On the Road in France...

Over the last two days, we've taken to the road... After a severe delay at Charles de Gaulle airport to get our car, they were nice enough to give us a brand new (only 10kms on the clock) B-Series Mercedes Benz to travel in over the next 27 days. Luckily, I know how to drive it! We set out from the airport with our first overnight destination being Poitiers. Our Sat Nav suggested it would take about 6 hours if we didn't use the toll roads, so we decided to get on the tolls, to my absolute horror (will talk about that later).

As we didn't leave the airport until midday, we decided to make Versailles our stop for lunch. If we had made it earlier (instead of waiting 1.5 hours to get our car), we would have ventured into the gilded chateau to see all the pomp and ceremony of extravagance, but there just wasn't the time and the crowds really overwhelmed me. So we opted for lunch in the boulevard next to the chateau instead.

We then took the dreaded toll roads to Poitiers. Even though I was comfortable doing 150kmh down the straights, I seriously can't do them again. 1) Because they are exorbitantly expensive (31 Euros for a one way trip to Poitiers), 2) they won't take my Australian credit cards (Mastercard or Visa, and I was asked when I pressed the help button if I had an American Express, which is generally not used in Australia, unless you are dealing with high-end purchases) and 3) the boring long stretches of road make me sleepy, and I seriously needed to pull over and get a 15 minute power nap to keep me going.

Once we got to our very clean and cheap, motel called the 'Hotel Come Inn' which looked like a Chinese restaurant in industrial Dingley Village (for all you Melbournians who know what I mean), the people were lovely, and the decor in our room was very much dressed for young adults with a warehouse style theme (floating timber floors that looked like packing crates, wallpaper that looked like brickwork, leather hide curtains and some factory style artwork.) The hotel owner ironically suggested we go to a Chinese restaurant around the corner, but we just couldn't find it, and somehow got lost but found the beautiful city centre of Poitiers.

There was only a kebab shop open, so that's what we had for dinner.

Today, we left the Hotel Come Inn and ventured our way, without tolls, to Ouches, near Roanne. We drove through many French Provincial towns, up and down dale, in and out of speed zones... you know, the stuff that makes you stay awake when driving, especially when you know you have 5-6 hours of driving to do. 

We stopped off in Doyet for a lovely lunch and met this gorgeous German Shepherd who was part of the little restaurant. (not sure if you're noticing, but Orangina is our favourite French drink!)

We travelled for another 1.5 hours and found our home for the night... Chateau d'Origny... stunning!

We were made so welcome by Melinda and Werner... it was such a privilege to be in their home. They renovated this place from scratch... no one had lived in it since 1961, and they bought it 5 years ago, and opened 2 years ago as a bed and breakfast. Werner is a chef, and beautifully made us a 5-course French dinner, including snails in a mushroom and spinach sauce, a goose-liver and prawn salad, veal in a cream sauce with traditional French vegetables, a choice of local cheese and a fresh berry pannacote. So divine. Proud of my boys for trying everything, yet it took a little encouraging as it was food they weren't used to. Of course, they finished their cheese and their dessert.

Here are some more interior shots, and some of the food we enjoyed.

I thought I had more, but some reason they haven't downloaded. Anyway, I must recommend coming to Chateau d'Origny... the restoration is beautiful, the food is magnificent, the generosity is sublime.

Seeking the Sciences

After our 2 days of walking, stair-climbing and constantly being on 'high alert', Paris had exhausted us, so much so, that there was a lot that I would have loved to have seen again from my trip 5 years ago, but time and proximity to our hotel stopped us from seeing the real beauty of Paris. In someways, it's probably a good idea that we didn't go to places like the cultural charm of the Latin Quarter and the gorgeous back streets north of the Louvre, as I think walking those streets with two pubescent boys would probably ruin the romance of it all. I think next time I visit Paris, I must do so with a lover, not a girlfriend or my boys and really get a sense of the romance...

So, after a trip to the laundromat and seeing a stationery car door open on a speeding ambulance with sirens blarring, ripping the side mirror off and shattering the passenger side window, we enjoyed another breakfast at my favourite little bistro in Grands Boulevards. We then ventured out to the north east to the Cite des Sciences et de l'Industrie at Porte de la Villette. It's a high-tech science museum with interactive science experiments, a Geodome called the 'Geome' where you can watch IMax style movies, and plenty of research and innovation coming from the French schools of Industrial Design. They had designed a super computer that can download 15 million books in 2 seconds. They had a whole section on Habitee Innovation (essentially, home innovation) and what was disappointing for my boys who were keen to see the innovation and future models of where technology will see us in the next 20-30 years, they had more interesting information on 'material technology,' especially for energy efficiency in homes and using renewable resources to create plastics, like rice & corn instead of crude oil, coal and animal oil. For instance, they were working out a way to recreate the light source in glow worms to insert into wallpaper, to make instant, no-cost energy mood lighting. Ingenious!

That was really the extent of our day. Off to get a car tomorrow and travel through the heart of France.

The Steps to Death, Sex and Religion in Paris

Today was a MUCH better day than yesterday... We recognised the beggars and learnt to say a sturdy 'NO' when we were approached, and the sun was shining... but we did manage to find plenty of places with 'steps.'

First stop, was a lovely little bistro in Grandes Boulevard for petit dejeuner (breakfast) of bagette, croissant, chocolate creme & orange juice! Yum! We rode the Metro to Mouton Duvernet and we waited in line for over 2 hours talking to an American couple and their two children, to get into the Catacombs - the underground tombs of over 6 million people who have had their bones neatly stacked on top of each other like they have no connection to what they once were. There were plenty of 'steps' to get into the dark dreary tunnels.

We then went to Montmartre to grab some lunch and climb the steps to Sacre Coeur and capture the amazing view over Paris.

We did actually go into the silence of the religious icon, despite my non-religious beliefs, just to marvel at the extravagance the Catholic church can achieve while beggars still line the streets... hypocrisy at its best.

We took a ride down the Funiculaire to the bottom streets of Montmartre and walked along the main boulevard to find Moulin Rouge and the many many sex shops along the way!

By then, the boys weren't interested in any more sites of Montmartre, so we caught the Metro to Pere Lachaise and step into the cemetery of some of France's famous. It had names like Edith Piaff, Oscar Wilde, Frederic Chopin, but most famously, it is the resting place of Jim Morrison, the lead singer of the Doors.

Luckily, we weren't that far from our hotel, and our weary feet were ready to rest.

So that was our day of death, sex and religion!

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly of Paris

Today was a little bittersweet. We didn't get a good night's rest due to being stuck in a room where the carpets were drenched and they couldn't give us another room (but they gave us free breakfast instead) until today. And then it all started...

We made our way to the Eiffel Tower to get there for opening, and along the way was approached by a Muslim dressed lady asking me to sign a petition to get help for deaf/mute children. I was happy to sign the petition, but she didn't say anything about a donation. I reluctantly handed over 5 Euro, but then told me that it was a minimum of 10 Euro donation. I always give to the kids, but I was annoyed about the way she did it. Rather peeved that I was scammed.

We then stood in line for the Eiffel Tower, and were lucky to be up and out within about 1.5 hours. After being wary of being scammed, I became even more wary when there were signs about active pick-pocketers around the Tower. All of a sudden, I really wasn't feeling very safe in the city of love. We went to the Summit, which captures the spectacular views of Paris. But then the rain set in...

We found a cafe to grab a hot chocolate, and were charged 14.70 Euro for 3 hot chocolates (and 50c for use of the toilets). Another scam!

The weather schedule said the rain wouldn't start until 2pm, but it started at about 10am, and we weren't quite prepared. We walked along the Seine in the light rain, and was approached by a lady with her son, similar age to my boys. She picked up a man's gold wedding band off the ground. She looked at it, and said it had real gold markings on it, but because of her 'Jewish' religion, she couldn't have it and told me it was 'good luck' for me. I accepted it, and walked away, only for her to call me to say, I give you good luck, the only right thing for me to do, is give her enough money to buy food and Coca Cola for her son who is hungry. I gave her a couple of Euros, and she insisted I give her 5 Euros, for 'food' and 'Coca Cola.' My weak heart gave in to her because I always think of bad karma if I do something wrong, so I gave her the 5 Euros and walked away. However I did walk away with a chunky gold ring, possibly worth a couple of hundred dollars (I will try to sell it when I'm in Melbourne).

We found the Arc de Triomphe, and walked up the Champs de Elysees, and the rain was really coming down. Luckily, we found a Gap store and bought some hoodies, just to get us through the wet. I was silly enough to wear thongs (flip-flops), and was slipping on all the wet polished marble pavements through the exclusive street.

We then had an expensive toilet-stop, masked by having lunch at Le Notre, a beautiful restaurant and tea-house where the gardens meet the Champs de Elysees. The front menu said they had toasted sandwiches with fries and salad for 13 Euro, but inside, that menu wasn't anywhere to be seen. They did have a kid's menu for 15.50 Euro which was a lovely chicken breast with pasta, a pastry and a drink, which, if you saw the quality, it was definitely worth it. And I had a 2-course meal plus coffee (or hot chocolate) for 35 Euro. As I said, expensive lunch, but the plus side was, it gave the boys a chance to 'behave' themselves in a high end restaurant and learn the art of fine dining. Luckily, both boys actually enjoyed their meals, and mine was divine. Couldn't fault the food or service.



We then continued walking down through the gardens to the Louvre in the pouring rain, where they were more scam artists selling cheap Eiffel Towers and plenty selling, and giving away umbrellas. After already being scammed twice in one day, I was saying 'no' to everyone, no matter how drenched we were.



We made our way to the closest station to find that it wasn't a standard Metro station, but a RER station. The RER train lines were striking for some reason, so all trains running were for free. So that was a good thing! It took us to the Metro line we needed and we made it back, to a new room on the 4th floor with a lovely corner view! After going way over my limit with the budget, at last we had some luck on our side!

(Sorry, haven't had a chance to download pics from main camera... just wanted to show you how wet it was!!)

Goodbye London, Hello Paris!

Yesterday was our last real day in London. We caught the No 88 bus from Clapham Junction through the Village streets until we had close up views of Westminister Abbey, Big Ben, Downing Street, Whitehall and got off at Piccadilly Circus.

We did some last minute London shopping before heading to Victoria station to meet a friend for lunch. We picked up some Pret a Manger takeaway (my favourite of all 'fast food' takeaways, which I wish we had in Australia) and walked to the gardens outside Buckingham Palace, only to have something like a firecracker go off as we approached the palace. Everyone stopped in a silent panic, hoping it wasn't anything sinister. After lunch, we walked through the park admiring the different bird life - geese, swans, pelicans, egrets, a funny looking tan and black duck and all the other birds.

We then went for a train ride to Camden Town to visit the eclectic markets and the famous Camden Lock. 

We then went to our hotel for some chill out time before we ventured back into the city, near the London Eye to the Troia Mediterranean Restaurant and Bar for a lovely dinner with my 'first' boyfriend, who now lives in London. It's always nice to catch up with him, and we're lucky to be catching up three times within three months in three different cities in the world - Melbourne, London and Amsterdam.

Today, we packed up our things and ventured out to King Cross St Pancras train station to catch the Eurostar to Paris. After our long journey by train, we found our hotel in the 20th district. Unfortunately, our room seems to have had a flood in recent times, and the carpets are wet. They can't give us a new room tonight, as all the triple rooms are booked out, but they promised us a new one (and free breakfast in the morning) tomorrow for our last 3 days. They also gave us some air freshener to deal with the musty smell. The staff have been very obliging, which is nice.

We ventured out to get some dinner, and found a small bistro bar on the side of the road which was very Parisienne. The staff were lovely and between our mixture of average English and French we managed to get a traditional French meal.

So tomorrow, we will hit all the big sights and sounds of Paris. Better rest up then!

A Punt on the Cam and a Day at Legoland

Over the weekend, we stayed at a friend's home in Cambridge. It was nice to have a couple of home cooked meals, get some washing done and have some space! We were fortunate enough for the boys to have a huge rear garden to run around in, I think 4 toilets in the house and we had separate bedrooms (well, the boys had the same room, I was lucky to have my own!). We enjoyed a late lunch at The Orchard on Saturday afternoon lazily on the deck chairs...

On Sunday, we went into the university city of Cambridge and walked through history. We discovered that Isaac Newton, Stephen Hawking and Charles Darwin were all graduates of Cambridge, and Henry VIII was part of the university royalty. We had lunch at The Eagle - a traditional English pub, and then  went on a 'punt on the Cam.'

On Monday, we left Cambridge and drove to Legoland - something the boys were so excited about going to, but were left bitterly disappointed. Essentially, it's perfect for 2-8 year olds, but my boys are just that little bit too old. We did manage a couple of rides and enjoyed the Miniland of all the iconic landmarks of London, Europe and even the United States, but everything else was a little dated, young and lacking vibrancy, like Lego is.

After Legoland, we drove to Heathrow Airport to return the car, and then had the long trek on the Tube to our new hotel in Clapham in the south of London. Which is never fun with a suitcase & backpack each and a laptop bag for me. Only a couple more trips on the train with it all. 

A Day of Romans and Vikings

Today we drove from Edinburgh down to York with a couple of detours along the way. It was the first time the morning was actually cold. The car said it was about 9 degrees (which really is nothing), but it was driving through the fog in the Scottish Highlands that kept the concentration going. (unfortunately my side kick of a photographer didn't get the real fog we drove through!)

After a 2 hour drive, we made it to Hadrian's Wall in Corbridge, England. Hadrian's Wall was built by the Romans to stop the northern frontier invading their Empire. The boys liked looking at all the artefacts and listening to the walkie-talkie style audio guides as they climbed their way through Roman history.

After the wall, we drove to York and found the Jorvik Viking Centre in the heart of Copperstone Walk. Again it was full of archives and there you could walk on their dig that they dig as recently as 1979 to see what they unearthed. They had a great sit in a 'car' rotating interactive history lesson on how the vikings lived their lives, what they ate, their homes, their jobs, their clothes, etc. It was more about their everyday lives than their importance in English history. But it was all interesting putting their timeframe together... the Romans in 43AD to approx 410 AD while the Vikings were 793 AD to 1066 AD. It was interesting to see how advanced some of their technologies were.

We left the middle of York and found our cute little B and B for the night... No 2 of my favourite places to stay so far. The lovely owner is so bubbly and gorgeous, you just want to bottle her up with her love for the place. There are farm animals on the property that the boys patted, and she was happy to lend them some sporting equipment to play with on the back field. But the cottage, Lavender Cottage, we are staying in is very sweet.