roadquill1

Dear family and friends,

On our last day in Paris, the rain let up, and Sandy and I continued what had become our daily pastime…walking for hours! We found an off-the-tourist-path attraction that was really enjoyable – a pathway on top of an old raised railway that sat on an aqueduct. This pathway had beautiful planters, trees and gardens all along it, and from it, you could look out over the city streets and structures, but best of all…it was quiet, and very few people were on it – just a few joggers and dog-walkers. This path took us past the rail station, and beyond that, we got off the path, and crossed over the Seine to the Island where the massive “Bibliotech” resides. This library consists of four tall towers – and a raised promenade deck that, again, overlooked the city streets.

Our walk back along the Seine brought us through a movie set, where no one directed us to get off, so we strolled right through the middle of a filming of some motorcycle event. We have no idea what the filming was about, but there were quite a lot of folks standing around waiting for their turn to participate.

We concluded our long day with a wonderful meal at mid-eastern restaurant, which turned out delicious falafel and kefta pitas. On Wednesday morning, we had our daily coffees and pastries while we waited for the shuttle to the airport.

Our trip home was mostly uneventful, but one interesting piece was that after a two hour layover at Heathrow in London, the British Airways flight flew over Scotland on the flight home. We were able to see the northern coast of Scotland (quite forbidding looking place from 30,000 feet up), and for the next 8 hours the sun never set! Our flight kept up with the setting sun, and as we passed over Greenland, we observed a beautiful scene of white mountains, glaciers, and ice floes in the glow of the setting sun. Fantastic!!

We managed to grab seats on an earlier flight to Nanaimo airport, and a taxi delivered us home by 9:30 on Wednesday evening. Thus ended our last day of the wonderful European adventure. We are glad to be home, and except for minor colds that we picked up somewhere, we are both well. The Lindsay family arrived from Langley on Friday to welcome us home, and to join in a belated celebration of Eileen’s birthday. We are now getting back into our daily routines at home. What an adventure! We hope that we won’t be held responsible for the change in weather that arrived the day we arrived home!

Love and best wishes to all!

The Quill (Tony) and the Quilter

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

We arrived in Paris on Friday, September 5th in the early afternoon, and, after a bit of confused queuing at the Gare de l’Est, we were able to determine which underground tunnel to vanish into in order to get to a station close to our Hotel Loiret a couple of blocks from the Seine River in the heart of Paris. Well, almost…we had to backtrack, and climb the stairs again to correct a misdirection…not so easy for a couple of seniors with over 40 pound backpacks! An 8 block walk at the end of our subway trip got us to our destination, with Sandy acting as navigator.

The hotel is a half block off of a major throughfare…Rue de Rivoli, so it is convenient, but the street sounds carry to our room – mostly, the two-toned emergency vehicles (you know the sound from movies), that have a Doppler effect of lowering their tone as they fade into the distance. We can see a Starbucks coffee shop about 40 meters away from our hotel, a grocery selling fruit is a couple of steps away, and an epicery with beautiful baked goods is less than a half block beyond that.

We have walked many paces over the past few days, as we took advantage of surprisingly good weather to see the sites. On Friday afternoon, after settling into our room, we wandered across the Seine River on the Pont Neuf to get our first view of Notre Dame Cathedral, and a mile long queue to get in. Then we crossed back on another bridge and headed east along Rivoli, and finally completed a triangle within Le Marais District.

On Saturday, we again crossed the Seine for a visit to the Latin Quarter, the Luxembourg Gardens and then crossed another pont (bridge) to Les Halles (major shopping district) before drizzly rain drove us home to dry before supper, and early bed.

Sunday brought unexpectedly good weather, and we took major advantage of it to cross off a large number of scenic sites on our list: the Louvre, where we bypassed a lengthy queue, the Jardins de Tuileries, the Champs-Elysses and the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower – and another queue to pass, and too many gardens and side streets! Dog-tired, we finally headed back towards our own corner of Paris, and found a small Italian restaurant – with no queue – for supper. After a short rest, we headed back to the Latin Quarter to see Notre Dame lit up at night, and to listen to the street musicians out front.

Today, we awoke to a fairly steady rain, and me, to a nasty chest cold, and sore throat! Nevertheless, we headed out, once again, to stroll down small back streets, and, since my watch had died, to look for a place where I could buy a battery. Unfortunately, “most shops are closed on Mondays, monsieur!” A walk back to Les Halles found that monster underground shopping area fully active, and a good place to dry out and have lunch. A new battery did not fix my watch, so I tossed it out, and on the very wet stroll home, I bought a 10€ watch at an outdoor stall. (The battery would have been 20€!)

This afternoon, we have read, and slept, and now Sandy is waiting for me to finish this blog so that we can see how long the queue is to get into Notre Dame Cathedral. So, I will take my cue from her, close this down, bid adieu to all, and close our Paris chapter with “au revoir”, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Soon…after tomorrow…it will be our turn to “doppler down” as we join the queue at Charles de Gaulle airport.

Love and best wishes to all!

Q, et Q’ter

P.s. how many “Qs” in the “Q-test”? (You didn’t read the title, did you?)

On Sunday evening we arrived in Munich – about 10:00. When we stepped off the train, Alex was there to greet us, so finding our way out of the immense train station and through the crowds of OktoberFest fans was not a problem. A ten minute drive brought us to the Benz apartment where Judi and Amanda were still awake to greet us. With school in the morning, Amanda was sent to bed and the rest of us talked until after midnight.

Bright and early (5:30 a.m.) everyone is up and the girls get ready to head off to school by 7:20. Then, on the first day, Sandy and I spent the day with Judi, until it was time to go meet Amanda at her school – 12:20. Then, we walked to a Greek restaurant where the 4 of us had a big “full course” meal. After lunch we strolled about a block away to meet Alyssa who was just getting out of school at 2:45. Her school is right next to the old Imperial Palace and grounds in Munich. (It’s a beautiful sight, and over the week we have wandered through these parks, as well as the botanical gardens next door.)

Our Munich visit has been well-planned, and on Tuesday, more Canadian guests arrived, so Alex and Judi have had their hands full. However, we have made full use of the tram and bus systems which are very efficient. After Linda and Tammy – the new guests from Nanaimo had had a chance to catch up on a few hours sleep, we headed downtown to the grounds for the OktoberFest.

The crowds were huge…with about a third of the folks wearing traditional costumes of dirndls and lederhosen. We all held onto each other to keep from getting separated. The goal was to see as much as possible, and to eat! (Okay, that was my goal…I have no idea what anyone else in our group was there for. However, it was very obvious why a large sector of the crowd was there – for the beer!)

Amanda, the six-year old, and Alyssa (10) went on a ride or two, while the rest of us spectated, and ate. Therefore, I got what I wanted. We fought our way out of the crowds, and back to the public transportation and home. It was a long day for us, but for Tammy and Linda, it was about the end of their resources!

On Wednesday, we all wandered through some local leased garden plots, and then through the amazing Botanical Gardens – both within short walks from the Benz residence. The weather was perfect, the leaves changing colours, and since Wednesday was a national statutory holiday celebrating the fall of the Berlin wall and “Unification Day”, loads of people were doing the same as us. The Gardens border onto the old palace grounds, so we continued our walk through the forests of the palace park, and finished the afternoon off with gelato ice cream.

On Thursday morning Alex drove Linda and Tammy to the airport where they were continuing their journey to Italy. Then, because the 2 little girls were in school for the day, the four of us wandered through the downtown, the shops and markets. München is a very impressive place, and we couldn’t have finer friends to show us around their beautiful home city.

In the afternoon, after the girls were out of school, we had a late lunch at an Italian restaurant, then wandered over to a museum of natural history that is in the Palace. This contained rooms and rooms of displays of the historical overview of the planet which covers astronomy, geology, and biology. There were loads of interactive displays, and it was quite disconcerting to watch a six-year old manipulate dials and buttons when I couldn’t even read the instructions on how to begin.

Alas, our time in München was finished, and it was time to move to the final chapter of our voyage – Paris. With only 6 days left,, we will have to filter our activities carefully, as the “City of Light” will be overwhelming, I am sure!

As always, love and best wishes to all, and a special Happy Birthday to a special lady – Eileen, as she celebrates her 90th birthday tomorrow

From left to right: Sandy, Tony, The Bob, Alice, Rita, Dan

Tonight will be our last night in Provençe. Tomorrow, Sandy and I leave for Lyon. Bob and Alice leave a few hours later for Paris, while Dan and Rita will enjoy a few more days in this lovely apartment before they head back to Nanaimo. The blog will live on!

I am looking forward to seeing our friends in Munich – in the midst of OktoberFest, as well as our first visit to Paris a few days later. However, we are also now beginning to look forward to our return home…to family, to friends, to stability, and to routines.

Greetings to all!

Q, and Cuter

September 23 to September 27: Casing Carcassonne, and prowling Provençe

The city of Carcassonne has a rich history dating back to Roman occupation. Sandy and I hadn’t known too much about it until we were convinced to join Padghams and Haafs for a few days here after our Midi Canal experience. We had rented rooms in a downtown hotel – the Astoria – and a quick bus ride from Narbonne got us to our destination.

Our hosts were English-speaking, and very friendly. This Astoria Hotel was a great place from which to take off for our visits the shopping areas of downtown, and also to the centre-piece of Carcassonne – La Cité – the citadel on the hilltop above the old town centre.

This UN designated “World Heritage Site” was rebuilt it the mid-19th Century, and is a spectacular place to visit. We made three visits to La Cité, and took the tour of the castle keep – complete with audiotour (hand-held machines). Of course, we also spent a lot of time strolling through the “village” of shops and restaurants. It was a feast of history, food, and sensory overload.

Sated with Carcassonne by Monday, September 24, we hopped on an early morning train for Arle, where we all picked up our rental cars for the next chapter of our travels – Provençe, and our stay in Beaucaire.

The Haafs had rented from a different agency so we didn’t see them until we arrived in Beaucaire. However, in Arles, the Padghams, and Sandy and I had lunch in a small square in old-town and then wandered up the street to see the Colisseum that is still in use. It is again a very impressive Roman relic, but we were beginning to feel that we had seen enough stone work – perhaps. In a convoy of two cars, we headed off down the road to Beaucaire for our first experience at driving in France – very civilized – on the RIGHT side…unlike the Irish and the Aussies! ( I threw that in for Nicki Vance in the “land down under”.) Not so civilized, perhaps, was our many u-turns and forbidden left turns to correct our errors in navigation.

Once inside the of city walls of Beaucaire, we U-turned on the same street about 3 or 4 times before we realized that the house number we were looking for was #1, not #10! While we were trying to figure out how to get past the massive door, Dan’s voice from above told us to wait while he came down to let us in. He was calling down from ‘our’ second floor patio.

The three bedroom apartment is beautiful, and well-appointed with furnishings, appliances, cutlery, dishes, and even a washing machine, and a microwave. The patio is lovely, but, except for the first afternoon, we were all too busy traveling around to various cities and sites to enjoy it much.

The streets behind our apartment are very narrow – wide enough for a single vehicle, and a single pedestrian backed against the wall. They are very “old-world” with ancient buildings, arches over streets, and occasionally they widen to allow for small shops and sidewalk cafés – always with men sitting with drinks and cigarettes.

Throughout this week, we have awakened to breakfast and coffee, and then brief discussions about who is going where, and when, folks will return, as we only have 2 sets of keys for the 3 couples. With the Padghams, Sandy and I went to Pont de Gard – the famous Roman aqueduct over the Gard River. We were all just stunned with the grandeur, and historical significance of the construction of this amazing monument.

Also with the Padghams, today we visited the old Roman city of Nîmes. This is truly a beautiful city. We began our tour if the downtown with a visit to the temple and its 3D movie presentation of a bit of the history of Nîmes. Then after lunch, we walked through one of the most complete Roman colisseums (my Latin from high school tells me that this word should be “colissea”) left in existence. Once again, we took advantage of audio guides for the tour, and were led, in our imaginations, through the many historical events that went on in that place: gladiator events, public executions, troop housing, and, in more recent times – bull fights.

After that experience, we headed past the temple of Diane, and climbed the Jardins de la Fontaine, to the ancient Roman tower, the Tour Magne, still standing and overlooking Nîmes. What a view! What a garden! What a city! We were all super impressed by this place.

In addition, Sandy and I visited St. Remy de Provençe, took the Van Gogh art walk, and then were hugely surprised by the nearby amazing excavation of the Roman village of Glanum. This archaeological site had us absolutely stunned with the extent and size of the ruins, and the beautiful guide signs that showed imagined drawings of the original structures and town site.

We could not ignore the city that we are in – Beaucaire, and its nearby neighbour – Tarascon. As with all the other cities, towns and villages in this region, there is history here that boggles those of us who are from Canadian immigrant stock. (Sandy, of course, has much more North American history in her background as her background includes Cree.) We have strolled parts of both old towns, and there’s a peace and serenity in these quiet streets that is very different from our cities back home. Plus, there is decay! Some places have not been very well looked after, and doors and window shutters are rotting and plaster is falling off the old stone work. Mostly, however, there is that HISTORY!! I love it!

Tomorrow, we will probably take a day off from wider travelling, and wander nearby streets. On Saturday, we head back to Arles to drop off our rental car, and then catch a train for an overnighter in Lyon before continuing our train travel to Munich, and Chapter 6 (or is it 7…or 8?)of our European tour. (Are you keeping track?)

We hope that you are all well, and enjoying your lives back home.

The Q, and the Q’ter