Jewell 2015 European Travels

That’s a ridiculous title. Guess whose idea it was.

The girls revolted this morning, no more museums for a day or two. Okay, it’s a deal. So, after ditching them at the shopping centre I headed off on my own to Fromelles. It wasn’t quite that dramatic, but let’s not let the facts ruin a good story.

We thought we would catch a bus for a sightseeing tour first up. I have no idea what bus we caught, but it wasn’t a sightseeing bus. There’s a perfect example of the problems with not being able to read the lingo and a bus driver who wasn’t that interested. The bus did do a lap around the centre of Lille and only cost 1€, so no great loss. We walked over to the Lille Citadel after that for a look around. At this point the camera battery went flat, dammit. Not many photos this morning.

 

 
The track around Lille Citadel looks like it’s a popular jogging track. We weren’t really in the mood for a 5km jog, so we veered off after a bit and went for a look at the Lille Zoo, motivated by the fact it was free. Usual zoo fare, with special mention to the rhinoceroses, which are the biggest specimens I’ve ever seen, and to the performing kookaburras. 

There were three kookaburras in one of the aviary cages and we sidled over and said (literally) “Gidday mate. How’s it going?”, at which all three burst into a prolonged bout of laughter that brought everyone over. We said goodbye, gave them our address in case they get home for a holiday and wandered off.

What next? Apparently shopping. This is the point we parted ways and I went to Fromelles. 

The village is about 20 kms south of Lille and an easy drive. The first sign I saw when I drove into town said ‘cemetary this way’. The cemetary was only dedicated in 2010, so everything is new and fresh. We have seen other war cemeteries though and they were equally well maintained, even though dating from the late 1940s. If you want to see a well maintained facility, go no further than a war cemetary.

 

 
The museum at the cemetary is also new and very well maintained. The displays are excellent and tell a story about the lost Australian soldiers and the attempts to identify them, rather than display a collection of decrepit equipment. If you have any interest in Australia’s military history, don’t miss it – well worthwhile. Worth Googling in the meantime to get up to date with the story, or follow this link.

 

 
Well that’s it for France, the second major leg of the journey is over – counting Italy as the first – and tomorrow we will be in Brussels. Milly’s eyes lit up when she heard that Brussels is a major shopping Mecca. I might have to do the historical sights on my own again.

Au revoir to France and goodbye from me.

Steve J.

Short post today, I promise. 

We spent almost all day driving, so not a lot to tell. There was a lot to see along the road, alas very few photo opportunities. I set options in the GPS for ‘no motorways, no tolls’ and the sweet little dear took us on a tour of all the back roads across Normandy. Fabulous, I loved it. There are some fantastic old cottages, tricky little village streets and a lot more to keep you amused. Also very little traffic.

It took us about 3 hours to cover the first 200 kms, so after lunch the girls made me untick the no motorways/toll option. The next 100+ kms was covered in record time, as the motorways mostly allow 130 km/hr. The roads weren’t too busy, thank goodness.

I am finding the driving on the RHS okay, it’s only the roads themselves which are testing, as they are often very narrow. I don’t think it matters what side you are driving on when you only have 6 inches to spare each side. On top of this are all the unusual and unique road layouts at intersections. All this helps keep you awake on the trip, especially so when we got to Lille. It got really busy around then, close to peak hour maybe? 

The GPS at one stage insisted I get over to the rightmost lane in the next 800 metres, when I was in the leftmost lane of 5! Then almost immediately had me cutting back to the leftmost lane. This happened about six times. We had an extended tour of Lille, as I missed a few of the more intricate lane gymnastics. 

Never mind. Here now. Just went out and got some groceries for dinner. Discovered the largest supermarket I have ever seen. I didn’t bother counting rows or checkouts, but it beats anything I have seen by several times over. I think there was an entire milk aisle, not section. 

 Today’s effort from Lille:

  
 
  
The only touristy thing of note we did today was visit the site of the Battle of Agincourt, where the English gave the French a hiding in 1415. The site of the battle was a bit of a disappointment, as it was planted with corn. Standing at the monument and looking across the road, all you could see was the edge of a cornfield. Not even worth a photo. Bugger. The museum at Azincourt (yes, Azincourt) was interesting though. I mean, where else can you do this:

  
Tomorrow should see us visiting some of the WWI sites around France/Belguim.

Until then, 

Cheers, Steve J.

Okay, so no drama today. I am relieved. Just touristy stuff. Might be a bit boring, just with the travelogues, but here goes.

First up, Bayeaux. You can’t come to Normandy and not look at the tapestry. We drove off to Bayeaux without incident, a miracle in itself. It is a very pretty little town, about the size of Horsham (popn. 13,000) and not at all medieval or Renaissance like we have been used to. I guess you would call it French Provincial, because, well… it is French Provincial.

 

 
The tapestry itself is remarkable because of its age, provenance and being the closest thing to an 11th-century newsreel that exists. It is rather unremarkable to look at. I think we expected a wall hanging, or at least I did, maybe 1.5-2 metres high? It is more like a 70 metre long tea towel, that the kids embroidered during the compulsory sewing class. Still it was fascinating to view it in the flesh.

 

 
Okay, enough dainty stuff. Let’s get some action and check the D-Day sites and sights. We drove over to Arramanches, which was the site of Gold Beach on D-Day, one of the spots where the British landed. Lots of interesting stuff. I didn’t realise that a lot of the temporary D-Day harbour was still in place. Not exactly temporary. I broke my ‘no books’ pledge as this was all so interesting and I needed to know more.

Apart from also being a very nice little French Provincial town, Arramanches was an Aladdin’s Cave of D-Day stuff. Shermans, 88 Flak guns, M3 half tracks, etc. I know a lot of people won’t be interested, but for those that are there are some photos at the bottom of the blog.

 

  

 
To round out the day we drove to Ouistreham and the Grand Bunker Museum. This is a German command post and fire control bunker that is almost as good as new. Not surprising as the walls are comprised of concrete up to 2 metres thick. This museum was supposed to be yesterday afternoon’s venture, as being a defensive position it set the scene for visiting a D-Day invasion museum at one of the beaches. Never mind, I’ll visit the invasion museum next time.

 

 
That’s it. Hardly an exciting day at all after some of the recent hair-raising efforts. 

I am starting to enjoy driving. Driving on the RHS of the road isn’t really an issue. The issue is trying to understand the local roads and the peculiar intersection layouts. Easy when you can follow someone going the same way.

The signs are fine, the traffic signals are all over the shop. There are a lot of ‘normal’ signals, with large lights in the intersection. However, there are a lot that have little baby lights on a pole next to a pedestrian crossing. These test you. You need to be extra vigilant around pedestrian crossings, some have lights, some don’t. Some follow a G-A-R sequence, some flash amber after the red, allowing you to go on the red as long as you aren’t going to run down a pedestrian. Consistency? Nil.

Tomorrow we abandon our luxury in Caen for the next apartment situated in Lille. This is a 350 kilometre drive. By the time I get there I should be an expert on driving in France. Fortunately I took out the optional 23€ a day ‘cover for everything’ insurance. That takes the worry out of what I feel will be an inevitable scrape somewhere along the route.

Ta ta, Steve J.

Some D-Day photos.

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

Just one day without drama. Is that too much to ask? Just one bloody day!

What now? Missed the boat, missed the train, mischief? No. Flat battery in the car. No big deal. Not until you have to ring up a freecall number that keeps putting you on hold and transferring you from department to department, then drops the call. The talking in French bit didn’t help much.

Fortunately we were only 15 minutes from Caen. We decided that it would be easiest to catch a taxi back into the car hire place, sort out the issue face-to-face and hopefully get underway again. Even more fortunately a couple from England gave us a lift and dropped us off in Caen.

After sorting out some roadside assistance we caught a taxi back to the car and met the Renault mechanic. He didn’t speak a word of English. Through some careful interpretation (I have learnt that “light” in French is “luminaire”) and some demonstration I have also learnt that leaving them on can flatten a battery. Actually I already knew that, what I didn’t know was that on a Renault leaving the lights on Auto is okay, unless you accidentally flick the light switch to high beam, then they don’t turn off. 

You guessed it, somewhere along the trip (probably while I’ve been signalling with the wipers or looking for the gear shift in the door well), I’ve bumped the light switch. The lights will be turned off for the duration, even if it’s dark. Safer that way.

Cheers, Steve J.

P.S. We did see some stuff. The day didn’t turn its nose up at us until 3pm.

We started off with a trip to the Museum Normandie, which despite being open every day of the year was closed today. We’ll have another shot at that one in the morning. We were able to have a good wander around the Duke’s Chateau (William the Conqueror- that duke).

 

  

 
After that we headed off to Benouville to see Pegasus Bridge. You will need to do the background research yourself. It was the first objective of D-Day and the subject of a very good book by Stephen Ambrose. It must have been okay as Michelle and Milly gave it the thumbs up and really enjoyed it.

 

  

  

 
Then over the road for lunch at the Benouville Cafe, which claims to have been the very first building liberated after the invasion. Very nice. Okay, now back to the car and onwards… <refer top>

And that’s where our story ends. We will pick it up again tomorrow. Night folks.

With apologies to Bob.

We are in Caen. Absolutely no sightseeing today, but plenty of adventure. I have added a couple of photos for interest.

The apartment we are staying in is amazing. Milly has decided she is staying in for a day or two to fully enjoy it. Separate bedrooms, quite a change from the pull-out sofa bed she has had to endure. Heaps of food for our enjoyment, including a bottle of Bordeaux red that I am working my way through as I write. Even bath robes for relaxing in. And fast Internet, time to catch up with some of those photos. You will need to revisit the previous posts.

 

 
Leaving Paris this morning was another adventure. There seems to be a bit of a theme here. One of us is bad luck and I’m trying to work out which one. When I do they are in danger of getting voted off the trip.

We set out for our train as soon as we were packed, there wasn’t really enough room in the apartment for lazing around anyway, and arrived at the central station in Paris (Gare de l’Est where all the intercity trains depart from) by 9:30am. Easy as – apart from the fact my Metro ticket seemed to be a dud and I had to crash through a few barriers to get onto the platform. I was worried that station staff might object to my dashing through exit barriers between passengers and tailgating others through the entry stiles, but no. The apathy of the general rank and file employee in Paris is another whole story.

We had heaps of time, considering that the train to Caen didn’t even leave until ten past ten. Which platform? Don’t know, let’s check the ticket for the service number. Doesn’t the ticket say we leave from Paris – St Lazare? Yes it does. Is this Paris-St Lazare? No it’s not! Bugger, bugger, bugger. St Lazare Station is the other way from the way we came. 

 

 
Can we back track via the Metro? No way, too many changes of station (plus I don’t have a valid ticket). Let’s try a taxi. The taxi driver, to his credit, drove very well, very sanely and had us at St Lazare by 10:00am. We found our platform and the right carriage with easy 5 minutes to spare. What a way to start the day. Lucky we had started out a bit early.

Pulled into Caen Station just after midday. The accommodation and the hire car weren’t available until after 2pm, so we found a cafe to while away some time. After we checked into the apartment Michelle and I dropped into the Hertz office and picked up the car (a brand new Renault Captur diesel) and then took about 20 minutes to drive it back to the apartment, which was all of 200 metres away. The combination of one-way streets, being in the wrong lane, not knowing which street we needed to turn left at hence requiring another lap of the block, all gave me much needed driving practice.

I have never driven a LH drive car before and Michelle is a nervous passenger at the best of times. After it was safely tucked into our garage (yes we even have a garage), she politely offered that it was okay by her if I wanted to take it straight back and not drive anymore in France. No way. The fun is only just beginning. 

We have paid extra to have no excess in the event of damaging the hire car. A wise investment, since I have already put a tiny crack in the mirror housing, after getting a bit too close to parked cars. I’m starting to wander if I’m the bad luck omen. Looks like I’ll be heading home early after the vote.

Looking forward to hitting the D Day beaches tomorrow, hopefully not in the car. 

Cheers, Steve J.

What to do on a rainy day in Paris? Bugger it, no time for procrastination. We’ve only got today, so exactly the same thing we would do if it was sunny.

We promised ourselves we would go up the Eiffel Tower first thing, so off we went. We worked out that we could get off at the Trocadero Metro Station, see the Palias de Chaillot and it was no further to walk from there to the Tower than it was from the station we were supposed to get off at. Good decision. Milly and I are masters of the Metro (I may have already mentioned that).

There was an absolutely huge crowd between the Palais and the Tower. What the? The rain should have kept a few people away and it’s early? We’ll never get to see the Tower!

 

 
Turns out there was a fun run on – the Le Parisienne. Apparently this is a 7 km race especially for women, something akin to the Sussan Women’s Fun Run in Melbourne. The runners were being released in waves, starting about 9:30am and they were still going at 11:30am. There were a bloody lot of them!

We only went up to the second floor of the Eiffel Tower, it was rainy and foggy. Not much point spending the money to sit in the fog and see nothing from the summit. Besides which, the second floor is a very long way off the ground – 120m – and far enough for me (and more than far enough for Michelle). Great views, as you would expect. Crowded, as you would expect. Not as crowded as it would have been on a fine day though.

 

 
 

 
Then off to the Arch de Triumph (by train, because we are good at that). The Arch is very impressive when you are up close and personal. It supposedly has the names of all the battles the French have won (since ?) inscribed on it. I didn’t check them all, there were an awful lot of names though. I must admit to being a bit doubtful about the numbers. The French haven’t exactly covered themselves in glory in the last 100 years, so I suspect there are a few bar room brawls listed to make up the numbers.

 

 
  
The rain cleared off after lunch (crepes, because we are in France) and we hopped on our bus again. Stopped off at a few places and had a really good wander around The Louvre, didn’t go in though. We needed another day to have enough time for that.

 

 
Cruised around on the bus some more, then back home on the Metro. Finished the day off by buying a couple of baguettes. Milly and I wanted to walk down the street carrying a baguette (followed by a baguette duel) to feel really French. Should have bought the beret. Next time.

 

 
Paris is now done. Off to Caen first up tomorrow. Photos still pending an Internet connection that’s a bit faster than an old 9600 baud modem. Hopefully that’s also to be found in Caen.

See you on the beaches, Steve J.

Yes, we are spending a night in Paris – two actually. Arrived without incident from Luxembourg just after midday. Pouring rain so taxied to the new digs. Didn’t fancy braving the weather to get to the Metro station and again from the local station to the apartment.

Traffic in Paris is definitely worse than Rome. In Rome it was a sort of ordered chaos that just seemed to work. In Paris it’s chaos and doesn’t seem to work too well at all. In Rome drivers only seemed to beep as a warning that they were about to run you over, and not so much at each other. In Paris they beep at everything and constantly. There is probably no recognised road rage incidents though, as it’s hard to say when the usual stupidity ends and the rage begins.

The glossy brochure for the apartment we are staying in failed to mention that it was on the fifth floor. That’s ten flights of twisting narrow stairs. Ninety-one in all, we counted them! It appears that the advertising may have been a bit optimistic on a few counts… It is clean and dry though.

Anyway, the sights. What did we see? We were up early and did a quick round of Luxembourg before we caught the Paris train. We liked it. It is very picturesque, at least in the area around the old city. Managed to squeeze in the Duke’s Palace, Le Chemin de la Corniche, Citadel of the Holy Spirit and the Viaduct, all before breakfast. Breakfast was croissants and a beaut mousse-thingy washed down with coffee. 

 

  
I have a ‘no photos of food’ rule, as no one cares what you had for dinner. These however are works of art and deserve to be shared. These are the beaut mousse-thingys I referred to above. If in Luxembourg, eat one.

  

To kick off Paris we went to see the Eiffel Tower. I knew it was big, but bloody hell it’s big! You need to get back about a kilometre for a decent photo. We are going back in the morning on the off chance the lineup for the lift will be shorter than it was this afternoon.

Then it was onto our favourite, the hop on-hop off bus. We hadn’t got too far before it started to rain. Sitting up the top of an open double-decker bus didn’t seem so clever at that point. Most people went below. We didn’t, I mean how wet can it get? Yes, that’s right, pelting rain wet. We were forced to seek cover as well. We finished the lap, but didn’t see too much out of the steamed up windows and huddled under an umbrella. We’ll go back tomorrow for another shot at that.

 

 
 

 

On a brighter note. After only two train trips, Milly and I have completely mastered the Paris train system. Line number, direction, changing trains, the lot. We are either very clever, or perhaps it’s easier than we think. Michelle hasn’t a clue where she is going, she follows along in the hope that Milly and I really do know what we are doing. So far, so good.

Okay, need to go and hang out more clothes to dry. Rain predicted for the next week, so we’d better be prepared for it.

Enough for now, Steve J.

Apologies for no photos two days running. We have the world’s slowest internet connection, photos would just bring it down. I’ll catch up when we get to Caen (Monday).

Well, no they didn’t. They did play a lot of other tunes though, as we sat in a little square in the middle of Luxembourg and ate dinner. The band was a full blown orchestra set up in the middle of the square belting out everything from ‘The Lion King’ to Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ and Dean Martin’s ‘Mambo Italiana’. A bit loud, very entertaining though.

And so ended a fairly ordinary day in most respects. We caught the train in Bern first up, made the connection in Mannheim without a problem, and even managed the bus in Saarbrucken with time to spare. Apart from having a nearly 2 km walk from the bus station in Luxembourg to the hotel it seemed like a fairly bland day. No sightseeing, just watching the view from the train or bus window.

Not so quick. There is always a twist. So, what was it? 

We got to our hotel, in what seemed like a seedy part of town, at 5pm and find the place is locked. Double check the address, yes this is it. But it’s definitely locked. Eventually a little man appeared, explained that he didn’t speak English, only French (noting that he told us this in English?). He also made us understand that the place didn’t open until 5:30pm and we could sit down and wait. 

Just after 5:30pm he unlocks the place, checks us in and shows us our room. We don’t know why he couldn’t do this at 5pm, but there you go. The room could best be described as Spartan, very ordinary. Anyway, we’ve paid our money so we might as well make the best of it. At 6pm we decide to catch the bus into town and have a look around to salvage something from the day.

 

  

 

On the bus trip Michelle and Milly decide that the place is too seedy and they want out. Okay, we’ll look around in Luxembourg and see what might be available. Probably nothing less than a fortune, that’s why we are out of town at the seedy hotel in the first instance. The first place we poked our heads into had an Executive suite available for 270-odd Euro (over $400). Bit pricey, we’ll keep looking. The second didn’t have any vacancies, then the third turns up a terrific little suite for 175€. Bugger it, we’ll take it. It’s already near 7pm and the 270€ room was looking like an option.

 

 
So we jump back on the bus, go back out to the original hotel, grab our bags and depart. I’m not sure they know that we’ve gone. I tried to hand the keys back and our French-speaking friend insisted that reception was closed and that these were our keys to get in. Drop them back by 11am tomorrow. Making little pantomimes with my fingers walking across the counter and picking up my bag didn’t seem to enlighten him. Next trip we practice some French, Italian or whatever, to be a little better prepared. We have been spoilt up until now. In any event he has the keys and we have a swanky little apartment in the heart of Luxembourg.

 

 
After all that we really enjoyed the meal and the band, even if it didn’t play ‘Waltzing Matilda’.

Tomorrow Paris. I hope I have nothing but travelogue to report.

Cheers, Steve J.

P.S. Dodgy WiFi, no photos today.

Switzerland is over almost as soon as it began. Very different to Italy, which is just as well or it wouldn’t be Switzerland. You get a sense that there is much more order in Switzerland. I doubt if you would find the Swiss parking anywhere they damn well please. Bern looks much more medieval than anywhere we stayed in Italy – wide cobblestone streets and architecture very Gothic. 

 
 

 

 

 

 
After giving the old town the once over last night we decided we should start the day with a visit to the Bear Garden. Bern is apparently named for the bears (they are everywhere in one form or another) and the burghers have had them in bear pits since goodness knows when. After an interesting walk through parts of the old town we didn’t see yesterday, we came to the bear park – but no bears. The bears are on leave whilst their enclosure is made over. Good news though – two bears remain in town, over at the zoological gardens. Let’s check them out.

 

 
Another meandering walk back through a different part of town and along the river bank should have found us at the zoo. Miles later, no zoo. Can’t anyone read a flaming map?

“Look, it says right there ‘#44, zoological garden’, see?”. 

“What’s that little arrow under the 44 mean?” 

“What little arrow? I can hardly see the 44.” 

 

 
“So it’s off the map then.” 

Damn. Here goes Rome and Florence all over again.

“We haven’t even see a sign pointing to a zoo, are you sure it’s this way?” 

“I don’t know. What does that sign there say?” 

“I don’t speak German, who knows?” 

“Okay, then. What about the one just above it that’s, like, 3-feet high”. 

“Oh, ‘zoo’. Must be up ahead then.”

It was, but the bears were still elusive. We gave up on them and caught a bus back into town.

 

 
Let’s just get some coffee and chocolate then. We did. Both were lovely. The Swiss seem to have a simple secret to prevent people overeating their chocolate. The damn stuff is dearer than gold. We bought some anyway, and we ate it.

 

 
After lunch (chocolate is food) we split up. I ventured off to the Communication Museum and the girls shopped and checked out Albert Einstein’s flat, where he apparently lived while he developed his Special Theory of Relativity. Let’s hope some of that cleverness rubs off.

Because we are in Switzerland, and because the country is renowned for its banks, I’ve opened an account. I’m starting small.

 

Tomorrow is Luxembourg. Most of the day on the train, except the bit where we have to run for a bus. If we miss that we sleep on the streets somewhere in Germany. What can go wrong? The train gets in 15 minutes before the bus leaves and we don’t even know where the bus leaves from. No problem. Let me check out the map…

If you don’t see a post tomorrow, you know what happened.

Cheers, Steve J.

These are some of the interesting conveyances seen thus far. No particular order. I’ll update from time to time when I think it’s worthwhile. I should have put the newest ones on the top, but I didn’t. I’ll do that next time.