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Friday, June 7, 2013
My Travels And A Little Bit of This And That: A little boat trip to the Archipelago of les Glena...
My Travels And A Little Bit of This And That: A little boat trip to the Archipelago of les Glena...: We left for Benodet shortly after noon. The boat was scheduled to leave at 1:30. Got there a little before embarkation time on a good size...
A little boat trip to the Archipelago of les Glenan
We left for Benodet shortly after noon. The boat was scheduled to leave at 1:30. Got there a little before embarkation time on a good size ferry type boat with an upper deck, a lower open deck and a closed deck.
We took the comprehensive tour which involved a drop off of a few hours on a modestly sized island with a lovely beach and then a pick up with a tour of the rest of the islands which dot the archipelago.
Les Glenan is one of the high spots for tourism in Brittany. It is known for its natural resources, its pristine crystalline waters (this is where blue lobsters can be caught as well as crabs and shrimps). The spot was neglected for quite some time until the opening of a nautical center in 1940 followed by an international diving center where many people from all over the world come to learn how to become experienced divers.
The biggest surprise was how many tourists were lined up to board the boat. It's not yet the height of the tourist season here but the exceptionally warm sunny weather brought out everybody. It's been a rather cool spring here with unpredictable mostly crappy weather. It seems to have been the case all over France and many part of Europe,not sure what's going on with the weather, possibly mother nature signaling enough is enough,more harm done and I'm just going to BLOW.
The trip to the island of St. Nicolas took about 1 hour. The island is tiny you can walk around it on a special walkway built out of wooden slats just for that occasion. There are a couple of restaurant/terraces where the boat docks and a few summer houses. We stopped to take a break on a beautiful beach where the water was so turquoise pure I felt like jumping in it except for two facts preventing me: one, didn't have a bathing suit on and 2 the water temperature hovered around 14 degrees Celsius not exactly Caribbean temperatures.
The purity and clarity of the water as well as the whiteness of the sand can be explained by a special type of marine algae called "bancs de maeri" which while decomposing assumes the shape of coral but becomes white in the process. We found little bits of it not quite fully decomposed on the beach. Some people were brave enough to go mid thigh in the water, I only went mid-calf.
The boat picked us up after a couple of hours of lingering on the beach and walking around the island. We then went for an exploration of other islands some of which are just little rock outcroppings while others feature that blindingly white sand and turquoise water. See picture below for proof of that.
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRS1SxCerto526gda_S5i_IMKAUz5pl84lfIns__lWzHpP_mwJYTA
If you click on the link it will take you to more fabulous pictures. These will give you a better idea than any writing could. All in all a lovely day, hopefully it will inspire some to want to visit one day.
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRx2yt46M3xIIybu1q3nCTl-wMjpvx0JznGJxVc8PStBLQ4rWdH
Sorry these links don't seem to work, just google les Glenan and a lot of pics. will pop up.
We took the comprehensive tour which involved a drop off of a few hours on a modestly sized island with a lovely beach and then a pick up with a tour of the rest of the islands which dot the archipelago.
Les Glenan is one of the high spots for tourism in Brittany. It is known for its natural resources, its pristine crystalline waters (this is where blue lobsters can be caught as well as crabs and shrimps). The spot was neglected for quite some time until the opening of a nautical center in 1940 followed by an international diving center where many people from all over the world come to learn how to become experienced divers.
The biggest surprise was how many tourists were lined up to board the boat. It's not yet the height of the tourist season here but the exceptionally warm sunny weather brought out everybody. It's been a rather cool spring here with unpredictable mostly crappy weather. It seems to have been the case all over France and many part of Europe,not sure what's going on with the weather, possibly mother nature signaling enough is enough,more harm done and I'm just going to BLOW.
The trip to the island of St. Nicolas took about 1 hour. The island is tiny you can walk around it on a special walkway built out of wooden slats just for that occasion. There are a couple of restaurant/terraces where the boat docks and a few summer houses. We stopped to take a break on a beautiful beach where the water was so turquoise pure I felt like jumping in it except for two facts preventing me: one, didn't have a bathing suit on and 2 the water temperature hovered around 14 degrees Celsius not exactly Caribbean temperatures.
The purity and clarity of the water as well as the whiteness of the sand can be explained by a special type of marine algae called "bancs de maeri" which while decomposing assumes the shape of coral but becomes white in the process. We found little bits of it not quite fully decomposed on the beach. Some people were brave enough to go mid thigh in the water, I only went mid-calf.
The boat picked us up after a couple of hours of lingering on the beach and walking around the island. We then went for an exploration of other islands some of which are just little rock outcroppings while others feature that blindingly white sand and turquoise water. See picture below for proof of that.
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRS1SxCerto526gda_S5i_IMKAUz5pl84lfIns__lWzHpP_mwJYTA
If you click on the link it will take you to more fabulous pictures. These will give you a better idea than any writing could. All in all a lovely day, hopefully it will inspire some to want to visit one day.
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRx2yt46M3xIIybu1q3nCTl-wMjpvx0JznGJxVc8PStBLQ4rWdH
Sorry these links don't seem to work, just google les Glenan and a lot of pics. will pop up.
Monday, June 3, 2013
My Travels And A Little Bit of This And That: France and the welfare state
My Travels And A Little Bit of This And That: France and the welfare state: Tomorrow we're off to a beautiful spot called Les Glenans, you have to go there by boat. I'll be blogging my impressions of the plac...
France and the welfare state
Tomorrow we're off to a beautiful spot called Les Glenans, you have to go there by boat. I'll be blogging my impressions of the place shortly thereafter but in the meantime I thought I would write a little bit about what the French government offers its citizens in return for the taxes that they pay. I'm not really sure what percentage of their income French people pay in return for the services that they get, easy enough to look it up but this blog is not a treatise, I would just like to go on first impressions and what I've found out from people who live here, not dry statistical analysis.
First of all with respect to child care, it would be hard to fault the government and the systems they have put in place. Not all of it is "free", you pay with your taxes and often there's an additional, usually modest sum attached. If you're pregnant here you only get a maximum of 5 months leave unless you have another child then it can be longer. You have a choice of "creche" (nursery) where there can be 25+ babies with one person, more or less, per every 5 baby. Nobody's ever complained about there being not enough bodies on the ground to take care of the babies. If that's not what you want, you can have a "nourrice" (the old wet nurse term although they no longer breastfeed your child) come to your house, pick up the baby and keep him/her for the day at their own house. A nourrice can only have 2 babies at any one time, 3 if the children are older than 2. The nourrice gets paid 500 euros by the parents who are then reimbursed by the government according to how much income they make. In general the average paid by parents is around 200 euros (a pittance compared to child caring costs) in North America. Even Quebec doesn't favorably compare since a lot of the day cares subsidized by the government are few and far between. A couple we know is paying $900.00 a month in Montreal right now.
Around the age of 2 and a half a child can go to a proper school with trained child care professionals, it's public and free. The parents are responsible for purchasing meal time tickets (around 2.80 euro per meal). The meals would be considered gourmet by North American standards and consist of 3 courses,not one day in the month is the same. I've seen the menus and they are impressive.
When it comes to health care everybody is covered for what is considered basic health and dental care. Most people buy an additional insurance called la Mutuelle which covers all those extras and costs for a family of 4 around 200 euros a month. This seems like a lot but it's for 4 people. I was paying $150.00 a month for both my husband and I in B.C. and am probably paying the same amount, maybe a bit more, in Quebec. It's taken out of your taxes at the end of the year in Quebec so I'm not sure what the exact amount is. That amount is simply for basic coverage. There is no reimbursement for glasses or anything considered out of the "healthcare ordinary". Furthermore we have lived in Quebec for one year now and still can't find a doctor in the community where we live. That's not unusual with a lot of people having the same difficulty. In comparison one has access to a doctor the same day here. You could phone your obstetrician on a Saturday with concerns about your child and have the appointment that same day! Unheard of in Canada, one must secure appointments with so-called specialists a long time in advance. It's not unusual for a French doctor to visit a patient at home if the person is too ill, with something as mundane as a bad cold or a migraine, to make it to the office.
In general French people seem happy with the extent of the government's involvement in their lives except for the bureaucracy which can be daunting and a pain in the derriere royal or otherwise.
Just a little something to chew on while you contemplate the level of involvement of your own government whether that might be a positive or a negative thing. In France I feel it's mostly a positive but I might be way off base.
First of all with respect to child care, it would be hard to fault the government and the systems they have put in place. Not all of it is "free", you pay with your taxes and often there's an additional, usually modest sum attached. If you're pregnant here you only get a maximum of 5 months leave unless you have another child then it can be longer. You have a choice of "creche" (nursery) where there can be 25+ babies with one person, more or less, per every 5 baby. Nobody's ever complained about there being not enough bodies on the ground to take care of the babies. If that's not what you want, you can have a "nourrice" (the old wet nurse term although they no longer breastfeed your child) come to your house, pick up the baby and keep him/her for the day at their own house. A nourrice can only have 2 babies at any one time, 3 if the children are older than 2. The nourrice gets paid 500 euros by the parents who are then reimbursed by the government according to how much income they make. In general the average paid by parents is around 200 euros (a pittance compared to child caring costs) in North America. Even Quebec doesn't favorably compare since a lot of the day cares subsidized by the government are few and far between. A couple we know is paying $900.00 a month in Montreal right now.
Around the age of 2 and a half a child can go to a proper school with trained child care professionals, it's public and free. The parents are responsible for purchasing meal time tickets (around 2.80 euro per meal). The meals would be considered gourmet by North American standards and consist of 3 courses,not one day in the month is the same. I've seen the menus and they are impressive.
When it comes to health care everybody is covered for what is considered basic health and dental care. Most people buy an additional insurance called la Mutuelle which covers all those extras and costs for a family of 4 around 200 euros a month. This seems like a lot but it's for 4 people. I was paying $150.00 a month for both my husband and I in B.C. and am probably paying the same amount, maybe a bit more, in Quebec. It's taken out of your taxes at the end of the year in Quebec so I'm not sure what the exact amount is. That amount is simply for basic coverage. There is no reimbursement for glasses or anything considered out of the "healthcare ordinary". Furthermore we have lived in Quebec for one year now and still can't find a doctor in the community where we live. That's not unusual with a lot of people having the same difficulty. In comparison one has access to a doctor the same day here. You could phone your obstetrician on a Saturday with concerns about your child and have the appointment that same day! Unheard of in Canada, one must secure appointments with so-called specialists a long time in advance. It's not unusual for a French doctor to visit a patient at home if the person is too ill, with something as mundane as a bad cold or a migraine, to make it to the office.
In general French people seem happy with the extent of the government's involvement in their lives except for the bureaucracy which can be daunting and a pain in the derriere royal or otherwise.
Just a little something to chew on while you contemplate the level of involvement of your own government whether that might be a positive or a negative thing. In France I feel it's mostly a positive but I might be way off base.
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