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The plane was 1 3/4 hours leaving Abu Dhabi! We had a long, uneventful flight home.
So ends a dream holiday. 10 weeks went much too fast. Time to plan for the next one.

Abu Dhabi

Well here we are again after a 7 hour flight which left London about 3/4 hour late. Thought that was OK, because we were scheduled to have a 3 hour wait at Abu Dhabi, so we’d spend less time waiting. Not so. The 14 hour Abu Dhabi – Melbourne flight has been delayed by 55 mins, now leaving at 23:15 (local time). Should now arrive in Melbourne just after 7pm Wednesday.

London Heathrow – last night

Sunday 4 August:

Caught the tube to Westminster and then a river boat down river to Greenwich  and the Thames barriers. It’s not ‘til you see the barriers in real life that you realise the size of it. When we passed, one of the barriers was in the defence position. Not sure why, perhaps for testing. Cost to build it was about half a billion pounds and it has already been used more than 100 times.



We travelled under the millennium bridge that was closed only a few hours after it was opened because the rhythm of people walking over it caused it to sway very uncomfortably. (There was no problem with the bridge, it was how the Londoner’s walked!). It was braced and reopened.





Greenwich was very busy with a food display, music in the park with a beer  tasting/sales and people just enjoying themselves on the sunny day. We spent a while sitting under a tree listening to some great 60s rock ‘n roll. The maritime museum is in one of the old naval college’s buildings, so we looked through the museum and caught the boat back to Westminster. Took about 1 hour from Westminster to Greenwich and another half an hour or so on to the barriers. you realise just how much the river turns back on itself when you see buildings that were on one side of the boat appear on the other side later on downstream. There has been a huge amount of development along the river since we were last in London, with most of the old warehouses converted into expensive apartments. Some development though doesn’t appeal to us at all. The river cruise was a great way to see London from a different perspective and very relaxing.

Monday 5th August:
We caught a double decker bus (had to while in London) to a point along the  Regents Canal, called Little Venice, and went for a ride on a touristy narrow boat to Camden Lock and back, passing through the London Zoo. Unfortunately we were too low to see anything. Informative commentary along the way and a last chance to be on a narrow boat. Trying to hold on to the holiday. Still had a couple of hours before we left for the hotel at Heathrow, so we jumped on the tube and went to the London Canal Museum. Shut on Mondays. Walked to the British Library and had a look at some of their collection including original Beatles lyrics, original compositions by Bach and others, one of the 4 original surviving copies of the Magna Carta and many original books dating back to the 14th century.
After this, we went back to the hotel, collected our luggage and took the tube to the hotel at Heathrow. Had a great “Beef & Reef” meal at a pub 15 mins away and now back in the hotel, repacking ready for a 6 am getaway from the hotel tomorrow. Plane leaves at 9:15am.
Feeling quite sad about leaving.

Eurostar – somewhere between Paris & London

Looking out the window of the Eurostar, belting along at whatever fast speed we’re doing, passing many wind farms, heading towards London. How quickly the time has gone.

Thursday 1st:

 

Spent the morning walking through and around Ile St Louis and Isle de la Cite.  Huge queues to see Notre Dame and we were grateful that we’d seen it during earlier travels. Explored some of the left bank and visited the St Severin church, started by a monk in the 6th century. Some walls and pillars still remain.

 

 

 

Visited the famous bookshop in Paris, “Shakespeare & Co”. It’s been in existence for a long time and has provided accommodation for writers down on their luck. There is a reading room and people are encouraged to sit and read. Bought a book so we could get the shop stamp in the front. This is one book we can’t get rid of. (At least we can justify keeping this one).

 

 

Had a light lunch in an air conditioned Himalayan restaurant and went to the mainline station for a train trip to Versailles. The destination wasn’t the purpose as we’ve been there before, but it was the train trip we wanted. About one quarter of the trains that go to Versailles have been decorated inside to look like rooms of the palace and we wanted to see one. After letting 4 ordinary trains go and spending about 1 hour in the exciting environment of a hot, underground station, we gave up and caught the next train to the station nearest Versailles and returned to Paris. The photos here are downloaded from the internet to show what we didn’t see. Back home then, to cheese, bread, wine and the great view out our window. Again we were grateful of the portable air conditioner and we left it on all night. Had to pull up the sheet during the night.

Friday 2nd:

Back to the laundromat, thankfully for the last time, although if it meant continuing the holiday, we’d happily spend more time washing clothes.

We wanted to visit the catacombs, some of the many tunnels under Paris, where bones from many Parisian cemeteries were moved to after many cemeteries were closed. Some of the quarries around Paris collapsed impacting on some cemeteries with bones washing into some cellars, another urgent reason to relocate the remains. We thought that the catacombs would be a good place to visit on this hot day, where the underground temperature was 13 degrees. Unfortunately, so did half of Paris We spent almost 2 hours in the queue. It was worth it though, bit bind boggling seeing so many skulls & bones dating back to the 1700s. Around 5 million Parisians are stacked there. Back home for a very tasty felafel at one of the local Jewish restaurants.

Saturday 3rd:

Breakfast first then gave the apartment a bit of a clean before we left. Our landlady said that the apartment has never been left so clean, so we felt good about that. We tend to try & leave places better than we found them.

Caught the metro to the Gare du Nord, where Eurostar leaves from.

We’re slowing down now and about to enter the chunnel. Just been advised that the trip under the channel is about 20 mins. Last sight of France. Hello England again.

We arrived in London at about 2pm & got to the hotel at Euston around 3pm. We were able to check in straight away.  The Eurostar was great, smooth quiet, fast (300 km/h) and a much easier way to get from Paris to London. 2 1/4 hours. Great experience and we’ll do it again. Compare that to getting to Paris airport, waiting, flying, possibly 1 hour to get through UK immigration then close to 1 hour to get into London.

Having previously found a good coffee chain, Cafe Nero, we had a good coffee at one just  around the corner from the hotel.

 

 

 

 

We walked back to Kings Cross Station for one particular reason. Understanding the reason behind these photos is based on a bit of prior knowledge or having read the books.

 

 

 

 

 

After these photos were taken, one of us, (not whom you’d probably expect), looked at the map and noticed that there was a canal not far away and wondered if we should walk and have a look. We detoured on the way back to the hotel. We discovered that the local Sainsbury supermarket has their white wines in the fridge, so we felt that we should buy one before we got back to the hotel.

We’re now in our hotel in London and it’s 7:15pm (UK time). The bottle is now empty and we are about to go out and find a meal.

Paris - Wednesday

Forgot to mention that we called into one of the big department stores, Galeries  Lafayette, to look around. They have the most impressive dome roof and circular galleries below.



Tuesday 30th:


While most of Paris is low rise, there are parts that are “modern” and high. I’m  sure they are practical, but from our perspective as tourists, they are ugly. One of these, the Montparnasse Tower, is certainly better looking out than in, particularly on the terrace on the 59th floor. What a view over Paris. The ordered way Paris is laid out is obvious. Although it was hazy (and cooler), we could see most of the main Paris attractions. It was much more spectacular than we expected and we found it difficult to stop gazing and leave.


We then took the Metro to a station, Stalingrad, which was near the Canal St  Martin. There are a few canals in Paris and they, as well as the Seine, are still used to transport goods on big barges. We watched a boat go down through a double lock and then headed off along the canal edge towards home (at least that was the intention). The thinking person would figure that water flows down hill and that this canal flows into the Seine, which, 100s of kms away (near Honfleur actually), flows into the sea. The fact that the boat went down through the locks didn’t jog the thought process enough, and we set off heading upstream. After walking for half an hour, it dawned on the person who thought he knew where we were going and we turned around. We did, however, see a bridge that was raised by a big pulley wheel in each corner, built in the 1800s and another section of the Paris Plage, with water activities (pedal boats, dodgem boats, flying fox across the canal etc) for kids.






For those who don’t need their privacy, relief was at hand.




















Wed 31st:
Walked to Place de la Bastille this morning. G had a nails appointment and R walked along the canal (surprised?), to where it meets the Seine, and back again. Some interesting boats and another lock.
Took the Metro to Montmartre and walked up to Sacre Coeur. It’s a modern basilica compared to most of the others we’ve seen, but still impressive because of its domed interior – one big dome with a balcony all the way around inside and one outside. Didn’t climb this one. Seen one seen them all!? Battled very aggressive men trying to put bracelets on wrists and then demanding that you pay for them. Had to be rude to get them away. Saw many young girls give in, then argue. Must have been a bit frightening for them.


Walked along a couple of metro stops and saw the Moulin Rouge building – looks a bit tired  during the day but must look better at night. Bit of a seedy area, lots of sex shops, live shows and x rated films.

Back home with a nice pastry to have with coffee.
Nice relatively cool day today, mid to high 20s. Mid 30s tomorrow and high 30s on Friday.
Looking out the window at the moment. Clear, bright blue sky (8:30pm), clear view to the horizon with no obvious air pollution.

Paris - Monday

Sitting gazing out the window of the apartment, looking at a sky that is blue with fluffy white and grey clouds with the sun shining on the buildings for as far as we can see, sun bouncing off the dome of Sacre Coeur in Montmartre in the distance, I wonder whether we should write a blog, have a glass of wine or both. Glass of wine is a given, so it looks like both. Back in a few minutes.
Sunday 28th:



We walked around Le Marais & Bastille areas this morning, loosely following a walk suggested in a book we brought with us, “Walking Paris, the best of the city”. This took us past the Hotel Sully, built in the early 17 century as a private home and is now the Centre des Monuments Nationaux, the caretaker of France’s national treasures.





Past the Hotel Sully is a spectacular square, the Place des Vosges, which was built  between 1605 and 1612. It is said to be the most perfect square in Paris, with beautiful 17th century town houses (Victor Hugo lived in one of them), manicured trees and a very popular public space.


On to Place Bastille, where the Bastille, a fortified prison, was stormed on July 14, 1789. The prison’s former footprint is marked in cobblestones. Big market on the day with all sorts of edible delicacies and other foods as well as clothes and other useful, and not so useful, stuff. Bought 10 avocados for 1 euro. Only had to throw 1 out.
Passed by the Musee (should have an accent on the first e, but don’t know how to do that) Carnavalet, a museum for the history of Paris. Will return in the next few days to go inside. On past the Archives Nationales, which exhibits priceless documents and artifacts from France’s past and down to the Seine. On the way, we saw the regular Sunday roller blade crowd pass by along one of the main roads beside the river. There seemed to be several hundred of them in a group. The road is closed to traffic to allow the roller bladers a very fast run. Police were on duty to ensure the way was clear for them and then to open the road to vehicles again. There were even police roller blading with them.



Every summer for the last number of years (how’s that for a very accurate time frame?), one of the roads beside the Seine River is closed to vehicles and the “Paris Plage” becomes a very well used “beach”. There are deck chairs, umbrellas, people who shouldn’t be sunbaking in public and people who look good sunbaking.




Back “home” for baguette, cheese, avocado, ham & wine for dinner, having had a nice felafel on a restaurant on the way.
Monday 29th:



Took the Metro to the Arc de Triomphe. Climbed the narrow, steep circular stairs to the top and had a great view over Paris. Watched the traffic entering, leaving and going around, with 12 roads radiating out from the centre. All very civilised, traffic in the intersection has to   give way to traffic entering.










Lunch in a small but very popular park beside a church. A little peace & relaxation in the middle of the busy city.
Walked along the main shopping street, then Metro back to near Le Marais and walked back home, picking up a pastry to go with coffee (still Carte Noir) and food for dinner.
Just had to mostly close the windows to keep the heavy rain from splashing in. For the last 3 nights, there have been short storms with heavy rain, enough to cool the air and make it much more comfortable. Rain has almost stopped now (after 5 mins), and the horizon is incredibly clear.

Paris – Le Marais

Friday 26th:

After managing to stuff everything into our bags, we went into the centre of  Orleans by tram. The tram stop was right outside the hotel. The cathedral was enormous and at the end of the main street into town. The (usually) picturesque area of town is a construction site as the main square is being paved. Many streets lead into the square and the corner buildings are very attractive.

Back to the hotel to collect the car and psyche ourselves up for the entry to Paris. Took 2 hours partly on the main national road and partly on the motorway.

Thank goodness that we were told that the car return was in through a petrol station to a car park. The GPS got us there, but there was no indication that we had to go into the garage. Very slow traffic into Paris, but the peripherique moved well. Only missed one turn once we got off the peripherique. We were sorry to hand the Clio back, it was a great car – over 1000km / tank, and less than 5 l/100km. Travelled just under 3,500 km, aircon on all the time.  Metro station close to the car drop off point, so we tried to put aside our paranoia about pick pockets on the train and set off, changing trains once and arrived at St Pauls Metro, a couple of minutes from the apartment. The owner has an antique teddy bear shop a couple of doors away, so we called in there  and were taken up to the apartment. I don’t think it is possible to find a smaller lift anywhere. 2 people and a suitcase  was all that would fit at one time. Apartment is very compact, (20 sq m), bed is a couch that slides into a double, dormer windows set into roof, so plenty of head hitting opportunities, tiny kitchen with small fridge, microwave, 2 hotplate cooktop and sink, separate toilet/basin and a shower past the kitchen, but a great little place.  Fortunately there is a portable airconditioner in the apartment, ‘cos it is still very hot and quite humid.

 

 

Saturday 27th:

Big storm last night. Had to close windows because of the heavy rain.

We must have been tired, ‘cos we slept in. Good views from our windows over the rooftops and down to adjacent streets. Couple across the road had what they thought was a private dinner outside on their tiny balcony. Didn’t know we were watching. Had a lazy morning reading and planning, small exploration around the closest streets, had lunch “at home”. Found the local Laundromat only a few minutes away. Until you travel, you don’t realise how you take clothes washing for granted.  30degrees today, so we also had a slow afternoon, after the washing, and recovered a bit. Planned the rest of our time here, but will have to rejig a bit ‘cos Friday is forecasted to be 40 degrees. Overnight lows in the mid 20s.

Good luck for school on Monday J&J. Sorry we missed you in  Paris.

Orleans

Wednesday 24th:
How easy it is to get side tracked. We were not far out of Brive, passing through Terrasson-Lavilledieu which is another attractive town with a 12th century medieval bridge, old town and impressive cathedral (no lock though). Just so happened that there was a car park right beside the road, tourist info less than 50 metres away and a river on the other side of the car park with the old bridge close by. Lots of manicured hedges/gardens. Well, there went another hour or so that we hadn’t planned. Although we hadn’t planned on driving far today, we had planned to visit some particular villages/sites/sights, so we had to begin culling early on in the day.
One attraction that we could not miss was the Lascaux II caves. Lascaux II is a copy of the most significant part of the original caves with paintings 17,000 years old. The repro caves are supposed to be accurate to within 1 cm and the paintings have been replicated using similar methods and pigments. The vividness and colours of the original paintings are just as bright as the replicas. The original cave was closed to the public once the impact of visitors’ breathing was realised and the copies built so the public could still “see” them. The paintings were of horses, bulls, deer and other animals and the original artists took advantage of the lumps & bumps of the cave walls and roof to give many of the animals a 3D effect. No photos allowed, so you’ll have to take our word for it.



On to La Roque St-Christophe to see the Trogladyte settlement, first settled  50,000 years ago. It has been continuously lived in until the start of the Renaissance, modified to suit the requirements of the inhabitants of the time and by the tools they had.






Didn’t have time to go to this place or the other place, but detoured via Uzerche because it seemed like a good idea.  Had a walk around….., you guessed it, the old town and then set off to Limoges for the night, less than 100 kms away from Brive.




Thursday 25th:



Spent most of the morning looking around Limoges, admiring the porcelain but not buying any  and, dare I say the daily hunt for and walk around, the old town.























Detoured to Saint-Leonard de Noblat to visit the Moulin du Got, an old paper mill/printing works. The mill was built in the 15th century to make paper and operated until it was closed down in the middle of the 20th century. It had become uneconomic and the building was going to be pulled down, but the locals objected and it now belongs to the town of Saint Leonard. It is back in operation, but electrically powered, although the water wheel still turns for effect. Paper is made for special occasions such as invitations, paper for artists, special certificates etc. The printing works has a collection of old printing presses, a linotype machine and a Heidelberg printing machine, all of which work and are used for specific tasks. We filled in time before the mill opened after lunch by walking around the ………… . Do I really need to spell it out?


Leaving there at about 4 pm, with about 290 kms to go to Orleans for the night, we took the motorway & toll road, at 130 km/h, to save time.
We return the car tomorrow in Paris, so we have emptied it into our room tonight and now have to try & fit everything into our bags again so we can manage them on the Paris metro to the 20 sq m apartment on the 6th floor. Wish us luck.

Brive again

Monday 22 July:


We left J&J’s house in Montreal du Gers with some regret, but also looking forward to travelling on and exploring more of France. Having passed by so many fields of sunflowers, we had to stop for a photo.










In the quest for looking for bridges, we saw one on a side of the road that had been closed to both vehicles and pedestrians. Followed an overgrown track ‘til we found the bridge. Almost looks like a cable stayed suspension bridge. Lots of ornate steel. Pity this attractive bridge is not in use.





We drove through Montauban, a large town, and what do you know, eagle eyes saw a sign to the port. Yes, another lock (staircase) and a marina. A boat on a French canal is an option for another trip. The French canal boats are much wider than the UK narrowboats and usually have the controls inside the boat and another set outside on the upper deck.



We stopped for the night at Cahors, which must be one of the few towns with very few hotels and these proved hard to find. Ended up in a very tranquil hotel/restaurant about 5 kms out of town, with farmland on 2 sides. Dinner & breakfast outside under the awning.

Tuesday 23 July:

Spent most of the morning looking around Cahors. We’ve now seen 3 of the 5 of  Les Ponts Remarquables au Sud de la France (The Remarkable Bridges of Southern France). Yes, another bridge here, the Pont Valentré. It is a medieval bridge built between 1306 and 1380. It was classified as a historical monument in 1840. There were 3 bridges that originally crossed the canyon of Cahors, but this is the only one that survived. Another lock, this one is under the bridge.


















We visited the impressive 12th century Cathédrale Saint-Étienne de Cahors and its beautiful cloisters.












On the road again, to Najac, a stunning hilltop village built in the 13th & 14th centuries.  A short, very steep and very hot walk (about 32 degrees today) took us to the chateau/fortress that was built and extended between the 12th and 13th centuries. One part, the square tower, was built in the 11th century.







By the time we’d finished there it was about 4:30 pm and  we has a 2 hour drive to Brive and the hotel we booked last night. It was comforting to know that we could take our time during the day knowing we had somewhere for the night. We did save a bit of time by using the tollway (half an hour at 130 kmh helped).


Ready for bed and another full day tomorrow.