Road tripping in France and Switzerland with a familiar face

19/4 - It was around this time six months ago that I moved to France.

Six months in France.

So, to celebrate, I went on a road trip with my old friend Danny and his dog, Rocky over the Easter weekend. This was our third such road trip together, but this time we took a somewhat familiar route by driving south through France and ending in Basel, Switzerland.

It had been almost two years since the two of us drove north to Loch Ness, Scotland from Bournemouth, England, and exactly two years since we drove south to Italy, a distance of 2,200 miles. This time, I met him in Calais, after taking a train from Cherbourg and meeting total strangers in Caen to carpool four hours to Calais.

Though the trips were separated by two years, I noticed things haven't changed much with either of us. My emotions, the cause of so much anger and stress during my time in Milan and Genova, Italy, are still there. I'm still prone to submitting to moments of anger and annoyance, though this time they were much less noteworthy.

While my travel partner relies on his phone's GPS to a fault at times, there were moments when it seriously helped on this trip. Though there are many tolls throughout the major motorways of France, it helped us navigate in such a way where we avoided all tolls on our way back north by using smaller roadways, windy paths through damp and cloudy mountains, and one-lane roads through sleepy villages. It also helped us avoid the €50 toll at the Swiss border by simply leaving the highway and driving through the city streets of Saint-Louis, France to cross the border into Switzerland.

Both of us have accomplished a little bit since leaving Bournemouth University. We've grown into different people and collected vastly different experiences and stories, but we're still great friends. Though we do get along, there are times when we royally piss each other off like that couple who nitpick every aspect of each other.

The biggest difference now, though, is the newfound interest in photography for both of us. Danny uses a Nikon D5100 and I have the Pentax K-30, both DSLR cameras but with different capabilities, especially in regards to lenses.

I practiced with Danny's Nikon D5100.

The last time we pounded the open road, I didn't have the desire to stop every hour or so to take a picture. This time, however, I've been known to stop in random places and snap shots, such as when I waded into a field of yellow rapeseed flowers near Strasbourg, under a stormy sky. My pants got wet, my socks became soggy and my shirt attracted tiny yellow debris, but I snagged a cool picture or two.

This was a better idea in my head, and I never noticed the water droplets on my lense.

I didn't know the rapeseed flowers would be wet.

During the last road trip, I didn't have a child-like wonder of the sky. During this trip, the several hours driving in the general area of Nancy gave us a view of a spectacle in the sky, something that distracted me from my driving duties. The rays of the sun found ways around the clouds and down to the ground providing a natural spotlight for the ground below, like fingers from the sky curiously touching an unknown substance. It was incredible, and I was itching to pull the car over on the side of the road and put the camera to work.

Colmar - taken through the bars of a fence.

There was one point, just after sunset, when we drove along a long, straightaway road, next to several wind turbines in an open, green field. There were no trees. It would have been the perfect spot to shoot the sunset, but we were an hour late so the only thing breaking the black sky was some dark purple clouds on the horizon.

21/4 - It's also just about two years since Danny and I took that road trip from Bournemouth all the way down to Italy. For the past week, we've been driving, and driving...and driving. Or to put it more accurately, I've been driving because of Danny's lack of skill with the manual transmission.

Mont St. Michel is swamped with tourists during warm weather, but it's always fun to visit.

I've shown Danny the World War II sites in Normandy such as Omaha Beach, Utah Beach, Normandy American Cemetery, Pointe du Hoc and other tiny villages in the area. I showed him Mont St. Michel; it was my third time here and it was the warmest visit yet, despite the place crawling with tourists. However, that was Danny's birthday! Just like when my parents were here, it was fun to see the reactions of a person visiting for the first time. 

I've taken other photos of Les Braves, but not with the added benefit of a good camera!

When we arrived back in Cherbourg that evening, we witnessed the sunset from the top of the hill overlooking the city. It was magnificent, like when I looked upon Big Ben in London, in 2014, for the first time in a couple of years. From the wide angle, the thin clouds crisscrossed the light-blue sky, which eventually turned to pink, orange and red on the horizon. But from a closer view, the sky was nothing but orange and red. This 135mm lens makes all the difference because it can zoom in.

Taken from the top of Cherbourg at sunset.

There were many stops during the week: Strasbourg, Colmar, Basel, Kayserberg, castle ruins, and a bird show. There were big cities, touristy villages and opportunities to explore the area alone.  But the best part was having the opportunity to show a good friend my newest home.

Chateau de Kintzheim, once a castle, is now a bird sanctuary.

Kayserberg is a village nestled between two hills. There is a winery on the southern hill. 

There are castle ruins in Kayserberg, but I stumbled upon hiking trails which led me to this view. 

It also showed me that both of us admire what the other is doing. Danny is working in England and commutes to London once per week. He's supporting himself while traveling to many different places with his dog. He's ambitious with many business opportunities in his head and stays disciplined enough to steadily complete them. I, of course, have spent the past six months living in France, in near solitude, learning a new language and aspects of myself (and doing a little bit of travel). We each have respect for what the other is up to.

I also saw how Spanish is still a part of me, because I could understand the conversation between Danny and his mother. It reminded me that this has become a forgotten skill, one that needs attention. This will be something to work on over the summer.

22/4 - Danny left Cherbourg.

It was a blast showing my home to another friend. But as with most of my activities during my time here, I'm suddenly on the other side of it, looking back and reflecting. This is the temporary moment when I'm not quite sure what to do with myself, possibly because I feel melancholy that another adventure has passed. But I'm not sad that those road trips are finished.

As with everything so far, I'm just happy I was able to experience them.

There are other adventures on the horizon for me; until next time. 

A quick trip to London

9/4 - I went to London for a job interview last week. Rather than writing about it, I created a video blog. Obviously, my strength in communication comes from writing, not speaking. 

Some clarity has come as a result of the trek to London, because the idea of going back to California feels right. My time in Cherbourg is up, and I've achieved what I needed to achieve.