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August - October 2017
A 62-day adventure by Gabrielle Read more
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  • TravelerEurope
    Day 10

    Château de Versailles (Royal Gardens)

    September 5, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    The Royal Gardens at Versailles deserve their own set of photos. Classical music was playing through the loud speakers as we walked throughout the gardens. Not all the fountains were operational (sadly) but there were a number which did their own "water show" to the music.Read more

  • TravelerEurope
    1
    Day 11

    Musée du Louvre

    September 6, 2017 in France ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    The spaces in the Musée du Louvre are quite amazing really. The building itself looks large from the outside, but once you get inside it is like the tardis. It is almost incomprehensible that the size of the exhibition spaces, and so many of them, can fit inside the building.

    Without a doubt, my most favourite museum ever!    Read more

  • TravelerEurope
    Day 11

    Paris - Tour Eiffel + Le Crazy Horse

    September 6, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    The first big day out in Paris! Straight up, we should be thankful for having children who did not complain once despite the 10km+ of walking we put in today! We decided to walk from Montmartre to the Musée du Louvre because at 36 minutes, it seemed only marginally slower than taking the Metro without the hassle of trying to work out the ticket vending machines. The Louvre deserves its own posting, so the adventure continues on after the Louvre to the walk through the Tuilleres Garden just outside, along the Avenue des Champs-Élysées to the Arch de Triomphe, with the plan to find a boulangerie on the way to buy a baguette to eat with our salami and cheese. Despite a relatively high density of such shops everywhere else in Paris, it would appear the cost of real estate on the Champs-Élysées would render this type of business unprofitable, because there were none to be found.

    Still, around the corner on the way back to the Tour Eiffel we managed to locate one as well as a park bench at which we could rest the weary feet. Across the Seine we bought our tickets to the top of the Eiffel Tower and once again I think we were relatively lucky in terms of waiting time (15 minutes or so). The real queues started at the elevators, both on the way up and on the way down and no amount of pre-purchasing was going to save us from that. But, it was worth it - a most incredible structure and really quite beautiful. The 1991 budget tourist me could only afford to walk to the second level, so the lift to the top was a treat (and much less tiring).

    We caught the Metro home. Walking was not an option.

    The kids enjoyed dinner out with Nanny and Poppy, having crepes for dessert and a night view of the Sacré-Cœur - complete with furnicular ride to the top.

    Craig and I enjoyed a dinner out in Paris prior to going to the Le Crazy Horse cabaret show. Finn was asking why they weren't coming out with us. We told them that the show was only for adults to go to, Craig adding that they didn't want stinky children there. When we got home, the kids had found a brochure for Crazy Horse whilst they were out for dinner with Nanny and Poppy and Kate said "I know why we couldn't go mum. It looked like those girl soldiers were not wearing very many clothes."

    True dat! The theatre was smallish, perhaps seating around 150. We had great seats only 4 rows from the front with a bottle of champagne. The lighting, music, costumes (what little there were) and the stage setting were done brilliantly. Highly recommended for a special night out in Paris.    Read more

  • TravelerEurope
    Day 12

    Paris - Pantheon, Mouffard, Notre Dame

    September 7, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    Another big day of walking ahead, so Glen and Jeff decided to do the Hop On/Hop Off bus around Paris. We did start out with a Metro ride though, but in the end I think we ended up walking a big chunk of Paris and home again, given taking the Metro by the time we we were ready to come home was going to take only 2 minutes less than walking. Walking won.

    The agenda for today started us out at the Pantheon, but given this was not THE Pantheon, Craig was willing to reserve entry until we hit Rome - so only the outside viewing. Across the road was the Sainte-Genevieve Library which I wanted to have a sneak peak of, but non-borrowing visitors apparently are only allowed at certain times, and it was about 4 hours from when we rocked up, so it didn't eventuate. We then wandered to the Rue Mouffard Market which is a lovely narrow cobblestone street full of specialty shops (fish shops, veges, olives, fromagerie, patisserie, flowers etc) and narrow restaurants and cafes. The street is narrow as is, but the vendors pull out checker-plate platforms into the street to extend their shops which gives it a very intimate feeling. Craig bought his Opinel wooden handled knife whilst we were here, so we are set for picnics for the rest of the holiday now.

    A 20 minute walk further on we were crossing the Seine to the back end of the Notre Dame. Craig had declared this a "no queue" day, so it was only for a look from the outside, and then we ran into the parents! Around the corner from here, we joined the Parisiennes in what seems to be a prolonged affair and had déjeuner at one of the gorgeous cafes that line the streets. I had lunch a glass of rosé which seems to be the vin du jour (and with good reason - quite quaffable!). After lunch we continued on to the Pont Neuf to look at the thousands of padlocks attached to the balustrade and then across to the "inside out" Centre Pompidou.

    The kids are keen for their holiday souvenir to be a pocket knife, so as we were walking to Rue LaFayette we came across a hunting shop. It was so tiny and full of what would mostly likely take up 4-5 times more real estate in Australia. As such, it was a constant stream of saying "pardon" to every other person in the shop as you walked in or around them, trying to not let all the stock fall on the ground. A bit of an experience trying to negotiate buying a couple of pocket knives.    Read more

  • TravelerEurope
    Day 12

    Paris - Passages and Galleries

    September 7, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    One sight I was really looking forward to was the covered Passages of Paris. There are only about 20 or so remaining - glass covered arcades dating back for the most part to the 19th century, each with their own unique characteristics. Some where more well preserved than others, but each was fabulous in its own way. The shops inside were also wonderful, including one that only sold umbrellas/parasols and walking sticks! One passage in particular had mosaic floor tiles which were worn and uneven and just lovely. I think we went through 5 or 6 passages all up.

    Which brings us to Galleries Lafayette - OMG David Jones, eat your heart out. The French just know how to do stuff on a spectacular scale! I did have some delusional thought early on of needing to buy Kate a singlet. Hmmm, don't think a children's department consisting of Dolce and Gabbana, Armani, Gucci and the like, is likely to stock the humble Chesty Bond singlet in white! The interior to this building is a feast for the eyes. It is hard to see how you could get tired of working in this building really.    Read more

  • TravelerEurope
    Day 12

    Living in Paris

    September 7, 2017 in France ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    My friend Helen reminded me that when I came back from Paris in 1991 that I said I didn't enjoy it much becuase it was so dirty. Well, that is no longer the case and Paris is immaculately clean. One of the interesting things about staying in an AirBnB is that you get to experience the real living (well close to) of a local. Our apartment was on the 3rd floor, windy steps, no lift, in a narrow street, so the echo of the sounds in the street at night is one of the charms of the place. What we also noticed was the sounds of the rubbish being collected every night! Our street was in the district where the tissus (fabrics) were sold, so there was also the sounds of the vendors placing their rolls of material away each night.

    Our AirBnB itself was on two levels and quite spacious. The sloping ceilings were a bit of a hazard to the head - ancient residents of Paris must have all been quite short!    Read more

  • TravelerEurope
    Day 13

    Paris to Carcassonne

    September 8, 2017 in France ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    That was a bit of an adventure. The freak show was on the move, twaddling through the streets of Paris with our luggage to the Anvers Metro station, changed lines a few stops along, then meandered over to the regional line, waited two hours for our train to come, caught the train to Narbonne (lovely relaxing part of the journey) and then we jumped on the train from Narbonne to Carcassonne where the train people decided that oversubscribing the number of passengers was a jolly good idea so we were squeezed into a train with way too many people, their luggage and their bikes. The only thing missing from the scene was a chicken or two flapping around (here Craig and I think back to our journey to Taveuni with Neal and Kerry-Anne). Poor Kate was once again at the correct height to smell the underarms and bums of obese smokers ;-)

    Luckily, our AirBnB was less than a 5 minute walk from the train station where we were met by our host. After dumping the luggage we set of for the 25 minute walk to the medieval Cité de Carcassonne.

    This place was spectacular. It has a 2,500 year history, but by the 1850s had fallen into disrepair and was decreed to be demolished. Thankfully the locals strongly opposed the idea and there was a campaign to restore it. Since then it has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site and with good reason. We were able to freely walk along the ramparts. This sort of thing continually amazes us, whereas in Australia all the area would be regulated to death in terms of heights where railings would be in place. Here, there are huge drops and you walk freely through the place.

    The streets inside are cobbled and winding with little shops. There were a lots of tourist shops, which many of the reviews I read were quite disparaging about. I don't necessarily think they detracted from the place at all and gave it a bit of a market town bustle and appeal.

    After circumnavigating, we found a restaurant in the main square and we all elected to have cassoulet - a local dish which is a casserole containing a pork sausage, a duck leg and white beans which in essence forms a thick gravy. We also had a very LARGE bier (500mls), the boys had more than one. As a result, it was necessary to walk the last bit of getting home very fast in order to prevent bladder explosion.    Read more

  • TravelerEurope
    Day 14

    Boating on the Canal du Midi

    September 9, 2017 in France ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    We spent the day mildly experiencing what it would be like to be homeless in inclement weather. We had to leave our accommodation by 10am but couldn't check into our canal boat until 3pm, but it was raining in Carcassonne, which made everything all that much more difficult.

    So, we spent some time hanging out in the train station, a bit of grocery shopping, lunch under a tree by the canal, a very prolonged coffee in a shop, and then a bit of loitering at the canal boat place and we managed to get on the boat without getting wet!

    We had a few hours changeover with the boat where we got some navigation instruction from Alex (who was quite hopeless at driving boats, so not sure that we learnt much!), but which gave us a chance to work out we didn't have towels or toilet paper - the necessities of life... so we could rent some towels and buy some loo paper, and we were set.

    I had to purchase a Captain's hat for the husband so that he could pretend he really was in charge of the boat!

    And then we were off. Only a short km or two down the road and we hit our first lock. All was good though and I think we didn't do too badly navigating in and out of the lock. We are spending this entire journey "locking down" which is infinitely easier than going upstream from what I can tell.

    We pegged off on the bank a little white later and I made a risotto au jambon et aux champignons for dîner - yummy! (Sounds so much more exotic en Francais!)    Read more

  • TravelerEurope
    Day 15

    Our first full day on the Canal

    September 10, 2017 in France ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    More of the same really, locking, cruising, stopping and exploring, pegging off to sleep the night. Glen and Jeff made sausages and mashed potato for dinner with a yummy salad. We were followed by the crazy French man who drives his boat like a bull in a china shop - either totally full thrust forward or totally full thrust backward... as a result, he is spending a lot of time running into the lock gates, the other boats in the locks, the banks either side leading in or out of the lock. We are all quite surprised their boat is still afloat really!

    The other phenomena is that it is REALLY WINDY! And rained intermittently. Quite annoying really because the sun is not really an overwhelming factor of our day, and it interrupting my preconceived vision of cruising along the canal with a glass of vino in hand.    Read more

  • TravelerEurope
    2
    Day 16

    Our second full day on the Canal

    September 11, 2017 in France ⋅ 🌬 24 °C

    More of the same, but we did pull up in Homps for a few hours into the marina to fill the boat with water, empty the rubbish, charge the boat and electronic devices and find a supermarche in order to stock up for lunch and dinner.

    One of the lock-keepers fancied himself as a bit of a sculptor, and as we went through the lock, one of his sculptures was a wooden crocodile.

    We don't have a great deal of cooking implements, and Craig and my turn to cook, so we bought some chorizo and long chipolata sausages, potatoes and tomatoes and we are making the Jamie Oliver oven baked dish. Craig has added some moules instead of anchovies (which is what I use at home when I make this dinner).

    A bit of excitement today as it has been really windy and there were a number of fires in the hilly country to our left as we travelled along the lock. In the afternoon there were a number of planes dumping water on the fire which was located in what seemed to be Narbonne National Park. We saw the flames on the ridge of the mountain.    Read more

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