La France, l'Allemagne et plus 2019

On Wednesday it was time to start our journey home.   Our flight to Los Angeles was a late afternoon flight which gave us time to have a leisurely breakfast, go to Mayfair to claim a tax refund on my shoes and then find Australia House so that Bev could vote in the upcoming Australian Federal Election.   All went very smoothly and my excellent navigation landed us at the correct station.   We then had a nice walk to the Strand where the Australian High Commission is located.   Bev did her duty and voted,   then I got us to Temple, the tube station back to our accommodation, (much to Bev’s surprise, as she was expecting I would have another failure with my navigation). We speedily collected our bags from the hotel and headed off to the airport.   We were nearly the last on the plane due to not observing the notification board.   The flight was late leaving due to air traffic delays but we still arrived in LA on time. I h...

Ozone Cafe Coffee in Europe is not always that great.   Getting something that approximates a decent flat white   The closest is a cappuccino but even those come in range of ways.   Sometimes a café crème in Paris can be a reasonable approximation.   I found a well reviewed café called Ozone which has New Zealand connections and we decided that it would be worth a try.   Interestingly they have two cafés in New Zealand, one in Auckland and the other in New Plymouth. can be a challenge. Buiding outside the Old Street Station The place was near Old Street Underground and we found it reasonably easy to get to although there were a couple of wrong turns as we got ourselves oriented. The place was very industrial but the food and coffee were good.   So good that I even had a second cup of coffee.   Bev had lived in Hackney about forty years ago and we were very close to it , so with map in hand off we went in sear...

We arrived, at Bev’s insistence, early for our travel on Eurostar to London.   When we got to the check-in area there was quite a crowd.   It did not seem to be moving but there was no explanation.   Eventually the queue started moving. Then about 45 minutes after we had lined up, we heard that there were delays.   A few minutes later they asked for a show of hands for who was on the 11:13 train (our one).   Hands shot up all over the place, but it seemed to make no difference in speeding up the process.   We finally got to the border but we were told that we had missed our train and that they were putting us on the next train an hour later.   We were issued with new seat numbers and there was not too much of a delay before we were boarding.   The seats were not the best as the window was obscured.   I noticed that a man in front of us was moving his stuff back a carriage.   I thought I would see what was happening a...

Our friends the Captain and his first mate arrived in Paris overnight after a month of narrow boating in the UK.   Janet has a passion for all France and the language while Lew’s passion is boats.   Their holiday combines both passions.   We planned to meet them at Mon Coeur Belleville a café in the 20 th arrondissement.   I thought it was much closer to the station than it turned out to be but once we got to the café the view of Paris was superb.   I had chosen the café because it promised jazz with a brunch but unfortunately the jazz did not happen.   It was cold so perhaps it is a summer activity.   Janet and Lew were waiting for us when we arrived. It was great to catch up and hear their canal boat adventures.   Compared to us they really did have a slow relaxing holiday.   Brunch came in three versions.   The basics was oeuf au plat which neither Janet or I had any idea was but a person nearby translate...

It was a cold wet morning and we delayed doing anything until it seemed to have cleared a bit.   There is a Bio Market (organic) in the Marche de Batignolles which I thought would be good to check out.   It was a fifteen minute walk from our apartment and down the road from Place de Clichy.   One of the nice things about 17 th is that it is an area frequented by few tourists, yet ten minutes up the Avenue de Clichy we are in the middle of Montmartre.   The market was superb, much of it was organic and the quality, price and variety of produce was wonderful.   That is one of the things we have very little of in Wellington.   The other thing I have noticed is that there is a lot of organic food and other items available.   Far more than in New Zealand and it is only a little more expensive than the non-organic items.   We got some nice food for dinner on Sunday night and as Bev wanted to retrace our steps in Montmartre ...

Leaving for Paris always signals the beginning of the end of the holiday.   However, we still have a week which will of course fly by.   Just as we were packing up the car to go to Saint-Pierre-des-Corps to drop off the car and get the TGV, big drops of rain started falling.   This was to be a portent of things to come for the rest of the day.   To get fuel within the acceptable radius of the car drop off point I found a supermarket fuel station in a small village close to Saint-Pierre-des-Corps.   It was very pretty and the small places on the way there were also lovely and so typical of many old villages.   The train left on time for Paris and an hour later we were Gare Montparnasse navigating our way to the Metro.   I managed to get myself jammed into a gate as I pushed through.   Bev’s intervention with a ticket got the rest of me through.   The rest of the trip was quick and a further hour later we we...

It was Europe Day in France, which is a public holiday.   Europe Day commemorates the end of the Second World War and is only commemorated as public holiday in a couple of other countries.   The consequence is that everyone is on holiday and only a few cafés are open for business. We had a late start and went for a walk to see if anything was happening.   As it turned out in Saumur there was a significant ceremony involving the cavalry (tank regiment) which is based in Saumur.   The local dignitaries were out in force and stayed a while to watch the ceremony.   There were a few non-military people there but nothing like the crowds that go to Anzac services.   Nonetheless, it was interesting to watch how another country does their ceremony.   In the afternoon we went Abbaye de Fontevraud which is otherwise know as the Royal Abbey.   It had a lot of support from various French kings until the place was emptied after the Revolution in the e...