Trip Log

Europe 2018 Week 7

springboard — Mon, 22 Oct 2018 08:47:00 GMT

Day 43 - Tuesday 16th October

The first plan for today was to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. Checking with the guy at the Big Bus stop revealed that they only change the guard every second day this time of year (every day only in summer), and today was not the day. We went to the Palace anyway and caught the horse guard moving down to the parade ground. Walking up to the palace, we caught the horse guard approaching the palace then proceed along beside the palace. After this, going in the opposite direction, were a couple of open royal carriages in a short procession with a Rolls Royce and a few other vehicles. The people in the carriages I did not recognise. We took photos anyway, mainly for the carriages!

We bought some take away sandwiches in Green Park and munched them on a park bench, watching the autumn leaves fall around us and squirrels doing what squirrels do .. exploite their cuteness and politely request food from tourists.

This was on our way to the Royal Institution at 21 Albemarle St. Mayfair. The RI has been a society of scientists that have demonstrated their discoveries in the lecture hall since the early 1800's, Michael Faraday being one the more famous. We were allowed free access to walk through the building including the museum and the famous lecture hall. I spent some contemplative moments in the hall, thinking about all the learning that members and guests of the society had shared with colleagues and the public over the past couple of hundred years. After a cuppa in the cafe, we then went to Berkley Square, not far away where I expected to experience a view from the top and slide down the tune of the ArcelorMittal Orbit Slide. However, it was nowhere to be found! Don't believe everything you read on the internet. Another address for it was about 10 km away, not conveniently located, so we reluctantly let that plan go. Linda's tummy was playing up so we decided to bus our way back to the hotel. On the way, Carnaby street attracted our attention so we hopped off and explored the lively area. We also decided to see what was in the biggest you store on London, Hamleys on Regent Street. Many of the staff were dressed in Harry Potter costumes, some giving broom riding lessons, others doing all kinds of other interactive stuff with the customers. Fascinating place, and expectedly expensive.

Back on the red route bus, then switched to the orange one, then to the blue to get us back home at about 5pm.

Restaurant for dinner tonight, La Brasserie Italiano, Curious mixture of French and Italian names but very Italian menu. Linda wanted to satisfy her craving for pasta, I did what I was told.

Day 44 - Wednesday 17th October

A couple of sandwiches again from Pret A Manger for breakfast then a walk into Kensington Gardens, past Kensington Palace then down towards the Serpentine, all in light misty rain. Great to see all the swans, geese, ducks, squirrels etc. all through the park. We walked around the Serpentine, seeing Diana's memorial fountain but it was not on. It was 9:20 and it was not due to be on until 10:00. We towelled the moisture from our clothes back at the hotel.

Check out time was 12pm so at 11:45 we went up to the lobby where we had planned to meet Linda's friend who lives in London. We checked out, checked our luggage into the luggage counter at the hotel and went to lunch.

The lunch location was cunningly chosen by Linda's friend to show us how to get to Heathrow airport later tonight with our luggage .. Nando's at Earl's Court. No need to purchase subway tickets .. just used my Visa card to swipe on and swipe off. So simple.

So now we know to take the underground from Bayswater station, not the closer Queensway station, take the one that is not on the circle line because that one goes to Gloucester station and you have to back, like we did. At Earl's Court take the lift up to the first floor then the big lift down to the Piccadilly line platform 6 get on the train and get off at Heathrow terminal 3. Easy.

We said goodbye to Linda's friend back at Bayswater station at 2pm and then spent the afternoon in Kensington Gardens, this time seeing Princess Diana's memorial fountain with water flowing in it, the Peter Pan statue and being entertained by the antics of the abundant bird and animal life.

At 4:30 we collected our luggage and faultlessly followed the plan outlined above

arriving at the airport about 5:30.

I used the self serve baggage ticket and boarding pass printer, (it just scans our passports to do that), found some seats in the terminal to wait on, and waited until 7:00pm when we can check in our bags.

After 7:00 we checked on the bags but a bug in the system thought our three bags for two people were excess baggage. The guy fixed it by printing new baggage labels and replaced the ones we put on. Not our fault, a bug in the system we were told. More waiting until the plane took off at 10:15pm. Six hours to Dubai.

Day 45 - Thursday 18th October

At Dubai, the wait was two hours, then 13 hours to Melbourne.

During the Melbourne leg, the entertainment system feeding all the passenger screens had to be rebooted about 4 times because many of the screens were not working properly. Even after that, Linda's screen was not showing movies properly. She watched one on my screen while I snoozed.

Day 46 - Friday 19th October

The plane arrived about 15 minutes early at 6.20am, our bags were quick to pick up off the carousel and we waited until about 7:30 for Niko and Eric to pick us up in Linda's car. I drove us back, very nervous about driving on the left of the road again after six weeks of driving on the right and about thirty five hours with not much sleep. Fortunately, we arrived home without any adverse incidents.

Europe 2018 Week 6

springboard — Wed, 17 Oct 2018 03:50:00 GMT

Day 36 - Tuesday 9th October

Boussac - Geuret - Boussac

Late rising today, after sun up .. 9am!

Plan to get a few provisions from Boussac today but first visit a garden in Gueret, Le Jardin Public Ferdinand Villard, about half an hour trip. The garden was small, unimpressive and much of it was under redevelopment with men and machines working in fenced off areas. The Museum of Art and Archaeology facing onto the gardens may have been interesting but it was not opened on Tuesdays. Today, being Tuesday, was not our day, for that reason and we got lost heading back to our car. I was relying on the Offline maps on my phone to keep track of our car, but the GPS chose not to work. However, we used the photos that Linda had taken on her phone as a bread crumb trail and finally after showing her first photo to a friendly local, we found the car. B....y technology!

We headed for Boussac and replaced the depleted stock of icecream and a few other groceries before looking for the Boussac Chateau. The road to the chateau was steep, windy and narrow and I parked at the top of the approach road that looked very much like it would take me over the side of the cliff the chateau was perched on. So we walked the very downish then very uppish 10 minutes to the Chateau. An elderly Lady of diminutive stature, less than 5 feet, was our French speaking guide. She did give us English booklets that described history, rooms and items as we followed her up and down through the chateau. The main vertical thoroughfare was a tower containing a spiral staircase reaching all the many floors. There were many tapestries on the walls and floors as rugs dating back to the 17 th century that originated from the Aubusson area, about 50 km away, famous for the tapestries produced there over the centuries. There were also many items of furniture, astronomical instruments, library books and much more.

One item that fascinated me was a small canon on a platform about 200 mm diameter. Mounted above it was a magnifying glass and behind was a sun dial. The platform used to be oriented so that at lunch time, the sun would shine through the lense heating up the canon, igniting gun powder in it and thereby announcing meal time. Ingenious! Very pleased with what the chateau had to offer.

The ice cream in the car was melting so we returned to camp for yet another late lunch about 3:30pm. Intrepid adventures first, lunch when you can.

The rest of the warm day was spent at the cabin.

Day 37 - Wednesday 10th October

No big plans for today apart from washing ready for most of the rest of the trip and relaxing around camp. I get a day without driving.

The Baker arrived just after 10am with her van of French bread types. No sliced bread like we are used to so chocolate croissants and raisin croissants had to suffice for lunch today and tomorrow.

While the washing machine was doing its thing, we played table tennis indoors next to the pool. The rule was (our rule) whoever hits it into the pool has to get it. The issue was our towels were being washed so we could not dry ourselves. Linda was first, but managed to reach the ball from the edge. I was next but managed with a noodle. The clothes were in the dryer while we had lunch .. croissants and omelette, yum.

During lunch the wind started to blow strongly, which made it feel a bit cooler outside. This only lasted a couple of hours and the blue cloudy sky and mild breeze returned. We spent the afternoon first in the cabin listening to youtube music and science podcasts on my phone during the rain then table tennis, swimming and more table tennis until dinner time. Time well spent. Linda made good use of a noodle in the pool, floating and breast stroking (pardon my clumsy terminology). It is unusual for Linda to enjoy swimming but all the conducive elements came together and she was very pleased with the experience.

At reception I spoke to Guilliam to settle our bill but the sheets and towels we hired were no charge and the rest had been prepaid so instead we talked about our trip and his relatives and friends living in Australia. Yet another very friendly Dutch fella. With that settled, we can make an early departure tomorrow morning. Linda decided to finish off the wine so it would not be a problem tomorrow. Two glasses, however, and she had to lie down with her head spinning. Wine in the bottle, no problem. Linda drunk, big problem.

We have had the windows open for fresh air but because there are no fly screens on the windows they have been open for fresh insects too. I caught eight of the biggest ones, ones like mosquitos but 10 times bigger, in Linda's empty goblet and released them outside. A few small problems removed .. the big one still remains.

After a glass of water, some sleep and an ice cream, that one seemed to be solved too.

Day 38 - Thursday 11th October

Did I say early start today? We got up at 6:15 alright but during my checking of our itinerary, I realised we have another day here! Linda then chose to reclaim some slumber she felt she was entitled to but denied, so went back to bed, not having had a good night's sleep, perhaps because of her last evening's inebriation. I emailed my travel agent for a copy of our Eurostar train tickets that somehow I did not have a copy of. Said tickets promptly arrived in a return email, much to my relief. Another possible disaster averted. I then caught up on some YouTube lectures from the Royal Institution on physics and astrophysics and reading the book I brought on the trip but have not read much of .. a book about the universe by Brian Cox.

Late morning I dragged Linda out of bed and we walked down to reception expecting it to be open, but it was not. Walking back to the cabin, we discovered why. All hands plus helpers were putting the cover on the outdoor pool, in preparation for shutting down the camp for winter next week. I offered my Australian assistance to the international team which included French & mostly Dutch, with most instructions in Dutch and a few for me in English. Job accomplished, I then returned to reception and Elizabeth, Rainier's partner, printed a copy of my train tickets for me.

Back at the cabin, putting the tickets in my folder I found the original copies I could not find before! Linda just rolled her eyes when I told her. She does a lot of that.

Lunch of croissants, chocolate of course. Afternoon spent table tennising, swimming, table tennising, reading, etc. The table tennis tables had metal (3mm aluminium) nets painted white with large hexagonal holes and a couple of horizontal crimps to keep them rigid. Very low maintenance, particularly for the outdoor tables. Very good idea. Warm day, a few clouds in the sky, slight pleasant breeze on the cabin front porch overlooking the pool (now covered) and the bar/restaurant/indoor pool building with the foreground and background filled in by the autumn colours of deciduous trees.

Day 39 - Friday 12th October

Boussac - Blois

Left camp about 8:30, another warm day expected. Targets today are Chateaux Chenonceau and Amboise, the first about 2.5 hours estimated (by GPS) driving time. Not far from Boussac we replenished our fuel supply at a service station with a reasonable gazole price and a real person to take my electronic cash .. off to a good start. One of the roads warned us in French that the road 3km ahead was blocked. We continued any way, not seeing any detour signs, and sure enough a bridge was under major repair and a detour was required. A quick look at the GPS map and we found an alternative route. I drove my way and the GPS got the idea after a while and recalculated a route instead of telling us to make U turns. The alternative was partly a very narrow road, wide enough really for only our car. Fortunately we had the road all to ourselves for the duration, even though we did pass a gypsy camp by the road, caravans, wagons and stuff.

We spent a couple of hours thoroughly investigating all the possible shots that Linda would look good in, and a bit of the chateau, and had lunch before a 25 minute drive to Amboise. We found a non metered car park along the Loire river and walked 10 minutes to the chateau. Many more photos, some even of the chateau, then a lengthy souvenir hunt by not me. We reached the hotel in Blois about 6pm, pretty tired.

Had dinner in the French restaurant across from the hotel. The dinner had a French name on the English menu but looked very much looked like shepherds pie. We both enjoyed one. The restaurant was right next to a car wash I intend to use in two days time before I return the Renegade to its rightful owners. I already cleaned most of the insects, collected over the last 4 weeks, off the front of the car this morning before starting off.

I noticed a couple of flashes from roadside posts today while travelling at the speed my GPS advised, 90kph. I suspect that I may have been exceeding the limit, damn it. Europcar will advise me in due course, no doubt. Looking forward to that.

Day 40 - Saturday 13th October

Slept in till 7:45 then breakfast in the hotel. Linda had a video chat via Facebook with her sister and Bel then at 9:30 we walked into Blois (about 40 minute walk) and found the Saturday market spread all around a city block and more. They sell here everything you can think of and a lot of things I had not thought of. Pedestrians only in the market streets, of course. We bought a punnet of delicious strawberries to eat while we perused. Walked to the north end of the Rue Denis Papin then up the staircase with black and white areas painted on the vertical faces of the steps, forming a very large mural of a spiral when viewing the steps from a distance. We then went around the Rue de Palais to le Jardin des Cinq Sens (Garden of the Five Senses) where there was also an outdoor exhibition of cartoonists drawings on the theme of 'freedom of speech'. A large group of people were walking from drawing to drawing and listening to a lengthy description by a man that looked to me like an arty type. The cartoons looked pretty self explanatory to me, though.

We walked down the hill back to the market and had lunch outside of a cafe. Panini for me, pizza for Linda and a gooey, rich brownie each .. yum. Linda could only eat half of hers so I had the other half .. 1.5 x yum. I ordered in French and by way of apology for my clumsy speach, I explained I was trying to practice French. He wanted to speak English to show off to his daughter who was working behind the counter beside him. So I spoke my French, he spoke his English and despite that, we received what I ordered, with a bit of good humour on the side. We then walked through the market to the huge Abbaye Saint-Laumer .. very impressive building, then back beside the Loire River to the Jacques Gabriel bridge. We crossed the bridge and continued straight ahead to the hotel, arriving about 2:15pm.

After a rest from that odyssey, I drove the car all of 50m across the street to the car wash and 7 euros later the car had been (manually, by me) washed with high pressure hot water and soap, rinsed with high pressure cleaning water and 'aspirated' (vacuumed) on the inside. No sign of the estimated 4000 km of insects and grime left. Ready to return it to its rightful owner, Europcar, tomorrow.

Dinner from Kim's Box tonight, a couple of minutes drive away. Linda jumped at the opportunity to have an Asian meal for a change.This was emporter (take away) beef dish and a chicken dish, supplied with chop sticks, that we consumed in our room. Very tasty and satisfying.

Day 41 - Sunday 14th October

Blois to London

Breakfast at the hotel again this morning. A 20 minute drive with the sun in my eyes brought us to the Chateau Chambord just before opening time at 9:00. We spent the next 2 hours climbing through the chateau, and I really liked the double spiral staircase ascending through the centre of the chateau. The design of this chateau is thought to be by Leonardo da Vinci, because he had been invited by the French king to France at the time, even though the plans of the chateau are no available today.

We then set our final destination for the car GPS to the Europcar office at the side of the Gare do Nord. Along the way large numbers of wind turbines stood out covering large areas, sometimes spreading out from beside us all the way to the horizon. Very impressive.

Not really knowing what expect, I followed the GPS directions up the centre of Paris and made a wrong turn close to the final destination. After going around the block and making another attempt, I realised the entrance to the underground carpark is where I should be. I missed it by a couple of meters but backed up with a tolerant and understanding vehicle behind me allowing me some room. At about 15:00, I parked on the -2 level and found the Europcar office up on the ground floor. Apparently I should have parked it on the -6th floor but they said they can handle that. I asked if they could tell me the odometer reading of the car when I first hired the car, so I could subtract that value from the reading I had just made a note of and know how many km we just travelled. I waited for about 15 minutes, expecting them to look up their computer, but they did not seem to be doing anything about it. I think they mistakingly sent someone down to read the current odometer reading. We were anxious to get to the Eurostar train so we left with that explanation. Hopefully the distance will be on the bill. We bought a late couple of jambons for a late lunch in the station. The information desk advised me that I must take the lift to the first floor for the 9043 Eurostar train to London. First, there was a queue to the two lifts and reaching the first floor were long queues to get through French passport check, then through British passport check, then through security. We eventually sat in our seats about 10 minutes before our 16:43 train left at 17:08, 55 minutes late! It was late, apparently, because of two evacuations of Gare du Nord earlier in the day. We decided to have a meal on the train so we would not have to find an eating place in London when we arrived. That was a toasted ham and cheese sandwich and a hot chocolate each. We arrived in London at 18:30 local time, 1 hour behind France, so 2.5 hour trip at speeds up to 300kph.

Quickly, hailed a taxi outside of St. Pancras Station and about 5.2 km later (I followed our plotted route using my phone gps) and 17 pounds plus 5% tip, 85p, checked in to the Central Park hotel, in the rain. To get to our room, we had to take the centre of 3 lifts down to level B, then another lift down to level -2. Ok, so no windows down there but very pleased with the modern room. It has a backlit glass feature wall with a silhouette pattern of tree branches on it whose illumination can be dimmed down to off. It gives the impression of sunlight outside of a large window. Nice feature. Linda loves (free) wifi for facebooking too.

Day 42 - Monday 15th October

Breakfast at Pret a Manger in Queensberry St., 5 minutes walk from the hotel. (Strange attraction to French eating places.) It rained last night so everything is wet but not currently raining. It is overcast and for the first time this holiday it is cool enough for me to wear a jumper.

We bought 2 days of the Big Bus, a hop on hop off bus, the same company as in Paris. A stop is just around the corner in Bayswater Rd.

We hopped on a blue route bus and changed to a red route bus at the marble arch and listened to the guide tell us what we passed all the way to stop 16, near the tower bridge.

We then walked to the river cruise which took is back to stop 18. We walked up the James Park and had lunch in the cafe. We took an orange route bus from stop 38 and hopped off at stop 35, just near Madam Toussaud's. We used the discount tickets we bought from the Big Bus guy at stop 38, £32 instead of £35, and walked in to see what the madam had to offer.

Apart from the variety of wax figures of celebrities, there was a 'taxi' ride showing a history of London, and a very impressive 3D superhero movie projected onto the hemispherical ceiling of a large theatre. A couple of hours very well spent.

About 3:30 asked a big bus driver if his bus was a blue route bus and he replied it was. It wasn't! We took an extended trip and he kicked us off the bus about 5:15 at stop 1 and told us it was 2, the one we wanted. This apparently was the time the service ended. It was after sundown when we then navigated our way back to the hotel using one of their maps because the GPS on my phone again had stopped working. Reached the hotel about 7:20.

We then walked around into Queensbury St. where lots of the eating places were and dined in a typical English restaurant, the Kam Tong restaurant serving fine Chinese cuisine. Retired to the hotel feeling a bit tired but content.

Europe 2018 Week 5

springboard — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 04:17:00 GMT

Day 29 - Tuesday 2nd October

Still windy today and without anything pressing on our schedule, we slept in till about 8:30. After breakfast, bought 2 days of wifi for E10:00 and strolled around the camp, out onto the rocky breakwater and considered playing tennis if the wind stops. Consideration was as far as it got.

After one of Linda's omelettes for lunch, I downloaded some offline maps to use later in our trip. Mid afternoon it was still windy but warm enough for a long walk on the beach without rugging up. Met an English couple walking our way and talked up and down the length of the beach about our travels and theirs. They also described the wind as the well known Mistral that blows from the north west, is usually accompanied by clear fresh weather and is a major influence on the climate of Provence. Back at the cabin about 5:00.

After dinner went for another walk around the camp and the beach in the usual windy conditions.

Day 30 - Wednesday 3rd October

Bounded out of bed before sunrise and photographed the sun rising over the Mediterranean horizon from the beach. The sun rose about 7:30 with lots of jet vapour trails shown pink by the low sun. Otherwise there was hardly a cloud on the sky.

After breakfast, domestic chores were required. The washing was done at the laundry 10 minutes walk away then another slow walk along the length of the beach and back under a blue sky and a warm breeze. At the edge of the water was a long line of mostly broken shells on the otherwise fine white sand which made walking there a bit

precarious. Successfully avoiding cutting our feet, we returned with a collection of shells, first with the intention to bring them back to Australia, but then to photograph them instead of testing the customs officials at home.

Afternoon was spent mostly lazing about the cabin in the shade away from the strong sun, and the wind died away to an eerie calm.

Day 31 - Thursday 4th October

Marseillan-Plage to Monleon Magnoac

Slept in to 7am this morning. Check out was booked for 9:30 when they come and check the cabin before departure.

Passing inspection, handing back our wrist bands and telling them about a broken slat under the mattress, we were off about 9:40.

More blue sky and undulating pleasant countryside with all the winding roads and country villages to slow down through.

We reached Carcassonne in about an hour and managed to find a parking spot next to the river about 10 minutes walk via the bridge to the mediaeval walled city. We walked as many of the streets as we could, most of them, and stopped for a panini (long flat toasted roll with chicken, tomato & stuff) at one of the smaller cafes. I first paid with my Visa debit card but the machine seemed not to work so I paid cash. While waiting for Linda to use the loo (I do a lot of that), the apologetic proprietor offered my 15 euros back and an EFTPOS receipt. The machine had eventually got through to Australia. Smiles all around from the friendly staff, and me. Lots of photographs of the town later, we continued travelling about 2:30. After a Supermarche stop 10 minutes from our camp, we reached the camp just before 6pm, when reception was due to close. Xaviour & Isabelle were expecting us and we're very welcoming. Xaviour was keen to let know of all the best places in the Pyrenees Mountains, even though we had planned to visit the Airbus factory tomorrow. Nevertheless we got all his info and a view of photos on his phone of his recent visits to some mountain lake destinations. Not many other guests here apart from us because normally at this time of the year, it gets cold in northern France and people come here in the south. Because it is still unusually warm in the north, people are holidaying there. After a good chat, Isabelle led us on her bike to our cabin. Waiting for us was a bottle of the local 4 year old Merlot, a personalised welcome certificate and a very pleasant, roomy comfortable cabin overlooking the creek.

We made ourselves at home, fixed some vittles and caught up on blogging.

Day 32 - Friday 5th October

Today's goal .. the tour of the Airbus facility at the Blagnac airport in Toulouse. Left at 9am and after the 1.5 hour drive, arrived at the 'Let's Discover Airbus' centre, outside of which was one of the Concorde and an M400 military transport plane. The tour did not start until 11:45 so we spent the intervening time in the aircraft museum, Aeroscopia, where we could walk through a Concorde, walk into an opened up Super Guppy and a host of other aircraft and exhibits.

The tour started on time spoken in English with a French accent by a Japanese girl who was full of facts and figures.

Parts for the A380 are built in the UK, Spain, Germany and France and shipped, barged and trucked along the French countryside roads and through tiny villages once a month, at night, of course. An A380 is completed every month, but they make 50 A320's a month.

They also assemble A330's and the new (3 years old) A350's at this plant, the one with carbon fibre fuselage and other modern stuff. One in ten flights from the Blagnac airport a test flight of a new aircraft. Airbus exclusively uses one of the two runways.

We were first shown a video of the first flight of the A380 prototype in 2005 with telemetry displayed, then we were bussed to a hanger containing 3 aircraft in assembly, an A350 and two A380's. After an introductory talk about Airbus's aircraft and assembly and test facility, we took lifts to a viewing area over the aircraft being assembled and tested. The plant had no workers there because it was lunch time in their 9 hour shift, one of two shifts a day.

Linda picked up (and paid for) some more gifts in the shop and we left for camp at 2:00. Late lunch at 3:30 on the porch of our cabin, creek below us, blue sky above us, warm breeze all around us and a couple of Linda's toasted omelette sandwiches inside us. Sublime contentment.

After lunch, Linda spent time posting on Facebook in the wifi area at the restaurant and I explored a walking trail through the bush, finding the old farm house that was part of the camp area. It was actually two buildings, one had been converted to two residential units and the other had a sauna, shower and massage room. I went back and had a swim in the pool then after 5pm when the sauna opened, we tried it out. A few cycles of sauna, shower, sauna shower and we headed back to the cabin via the pool for another swim. Life is so complicated.

Friday afternoon now and noticeably more guests are arriving, perhaps for the weekend. Isabelle & Xaviour will be pleased.

Day 33 - Saturday 6th October

Monleon Magnoac to Devillac

Left about 9:40, expected driving time about 3.5 hours. Could not find anyone to check us out but we had already paid a deposit

at booking and subsequent full payment on line, so I left the key on the desk. More blue sky & sunshine and more very pleasant country driving. The town of Condom was on the way so we made sure we had a photo of the town sign. Stopped in Monflanquin at a Supermarche for provisions. Tried three automatic fuel stations on the way and they all refused my Visa debit card. What the .. ? Still have quarter of a tank, though.

We reached the camp just before 2pm. We interrupted Francois's lunch but he obligingly check us in to cabin 8. We explained our travels and he said he knows the proprietors of all the camps we have been to. He has recently taken ownership of this camp after the previous owner, a Dutch man, 76, passed it on for age related reasons.

Our cabin looks like a log cabin, built entirely of solid wood with the usual semi round terra cotta tiles on the roof. The fridge also had a bottle of red complementary wine complete with the camp's name on the label. Linda is not going to be able to walk this evening. The view from the porch was a long sloping grass area to the forest 150 m away, blue sky above. Francois gave us a heads up on the growls of deer that may be heard coming from the forest. Apparently it is mating season, and deer have seen at the edge of the forest and in the grounds. I think I will keep out of the way of 300kg bucks.

After a late lunch, as usual, we walked around the grounds. The water slide was not open but the indoor swimming pool was.

Walking back near the edge of the forest we saw a doe, a deer, a female deer, in a ray of golden sun not far away, so me & Linda followed the so and so but it ran into the forest. Instead of tea, (doh!) we fetched our towels and went for a swim. The water depth in the main pool, however, was 1.5m everywhere, which is about up to my shoulders and up to the top of Linda's head! I supported her for a while until she decided the 0.3m wading pool was more her depth. She then used the free wifi in the bar area to post some Facebook stuff while l lazed by the pool. Back to the cabin at 5:30 for some wine & Swiss cheese.

After Linda's fish & veges, the wind started to blow and it rained! Don't think the former caused the latter, just telling it like it was. Some more rain is predicted tomorrow but it should ease off the following day.

Day 34 - Sunday 7th October

Overcast this morning so before getting up Linda massaged the gear changing muscles on my right shoulder. I am not used to using a manual gearbox. She found some very tender spots and showed way too much pleasure in making them hurt more. I felt better after though.

It rained lightly until mid afternoon but we did get an hour of internet in before lunch. The bar was only a 1 minute brisk walk so we did not really get wet. Linda posted Facebook stuff and we had a video call to Linda's sister and Bel. Bel gets very excited when she sees us live on her iPad.

We had a brief walk around the edge of the forest back to the cabin but no sightings of deer this time. We spent a quiet afternoon in the cabin, me catching up on my blogs and organising HTML files of our trip while Linda played her favourite word game on her phone.

About 4:30 there was a bit sun shining through the thinning clouds so we took a stealthy walk around the grounds hoping to see another deer. Sure enough, Linda spotted a group of about 5 through the thin forest and videoed them before they disappeared. The highlight of the day.

Back at the cabin, Linda polished of the last of our first bottle of wine. The second we will leave until the next camp where we (she mostly) will have three days to drink it.

Day 35 - Monday 8th October

Devillac to Boussac

After picking up the bread and croissants from Francois about 8:40 and depositing the appropriate rubbish in the appropriate bin, we headed for our next camp near Boussac. After early light rain and overcast skies, the overcast sky persisted but the rain fortunately, did not. Very good. There was about an hour on expressway but the rest was the usual winding roads over undulating French countryside, a couple of large towns but mostly small ones. I only had a quarter tank of gazole and I had not had much success finding a petrol station that would accept my card. Today, however, the first petrol station we found, in Fangauffier, not only did it have an attendant to take my funds, the young lady insisted filling my tank for me! Problem solved .. very pleased. I chose to pay in cash because I had more than I thought I would need for the rest of our stay in France. The trick is to have none left just before we leave. We will see how that goes.

Arrived at the new camp just before 2pm to a closed reception office. I rang the big cow bell a few times and eventually Reinier (Dutch accent, cos he was Dutch) come to greet us. We were put in cabin 32, right next to all the facilities including the two swimming pools (one indoor & one outdoor), sauna, hot tub, bar, restaurant and laundry. In the cabin Linda is happy with a good kitchen to cook in. After settling in to the cabin and having our usual late lunch, we tried the indoor pool, the sauna and the table tennis table in the indoor pool area. While Linda did the smart thing and stayed in the sauna, I tried the outdoor pool. I really should not have .. it was icy. The shop sold ice creams so I stocked up for the coming couple of days, but which will probably be all eaten tonight.

Connected to the free, no hassles wifi and caught up with emails and stuff.

Elizabeth delivered our sheets, blankets and towels to us in our cabin, and showed us how the heater worked. Linda likes to be warm.

Pasta tonight, with the wine from the last camp. Fortunately this cabin has a cork screw to open the bottle, otherwise we would have been (not?) screwed.

Europe 2018 Week 4

springboard — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 01:01:00 GMT

Day 22 - Tuesday 25 September

Marzabotto to Florence to Marzabotto

Ready to leave @8:20am after picking up our bread we had ordered the day before at the camp shop and trying in vain to contact Linda's crew on Facebook. Plan was to drive to Sesto Fiorentino train station on the outskirts of Florence, take the train into the city then visit Pitti Palace and the 110 acre Boboli Gardens behind it.

The drive was marked by many tunnels, many bridges, much roadworks, a few usual navigation errors and bad Italian drivers. The drivers never use indicators and drive very close behind you, even when they do not want to pass. When they do pass they cut back into your lane very close in front of you. They take no notice of speed limits, especially around roadworks and tailgate to push you to go faster. Not impressed.

The train into Florence, however, was modern, smooth & quiet. Was impressed.

About 10am, we walked from the station to the Pitti Palace along the river and joined the ticket queue. About 40 minutes later we were walking around the 'gardens'. Not many flowering plants but many avenues of trees and many steps. The inside of the palace was full of paintings, sculptures and very impressive wall and ceiling decor you would expect in a palace. Very different to the fairly unimaginative and not very well maintained exterior. Lots of rooms, all different, most with pictures ranging in size from small to huge.

Left the palace about 3:30 after a drink in the cafe. Went over the Ponte Vecchio then through the city centre this time along many tourist crowded pedestrian only streets, back to the station. Got back to camp about 5:30. Had lunch that we had taken with us but did not get the chance to eat.

Day 23 - Wednesday 26 September

Marzabotto to Turin

Left ~8.20 , drove through some tunnels for some distance then most of landscape from then was freeway across flat countryside with not much of interest to look at until we approached Turin, with a backdrop of mountains. The terrain became more hilly and forested and we reached camp just outside of La Cassa village ~12.50 after only a couple of wrong turns.

At the gate intercom we were greeted in Italian but she asked to wait. After some time, two men walked up the road, one who could speak some English who ushered us in to reception and Louisa who was in charge. We decided French was the best way to go so we managed to get through check in OK. The normal English speaking managers, who were Dutch, had gone to Holland for a while.

Settled into our bungalow overlooking the pool and main building. Very pleased. After lunch and a walk around the camp until the nearest supermarket opened at 3.30, we then drove the 10 minutes to the small village of Fiano to stock up.

There were a few other people staying at the camp, all very well tanned. Very nice pool area, jacuzzi, sauna, 2 tennis courts, volleyball court, table tennis, restaurant, large hall, all well maintained but no camp shop. No problem, we had all we needed.

We ate in that night, Linda cooking.

Day 24 - Thursday 27 September

The sky has been blue all day and there has been no wind but it has been a bit cool, just below 20, but warm in the sun. Today was for catching up on blogs. I worked out how to create HTML files using Word that contain thumbnails of jpg's that display in full screen when you click on them. I spent all afternoon creating pages with hyperlinks to the blogs I have been writing. All that effort achieved about 60% of week one! .. lots of photos from two cameras and two phones with page format design and hyperlinks. Tried out the pool .. cold!

A stroll around camp before dinner. Each quarter hour a chime or two reaches us from one of the nearby church bell towers. The camp is very quiet although there were a dozen people lying around the pool all day. I get the impression, though, that in the summer there are big crowds of people. Not much English is spoken here so we kept to ourselves mostly. After finding out about Risotto from Carla & Harrie at the last camp site, Linda now has rice back on the menu. Damn.

Day 25 - Friday 28 September

Turin to Forcalquier

Sorted our rubbish into vetroe, plastica, carta & indifferenziata bins and waited for someone to come to reception. After a while, I walked down to the residence of Gianfranco & Louisa and met Louisa about to take her little dog for a walk. Gianfranco was there and explained Louisa will come up to reception & check us out. 20 minutes later, Louisa turned up, (after her dog walk) and we settled the bill.

Left about 9.20 for an expected trip of about 4 driving hours. Heading towards the French border over the Alps, we first went through many tunnels along a couple of tollways while mountains grew around us. The scenery became breathtaking, one magnificent vista leading to another while the road became windy (curvy, not blowy) as we climbed higher eventually to the Alpine ski village of Montgenevre where the border with France is. From there we descended long valleys with more magnificent scenery until the mountains slowly shrank to big hills. We stopped at a small lake at La Roche-de-Rame for a rest with about half the driving to go. This was a beautiful place. We walked around it, watching the abundant fish from every bank and taking many photos, some with the mountains reflecting in the water.

About ten minutes from our destination, we stopped at a supermarket in Forcalquier for stocks. At the camp, charming Helen greeted us with a French sounding hello. She was expecting us Australians and spoke very good English, she even understood my jokes. The info pamphlet she gave me had a British flag and GB on it. I asked if she had an Australian one and she saw the humour in that.

The large grounds are on the side of a hill with not many trees. Our cabin was up the top with a magnificent view of the other side of the valley. The cabin was very modern and fully equipped, except for a TV, which is not something we really wanted.

After a late lunch at about 4.30, Linda did some washing and I did this blogging. Under a cloudless sky, the sun was hot on our front balcony. Helen had said this warm weather is expected to continue for two weeks. We consider ourselves blessed with continuing fine weather.

Day 26 - Saturday 29th September

Small animal scampering over the cabin roof woke us up before dawn, probably from trees overhanging cabin.

Photographed the sun on the opposite side of the valley as it came down the slope.

Back in France, now, and the mugs are full size again. Had to use two cups for a cuppa in Italy, Croatia, Austria and Switzerland.

Reconnoitred the camp after a late breakfast. (Linda did not want to get out of bed until it was warm.) Bought a 1 day 'wee fee' (wi fi) for each of our phones. Yesterday my Visa card was not accepted at the supermarket, had to pay cash. Checked my account to see if I had the balance I expected. Fortunately it was there. Must have been just a fussy EFTPOS machine.

From our front porch, blue sky and sunshine and not even a breeze accompanied the contemplation of the panoramic view of the other side of the valley.

Spent the day resting, blogging, resting internet tasks in the restaurant area near reception, resting and some eating. Arranged at reception for early departure tomorrow .. 8:00am.

Day 27 - Sunday 30th September

Forcalquier to Barjac

Left at 8:10am with me expected travel time of 3 hours. No freeways or tollways today. Travelled under overcast skies through picturesque undulating French countryside and towns. Took a few wrong turns in Avignon but otherwise very pleasant driving. Arrived at our camp near Barjac at 11:10 on schedule, checked in and checked out our cabin. This one was a bit bigger with sleeping for four. The camp is again on a hillside but covers a large area. We walked down towards the river inspecting the facilities on the way, found out where to park the car the next time we go down, then trudged back up for some lunch.

After some of Linda's 'hocus pocus' of tuna, egg and tomato, we took the narrow walking path around a forested valley to the ruins of old chateau. The sky, now, had few clouds, the temperature was ideal for walking and most of the path was shaded. At the chateau, a walking party joined us who had walk from 35km away, and still going. After lots of photos, we had showers back at the cabin before going down to the pool, in the car this time. Linda was adamant that she was not going into the pool until she found one of them was enclosed and warmed to a temperature of her liking.

The shop opened at 5pm so we drove down to that for some provisions (chocolate croissants) then back for cuppa and dinner.

During our travels there have been very few insects annoy us and very few windows have had fly screens. The only mosquitos we have come across have bitten only Linda and not me, so that's alright. Same at this camp.

Day 28 - Monday 1st August

Barjac to Marseillan-Plage

The usual pre departure is to clean the bugs off the windscreen that did not give way to us the previous day. That done, and after breakfast and cleaning the cabin, we drove down to the river and walked upstream on the path beside the river and on the gravelly river bed, taking photos before the sun came up over the high ridge. Checked out ~ 9:15 and went looking for a cash dispenser in the nearest village, Barjac. Directions were given from a friendly local and cash was dispensed. After a wander about the winding alleys for a while, we headed on to find one of the grottes in the area. The first one was closed but second one was not only open, it was spectacular, the 'Grand Site de l'Aven d'Orgnac. We perused the museum of neolithic history for about 45 minutes before taking the 11:15 tour into the cave. Tours in English finished for the year at the end of September. This being 1st October, we missed out by a day. With the French guide we descended first 50 metres by steps into the first large chamber, the one that contained the original hole in its ceiling through which the original explorer descended in 1935. We descended 121 metres surrounded by a vast range of types and sizes of stalectites and stalicmites with a finale of a light and sound show at the bottom. To get back up? Take one of the two lifts, of course.

After a couple of sandwiches and the essential hots chocolates, we set the GPS's for our next destination, 3 hours drive to the Mediterranean coast. Another pleasant country drive through small villages and a few large towns. We always seem to make the wrong turns in big towns.

Stopped at a Supermarche for provisions for the next 3 days, a tank of gazole and drove the last 20 minutes to the camp. The first half of the day was fine mild weather but this afternoon it was fine, very windy weather. Settled into the cabin, (bed on the mezzanine in this one), then walked around the camp and back along the beach before dinner in the cabin.

___

Europe 2018 Week 3

springboard — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 01:00:00 GMT

Day 15 - Tuesday 18 September

Innsbruck to Villach

Ready to leave at 7.40 but had to wait until 8pm for reception to open to settle the bill. On the road under another blue sky with only the ever present vapour trails of jets writing long white clouds to make up for no real ones.

Ever since we descended into Geneva, we have travelled along valleys towered over by mountains either side. Today was the same. Only one wrong turn onto a freeway today .. I think I am getting better. One payment of a toll of about E11 as our route took us into southern Germany and back down into Austria through many more tunnels. Entering a tunnel on a two lane freeway at 120kph is exhilarating to say the least. When we were not on freeways doing almost 130, we were on the main road that constantly changed speed limit from 100 down to 30 and all speeds in between. Most of the time, doing 100 was between towns which were, more often than not, only a few kilometers or a few hundred metres apart. There was also an assortment of roadworks that slowed us down. After a few rest stops along the way we reached our hostel in Villach about 2pm. After checking in, we found the hostel itself has a rock climbing room! The hostel is also right next to indoor tennis courts and next to that is a huge gymnasium building. We also met another Australian couple who had cycled through the Czech Republic, up and down mountains with very brown skin for Aussies. Taking into consideration all these sporting influences, we opted for some 'kultya' and walked the 20 minutes into Villach and found the old town. This was much like the one in Lucerne but not as big and not quite as appealing. We did like Lucerne's, though.

We walked back along the river Drava to the hostel, showered for dinner. The room was very roomy with its own bathroom .. a delight after the sleeping barrels at Netters which did not.

Evening meal was in the cafe at the tennis centre. The only choices were toast or a meal the waitress had difficulty naming, or describing. Another guest at the bar said it was good so on his recommendation, we tried it. Surprisingly good, best described as pastie sized ravioli (big) filled with potato, cheese and spices, quantity two, served with salad. This was, apparently, a dish unique to this Austrian Provence of Corinthia. We felt privileged. Salad, by the way, in Switzerland and Austria is just an assortment of green stuff, mostly lettuce with a dressing. Not a tomato to be found.

Day 16 - Wednesday 19 September

Villach to Rovinj

Breakfast was served from 7.00am and we were there ready for it. We both had a big breakfast then while we let our breakfast settle, Linda spoke to her sister and Bel on WhatsApp. Bel gets really excited to see us on her iPad.

I plotted a course via Udine in Italy to Rovinj in Croatia. After a couple of rest stops and a few toll gates and descending out of the mountains to the flat land of North East Italy, we crossed into Slovenia without noticing where the border was. The Croatian border was a bit more obvious, with a passport check from a serious looking official. We reached Rovinj to be met with a long line of stationary traffic in front of us. It started to move after 5 minutes and eventually we passed the scene of a car accident blocking one of 2 lanes.

We checked in about 2pm, bought 3 hours of wifi and found our self contained cabin very comfortable. We were advised that for the air conditioner to work, all the doors and windows had to be closed. There must be sensors on them! Cool! Linda was pleased that she had cooking facilities again.

We stocked up on supplies at the very reasonably priced market and went for a walk to explore the vast camp site and beach front. Not far away was some outdoor gym equipment we struggled to employ to loosen up our joints after the drive. The sky is still blue, the temperature is still warm and the sea water looks inviting. I swam across one of the small bays, stopping to embarass myself by slipping off one the large inflatables on the way and meeting Linda at a pier on the other side. After walking all along the beach front (5km) and reclining on lounges where the view appealed, Linda rustled up some tasty vittles .. fish and veges, yum.

Day 17 - Thursday 20 September

Woke at 6.40 and realised the sun was not yet up. Dragged Linda out into the cool, still morning air under another cloudless sky and took lots of sunrise photos while there were only a few other people around.

After shower and breakfast we did a round of exercises on the outdoor gym equipment, walked along the beach front, swimming at a few places and lounged in the shade out of the hot sun. We waited till 11pm for the water slide to open then spent an hour on and off the slide, trying all the combinations we could think of except sliding back up. I am still working on that one. This is one way Linda does not mind getting wet. The shoreline outside showers are a good, if not necessary, way to remove the salt water from the skin. If the salt water is left to dry, a noticeable layer of salt stays on the skin. Lunch back at the cabin. Getting used to navigating around this vast place but I have to use land marks. If I use the sun to work out where North is, I usually get it wrong, even though I know the sun moves across the southern sky from left to right and is basically south at noon. My brain has trouble switching from the sun moving from right to left in the northern sky. Old timers disease, I suppose.

Much reclining on lounge chairs under shade in our front yard this afternoon because the sun was strong, my skin does not like strong sun and Linda does not like her skin to get dark.

5pm A walk down to the beach front for a swim before dinner.

Over dinner on our balcony, we watched a bigger than average sized caravan being manoeuvred into position without a car attached! The guy had a remote control and the van was moving itself, back forward and rotating. I want one of them.

Day 18 - Friday 21 September

Family with crying kids moved in next door last night. Noisy intermittently for a few hours. Not too bad this morning.

Saw another remote controlled caravan being manouvred this morning, smaller than average sized this time.

Options for today are joining in the volleyball contest at 10:30am or going into Rovinj for the morning .. my choice or Linda's.

Waited at reception for the 9.40am bus into Rovinj when we should have been waiting at the main gate. We realised this at 9:38am and dashed to the right place and just caught it. From the town bus stop, we strolled along the beach front and through the windy streets of the old town, again taking oodles of photos. After an hour of indecision, we decided to head to the wharf where a tour boat operator had previously enticed us to join a cruise from 11:30 to 13:00. Our return bus was at 13:30 and with a bit of a risk missing the 13:30 and having to wait for the 17:40, we intrepid adventurers embarked. The cruise went around Rovinj, which juts out on a short peninsula, then south around some small islands. Our Croatian host offered all the passengers first a small plastic cup of whiskey, then a sparkling mineral water, then a glass of wine, followed by some cordial. Linda imbibed enthusiastically to all offerings, me too. There were about 12 passengers on the boat including a group of four Aussies from Wollongong touring west & east Europe for 9 weeks. Nice to speak Australian for a while. Two of them ex-Croates, one of them born in a shore front house in Rovinj he pointed out from the boat.

Returning to port (the wharf, not the drink), we easily made our way back to the bus in time to return to camp. Bought some more provisions from the shop, including ice creams then omelette (& ice creams) for lunch. After lunch went down, we headed for the Havana bar, not for the bar but the water slide in front. Lots of up & down, then relaxed on lounge chairs in the shade, then swim, then relax. They closed the slide about here so after extended relaxing, walked back to cabin the long way around the foreshore. The volleyball courts were now, sadly, unused. (.. sigh.)

Cuppa at the cabin at 5:30. The cleaners have done their thing in the cabin with clean towels & sheets. We have two single doonas on a double bed, by the way. We adapted.

At 6:30, mellow music carried up to us from The Spaccio restaurant down by the marina .. very pleasant.

Day 19 - Saturday 22 September

Rovinj to Fusina

We were ready to hit the road about 8:00 but I had about 230 Kuna (~$50) and we were leaving Croatia. I bought some water proof shoes to protect my feet from the beach pebbles and a diving mask. Linda helpfully finished off the rest. Ready to go at 9:00 under overcast sky but warm temperature.

The car GPS course estimated our trip to Fusina, near Venice, to be 3.5 hours. A few major events conspired to prevent this from being anywhere close. A short time into the trip, still in Croatia, traffic slowed to a crawl and continued like this for many kilometers for a reason we never discovered. Eventually our course led us away from the traffic jam just to encounter another one approaching a toll gate. Through that, OK until we reached the Slovenian border .. another delay. Further along, another toll gate in Italy which did not deserve any money because the tollway was slowed to a crawl or with low speed limits because of the great lengths of road works. We eventually reached our camp cabin at about 3pm, a trip of 6 hours! Bought some 'lunch' and reconnoitred the camp site. From the foreshore, we could see Venice in the distance with half a dozen huge cruise liners waiting to dock and partially blocking our view. Checked out the ferry terminal we would depart from tomorrow morning and bought tickets back at camp reception, ready for a day in Venice tomorrow.

Day 20 - Sunday 23 September

Under an overcast sky, we caught the 8am ferry #16 and arrived at the Zattere port of Venice 8:30. Remarkably few people around this time on a Sunday. This was to change to big crowds in all the main areas, the squares and main thoroughfares, later on the morning. We crossed the Po the dell'Academia across the main canal on the way to the tourist info centre near St. Marks Square. We booked a half hour gondola ride starting at 11am so we perfused the square with throngs of others, Linda buying gifts for friends & relatives. I was placed at the front of the boat looking back at the other 5 passengers, positioned by the boatman to balance the boat, we were to find out. After a few minutes of taking pictures and swivelling around, the gondolier ask me to move back to the centre of my seat. Understanding now how critical balancing weight in such an unstable craft is, I decided to stay where I was meant to be. This critical understanding, however, was not picked up by Linda, who, ten minutes later, moved up to me and wanted to change places with me, making the boat rock, much to the concern of the gondolier, not to mention the other passengers. Changing places with her would been a bit dramatic because her place was on the side. Firmly directing her to sit back down was met with a determined effort to be in a good spot for her to take photos. Being firmer and then trying to explain small craft balance, I just ended up in the dog house, metaphorically. Don't come between Linda and a photo opportunity!

Going under low bridges and manouvring around many obstacles from side and above, I grew to have respect for the skill required by a gondolier. Linda's first wish granted, we then navigated through the haphazard labarynthian alleysvia the Ponte di Rialto (the biggest ponte) to Fondamen te Nuove, a ferry terminal from which we could reach Murano on a 4.2 ferry. Why don't ferries come in integers, I wondered.

While boarding, I asked the assistant which of the four stops on Murano we should get off at for the glass making. 'Two stops' was the advise. The boat stopped at another stop before Murano, making wonder, two stops from where we embarked or two stops on Murano? I went with the latter. It was, however, the former. We were let off at a wasteland, basically, and wondered why anyone would put a ferry stop here. Turned out, crossing a bridge and walking around a dodgy looking apartment block, there was the glass blowing factory we were there to see. We stayed for the free demonstration of glass blowing by the master, donated a fiver to the bowl afterwards because I thought it was worth it and we perused the abundant shops displaying huge varieties of glassware with huge varieties of prices, but mostly just huge prices.

Ferried back on our 4.2 and took one of the ring roads through the Cannaregio (north) area, having some pizza in a cafe, Linda still buying gifts .. lots of friends & relatives.

Our goal eventually reached, despite my inability to make reliable navigation decisions using my 'Venice City Map', the Leonardo de Vinci museum.

Fascinating display of working models of many of his designs as well information about his life and diverse work. Worth getting lost for. With tired legs that had been carrying us all day, we made our way back to the Fusina ferry terminal, had a rich, thick and creamy hot chocolate while waiting, and got back to camp at 6pm. Dinner of pasta in the camp restaurant, washing & drying done, a box of macaroons from a Venetian cake shop for supper.

Day 21 - Monday 24 September

Fusina to Marzabotto

Settled the remaining bill of E0.80 (some tax), complained about the poor quality of the wifi and on the road again @ 8.30.

The countryside to Bologna is a scruffy rural landscape .. not very picturesque. We took the freeway most of the way to past Bologna .. got change from 10 Euro at the toll gate. The landscape became a bit more interesting past Bologna, with the hills getting bigger and quite a few tunnels for the freeway. From Marzabotto, the GPS led us up the side of a picturesque valley to our camp, and a fully self contained unit with a panoramic view over the valley from our front porch.

Carla greeted us and offered us coffee (very strong in cups smaller than anywhere so far .. very Italian). After a pleasant chat with Carla and Harrie, Carla showed us our cabin. Linda was very pleased with all the facilities, and she could cook again. The bed was a double but two single doonas supplied. We have done that before.

There are two central buildings at the camp. The smaller one is the residence of Carla & Harrie. The larger villa has a small shop and magazine library in a common room on the ground floor and most of the top floor was a large library room. After studying a few maps of the local area in the library, we went down into Pian di Venola town and stocked up at the iN's Mercato (yes iN's market) supermarket. Back at the cabin we had lunch @ 3pm, at last. Back to the library after lunch and Linda spent a few hours on Facebook, her addicted preoccupation, and I planned a round trip to Florence the following day following, with Carla finding and supplying me with all the info I needed.

I also found that the camp is located in 'The Historic Park of Mount Sole' which has a really gruesome history. Here was the greatest mass slaughter of civilians by the Nazis during World War II involving the three towns in the area with the murder of 770 elderly men, women and children. Many other people died also because of the wartime conditions. The area was left abandoned until the 1970's when the area started to redevelop.

Europe 2018 Week 2

springboard — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 00:58:00 GMT

Day 8 - Tuesday 11^th September

Went in to Luzy to stock up on provisions at the Lidl, get some cash and some gazole (E2.66 per litre) for the car. We spent some time walking around this very pleasant little village. At the gazole station, the lady gave us personal service. I made the point that we were not English but Australian. Her face lit up with excitement and she showed me photos on her phone of her nephew that was currently holidaying in Australia.

Back at camp, paid the security deposit and for last night’s meal. It has taken me all afternoon to put my notes together to complete this blog to this point. I can’t post it yet though, because Linda’s phone has the only free WiFi code for us. If we want an extra one, I have to pay a daily fee. I transferred this file to Linda’s phone and posted it from there.

Day 9 - Wednesday 12 September

10.30am Walk along one of the trails outside the camp for about 1.5 hours. Swim in the pool on return. Relaxing warm afternoon.

Day 10 - Thursday 13 September

Luzy to Geneva

Checked out of our caravan & annex with charming Fleur, heading to Geneva with 2 GPS's programmed.

Even with 2 we took an exit where there were 2 close together. Entered toll freeway, took ticket, exited after 3km, entered wrong toll gate, backed up after asking driver behind to back up, paid E0.60 toll, U turn at roundabout, entered toll way, took ticket, exited tollway, paid E0.60 toll at correct toll gate, back on track. Easy.

Stopped at St. Germain du Bois for lunch. Bought tuna & bread and picknicked beside a park lake.

Stopped at the tourist info centre at Rousses for a map. Vignettes are necessary if the expressway is used. Road climbs & winds getting close to the border.

Crossed the border into Switzerland when clouds gathered in the distance and it rained for most of the descent into Geneva. We got close to the Chateau de Bossey but did a bit of backward & forwarding before finding it. My phone GPS wanted to take us along a one way gravel track the wrong way.

Very impressive building. Checked in, walked around the grounds taking photos before showering sweat off. Italian restaurant 'Antipasti' about 15 minutes away, for dinner. The restaurant was not visible from the street but along a walkway inside a modern group of flats. Very strange. Table outside on a footpath, mild temperature with the mountains across the lake for a view.

My phone is now connected to 'Swissmobile - La Poste mobile' & showing emergency calls only. Rats.

Day 11 - Friday 14 September

After a generous breakfast provided with our accommodation, we drove about 15 minutes to CERN. Along a very narrow road, a police car coming from the opposite direction and politely that we should not be on this road. It was only for agricultural vehicles tending to the crops on either side of the road. He accepted our excuse that our GPS showed us this way, calling the GPS instructions 'fake' and let us drive on.

At CERN, being able to take a guided tour ( I found it impossible to book online) we walked through Microcosm, the public exhibition showing what the LHC does. Bought the t shirt so I am happy. From there, we found a car park near the Botanic gardens. At 12pm, we had until 2pm before we had to pay for the parking. We walked through the gardens taking lots of photos and then walked around the block to the United Nations building. Out the front was small protest group wanted to fee Tibet. Their Buddhist chanting was pleasant but not showing any signs of effectiveness.

We walked further to the United States embassy. Linda's attempts to take a photo met with shouts from the guards inside. OK, no photos.

Back at the car at 1.45, the meter needed payment. I worked out the French instructions and paid for 5 hours. It did not print a ticket but sent me an internet link in an SMS. I could not display the link because my internet was not working. We started walking to the Geneva old city and along the way, used the free wifi at a McDonalds to check the parking site. I think that validated my payment. 50 minute walk to an ice cream on the bridge then 5 minutes to the old city. Walked around for about 2.5 hrs taking countless photos, mostly of Linda in front of things. Had dinner at 5:30pm at a Spaghetti factory, then walked back to the car along the bank of the lake.

At the car about 7:50pm. I carefully excluded the agricultural road in our course back home. The GPS course estimated 40 min. trip but very slow traffic out of Geneva on a Friday night made it 1hr 20 min. After many KMs walking today, glad for shower and relax in our room.

Day 12 - Saturday 15 September

Geneva to Lucerne

After another filling breakfast out on the terrace, we left at 8.am, took highway 1 mostly a maximum of 80kph but dropping to 50 through every town & little hamlet. Arrived at Lucerne hostel at 12.30. The room we booked had bathroom in it. That was now not available so we were offered a room with a shared bathroom for 25% less. That will do. Our room is on the 3rd floor and there is no lift so we put only what we needed for the one night in as little luggage as possible and lugged that up.

Using a cryptic map and no advice from the closed reception, we walked to where I thought we could get the cable car up the mountain. We did not find it, had McDonalds for lunch and came back to the room to recharge ourselves and our devices.

6pm. Asked the Asian girl at reception where the cable car station was but I chose not to follow her advice when she could not find it on her phone.

8.30pm. Another receptionist gave us directions. We will try for a cable car ride after breakfast .. of rice. Linda is happy. The proprietors are Asian.

Day 13 - Sunday 16 September

Lucerne to Innsbruck

Yep, fried rice for breakfast. Straight after a hurried breakfast, we checked out, left our car in the hostel car park while we walked 10 minutes to the cable car station, bought our tickets to the top of Mt. Pilatus and spent the next 2 hours ascending (40 mins), running around the top photagraphing everything and descending in the gondolas. A remarkable site was to see a paraglider take off from the top in perfectly calm conditions under a blue sky. It was not even very cold at the top .. we were comfortable in t shirts. We followed the dragon path around the side of the mountain which then went through a short tunnel back to the start. In this tunnel was a large solid door behind bars that I think is an entrance into the mountain used by the military. Later at the bottom we saw the gliders circle above us and land in a field near the cable car station. Awesome!

We walked back to the car at the hostel and left about 11.30 for Innsbruck.

We stopped at a service station on the Liechtenstein border for take away sandwich roll we ate in the car. We also bought a vignette to travel on the Austrian expressways. There have been dozens of tunnels on this leg of the journey with the longest one, the Ahlberg tunnel 15.5km. We stopped at a toll gate with an attendant to pay E10, continued to our camp site in Netters just outside Innsbruck and arrived about 4.30pm. we walked around the grounds and planned the evening .. shower, take away pizza from the on site restaurant, washing clothes, charge devices and catch up on blog. Our accommodation was in a sleeping barrel .. a barrel shaped room with a sleeping area and a small alcove. We ate the pizza in the rotunda in front of the barrel. There were about 7 barrels around the rotunda. Communications with the staff in English was easy. Even the clothes dryer spoke 4 languages. The communal facilities were top class .. the doors were covered in artificial grass and included family shower cubicles.

Day 14 - Monday 17 September

Caught the 9.20am bus (complementary bus tickets from the camp) into Innsbruck. Walked through the park then went into the Hofkirche Museum. The church has the tomb of Kaiser (Emperor) Maximilian 1 who ruled Austria at the start of the Renaissance. The museum held artifacts of crafts people over the last 500 years.

In the old town, not far away, we had lunch in view of the golden roof at a street cafe. At the bus stop, we had to wait an hour for the bus so Linda wanted to go back to the old town to buy a t shirt for her nephew with 'No kangaroos in Austria' on it. Back at the bus stop, the time table showed our bus did not go all the way to our camp so we waited in the nearby train station another hour for the right bus, updating blog and then returned to camp arriving 4.15pm.

Spaghetti bolognaise in the cafe tonight.

This camp is popular with all types but there is a large number is mountain bike riders and hikers here for the vast network of trails around the mountains.

Europe 2018 Week 1

springboard — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 00:54:00 GMT

The Plan

The plan was to spend 5 nights in Paris, hire a car and drive down France to Switzerland, Austria, Croatia, Italy and back to Paris via the south of France, then train to London for 3 nights. I had it all on a spreadsheet so nothing could go wrong. Right.

Day 1 - Tuesday 4^th September

Melbourne to Singapore

I drove Linda’s car to the airport with Niko and Eric and Niko drove the car home. I had about 17 kg in one case & a backpack. Linda had 24kg in 2 cases plus 2 carry on bags, all essential of course. I did not have all that luggage on my spreadsheet.

In our seats on the Emirates A380-800 we could only see the plane’s wing and not much else. The captain, among other things, announced there were 18 different nationalities in the flight crew. Perhaps a good time to practice my Swahili. The eight hours spent watching Lara Croft, doco on solar systems with twin suns and muscle squeezing isometric exercises. The touch screens required an above normal amount of pressure which the person behind me seemed to use playing some game for an hour while I was pushed forward in my seat a couple of inches on each press.

Tried kayle in the meal .. horrible stuff. Linda’s phone has a barometer so I used an ap to measure the cabin pressure. 802hPa at 40,000ft .. about 80% of normal. Maybe there is more in first class. Hope the pilots have enough.

Dubai Airport

The Dubai airport is like a very long tube squashed down into an elliptical shape that seems to disappear over the horizon (almost) with planes parked all along its length, except for ours, which was parked at the end. We were special.

Linda photographed a large glitzy backlit advertising board for Camel cigarettes. Appropriate for a camel rich country even though there was a ‘smoking kills’ note below. Wonder if riding camels comes with a similar warning.

Day 2 - Wednesday 5^th September

Paris

Waiting to collect our luggage at the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, the Australian Women’s basketball team was doing the same. Most of them were taller than me and carrying duffle bags that I could have fitted into, lifting & carrying them like they were purses. Tall strong athletic women .. very impressive.

Focussing on our next task, we sought assistance from the information counter and he advised how to get to our accommodation. First to the railway station (100m walk), train RARB south to Les Halles (central Paris), train RARA to Porte maillot, bus 144 to a stop near our camp, walk a short way. That was the plan. Trains were OK but half way along the bus trip, my GPS showed we veered away from our destination. A quick (broken French) word to the driver and a few passengers who volunteered their knowledge and we hopped off and got a 244 bus. This one dropped us within 15 minutes walk, dragging our 3 suitcases and hand luggage along dirt footpaths to the Bois de Boulogne camp reception. Checking in was a breeze because it was booked and paid for. (Spreadsheet .. yes). After settling into our roulette (gypsy caravan like cabin with all facilities and wheels), we had pizzas in the on site café and hit the sack.

Day 3 - Thursday 6^th September

Task for today – get SIM cards for our phones. Sounds easy .. if only we had known. The camp was beside the Seine but the SIM cards were on the other side but only 10 minutes walk across the conveniently located bridge. At the Bureau de Poste, a very helpful assistant provided us with said SMS cards with E10 value. Back at the camp, the small part of the instruction book in English said put the SMS card in the phone enter the PIN code provided and you are ready to make calls. No phone calls possible. Walk back la Poste. Apparently the phones should have received an SMS containing the new phone numbers and a code, which they did not. Helpful assistant(s) after much investigation, got the phones to work. This took most of the morning. Stocked up on provisions from the Carrefour, then back to the roulotte.

After lunch, we meandered along the tree covered path beside the Seine, fascinated by hundreds on houseboats moored there. Each on seemed to be converted barges .. very long, narrow and renovated to varying degrees of luxury. Many had scooters on the bank beside them. There is also a dam on the Seine which uses a natural island in the middle of it. The drop in water level was about 4 metres. I think this dam sets the water level of the Seine as it passes through the centre of Paris upstream. We then turned inland to investigate the Bois de Boulogne. We found many recreation areas including extensive equestrian facilities (polo field, horse paths through the forest, performance arenas), ovals, paths through the forest, and the biggest prize goes to the Parc de Bagatelle. This is an extensive park (E2.5 0entry each worth every centime) with several lakes, rocky grottos, waterfalls, lots of peacocks, a chateau with formal gardens and innumerable photo opportunities. We spent 2 hours here. We got home as it was getting dark, about 8:00pm.

To help with navigation for the rest of the trip, I used the Camp WiFi (I thought) to download offline maps for the GPS maps ap on my phone in case I was in an area without mobile reception from the SFR network. Should have been 160Mb but somehow used all 500Mb of my allowance.

Day 4 - Friday 7^th September

Back to La Poste for phone recharge, E30.00 this time, tried back at camp. Method was ring the free number and enter the code. The free number was in French. Needed assistance and a helpful camp receptionist tried 4 times for me without success. Back to La Poste. Two hours later, the very patient and persevering posties discovered that technical problems were preventing all recharge facilities .. try again later. Walking back to the camp, an SMS informed me I had E30.00 available. Yesss.

By this stage, we had learned that a shuttle goes from the front of the camp to the nearest Metro station. Wish we had known. Took the 12:30pm to Porte Maillot, then the metro to the Louvre. Very short line at the entry. Spent a couple of hours looking at the Greek and Roman statues and the paintings of the Spanish, French and Italians (including the Mona Lisa), the ceilings of the Louvre itself and lots other stuff. Linda only got lost once. Much less than I expected.

We left the Louvre about 4.30pm and walked along the Seine to the Notre Dame Cathedral. We joined a long line that moved quickly so we were inside after 5 minutes. After another 10 minutes, the organ started to play and a female soloist started to sing. We sat and listened to four or five songs.

We walked back towards the ‘Chatelet-les-Halles’ metro station, Linda buying souvenir presents for her family and friends along the Rue de Temple. After meandering many of the Paris streets looking for ‘Chatelet-les-Halles’ and not finding it, we decided to go from the ‘Hotel de Ville’ metro which also took us to Porte Maillot where we could get the shuttle bus to camp. We got back to camp about 8:00pm. Linda russled up some grilled chicken and veges for dinner.

Day 5 - Saturday 8^th September

Missed the 9.30 shuttle bus by a minute but caught the next at 10:00. At Porte Maillot, we took the metro two stops to ‘Charles-de-Gaulle Etoile’ station which is at the Arc de Triomphe. Here we hopped on the hop on/hop off Big Bus and hopped off at the Eiffel Tower. Took lots of photos on the park in front of it, the Champs de Mars. The line for the tower was long so we took the Seine River cruise (part of the Big Bus 2 day package) which went up to Notre Dame and returned. (Planned to come back early tomorrow for the tower). After the cruise we had lunch at the riverside café next to the Eiffel Tower. After lunch, we hopped on the bus again. There are two routes the Big Buses take, the red route and the blue route. We hopped over to the Blue route which took us up past the Moulin Rouge but not long after, the bus was stopped by a police barricade and after 15 minutes it was for a ‘manifestation’. Traffic gives way to ghosts in Paris? After further moments of puzzlement, a passenger translated this for us to demonstration! Unable to tell us how long we would be stopped, the driver gave us directions to the next hopping point and we decided to walk the 2.5km. Shortly after, we found the manifestation. It was a huge protest march and the protest reason? It was ‘Save the Planet’! B…y greenies. After a while, we stopped for a hot chocolate. Bets hot chocolate I have ever had .. thick & rich, even though it was in a French size mug .. small. While we were seated we saw our bus go sailing past without us. No problem. We reached the next hopping point and waited about 15 minutes for the next one. The bus meandered its way back to the Arc de Triomphe, we hopped off and got back to camp. Linda made steak & veg for dinner, caught up on washing, wrote blog but lost it by not saving it within an hour, bed after 12am.

Day 6 - Sunday 9^th September

Got early to get the early shuttle bus at 8.00am except the early bus was 8.30am. Tried to book Eiffel tickets on line before we went but no pre-book vacancies available. We will have to line up. Used the hop on bus again to get to the tower where we found much of the area around the tower was blocked off for’ La Parisienne’, a marathon race for women only! There were thousands of women dressed in all sorts of serious and funny attire. Groups were released from the start in many stages over a period of many hours.

We joined the very short Eiffel Tower queue and got in after about 10 minutes. Going through security, I was careful to pick up my wallet, phone and camera on the other side and we entered the lift. Exiting the lift, Linda said “Where is your backpack?” She was right. There was a conspicuous vacant space where my pack should be. While I was wondering how someone could have taken it, Linda asked “Did you pick it up after security?” Oh, yeah .. maybe not. Linda immediately wanted to descend to get it because the only thing of real value in it was her purse. Linda found some security women who confirmed for us that my errant pack was indeed at security below. I insisted on staying and getting the full experience and all the photos we wanted before going down. Linda begrudgingly acquiesced. I think it shows, though, in our photos. Down at security the guy with the kangaroos on his cap and the pack was duly returned. I apologised for all Australians. To diminish my culpability, there was also another pack in security waiting for someone else.

After that adventure, we walked to the Rodin Museum, photographed all the sculptures that appealed to us and had lunch in the garden café. Instead of walking all the way back to the Eiffel tower to the nearest hop on point, we flagged down a Big Bus with our pink tickets when it stopped at a red light. To our great relief of our tired legs, the obliging driver let us on.

Back at Porte Maillot, waiting for the shuttle to camp that we expected every half hour, after a few half hours we decided it was not coming, tried our old friend, the 244 which we saw coming past by the dozen. We explained our situation to confirm we would indeed reach our camp, the driver let us on for free, and called us when our stop was coming up and wished us a good journey, even though he could not speak much English. I responded with a “Vous etes un bon homme”, which brought a smile to his face. 5 minutes walk, without luggage this time, and we were home.

The washing put outside last night on the rack had dried well during the warm day. I tried to recharge Linda’s phone using the La Poste website but it would not accept any of the 4 cards we had. Great! Still recharge problems.

Tomorrow we pick up a hire car and try to get out of Paris in one piece. Looking forward to that.

Day 7 - Monday 10^th September

Paris to Luzy

We took the early shuttle bus with all our luggage again to try and get to Gare du Nord railway station before the hire car pick up window ran out. Pick up time was 9.00am and after 10.00am they might deem me as a no show and give my car to someone else. Buying the tickets, the kind ticket seller told us we could go into the centre of Paris, changed trains then got to Gare du Nord, OR take the short cut on a line that went directly to La Chapelle, where it was only “10 minutes” walk to Gare du Nord. We took the short cut .. not the best decision. Getting to La Chapelle was quick, walking with all our luggage along the Paris streets asking directions for 20 minutes was a bit stressful. We arrived, however, at the Europcar office at 9.45am, 15 minutes to spare. Yesss. We were served by a trainee with a supervisor looking over his shoulder. His lack of confidence in the process did not help my lack of confidence in what I was about to do. Process complete, we descended 4 levels underground to get the car. The car we hired from back in Australia was a manual Passat. The car we got was a Jeep Renegade, diesel. Close enough.

Spent some considerable time trying to start the car with the remote key, and other controls before driving up 5 levels out of the car park and onto the Paris streets. My GPS did not work underground and I was praying it would come to life in the sunshine. It was programmed with our destination and to our great relief, it started giving us directions. Phew. Linda held it so I could see it .. most of the time. Our Path was to go north first and get onto the ring road, head around Paris and exit south of Paris and then to our camp near Luzy 330 km away. Despite my nervousness and Linda’s extreme paranoia, we made it to Nemoir without incident and stopped for some lunch at McDonalds and for the perspiration to dissipate.

The Phone battery charge was being depleted rather quickly with GPS maintaining the screen on and bright so we plugged the spare phone battery into the phone. I think this caused the phone to get too hot and not work as a GPS anymore even though at the time all I could think of was I could really use a real map now. A desperate investigation of the cars’ multi-use screen revealed that it had a GPS .. that spoke in Italian. Not a bad start. We managed to get it to speak English, though, but the name of our camp was not recognised. From my phone, I found the nearest town was Luzy, which the cars’ GPS duly led us to, even though when we were winding through tiny back streets I had some serious doubts. From Luzy I used the map in my phone to reach our camp for the next 3 nights .. a huge relief.

We were welcomed by Fleur and Betty and settled into our van, showered and decided to eat in the on site café that night. We shared a table with two other couples. They were Dutch but the waitress offered us seats with them because they all spoke English. They were very pleasant company while we enjoyed a 3 course meal with duck and raspberry sauce and a glass of wine. The café, however, would not accept cards, only cash. Very curious, but they were very relaxed about it. Payment tomorrow would be fine. The E100 deposit for our stay was also asked for in cash even though the online booking was Visa.