• REIMS here we come!

    September 11, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    WOO HOO CHAMPAGNE COUNTRY HERE WE COME….
    Early French breakfast today and off to the train station. Our lives were in the hands of the Uber driver, and man did he work at trying to keep us alive. Traffic galore, horns a beeping, cursing going on all over the place. Almost as bad as the Arc de Triumph roundabout!!!
    We arrived at Gare de L’est and had a leisurely drink before running to find where the hell we get on the train…the platform number only came up 1 sec before we had to get on….humped 4 large bags + 3 carryon’s onto the train, and found our lush seats…. Loulou got into conversation with her fellow passenger and found out she can go from Reims straight to Charles De Gualle airport when we leave here so happy chappy she is. Her parlez vous Francais is very handy to have…I have google translate 😆 for when she is no longer travelling with us…see how that goes shall we!
    Arrived in a very timely fashion to Reims train station and waited while Loulou changed yet another ticket 😵‍💫 she had purchased…
    Got a taxi, pissed a taxi driver off in the meantime so gave him 💶 10 and that shut him up. Mind you the nutty woman who drove us, kept going on like a mad chook in french and I’m sitting in the front seat and shrugging my shoulders furiously cos I don’t know what the hell she is asking for 🥴. Arrived at our accommodation, its is fantastico…4 large bedrooms, large living room kitchen and dining, 2 bathrooms, one toilet though which with 5 women could be a challenge. One little problem….. the goddamn air-conditioning isn’t going… apparently it broke after the last people. FM! So we have contacted the man and he has bought more fans. Loulou has had a go at him when he bought them around, and was very vehement that we haven’t got what we paid for., so he needs to come to the party on compensation.
    Believe it or not we had sushi for lunch, and they ran out of rose after we had one bottle! so off to the supermarket to do a stock up. Loulou found a great deal on local Champagne, and buy one get 50% off the other bottle. Quite a nice drop too.
    Decided to have a ‘at home’ platters and wine instead of going out for dinner. and I was on washing duty.
    PS the owner dropped off 2 fans, and 2 brand new air condition units (free standing).
    Beth and I had to do another wine and food run to the local Mono Prix for supplies…
    End of a great day, looking forward to tomorrow
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  • Mont St Michel and others

    September 10, 2023 in France ⋅ 🌙 21 °C

    An early early rise for Beth and I today to go on our tour to Mont St Michel. Left our apartment at 6.00am and Uber over to the Eiffel Tower again…. can you believe it came back for me to see….
    Got on the bus at 7.00am and off we went. Our Tour Guide Fabio was lovely. Very informative about the region and all the surrounds. Unfortunately we thought we were going to drive through all the little towns on the way but we didn’t, straight down the motorway. Came across a 3 car smash and it looked bad!
    Onwards we drove, 90 mins later stopped at a servo for wee wee stop and food. (Driver has to have a break apparently. No toilet paper, I was the t-paper courier for beth but luckily found one sans full roll. Off we go and yes a further 3 hours, was at Mont St Michel. 10 min walk from the carpark to another bus to take us almost to the castle….did I mention it was pissing with rain at this point? and beth and i are drenched…
    Anyway troopers that we are, we walked through it, and then came the stairs…. I think about 2 million, I lost count, and my knees and back weren’t happy….But we reached the peak! Wow what a view… absolutely amazing place, the sun decided to come out after we got to the top… and you can see right over to Normandy.
    There was a movie made at the the Mont, with Sean Connery “In the name of the Rose’ they used one of the rooms for a scene… try and find it if ya like.
    Tour ended and down we had to traverse all of the stairs again…god sake! where are the escalators…
    Anyhoo, had a bite to eat then back down to catch the bus back to the tour bus.
    A further 5 hour trip back, traffic was bad, Sunday travellers returning to Paris, so they went through a small village off the motorway or it would of been another hours travel…. We alighted the Bus at 9.30pm. Decided a cocktail was required to get us from Eiffel tower location back to our apartment.
    Kelly and Louise went Amiens to see Kels sons Dans partners parents (they are french) so good opportunity to meet up with them. By all accounts it was a hilarious trip. First of all they went to the wrong train station, and arrived later than expected. Parlez vous Francais courtesy of Louise got them through all the pleasantries and although the hosts had hangovers from a wedding the previous day, they were thrilled to see them.
    Onward journey home, Kel got on the train, the doors slammed shut and uh oh Louise was on the other side…station side…. despite furious attempts to open the doors, aurevoir louise said Kel. Her train was chocka block and no seat. Lou got on the next train, she think it was business class and had a lovely time coming back…. worried someone might check her ticket.
    Susie had a day to herself, we were hopeful she would be the charm….but alas her ninja shopping skills are rusty…and not a damn thing was found.
    C’est la vie! We all climbed into bed damn exhausted and looking forward to Reims tomorrow.
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  • Eiffel Tower big day

    September 9, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    After the late arrival of the two rubgy fans home, three snuck out for brekkie and came back to pick up the stragglers. Kel decided to have a relaxing day, so Susie, Beth, Louise and I went off in search of the hop on hop off bus pick up point. Only a mere 1.8km walk to the Louvre and we were on to it. What a beautiful and exciting city Paris is. Such fun on the HoHo but man the heat was pretty oppressive today. Stayed on board, even though I had said I was going up the Eiffel Tower come hook or by crook, but common sense dictated that might be for a cooler day in the future. Hopped off at Lafette and had a good nosy round the beautiful shops. Lunch at Paul and Juliennes place, smoked trout and a cheese platter. delicious.
    Tonight we have been on our Seine Cruise Dinner and what an experience that was. Delicious food from the start to end, and oh my god, Paris in lights is unforgettable…. just the icing on the cake for me.
    Everyone is scattering to different events tomorrow but Im sure. you will hear all about it. Time for bed, its 1.00am and Beth and I have to be up and gone by 6 xx
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  • All Blacks sad story

    September 8, 2023 in France ⋅ ⛅ 34 °C

    So the girls made the trek to watch the Live match. Louise and Beth went along to enjoy the atmosphere at the Fans Zone - amazing atmosphere everyone reports. I stayed back with. my feet in the air….
    We met back up at the little bar 20m from our apartment and we watched the game amongst a group of raucous french people. One girl told me to shush when the haka started…she got the death stare believe me.
    We slipped away at half time thank god, and thought we could watch back here but alas the tv did not comply with our wishes… we could hear the roars coming from the bar though and with sinking hearts watched the score tick over on the internet instead.
    Kel and Susie returned at some ungodly hour and not one of us heard them come back!
    A great night had by all, in the hottest temperatures you could imagine. Thank god for aircon.
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  • Moving day and fashion district living

    September 8, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    We made the decision to find alternative accommodation (somewhat more expensive) and got in an amazing Uber…off to the 2nd Arrissement….wow wow wow, we are all swooning. Fashion houses all over the place, unfortunately, they only sell to shops!!!!! Damn. Sure there will be many more to find though.
    Just along the road is a great bar, had brunch there, Caesar Salads, Croque Madame, Peasants Salad, coffee and rose was the orders for our tums. The bar owner saw us wearing our All Blacks hats so came out with his World Cup T-shirts and hung them out the front… gave us a few “viva le france” and we gave him a few All Blacks back.
    Quick walk up and down one street, and back for a rest. Its 3.07pm and 33 Deg… my feet are much like balloons….. so back to the fab new apartment for a rest.
    Kelly and Suzie are getting ready to go find the metro and make their way to the stadium, whilst the rest of us are going to wander 50m to either the bar in the picture or find an Irish pub which is 800m away. No wait caller, Louise is deciding on changing the plans…. update ya later.
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  • Paris

    September 7, 2023 in France ⋅ 🌙 27 °C

    Wow fabulous day going on the Eurostar to Paris. Met some really nice people on the train, England supporters. Gave them a lesson in Rugby history….well Kel and Susie did, i just chimed in now and then.
    St Pancras station is amazing, a few extra photos…I am having a few problems with my feet swelling in this awfully hot climate. Today got 33 deg, tomorrow is predicted to be 35. The girls are saying its gonna be very fucking hot at the game. The rest of us peasants are gonna find a bloody cool pub to watch the game.

    Nearly got duped by a ringer cab guy, quoted us €95 to bring us to our airbnb, we got a ‘proper’ taxi….€41…. glad we listened to the policeman.

    Our airbnb has a problem, we are moving tomorrow…. poor maintenance has resulted in a bad leak. suffice to say we are all a little pissed off. ttfn
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  • Redemption for breakfast this morning

    September 6, 2023 in England ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Up early and been out for a walk in the cool. Brekkie is on its way. Headed into ‘town’, well trying to find a TK Max to purchase a new bag for me as mine has started coming apart at the seams! Australian product!!!
    Anyhow, Louise went off with her mate Mimi, and the rest of us got on the bus. after getting on a bus (we are using City Tracker) and getting off at the ‘right’ stop, started walking towards Oxford Str. turns out we were going back to where we came from 😆. And did I mention it was bloody hot at 9am? I mean 25 deg hot….
    Finally got back on the bus and went back to where we originally got dropped off from. Did lots of walking thru lovely shops, but not purchases cos we have to keep our bags under 20kg for the other flights within europe. Lunch at a lovely airconditioned pub, then down to Liberty to look at all the beautiful things.Credit cards were twitching but managed to stay firmly in their place.
    Dinner out a Trullo, goregous italian restuarant that Louises friends son is the Head Chef. Food was glorious…shame our ‘kitty’ currency card decided to shit itself and blocked. So out came the mastercard and sorting that out tomorrow.
    A very very hot day, got to 34 and of course we are not used to that. Feet swelling, sweat pouring…. Paris tomorrow and another hot hot day to come.
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  • Chapel street market just down the road

    September 5, 2023 in England ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    32 steps up a steep stairwell to get into our accommodation and then… another 20 stairs to the upstairs bedrooms. What a mission carrying our bags up. Narrow stairwells aren’t easy to manoeuvre. Lots of laughs. Not the best accommodation in London that’s for sure.Read more

  • Arrived!!!!!

    September 5, 2023 in England ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Not a bad trip from San Fran.

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