Question...
It's 8.30 on Saturday night and we're in the middle of Paris. 500 mtrs from Notre Dame to be precise.
Through the open window we can hear resteraunts, cafe's, buskers and thousands of people out on the street.
Now I could hang in here, safe and sound, and blog away while watching movies we have saved for a slow day, or we could head out and see what all the fuss is about.
Tough call I know.
Cya
Sunday, 6 October 2013
Saturday, 5 October 2013
Au Revior Champange. Bonjour Paris.
Our 2 days in Hautvillers, literally the heart of Champange has been very different, and as with everything we've done in France, quite special.
The Moet grape vines and presses are literally a stones throw away, and today we walked up to the ancient Abbey on the hill where, it turns out, Dom Peringon himself is interned.
Janelle has been in heaven with all the tastings and more then a couple of purchases, and we've worked out how to fit them in our backpacks so all good.
As always, we've taken loads of photos but no time now to sort them into sensibility.
We drop the hire car off tomorrow morning, then train to Paris for 3 days in a lovely (according to the photos) motel, before the Eurostar back to London on Tuesday to prep for the long trip home.
The Moet grape vines and presses are literally a stones throw away, and today we walked up to the ancient Abbey on the hill where, it turns out, Dom Peringon himself is interned.
Janelle has been in heaven with all the tastings and more then a couple of purchases, and we've worked out how to fit them in our backpacks so all good.
As always, we've taken loads of photos but no time now to sort them into sensibility.
We drop the hire car off tomorrow morning, then train to Paris for 3 days in a lovely (according to the photos) motel, before the Eurostar back to London on Tuesday to prep for the long trip home.
Thursday, 3 October 2013
So much to write about, so little time
I apologise for missing out so much on here.
Im determined to catch up. Really.
It's just that we bought carton of lovely Bordeaux, and well, by the time blog time rolls around each night, our days have been so full and... well... you know.
Soon. Ok. Really.
Im determined to catch up. Really.
It's just that we bought carton of lovely Bordeaux, and well, by the time blog time rolls around each night, our days have been so full and... well... you know.
Soon. Ok. Really.
Tour of The Somme
We spent today visiting the Australian Memorial at Villers Bretonneux, a number of Somme museums, including the Victoria School and more cemetries than we should have.
Now we're about to eat a lovely evening meal in the L'auberge Fleurie motel where the owner has a wall dedicated to Australia.
When they said they wont forget the courage and sacrifice of so many young Australian men who fought, and died for them, they meant it.
And now, almost 100 years on, they still mean it.
Now we're about to eat a lovely evening meal in the L'auberge Fleurie motel where the owner has a wall dedicated to Australia.
When they said they wont forget the courage and sacrifice of so many young Australian men who fought, and died for them, they meant it.
And now, almost 100 years on, they still mean it.
Tuesday, 1 October 2013
Monet's Gardens
What can I say? It's everything you'd expect and more.
Took so many photos, I'll put them in a slideshow when time permits.
In the meantime, here's a sample.
Took so many photos, I'll put them in a slideshow when time permits.
In the meantime, here's a sample.
Monday, 30 September 2013
Time to leave Chateau Scary
We'll miss this place. Time to move on though.
Tomorrow will see us visiting Monet's Gardens and staying the night in Giverny.
Then onto Villers Bretonneaux.
Im still putting together the slideshow of all the Omaha Beach/Pegasus Bridge pics and vids we took.
Soon hopefully.
So goodnight from the Village by the Sea.
Sunday, 29 September 2013
Driving in France
Hilarious, challenging, stressful but when you get you're head around it, actually pretty good.
And an amazing improvement on England. Basically because there's far fewer trucks. The roads are just as narrow, everyone drives on the wrong side, including me most of the time but there's far less congestion and it's all pretty smooth.
Bicycles. It seems they own the roads and can do whatever they want with complete impunity. Everyone slows down and patiently waits for a chance to go past. They ride 2 or 3 abreast, taking up whole lanes and no body cares. Amazing, but I suppose understandable when you consider how popular it is here. In UK the bicycles take their life in their hands and are just crazy, here they are a protected species.
Motorways. Three points to make here.
1st no one travels in the left (inside) lane. They all sit in the outside lane, move over to overtake, and then back again. It makes things really easy and there's never any angst.
2nd, they tailgate like you wouldn't believe. Seriously! If I wasn't warned I'd freak out, but it's very normal apparently.
And 3rd, the speed limit is 130 in the dry and 110 in the wet, and the road is narrower than our lovely Hume Highway. Ive had numerous arguments over the years about the stupidity of holding everyone at 110 in Oz. This place proves it and I rest my case.
But seriously, it's incredible to see a train of half a dozen or so cars, belting along at 130kph, nose to tail with only half a meter or so between them. Snaking out to overtake, then back in again. All holding station and speed. We could learn so much from them.
I don't know if they're actually better drivers, they just all follow the same conventions and it works. It really does.
Roundabouts. Weird. Well, the same as at home really, but everything goes the wrong way and it's so hard to get used to. You have to look the wrong way! I nearly took out a nice Merc the other day in the middle of Caen, simply cause I looked the wrong way. Good thing he was alert cause I wasn't.
The other thing is more often then not there's more then the normal number of entry roads, in any possible variation of angles. And the GPS doesn't recognize motorway exits as one of them. Counting and early preparation is a must.
Navigation. Thank god for our GPS. We'd be lost without it. Literally. We hear "recalculating" an awful lot.
Driving on the right. All good, most of the time, but there's been a couple of moments and I'm so thankful to have Janelle to remind me. I cant imagine what the on-coming cars think.
And I've left the best till last...
Crazy one way streets in crazy little fishing villages where any semblance of a logical road layout disappeared centuries ago.
Watch the video. Nuff said.
Hire Cars. We've swapped the Renault Megane for a Ford Focus. I want to drive a car, not a brick. Both were manual/diesel, seems most everything is here. The Focus has this awesome party trick. If you stop in neutral and take your feet off the throttle and clutch, the engine cuts out, then restarts as soon as you touch the throttle. It takes some getting used to.
Anyway, we've been here almost a week, traveled over 700 kms on all kinds of roads and I haven't hurt anyone or marked the car (touch wood) so between Janelle as my extra set of eyes and chief road sign interpreter, we must be doing something right. She hasn't got her head around actually driving here yet, but her day is coming. Watch this space.
And an amazing improvement on England. Basically because there's far fewer trucks. The roads are just as narrow, everyone drives on the wrong side, including me most of the time but there's far less congestion and it's all pretty smooth.
Bicycles. It seems they own the roads and can do whatever they want with complete impunity. Everyone slows down and patiently waits for a chance to go past. They ride 2 or 3 abreast, taking up whole lanes and no body cares. Amazing, but I suppose understandable when you consider how popular it is here. In UK the bicycles take their life in their hands and are just crazy, here they are a protected species.
Motorways. Three points to make here.
1st no one travels in the left (inside) lane. They all sit in the outside lane, move over to overtake, and then back again. It makes things really easy and there's never any angst.
2nd, they tailgate like you wouldn't believe. Seriously! If I wasn't warned I'd freak out, but it's very normal apparently.
And 3rd, the speed limit is 130 in the dry and 110 in the wet, and the road is narrower than our lovely Hume Highway. Ive had numerous arguments over the years about the stupidity of holding everyone at 110 in Oz. This place proves it and I rest my case.
But seriously, it's incredible to see a train of half a dozen or so cars, belting along at 130kph, nose to tail with only half a meter or so between them. Snaking out to overtake, then back in again. All holding station and speed. We could learn so much from them.
I don't know if they're actually better drivers, they just all follow the same conventions and it works. It really does.
Roundabouts. Weird. Well, the same as at home really, but everything goes the wrong way and it's so hard to get used to. You have to look the wrong way! I nearly took out a nice Merc the other day in the middle of Caen, simply cause I looked the wrong way. Good thing he was alert cause I wasn't.
The other thing is more often then not there's more then the normal number of entry roads, in any possible variation of angles. And the GPS doesn't recognize motorway exits as one of them. Counting and early preparation is a must.
Navigation. Thank god for our GPS. We'd be lost without it. Literally. We hear "recalculating" an awful lot.
Driving on the right. All good, most of the time, but there's been a couple of moments and I'm so thankful to have Janelle to remind me. I cant imagine what the on-coming cars think.
And I've left the best till last...
Crazy one way streets in crazy little fishing villages where any semblance of a logical road layout disappeared centuries ago.
Watch the video. Nuff said.
Hire Cars. We've swapped the Renault Megane for a Ford Focus. I want to drive a car, not a brick. Both were manual/diesel, seems most everything is here. The Focus has this awesome party trick. If you stop in neutral and take your feet off the throttle and clutch, the engine cuts out, then restarts as soon as you touch the throttle. It takes some getting used to.
Anyway, we've been here almost a week, traveled over 700 kms on all kinds of roads and I haven't hurt anyone or marked the car (touch wood) so between Janelle as my extra set of eyes and chief road sign interpreter, we must be doing something right. She hasn't got her head around actually driving here yet, but her day is coming. Watch this space.
The awesome Mont St Michel!
Did anyone notice that I missed a day. I hope not.
Ok, this was a big one.
The building of Mont St Michel was commenced over 1000 years ago, and has undergone numerous restorations since. There's part Roman, part Gothic, part medieval, and part French Revolution.
Out of all the clips I took, I've put together 2 vids.
The first is just random stuff as we climbed up higher and higher, the second are bits and pieces of the guided tour we went on, including the entire intro. There was no point filming the tour itself, too much and too crazy, but these clips will give you an idea.
And a bunch of random pics in no particular order.
This first lot are pics of the gallery photos on site.
And these are the shots I took along the way. Don't let perspective fool you. This camera has an amazing zoom.
We were left in awe of the engineering, the effort and the amazing scope of it all.
However, tips for young players. Be prepared for large bus groups all traveling together and blocking the roads. And Americans who know everything. Seriously. I even overheard one conversation about seeing England just across the bay. Don't these people ever look at a map?
Ok, this was a big one.
The building of Mont St Michel was commenced over 1000 years ago, and has undergone numerous restorations since. There's part Roman, part Gothic, part medieval, and part French Revolution.
Out of all the clips I took, I've put together 2 vids.
The first is just random stuff as we climbed up higher and higher, the second are bits and pieces of the guided tour we went on, including the entire intro. There was no point filming the tour itself, too much and too crazy, but these clips will give you an idea.
And a bunch of random pics in no particular order.
This first lot are pics of the gallery photos on site.
And these are the shots I took along the way. Don't let perspective fool you. This camera has an amazing zoom.
We were left in awe of the engineering, the effort and the amazing scope of it all.
However, tips for young players. Be prepared for large bus groups all traveling together and blocking the roads. And Americans who know everything. Seriously. I even overheard one conversation about seeing England just across the bay. Don't these people ever look at a map?
Friday, 27 September 2013
Tomorrow the D-Day Beaches
Apologies for leaving Mont St Michel tonight, but it's late and we have an early start in the morning. A big day of D Day sites and memorials. And a few military cemeteries too I'd imagine.
If I try and tell you about the amazing Mont tonight I wont do it justice. So tomorrow ok.
Goodnight for now.
If I try and tell you about the amazing Mont tonight I wont do it justice. So tomorrow ok.
Goodnight for now.
Chateau sur Mer
The town is Villers sur Mer, meaning Village by the sea. So this is (completely unofficially) Chateau sur Mer. However, we're nicknamed it Chateau Scary.
You've got to admit, if you drove up here at night, especially a dark and stormy one, add lightening bolt on que for effect just as you open the creaky iron gate, and well, you get me?
But no, that's not the reason.
And yes, it's very high up. And those (like me) with vertigo shouldn't lean too far over that balcony.
But no, that's not the reason.
Basically, it's the stairs. Yep. The twisting, narrowing, creaking, 200+ year old, complete with lion (read gargoyle) wood carvings... and that view from the top down the middle. It's to die for. Literally!
But our little apartment in what was the attic... It's simply beautiful. Small, clean, modern, and equipped with everything we need, including that million dollar view. It completely belies the building from the outside. I wouldn't have thought is possible, but here, see for yourself.
The really amazing thing is that 90% of the town is boarded up. Summer is over, everyone has gone back to work, and well, this is now a quiet, peaceful village.
Except for those stairs, there's nothing peaceful about them. I promise you. Here's another look just in case you were wondering.
You've got to admit, if you drove up here at night, especially a dark and stormy one, add lightening bolt on que for effect just as you open the creaky iron gate, and well, you get me?
But no, that's not the reason.
And yes, it's very high up. And those (like me) with vertigo shouldn't lean too far over that balcony.
But no, that's not the reason.
Basically, it's the stairs. Yep. The twisting, narrowing, creaking, 200+ year old, complete with lion (read gargoyle) wood carvings... and that view from the top down the middle. It's to die for. Literally!
But our little apartment in what was the attic... It's simply beautiful. Small, clean, modern, and equipped with everything we need, including that million dollar view. It completely belies the building from the outside. I wouldn't have thought is possible, but here, see for yourself.
Now, of course, being the only aussies in town, that we know of anyway, it's important to let them know we're here. We thought you might enjoy this little edit from the main street. Note please the go-kart track and public swimming pool.
The really amazing thing is that 90% of the town is boarded up. Summer is over, everyone has gone back to work, and well, this is now a quiet, peaceful village.
Except for those stairs, there's nothing peaceful about them. I promise you. Here's another look just in case you were wondering.
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