Category France
La Ville En Rose
On our last full day in Toulouse, we left the apartment early. Everything here is very quiet until mid morning, and we enjoy the peaceful streets and the cooler temperatures. An extensive fresh fruit and veggie market was in full swing as we walked to Jeanne d’Arc metro, crossed the road, and entered the Capitole […]
L’Aigle S’est Pose
Toulouse is France’s centre for aviation and aerospace. So it was off to Cite de l’Espace, to learn more about Europe’s role in the space industry. Unwisely, we left Captain Kumamon in charge of the ice creams. Set out similarly to Kennedy Space Centre, but much smaller, Cite de l’Espace features a range of indoor […]
Albi (not Aldi) and Cordes (not Coles)
Make that four gold medals … Today I left Ian behind, ostensibly working, although there seems to have been ransacking of the icecream (for which he blamed the Captain), and online purchasing of Lego. I took a bus tour to two medieval towns – Albi, and Cordes Sur Ciel. Ian thought I said Aldi, and […]
A Change of Pace
Ian has been putting up (mostly) gracefully with being dragged around old cities, medieval walls, courtyards, balconies and doorways, for much of this trip. Today it was time to visit Aeroscopia, the aviation museum at Toulouse airport in Blagnac, for something much more recent. First we had a new metro system to come to grips […]
AirBNB-O
Yesterday was a long and exhausting travel day. Very early start before leaving the ship. Passports stamped, marking our official entry into the EU (apparently if you are on a ship overnight, it doesn’t count). We took a taxi to Barcelona-Sants station, waving at familiar landmarks such as Montjuic and the Sagrada. It was very […]
Marseille
Sigh … another gloriously sunny, warm day on the Med. We woke up in the commercial port of Marseille, about 7 kms from the city, requiring some sort of transport. Walking was not an option – the port is massive and very industrial. Refusing to pay $25 each for the ship-provided bus, we hunted down […]
Not Bully Beef Again
After our week in Paris we took the train to Amiens to join our 3-day tour of the Western Front battlefields with an Aussie emphasis. When we booked this tour in Australia we got the usual Coeliac disclaimer: “We have advised the ground operators of the tour of your need for gf food but we […]
Istanbul Arrival
It’s been an interesting and challenging couple of days. On Wednesday night we stayed in a tiny but clean and quite comfortable room near Gare du Nord, handy for our train trip to the airport in the morning. Food options for Ian were limited so we just ate leftovers and went to bed. In the […]
Tale of Two Mates
A heavy fog had descended on Amiens overnight, and the air was damp with condensation. As we drove higher the blanket lifted to another sunny autumn day. Something I hadn’t thought about was the foliage – we have seen plenty of leaf colour. They are falling rapidly as the temperature is about to plummet later […]
The Western Front day 1
Rue de la Roquette is certainly a much quieter street at 6.15am, and it was a good time to be trundling heavy suitcases, without the usual endless flow of people and traffic. We negotiated the metro to Gare du Nord then headed upstairs to stand under the huge, old fashioned Departures board, waiting to see […]
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