Feeling at home

Wednesday 2nd May

Today started our touring holiday through France. A trip out to the airport to pick up the car and then hit the road. We have a nice little very dark blue 208 manual peugeot. Only 2k on the clock - our last one had 4k. It has that nice new car smell.

Today was really just about settling into the swing of things again - getting to know the car, reacquainting ourselves with Dora and getting familiar with the roads and road signage.

We took a trip up the motorway to the town of Beauvais with plans to visit the tapestry museum and the cathedral. Sadly we found the tapestry museum is no more so it was just the cathedral, though we had a lovely chat with the girl in the tourism office who had been to Australia for a 12 month working holiday. She didn't say how long ago but she still expressed some great memories.

The cathedral in Beauvais - apparently still unfinished.

Light from the stained glass.

The astronomical clock in the cathedral.
We didn't wait for it to do it's thing - there was no one
there giving information on what would happen when.

 We stayed in the town of l'isle Adam which is only about 30k out of Paris. We were parked next to what we thought was a supermarket but as we sat eating dinner there was a constant stream of cars pulling in and picking up groceries or whatever - obviously shop online and pick it up on the way home. Do we have that in Australia? What else did we see? Four or five beautiful girls hanging out at an intersection in the middle of nowhere. No prizes for guessing what they were selling. No facts to back this up of course.

Thursday 3rd May

A text message from Claire at 12.14am saw the start of my birthday. I woke up, read the message and promptly went back to sleep.

First visit today was to the town of Auvers sur Oise which was where Van Gogh spent the last 2 months of his life - and very productive months they were; 80 paintings in 70 days. We timed it well - arriving at 10 when it opened and having the tour to ourselves before the bus loads arrived. We had a tour of his home and then did a walking tour through the town. Visited him and his brother in the cemetery and then walked through the wheatfields (that had been the subject of some of his paintings) and back through the town. It was a beautiful day and lovely to walk in the quiet.

These discs marked the walking trail around the town.

The walking trail around the town had plaques
with Van Goghs paintings alongside the subjects.
This was the town hall.

Statue of the artist himself.

Van Gogh and his brother.
Neither of them lived to a ripe old age.

The chateau Auvers. 

From there we headed to the town of Dreux, looking for lunch on the way. We'd almost given up on finding a relais, when there it was, a car park full of trucks and tradie vans. Think I was the only female there apart from the staff.

Crossing the river Seine.

This church had a lovely coloured tile roof.
Unfortunately this photo was not the best angle.

Tonight we are in the town of Dreux. From the tourist information we picked up information on the town and wandered through the old centre village (where we picked up cakes) and plan to visit the Chappelle Royale - yes you're right another church - in the morning. All these lovely old villages with their historic town centres (the 1600s here) intrigue us.

Town hall in Dreux.

We've just come back from pizza and pasta for dinner. Rob got the instructions from the concierge but must have had a man listen because we found ourselves totally a about t and had to go back and start again to find the restaurant. Once found we had a lovely meal.

Tonight we are staying in our old favourite, Premiere Classe. Easy to find, near the motorways, parking and wifi, and a good price. We know exactly what we are getting.

And the sun came out.

Monday 30th April

Another rainy day in Paris but undeterred we put on rain jackets and ventured out. Not only was it wet but it was also only 9deg. We had to go to an electronics store first up to try and sort out an issue with the tablet. Not a lot of luck there so I'll just persevere with what I know works.

We don't often pick a hotel with stars. This hotel was
really well located only 100 mtrs from the metro station.
The staff were fantastic and very helpful.

We visited Galleries Lafayette shopping complex again this visit. There are great views over parts of Paris from the rooftop but they were brief looks this time because of the miserable weather. The inside of the shopping centre is just beautiful. There were hundreds of people in the store - I guess escaping the weather like us.

The dome over the shopping centre.
The photo really does not do it justice
- the whole place is magnificent.

Sacre Coeur from the rooftop of Galleries Lafayette.

View of guess what?

We headed for a restaurant in Montmartre where we'd had a fabulous french meal on our first visit in 2014 - disappointment; the restaurant was still there but the menu was totally different and the prices had skyrocketed. But we did end up having a lovely Italian lunch nearby.

Final stop for the day was Ateliers des Lumieres which was an exhibition of the work of Gustav Klimt. The queues were extremely long and with the freezing weather we decided to go back to the hotel and book online to visit tomorrow.

Tuesday 1st May

Good! No rain today, a little blue sky and sun, but still pretty cold.

When we headed out this morning the streets were really quiet - we finally figured out that it is a public holiday. It is Labour day, also May Day. There were a lot of street vendors selling lily of the valley which is the flower for the month of May. There were huge protests against the government here today which we caught a bit of, and it's all over the news because of the violence.

We hit the gallery by 9.30 after breakfasting on the way. Good move buying tickets online - by the time it opened at 10 the queues were huge. This exhibition was a sound and light show of the works of Klimt projected on the warehouse walls. We have been to a similar exhibition in Provence on previous visits. The exhibition was just wonderful with the music complementing the art.

We thoroughly enjoyed this exhibition and look forward to a
similar one of different artists later in our trip.

Our afternoon was spent on a cruise on the St Martin Canal. This cruise started in a part of Paris we'd never been to before. The area is a huge entertainment complex containing many performing arts venues. It was a lovely open area and very modern. It was definitely not part of the historical Paris that we are used to. We really enjoyed the cruise which went along the canal from the north east of the city along the canal to finally join up with the Seine. The guide on the boat was great giving a good English commentary with a little humour along the way. The one sad side to the cruise was passing through an area with hundreds of tents housing refugees from the middle east.

This huge silver ball was in the performing arts park complex.
Not sure what its meaning/purpose is.

Canal St Martin. We were lucky the sun came out
and it warmed up to 11deg for our final day in Paris.

Of course, a collie. Because it was a holiday in France
there were hundreds of people enjoying their day off
all over Paris.

One of the 9 locks on our journey down the canal.
At every lock there was always a small crowd
watching the boats pass through.

The boat goes into a 200m tunnel passing under the streets
and the Bastille. Most of the tunnel was built
in the 1830s by hand.
The white blur in the centre of the photo is actually
a giant crane that lives in the tunnel.

The rear of Notre Dame from the Seine.

A dreary Paris day

Sunday 29th April

Woke up this morning to rain so had no definite plans on what we would achieve today. Fortunately it didn't rain much and with rain jackets on we were quite dry.

The gardens of the Palais Royal. 

We caught a poster in the metro advertising a show of dutch masters at the Petit Palais. Headed there this morning and was amazed at the architecture of both this and the Grand Palais. Wasn't too keen on some of the paintings but the Van Goghs were pretty spectacular,  and there were quite a few of them.

The Champs Elysee is that way.

Part of the ceiling in the entrance to the Petit Palais
where we saw the exhibition.

 

Inside the Petit Palais.

From there a walk to les Invalides to visit the tomb of Napoleon. His tomb is huge - Rob said it is like those nested babushka dolls.

Entry to les Invalides.
Originally built as a military hospital in the 1600s.

All the attic windows around the
top of the main building had different helmets.

Dome above Napoleons tomb.

This was huge - obviously a very important person
if the size of his tomb is any indication. 

Not a great photo, but some of the armour in the museum.

It is nice to be able to aimlessly wander the different areas of Paris without the pressure to tick off all the big ticket items. We finally headed to the Latin Quarter, near the Sorbonne university for lunch. We ate at the same restaurant as we did 2 years ago and like 2 years ago we found more options just around the corner. There was a street market nearby and we enjoyed looking at the cheeses, meats and nougats. We didn't buy anything but will be on the lookout for little village markets as we tour through the french countryside.

Our first view of the Eiffel Tower this trip.
You can see what sort of day it is.

We still continually get ourselves turned around in Paris. Nowhere is there a nice square grid system - lots of diagonal roads, multi way intersections and triangular blocks. We often stand on the street corner with maps in hand trying to work out where the river is or which way is home.

Paris here we come.

Friday 27th April

Our final day of the cruise and some sad goodbyes all morning. We had to vacate our cabins by 9 but were then able to sit in the lounge till our taxi for the airport. Lunch at the airport and one last portugese tart.

An uneventful trip to Paris, arriving at Orly airport. We decided to take the easy option of a taxi to the hotel and it turned out to be the right move because the french trains are having rolling strikes over the next couple of months and there were no trains.

Saturday 28th April

Our hotel is in a very vibrant part of Paris - the 11th arrondisement - and there are a lot of eating places nearby. We are only 100mt from a metro station so the whole of Paris is at our doorstep. The hotel is pretty basic but the bed is comfortable and the shower is hot with good pressure.

Hey, we got stars on our hotel. Lovely staff here.

 First job was the laundry which for us was no drama - not so for another guy there, problems with his machine which wouldn't wash and then he couldn't open the door. Arrggh!!!

We ventured out after the laundry to do a walking tour of the covered arcades in Paris - think the block arcade in Melbourne, tenfold. Some beautiful architecture dating back to the 1830s, and some beautiful and unique shops.

When we started our walk it was very quiet
- it was a Saturday and both roads and pedestrians
were thin on the ground.
By lunchtime there were a lot more people about.

Beautiful ceilings and mosaic floor tiles.

This building is the Bourse. We hadn't seen the
building before so i had to look it up.
It is the stock exchange.

I'm getting plenty of exercise - seems like every metro line we want to use is the deepest down and we have lots of steps everywhere we go. (The metro is operating as usual - different company to the airport and country trains.) The Paris metro is not friendly to those with limited mobility.  At least the steps are regular (unlike roman steps). With the myriad of lines criss-crossing it makes you wonder what is holding up the buildings of Paris - seems it would be like swiss cheese underneath.

We are both making a real effort with our french though sometimes it seems like we are just using s'il vous plait and merci. We've had short conversations with waiters and a couple of shop keepers where the main topic is where we come from and how long we will be in France. It is all good fun.

Rabelo to Ribeira

Thursday 26th April

Today is the last real day of our criuse. Last night we did a short cruise along the river to the mouth of the river. This was a much more picturesque view of Porto by night than the bus tour.

 

Porto by night from the river.

This morning we went on a typical rabelo boat across to Ribeira which is the old section of Porto on the river. We took a ride on the old tram out to the mouth of the river, and then we turned around and came back. Lucky we were early in the morning because the queues waiting for the tram when we returned were really long. We did a short walk through the narrow, and steep, streets before sitting in a cafe on the river front and enjoying an espresso coffee and a portugese tart.

We took a ride on the tram along the river
- was interesting to see the houses and all the different tiles.

Mmm - portugese tarts.

In the afternoon we did a bus tour to the city of Guimaraes which is said to be the birth place of the first king of Portugal. We visited the palace and then did a walk through the streets of the old town following some of the signs for the pilgrimage walk, the Camino de Santiago.

There is a story about these tapestries. There are four
of them and they are huge.
Apparently they disappeared at some stage and were
later found to be in Spain.
Spain would not return them to the Portuguese
but did give them copies.

Cathedral in Guimaraes.

Street scene in Guimaraes.

It was our last dinner on board tonight followed by a performance by a Portugese folk dance group.

Napkin folding - we had some lovely designs.

Last night dessert - bomb alaska.

Arrgh! Bats, bats, bats.

Wednesday 25th April

I'm having trouble remembering what day of the week it is but awoke this morning to the realisation that it is Anzac day at home. Today is red carnation day, or freedom day, in Portugal celebrating the peaceful coup in 1974 which saw the end of dictatorship. It is a public holiday and kids are home from school.

Today we visited the university town of Coimbra which was a 1 ½ hr bus ride. The town is sometimes referred to as the city of bats. ??? You ask??? The students all wear a uniform – black suits (skirts for the girls), white shirts, black ties and over all of this they wear a black cape. There are apparently other universities in Portugal and other European countries where this is de rigeur also. I can't imagine Melbourne university students doing this. They also carry a black satchel which is supposed to hold all their personal stuff including books. Today the students were out celebrating their graduation.

Bats - students carry a satchel with a
coloured ribbon on it which indicates
their area of study.

And more bats.

The students were out celebrating and around
the city there were different performances taking place.

We visited the main buildings of the university, which started life as a palace, and of course visited the main cathedral in the city.

The main university square. When we entered here we all reached
for sunglassses as all the buildings were white limestone
and with the sun shining the glare was painful.
Actually I noticed that a lot of the students wore dark glasses
- they obviously learned this early.

Beautiful ceiling frescoes in the university chapel.

The best part of our day out was lunch. Started out a bit ho hum – an Irish pub, squeezed into an old Portuguese tram suspended on the third level. We were grouped with the Norwegian group who spoke some English. The food was not up to the standard of the boat but was quite ok, but after a few bottles of red the lunch turned into great fun with us having a singalong with the Norwegians. This seemed to break the ice for the rest of the trip and we started to mix a bit more.

The singing tram.

You've all been waiting haven't you?
Dogs of the day.

Tonight was the gala dress up dinner. I thought it would be really dressy but surprisingly not a lot of people went all out – I thought the French would make more of an effort. More excellent food – I'm glad the cruise is not longer or I'd come home with a new french wardrobe and I'd be dieting forever.