Day 15,16 Expect the unexpected.

We have visited Paris previously, so this time we are able to dig deeper into the layers of history, culture and art that the city has to offer. Highlights include a return to the sublime Impressionist collection at the Musee d’Orsay, a first time visit to the Musee Rodin to view The Thinker and a visit to the medieval museum Musee de Cluny to see the famous Lady and the Unicorn tapestries which are, sadly for us, on tour in Japan at the moment.Planned visits to museums and cultural sites are a must, but sometimes just hanging around a city like Paris presents the unexpected and rather spectacular.

While walking one day towards the Marais we noticed in front of us a huge mass of people. Many of them were dressed in yellow or blue. We figured that it might be a demonstration, which was blocking the road ahead. Suddenly we noticed that the huge crowd appeared to be heading towards us, up the street, at speed. Finally we noticed that the crowd of two or three thousand people were actually on roller blades and we were witnessing the commencement of a Sunday afternoon tradition an organised roller blade ride around Paris. Amazing!

A couple of days later we are patiently waiting in a long queue to enter a museum when we suddenly hear a roar in the sky. Over the roof of a neighbouring building came a fighter jet leaving a trail of red, white and blue smoke across the sky. For the next  fifteen minutes wave after wave of military aircraft paraded above. We guess it is a practice for Bastille Day next week. Dozens of fighter jets, three types of transport carriers, refuelling planes, satellite surveillance planes and a few others that we were unable to identify, proceeded to fly directly above us in close formations. This event was again unexpected and very impressive… and certainly made our time in the queue more enjoyable.

Day 14. Our favourite church in Paris

There are many grand and famous church buildings in Paris. As we don’t speak French we are not really able to attend any services to find out how churches are actually functioning.  On a previous visit we discovered the American Church in Paris and on our only Sunday in Paris we are thrilled to be able to attend this church and not just visit a building.

Although the building is less than a hundred years old it is nevertheless rather grand. The service we attend is traditional, but very well done. A visiting choir from a prestigious school in London is an unexpected highlight. The members are friendly, the church is packed, the message is challenging, the singing is good, the communion is inspiring, the staff of the church are warm and engaging and the prayers challenge us to be committed to making a difference in the world. The church is clearly focussed on the expat community as well as the huge numbers of visitors who come to Paris each year. However the church also has a significant outreach to its local community and those in the area in need.

Col Porter famously wrote the line ‘I love Paris in the summer … when it sizzles’ . This is certainly true of our only Sunday in Paris. Approaching 30 degrees, and overflowing with tourists, Paris is certainly sizzling today.  

Day 13. Chartres- Bible stories and product placement.

At the start of Dan Brown’s book The Da Vinci Code the protagonist is in Paris to give a lecture on the labyrinth in the floor of the cathedral in Chartres.  At the start of Day 13 we set out from Paris to explore the town of Chartres and its famous cathedral.

As far as cathedrals go, this one is rather special. The stained glass windows, which were removed during WW2 and reinstated after the war, are famous for their glorious colours especially the blues. On a beautiful sunny day they are truly magnificent. They proclaimed the wonderful stories of the Bible, in a period when most people were illiterate. They still speak today. However, not all of the windows depict Bible stories.  Many windows simply depict the agrarian world of the time. One window paid for by the local blacksmiths is said to be a very early example of product placement.

 The cathedral is also home to thousands of statues. A series of forty intricate sculptures around the choir stalls dramatically tells the story of Jesus.  We enjoy testing our Bible knowledge as we try to interpret each scene. See if you can work out which part of the story is depicted in the photo.

At the entrance to the cathedral are two huge spires one built in the 16^th century and the other in the 12^th. We climb the 300 or so steps up the inside of the younger spire to look down not only on the cathedral and the town but also the vast district that surrounds it. This vantage point was important in another chapter of the cathedral’s history.

During the Allied advance through France the decision was made to bomb and destroy the ancient cathedral for fear it was a German observation tower (which would have made sense). One American soldier was so disturbed by this plan that he volunteered to scout ahead into enemy territory to find out if the spire was being exploited, which it wasn’t. His dangerous mission saved the church from destruction. Tragically for the American soldier his gallantry was not rewarded as he lost his own life in battle a few weeks later. 

Day 12. A millenium of military history.

Next year is the sixtieth anniversary of the D-Day landings on the Normandy coast. After much debate the Allied Forces decided on a section of the coast from Cherbourg to Le Havre to invade Europe.  The landings were the largest amphibious operation in history. The initial landing on 6 June 1944 included 45000 troops landing with the help of 6000 sea craft while 13000 planes offered air support. Most tourists get a bus tour to explore this area, or hire a car. We do our best by public transport, which is particularly difficult as poor transport connections cause significant delay.

The nearest town to the beaches is Bayeux, which was the first town to be liberated following the D Day landings. At Bayeux we visit an excellent museum The Musee Memorial de la Bataille de Normandie. Hitler was determined to repel the invasion, which he was expecting and the museum reminds us of the incredible challenges faced by this operation.

Our own challenge is to get to Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery, which we finally achieve on a rather slow, local bus. The cemetery is a visual reminder of the enormous human toll of this campaign. Thousand of white marble crosses (and many Stars of David) are laid out symmetrically across a lawn that covers 75 acres. . Today the beach below is tranquil and peaceful. From the hill above the beach we try to imagine the sight of this massive invasion, sixty years ago.

Our final train delay on our return to Paris proves to be an unexpected blessing.  We have some time to fill, so we decide to visit what is described in the tour guide as ‘Bayeux’s famous tapestry’. This tapestry is worth a visit to the town itself. A 70 metre tapestry, created in the 11^th century depicts the Battle of Hastings in which the local hero William the Bastard (later known as William the Conqueror) crosses the English Channel to take the English crown in 1066.  The tapestry is almost 1000 years old and is fascinating, informative, beautiful but also brutally graphic in its depiction of war.

With the help of an audio guide we walk the length of this tapestry, which is beautifully displayed behind glass, and follow the pictorial story of another amphibious military operation which took place almost millenium before D- Day.

Day 11 A French obsession

By and large the French are a skinny lot, which is surprising given their fondness for chocolate. When you think of wonderful chocolate you usually think of Switzerland, but the French are very committed to their chocolate and find many creative ways of eating it.

Not being a big coffee culture, a French day can start with a hot chocolate. This is not normally in a cup but a bowl – a bit like a dessert bowl. Not only is the hot chocolate yummy but also on a cold day you warm your hands as you enjoy a large bowl of often rather strong chocolate.

Croissants are a famous French breakfast delight but just as popular are pains au chocolat. In Australia these are often sickly sweet counterfeits but in France they are beautiful pastries centred with two strips of delightful dark chocolate.

If that is not enough chocolate for breakfast then there are many breakfast cereals that are also often laced with chocolate. We love toasted muesli with shavings of wicked dark chocolate throughout it. We have also tried another muesli laced with a troika of white, milk and dark chocolate.

There are often other opportunities during the day to indulge in chocolate and we would feel culturally insensitive to ignore them. Chocolate mousse for dessert made with dark chocolate is mouth watering. Delicious chocolate ice cream is a seaside must. It doesn’t hurt to have a piece of chocolate at the end of the day with a cup of tea. Not to mention our favourite biscuit, which are a thin layer of biscuit, coated with a much thicker layer of chocolate.

Finally we are introduced to a French school child’s delight, which again out of cultural sensitivity we are obliged to try. Morning tea with baguette sounds harmless. Baguette with a nice piece of dark chocolate as a sandwich filler is beyond wicked.

Oo la la! 

Day 10 The best of Brittany

St Malo, Brittany has much to commend and for us a highlight is the great regional food. Nothing fancy just hearty and tasty. High on the list is vegetable soup made with leeks, carrots, celery (including the leaves), potato and a couple of vegetable stock cubes. Next comes buckwheat pancakes (galette) filled with an egg, ham and cheese. Unusual, but delicious! It was served with cooked mushrooms and onion. Dessert is orange and vanilla cake served warm from the oven with a cluster of gooseberries on the side.

Another delight is the local markets.  We explore a covered market full of food stalls and an outdoor textile market, which displayed a variety of different types of clothing. We were quickly spotted as tourists and our host overhears two old men complaining about us taking photos and speaking in a strange language. The markets are even better than the Paris markets and we delight in watching our young local host interacting with the store holders.

In the afternoon we drive to Mont Saint-Michel, a monastery begun in 708 and set high up on a rock, which is surrounded by the sea at high tide. It is very impressive, but rather chaotic on the day of our visit, as a strike by the staff has meant that all tourist control has evaporated.  Approaching Mont Saint-Michel along country lanes through the fields we were able to see the fresh food of Brittany being grown. Lettuce, wheat, corn, potatoes, carrots, leeks. We are alerted to the famous local sheep grazing close to the sea. These sheep produce highly sought after and very expensive meat because they are eating the salty grass.

In the evening we attend a cultural festival at the local Hotel de Ville (town hall), starting at 9pm on a Wednesday night. We are promised one of France’s leading Celtic guitarists, but due to a program change, we enjoy some very creative music from a trio of musicians playing piano, flute and percussion. Following the concert the locals settle in for a long night of folk dancing, which to be honest, looks like a lot of fun.

Day 9 Dinan and Dinard

Today we exchange timetables, maps, and travel guides for a local who is willing to give us guided tours via secret back roads and hidden car parking spots. Diane promises us a medieval village in the morning and a harbourside town in the afternoon.

We park below the village of Dinan and walk up and up and up the hill to find a 16^th century town bustling with 21^st tourists and locals. We discover a local pastry delicacy called Kouign Amman, which is tasty, crisp, light, not too sweet, and rather filling. We find the resting place of a medieval knight whose body is buried on the side of the street. The stone box in which he lies is topped by a horizontal statue. Sadly the statue lost its head, at the same time that the nobility where losing theirs, at the height of the French revolution. We would never have noticed, or understood, this detail had Diane not been there to point it out to us.

In the afternoon we again access free local parking and walk along the seaside to explore the town of Dinard. The weather warms up and occasionally the sun bursts through the clouds. From Dinard we look back to St Malo and see the old city standing proudly across a glorious bay. Sailboat enthusiasts are enjoying the good weather and we enjoy watching a race between high schoolers, which ends quickly, when one of the Hobie Cats decides the breeze is too strong to remain upright and dramatically flips over into the sea. Wendy enjoys the pungent delights of a famous local teashop, Lindfield, while Richard braves the 13 degree ocean, not for a swim, but an ankle deep paddle.Dinner is another home cooked meal around the family table. 

Wendy is given a lesson in cooking French vegetable soup using a variety of vegetables including celery leaves. Buckwheat gallette with egg, ham, cheese and accompanied by onions and mushrooms completes our feast, not to mention cheese, cake and of course bread. 

Day 8 French Hospitality

 What a delight to arrive in the northern coastal region of Brittany and to be met at the train station by a friend we met in Australia. Diane was a gap student at Wendy’s school and she has invited us to stay at her home with her parents. We are welcomed like family and warmly embraced into a charming home.

Dinner at the family table begins with vegetable soup made with radish leaves, main course is farm raised chicken broiled in tomato and served with French lentils. Dessert is homemade lemon meringue pie. Somewhere there is also time to savour three wonderful cheeses from various regions of France plus some homemade apple cider. Delicious! Thank you, Corinne.

Richard is delighted to meet his host, Frederic, a fellow organic gardener whose strawberries, raspberries and gooseberries are sweet and flavoursome.

The day ends with a walk around the walls of the old port city of St Malo. The statues and monuments of local heroes, who made their fortunes as pirates, make sense to Aussie travellers used to the adoration of bushrangers. On cue a magnificent tall ship sails into the harbour as the sun sets across the Atlantic at about 10pm.  

Day 7 Politicians can make a difference

It’s tempting to believe all politicians are only interested in promoting their own ambitions. The city of Bordeaux proves that this is not always the case. A dozen or so years ago the mayor of Bordeaux and former Prime Minister Alain Juppe determined that Bordeaux needed a makeover. With a major infrastructure investment Bordeaux pedestrinanised its boulevards, restored its neo-classical architecture and introduced a system of functional, attractive, wireless trams. With the glory of the Garonne riverfront, bridges old and new, a glorious botanic gardens and the longest shopping 
street in Europe we find it hard to drag 
ourselves away. But we do!

By mid afternoon we head west to the seaside town of Arcachon. Not quite South West Rocks but there is sand, sun, sea and quite a few rather aged topless bathers. We stroll along the pier, take off our shoes and paddle in the surprisingly warm water. Later we enjoy an ice cream at the shop where the longest queue is an accurate indication of the highest quality.

By early evening we head back to Bordeaux and then in the opposite direction to the medieval village of St Emilion. Sensibly the crowds have gone home and we explore what could almost be described as a wine lovers theme park. Surprisingly and accidentally we witness the filming of a TV commercial where a ballerina on a suspended steep cable appears to fly over the ancient buildings.

We are so busy enjoying the sun that we almost forget to eat. In fact what we end up eating, very late that evening, is quite forgettable.

Day 6 Why travel by train?

Day 6 includes a long train journey from Aix-en-Provence, via Marseilles on the Mediterranean coast to Bordeaux, which is half way up the French Atlantic Coast. After a number of very busy days it is nice to sit back in comfortable leather seats on a rather old French intercity train.  Our view includes the sparkling coast, fast flowing rivers, cute rural towns and a sweep through some of France’s most productive and attractive farmlands.

Many question why two Aussie travellers, rapidly approaching a birthday that would allow them to access their superannuation or enter a self care retirement village, still persist in travelling by train. Even more perplexing is their insistence on carrying their belongings in backpacks, even when it would appear that many young backpackers seem to have adopted wheelie bags.

In our defence, there is much to commend train travel. Yes, you do lose some of the flexibility of a car that allows you to explore every nook and cranny of the countryside. Trains in Europe, however allow the traveller to economically travel considerable distances faster than by car, in comfort and with minimal effort. In fact a day travelling for more than six hours and covering about 700 kms, actually becomes a rest day. You arrive refreshed and ready to explore rather than exhausted from the journey. You don’t have to worry about tolls, fuel bills, parking tickets and most importantly finding your way. Sitting on a train full of locals is also a strangely fascinating window into family life, relationships, eating habits and ethnic diversity. The train also tends to deliver you through the city traffic to a part of town where cars are often prohibited.

Backpacks are linked to train travel. Train station steps, turnstiles, train corridors and cheap hotels without lifts are so much easier with packs than with pull along bags. With our belongings shared across two packs, Richard carrying a small pack weighing 15kgs and Wendy carrying a 10kg daypack, it is very manageable… and always enjoyable!

Day 5. Three in one

What can go wrong with an early start, a train pass in hand and a day to explore the south of France where the sun shines 300 days a year and does not set until 10pm. 

First stop, of the morning is France’s second largest city, Marseilles. Inspired with literary images from the Count of Monte Cristo and anxious about its Naples-like reputation for crime and sleaze Marseille is actually a delight. After a quick familiarisation with the metro we arrive at the picturesque Marseilles harbour, Vieux Port. The small harbour is all but choked with over 3000 pleasure boats and yachts. The city literally rises on three sides giving the harbour the feel of a natural amphitheatre or football stadium. The restoration of an ancient fortification has been enhanced with wonderful new harbour side public buildings promoting the arts and theatre.

Our second stop is Toulon, home to the French Navy’s second largest fleet base. With the aid of a harbour cruise with commentary in French (which doesn’t help us much) we view this huge Naval base from the harbour. We pass about a dozen or so very technologically advanced looking frigates, six destroyers, three supply ships, five landing vessels, including two huge LHDs, and a host of support ships and tugs, not to mention a nuclear submarine and the nuclear aircraft carrier, Charles De Gaulle. Toulon’s reputation as a seedy Naval town seems a little unfair. The city is both quaint and quite grand. From the harbour, the city with its backdrop of rocky cliffs is another Mediterranean gem.

Our third stop is probably over ambitious. We had thought we could make a quick trip to the picturesque town of Arles about 45 minutes from Marseilles. Unfortunately the 45 minutes turned into 90 minutes on a very slow train and we found that we had little time in the town before we had to turn around and catch the train back to Marseilles. We did manage to glimpse the beautiful river, the ancient Roman amphitheatre and the lovely fields of wheat lined with poplar trees that were the inspiration for many of Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings. This in itself made the trip worthwhile.

Suffice to say, as we return to our hotel in Aix en Provence just before midnight, we may have tried to do a bit too much today! 

Day 4 C’est la ve.

When arriving in a new town a traveller is faced with many challenges. First is to find the hotel you have booked.  Some like the excitement of booking a hotel when you arrive in a town, but we find that if you do that, the best rooms in the most popular places are all gone. So if you book all your accommodation before you leave home then the only hassle is to actually find the place. Now of course some people just catch a taxi when they arrive at a new town, but that is expensive and no fun. We have learnt to seek out directions before hand and on this trip we have discovered the value of bringing a printed copy of a Google map. Despite our preparations, today we experienced a few navigation dramas before we arrived at our rustic thirteen-room hotel in the old part of town – 16^th century Hotel des Quarte Dauphins.

The next challenge is working out how to see the town in the most efficient and enjoyable way. You could go on a paid walking tour, but they are often very longwinded and slow. You could ride the daggy little tourist train around the old town with commentary in five languages, but you would look like a dill and be considered a failure as an independent traveller. You could study the maps for some time and plan out an effective route, but that would be too sensible.

No we find the most fun is to have a good map and then just wander. We stumbled early upon the most famous street in Aix-en-Provence, Cours Mirabella with its magnificent old private mansions, enormous plane trees, glorious fountains and a textile market that is teeming with life and then within an hour is packed up and gone. We discovered that the fountain of four dolphins just outside our hotel is about 500 years old and is one of Aix’s finest. We noticed in the shops a local sweet  that has  been around since King Rene in the 15^th century. We cover about 15 kms in a glorious ‘shorts and T-shirt’ mid summer Mediterranean day.

Lunch at Charlotte is a Lonely Planet triumph. Found in an obscure backstreet, we feel we have really arrived in France as we eat a local delicacy, which could be accurately described as raw mince.

C’est la ve.

Day 3 A Long way down

Choosing where to stay on our train trip around France is part of the adventure. We wanted to stay at Grenoble because of a book we had both read and loved called The Tartan Pimpernel, the amazing wartime biography of a pastor turned resistance leader, Rev Donald Caskie. Caskie was the minister of Scots Kirk, Paris before the war but had to leave Paris when the Germans occupied the city, as he had preached against the Nazis for many years. He spent time in Marseilles helping fleeing Allies escape France. Sadly he was betrayed and arrested and spent a considerable amount of time in detention in Grenoble.

Grenoble is where three very scenic glacial valleys meet surrounded by snow-capped peaks. The scenery is grand and rugged. To get the best view we braved a rather peculiar cable car, known locally as the bubble, which consisted of five small perspex pods each of which contained six seats. This took us to The Bastille a 19^th century fort located at the top of the mountain. Our bird’s eye view included the amazing topography of the surrounding mountains and the very diverse city below. The old town with its terracotta roofs in the foreground and a growing regional metropolis in the background completed a wonderful vista.

Wendy bravely suggested that we would save a couple of euro by purchasing a one-way ticket on the cable car, meaning we could walk down the hill. It was a quite a challenge as the directional signs were scant and the terrain could best be described as rather steep. Most amazing were the dozen or so stone staircases carved in tunnels through the rock, which we had to negotiate.

  

We completed our day with a rustic local French meal at a local restaurant called La Petite Idee.  We shared local prosciutto, salami, cacciatore, cheese pie, rosemary rubbed lamb, creamy gratin dauphinois (potato bake), lemon cheesecake and pistachio and dark chocolate ice cream.  Our much trusted guide Lonely Planet rightly described it as a convivial setting. 

Day 2 Annecy- Charm can often trump the glitz.

Many people believe that the best way to travel is 5 star. Most bus tours promote the fact that their tour guarantees the hotel standard to be at least 4 or 5 star. When we travel our preference is for a good hostel with a double room. On Quad Tour de France hostels have been hard to come by, so this time we are going up market in 2 and 3 star hotels (and yes the occasional 1 star). However Hotel Alexandra in Annecy proves that sometimes a 2 star hotel is really the best place in town to stay.

At two stars you don’t get parking, but that’s okay because we came by train. At two stars you don’t get luxuries like lifts. However you do get a stone staircase with a wooden banister that must be hundreds of years old, plus 60 steps. At 2 stars you don’t get a free breakfast but with our trusty travel kettle and a fresh baguette you can organise breakfast for less than 1 euro. At 2 stars you don’t get a very big room but frankly you come all this way to see the place and not sit in your room. At 2 stars you do get a TV but all the shows are in French but again that is fine because we have not come to France to watch TV. 

What you do get in this Hotel is

·      A magnificent building hundreds of years old which was once a fort.

·      A view of the canal showing why many consider Annecy to be France’s little Venice.

·      The sounds of the city including the old church bells that rang at the exact moment our computer announced that it  was six o’clock.

·      A panoramic view to the mountains.

·      A location right in the centre of the old town close to the beautiful mountain ringed lake. 

·      Sun pouring in the window in the late afternoon

·      A tariff cheaper than an average motel on the north coast of NSW.

Charm can often trump the glitz.

Day One Quad Tour de France

Everyone knows that the big event happening in France this month is the Tour de France. Not quite as well known, is the fact that we have donned our backpacks, purchased another Eurail train pass and have commenced our very own three week Quad Tour de France.

Annabel Simms wrote her book An Hour from Paris for a particular type of traveller:

… not simply someone who does not have a car (but) someone who was essentially curious about everything… someone who was interested in the present as well as the past, who loved the countryside and enjoyed walking, but also liked stopping at cafes and appreciated the humbler type of restaurants where they would probably be the only foreigner. Above all, it was someone who avoided crowds and packaged experiences wherever possible and was happiest when exploring off the beaten track.

We aspire to be just that sort of traveller.

We arrived at Hotelo, Lyon 36 hours after leaving our house in Eastwood thanks to a car ride to the airport, a Qantas flight to Japan, a five hour transit, an Air France A380 to Paris and finally a TGV fast train to Lyon.

Lyon is a city with many things to admire. The extraordinary and huge 19^th century Basilique Notre Dame de Fourviere, that overlooks the city. Two glorious rivers, the Rhone and the Saone, that snake through the city. A huge UNESCO listed old town. Plus the largest urban park in France, the beautiful Parc de la Tete d’Or and of course food!.

In spite of walking close to 20 kms and probably travelling three times that distance in buses, trams and trolley buses the highlight of our first day was probably lunch at Le Restaurant de Fourviere. With a glorious view over the city our lunch today was a set menu, a €16 euro delight. Entrée was a salmon salad with the lightest dressing. Main was chicken in a tomato and cream sauce with a hint of vinegar, glorious fresh local veggies and home made egg pasta with grilled tomato on the side. Dessert was a crème brulee for Wendy and an unusual white cheese served with fresh cream for Richard. The cheese was quite tart and we missed the cue from the waiter to douse the cheese in the sugar, which he served at the same time as our dessert. Somehow we also fitted in four small, but wonderful, fresh bread rolls.

Not surprisingly we did not need much dinner.