You will perhaps be glad to hear the last of this, for the time being at least, that I am now totally ruined for anything other than Business Class!
We didn’t have the bigger flat beds on the home flight, but the seats still lay flat, just narrower. The flight attendants were very attentive and as we had pre booked our main meal, as soon as we were seated on the plane we were asked at what time we wanted to be served our main meal. We both said, soon after the flight has taken off and that’s what happened. So our tray tables were set with white linen cloths and our ‘book the chef’ meals were brought out to us- I had Lobster Thermidor! At one stage I had a bit of a look around us, and we were the only two with our tray tables set, eating! Hilarious...
Everyone else seemed to settle in to go to sleep straight away, but not us! So we had flight attendants falling over us, offering drinks, hot towels, water, juice, more drinks, snacks...... and a lot of the time we said yes to them! I finished my meal with a Bailey’s on ice and J had a Singapore Sling. I think we were the only two asked to complete a questionnaire on our service from Singapore airlines. Don’t know if that’s because we were the only ones with lights on, sitting upright or because we had such a great relationship with all the staff fussing over us! Some times we can be such princesses...
So watched a movie and then had a lay down. Didn’t sleep but that’s okay as soon enough it was time for breakfast, and we wolfed most of that down too. Smooth landing 45 minutes early. As we were amongst first off the plane, we were quick through Immigration, then our bags were first off the carousel, so only Customs to get through. So far it’s taken less than 10 minutes from when we got off the plane. I had checked the box on my Immigrstion form re bringing food back so as we were travelling together J had to come through the ‘something to declare’ line with me, but when I was asked what food I had, my reply of chocolate covered walnuts, vegemite, olive oil and tapenade meant they weren’t interested in me opening my suitcase. The Customs woman did ask me if I had any foi gras with me but I was able to assure her that no duck or goose had given up its liver for me. She then asked us if we had been to any vineyards and our answer was ‘hell yes’ but we hadn’t walked through the vineyards just as J told her, drunk lots of wine. And so we emerged through Customs unscathed. Claire will be picking us up shortly, but time for a real skinny latte, our first in a month, and the chance to finish up this tome.
Au revoir. 👩🏻✈️🙋🏼♀️👩❤️👩
Monday, 14 May 2018
Sunday, 13 May 2018
Singapore airport to home
Couple more comments added to yesterday’s blog. This keeps you on your toes and lets me checkout how many times each page is read! At one stage I had 48 followers. Didn’t realize I knew that many people.
So we have finished our day room stay after two showers and about 6 hours sleep. Had a light late lunch in the hotel lounge next door and then did our duty free shopping, where mine consisted of a malt whiskey purchase, no surprise there. Would you believe that DFS had 300 whiskies for sale and free whisky tastings out the front of the store. I was in whisky heaven... inside the store I was still deciding what to buy when the store assistant offered to let me taste a single malt he recommended. Who was I to knock back such a kind offer?
I had mentioned earlier to J that I had previously thought of buying one of those neck pillows but figured it would always be a nuisance to carry around. She rightly pointed out that if we continue to swan it around in Business Class we wouldn’t need one. Lo and behold, when I leave the duty free liquor store I have a go at their prize wheel at the front of the store and win a $15 Singapore voucher for on line purchases. I thanked them but said they could keep the voucher as we were about to head back to Oz. They also asked me if I had bought anything in the store and I told them of my Glenmorangie purchase so they then gave both J and I a little gift pack that had a set or ear plugs, an eye mask and a lovely soft blow up neck pillow! How flukey is that?
So now we are ensconced in the Silver Kris lounge, sampling a French Chardonnay (J is only a teensy bit put out that they have run out of the flash French champagne she really likes, but no drama as it will be offered again when we get on our plane tonight. Think I may have made an earlier mention that we are travelling BUSINESS Class.) and a variety of cheeses. We are allowed 40 kilos of luggage, and as my suitcase weighed under 25 kg, I’ve used the remaining excess to carry it all on my stomach and butt! Diet tomorrow, or the next day or buy more elastic waisted pants in a larger size... I’m opting for the latter at this stage.
Here’s your fun fact for the day, and I really love this one, so it’s a bonus for those of you who have hung in thus far.
Supposedly dating back to Catherine de Medici times, where the much maligned woman was accused of being a poisoner, around the 14th century, another European royalty female whose name escapes me was married off to a much older noble man while she was still in her teens. This often wasn’t such a bad thing as the old guy would hopefully die much sooner than his child bride, and the woman would inherit the title, lands, etc. But in this instance the old guy showed no signs of dying any time soon, so the wife had made for herself the ring style favoured by Catherine, where a hidden little area was created within a large raised area on a ring, in which potentially poison could be secreted, and then slipped into a drink unnoticed. Hope that makes sense how I’ve described it, cos it does in my head.
Anyway, the old guy got suspicious when his young wife gave the servants the day off, (paraphrasing here and maybe just a hint of poetic licence) and served him a glass of wine (it wasn’t actually glass in those days, but would have been a goblet of some sort so not obvious if any discolouration or powder sediment in the goblet). He’s nobody’s fool and is a bit suspicious of her motives so rather than make her swap his goblet with hers, he raises his goblet to hers to make them clink against each other. No standard measures here, these goblets would be full to the top, and so by clinking the goblets together some would spill into each other. Should his wife have attempted to poison him, then some of the poison would now be in her goblet too, and she wouldn’t drink from it. So that’s why we clink glasses prior to drinking, and also saying the equivalent of ‘good health’ in various languages to show that we aren’t trying to poison each other. I’m sure I’m driving J nuts, clinking glasses with her every time and saying that ‘there’s no poison in my glass’! How about that, she’s just refilled my glass and we are about to clink again!!! Perfect timing...
Can you hear her groaning from there? LOL 😂
Three hours til we are due to depart so I will leave you for now. Hopefully no dramas to follow but I will update to advise of our safe arrival home. Thank you for sharing this holiday with me. You will now need to put your passports away until next Janauary when a search for the Northern Lights has been booked, followed by a second visit to Iceland, so make sure you pack your thermal underwear.
Bon soir et bon voyage, mes amis! That’s French for ‘See ya later alligator!’ or at least something like that 👯♀️👯♀️👯♀️👸🏻
And here’s another late addition. the delightful Laura had emailed me our cabaret photo.
So we have finished our day room stay after two showers and about 6 hours sleep. Had a light late lunch in the hotel lounge next door and then did our duty free shopping, where mine consisted of a malt whiskey purchase, no surprise there. Would you believe that DFS had 300 whiskies for sale and free whisky tastings out the front of the store. I was in whisky heaven... inside the store I was still deciding what to buy when the store assistant offered to let me taste a single malt he recommended. Who was I to knock back such a kind offer?
I had mentioned earlier to J that I had previously thought of buying one of those neck pillows but figured it would always be a nuisance to carry around. She rightly pointed out that if we continue to swan it around in Business Class we wouldn’t need one. Lo and behold, when I leave the duty free liquor store I have a go at their prize wheel at the front of the store and win a $15 Singapore voucher for on line purchases. I thanked them but said they could keep the voucher as we were about to head back to Oz. They also asked me if I had bought anything in the store and I told them of my Glenmorangie purchase so they then gave both J and I a little gift pack that had a set or ear plugs, an eye mask and a lovely soft blow up neck pillow! How flukey is that?
So now we are ensconced in the Silver Kris lounge, sampling a French Chardonnay (J is only a teensy bit put out that they have run out of the flash French champagne she really likes, but no drama as it will be offered again when we get on our plane tonight. Think I may have made an earlier mention that we are travelling BUSINESS Class.) and a variety of cheeses. We are allowed 40 kilos of luggage, and as my suitcase weighed under 25 kg, I’ve used the remaining excess to carry it all on my stomach and butt! Diet tomorrow, or the next day or buy more elastic waisted pants in a larger size... I’m opting for the latter at this stage.
Here’s your fun fact for the day, and I really love this one, so it’s a bonus for those of you who have hung in thus far.
Supposedly dating back to Catherine de Medici times, where the much maligned woman was accused of being a poisoner, around the 14th century, another European royalty female whose name escapes me was married off to a much older noble man while she was still in her teens. This often wasn’t such a bad thing as the old guy would hopefully die much sooner than his child bride, and the woman would inherit the title, lands, etc. But in this instance the old guy showed no signs of dying any time soon, so the wife had made for herself the ring style favoured by Catherine, where a hidden little area was created within a large raised area on a ring, in which potentially poison could be secreted, and then slipped into a drink unnoticed. Hope that makes sense how I’ve described it, cos it does in my head.
Anyway, the old guy got suspicious when his young wife gave the servants the day off, (paraphrasing here and maybe just a hint of poetic licence) and served him a glass of wine (it wasn’t actually glass in those days, but would have been a goblet of some sort so not obvious if any discolouration or powder sediment in the goblet). He’s nobody’s fool and is a bit suspicious of her motives so rather than make her swap his goblet with hers, he raises his goblet to hers to make them clink against each other. No standard measures here, these goblets would be full to the top, and so by clinking the goblets together some would spill into each other. Should his wife have attempted to poison him, then some of the poison would now be in her goblet too, and she wouldn’t drink from it. So that’s why we clink glasses prior to drinking, and also saying the equivalent of ‘good health’ in various languages to show that we aren’t trying to poison each other. I’m sure I’m driving J nuts, clinking glasses with her every time and saying that ‘there’s no poison in my glass’! How about that, she’s just refilled my glass and we are about to clink again!!! Perfect timing...
Can you hear her groaning from there? LOL 😂
Three hours til we are due to depart so I will leave you for now. Hopefully no dramas to follow but I will update to advise of our safe arrival home. Thank you for sharing this holiday with me. You will now need to put your passports away until next Janauary when a search for the Northern Lights has been booked, followed by a second visit to Iceland, so make sure you pack your thermal underwear.
Bon soir et bon voyage, mes amis! That’s French for ‘See ya later alligator!’ or at least something like that 👯♀️👯♀️👯♀️👸🏻
And here’s another late addition. the delightful Laura had emailed me our cabaret photo.
Paris to Singapore
Our flight was about 10 minutes late leaving, but arrived about 20 minutes early, so here we are now in the airport transit hotel, which was so brilliantly arranged by our fabulous travel agent, Kylie. Every regular traveller should have a Kylie in their life!
Forgot to mention earlier, that our bus ride to the airport was eventful. A separate coach company is used for airport transfers. There were 9 of us (including AH and Joe), so we were all seated towards the front. Our driver wasn’t at all chatty, but that didn’t matter. Traffic was reasonably light at it was 7 am on a Saturday. We had only been driving about 15 minutes when we scraped the guard rail on the right of the bus, the side I was sitting. The driver slowed down, but then kept going. I couldn’t see him from where I was sitting so asked the couple sitting directly behind him, if he was falling asleep as that seemed a reasonable conclusion from his poor driving, so they asked him if everything was ok, and he said yes, so we all kept our eyes firmly on the road from that point on. There had been a serious car accident on the freeway to the airport so that slowed us down considerably too with bumper to bumper traffic, but we eventually got past the hold up and were at Terminal 2 before 8 which was what was meant to happen. J and I needed to be dropped at Terminal 1 which is the old airport, so it didn’t mean much to us, but Terminal 2 is kind of in a figure 8. All the 7 others needed to be at Terminal 2, Gate E. The driver literally dumped them at Gate A and told them the gates are all connected, so they were left on the pavement with their suitcases, knowing that they were meant to be being met by an Insight person to help them with checking etc. Poor Buggers, especially Joe as I have no idea how they were to find their way to the proper gate as it is a maze. Anyway the driver leaves them and heads to our Terminal, but as we are arriving at our Termina1 he gets a phone call which he answers while driving and it is clearly the Insight lass trying to locate her 7 passengers at Gate E. I just hope everyone got to where they needed to be, as our driver didn’t care less. We have been so spoilt by excellent Insight drivers, that the morning’s bus ride was an experience of what shouldn’t happen. I’m just pleased we got to our correct spot in one piece!
So that little experience was now behind us. Our flight was uneventful, although I boarded the plane minus my toothpaste as apparently a half empty 110gm tube of Colgate toothpaste has the potential to bring down a plane so it was confiscated at bag check! Watched a couple of movies, ate too much and had a couple of glasses of a fabulous French Chardonnay, followed by lots of water. It got quite hot on the plane but even though I was on my flat bed trying to sleep, I didn’t think it reasonable to disrobe! Didn’t get a lot of sleep, keeping in mind we lost 6 hours straight away due to time difference . As we had a midday departure, I was trying to force myself to sleep at about 10 o’clock Singapore time but it was only 4 pm France time. Anyhow I was comfortable and most certainly better rested than what I would expect for a 13 plus hour flight squashed into economy seats.
We currently have showered, are accessing the free wifi for a while then I’m aiming to sleep for a few hours til we go for lunch (which is included in the transit hotel deal). (Kylie included the day hotel for us, which was about $230 as a separate cost.) We have the room for 12 hours which is an absolute god send, so will check out at about7 pm, thencheck out the duty free shops and then head to the Silver Kris lounge until our midnight departure.
Now to some stories about two of the characters on the second tour.
You may recall on an earlier blog entry, that I mentioned that the fire alarm was going off in our hotel, and when I went to check at reception, I was ignored, as the staff member was busy giving Sylvia some toilet rolls. Little did I know until later (and this info came from Shona) that the next day, Sylvia was telling Shona that she was a criminal as she’d stolen a toilet roll and tissues and secreted them in her luggage! She then went on to say that she had folded up the quilt on the bed and put it...., at which point Shona is having conniptions, convinced Sylvia is a kleptomaniac and no doubt the hotel will be calling her soon to complain about the stolen property, but Sylvia finished her sentence by saying that she folded up the quilt and put it in the corner as it was too hot on the bed! The woman is an absolute cracker! Her New York accent makes me want to laugh out loud every time she speaks. Apparently she was a lecturer in Russian literature and speaks about 5 languages, however much of the time I’m sure she doesn’t know what day it is...
At yesterday morning’s breakfast she came and sat next to me. It must have taken her 10 minutes to sort the food out on her plate, which only consisted of an orange and a couple of pieces of bread. At one stage while I was up at the buffet getting something I saw her at the cheeses trying to cut some. When I asked her if I could help, she thought she was cutting butter, so I got her a butter packet from a nearby bowl, and she left the cheeses alone. From that point on, I was her ‘angel’. At 88 she has certainly lived a full life, but she really shouldn’t travel on her own. While she was trying to open a sugar cube packet to put in her coffee, she dropped the packet in the tea. Digging it out with a dessert spoon, she called herself a ‘pig’ but we managed to have a giggle over it anyway. I think I got up from our table at least twice more to get her things, like a knife, as I couldn’t bear to watch her go through the process of checking out every item on the buffet again... I must say though, that as ditsy as she is, she laughed at all my jokes, and thought I was hilarious. Good grief, I thought I was back at work dealing with one of my kittens, then I realized that I’m off to Broome with 15 of them in about 3 weeks. I’m thinking that my days of herding kittens are coming to a close, as it really can be bloody hard work. And as much as I was critical H and A’s lack of wardrobe change over the 3 plus weeks, Sylvia wore the same thing every day, adding a black beanie and round dark sunglasses when outdoors and in the coach. However I did notice she. Hanged her socks once, as the earlier pair she had been wearing for days were ankle socks with a rubber band holding up the top of each sock. Bless her!
However, that’s not the purpose of today’s ramblings.
Now to Joe, who is in his 80s and lives in Las Vegas, previously of Pennsylvania. Joe walks with a walking stick, does not have a left hand and has fingers missing from his right hand. Due to his disability he was very slow when our group did any walking tours, and often Shona would need to try and locate a wheel chair for him to push him around. there aren’t lots of good pavements in Europe and we were visiting beaches and tunnels and quite a bit of stair climbing and walking on uneven cobblestones, so he was choosing not to do a number of things, just like Sylvia who often wanted to simply stay on the coach to sleep or search repeatedly through her carry on bags for goodness knows what, as she never seemed to find it. At one stage while Shona had her hands full with Sylvia I helped Joe with some small thing, can’t even remember what it was. He was worried that he was being a nuisance, and I said something stupid like that it is my lot in life to wait on men. Joe’s actually quite shy, but he told me that I reminded him of a movie actress, so as long as he wasn’t referring to Lassie, I was interested to hear who I thought it might be. Well, according to Joe I remind him of Betsy Palmer. I hadn’t heard of her, but he knows all his old movies and claims to have met lots of the stars most particularly since living in Vegas. Apparently she was in a movie with Tyrone Power (or is it Powell) so from then on, he called me Betsy and I called him Tyrone. We became extra good mates at the champagne testing as he was sitting at the back of the room so I kept going up to the counter and getting his tastings each time, and every time, he called me Betsy.Then another older African American guy on our tour Sam, who was spending some time with Joe (mainly because his wife was always shopping every chance she got!) and he decided I looked like Betsy too, so that’s who I was to these guys.
At our farewell dinner two night ago when I went around the tables, taking photos of everyone, when I took Joe’s photo he referred to me as Betsy and so had to explain who he says I remind him of. With that, 2 of the Australians from Melbourne said, “No, we think she looks like Evonne Goolagong”. What the???
So I leave it with you to decide who is right. LOL.
Forgot to mention earlier, that our bus ride to the airport was eventful. A separate coach company is used for airport transfers. There were 9 of us (including AH and Joe), so we were all seated towards the front. Our driver wasn’t at all chatty, but that didn’t matter. Traffic was reasonably light at it was 7 am on a Saturday. We had only been driving about 15 minutes when we scraped the guard rail on the right of the bus, the side I was sitting. The driver slowed down, but then kept going. I couldn’t see him from where I was sitting so asked the couple sitting directly behind him, if he was falling asleep as that seemed a reasonable conclusion from his poor driving, so they asked him if everything was ok, and he said yes, so we all kept our eyes firmly on the road from that point on. There had been a serious car accident on the freeway to the airport so that slowed us down considerably too with bumper to bumper traffic, but we eventually got past the hold up and were at Terminal 2 before 8 which was what was meant to happen. J and I needed to be dropped at Terminal 1 which is the old airport, so it didn’t mean much to us, but Terminal 2 is kind of in a figure 8. All the 7 others needed to be at Terminal 2, Gate E. The driver literally dumped them at Gate A and told them the gates are all connected, so they were left on the pavement with their suitcases, knowing that they were meant to be being met by an Insight person to help them with checking etc. Poor Buggers, especially Joe as I have no idea how they were to find their way to the proper gate as it is a maze. Anyway the driver leaves them and heads to our Terminal, but as we are arriving at our Termina1 he gets a phone call which he answers while driving and it is clearly the Insight lass trying to locate her 7 passengers at Gate E. I just hope everyone got to where they needed to be, as our driver didn’t care less. We have been so spoilt by excellent Insight drivers, that the morning’s bus ride was an experience of what shouldn’t happen. I’m just pleased we got to our correct spot in one piece!
So that little experience was now behind us. Our flight was uneventful, although I boarded the plane minus my toothpaste as apparently a half empty 110gm tube of Colgate toothpaste has the potential to bring down a plane so it was confiscated at bag check! Watched a couple of movies, ate too much and had a couple of glasses of a fabulous French Chardonnay, followed by lots of water. It got quite hot on the plane but even though I was on my flat bed trying to sleep, I didn’t think it reasonable to disrobe! Didn’t get a lot of sleep, keeping in mind we lost 6 hours straight away due to time difference . As we had a midday departure, I was trying to force myself to sleep at about 10 o’clock Singapore time but it was only 4 pm France time. Anyhow I was comfortable and most certainly better rested than what I would expect for a 13 plus hour flight squashed into economy seats.
We currently have showered, are accessing the free wifi for a while then I’m aiming to sleep for a few hours til we go for lunch (which is included in the transit hotel deal). (Kylie included the day hotel for us, which was about $230 as a separate cost.) We have the room for 12 hours which is an absolute god send, so will check out at about7 pm, thencheck out the duty free shops and then head to the Silver Kris lounge until our midnight departure.
Now to some stories about two of the characters on the second tour.
You may recall on an earlier blog entry, that I mentioned that the fire alarm was going off in our hotel, and when I went to check at reception, I was ignored, as the staff member was busy giving Sylvia some toilet rolls. Little did I know until later (and this info came from Shona) that the next day, Sylvia was telling Shona that she was a criminal as she’d stolen a toilet roll and tissues and secreted them in her luggage! She then went on to say that she had folded up the quilt on the bed and put it...., at which point Shona is having conniptions, convinced Sylvia is a kleptomaniac and no doubt the hotel will be calling her soon to complain about the stolen property, but Sylvia finished her sentence by saying that she folded up the quilt and put it in the corner as it was too hot on the bed! The woman is an absolute cracker! Her New York accent makes me want to laugh out loud every time she speaks. Apparently she was a lecturer in Russian literature and speaks about 5 languages, however much of the time I’m sure she doesn’t know what day it is...
At yesterday morning’s breakfast she came and sat next to me. It must have taken her 10 minutes to sort the food out on her plate, which only consisted of an orange and a couple of pieces of bread. At one stage while I was up at the buffet getting something I saw her at the cheeses trying to cut some. When I asked her if I could help, she thought she was cutting butter, so I got her a butter packet from a nearby bowl, and she left the cheeses alone. From that point on, I was her ‘angel’. At 88 she has certainly lived a full life, but she really shouldn’t travel on her own. While she was trying to open a sugar cube packet to put in her coffee, she dropped the packet in the tea. Digging it out with a dessert spoon, she called herself a ‘pig’ but we managed to have a giggle over it anyway. I think I got up from our table at least twice more to get her things, like a knife, as I couldn’t bear to watch her go through the process of checking out every item on the buffet again... I must say though, that as ditsy as she is, she laughed at all my jokes, and thought I was hilarious. Good grief, I thought I was back at work dealing with one of my kittens, then I realized that I’m off to Broome with 15 of them in about 3 weeks. I’m thinking that my days of herding kittens are coming to a close, as it really can be bloody hard work. And as much as I was critical H and A’s lack of wardrobe change over the 3 plus weeks, Sylvia wore the same thing every day, adding a black beanie and round dark sunglasses when outdoors and in the coach. However I did notice she. Hanged her socks once, as the earlier pair she had been wearing for days were ankle socks with a rubber band holding up the top of each sock. Bless her!
However, that’s not the purpose of today’s ramblings.
Now to Joe, who is in his 80s and lives in Las Vegas, previously of Pennsylvania. Joe walks with a walking stick, does not have a left hand and has fingers missing from his right hand. Due to his disability he was very slow when our group did any walking tours, and often Shona would need to try and locate a wheel chair for him to push him around. there aren’t lots of good pavements in Europe and we were visiting beaches and tunnels and quite a bit of stair climbing and walking on uneven cobblestones, so he was choosing not to do a number of things, just like Sylvia who often wanted to simply stay on the coach to sleep or search repeatedly through her carry on bags for goodness knows what, as she never seemed to find it. At one stage while Shona had her hands full with Sylvia I helped Joe with some small thing, can’t even remember what it was. He was worried that he was being a nuisance, and I said something stupid like that it is my lot in life to wait on men. Joe’s actually quite shy, but he told me that I reminded him of a movie actress, so as long as he wasn’t referring to Lassie, I was interested to hear who I thought it might be. Well, according to Joe I remind him of Betsy Palmer. I hadn’t heard of her, but he knows all his old movies and claims to have met lots of the stars most particularly since living in Vegas. Apparently she was in a movie with Tyrone Power (or is it Powell) so from then on, he called me Betsy and I called him Tyrone. We became extra good mates at the champagne testing as he was sitting at the back of the room so I kept going up to the counter and getting his tastings each time, and every time, he called me Betsy.Then another older African American guy on our tour Sam, who was spending some time with Joe (mainly because his wife was always shopping every chance she got!) and he decided I looked like Betsy too, so that’s who I was to these guys.
At our farewell dinner two night ago when I went around the tables, taking photos of everyone, when I took Joe’s photo he referred to me as Betsy and so had to explain who he says I remind him of. With that, 2 of the Australians from Melbourne said, “No, we think she looks like Evonne Goolagong”. What the???
So I leave it with you to decide who is right. LOL.
Saturday, 12 May 2018
Paris - last day of our tour
Having arrived in Paris I’ve spent a lot of time finally getting some photos uploaded so if you are interested, check back over the last couple of days as I’ve tried to include photos relative to the commentary, howeverr I need to get to bed now for an early departure for the airport so didn’t finish yesterday’s photos or provide any info on today’s adventures. Hopefully will have time at the airport to get this damn blog up to date!!! Oh, the pressure.....
Here I am, back again, currently sitting in the Star Alliance lounge at Charles de Gaulle airport... cos we’re Business Class. Our transport from the hotel left at 7 am, got us here at 8 am and our flight doesn’t go til midday, so here’s my chance to bring the blog up to date re our last day in France. We left our lovely chateau to make our way to Paris. Lovely farming land nearly all the way. Near where we had been staying were Les Troglodytes which were a long row of houses and buildings where many were built back into caves on the hill face. I was hoping to see actual dinosaurs but clearly this must be the French version where they suggests the caves are that old, that dinosaurs could have lived in them.
We then have an early lunch stop at La Beauce, Chartres Cathedral. Rodin called it the ‘Acropolis’ Of France. It has beautiful stained glass windows and the huge rose window at the front is the same size as the ‘pilgims circle’ on the floor of the interior. Apparently near the end on WWII the advancing Americans were ordered to bomb the cathedral, but prior to blindly following orders, the General in charge, clandestinely checked out the cathedral and determined that the Germans had not taken it over and was able to get the order to destroy it withdrawn, so saving the church. The townspeople had removed every bit of stained glass to protect it should the building be bombed, hiding it in cellars and caves, so after the war had it painstakingly reinserted. Of recent times the interior has been restored to its original ‘white’ colour and this work is on going. What hasn’t been restored is so dark, that I thought much of the ornate carvings were timber! The frieze of the life of Christ was brilliantly done.
We grabbed a baguette at a little cafe, no wine included (which wa a first for us) and time to get back on the coach as we head for Paris. Once back in the city, we stop across the park from the Eiffel Tower for our group photo. Weather is perfect, about 21.
Past lots of famous buildings as we head to our hotel, which is the same one we started at 3 weeks ago.
At the hotel, we agree to meet with K and G for a farewell drink at a nearby bar. They are a lovely couple and we have all agreed to stay in touch. J will no doubt miss her wine buddy in G, whereas we two Karens were happy to drink any white wine placed in front of us. Doubt J will miss my eye rolling and exasperated mutterings of ‘Lord, take me now!’ When she and G would be waxing lyrical about different grapes, the regions they came from, the side of the hill they were grown on and how many hours of sunshine each blessed grape gets! And don’t start me on Tasting Notes... LOL!
Its only a quick drink as KG are heading out to the cabaret show in an hour, whereas J and I are planning an early night that has the key focus of getting our suitcases packed. So back to the hotel we go and packing is well underway. One of the flourishes (gifts) that Shona gave as all was a small bottle of champagne, so I put my bottle in an ice bucket, chilled it and that is what we had to drink during our packing saga, along with a small packet of biscuits that were another flourish we were given along the way.
The view from our room isn’t majestic, but it is still interesting.
Took ourselves back to the same little bar next to the hotel and had dinner, which was chicken risotto, however I misread the menu, thinking I would get chicken pieces in the risotto, but instead had a sliced baked chicken breast in a lovely cream light mustard sauce plus a small bowl size of risotto and a small green salad, plus ofcourse the obligatory crusty bread and a petit Chablis. Dinner was really, really good. back to the hotel and J put herself to bed at 8.30 but as I am a martyr to this darn blog, stayed up until I had uploaded most of my photos and tried to get the blog more up to date.
And there you have it dear armchair travellers. So comes to an end our French Heritage tour, consisting of the Country Roads tour plus the Normandy, Brittany and Loire Valley tour.
However, from comments provided from a couple of you, I am concerned that you may suffer withdrawal symptoms similar to jet lag, from our journeying together, so will have a further update tomorrow where I will share some of the bits and pieces of our holiday that did not make the daily blogs. I’m keen for you to meet Joe from Las Vegas and an update on Sylvia from New York...
Here I am, back again, currently sitting in the Star Alliance lounge at Charles de Gaulle airport... cos we’re Business Class. Our transport from the hotel left at 7 am, got us here at 8 am and our flight doesn’t go til midday, so here’s my chance to bring the blog up to date re our last day in France. We left our lovely chateau to make our way to Paris. Lovely farming land nearly all the way. Near where we had been staying were Les Troglodytes which were a long row of houses and buildings where many were built back into caves on the hill face. I was hoping to see actual dinosaurs but clearly this must be the French version where they suggests the caves are that old, that dinosaurs could have lived in them.
We then have an early lunch stop at La Beauce, Chartres Cathedral. Rodin called it the ‘Acropolis’ Of France. It has beautiful stained glass windows and the huge rose window at the front is the same size as the ‘pilgims circle’ on the floor of the interior. Apparently near the end on WWII the advancing Americans were ordered to bomb the cathedral, but prior to blindly following orders, the General in charge, clandestinely checked out the cathedral and determined that the Germans had not taken it over and was able to get the order to destroy it withdrawn, so saving the church. The townspeople had removed every bit of stained glass to protect it should the building be bombed, hiding it in cellars and caves, so after the war had it painstakingly reinserted. Of recent times the interior has been restored to its original ‘white’ colour and this work is on going. What hasn’t been restored is so dark, that I thought much of the ornate carvings were timber! The frieze of the life of Christ was brilliantly done.
We grabbed a baguette at a little cafe, no wine included (which wa a first for us) and time to get back on the coach as we head for Paris. Once back in the city, we stop across the park from the Eiffel Tower for our group photo. Weather is perfect, about 21.
Past lots of famous buildings as we head to our hotel, which is the same one we started at 3 weeks ago.
At the hotel, we agree to meet with K and G for a farewell drink at a nearby bar. They are a lovely couple and we have all agreed to stay in touch. J will no doubt miss her wine buddy in G, whereas we two Karens were happy to drink any white wine placed in front of us. Doubt J will miss my eye rolling and exasperated mutterings of ‘Lord, take me now!’ When she and G would be waxing lyrical about different grapes, the regions they came from, the side of the hill they were grown on and how many hours of sunshine each blessed grape gets! And don’t start me on Tasting Notes... LOL!
Its only a quick drink as KG are heading out to the cabaret show in an hour, whereas J and I are planning an early night that has the key focus of getting our suitcases packed. So back to the hotel we go and packing is well underway. One of the flourishes (gifts) that Shona gave as all was a small bottle of champagne, so I put my bottle in an ice bucket, chilled it and that is what we had to drink during our packing saga, along with a small packet of biscuits that were another flourish we were given along the way.
The view from our room isn’t majestic, but it is still interesting.
Took ourselves back to the same little bar next to the hotel and had dinner, which was chicken risotto, however I misread the menu, thinking I would get chicken pieces in the risotto, but instead had a sliced baked chicken breast in a lovely cream light mustard sauce plus a small bowl size of risotto and a small green salad, plus ofcourse the obligatory crusty bread and a petit Chablis. Dinner was really, really good. back to the hotel and J put herself to bed at 8.30 but as I am a martyr to this darn blog, stayed up until I had uploaded most of my photos and tried to get the blog more up to date.
And there you have it dear armchair travellers. So comes to an end our French Heritage tour, consisting of the Country Roads tour plus the Normandy, Brittany and Loire Valley tour.
However, from comments provided from a couple of you, I am concerned that you may suffer withdrawal symptoms similar to jet lag, from our journeying together, so will have a further update tomorrow where I will share some of the bits and pieces of our holiday that did not make the daily blogs. I’m keen for you to meet Joe from Las Vegas and an update on Sylvia from New York...
Friday, 11 May 2018
Chenonceaux and Villandry
Another cool morning but should have more sunshine as the day goes on.
After breakfast we are on the coach at 8.30 for an optional tour of Chateau de Chononceau. Our local guide is Mary Lou. The chateau is most famous as the home of Diane de Poitiers, mistress of King Henri II. She was a good twenty years older than him and rumour had it he was infatuated with her as a young boy. I remember her from my Jean Plaidy novels I loved so much as a teenager, and always felt sorry for Catherine de Medici who was married to Henri when they were both 14, but Diane was always in the way, meddling and ensuring Catherine never had a chance with Henri. (Hmmm, sounds a bit like a certain royal fellow with bloody big ears infatuated with a horse faced woman who never gave his young wife a chance...). Anyhow, back to the history lesson. Henri gave Diane the chateau as she loved it so much and went about tissying it up and planting lovely manicured gardens.
When Henri died, in fact it may have been just before he even breathed his last, Cate banished Di from it and claimed it as her own, adding her own gardens and finishing other building projects that Di had commenced. The gardens Di created were among some of the most spectacular and modern at the time. By building the bridge on the River Cher, she made the architecture of the chateau unique in the world.
We had a good wander through all the rooms open to the public. There were some huge tapestries and great paintings. The gilt frame on the Louis IV picture which he gave to the owner of the Chateau at the time, because he slept there once, is especially grand. Poor Catherine was however no oil painting, no pun intended.
The great gallery which was two floors, was used as a hospital during the First World War so the place has certainly seen some amazing historical events.
Time to grab some lunch from the buffet style service that truly needed better management, where I had a bit of quiche and shared a quarter carafe of very average white wine with J. As we head back to the coach along the avenue of trees, J spots a maze that she simply has to go into! I’m very proud of her as she did a fine job of making her way to the centre, however took slightly longer finding her way out...
but back on the coach we go, to return to our hotel for 20 minutes to collect those who didn’t do this optional morning tour, as we now head to Villandy, considered the jewel of the Loire which has magnificent formal gardens. Mary Lou takes us to the terrace of the chateau where we have the best views of the entire gardens. They are magnificent. If we were here later in the year, the colour scheme for the flowers would be very different as there would be a great profusion of tulips, whereas right now the colour is mainly derived from forget me nots. It is still quite beautiful though. Each section of the garden has a theme. There is a kitchen garden, full of green herbs, silvery cabbages and purple basil.
I thought there might be more water features, but there is more reliance on hedge plants manicured to within an inch of their lives. Certainly worth seeing.
Time for a quick white wine just before we leave and then back on the coach to return to our hotel for a couple of hours (thank goodness) before we are to all meet on the terrace for celebration drinks, put on by Insight. Our chateau really is a beautiful building with gorgeous rooms, but like many of our accommodations, there is very little free time to enjoy our surroundings, and that’s about my only criticism of these tours.
Between K and G and us we still have lots of champagne and nibbles to work our way through, so agree to meet in KG’s room after we have had a chance to freshen
up a bit. So a very pleasant champagne, wine and nibbles extended happy hour in their room. then it is time to meet with all our other travellers out on the terrace. As we are in a chateau and it is our last night together as J and I won’t be going a second time to the cabaret in Paris tomorrow night, I deem it only right and proper to wear my Burger King crown to the event. What a hoot! Everyone wanted their photo taken with me! I even had my faithful,followers curtsying and bowing to me... Lots of laughter and good cheer. Then it was time to go in to dinner. We sat with K and G, Kee, Lyn, and Dean and Sue from Melbourne. Unsurprisingly, our table had the best fun.
Dinner really was lovely. 100% on last night. Starter was fried Camembert and salad, main was a lovely chicken dish and dessert was a combination of chocolate mousse and a toffee ice cream. White wine was my choice of the day.
Kee had told us that he was a self taught pianist who liked playing the piano so when most people had left the dining room, we cajoled him into playing a couple of tunes for us. J kindly remained silent when they were asking if anyone else played the piano, for as a few of you know, I only play for my own amusement having been ‘forced’ into playing as a child.
But then our evening drew to a close and it is time again for bed. Still no reasonable wifi opportunity to upload photos. Bloody frustrating. Hopefully when we get back to Paris tomorrow we will have some luck! Our holiday is almost at an end and it really has been a cracker.
After breakfast we are on the coach at 8.30 for an optional tour of Chateau de Chononceau. Our local guide is Mary Lou. The chateau is most famous as the home of Diane de Poitiers, mistress of King Henri II. She was a good twenty years older than him and rumour had it he was infatuated with her as a young boy. I remember her from my Jean Plaidy novels I loved so much as a teenager, and always felt sorry for Catherine de Medici who was married to Henri when they were both 14, but Diane was always in the way, meddling and ensuring Catherine never had a chance with Henri. (Hmmm, sounds a bit like a certain royal fellow with bloody big ears infatuated with a horse faced woman who never gave his young wife a chance...). Anyhow, back to the history lesson. Henri gave Diane the chateau as she loved it so much and went about tissying it up and planting lovely manicured gardens.
When Henri died, in fact it may have been just before he even breathed his last, Cate banished Di from it and claimed it as her own, adding her own gardens and finishing other building projects that Di had commenced. The gardens Di created were among some of the most spectacular and modern at the time. By building the bridge on the River Cher, she made the architecture of the chateau unique in the world.
We had a good wander through all the rooms open to the public. There were some huge tapestries and great paintings. The gilt frame on the Louis IV picture which he gave to the owner of the Chateau at the time, because he slept there once, is especially grand. Poor Catherine was however no oil painting, no pun intended.
The great gallery which was two floors, was used as a hospital during the First World War so the place has certainly seen some amazing historical events.
Time to grab some lunch from the buffet style service that truly needed better management, where I had a bit of quiche and shared a quarter carafe of very average white wine with J. As we head back to the coach along the avenue of trees, J spots a maze that she simply has to go into! I’m very proud of her as she did a fine job of making her way to the centre, however took slightly longer finding her way out...
but back on the coach we go, to return to our hotel for 20 minutes to collect those who didn’t do this optional morning tour, as we now head to Villandy, considered the jewel of the Loire which has magnificent formal gardens. Mary Lou takes us to the terrace of the chateau where we have the best views of the entire gardens. They are magnificent. If we were here later in the year, the colour scheme for the flowers would be very different as there would be a great profusion of tulips, whereas right now the colour is mainly derived from forget me nots. It is still quite beautiful though. Each section of the garden has a theme. There is a kitchen garden, full of green herbs, silvery cabbages and purple basil.
I thought there might be more water features, but there is more reliance on hedge plants manicured to within an inch of their lives. Certainly worth seeing.
Time for a quick white wine just before we leave and then back on the coach to return to our hotel for a couple of hours (thank goodness) before we are to all meet on the terrace for celebration drinks, put on by Insight. Our chateau really is a beautiful building with gorgeous rooms, but like many of our accommodations, there is very little free time to enjoy our surroundings, and that’s about my only criticism of these tours.
Between K and G and us we still have lots of champagne and nibbles to work our way through, so agree to meet in KG’s room after we have had a chance to freshen
up a bit. So a very pleasant champagne, wine and nibbles extended happy hour in their room. then it is time to meet with all our other travellers out on the terrace. As we are in a chateau and it is our last night together as J and I won’t be going a second time to the cabaret in Paris tomorrow night, I deem it only right and proper to wear my Burger King crown to the event. What a hoot! Everyone wanted their photo taken with me! I even had my faithful,followers curtsying and bowing to me... Lots of laughter and good cheer. Then it was time to go in to dinner. We sat with K and G, Kee, Lyn, and Dean and Sue from Melbourne. Unsurprisingly, our table had the best fun.
Dinner really was lovely. 100% on last night. Starter was fried Camembert and salad, main was a lovely chicken dish and dessert was a combination of chocolate mousse and a toffee ice cream. White wine was my choice of the day.
Kee had told us that he was a self taught pianist who liked playing the piano so when most people had left the dining room, we cajoled him into playing a couple of tunes for us. J kindly remained silent when they were asking if anyone else played the piano, for as a few of you know, I only play for my own amusement having been ‘forced’ into playing as a child.
But then our evening drew to a close and it is time again for bed. Still no reasonable wifi opportunity to upload photos. Bloody frustrating. Hopefully when we get back to Paris tomorrow we will have some luck! Our holiday is almost at an end and it really has been a cracker.
Thursday, 10 May 2018
Loire Valley
Sorry armchair travellers, but the wifi in the current hotel is so poor that I simply can’t upload photos so none yet for yesterday, a and until I find better wifi somewhere potentially no more photos for the next two days.
This morning it is grey skies again but where we are heading forecast is 21. So on the road again, and heading south to follow the valley of the Loire. Not a lot of breathtaking scenery on the 2 1/2 hour drive to Anjou, just lush green farmland and lots of trees. short stop in Anjou, but long enough to admire the fortified castle (outside only), and grab a coffee in a little bar. Fun facts for today, did you know that the reason castle walls often had rounded towers at the corners was specifically to stop the baddies from attempting to break holes in the wall at the corners, which were the weakest points? And did you know that the reason most spiral staircases in said castles have the widest part of the step on the left, is because most people are right handed and so if the baddie actually breaks into your tower and is coming up the staircase to pillage you, you would be at the top of your staircase, heading down, with your sword in your dominant hand, the right one, and the baddie would be disadvantaged using the narrow part of each step having to cross his right hand holding his sword across his body. And that’s why when we drive our cars, we keep to the left. The Yanks and Europeans have got it wrong...
Back in the coach and we get to the busy little village of Saumur where we go to Bouvet Ladubay cellars for a tour of their premises plus champagne tasting! We had the process of making champagne explained to us, which was really interesting. Now I know how they get the bubbles in each bottle. We then had a tour of their cave cellars which are now UNESCO Heritage listed (like nearly every other structure in France, so it seems) and they are amazing. The premises no longer bottle or store the champagne here, it is purely a tourist site) so some artist whose name meant nothing to me was commissioned to create what to all intents and purposes has made the caves look like recovered ancient ruins. It was quite interesting and cleverly done. Not a big fan of the sparking wines, but I took one for the team and tried all four offered. I’m good like that.
Our home for the next two nights is Chateau Rochecotte. It’s quite lovely and our room is nice, very French provincial, but the two single beds jammed right next to each may prove problematic, as it may prove too tempting to simply lean over and smother J in her sleep should the snoring become too much to bear. Our ensuite on the other hand is huge with both a shower over the full bath, plus a second stand alone walk in shower. Hip, hip, hooray. Suppose I could always drag a mattress and pillow into the bath if I want my own room.
Enough of this nonsense though. Am very frustrated that I can’t add any photos for you, seeing as some of you seem to enjoy the piccies more than the dialogue, but it is time for bed so you will just have to come back again later for more. Good night.
Back again for another try to at least finish ramblings for the day. J and Glen are wine officionados. (I just drink it.) so when we were at the champagne tasting, they each bought some bottles which meant it only fit and proper to plan to drink them! After we arrived at our chateau, a quick change of clothes and then off to Karen and Glen’s really big room as it had four chairs, and we had our first happy hour that involved champagne plus the nibbles purchased from the supermarket earlier. It’s all a bit of a problem that none of the rooms have fridges so yesterday afternoon J was at least able to get 1 bottle placed in the cooler on the coach where the driver stores all the bottled water! Our next happy hour will require a few buckets of ice from reception, I fear. Anyway we had a nice but brief time with them and so it was back on the coach for our optional dinner in Loire at a traditional family owned restaurant that Shona had raved about. Our group were at 2 long tables and I sat at the end of one so no fear of being anywhere near AH. Funnily enough K and G were telling us about the crazy people in the room next to them. Guess who? LOL. The meal was really disappointing. My salmon starter needed dressing on the lettuce and the roast chicken was moist but boring. Dessert was a nougat glacé that consisted of ice cream with a few crushed nuts and a couple of glacé cherries mixed in it, with a biscuit crumble on top. No free flowing wine either, and I reckon my white wine was watered down so this certainly was my least preferred optional event. At one stage while the desserts were being given out, J, K &G were waiting on their apple pie when the wife of the chef comes out and tells them “Impossible!” I tell her to check the list as she clearly isn’t going to give them apple pie, but when she starts calling out names, thankfully theirs were the first ones on the list so they got their pie. I was waiting to see if she was going to snatch away a plate from someone if they had taken the wrong dessert, but it all somehow worked out. It was the best part of the evening, Fawlty Towers style. Back on the coach after much kissing of everyone’s cheeks by the chef and back to our rooms for bed. So ended our day.
This morning it is grey skies again but where we are heading forecast is 21. So on the road again, and heading south to follow the valley of the Loire. Not a lot of breathtaking scenery on the 2 1/2 hour drive to Anjou, just lush green farmland and lots of trees. short stop in Anjou, but long enough to admire the fortified castle (outside only), and grab a coffee in a little bar. Fun facts for today, did you know that the reason castle walls often had rounded towers at the corners was specifically to stop the baddies from attempting to break holes in the wall at the corners, which were the weakest points? And did you know that the reason most spiral staircases in said castles have the widest part of the step on the left, is because most people are right handed and so if the baddie actually breaks into your tower and is coming up the staircase to pillage you, you would be at the top of your staircase, heading down, with your sword in your dominant hand, the right one, and the baddie would be disadvantaged using the narrow part of each step having to cross his right hand holding his sword across his body. And that’s why when we drive our cars, we keep to the left. The Yanks and Europeans have got it wrong...
Back in the coach and we get to the busy little village of Saumur where we go to Bouvet Ladubay cellars for a tour of their premises plus champagne tasting! We had the process of making champagne explained to us, which was really interesting. Now I know how they get the bubbles in each bottle. We then had a tour of their cave cellars which are now UNESCO Heritage listed (like nearly every other structure in France, so it seems) and they are amazing. The premises no longer bottle or store the champagne here, it is purely a tourist site) so some artist whose name meant nothing to me was commissioned to create what to all intents and purposes has made the caves look like recovered ancient ruins. It was quite interesting and cleverly done. Not a big fan of the sparking wines, but I took one for the team and tried all four offered. I’m good like that.
Back on the coach again and then into the city centre for our lunch stop. Karen, Glen, J and I found what looked like a reasonable restaurant and sat outside for our meal. I had pasta carbonara which was nice, along with the mandatory glass of white wine. A mad rush to find a supermarket to stock up on some goodies for planned happy hours then back on the coach as we head to the Castle of Usse. The fortified chateau was built in 1455 and underwent various transformations until the 16th century when it was more a country chateau built more for comfort of the residents, than safety. It certainly was an impressive building and along the outer ramparts a number of rooms were set up to tell the story of Sleeping Beauty. I was a bit underwhelmed with these depictions as I was expecting more Madame Tussaud style figures instead of the more store clothing mannequins used, however the thought was good and the children that were there seemed to enjoy it. The gardens were lovely but I’d had enough of wandering about the chateau so bought J and I an ice cream so that we sat near the coach until it was time to board and head for our hotel.
Our home for the next two nights is Chateau Rochecotte. It’s quite lovely and our room is nice, very French provincial, but the two single beds jammed right next to each may prove problematic, as it may prove too tempting to simply lean over and smother J in her sleep should the snoring become too much to bear. Our ensuite on the other hand is huge with both a shower over the full bath, plus a second stand alone walk in shower. Hip, hip, hooray. Suppose I could always drag a mattress and pillow into the bath if I want my own room.
Enough of this nonsense though. Am very frustrated that I can’t add any photos for you, seeing as some of you seem to enjoy the piccies more than the dialogue, but it is time for bed so you will just have to come back again later for more. Good night.
Back again for another try to at least finish ramblings for the day. J and Glen are wine officionados. (I just drink it.) so when we were at the champagne tasting, they each bought some bottles which meant it only fit and proper to plan to drink them! After we arrived at our chateau, a quick change of clothes and then off to Karen and Glen’s really big room as it had four chairs, and we had our first happy hour that involved champagne plus the nibbles purchased from the supermarket earlier. It’s all a bit of a problem that none of the rooms have fridges so yesterday afternoon J was at least able to get 1 bottle placed in the cooler on the coach where the driver stores all the bottled water! Our next happy hour will require a few buckets of ice from reception, I fear. Anyway we had a nice but brief time with them and so it was back on the coach for our optional dinner in Loire at a traditional family owned restaurant that Shona had raved about. Our group were at 2 long tables and I sat at the end of one so no fear of being anywhere near AH. Funnily enough K and G were telling us about the crazy people in the room next to them. Guess who? LOL. The meal was really disappointing. My salmon starter needed dressing on the lettuce and the roast chicken was moist but boring. Dessert was a nougat glacé that consisted of ice cream with a few crushed nuts and a couple of glacé cherries mixed in it, with a biscuit crumble on top. No free flowing wine either, and I reckon my white wine was watered down so this certainly was my least preferred optional event. At one stage while the desserts were being given out, J, K &G were waiting on their apple pie when the wife of the chef comes out and tells them “Impossible!” I tell her to check the list as she clearly isn’t going to give them apple pie, but when she starts calling out names, thankfully theirs were the first ones on the list so they got their pie. I was waiting to see if she was going to snatch away a plate from someone if they had taken the wrong dessert, but it all somehow worked out. It was the best part of the evening, Fawlty Towers style. Back on the coach after much kissing of everyone’s cheeks by the chef and back to our rooms for bed. So ended our day.
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