Paris in Springtime

The Eurostar was a very pleasant experience for both of us. We were served breakfast onboard the two hour ride from St Pancras to Gare de Lyon. It was really closer to lunch but we both managed to eat everything.I had always thought that the time in the tunnel under the English Channel was longer than the 15 minutes that it took. 

A taxi ride to our hotel was scenic and for me to see the Louvre for the first time as we passed it was a bit unreal. The lovely Architecture that defines Paris was all around us. 

We were aware of the fake taxi drivers who accost you as soon as we got off the Eurostar as we had heard they charge a lot more than the average taxi service would. We queued up at the taxi rank for half an hour or so but it was worth it to get the legitimate service.

Our hotel the Belloy St Germain was in a busy part of town but luckily off the Main Street. Our small room was on the fourth floor overlooking the street but the doors and windows were double glazed as once they were shut the traffic noise debated considerably. The bathroom and toilet had been renovated nicely and the staff were lovely. The hotel held a happy hour everyone afternoon with champagne and treats where we relaxed a couple of afternoons after our sight seeing. 

The first afternoon we took a walk down to the beautiful Notre Dame Church close to the Seine River. We joined a queue which was surprisingly short and admired the beautiful stained glass windows, statues and ceilings that have made it a popular tourist attraction

Kay and I then walked over the bridge again and found the famous bookshop Shakespeare and Company for a quick look inside and an outdoor photo shoot. Since it was still light and rather warm we found the Luxembourg Gardens and enjoyed a few moments with the Parisians taking the last rays of the day near the lake. After a long cold winter they are after all the sun they can get. We took notice during the next couple of days of the locals lying on the river bank and the parks getting those precious rays.  

We did a lot of walking our first full day in this beautiful city. Down to the Louvre for a photo and then into the pretty Tuileries Gardens. From there there is a view down the Champ Élysées to the Arc d' Triumph. In two weeks time I'm guessing Paris will be wearing it's spring coat in full bloom. Now the trees are bare with just a hint of green buds. We walked over the Pont Neuf one of the oldest bridges. We took a taxi over to the Montmartre area to have lunch and see the historical Sacre Clloure church and a hilltop view of Paris.

        

That same afternoon we were on a canal trip on the Seine. It's a great way to experience the locks systems along the river. It was a first time that Kay had been through locks as I had been on the Murray River at Mildura one year. 

       

We found a nice African themed restaurant opposite the hotel for dinner for the first night in Paris, the second night we found a Morrocan restaurant close by,

          

Our last day we were booked on a Versailles tour. The Palace is splendid, opulent and over the top but a great insight into the lives of the French kings. It was very crowded in the rooms and pleased when we got out the n the fresh air again. 

        

          

         m

 

Back into Paris, we had lunch on the Champs Élysées in view of the Arc d'Triumph. Our last tour was the Illumination tour of Paris by night starting at 10 pm!  How pretty to see all those lamp posts brightly lighting up the night sky all over the city. A great end to a memorable visit.

Both of us were very tired as we got to bed it long before 1am and found it hard to get up and book out of the hotel for the taxi ride to the airport.

Looking forward to seeing Bec soon

Goodby to London

Kay and I were booked on a day tour to the Coltswolds but I developed a migraine during the night and wasn't well enough to go so Kay went off and I rebooked for the following day. 

I got on a tour to Warwick Castle, Stratford on Avon and Oxford.

I walked to the Waldorf Hilton to get the pick up bus down to Victoria Station to join the tour. Kay decided to go to the Victoria and Albert museum and by all reports it's worth a look. 

         

Warwick Castle was interesting so full of history. Some of the rare horse armour is on display there along with Oliver Cromwell's death mask. Our tour guide was very informative and I enjoyed her talk as she led us around the rooms of the castle. 

        

Our next stop was Sratford on Avon a pretty village where Shakespere was born. We spent an hour and a half there, exploring the town and looking through the house where Shakespeare was born.

         

Our next stop after driving through the Coltswolds was Oxford and Braenose College. I loved the old stately buildings and our tour.

        

    

I arrived back at the hotel at 7.30 and Kay and I went out for dinner just near the hotel

         

London Town

      

                                              Buckingham Palace

Our hotel the Kingsway Hall is in a good area in Covent Garden, except for the fact the transport driver couldn't get near it because of an underground gas leak and fire that happened only streets away a few days before we arrived. Kay and I had to  walk a couple of streets with our bags and arrived to find the street closed to both traffic and pedestrians down one end from the hotel. It means every time we want to walk in a certain direction, it takes longer to arrive. There was a police presence outside the hotel turning people back and barricades everywhere while repair work goes on.

We arrived from Dublin on British Airways flight late afternoon but managed a cab ride on dusk out to view Kennington Water Tower that had featured on Grand Designs and Kay wanted to see. I had been interested also. The taxi driver had no idea where it was had never heard of it but was helpful in finding the address for a glimpse of the top of the tower which is quite impressive. Of course I had a first timers tour of London as we looked for the water tower and was gob smacked when we drove past Trafalgar Square and saw Nelson's column. 

                                      

      

That first night we had dinner in a nice Italian Restaurant Ciao Bella in Covent Garden and got instructions from the waiter how to get back to our hotel.

       

        

Day two saw us doing the pre booked Black Taxi tour with Michael Churchill. We were lucky that there was only the two of us as arranged and we had a great overview of London. We saw the Changing of the Guard, the Tower of London, Trafalgar Square. Houses of Parliment, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and various modern buildings around the city and exclusive houses. He explained lots of interesting facts about The city and was very informative. 

Buckingham Palace has a forty acre garden where the Queen as a young girl would peer out at the people going by. The Prime Minister sees the Queen every Wednesday via an underground tunnel from Downing St to Buckinham Palace. 

A London would be cabbie must do two or three years of driving around on a motor scooter in his own time and learn all the streets and points of interest before sitting a series of exams. We saw several on our route with clipboards in front of them to refer to. 

We were dropped off at an historic pub in Belgravia for lunch the the driver recommended and met up with Karen and David whom I hadn't seen in years. I first met them in New York in 1991 with Bec just after the Gulf War, where both had been caught up in the conflict and were enjoying a well earned holiday.  Karen spent a few weeks with us in 2001 so a few years have past inbetween.

     

     

                                          Lunch with Karen and David at the Grenadier Pub

         

                                                        Black Taxi tours

After lunch I had my first ride on the tube for our tour of the Tower. What history there must be between those walls. We saw the Crown Jewels along with the chapel where Anne Bolelyn is buried along with other well known historical figures. We followed the guide and learnt some grisly details, told with humour of course.

      

                                                            One of the Towers

       

                                        One of the  Beefeater guides.

"Across the sea to Ireland "

      

Our Ireland experience began whe Kay and I landed in Dublin late on Tuesday night from Dubai. From the heat into the cold spring they are having in Ireland. We picked up the hire car and drove 30 mins out of the city to a hotel off the motorway for the night before heading to Adare to see the thatched cottages that Adare is famous for. We spent a good hour in the town before heading to Tralee and our home for the next two nights, Ballyseede Castle. 

We were both blown away by the outstanding grandeur of the place. I think both of us would have liked to have stayed a week or so. The room on the top floor was spacious and worth the four flights of stairs to reach it.

       

We had dinner at the Castle with friends of Kay's that she had met through Mum and Dad on their trips over the years. Patrick and Rosemary joined us to visit Dad's childhood school and the Athea area where he had grown up. We also visited other friends of Kay's Mary and George.

We also drove the Ring of Kerry, the normal scenic coastal drive was shrouded in rain or mist unfortunately but pockets of cloud cleared enough for us to have photo opportunities. We enjoyed a bowl of tasty soup for lunch before continuing along the Skellig Ring and back to the Castle.  A final breakfast before packing up for the drive back to Dublin.

        

       We arrived in Dublin about 6pm and walked down to the river Liffey and back up to the hotel for dinner.

It's Good Friday and all the hotels are closed. We could have a drink with dinner.

Tomorrow London!

Fascinating Dubai

What a great two days Kay and I have had here in the United Arab Republic. Dubai is a crazy mix of a new building frenzy, great freeways and mad drivers. Kay and I have crammed a lot into a couple of days, Ireland will be a welcome and less hectic experience I'm sure.

We left Sydney on a night flight so arrived in Dubai at 5.30 am which was good because we had the whole day yesterday to settle into the hotel and do some sight seeing. The Grand Hyatt is a large hotel close to the airport but has no supermarket etc nearby, which meant for the next couple of days we relied on taxis to take us to shopping malls etc. the first afternoon we looked around a mall a ten minute drive away. The taxi drivers and tour drivers are  all the same when it comes to driving. The faster you go the sooner you will get there.

We had a great tour the first day, the City of Merchants tour which included good photo stops and tours of a heritage area. A wooden boat ride and a walk through a spice market. The Dubai Creek area is very pretty, coming home after dark there is a lighting show along the waterfront of old boats, some getting new lives as restaurants.

Dubai has four million residents. Arab born only make 20% of the total population. The city is getting ready for Expo 2020. There are large cranes all over and buildings under construction 24 hours per day.

There are two distinct seasons here, summer and winter with temperatures soaring to over 50c in August.

The bus stops here are the only ones in the world to have air conditioning in a fully enclosed room. 

        

The city is hosting an expo in 2020 so there is a big rush to get construction  finished

         

A sample of apartment living

The tour took us to the waterfront where we taken on wooden boats (called Abras ) across the Dubai Creek to the spice markets. We wandered through the very pleasant aromatic laneways bustling with locals and tourists. I always imagined Dubai being an old city but in fact it is only 200 years old and a population of Victoria. We were back to the hotel around 8.30 and enjoyed a late dinner in the Italian restaurant.

      

Day 2 saw us enjoy breakfast in the hotel the catch a taxi to the Dubai Mall one of the largest Malls I have seen. It has a huge Aquarium inside the Mall and all the world's best known brands. One level is totally devoted to children's wear, maybe at a guess about fifty stores. Marks and Spencer, H&M, Galleries Layfette and Debenhams were some of the stores we saw during our time there. We finished up sitting outside overlooking the Dubai Fountain in a little French cafe named Madeliene's.

The dune sunset safari was our last tour in Dubai. The tour starts with us being picked up at the hotel and then driven in a land cruiser to a Conservation park where we were entertained with a guy with his trained falcon who gave us a demonstration of falconry before we headed for the Sandhills and a dune driving experience. One girl in our vehicle got nauseous in the back seat so our driver had to give up going over the high sand hills.i scored the front seat, being older has its advantages sometimes. We were in a convoy of about fifty vehicles and  after stopping for the sunset photo opportunity arrived at our "camp"  for dinner. Seating was on low cushions which I found hard but placed myself near a pole where I could at least have as a leverage to pull myself up. My lovely sister got my wine and also my dinner to save me moving. We enjoyed a Middle Eastern dinner of kebabs, salads and lamb 

Our Dubai experience ends today as we make our way to Ireland, a seven hour trip. 

Shhh we are going to Ireland!

And we can't tell our Dad. He often says that "when I get stronger in the legs we will go to Ireland"

We all know sadly that isn't going to happen. He is almost 96 and in a care facility. 

When Kay and I started planning for Europe, one of the places Kay wanted to return to the area in 

Limerick that Dad comes from. He was only 12 years old when he made the long journey to Australia with his Dad in 1931.

Kay and I are hiring a car in Dublin and driving south to Limerick and down to Tralee and Ballyseede Castle where we will base ourselves. There are three lots of Irish family and friends whom Kay has met before that we are meeting up with during our stay. Our first and last night are booked in Dublin. 

                            

   

   I am slowly getting myself organised, the suitcase is almost full and room for last minute things. I have a new suitcase on four wheels so eager to try it out and hoping it is easier to handle. 

I'm cooking a few things for John, mainly cutlets. He has pretty simple meals and Coles Supermarket is a few minutes drive away. He has being shown how to work the dish washer and the washing machine. 

      

                           

            The last King of Iteland Brian Boru, is one of our mother's ancestor's according to family heresay. We are still researching this.

Less than two weeks out from trip

                                                                                   

  Most of the planning is done now, the final payment off to the travel agent. I exchanged aussie money for USD and GBP. Will get Euros later, when we get to Ireland.

Otherwise we will use the ATMs.   I haven't packed the bag yet but have put a few things aside I will need.  I'm packing a parka for Ireland, could be a little chilly.          

                                         

                            

We are staying in the Grand Hyatt Dubai for two nights. A half day tour is booked for the first day and a safari sand dune tour and dinner for the second night.