Friday (6/10) - holiday time

I should have noted that at the end of yesterday we were outside on the terrace having a nice glass of Monbazillac white when tiny bats appeared overhead - 3 of them.  The sky was still quite light but the sun had gone.  I recalled a similar evening at home with my brother Dave - where we watched bats flitting about above us.  It was a great end to the day.

Friday:
We decided to have a quiet "close to home day" as it was our last full day here at Couze.  As always I woke early & was downstairs before 6.  When Rhonda appeared we Skyped home & luckily for us we were able to talk to all 3 kids - about 5:30 Friday night for them.  So after this lovely pick-me-up we then got on with our day.

We'd found in a book of Dordogne walks in the house that there was a 10.5 km local walk & we decided to do it. The walking wasn't difficult & the scenery was pleasant except for a few overly protective dogs. And given our later start to the day we ended up walking through the sacred 12 - 2 lunch break.  We saw plenty of people on their terraces having lunch & we passed one restaurant in a village of about 50 houses that was full.  And we walked past a lumber yard where a group of guys was playing petanque in the yard under a tree - all very civilised while we strode by in the midday sun. 

We ended up seeing more of the village of Couze, including some caves that were at one stage turned into houses.  And after this walk we rewarded ourselves with a beer at the local.  While French beer is not renowned for its excellence, after a 10km walk any beer was going to be good.

There were 3 reasons for the walk: 1) to explore the neighbourhood 2) we'd got a bit slack on our walking & knew that we'd be back into it in Paris, so thought we needed to keep the walking going & 3) we had booked to go back to Au Fil de L'eau & thought that we needed to burn off a few kilojoules before we ate there again!

We'd also deliberately not eaten much during the day & as we were quite hungry we had to hold ourselves back from being at the restaurant door when it opened.  But we managed to stroll in a bit after 7:30 & we weren't the 1st ones there - whew.

I wont go into details about the meal except to say that it was incredible.  We took our time, enjoyed everything we ate & were amongst the last 5 tables to leave. We wandered up the hill feeling really as relaxed as one can be & just a little sad that this leg of our holiday was drawing to a close.

Thursday/Friday Paris to Singapore

We had an 8am pick up which arrived on time & off we went through the Paris morning traffic to Charles de Gaulle airport.  We went from dodging around delivery trucks in single lane roads to being on a freeway with an 80 kph limit & doing 130 kph.  But all was good & we got dropped off right by the Singapore Airlines counter.

We had been unable to checkin online, so had to take pot luck with seat allocations.  I’d been hoping that either on the trip out or back we would get to ride in an Airbus 380 & was delighted to see that this trip was on such a plane.  After hanging around a bit (as you always seem to do at airports) we were onto the plane. 

Like most flights there were good & bad features.  I haven’t checked the facts, but think that the A380 has more space for passengers than most other planes.  It felt very reasonable for “cattle class”.  However we had the ubiquitous screaming child 3 rows ahead.  This 2 -3 year old screamed and cried for perhaps 10 of the 12 hours.  “I want to get off now” “I want daddy’s phone now” etc.  At least 7 rows (70 people) were kept awake by the performance.  Interestingly we sat with a young Australian lad (perhaps 15?) who was travelling with his parents.  But they were sitting separately because mother got the dates wrong & their flight had left the day before & they’d missed it.  I wouldn’t have wanted to be in their shoes – oh – that sick feeling when you’d found out you’d missed the plane & it was your fault!

Anyway – the 12.5 hours went OK & so here we are in Singapore.  While we were booked to go back into a hotel in downtown Singapore, a few days ago, in looking at our schedule we decided to abandon this idea and stay at the airport.  So we’re holed up at the Crowne Plaza which is in T3 where we landed.  The hotel staff have been wonderful.  We arrived at the check in counter just after 7am & our room was ready – so it was upstairs for a shower and bed – after missing a night’s sleep. 

We’ve checked in & already had our cases checked in – just a couple of things we don’t have to do tomorrow morning.  So with all of that organised it just remains to get on the plane tomorrow & effectively there the holiday will end.  And this seems to also be the right place to sign off this blog.  Its been a great 5 weeks – perhaps too long to be away from home & work.  But we’re already thinking about our next tour - where & when.

PS - arrived safely in Adelaide to be met by Lainie & Glen - which was so nice. Great to see smiling faces. We're home - Buddy was happy to see us - though we may have been more excited than him!.  

The house is clean & the weeds are 5 feet high!  So back to a lovely reality of a home cooked green Thai curry - lots to chat & off to bed to try to realign our sleeping patterns.

Thursday – autumn in Montmartre

We woke to wet ground, misty skies & our last day in Paris.  We decided for a bit of sight seeing and shopping.  So it was on the metro off to Abbesses station and breakfast at the base of the Montmartre hill before taking the funicular up to the top next to Sacre Coeur to take in the view – such as it was.

While we couldn’t see too far – perhaps 3 kms - the misty feel added a bit of what we often see in Paris paintings – that foggy/misty feeling – so quite atmospheric and lovely.  We did the obligatory tour through Sacre Coeur and then the fine rain started.  We wandered the streets of Montmartre – both the one with kitsch tourist shops and those off the beaten track.  We ended up walking down the hill on what I think was the north west side.  We then headed off towards Boulevard Haussmann for some shopping.  We zig zagged through the suburbs & found ourselves in an obviously poorer neighbourhood with many north African and sub-Saharan Africans.  So it was good to see another side of Paris.

After some serious looking and a bit of shopping in LaFayette we headed home & then Rhonda went out doing a bit more shopping. 

We’re pretty tired so decided on an early dinner – so that we would be ready for our 8am pick up tomorrow.  We went back across the road to the café we dined at previously called Chartier & had a lovely French dinner – with us finding our way around the menu well enough. 

So, bags almost packed we fell into bed, ready for the long haul home which starts in the morning.  Its a relatively civilised start with an 8am pick up.

Tuesday - out & about in Paris

After a long day yesterday we didn't wake until about 8 & immediately sprung into action.

The shower was hot - yay!! That made a good start.  We looked out the window - no rain - even better.  And while the ground was wet there were a couple of drying patches that indicated that it hadn't rained for a while.  All good.

So off we set on the subway under the river to the ecole militaire - a metro stop just south of the Eiffel tower.  We walked back towards the river and the tower.  The top of the tower was shrouded in clouds, to going to the top made little sense.  There was a queue of about 300 people for the elevator and NO queue for the steps.  Easy choice.  So we climbed up to the 1st & 2nd levels looking around & identifying landmarks. (115 m up and 1060 steps).  It was really quiet - lots of space to ourselves.  Amazingly we bumped into 2 US couples (from Boise Idaho) with whom we shared a train ride from Venice to Milan.  We looked up & thought about getting the elevator to the top but it was still in cloud so we abandoned that idea and made our way down.  As we were leaving it was amazing to see the throng of people arriving - we were very pleased to have beaten the crowds.

Below are four shots taken from each side of the tower - from the 2nd level.

We then walked east along the river on the left bank for about 3 kms to the Musee D'Orsay - the one art gallery that I really wanted to see on this trip.  And we weren't disappointed.  Mind you while we were lucky with no crowds at the Eiffel Tower we made up for it in spades here.  Two very long lines, even if you'd pre-purchased a ticket. So we shuffled along a line & after about 45 minutes we were inside.  

In this line we had another meeting coincidence.  A bit ahead of us was a guy in his SirsiDynix shirt.  (This is the company whose software we have bought to roll out for all the public libraries in SA).  I was a bit surprised that we would be wearing his work shirt on holidays.  I went and introduced myself & we got chatting.  His name is Ken Warner & he is a trainer. He was wearing his shirt because he is here on business but also has his family here.  He left them in the line to go and train some customers.  He got his wife to take a pic of us both & it will be emailed to Cathy Cusack (our Australian SD trainer).

Musee D'Orsay was everything I had hoped and expected it to be.  It is in an old converted train station & the building alone is magnificent & complements the 19th Century (& early 20th) paintings, sculpture etc that fills it.  There is a whole gallery of Impressionists, but so much more.  It was worth the wait to get in.  

Looking down the main gallery at Musee D'Orsay

Perhaps the one bit I was a little disappointed with was the Art Nouveau glassware - as I collect it (as my budget allows).  There was lots of furniture, pottery etc which I don't particularly like, but only a small collection of glass & it wasn't the best I have seen.  But that is just my personal passion.  For others who wanted a general overview of the movement it was a good display.

While I didn't mind queuing to get into the museum we then had to queue to get a drink. I wouldn't have done it but I was dying of thirst.  There are 3 different eateries in the place & you had to queue for about 30 minutes to get a table at any of them.  It is almost like they like to make you queue so you'll appreciate how fortunate you are to be there.  OK for seeing the art - but to get a drink??  And the food was weird.  It was the strangest Eu25 I'd spent.  Lentil sludge with smoked salmon, quinoa seed chicken curry = birdseed & a ham sandwich with creme fraiche loaded with enough mint to make it taste like a dessert.  Oh well.  At least I got the drink of water I was desperate for.

We then wandered back over the river though the Tuileries garden & home via the Metro.  I think I commented yesterday about the autumn colours in the trees - its looking great - some compensation for the rain!

Rhonda had found a review of a show in Paris called "How to be a Parisian in one hour" - by a French comedian, and in English.  We looked up the address & it was literally around the corner from us - so of course we had to go.  It was a small intimate theatre & the audience was about 50% French & the rest internationals.  (We know this because he got people to call out / show hands etc.)  It was a real hoot & as much as his take offs / put downs of the Parisians were excellent he did some fantastic imitations of Americans that were hilarious.  True to the title the show was over in just over an hour so we got to have dinner by nine & then home to bed.

A long, diverse & really enjoyable day despite the weather.

Monday - the rain

The day started less than happily - with no hot water!!  Yikes.  I had a cold shower, but was not happy.  We rang the company & after being talked through how to play with the fuse box we seemed to get things happening.  But it is a storage heater, so there would be no hot water for ages.

It had to happen.  Today started with light rain & the only variability all day until we got home close to midnight was its intensity.  It never quite stopped & at times it was heavy.

Given this we decided to buy umbrellas & go walking.  We got to Notre Dame - about a 3 km walk & queued to get in.  Worth the visit - 13M people a year do it!  But the line to get to the top of the bell tower was over 100 long, in the rain & barely moving so we gave that a miss.

Lunch in a small bistro was nice then back out walking.  We thought we'd check on where we were leaving for our river cruise so walked about 2 kms up Rue de Rivoli - taking in the sites, shops etc.  We popped over to the Louvre forecourt.  The line to go in was huge.  We had not planned to go in, but this certainly reinforced the decision.  So up past the Tuileries gardens to the tour operators office & then a circuitous wander home.  Along the way we could see - well almost see - the Eiffel Tower shrouded in cloud.  This reinforced our decision not to buy predated tickets for the tower before we left home.

We took a few hours off at home drying our clothes etc.  And then off we went for our night activities.  We caught the metro down to near the river & were then in the hands of the tour operators.  We had a 1 hour boat trip along the Seine starting at the Eiffel Tower & heading up stream past Notre Dame, under 22 bridges (I think) with a commentary along the way about the buildings, history etc - very gushy about Paris being the centre of the known universe & best at everything - but hey what did we expect?  Mind you the fact that Rhonda's commentary device didn't work was just met with a shrug by the staff.

A phone shot of the Eiffel Tower at night - with the light from the top captured as it hits low cloud

Along the Seine at night (phone photo)

We left the cruise for a bus tour (top of a double decker) of the inner Paris area.  This was ok, though a little tedious.  We left the bus at Opera station & walked into a heavy shower, but dashed into the metro & on were our way home.

We had not thought about dinner, so were very hungry by 11:15, but too tired to care too much.  So we bought a piece of the world's worst pizza and took it home to eat before bed.  Whew - a long day!

Sunday - the best

As we had planned not to have a car in Paris but there were places outside of town that we wanted to see we had booked a tour for the Sunday - Giverny (Monet's house & garden) in the morning followed by Versailles in the afternoon.  We didn't know what to expect - a tour bus of 50 people??  not sure.

We were pleasantly surprised to be greeted by Agnes - driving a minivan with a capacity of 8 people.  So, with 2 other Australians & 4 from the US we set off.  The driver/guide was delightful - great driver, very knowledgable & good English.  Because it was Sunday & the roads were quite empty we made really good time & got to Giverny quite early.  

And on the drive out the weather cleared to have a few clouds but nothing looking like rain. The gardens had about 50 people in them when we got there - it was amazing.  We were able to enjoy the garden's tranquility & beauty with a sense of personal space. The garden seems to invoke an awe that meant that most people were really quiet.  For me it was certainly more of a spiritual experience than I'd had in any of the churches we'd visited.  And the pond was 100% still giving perfect reflections. Obviously we're past the height of summer in terms of garden beauty, but there was still so much there in bloom.  And some of the trees are just turning autumnal colours so that added to the site.  

We did the rest of Monet's gardens around the house as well as the house itself - beautiful.  Then I wanted to go back to the gardens while Rhonda headed over to a museum called musee des impressionists nearby. While going back to the garden was lovely by this time the crowds had thickened up & it was not quite the same as having it almost to ourselves. But it reinforced how fortunate we had been to have an almost private tour!

So I left the gardens & joined Rhonda in the musee - great artwork & beautiful layout.

All of this was the best few hours of the whole tour for me.  People often say, "What was the best thing?" And I usually can't single out one thing - but after almost 4 weeks of seeing some of the wonders of the world I now have 1 single "best thing".

Below are a few of our Giverny photos.

We left Giverny and went via some spectacular scenery to a village where we had lunch. It is a real tourist spot with hundreds of people fed there every day.  But they seemed to do it really well, with quite good "mass catering" food & the setting was beautiful.

Lunch spot is just behind this mill

Then off to Versailles.  Agnes told us that over 11M people visit it every year & Sundays are most popular as it is the one day of the week that the fountains are all turned on at 3pm.  We went through the Palace - packed in.  It was not as bad as the Vatican, but almost!

In the Hall of Mirrors

The audio guide helped us make sense of it all.  The wealth & splendour of the place!!  No wonder the people rioted only 30 years after it was finished & abolished their monarchy. It took 50 years to build and with up to 30,000 workers on site at a time.  The cost!!  In fact the history of the place as told by our guide filled in bits of information I did not know - like the king shifting to Versailles (out of the Louvre) after a riot in Paris forced him and his mother to flee.  He always then saw Paris as dangerous - so decided to build this Versailles on the site of his father's hunting lodge in the country.

The gardens are spectacular.  I had seen paintings of people standing on the terrace & the boating lake in the background looking about 1 km away and the lake almost disappearing into the distance.  I had assumed that this was artistic license to give a sense of grandeur. No - the place really is that big!

Anyway - sensational to see & I could spend a day in the gardens - next time perhaps.

On the way back into town the freeways were full - worse than our peak hour.  Agnes telling us that many Parisians have places in the country where they escape for the weekend & then all come flooding back late on Sunday afternoons.

Agnes was great is telling people her favourite restaurants close to where they were staying.  And as we were the last to be dropped off & she had recommended a restaurant straight over the road she hopped out and talked about a few of the dishes with us - so nice.

So we went to this restaurant.  Amazingly large, busy and cheap.  We were all sardined in. We sat next to (almost on top of) a young couple - he is Irish & she French.  So we had a bit of a chat.  He had studied architecture in Paris, gone home, couldn't get a job, came back to Paris on a short term contract & while this is precarious he is happy.  He talked about all of his contemporaries who have moved out of Ireland for work.  He has a mate who is a carpenter working in Adelaide.

The meal was great, though we struggled with the menu a bit.  The waitress wrote down what we ordered and the price onto the paper tablecloth & at the end of the night added it all up & voila!

So - a long, filled and fulfilling day - who knows what the rest of the week will hold weather-wise, but today was just sensational. 

Saturday - transit to Paris

Drove from Couze to Bordeaux airport - ended up clocking up just over 1100 Kms driving for the week.  Then a bit of a wait at the airport & a flight to Paris - all uneventful.

We always knew that leaving the last of our trip to go the furthest north & arriving in Paris in October was risky & so it has proved to be.  We'd been watching the Paris weather from Couze & it has been showery & so it was when we landed.

Given the weather we decided not to use the trains to find our way to our apartment, but to take a cab.  Despite getting the silent treatment from the driver & experiencing an amazing traffic jam (roads closed on the Ile de la Cite) we got there eventually.  

The appartement (as the French would call it) is a classic "bed sit" - large room with all the bedroom, couch and dining table all in together. It has a galley kitchen & is functional, reasonably well placed to get to everything, but has little charm. As we'd just arrived we didn't feel like going out for dinner, so found a Carrefour just across the road, bought some staples & had an appetiser of salmon rillett, green olives & some nice cheese with a bottle of french red, followed by the very classy toasted ham & cheese for dinner before falling into bed. 

So - it is off to see the sites for the next few days - weather dependent.

Thursday - more beautiful rural France

Thursday:

It seems that most of what we want to see is about 40 kms east of us - which is fine - but there we were driving back east again to see a few things.  Actually the day started wonderfully with a 40 minute Skype call with Lainie which was great.

After reading about a few additional places Rhonda decided that she would like to see Domme & possibly some other sites.  Domme is an amazing bastide town on top of a cliff on 2 sites. You can see a bit about the town here.

We drove up a very steep road & were able to park inside the town.  Once again we were very thankful that we're here outside the core tourism time as there are stories of the town being jam packed & there are car parks outside the town's walls to take the summer crush. 

The view from the 200m high cliffs over the Dordogne valley are amazing!  The view alone was worth the visit.  And then there is the town - we walked through the backstreets & 90% of the place looks like a movie set from the middle ages.  It is unique in that the protective walls that were built about 900 years ago are still in place. (Most other bastide towns took their walls down as they were restrictive of growth).  One of the gates to the town has gate rooms that they turned into a prison to hold some Knights Templars who were held there for 11 years.  The prisoners carved graffiti into the walls of the prison that can still be seen.

We decided to go on a tour of a long cave under the town.  If you've been in any half way decent caves then this cave would be a disappointment.  And while we were given a 2 page sheet about the caves in English they didn't tell us much & I could only understand about 10% of the guide's commentary.  So - a bit of a waste of time. The cave tour ends about 80m down the cliff & the ride back up to the top is in a glass fronted elevator - so a different view over the valley.

As it was mid-afternoon Rhonda had been reading about the Troglodyte houses.  These are the places where people had lived up on cliffs & had converted the caves into houses.  One is called Maison forte do Reignac.  Apparently this place had a "count & countess" & there is a history of the family living there for hundreds of years.  However it appears that the last full time residents only left in the 1920s. While interesting the way it was presented was fairly amateurish & a disappointment.  

We got out of there about 6 & so drove home to another balmy sunset on the terrace & dinner at home.

I should say something about the house!  It is everything that its website says it is & all photos are accurate.  It has everything you need & is a really enjoyable place in a great location.  One extra delight is the "Aussie" shower.  At last there is a dedicated shower area - not over the bath.  (I hate showers over the bath.) Also the shower head allows for more than 3 drops at a time.  So for the 1st time in 4 weeks the shower has been a delight.

The house in Couze

Looking through the front door

The house is up on the right - blue open shutters

Looking left from the front door

Looking down to the valley road from upstairs

Under the terrace is a rustic disused cellar - & this is the door

On the terrace looking to the house on the left 

The car - on the terrace & in front of the house.
There is a public road between this terrace & the house 

A view from upstairs across the valley