Avignon

Well our plan to have a casual start to the day was right as we didn't even wake until 9.15 am!!! Had a very pleasant breakfast with our host Veronique (who learnt a bit of English while we learnt a bit of French - its amazing how hand signals clarify a lot!!).

Our first stop was at the Palais Des Papes which (from memory) has been the home of 13 popes throughout history. Pope Clement V moved the papal court to Avignon in 1309 and it was transformed over time from a fairly modest beginning to a large palace. We spent about two hours walking around there and then went to the Rocher Des Doms Gardens near the city wall which gave beautiful views across Avignon and the surrounding countryside. Unfortunately, it was very windy (which is not uncommon) so had to avoid the clouds of dust that swirled around us at various points (it is at the top of an exposed part of the city). We then went on the Pont Saint-Benezet which is a bridge that was built from 1171-1185 but most of it was destroyed by floods in 1668. It was a main point of access for pilgrims to Avignon but was historically a rather perilous undertaking as it was narrow, high and sat above the fastest flowing river in France (Rhone). This bridge is the one referred to in the children's song "Sur le pont d' Avignon".

We spent the remainder of the day (and there wasn't a lot by then) strolling around the city before returning to our B&B. This merry-go-round was very pretty and I think dates back to about 1900.

There is plenty more here we could do (especially if we went out into the countryside) but tomorrow is another destination.

Espana to Franca

Another day in the mid 30’s – thank goodness for air-conditioning in the car. We had an early start in order to pick up the car from the airport and after a rapid fire introduction to the workings of the Peugeot 308 we were on our way. For a short while we were uncertain about where we were on our way to (shades of the experience of leaving Manchester airport except this time our GPS was working but the layout of the roads was a bit confusing as it had been altered recently). After a scenic trip around somewhere near the airport we finally located a service station, filled the car, and headed out to the Monistrol de Montserrat (about a 45 minute drive out of the city).

We took the cable car up to the monastry which provided us with excellent views. The monastry itself was quite lovely and we got to hear the boys choir sing in the Bascilica for a few minutes at the end of the service. Again the crowds started to build as the day progressed and as we still had about 5 hours driving ahead of us we decided to get going. Our first wrong turnoff took us onto the motorway (which was okay except it was going in the wrong direction so we clocked up about 10 euros in tolls before we could get off it…..lol). Once we got into sync with “British Andrew” (we preferred this to the onboard version available on the Peugeot) it was smooth sailing for the next 400 km. The motorways are really good (once we got the hang of how to pay the tolls – and this changed from Spain to France) and David has now been nicknamed “Audi Boy” because of his tendency to imitate the most likely car to be seen in the fast lane. (I should point out he was law-abiding it is just that the speed limit is 130 km on the motorways). We arrived in Avignon and this presented more of a challenge in terms of finding where we were staying. (Andy – we managed to do your trick and find ourselves in a pedestrian only section which we had to reverse out of) but after winding our way through some one-way narrow streets we arrived at where we are staying. The hosts seem very nice and we have already had a short walk around Avignon to orient ourselves to the location. It is a walled town and the part within the walls seems relatively small - ?15 minute walk from one side to the other but will do some more exploring tomorrow of the wider area and have a fairly casual relaxed day. We plan to visit the Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes) which is only a short walk from where we are.

We don’t have many photos for today except for Montserrat so will add the one we took in Paris because we liked the blending of cultures (a Scotsman playing bagpipes on the Boulevard Saint Michelle in Paris standing in front of the remains of a Roman wall).

Paris and Barcelona

After our second day in Paris we have decided it has a charm all of its own. The people have been very friendly and helpful (a lady who saw us looking at the map as we were heading to the train station offered to drive us in her car when she found out where we were going!!). People possibly don't consider the walking option as much as we do because we had three people offer us help with directions (we must have looked more confused than we really were - although that was not true at every stage of the process .... lol) as when we said we were going to the train they pointed toward the metro and we said "Gare Austerlitz" and they gasped and made comments like "no, no, too far....crazy to walk". They were all very helpful though and did their best to compensate for our (and by this I mean David's) limited french. The estimates for walking time changed from about a 25 minute walk given by the hotel manager to about an hour with the last person who stopped (it actually took us about 40 minutes with a couple of lost turns and walking around the block but we got there with time to spare and felt quite virtuous for having been independent with a very limited map!)

The train trip from Paris to Barcelona was relatively uneventful. The train didn't go crazy on the amount of space in the compartment but having said that neither did the hotel we stayed at the night before. Today's accommodation is very spacious in comparison and has a lovely view of the Marina at Barcelona (hence the name Marina View).

On our last day in Paris we braved the metro system and found our way out to Palace of Versailles (along with hordes of others) and were entertained by an accordian player who got on a few stops from the end and played for tips. I was most amused by the number of people on cellphones who couldn't conduct their business on the train and looked as if they were annoyed that he had stepped into their office. The Palace was very ostentatious and its hard to comprehend the amount of money that must have gone into having it built and furnished, not to mention the egos that must have gone with the place! We eventually overdosed on the crowds and headed back into Paris for a little bit of casual shopping, and a visit to the Pantheon. That was really interesting and the crypt of the Pantheon holds the bodies/ashes of "great men (and women)" across time including Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Marie and Pierre Curie, Rosseau, St Genieve (memory failing now.....)

Today (Saturday 28th) we walked about a kilometre from Franco Station in Barcelona to our B&B and it was already about 25 degrees by 8.30 am. It continued to climb into about the mid-30's somewhere and made our visit to the Sagrada Familia even more pleasant for the respite from the heat. We had to stand in a queue to get in to the Sagrada but it was worth it as it was a "weird but really nice" space inside the church. Its still in the process of construction so you walked around scaffolding and tilers, etc but what has been completed so far is great. I confess to not knowing that much about Gaudi but learnt today about his love for nature and its architecture and how he combined it into his designs. The inside of the cathedral is supposed to make you feel like you are in a forest with the pillars being the tree trunks and the ceiling the branches spreading out into foliage providing those underneath with shelter from the sun and rain. Not all the stained glass windows have been completed yet but those that have throw the most beautiful light into the inner space and their is an overall sense of light and airiness. We also walked past a couple of other Gaudi inspired creations but as the queues were long we satisfied ourselves from just looking around outside and watching what was happening (which is probably a good thing as we had been warned about pickpockets being active in Las Ramblas). Being a Saturday some of the shops were closed which made parts of the town look deserted with their rolled down doors/grills covering the shops and most of them had graffiti on them. That is much more obvious here than in either London or Paris. Also the smell of drains was not entirely pleasant at times (think Nepal Debbie!) and the heat doesn't help that situation much.

As a pedestrian in the city it is amazing how much further you have to walk than other places as they set the pedestrian crossings slightly down from the corner. This means you have to walk around the corner, cross the street, and then walk around the corner again to get back in a straight line. Makes walking a lot longer than the map would lead you to believe! Also the traffic is a bit more of a hazard as they travel quite fast and I am not entirely sure that they stopped for all green walk lights (or maybe it is a case of green-go, amber-go, red-slow down and be prepared to stop).

Tomorrow we head out to the airport to pick up the Peugeot and will then face the challenge of European driving. We hope to go to the Monastery at Monserrat but this will depend on how long the process of getting underway takes as the drive to Avignon is still several hours on its own.

Bienvenue Paris

First Day in Paris. After the comment on the last blog about going to explore and trying to avoid rip-offs we were amused to find ourselves seated next to a group of Spanish Nuns on the hop-0n hop-off bus this morning.

The hotel we are staying at is directly across the road from the Pantheon so its fairly easy to find your way back to and to see its general location in the skyscape. Its our first experience of European hotels and the room is fairly small (although surprisingly has a generous sized bathroom) which means David frequently curses as he stubs his foot against yet another suitcase. The ceiling is interesting as it has a plaster cornice but the ceiling itself has exposed beams with examples of grossly twisted wood (ceiling rafters bend more than 6 inches throughout their length, and gaps up up to half an inch where the beam meets the cross member). Guess its held together for a few decades so far so hopefully it will tolerate one more night.

So far, the people we have met in Paris have been friendly and most have made efforts to speak in English when they realise that we are not fluent. Quite a bit of English is evident in everyday use but at some of the sights the explanations have been in French which might explain why some people move through reasonably quickly.

So, what did we do today? The French seem to have quite sociable hours of not starting until 10 am and then generally closing a bit later so we got off to a slow start with a Cafe Latte at one of the local cafe houses on the way down Boulevarde Saint Michelle toward the Notre Dame. Although we got to Notre Dame before the real crowds arrived it was still busy. Notre Dame still allows photographs to be taken in the church so dodging flashes was a bit of a hazard. We have both learned to turn the flash off for such places, but it makes for some unusable images in the darker corners. The stained glass windows are amazing but photos don't quite do them justice. The commercial approach of some churches in England was less apparent here (nor at Sacre Coeur) but each still had the obligatory souvenir shop. At least they had free entry and you could give a donation if you wished. It is still quite frustrating that lots of people don't respect the simple requests made of them (e.g. to be silent or to sometimes not take photographs) and there was always someone who had to do it their way.

After Notre Dame we went with the Spanish Nuns on the bus (going past all the favourite tourist spots) but we got off at Sacre Coeur while they went who knows where. Again lots of tourists and a few touts selling knock off bags and statues of the Eiffel Tower as you walked up the steps to the church. Sacre Coeur was also quite beautiful in its own way but we didn't stay around too long as lunch beckoned and we had other things planned. We went to the Crypt at Notre Dame (which was fairly uninspiring - or maybe I was just getting tired at that point. David said he found it quite interesting but difficult to follow as all the associated posters were in French) and we then decided we would walk up to the Jardin du Luxembourg. It is a beautiful 60 acre garden freely open to the public and offers a peaceful spot in the middle of the city. We had tea there and could have stayed longer if it hadn't started to rain. It has been mid to high 20's all day but still quite warm this evening despite the showers. We went out to watch the Eiffel Tower (which we can see from the top of our street) glitter as it is lit up with lots of sparkly bulbs every hour on the hour for a few minutes. Tried taking some photos but that wasn't particularly successful. However, I quite like the one David took of the Pantheon at night so included that instead.

Tomorrow's plan is to catch a train to Palace of Versailles and also visit the Pantheon (which we ran out of time to do today despite it being across the street!) and then catch the overnight train to Barcelona. That means no update tomorrow as I doubt the train will have internet access. Mostly likely the next update will be from Spain.

Arrive en Paris

(As promised....some photos from outside St Pauls Cathedral)

Just a short update as we have only just arrived in Paris and its quite late. We had a wet second day in London so used the hop-on hop-off bus and saw quite a few of the sights (albeit briefly!). We did a full look through St Pauls Cathedral which was just lovely (nicer, although different, than Westminster in our opinion). I climbed the stairs up to the Whispering Gallery level (about 273 steps) and David climbed the stairs right to the top of the Cathedral - he could take photos outside the cathedral from there so will post some of them tomorrow. Again, lots of famous people buried there (Christopher Wren, Florence Nightingale, Horatio Nelson, etc) and Princess Di and Charles were married there. After that we went to the Royal Mews but most of the horses were on summer holidays - thats true, they go to Hampstead Heath (I think) for the summer break and come back next week when their royal duties start again. We saw the royal carriages and the two remaining horses though. We also went round the Queen's Gallery where there was an exhibition of paintings and valuables related to Victoria and Albert which was actually quite interesting.

We got a traditional black London taxi cab to St Pancras and caught the Eurostar to Paris Gare du Nord. Felt a bit anxious about travelling in a tunnel under the sea but that part only took about 20 minutes. It was actually a relatively smooth and quiet train trip. We got our first experience of being ripped off in Paris when a "friendly older gentleman" helped us purchase tickets at Gare du Nord (which should have cost about 3.5 euros) and he accepted the 10 euro note we gave him in return without giving us any change. I also got a bit stuck in the metro station as my luggage did not go through the turnstile but David and his did - so David was on one side with the luggage and I was on the other and my ticket wouldn't allow me to get through. I went back down into the station to look for assistance (but it appeared to be an unmanned station). However, I managed to eventually find my way out of the station through an alternative exit (which luckily had a broken turnstile) and found my way back to where David was via the street system above (and that was guesswork). With my extensive knowledge of French I wasn't really sure how I was going to get out without assistance. However, in the meantime David met a very nice French family who were doing their best to help and had evidently learned their English from a kiwi when they were working in Switzerland. Their genuine kind help balanced our earlier experience.

So, tomorrow is exploring Paris and doing our best to avoid any further rip offs!

Day 1 London

People, people people! There were constantly people going past and as school holidays have yet to finish there were also quite a number of children in the mix. There have been a couple of places where we decided not to visit something because the queues were too long and we would rather be doing something else with our time than stand in a line.

An 8.30am Underground ride from Victoria Station to Tower Hill started the day (in peak commuter hours!) and we spent till lunch time exploring the Tower of London. It was reasonably quiet when we started but by the time we left there were really long queues to get into some of the exhibits (like the Jewel Room). The audio guides are quite helpful in explaining what we are looking at but are not particularly socialable. We also sometimes caught parts of the stories being relayed by the Yeomen of the Guard to tour groups about the history at the fortress which was quite entertaining. The photo of what appears to be a round glass table is the memorial that marks the spot where the beheadings took place at the Tower and it is quite nice if you didn't think about what it represents. We had an up-close look at the Crown Jewels and many other coronation related items. No photos were allowed in this more secure section of the complex so you will have to take a look at the the internet or your favourite reference book about England if you want to see pictures of of the approximately half a ton of gold etc comprising this collection.

The White Tower (which is a square building with a tower at each corner) was under restoration so was wrapped in scaffolding and cover sheets. Nevertheless, we visited inside and saw 3 floors of armoury from throughout the centuries. I (this is David for a change) thought the more interesting stuff was actually the construction of the building which, although built of stone, was supported in most places by massive pillars and beams of ancient wood.

Outside the ravens were still present in the Tower, so, as legend would have it, the Tower remains safe for now. We did wonder what would happen if they all caught Bird Flu but suspect they have some surplus ones stored somewhere!

Our plan had been to cross and climb Tower Bridge but instead we decided to take a cruise back up the Thames (from Tower Bridge to Westminster) and view the city from a different angle. It also saved our feet walking all the way back. After a general stroll around the Westminster area we went back to Westminster Abbey to have a proper look through. This was a bit disappointing in a number of respects. Firstly, it was quite expensive as it was 15 pound per person (compared with 3 to 6 elsewhere) and seemed very commercialised. It came with the now familiar audio guides and the Abbey had numbers attached to all the significant areas so that you could follow the plan of where to go (however, in my opinion (G), this seemed to detract from it being a church that you could look through rather than a tourist attraction in and of itself). Secondly, the place was full of tourists and they did not seem to really respect it as a working church. For example, as with other places there was a short prayer read on the hour and everyone would stand quiet and/or join in if they wanted to. At Westminster a lot of people just keep doing what they had been while the prayer was being read over the speaker. I think we encountered 3 gift shops between entrance and exit here (but at the Tower this might have been 4!!). Although the Abbey is interesting, contains tombs of many well known people and has all that history of coronations for the last 1000 years, the spirit of the place just didn't seem to be up there with York and Salisbury. Again, photos were not permitted inside so we were only able to take outside shots.

Buckingham Palace Road

Don't pay any attention to the dates on the top of these blog entries as they seem to be all one day out (I think they must be set for NZ time). Today is actually Monday 23rd here. Our hotel is opposite Buckingham Palace (well at least opposite the Royal Mews which is at the back of the Palace.... lol) so quite handy to most things. Haven't really had that much of a chance to see what London has to offer but first impressions are that it is crowded, noisy and perhaps not our favourite place so far. Still, we will delay judgement until we have had more time to look around and get a bit of a feel for the place.

We arrived in London around lunchtime and quickly learned the basic necessities of travelling on the Underground (which was a somewhat easier task than hauling our suitcases up and down the stairs at the stations!). We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the general area where we are staying which involved taking photos outside Buckingham Palace, a stroll through St James Park, and a more disoriented walk around Westminster Abbey/Big Ben area and then a walk back to the hotel.

This photo is somewhere you will probably not recognise as it was taken at the Institution of Civil Engineers and no-one else was taking photos of it (it was clearly not on the "places to be seen at" list) so I took one. Funny thing was that the lady behind me then stopped and wondered if she should also!!

I could tell that I was starting to get a bit more acclimatised to the place as at one point I managed to walk past a squirrel in the park without taking a photo of it! However, the next squirrel that came along was really cute and came right up to us on the fence (some are clearly fed by people in the park so are very confident) so I started taking squirrel photos again. I have quite a few photos now with blurry squirrels, squirrel tails, and some with just open patches of grass where squirrels used to be.

I will try and wean off my squirrel addiction tomorrow but can 't guarantee it won't be replaced with something else.