The Last Post

We bribed our friend Colin to collect us from the airport in the early hours of Sunday 6th June.  We’ve had a fantastic 96 day holiday that we will cherish forever.  We are very appreciative of all the followers of our blog, the support and emails of encouragement we’ve received on our journey.  We would like to thank everyone for coming along with us and sharing our adventure.

Home Sweet Home

The City of Angels

Most people know that me and flying don’t go, so Instead of subjecting me to 3 flights on one day, including our 12 hour flight home, Linz decided we should hole up at the 500 room Sheraton Hotel by the airport for the night.  Good decision, it was excellent.  We had plenty of time the next day to take the hotel’s shuttle bus to a delightful nearby shopping mall, with a glimpse of Manhattan Beach along the way, albeit out of the bus window.

Our L.A. Sheraton Hotel is on the very right side of the picture.  A bit of a 9/11 moment as the plane appeared from nowhere	It didn’t take Dot & Lenny long to find the Hotel’s heated pool, but after much deliberation, Lenny just did not want to unpack his togs	Manhattan Beach from the bus	Manhattan Beach Pier
Don’t worry honey, ‘aint no way I’m going backwards	I’m still everywhere	Can’t you just be a hydrant?  All I see is an odd faced teddy directing traffic.	When I saw this in the hotel’s driveway I thought it might be my birthday present, but no.

We Made It To Paris! : Day 1 – E.T.

We impressed ourselves by driving the 130k’s to Paris at 130kph, finding the ring road, negotiating our way through the traffic, round the south of Paris and out towards Orly Airport where we had arranged to return our leased Citroen at noon.  We got there at 5 past 12 with no hiccups, had an exorbitantly priced bite at the airport before being collected by our pre-booked Paris Shuttle at 1pm, and we were in the heart of Paris at our lovely hotel in the Rue de Passy, 16th arrondissement, by 2pm.  After having had the car for 70 days and driving 6,175 kms in it, giving it back felt like leaving an old friend.  We are only 10 minutes walk from the Eiffel Tower, so our afternoon was spent wandering round by it, taking in the street sights, the entertainers, the hum and activity of Paris.

Street entertainers: doing something interesting, or	dressed like a twit and just plain begging	“C’mon Lenny, huggle up, it’s romantic Lenny, romantic”	I can’t bring myself to do the usual cheesy tower photo, so here’s my Eiffel Tower
Serious security: you wouldn’t want to be stepping out of line	‘Flat Out In Paris’ – 50 paces from the throng of activity under the tower and anything goes it seems	E.T. at 9.59pm on any given night	E.T. from 10pm – 10.10pm – ablaze with blinking little white lights

Mont St-Michel

We decided to go out of our way to see this spectacle while you can still reach it by car.  There are plans to demolish the causeway and massive parking area so that Mont St -Michel will once again become an island.  A bridge will replace the causeway and tourists will be ferried out by shuttle, but judging by the number of tourists there at 11am on a Monday morning, be thinking: worst nightmare.   We were pleased we made the effort to go though as it is a really fascinating place.

For the postcard series …	This is how the Abbey and island looked during the 11th & 12th centuries	These two renegades slide in for the classic tourist pose
One has to be patient and wait a very long time to capture the attractive cloisters without any bits of leftover tourists in amongst it.	Interesting architecture – a bit of Brittany with a dash of Normandy	Part of the huge wheel at the top of the cathedral, hand operated to haul supplies up from way down below.

View across the causeway: It’s 11am on Monday morning.  When we left there were 30 coaches, about 300 or more cars, and 40 or 50 motor homes.  That’s about 2,500 people.  The narrow streets were heaving and it was all too much in the end.  Everyone takes their dog.  Yes, why?  Good question.  One woman had 4 greyhounds on leads (I really don’t get that at all).  We’d had enough of screeching teenage tour groups by then anyway.

Driving North: Brantôme & Angoulême

With only 12 days left until we need to be in Paris, we decided to make a 300km dash northward to the Loire Valley, so these two towns were just “passing through” visits along the way …

A detour through the delightful town of Brantôme was quite nostalgic for Dot & Lenny, who had a memorable stay here 11 years ago.  The town is built on an island surrounded by the Dronne river, and is very picturesque.

We just happened to hit Angoulême at about 12.30pm when it, and the rest of France closes for a couple of hours.  So, there was literally no traffic in the city centre, and we scored a park opposite the cathedral, just long enough to leap out and take a photo – this one shows the side windows of the cathedral and the style of architecture of the townhouses.

Rocamadour and Figeac

It was Linz’s birthday today,  and we set out on one of our biggest day trips. All in all it took us 11 hours to do this round trip from our base in Villefranche, but well worth it.  A couple of weeks ago we passed the lady with the mule – attached to the saddlebag is the scallop shell, the symbol of pilgrims who are going to Compostela in Spain.  She may have been heading for Rocamadour as it is one of the most important stopping points along the Way of St James for the pilgrims, because it holds the statue of the Black Virgin.  Rocamadour is in a remote location but absolutely spectacular.  We braved the climb up to the ramparts of the castle, and out to the very edge overhanging the rock face – after a while, my vertigo and I managed to take some pics.

Our main reason for going to Figeac was to see the Musée de l’Ecriture – dedicated to writing systems and alphabets of the world through time.  Figeac is famous because Jean-Francois Champollion was born here, and he was responsible for decoding the Rosetta Stone and therefore unravelling the mysteries of hieroglyphics.  The museum is in the restored home of Champollion, and is four floors of very interesting and exceptionally well presented material.   We thoroughly enjoyed it and could have stayed another 2 hours to watch all the videos that were available, if we’d had time.

D & L muscle in on the birthday celebrations

part of the huge version of the Rosetta Stone in the courtyard

A bit of a lie down after a cuppa?

When walking beside the Célé River in Figeac with a friend, it is not advisable to wave your arms around and let your mail go

Travel Disasters; Chapter 5

From Cabestany we had a quick drive through the city of Perpignan before heading west, aiming for Carcassonne. The countryside was spectacular, with the Pyrenees on our left (their highest peaks still covered in snow) and a smaller range of hills to our right. Vineyards dotted the landscape and the sun was shining brightly.
	We followed the valley of the river Aude through ‘Pays Cathare’ - the Cathar Country. These days the long-dead heretics are a huge focus for the local tourist industry. We drove through a beautiful gorge and stopped in a road side rest area for a jolly good healthy lunch by the riverside.

 

We had just left the gorge when a motorbike overtook us. The man on the bike is waving his arms wildly … is he trying to tell us something?  He’s wearing blue clothes – is that important?  I start to pull over, and dammit there’s another person in blue clothes on a motorbike … , then I see “Gendarmerie” on the nice blue clothing.   Yep, you are nicked !   “Madame … did you know you were doing 76km in a 50km area !!!???”  I’ve always thought that to be a bit of a pointless question myself.  Only the French would a) not put up a sign that says 50km  b)  have a 50km zone on open road and c) spend all day cruising back & forwards through a stunning gorge collecting copious amounts of revenue from unsuspecting tourists like us.  “So Madame, that will be 90 euros,  instant fine thank you. Make sure you give me the right amount, I will not give you change”.  I tested their sense of humour by saying that if they cancelled the ticket, we would not beat them at rugby, but no, that wasn’t gonna get me out of this, even though they chuckled. They turned out to be nice guys and once we’d coughed up the fine, they were happy to have their picture taken.

Montpellier

Another day trip from our base in Pezanas took us to this beautiful old city, home to one of the world’s oldest medical schools and universities.  The main square buzzes with activity and interesting people.  We tucked into an appetising “Galette” for lunch – BUT delicious as it was at the time, it caused me grief for the whole of the next week.

D & L make a bee line for the first attraction they see		Elegant old buildings on the main square
It has its own Arc de Triomphe, older than the one in Paris	Interesting gargoyles	Sadly, way too many buildings have graffiti and it really spoils the city

Living in France Means…

…finding a nice neighbourhood to settle down in, where the natives are friendly…	…choosing a cosy little cottage to call ‘home’…
…making sure your furniture fits through the upstairs window…	…and nipping down to the local hypermarket to get your supplies.

Portofino

We were staying in Santa Margherita which was only 5km from Portofino so we felt morally obliged to go there.  The road is very narrow and stressful to drive because you never know what you’re going to meet head on at the next bend.  The town is quaint and picturesque without a doubt, but very over-rated and to our minds, not necessarily a must see these days.

….. our best attempt at the standard Portofino picture, on a dull day, and cutting out all the construction work

Lenny & Dot invest in a Piaggio – the only way to get around on these narrow streets

What the…??? If you leave your rhinoceros parked in the main street,  they WILL tow it away