Image from WikiCommons

When we have visitors at our home, they usually stay for a few days at least.  We like to take them to interesting places while they are here.  Castles are always a good choice.  Castles with indoor tours are a better choice in bad weather.  On those wet, cold days, a great destination to visit is Heidelberg castle.

What is Heidelberg castle?

Heidelberg castle is one of the more famous historical sites in Germany.   It was first referenced in 1196 as a single castle.  In 1303, two castles were referenced for the first time.  Martin Luther came to the castle in the 1500s to defend one of his theses.

The thirty years war were fought from 1618 to 1648.  It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history.  The war was mostly fought in what is now Germany.  Heidelberg fell in 1622 during the war.  Over the following years, the castle was sieged by three emperors, condemned by Pio II and destroyed by Louis XIV, the Sun King.

In 1688, French troops occupied Heidelberg.  The French war council ordered all fortifications destroyed to prevent any attacks from this area.  On March 2, 1689 they set the castle on fire and blew the front off of the Fat Tower.   Four years later, the French were back and finished what they started in 1689.  The towers and walls that had survived four years earlier were blown up.

In 1764, lightning struck the lit the castle on fire.  In a few hours, the castle was in ruins.  There is a legend that near the end of World War II, the Allies diverted bombs from Heidelberg and the castle as they had picked out Heidelberg as a future headquarters after the war.

Visiting the castle

The inner courtyard has a small entrance fee and the tour is another fee, but both are well worth the price.  There are frequent tours in English throughout the day.  The inner court has an apothecary museum that I always find interesting.

The tour is quite good and takes you through many rooms in the castle.  One room has a stage.  My son, who was about 9 years old, got up on stage in the banquet hall during the tour.  The tour guide said, “oh, we have a new court jester!”  I’ll never forget that.  One interesting fact about that room is it had a method to bring wine up from wine cellar for serving during meals.

How was the wine?

Wine was a used as a form of tax.  Farmers would bring in a percentage of their crop to the castle.  It was all mixed together in one giant wine vat.  This vat holds 220,000 liters of wine. It is so big, they built a dance floor on top of it.  Because the wine was a mixture of many grapes, the quality was not high.  What the wine lacked in quality they made up for with quantity.  After the tour, you can wander around the castle grounds and see the garden

The castle garden was famous

Salomon de Caus of London created the garden in 1614.  In 1620, Salomon de Caus published an essay on the garden that preserved the details of his work. The French destroyed the gardens in 1693.  Today, only fragments and restorations of the garden can be found.

In summary

Heidelberg is one of the historic landmarks you don’t want to miss.  They have a wonderful tour and seeing that wine vat is worth the trip alone.  About 100 couples get married in the castle each year so don’t be surprised if you see a wedding.  Bring your camera and enjoy this nearby treasure.

Heidelberg Castle
D-69117 Heidelberg
Germany
Tel +49 6221 53 84 14
http://www.schloesser-magazin.de/en

View Larger Map

Spring is one of our favorite times of the year.  The cold days and short nights are a fading memory as the plants come back to life.  I have allergies to pollens so the news is not all good, but Claratin is my friend in this season.  We have a great camera and a natural subject for any photographer is flower.  Next week, despite my apprehensions of going to ground zero of a pollen explosion, we are going to journey to the Garden of Europe in the Netherlands: Keukenhof.

What is Keukenhof?

Keukenhof (which is “kitchen garden” in Dutch) is a 32-hectare acre park that is home to about 4,500,000 tulips.  I think I must be crazy to go there with millions of tulips releasing pollen aimed at my nose!  The park was used as hunting grounds in the 15^th century and was source of herbs for the Countess of Hainaut’s castle.

The garden was created in 1949.  The garden was designed to help show off the Netherland’s flower industry, which is the world leading exporter of flowers.  It quickly became the world’s largest flower garden and has been for the last fifty years.  It is only open for about two months.  The park is open this year from March 24^th until May 20^th.  The last week will have the world’s largest indoor lily exhibition.  The 2011 theme is Germany, Land of Poets and Philosophers.

What can you do at Keukenhof?

There are 15 kilometers of walking trails.  Make sure you don’t walk on the grass.  There are roughly 1 million visitors in two months.  Many of them visit on the weekends, so try to plan your visit during the week.  Mid-April is the ideal time to see the tulips in their full beauty.

There are  “whisper boats” with electric engines that can take you on a 1-hour tour.  The Keukenhof web site says you can get the best photographs from the boat, but I think if you have a good DSLR camera, you’ll be better pictures if you walk and can get very close to the flowers.  12 swans are released for the two-month period so perhaps the boat ride is a good way to get close to a swan.

Cycling is permitted so bring your bicycle if you’d like to.   There are bicycle rentals if you don’t want to bring your own bicycle.  You are limited to cycling outside of the park.  There are lots of beautiful flowers to see on the cycling routes, but you’ll have to stay on foot inside of the park.

The annual Flower Parade will happen on the 16^th of April 2011.  It is a 40-kilometer parade called the “face of Spring.”  It is the most famous parade in the Netherlands.  If you miss it in 2011, the next one is April 21, 2012.

In summary

I have great trepidation about putting my nose in the middle of 4.5 million tulips at the height of their pollination.   I’m stocking up on Claratin and charging my camera and flash batteries so I can enjoy my visit.  We should be able to take some spectacular photographs.  I think a few hanging in the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center are from Keukenhof.  Come and see for yourself.  I think it’s worth the trip.

Keukenhoff
Stationsweg 166a
2161 AM LISSE
The Netherlands
Telephone: +31 (0) 252 465 555
http://www.keukenhof.nl/en/

View Larger Map

Image from Wikicommons

When our squadron was new, a co-worker who sat near me was in a one-person deep position.  He had several statues of medieval knights.  I believe he had three of them.  That was his staff for his staff meetings!  He really loved military history and was always finding interesting places and facts about the local area.  One fantastic recommendation he had was to visit Burg Eltz.

What is Burg Eltz?

Burg Eltz is a castle near the Mosel River that’s about a two-hour drive North of Ramstein Air Base.  The castle is still owned by the same family branch that owned it in the 12^th century.  33 generations have passed this castle on to the next generation. 1/3^rd of the castle is still being used.

The castle was originally intended as a fortified residence, not as a fortress.  It has been attacked once, but never taken.  I remember the tour guide telling us that, years ago, French soldiers went up and down the Mosel River burning castles.  Since Burg Eltz can’t be seen from the river, it was overlooked.

How do you find Burg Eltz?

Use a GPS or print the directions from Google Maps.  You’ll end up in Münstermaifeld. Follow K 37 towards Wierschem, and then follow the signs to Eltz Castle forest car park.

The castle parking is about 1 kilometer away from the castle.  You have to walk to get to the castle.  It’s a beautiful, forested walk, but don’t try it in bad weather. The walk is downhill from the parking lot.    This goes against my general rule for walks of always going up first.  After the 40-minute tour, you are tired and then have to walk uphill to your car.  The castle is only open from April to November 1^st and only from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm so plan ahead.

Is Burg Eltz worth the effort to get there?

I think it is.  We enjoy a good walk.  You do have to pay for parking and the ticket prices are about €8, but this is not a replica castle that’s been reconstructed.  It is an authentic medieval castle that is completely furnished.  The admission rates are a bit higher than other castles, but this castle is completely private.  Your fees go directly to the family to help them keep the castle maintained.

What’s the castle like?

I was surprised how narrow the inner courtyard was.  I suppose it makes sense as the castle is built on a hill so they only had so much room.  The tour tries to give you a feeling of the 800 years of history in the castle.  There are 15^th century wooden ceilings, a bedroom with frescos from 1470, the Knight Hall with a suit of armor from the 1520’s.  The Countesses’ Room has a pottery collection from the 16^th to 19^th centuries.  There are many more rooms and interesting things to see on the tour.

In summary

Burg Eltz is harder to get to and more expensive than other castles.  It’s not a good castle to visit on a rainy day.  Despite these limitations, this is one castle you should not miss.  There just aren’t many authentic medieval castles you can visit that are still owned and used by the original family. Make it a point to visit Burg Eltz and you won’t be disappointed.

Burg Eltz
D-56294 Münstermaifeld
Tel: +49 2672 950 500
http://www.burg-eltz.de/e_index.html

View Larger Map

When we first arrived in the KMC, we heard about a big grocery store just across the French border.  We didn’t know what to expect.  We heard we needed to bring French Francs with us because they didn’t take credit cards.  We had to go to the bank on base and exchange US Dollars for French Francs.  The bank had daily exchange rates for several different local currencies.  We really didn’t have much experience dealing with foreign currency.  Now it’s a bit easier as there’s only one currency to deal with:  the Euro.

What is the Euro?

The Euro is the official currency of the Eurozone in 17 nations, including Germany, France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands.  It is the second most traded currency in the world after the U.S. Dollar.  The Euro coins and banknotes went into circulation on January 1^st, 2002.  We were in San Antonio, Texas at the time.  We left the year before with German Marks and came back in 2004 to a new currency.  Everything seemed like it got more expensive after we came back to the KMC.  We had to learn how to make the Euro currency sign.

How do you create the Euro currency sign?

The Euro currency sign (€) can be made with a capital C with an equal sign typed on top of it.  On a Mac, you can type Shift+Option+2.  On a Windows computer, you can type Alt+0128 on the numeric keypad.   If I can’t remember these codes, I Google for the Euro and copy and paste it from any web page.

How does the Euro compare to the U.S. Dollar?

The Euro and U.S. Dollar exchange rate is quoted as a currency pair.  The standard way Foreign Exchange (FOREX) traders quote it is with the Euro first:  EURUSD.  The currency markets are open 24 hours during the week.  The price you see quoted at the bank is a snapshot price.  In reality, the price changes constantly.  Here’s a price chart of the EURUSD:

The price quoted is sometimes stated as how much Euro one U.S. Dollar will purchase.  This is simply one divided by the EURUSD rate.  For instance, if the EURUSD were at 1.40, the USDEUR would be 1 / 1.40 = 0.7143.   As the EURUSD goes up, the U.S. Dollar buying power goes down.  A higher EURUSD rate mans higher Cost of Living Overseas (COLA) payments, but everything off base gets more expensive in terms of U.S. Dollars.  You can get a current quote at finance.yahoo.com

What affects the price of the EURUSD?

Many things affect the price of the Euro versus the U.S. Dollar.  Investors and traders try to estimate the impact of interest rates, debt loads nations carry and economic outlooks for the United States and the Eurozone nations.  The European Central Bank (ECB) guides the Euro decisions but traders and investors are the primary movers of the price of the currency pair.

What is the outlook for the EURUSD?

That’s a good question.  The U.S. has big economic issues to solve but so does the Eurozone.  Both have had deficit spending and accumulated too much debt.  In Europe, the primary nations causing stress on the price of the Euro are the so-called PIIGS nations (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain).  There is a looming massive debt problem in Europe, just like in the United States.  To me, it’s similar to two sick patients in the hospital.  Investors are trying to determine who is sicker than the other patient.

Here’s a long-term chart of the EURUSD from a long term forecasting service:

Notice they are forecasting the EURUSD to drop near parity before the end of the year.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is they also expect it to rise near where it is today about one year from now.  The longer-term forecast is in the $1.20 to $1.30 range.

In summary

Overall it is easier to have one currency.  Many vendors accept U.S. credit cards and you’ll get a good exchange rate from your credit card company.  Many small European stores still don’t accept U.S. credit cards so keep some cash with you when you travel.  ATM’s will almost always work in my experience.   It’s a good idea to have a MasterCard and a VISA card as sometimes one card won’t work and the other will.

Let’s hope the long term forecast is correct and the EURUSD declines in price.  It’ll make everything off base much less expensive.

BTW: I tweet about the EURUSD and economic events that affect the EURUSD price at http://twitter.com/tomnunamaker

Image from Wikimedia Commons

My son and his wife had flown from Boston to visit us in December.  Spencer‘s wife, Amanda, had never been outside of the United States so we wanted to show her some things you just can’t see in the U.S.  There are so many things you can take a visitor to see that aren’t that far from the KMC.  One of them is an easy drive and has many attractions.  The city of Trier, Germany. One particularly famous landmark in Trier is the Porta Nigra.

What is the Porta Nigra?

The Porta Nigra (black gate in Latin) was built by the Romans at the end of the 2^nd century.   It is situated in the oldest city in Germany: Trier. The gate was one of four original Roman gates guarding the city.  Only the Porta Nigra still stands.  It is the largest Roman city gate north of the Alps and is a World Heritage Site.  The sandstone blocks used to build the Porta Nigra were cut by bronze saws powered by mill wheels. The stones weighed up to six metric tons and used no mortar.

No mortar was used?

The Romans typically didn’t use mortar.  Instead of using mortar, pairs of stones were held together by iron clamps.  The clamps were held in place with molten lead.  This metal was stolen for re-use in the Middle Ages but the stones still have traces of rust.

In the Middle Ages, the gates were no longer used for their intended purpose.  Stones were taken and used for other bulidings.  Evidence of this destruction is visible on the north side of the gate.

After 1028, Simeon the Greek monk lived in the ruins of the Porta Nigra as a hermit.  He died in 1035 and he was sanctified.  He was buried inside the gate.  A monestary was build in his name adjacent to the Porta Nigra.  This is a wonderful museum today with many interesting paintings.  Because the Porta Nigra was converted to use as a church, it was preserved.  Later, a chapel was built on the upper floor of the western tower gate.  Because the Porta Nigra was used as a chapel, the destructive recycling stopped and the Porta Nigra was never demolished.

Napolean Bonaparte dissolved the church in the Porta Nigra and the adjacent monestary in 1802.  Napolean returned two years later and ordered the Porta Nigra, and other Roman ruins in Trier, returned to their original Roman form.

The building is impressive

The Porta Nigra today is 118 feet long, 70.5 feet wide and 90 feet high.  You are free to wander around inside of the structure ,after you pay the small entrance fee of course.   There are three floors above the ground level to explore. There is no furniture except a bench or two to sit on if you’re tired walking up the stairs.  The view on the top floor is fantastic and you should bring your camera with you.

Every time I visit the Porta Nigra i’m in awe that this 1800 year old building is still standing.  If only the sandstone blocks could talk.  What tales they could tell.  I had a similar feeling standing next to a 2500 year old Redwood tree in California.  It’s hard time relate to something that is 1800 years old given the relatively small amount of time we have ourselves.  I wonder how many more centuries it will endure?

In summary

The Porta Nigra is a must see building in Trier.  Trier has many other interesting things to see but the Porta Nigra is a great place to start.  Don’t forget to buy a package deal for your tickets as you’ll want to visit the other attractions Trier has to offer while you’re there.  Spencer and Amanda loved Trier and the Porta Nigra.  You will too!

View Larger Map

It was a day with clear skies and a light wind.  It was a perfect day for my first solo flight as a US Air Force student pilot.   The thrill of piloting a jet all alone is hard to describe.   It’s one of life’s experiences that never leave you.  There are other memorable things that we do or places that we visit.  One very powerful place is in France: the First World War battlefield of Verdun.

What happened during the battle of Verdun?

Verdun was the site of one of the largest battles in the First World War.    The battle was between the German and French armies and lasted 10 months, from 21 February to 18 December 1916.  It was the longest and one of the most costly battles in the First World War.  30,000 people died in each of the ten months of fighting and over 500,000 were wounded.  The battlefield was about 100 square kilometers and primarily an artillery battle.

Seventy percent of the casualties were from artillery

French artillery fired 23.5 million rounds.  German artillery fired over 21 million shells in the first eight months of the battle.   So many shells were fired at Hill 304, the top 12 feet of the hill vanished.  This was confirmed by a survey after the war.  The massive amount of artillery created many over lapping craters.  Every time I go to Verdun, I think this is what the moon surface must be like. 95 years later, the land is still scarred.  To honor those who fought in the war, and to preserve the memories of the war and battle, an ossuary was constructed.

The Douaumont Ossuary is in the heart of the battlefield

The ossuary was built in the shape of an artillery shell and cross.  It holds the remains of 130,000 unidentified German and French soldiers.  In front of the ossuary are over 16,000 graves.  It is the largest World War I cemetery.

As you walk towards the entrance, you see windows at the ground level with human bones in piles of unidentified remains.  Seeing those bones had a very powerful emotional effect on me.  Inside the ossuary, in the main hall, silence is required as it shows respect for those who fought and died at Verdun.  It is a very somber experience and helps you to understand the sacrifice that was made from both sides.

I didn’t appreciate how big the sacrifice was

I had never been to a large military cemetery until I visited Verdun.  The ossuary and battlefield are a few kilometers from the city of Verdun.   Look for the signs to “Ossuaire de Douaumont” or “Champs de bataille.”  (“Fields of battle” is the literal translation to English).  The 100 square kilometers is more in the shape of a rectangle with a long side.  The battlefield goes past many villages.   This map gives you a good overview of where the battlefield was and how it was shaped.

As you drive and drive, and drive, it starts to sink in how massive the scope of the battle was.  Twice as many people were wounded or killed at Verdun, in one battle, than all of the US deaths in World War II combined.  It was a powerful revelation.

In summary

You can’t describe Verdun adequately.  You have to experience it.  It is something you will never forget.  Make it a point to visit it one day.  It’s an important site to visit as it gives you a deep appreciation of the loss both sides experienced.  Hopefully mankind will never see a battle like this ever again.

Douaumont Ossuary
55100 Douaumont
France
Tel: +33 329-845-481 
Google maps

My wife, Gaby, went to industrial art school in Antwerp, Belgium many years ago.  She has an art studio in our home and loves to visit museums.  Her favorite kind of museum is an art museum.   She’s always excited to go to a larger city and check out what museums that city has. We don’t have any big art museums in the KMC. One of our favorite cities to visit is Paris, France.  Paris is filled with many wonderful museums.  One particular museum across the river from the Louvre is our favorite.  The 7^th most popular attraction in Paris: Musée d’Orsay.

What is the Musée d’Orsay?

The museum is an old railroad station converted to a museum.  It was inaugurated for the 1900 World’s fair and used as a railroad station until 1958.  The abandoned station was used as a set for several films and later was used as a hotel until 1973.    In 1977, the French Government made the decision to preserve the station and convert it into a museum.   It was classified as a Historical Monument in 1978. The museum was opened by President François Mitterrand on 1 December 1986.

The Collections

The museum owns about 6,000 works of art but only about 3,000 of them are on display.  The rest are in storage and are seen occasionally as temporary exhibits.  The collection focuses on art from 1848 to 1914 from many famous artists, including:

-       Claude Monet (our favorite)
-       Vincent Van Gogh
-       Édouard Manet
-       James Whistler (the painting “Whister’s Mother” is in the museum)
-       Paul Cézanne
-       Ingres
-       Pierre Renoir
-       Paul Gauguin
-       Edgar Degas

The giants of the impressionist’s artists are all represented.  There are many paintings on display that you will probably recognize. You can take pictures of these works of art, but no flash photography is permitted.

The best way to buy tickets is online

If you don’t buy your tickets in advance, it is possible to wait up to 90 minutes to get into the museum in the summer. The museum has over 3,000,000 visitors per year. If you are in the neighborhood of the museum, you can purchase tickets at the ticket office.  We think the best way is to purchase your tickets online.  You can purchase tickets from the Ticknet or fnac online or you can buy a Paris Museum Pass. Unless you go in the off-season, I can’t stress enough how important it is to plan and purchase your tickets in advance. You’ll be very glad you did when you see a gigantic line to get into the museum.

The tickets are 8 Euros for adults and free if you are under 18.  The tickets are cheap for Paris.  You can spend a lot more money in the museum shop.

The museum shop

After you leave the museum, you can buy some souvenirs in the museum shop.  There are many wonderful art books, post cards, posters, jewelry and more.

On our honeymoon, we bought a very heavy book set at the museum shop.  The complete works of Monet.  We were cheap and walked back to our hotel near the Arc de Triomphe.  The books became heavier and heavier the farther we walked!  We still have the books and we will always remember that walk back to our hotel on that special trip to Paris.

In summary

If you like art museums and the impressionist artists, you will absolutely love Musée d’Orsay.  On every trip we’ve taken to Paris, we’ve visited the museum. We know you’ll also fall in love with it.  Bring your camera and enjoy the paintings and sculptures on display.

Musée d’Orsay
1, rue de la Légion d’Honneur
75007 Paris

Now that you’re living in the KMC, you want your friends and family to see what it’s like to be here.  Your photographs are blurry most of the time and not very interesting.  Even after you bought a really nice DSLR camera with a good lens, you still can’t get good pictures. Who wants to see pictures of something you can’t recognize?  Why can’t you take a decent picture?

The main culprit to a blurry photograph is camera shake

What is camera shake?  It means that during the time your camera was taking your picture, the camera moved.  It doesn’t take much movement to blur your pictures.  Professional photographers go to great lengths to minimize camera shake.  If you can’t use a tripod and a remote switch and are shooting with the camera in your hand, you can do a few things to help minimize camera shake.

What can I do to minimize camera shake when I’m holding the camera?

The basic idea is to stabilize the camera as much as possible.  Hold the camera close to your body and tuck your elbows against the side of your body.  Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart so you have a stable base.  If you have a fixed object like a door, fence or tree you can lean against, that can help too.  Another problem is your shutter speed.

What shutter speed should I use?

There’s a general rule of thumb that you use “one divided by the focal length” as a guide.  This means if you have a 20mm lens, your shutter speed should be about 1/20th of a second.  If you know you aren’t going to be able to hold the camera very steady, double that speed to compensate for shaky hands.

What does this mean for a zoom lens?

When you zoom in, you are increasing the focal length of your lens.  The more you zoom, the more sensitive your camera is to shaking.  You have to keep shortening the shutter speed for our rule of thumb. I have a 70-200mm lens.  When I shoot at 70mm, all the way zoomed out, I should use a 1/70th of a second speed.  If I zoom in all the way to 200mm, I need to increase the shutter speed to 1/200th of a second.  If you are not in a stable position when you take the photograph, double those numbers.   What does a fast shutter speed do to my picture?

The faster your shutter speed, the less motion your image will show

This makes sense.  If you take a picture of a waterfall, if you have a very fast shutter, you will see individual drops of water.  As you slow down the shutter speed, the water moves farther and will create a more blurred effect.  You can’t do this well with a hand held shot.  You need a stabilized camera such as on a sturdy tripod.  Even if your camera is on a tripod, you still might not have the right environment to shoot the picture you want to take.

The most difficult photograph is a low light environment with a fast shutter speed

I found this out when trying to take photographs of horses in an arena at night in a poorly lit arena.  When I increased the shutter speed to freeze the horse in the photograph, the exposure was too dark.  If I increased the ISO or decreased the shutter speed, the image was too blurry.  No combination that I tried worked.  I asked my professional photographer friend, Wally Raynes, what to do.  Wally said some situations like this you just don’t have enough light to use a fast shutter speed.

In summary

Taking better pictures starts with understanding camera shake and taking some basic steps to overcome it.  Remember that shutter speed needs to be fast enough to overcome camera shake.  Now you can take clearer pictures that you’ll want to send to your friends and family.

Paris is the number one tourist destination in the world with 45 million visitors annually. There is so much to see and do in Paris that no two trips are the same. We always enjoy visiting the city of light but it is a very expensive city to visit. One way to reduce your cost is find a cheaper hotel. If you are a military officer, you’re in luck.

The Cercle National des Armées in Paris, or the French Officers Quarters

The French Officers Quarters, as the name implies, is a hotel for French military officers.  The original site was a caserne built in the eighteenth century.  It was reconstructed to its present form in 1928 and was intended for French military officers.

Is the hotel only for French military officers?

No, but you do have to have an officer in your group.  The military officer can be from another military (U.S., Canadian, British, German, etc.) and can be retired or in the reserves.  I wish it was open to all military personnel but that is their rules.   They do speak English so it’s best to give them a phone call or email to book a room.  They can answer your questions like how to find them.

How do you get to the hotel?

I’ve had friends that took the train to Paris and then a taxi to the hotel.  Once you are in Paris, you can take the metro to the Saint Augustin metro station.  If you drive there, you will definitely want to have a GPS with you.

We drove to the hotel and parked in the underground parking garage around the corner from the entrance.  We got stuck in the elevator for 40 minutes the night before we left, but I’ll leave that story for another time.  The underground parking is convenient.  Don’t drive your car in Paris while you are there.  It is terribly difficult to find parking and the traffic can be just terrible.

We always walk, take the metro or a taxi.  If you take a taxi, ask the drive to take you to the Saint Augustin Church if he doesn’t known where the hotel is.  The Church is about 150 meters from the hotel front entrance.

How are the rooms in the hotel?

The rooms in the hotel are nice.  We booked two double rooms when we went with my teenage son.  One trick is to ask for a room with two separate beds.  I think there’s a bit more room per person than if you share one double bed.  There is no internet in the hotel rooms.  You can pay 3 Euro for 30 minutes of internet access in their business center, but I would recommend using your smart phone or a laptop with a wi-fi card.   Or do the unthinkable.  Don’t use the internet while you’re there!

What else does the hotel offer?

The rooms are air-conditioned but we went in the off-season and didn’t need them so I can’t say how well they work.  The rooms do have televisions but we didn’t use it.  We brought a few books, a laptop and some board games instead.

The hotel has a restaurant but you’re in Paris!  There are over 5000 restaurants and bistros to choose from.  We only ate at the hotel for breakfast once.  It was a nice breakfast but we felt it was over priced, just like many other things in Paris.

There is a big room for conferences but we never went inside of the room.

Is it expensive to stay at the hotel?

Not really if you compare it to similar hotels in Paris.  The Saint Augustin hotel is 121 Euro per night for a room with a double bed.  You can easily spend several times that for a similar size room near the Champs-Élysées.  The restaurant was pricey and we always eat in one of the many restaurants Paris has to offer.  We didn’t see many people dining in the restaurant probably for similar reasons.

In summary

The hotel has a nice old feeling about it and the location is great.  You are within walking distance of many interesting museums and restaurants.   Paris is an expensive city to visit.  Staying at the French officers quarters can help ease the pain in your wallet when you visit!

Cercle National des Armées
8 place Saint-Augustin
75008 Paris
Tel +33 1 44 90 26 26
Fax +33  1 45 22 17 75

Email:  membres@cnaparis.com
Web site: http://www.cnaparis.com/en
Google Maps

If you’ve been to the French Officer’s Quarters, leave a comment and tell us about your experience.

I’ve always loved everything that flies, and especially birds. We live near the forest and have several trees around our back yard. There are birds in our yard every day. We had a nest in a pine tree on our fence line with a family of European Magpies. We noticed there are about 6-10 magpies that hang around our home. I’d never seen a magpie growing up in the Midwest so I wanted to know more about them.

What is a European magpie?

European magpies are in the crow family. They are about 18 inches long with a tail that is more than 9 inches long. These are big birds! We have seen them chasing smaller birds away when we put seed and bread in the backyard for them to eat in the winter.

The European magpie head, neck and breast are glossy black but the belly and shoulders are pure white. This is a beautiful contrast and is very distinctive.

Magpies weigh 200 grams to 250 grams and live 8 to 15 years. They lay 5 to 8 eggs with a gestation period of 27 days. It can take up to 40 days to build a magpie nest. Birds use a lot of energy each day flying around, building nests and laying eggs.

What do European magpies eat?

They are omnivorous and eat what is available to them including fruits, nuts, grains and other vegetable substances. They prefer animal matter, mostly insects, but will eat road kill as well. They will land on large animals, like deer, and eat insects off of them. Magpies will raid the nests of other birds for the eggs and to kill the young birds to eat.

Their diet changes during the year as the available food supply changes with different seasons.

Are European magpies dangerous?

Magpies are territorial and stay in one place all year. They will defend their territory. It is rare for a magpie to attack a human. If they do attack, the biggest threat is to your eyes. They will typically fly close to your head and try to threaten you while making noises. I suspect this happens most of the time if you are approaching their nest.  Just make sure you protect your eyes if you are ever attacked!

If a magpie pecks you, seek medical attention right away. Sporotrichosis is an infection caused by a fungus that humans can get after a peck from a bird.

Another danger is losing your shiny objects. Magpies love to collect shiny things so don’t leave your wedding ring unattended outside while you work in the yard. They are smart birds and will seize an opportunity to add to their collection.

How intelligent are European magpies?

Magpies are very intelligent. In 2008, German researchers proved that magpies possess the rare ability of self-recognition. Researchers put a colored mark on the bird they could only see with a mirror. When the bird scratched at the mark, it had to know it was looking at itself and not another bird. No birds were known to have this ability.

Magpies are smart and adapt quickly to changing environments and available food. They will hide food for later consumption. They will pretend to hide food in one place and actually hide it in another in an attempt to fool other magpies. Clever aren’t they?  They even pose for paintings.  Not really, but there are several well known painting about magpies.

Claude Monet painted a magpie in a famous painting

One of our favorite painters is Claude Monet. In 1869, he painted a very famous scene of a magpie perched on a gate in a snow covered landscape call “The Magpie.”  This painting is in Paris at Musée d’Orsay:

Image from Wikipedia

In summary

We’ve enjoyed the family of European magpies in our yard. They walk and hop around and enjoy the food we put out for them. We see them all year round and like the fact they consider our neighborhood theirs as well. Our parrot enjoys seeing his fellow birds in the yard too I think, but he’s safely behind our kitchen window.
.