Well, we've almost come to the end of our travels for this time. It's bed time in London, ready for a wake up at 3:15 am tomorrow to be ready for the transfer to the airport for our flight to Dubai where we have 2 nights before arriving in Sydney at 6:05 am on Thursday. It's been a really great holiday, not at all restful, but very interesting. I'll make another entry from Dubai (no early wake up call there!).
Home is looking very attractive, particularly things like bed, pillow, shower, washing machine (I never thought I would look forward to using the washing machine) and so on. I'm looking forward to telling you all about it, and showing the photos in print form after I've been able to do a bit of sorting and deleting!
Bye from London.
Monday, 8 September 2008
Saturday, 6 September 2008
Plymouth Friday 5 September
It's a whole week since I put anything up here. It's been very hectic, full of early starts and long days with not many minutes for blogging! It has also been raining every day - yes, every day - and we're looking forward to some sunshine.
It's hard to realise that we've nearly finished our holiday and will be home in less than a week. It has been a very enjoyable time, very busy too - as someone said, it's hard work being a tourist. We've been really lucky to have been with very good groups on the tours, with excellent tour directors and drivers who have done much more than their job descriptions require to make everything go smoothly.
All the photos have grey skies, except one or two that I took to prove that the sun did shine even if it was briefly!
I'll try to put some more up tomorrow if time permits, and will add again in Dubai if possible and finish off when we arrive home.
It's hard to realise that we've nearly finished our holiday and will be home in less than a week. It has been a very enjoyable time, very busy too - as someone said, it's hard work being a tourist. We've been really lucky to have been with very good groups on the tours, with excellent tour directors and drivers who have done much more than their job descriptions require to make everything go smoothly.
All the photos have grey skies, except one or two that I took to prove that the sun did shine even if it was briefly!
I'll try to put some more up tomorrow if time permits, and will add again in Dubai if possible and finish off when we arrive home.
Saturday, 30 August 2008
Limerick Friday 29 August
Since my last post we've had a night at Derry and two nights at Sligo. We had a tour of Derry with a most interesting town guide, who showed us some of the sites of troubles there and explained the history of the troubles, looking way beyond the religious front that usually hides the real problems of poverty and lack of opportunity. He was excellent.
We arrived at our hotel in Sligo to discover that because of a lot of heavy rain we had no water in our rooms. The fire brigade were there pumping water in to clean out and refill the system, the water was brown when we eventually had some, and the hotel provided bottled water in all the rooms and extra on each floor. Adventure of travelling!
We had a fairly quiet day on Thursday which we all enjoyed - we had no wake-up call and didn't leave until 9:30 am, a great luxury indeed!
This morning we had a bit of excitement on our way from Sligo to Limerick. There was a detour for a bike race, which sent us on a little excursion across country on very narrow roads, it really was good fun! It turned out that the bike race was the Tour of Ireland, so although we missed the Tour de France we had a bit of a consolation prize in this one. We saw the riders in the beautiful little village of Cong, I think it was probably the most exciting thing in Cong for a long time!
We arrived at our hotel in Sligo to discover that because of a lot of heavy rain we had no water in our rooms. The fire brigade were there pumping water in to clean out and refill the system, the water was brown when we eventually had some, and the hotel provided bottled water in all the rooms and extra on each floor. Adventure of travelling!
We had a fairly quiet day on Thursday which we all enjoyed - we had no wake-up call and didn't leave until 9:30 am, a great luxury indeed!
This morning we had a bit of excitement on our way from Sligo to Limerick. There was a detour for a bike race, which sent us on a little excursion across country on very narrow roads, it really was good fun! It turned out that the bike race was the Tour of Ireland, so although we missed the Tour de France we had a bit of a consolation prize in this one. We saw the riders in the beautiful little village of Cong, I think it was probably the most exciting thing in Cong for a long time!
First came the Gardi and the marshals ...
Then came the riders!
Have you noticed the colour of the sky? Yes, it's grey. There is a little bit of blue outside just now, but it's been grey for days! We have hopes that it will improve, will keep you posted!
Wednesday, 27 August 2008
Some Scottish photos
This bridge featured in the film Rob Roy - Liam Neeson's spectacular escape from the English.
Look who came to greet us near Loch Lomond!
Eilean Donan castle - you might recognise it from the Highlander movies.
Glencoe, where the Campbells massacred the MacDonalds.
The Giant's Causeway in Ireland - scientists say it's caused by the action of lava and a subsequent ice age. I think it was Finn MacCool, the giant!Scottish Highlands
Much excitement after my last post - we were just getting into bed when the fire alarm went off. So back on with some clothes, grab the important papers and out of the hotel onto the footpath over the road. And then of course it was a false alarm so back to the room, into bed at last.
Next night, you wouldn't believe it, it happened again! And again it was a false alarm. There were various rumours about people smoking in their room, but I don't know if that was true or not.
Anyway, we left Edinburgh and went off to the highlands, which are truly amazing. The heather was out and looked spectacular.
We've also been to the Orkney Islands, much less rugged than I expected, very interesting place but not somewhere I'd like to live, really.
Then to the Isle of Skye, via the road bridge as the ferry has been replaced. We learnt a lot about the Jacobite history of Scotland, we visited the battlefield of Culloden, and turned into proper Jacobites. So we toasted the King Over the Water (Bonnie Prince Charlie) as we drove over the sea to Skye - we did it in style, with Drambuie the favourite tipple of the prince himself. Skye is a very beautiful and rather wild place, very windswept as you'd probably expect - there's a lot of ocean before the closest land to the west.
Yesterday we travelled to Glasgow, passing through Glencoe, the scene of the massacre of the Clan MacDonald by the Campbells. Campbells are not well received in the highlands even today after that event.
Today we crossed the Irish Sea and are spending the night in Derry (or Londonderry if you're talking to a unionist!). We'll be having some time for a bit more of a look around before we leave, so I'm looking forward to that.
Tomorrow we head for Sligo and a 2-night stay which will be very welcome. It's been very busy so far, with early starts and late finishes. Yesterday we were up at 6:00 am and reached our hotel about 9:00 pm, which was a bit later than usual, but included dinner on our way. I think we will have a free afternoon on our full day in Sligo, everyone is looking forward to that.
I'll try to put some photos on later if time allows. The internet connections have been a bit dodgy when they've been there at all, so that's why it's been such a while between posts. Hopefully it will improve now that we're back in more settled areas!
Next night, you wouldn't believe it, it happened again! And again it was a false alarm. There were various rumours about people smoking in their room, but I don't know if that was true or not.
Anyway, we left Edinburgh and went off to the highlands, which are truly amazing. The heather was out and looked spectacular.
We've also been to the Orkney Islands, much less rugged than I expected, very interesting place but not somewhere I'd like to live, really.
Then to the Isle of Skye, via the road bridge as the ferry has been replaced. We learnt a lot about the Jacobite history of Scotland, we visited the battlefield of Culloden, and turned into proper Jacobites. So we toasted the King Over the Water (Bonnie Prince Charlie) as we drove over the sea to Skye - we did it in style, with Drambuie the favourite tipple of the prince himself. Skye is a very beautiful and rather wild place, very windswept as you'd probably expect - there's a lot of ocean before the closest land to the west.
Yesterday we travelled to Glasgow, passing through Glencoe, the scene of the massacre of the Clan MacDonald by the Campbells. Campbells are not well received in the highlands even today after that event.
Today we crossed the Irish Sea and are spending the night in Derry (or Londonderry if you're talking to a unionist!). We'll be having some time for a bit more of a look around before we leave, so I'm looking forward to that.
Tomorrow we head for Sligo and a 2-night stay which will be very welcome. It's been very busy so far, with early starts and late finishes. Yesterday we were up at 6:00 am and reached our hotel about 9:00 pm, which was a bit later than usual, but included dinner on our way. I think we will have a free afternoon on our full day in Sligo, everyone is looking forward to that.
I'll try to put some photos on later if time allows. The internet connections have been a bit dodgy when they've been there at all, so that's why it's been such a while between posts. Hopefully it will improve now that we're back in more settled areas!
Wednesday, 20 August 2008
Edinburgh and the Tattoo
Last night we went to the Tattoo. Now, those of you who know me a bit will remember that I don't really like being out in the rain, and if you all thought very hard you'd find it difficult to remember the last time I willingly sat in the rain for any reason. Well, last night we sat in the rain for about 1-1/2 hours during the tattoo, and it was worth every minute!
The first photo is taken in the line-up to go in - you couldn't call it a queue, it wasn't that tidy - then we made our way through the gates up to our seats in the stand. The seats are not large, to say the least, in fact we were all quite cosy and close enough to each other that there wasn't much room for rain to get through at all. So although it rained for just about the whole performance we weren't soaked at all.
The second photo is the massed bands at the start of the show. I didn't take many after that because of the rain, but it might give an idea of what it was like.
If you ever have the chance, take it and enjoy it as much as I did!
Tomorrow we head off to the Highlands, then to Thurso from where we go to the Orkney Islands for a day. More to look forward to!
The first photo is taken in the line-up to go in - you couldn't call it a queue, it wasn't that tidy - then we made our way through the gates up to our seats in the stand. The seats are not large, to say the least, in fact we were all quite cosy and close enough to each other that there wasn't much room for rain to get through at all. So although it rained for just about the whole performance we weren't soaked at all.
The second photo is the massed bands at the start of the show. I didn't take many after that because of the rain, but it might give an idea of what it was like.If you ever have the chance, take it and enjoy it as much as I did!
Tomorrow we head off to the Highlands, then to Thurso from where we go to the Orkney Islands for a day. More to look forward to!
Monday, 18 August 2008
Stratford-on-Avon
We’ve left London and travelled to Oxford, then on to Stratford-on-Avon for our first night. Oxford was very interesting, a place I’ve wanted to see for a while now. There are 37 colleges in the University, we passed quite a few on our walk around, but they weren’t open, unfortunately, so we couldn’t go in for a closer look.
Stratford-on-Avon is a beautiful place, there are a lot of things still here from Shakespeare’s time. We saw Ann Hathaway’s cottage, and went in to Shakespeare’s birthplace – reverently referred to as just The Birthplace. I discovered that the first best bed was usually kept in the parlour, as it was a thing of status to have a four-poster to show off. Guests would usually sleep in the first best bed, while I guess the second best bed was for the parents of the family. Most unusual.
We have a welcome drink with the group tonight, followed by dinner at our hotel, which is a very interesting building, and not modern by any means. The corridor meanders along, up and down a couple of steps now and then, and the room numbering is not what you would call consistent. It has character!
Stratford-on-Avon is a beautiful place, there are a lot of things still here from Shakespeare’s time. We saw Ann Hathaway’s cottage, and went in to Shakespeare’s birthplace – reverently referred to as just The Birthplace. I discovered that the first best bed was usually kept in the parlour, as it was a thing of status to have a four-poster to show off. Guests would usually sleep in the first best bed, while I guess the second best bed was for the parents of the family. Most unusual.
We have a welcome drink with the group tonight, followed by dinner at our hotel, which is a very interesting building, and not modern by any means. The corridor meanders along, up and down a couple of steps now and then, and the room numbering is not what you would call consistent. It has character!
Thursday, 14 August 2008
London on Wednesday
We met Janice, Les's father's friend, for lunch. She works for the BBC and took us on a tour of the television centre, where we saw something we've seen a bit on TV. So Les took our photo, hope you like it!
Wednesday, 13 August 2008
London
So here we are in London and guess what? It's raining! Not a lot, but there was a little hail last night, along with thunder and even a bit of lightning which was not exciting as we were out at the time.
We went to the Tower yesterday afternoon, saw the Crown Jewels which really are impressive. The whole Tower site is excellent, I really liked seeing it to put some of the historical things into place.
We're having a fairly quiet time today to give the feet a bit of a rest and stay out of the rain. We're meeting a friend of Les's father at lunch time and will probably have dinner with her tomorrow night if we can organise it. He met her on the train to Darwin a few years ago and they've kept in touch with the occasional letter.
We went to the Tower yesterday afternoon, saw the Crown Jewels which really are impressive. The whole Tower site is excellent, I really liked seeing it to put some of the historical things into place.
We're having a fairly quiet time today to give the feet a bit of a rest and stay out of the rain. We're meeting a friend of Les's father at lunch time and will probably have dinner with her tomorrow night if we can organise it. He met her on the train to Darwin a few years ago and they've kept in touch with the occasional letter.
Tuesday, 12 August 2008
Here we are in London, we arrived yesterday via the Eurostar train under the Channel. We decided to do that rather than flying, just for a change. There was also the fact of leaving from the centre of Paris and arriving in the centre of London. The train rides that we’ve had have been really good, it’s fun flying along at over 300 km/h.
Some thoughts about France: we found everyone to be very friendly and helpful, not at all as we’d expected from other people’s stories. We could say things like good morning, please, thank you, and other such things in French, then managed more with a bit more of an attempt in French along with pointing and sign language. It worked well.
We saw lots of beautiful villages, houses are mostly stone (colour varies from one region to another), virtually all have shutters which are closed and make the buildings look deserted but which must be really efficient in the heat of the day. Speaking of which, don’t go to the Riviera in July/August, it is really HOT there! Just about every day for a week was over 33C, with the hottest being 39C, and it was very humid as well. Once we headed north again it improved and we found the middle 20s much more comfortable. Today in London would be lucky to be 20C, it’s quite cool and pleasant.
French television – the choice was usually BBC or CNN if we wanted something in English, though we caught sight of such things as Columbo, Inspector Frost, Inspector Barnaby (aka Midsomer Murders) but the highlight was McLeod’s Daughters – we haven’t watched this in English so definitely gave it a miss in French.
We had a farewell dinner with our tour group, and the subject of highlights came up. Everyone had something different, and lots found it hard to pick just one thing. I couldn’t choose just one but on the list would be the cave paintings at Lascaux, the medieval town of Carcassonne, and Monet’s garden at Giverny, but there wasn’t anywhere that I didn’t really enjoy. Trying the different regional foods and wines was also good, but we didn’t take the opportunity to have snails!
Now we’re ready for a few days in London before heading off on Sunday around UK and Ireland. If this tour is as good as the last one we’ll be very happy indeed!
Some thoughts about France: we found everyone to be very friendly and helpful, not at all as we’d expected from other people’s stories. We could say things like good morning, please, thank you, and other such things in French, then managed more with a bit more of an attempt in French along with pointing and sign language. It worked well.
We saw lots of beautiful villages, houses are mostly stone (colour varies from one region to another), virtually all have shutters which are closed and make the buildings look deserted but which must be really efficient in the heat of the day. Speaking of which, don’t go to the Riviera in July/August, it is really HOT there! Just about every day for a week was over 33C, with the hottest being 39C, and it was very humid as well. Once we headed north again it improved and we found the middle 20s much more comfortable. Today in London would be lucky to be 20C, it’s quite cool and pleasant.
French television – the choice was usually BBC or CNN if we wanted something in English, though we caught sight of such things as Columbo, Inspector Frost, Inspector Barnaby (aka Midsomer Murders) but the highlight was McLeod’s Daughters – we haven’t watched this in English so definitely gave it a miss in French.
We had a farewell dinner with our tour group, and the subject of highlights came up. Everyone had something different, and lots found it hard to pick just one thing. I couldn’t choose just one but on the list would be the cave paintings at Lascaux, the medieval town of Carcassonne, and Monet’s garden at Giverny, but there wasn’t anywhere that I didn’t really enjoy. Trying the different regional foods and wines was also good, but we didn’t take the opportunity to have snails!
Now we’re ready for a few days in London before heading off on Sunday around UK and Ireland. If this tour is as good as the last one we’ll be very happy indeed!
Friday, 1 August 2008
The Route Napoleon
We travelled yesterday down the Route Napoleon from Aix-les-Bains to Nice, which took pretty much all day. Along the way we heard about Napoleon's place in French history, about the Revolution and lots of people being 'shortened' by the guillotine - delightful way of describing it, I think! - and saw lots of truly beautiful countryside. The road follows the crest of the French Alps, which end in the sea at Nice, very spectacular scenery indeed.
This fortress is at a place called Entre-Vaux (between valleys) and was built during a dispute between the local dukes of Savoie and Provence. It's a really spectacular little fortress, right on 
the top of the hill, and it's easy to see why it was built there as a defensive place. Not so easy to see how it was built, but it looks great!
Today we are in Nice, we arrived yesterday afternoon after quite a long day in our coach. Dinner last night was in a local restaurant which has a playing ground for petanque, so we had several games before dinner, much fun for all and very dusty hands afterwards! We went to Monaco this morning, had a look around the old city, cathedral, and palace. It's most unbelievably crowded, the buildings are on top of each other, and lots of things are built underground to make most use of the space on top. There is a group going there for dinner tonight but we're having something with a group who aren't going.
Tomorrow we head to Avignon for another 2-night stay which is a good thing - it's a chance to unpack the cases a bit and organise the things again.
Thursday, 31 July 2008
We discovered that Dijon, which is famous for its mustard, doesn’t grow much mustard any more though it is still produced here. Most of it is imported from USA and processed here! Very disappointing.
On our way to dinner, we stopped at Clos St Louis, which is a small family owned and operated vineyard, to have a look at how a French winemaker makes wine. It was interesting, I guess the process is the same wherever you happen to be, but good to see on such a small scale. There are a lot of rules about what can go on a label, how many bunches of grapes per vine, and so on. All grapes in Burgundy are either chardonnay or pinot noir, they can’t grow anything else. Philippe, our winemaker, has about 15 hectares of land but in different places so he makes a few different wines. They can’t be blended, however, and each parcel of land has its own label – very confusing!
Dinner at the chateau was fun, we had a good table of people and there was a lot of laughter. The food and wine were good, too, though I missed out on the red of course. We had a specialty of the region which is pork fed on acorns, very tasty!
Tuesday 29 July
We left Dijon at the very civilised hour of 9 am and headed towards Chamonix – I’m not sure whether we are still in France or have crossed into Switzerland. France, I think, but will have to check. The Alps are indeed Alpine, very beautiful mountains. Our hotel room looks towards Mont Blanc, which is spectacular. We can’t see the top today, but glaciers can be seen and there’s little river making a very long waterfall down the mountainside. We are lucky enough to have a balcony and it has been very relaxing sitting out there enjoying the fresh air and scenery.
On our way to dinner, we stopped at Clos St Louis, which is a small family owned and operated vineyard, to have a look at how a French winemaker makes wine. It was interesting, I guess the process is the same wherever you happen to be, but good to see on such a small scale. There are a lot of rules about what can go on a label, how many bunches of grapes per vine, and so on. All grapes in Burgundy are either chardonnay or pinot noir, they can’t grow anything else. Philippe, our winemaker, has about 15 hectares of land but in different places so he makes a few different wines. They can’t be blended, however, and each parcel of land has its own label – very confusing!
Dinner at the chateau was fun, we had a good table of people and there was a lot of laughter. The food and wine were good, too, though I missed out on the red of course. We had a specialty of the region which is pork fed on acorns, very tasty!
Tuesday 29 July
We left Dijon at the very civilised hour of 9 am and headed towards Chamonix – I’m not sure whether we are still in France or have crossed into Switzerland. France, I think, but will have to check. The Alps are indeed Alpine, very beautiful mountains. Our hotel room looks towards Mont Blanc, which is spectacular. We can’t see the top today, but glaciers can be seen and there’s little river making a very long waterfall down the mountainside. We are lucky enough to have a balcony and it has been very relaxing sitting out there enjoying the fresh air and scenery.
Monday, 28 July 2008
The first few days
Thursday 24 July
After a fairly quiet day of having lunch with Mary in Sydney, we took off a bit late on our holiday. The Emirates plane is really good, lots more leg room than QANTAS, or Singapore, and we even had the seats we requested which was great.
One thing that really irritates is the people who get on with ‘cabin’ baggage that is as big as most people’s check-in baggage, and also those who have four pieces of cabin baggage when there really should be only one. I think I’m turning into a grump!
The short stopover at Bangkok was interesting. Usually when there is a fuelling stop you have to get off the plane and take all your stuff with you. However we were able to choose to stay on the plane or get off if we wanted. As it was only a one-hour stop we decided to stay, as it didn’t really seem worth the effort of getting the stuff out of the locker and carrying it off only to bring it back so soon. That was fine, but it was really fascinating watching the ground crew working out who was still on board, having them identify their baggage in the lockers, and check that they had done that for everybody – of course everybody was taking the chance to move about and have a bit of a walk while we were on the ground.
When we reached Dubai we were parked out in the ‘remote area’ and had to go to the terminal by bus. This wasn’t so bad, at least there were enough buses for everyone and no real problems. The ‘remote area’ really was a long way from the terminal, about a 10-minute drive in the bus. Then we had to walk to the other end of the terminal to the gate for the next leg. By this stage, Les and I were both a bit tired but got there. Then down to another bus! At least this plane was closer to the terminal so the ride wasn’t so long.
Another long flight, at least in the day time which was a bit better than night time I think. We arrived in Paris and guess what – yes, another bus! This time we waited about 30 minutes, on the stairs outside the plane, because there weren’t enough buses sent in the first place. Not happy! Then there were 4 people in passport control for a full planeload of people, so that took a while. Customs was a bit different too, only about 4 people there as well so just about everyone just walked through. I think there were only 4 checking stations, very different from Sydney.
We had a bit of a wait for the transfer to the hotel, it turned out that the driver had another pickup at another terminal and our plane was late so he went there first and wasn’t back when we got through passport and customs. Anyway, we found each other and got to the hotel eventually.
The hotel is very good, I’m glad we don’t pay the full tariff! King-size twin beds, European feather pillows, very comfortable!
Friday happened somewhere in the travelling above.
Saturday 26 July
Quiet day today, I’m sitting in the hotel with my feet up on the other chair, giving them a chance to get over all that flying, and Les is out having a walk around the area. We are on the Left Bank, though a bit further from the Seine than we expected. We had looked up Rue St Jacques, but it turns out that the hotel is on Boulevard St Jacques which is not the same thing at all.
We have a meeting this evening with our tour director, Virginie Gravier, and will meet the rest of the group for the first time.
After the meeting
We have about 37 on the tour, I think, there are some singles but mostly couples, and I think the biggest group would be from Australia. There are also people from New Zealand and South Africa, so we won’t mention the rugby, England, and Wales. It’s a mature-age group, and all seem very friendly which is a good thing!
Sunday 27 July
The first of the early morning calls, up at 6:30 am, bags outside the door by 7 am, breakfast, meet In the lobby ready to leave at 8 am. It was quite a long day, but very interesting as well. We had an early lunch at Troyes, learnt a lot about the Dukes of Burgundy in the 12-13 centuries which was very interesting I thought. Troyes is in the Champagne region, so we also heard about making wine in the double fermentation method which gives the bubbles. We stopped at Chablis and tried some of the local wine there, but I think our version is better!
We also visited Vezelay, which is a village built on a hillside. Its main claim to fame is that in the 12th century (I think) some bones were found in a cave. The bishops and pope decided that not only were these human bones, they were in fact the bones of Mary Magdalene. That led to Vezelay becoming an important place of pilgrimage and a church was built on the spot. It was here that St Bernard preached the second crusade and sent the Frankish knights off the Jerusalem. The English went too, of course! Burgundy also played an important role in the 100 years war with England, Joan of Arc I think got her army from the Duke of Burgundy. I’ll have to read a bit more on this, my French history is not wonderful!
Then to Dijon, where we are staying for 2 nights at the Hotel de la Cloche Sofitel – very good indeed! One of the bad things about travelling is trying to keep clothes clean, and having 2 night stays does help a lot.
Monday 28 July
Les has gone off on an optional trip to Beaune today, and I am having a quiet day in the hotel giving my feet a chance to rest. The skin graft looks good, and my feet are better but will improve even more for having a bit of a rest.
After a fairly quiet day of having lunch with Mary in Sydney, we took off a bit late on our holiday. The Emirates plane is really good, lots more leg room than QANTAS, or Singapore, and we even had the seats we requested which was great.
One thing that really irritates is the people who get on with ‘cabin’ baggage that is as big as most people’s check-in baggage, and also those who have four pieces of cabin baggage when there really should be only one. I think I’m turning into a grump!
The short stopover at Bangkok was interesting. Usually when there is a fuelling stop you have to get off the plane and take all your stuff with you. However we were able to choose to stay on the plane or get off if we wanted. As it was only a one-hour stop we decided to stay, as it didn’t really seem worth the effort of getting the stuff out of the locker and carrying it off only to bring it back so soon. That was fine, but it was really fascinating watching the ground crew working out who was still on board, having them identify their baggage in the lockers, and check that they had done that for everybody – of course everybody was taking the chance to move about and have a bit of a walk while we were on the ground.
When we reached Dubai we were parked out in the ‘remote area’ and had to go to the terminal by bus. This wasn’t so bad, at least there were enough buses for everyone and no real problems. The ‘remote area’ really was a long way from the terminal, about a 10-minute drive in the bus. Then we had to walk to the other end of the terminal to the gate for the next leg. By this stage, Les and I were both a bit tired but got there. Then down to another bus! At least this plane was closer to the terminal so the ride wasn’t so long.
Another long flight, at least in the day time which was a bit better than night time I think. We arrived in Paris and guess what – yes, another bus! This time we waited about 30 minutes, on the stairs outside the plane, because there weren’t enough buses sent in the first place. Not happy! Then there were 4 people in passport control for a full planeload of people, so that took a while. Customs was a bit different too, only about 4 people there as well so just about everyone just walked through. I think there were only 4 checking stations, very different from Sydney.
We had a bit of a wait for the transfer to the hotel, it turned out that the driver had another pickup at another terminal and our plane was late so he went there first and wasn’t back when we got through passport and customs. Anyway, we found each other and got to the hotel eventually.
The hotel is very good, I’m glad we don’t pay the full tariff! King-size twin beds, European feather pillows, very comfortable!
Friday happened somewhere in the travelling above.
Saturday 26 July
Quiet day today, I’m sitting in the hotel with my feet up on the other chair, giving them a chance to get over all that flying, and Les is out having a walk around the area. We are on the Left Bank, though a bit further from the Seine than we expected. We had looked up Rue St Jacques, but it turns out that the hotel is on Boulevard St Jacques which is not the same thing at all.
We have a meeting this evening with our tour director, Virginie Gravier, and will meet the rest of the group for the first time.
After the meeting
We have about 37 on the tour, I think, there are some singles but mostly couples, and I think the biggest group would be from Australia. There are also people from New Zealand and South Africa, so we won’t mention the rugby, England, and Wales. It’s a mature-age group, and all seem very friendly which is a good thing!
Sunday 27 July
The first of the early morning calls, up at 6:30 am, bags outside the door by 7 am, breakfast, meet In the lobby ready to leave at 8 am. It was quite a long day, but very interesting as well. We had an early lunch at Troyes, learnt a lot about the Dukes of Burgundy in the 12-13 centuries which was very interesting I thought. Troyes is in the Champagne region, so we also heard about making wine in the double fermentation method which gives the bubbles. We stopped at Chablis and tried some of the local wine there, but I think our version is better!
We also visited Vezelay, which is a village built on a hillside. Its main claim to fame is that in the 12th century (I think) some bones were found in a cave. The bishops and pope decided that not only were these human bones, they were in fact the bones of Mary Magdalene. That led to Vezelay becoming an important place of pilgrimage and a church was built on the spot. It was here that St Bernard preached the second crusade and sent the Frankish knights off the Jerusalem. The English went too, of course! Burgundy also played an important role in the 100 years war with England, Joan of Arc I think got her army from the Duke of Burgundy. I’ll have to read a bit more on this, my French history is not wonderful!
Then to Dijon, where we are staying for 2 nights at the Hotel de la Cloche Sofitel – very good indeed! One of the bad things about travelling is trying to keep clothes clean, and having 2 night stays does help a lot.
Monday 28 July
Les has gone off on an optional trip to Beaune today, and I am having a quiet day in the hotel giving my feet a chance to rest. The skin graft looks good, and my feet are better but will improve even more for having a bit of a rest.
Tuesday, 22 July 2008
Ready to Go
We're almost ready to go now, it's Tuesday night and we leave on Thursday morning. I'll let everyone know the address so you can find us.
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