potatoes. To me, this got a little boring before the meal was half-way finished. Overall it was still an experience to eat Fondue in the Alps, and it would be interesting to try even more cheese combinations in the future.

For now we are back to eating cheese the normal way — on a baguette — but another Alpine cheese specialty we may try this winter is a baked hot box of Mont d’Or (Mont d’Or au four ou boîte chaude)! I’ll report back on how that is another day.

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