A friend and I have invited our Dominican girlfriends over to Holland for the summer.
One of the events up to now is a trip to France, a very positive experience, which a wise bearded person on this board, who lives in the hills (also known as the patrion saint of serious visitors to the DR) suggested I share with you to balance the bad stories out a bit.
We made a trip to the South of France to stand as witness for a friends wedding. The trip was a great experience and we had a great time. The girl?s travels took them trough 4 countries in total, which was more than they had experienced up to then. Trip's duration was from Thurday night till Tuesday night. We used the nights for driving to our starting/back to our beginning destinations.
Firstly during thursday night, we drove down From Holland to St Tropez to prepare for the wedding on Friday, it was nice to be in St Tropez again and this time there was an added spectacle of the annual Harley Davidson conference. We spent some time at the beach, walking the harbour, looking at the yachts and drinking a few drinks. At night there was a get to know everyone gathering at the groom's mother's house.
Saturday was the wedding day and we had a good time at the wedding. After the civil service we went to the church, which turned out to be an open air gathering at the back of the Chapel. After the service we had lunch and a party with more drink and food at the house of the groom?s mother. Of course we smoked some Dominican cigars and shared one with the father of the bride a Frenchman who retired to Miami. They were well received and so were we. An added bonus for the girls was that the brides family spoke quite good Spanish.
After the wedding we spent some more days in France.
On Sunday we spent the day driving around in the south, visiting Nice, which is as you know the only real city on the Cote d' Azure, a beautiful Italian style city. We visited the city and the central hill which used to hold a castle for the counts of the Provence but this was demolished by a later French king. The girls really liked it. We drove up North and stayed in a French country estate around Orange for the evening and night. The propriator was also a good cook and we enjoyed the special dishes he served us, together with some good wine. The food (roasted duck in winesauce) was definitively a new experience for the girls but one they really enjoyed.
Monday we visited Orange, the birth-place of the current Dutch royal family and also home to the only surviving Roman amphitheatre in the Western Mediterranean. We took an extensive tour of the complex with audio guides, which the girls loved (and saved us the trouble of extensive explanations) and also visited the Arc de Triumph, a Roman original, erected by the 2nd Legio Romana Julius Caesar in around the first century AD, carved with beautiful scenes depicting the Roman conquest of Gallia.
We then drove up North again and stopped for the night at Beaune in the Bourgogne wine-region. In Beaune we visited the historic centre, which included the 'hotel de Dieu' and the famous wine-shops. the 'Hotel de Dieu' is the oldest still surviving hospital in the world, founded in 1443, by the knights Templar, returning from the crusades. Its existence is financed through the sale of wines from its own vineyard.
On Tuesday we quickly drove up to Paris, where we visited the Palace de Versailles. This visit took most of the day, again with audio guides, and again the girls really enjoyed it. One of the things that was not on the audio guide is the pattern from antiquity from the Romans, which was repeated throughout the Palace to enforce the linear line of the French kings as successors to the Roman emperors of old. This line is also drawn by the last French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, who depicts himself as the last in the line of the natural successors throughout the Palace.
After the visit to Versailles we went into Paris proper, catching the Tour de Eiffel at dusk, with enough light to see Paris but still bathing with lights. Of course we went up and we showed them the sights of Paris, the Notre Dame, Dome des Invallides, Les Tulleries and L?Arc de Triomphe.
After the visit to Paris we drove straight through the night to Rotterdam, where we arrived at dawn around 04:30.
It was a very interesting visit to France again and it slowly begins to dawn upon the girls that the history of Europe has a vastly longer lineage than that found in the Dominican Republic. It is also very satisfying to introduce these girls into a world which they have thusfar only imagined and to see the wonder and enjoyment on their faces..
All in all a pleasant experience indeed.
One of the events up to now is a trip to France, a very positive experience, which a wise bearded person on this board, who lives in the hills (also known as the patrion saint of serious visitors to the DR) suggested I share with you to balance the bad stories out a bit.
We made a trip to the South of France to stand as witness for a friends wedding. The trip was a great experience and we had a great time. The girl?s travels took them trough 4 countries in total, which was more than they had experienced up to then. Trip's duration was from Thurday night till Tuesday night. We used the nights for driving to our starting/back to our beginning destinations.
Firstly during thursday night, we drove down From Holland to St Tropez to prepare for the wedding on Friday, it was nice to be in St Tropez again and this time there was an added spectacle of the annual Harley Davidson conference. We spent some time at the beach, walking the harbour, looking at the yachts and drinking a few drinks. At night there was a get to know everyone gathering at the groom's mother's house.
Saturday was the wedding day and we had a good time at the wedding. After the civil service we went to the church, which turned out to be an open air gathering at the back of the Chapel. After the service we had lunch and a party with more drink and food at the house of the groom?s mother. Of course we smoked some Dominican cigars and shared one with the father of the bride a Frenchman who retired to Miami. They were well received and so were we. An added bonus for the girls was that the brides family spoke quite good Spanish.
After the wedding we spent some more days in France.
On Sunday we spent the day driving around in the south, visiting Nice, which is as you know the only real city on the Cote d' Azure, a beautiful Italian style city. We visited the city and the central hill which used to hold a castle for the counts of the Provence but this was demolished by a later French king. The girls really liked it. We drove up North and stayed in a French country estate around Orange for the evening and night. The propriator was also a good cook and we enjoyed the special dishes he served us, together with some good wine. The food (roasted duck in winesauce) was definitively a new experience for the girls but one they really enjoyed.
Monday we visited Orange, the birth-place of the current Dutch royal family and also home to the only surviving Roman amphitheatre in the Western Mediterranean. We took an extensive tour of the complex with audio guides, which the girls loved (and saved us the trouble of extensive explanations) and also visited the Arc de Triumph, a Roman original, erected by the 2nd Legio Romana Julius Caesar in around the first century AD, carved with beautiful scenes depicting the Roman conquest of Gallia.
We then drove up North again and stopped for the night at Beaune in the Bourgogne wine-region. In Beaune we visited the historic centre, which included the 'hotel de Dieu' and the famous wine-shops. the 'Hotel de Dieu' is the oldest still surviving hospital in the world, founded in 1443, by the knights Templar, returning from the crusades. Its existence is financed through the sale of wines from its own vineyard.
On Tuesday we quickly drove up to Paris, where we visited the Palace de Versailles. This visit took most of the day, again with audio guides, and again the girls really enjoyed it. One of the things that was not on the audio guide is the pattern from antiquity from the Romans, which was repeated throughout the Palace to enforce the linear line of the French kings as successors to the Roman emperors of old. This line is also drawn by the last French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, who depicts himself as the last in the line of the natural successors throughout the Palace.
After the visit to Versailles we went into Paris proper, catching the Tour de Eiffel at dusk, with enough light to see Paris but still bathing with lights. Of course we went up and we showed them the sights of Paris, the Notre Dame, Dome des Invallides, Les Tulleries and L?Arc de Triomphe.
After the visit to Paris we drove straight through the night to Rotterdam, where we arrived at dawn around 04:30.
It was a very interesting visit to France again and it slowly begins to dawn upon the girls that the history of Europe has a vastly longer lineage than that found in the Dominican Republic. It is also very satisfying to introduce these girls into a world which they have thusfar only imagined and to see the wonder and enjoyment on their faces..
All in all a pleasant experience indeed.
