Coming Home

Adieu All

Yesterday we visited the Eiffel Tower, climbed way too many stairs(over  600 steps), and took an elevator so high my ears were popping.  

Today we went to see the Monet museum and that will be about it. Where did the time go? We only seemed to land at Charles de Gaulle airport yesterday and now we are spending our last day in Paris before we fly back home again. We have driven 4000  kilometers, and I’ve lost count of the cities and towns we’ve been to.

We visited more museums than any other trip we’ve ever taken, but I’ll admit for me it wasn’t enough. Although we’re fairly sure right now that our next trip will be China, we have already started discussing another driving trip through several countries in central Europe that would include Holland and allow me to see two different museums housing large Vincent Van Gogh collections. Did you know I was a huge fan???(Wow its’ bad enough that I ramble on about the trip I’m on in these emails without adding plugs for our next couple of trips.) We’ve seen fountains and statues

and driven on some of the most interesting, beautiful, scary roads I’ve ever been on. Of all of the places I’ve talked about, some of the best places we saw were little towns we drove through that we didn’t even know the names of.

I have talked to Joani about how much fun it would be to take a trip like this without any agenda. As you arrived at each destination you could just go on the vibes that you got in your first 12 to 24 hours. If you liked what you saw and felt, book your hotel room for another 2 or 3 days. If not fuel up the car; time to go! Next town, same thing. It always gets back to….when I win the lottery.

 It seems odd to think I’ll see some of you at work tomorrow.

 I’ve gained a bit of a tan and a ton of weight! (I’ll be working out for months to make up for this 3 weeks) All in all we loved France.

 My friend Darrel, who is on this list told me that Italy is his favourite country to visit and I would definitely agree, but I am so glad we made this trip. France is a must see!

I have added assorted photos, some you might recognize and some I might not even remember where I took them. (I’ve taken more than 1200 photos and Joani’s taken more than 400.) Some of the memories are already merging. I hope you enjoyed taking this trip with us

and I really recommend you visit yourself, if you haven’t already, but take my advice if you do come over here. Stay away from the pastries!

  Garry

The Champs-Elysees

              The Champs-Elysees. That’s where the Tour de France ends. That’s also where we spent most of today. We were tired after driving so far yesterday, so we had a late breakfast and didn’t get out of our hotel until almost 10am. We made our way down to where the race was ending, early because we were forewarned by several people, who told us that the crowds gathered early and they weren’t wrong. We walked completely around the circuit that they were covering. It was in Joani’s estimation about a 5 or 6 km walk and people were already setting up camp at 11am, fully seven hours before the riders were expected to arrive. These fanatics had food, lawn chairs, coolers full of drinks, and big umbrellas to keep off the sun. We had none of these things and there was no way that we would be able to camp by the crowd barriers for six or seven hours like they were, without any camping equipment and we had no intention of buying some, so we just decided to do a little more touring and come back later to see what we could find for a viewpoint.

 It quite often seems to me, that when Joani and I travel we do so under a lucky star, and today was no different. We had lunch, visited the neighborhood where we stayed our first time through Paris and around 3pm we headed back to the Champs-Elysees to see what we could find. The course was even more crowded and just as I was getting a little bit discouraged about how much we were going to see, we came upon some sort of pylon that was bolted to the ground, with a round flat plastic top just wide enough to sit or stand on. At first I wondered whether it was off limits for some reason but there was a police officer right in front of us and he looked at us several times without saying anything. Fortune favours the bold and we had lucked out again. For the next three hours we took turns sitting on our little stool, and when the race started we took turns standing on it. We had the best sightlines in the house as I’m sure you will see with the photos I have attached.

We got a few of the lead group and several with the Maillot Jaune, (yellow jersey).

One, that I have included of the yellow jersey is purely symbolic as he never actually led today, but since I got this perfect shot of him seemingly leading I thought I’d put it in.

There is another shot that I included of a team member hanging out of a car doing repairs without the rider stopping the bike! (Pure magic.)

  There is also a shot of jets with coloured streamers (red, white and blue to replicate the French flag) flying overhead when the riders started circling the Champs-Elysees.  (Check out the bird in the shot, just above the jets.)

  It was a long but fabulous day

 Coupled with seeing the mountain stage that we saw two weeks ago, I am extremely happy and content with our Tour de France trip

as well as the other things we got to do while we were here in France!

Tours

  Hello All

 We’re in Tours, and headed for Juno beach war memorial and then on to Paris. I’ve enjoyed the car that they gave us at the rental establishment, and between it and our Garmin we’ve had very few problems. I would never compare it to driving on North American roads but man it has been fun, adventurous and maybe even a little dangerous. Anybody ever wanting to do something like this I would recommend two things.

 #1) Have a good copilot. Somebody to keep track of the toll booth tickets. (As soon as they’re in my hands, there lost, and then there’s a mad scramble when you get to the toll booth to pay) They also act as music monitors. (Remember to bring CDs) And of course when you get into tight squeezes, as you invariably do over here, they act as a second set of eyes. Countless other things too numerous to mention.

#2) Keep cool calm and collected when you are driving! I have told you about some crazy things you see people do over here. (Pedestrians, bicyclists, motorbike drivers, truck drivers and anyone else on the road.) But if you don’t keep your cool you’ll go crazy.

 As nondescript as Bordeaux was, Tours is the exact opposite.

Bordeaux seemed big and unfriendly while Tours seems small and warm.

Our hotel in Bordeaux was in a gated compound while in Tours we are hanging out on a street right in the heart of old town.

I didn’t mind leaving Bordeaux yesterday while I’m thinking that I could set up shop in Tours and stay for a while.

 I’ll for once keep this email short as we are getting the car and heading for Juno beach shortly.

 Garry and Joan

Rocamadour

Hello all
 Our little car race around France is fast coming to an end and as happens every time, I’m starting to feel a little melancholy. Although Joani starts missing family and has symptoms of withdrawal, I, as I have stated before could just be a nomad. Wandering from city to city, country to country. Checking in via email to let everyone know I’m alive and continually seeing new things, but alas it is not to be. Joani needs family and we both need money, so I’ll be seeing most of you a week from today. I’ll probably be depressed and grouchy but unless I win the lottery it’s back to work for me.
 Yesterday we visited Rocamadour on our way to our hotel here in Bordeaux. I know that I have been writing about how great everything is that we have seen and now I wish that I had of shown a little less enthusiasm. I’m really not sure how to describe how awesome our visit to this town was. The first thing you need to know about, is the drive to the town. Again we were on these small little mountain roads, and the best way I could describe them is something Joani said. We have a running path that goes along the lake all the way from Pickering through to Whitby, and it is wider than the roads we drove on to get to this town. What’s truly remarkable about that, is that the entire way the road is considered a two lane highway with a 90 kilometer speed limit. I have attached a photo of Joani with her arms swung out wide to show you how narrow these roads actually are.

 The next thing you need to know is that this entire town is built into or chiseled out of the side of a mountain. When you come driving along the highway and first come upon it you wonder how the whole thing doesn’t slide off into the valley below.

 The next amazing thing is also from the first view. It looks two dimensional!! As you are taking your photo from the highway right across from it, it seems to have length and width but then when you climb up the side of the mountain to where you see these buildings a whole town opens up and your left wondering how you didn’t see this when you took your first photo.

The next wonderous thing is that when you are in this unbelievable town hanging off a mountain, you look up and realize that you are only halfway up. There above you is the Cathedral looking over this tiny town, and it really is hanging off the side of the mountain.

 Well of course there was nothing that Joani and I could do but climb up into nosebleed country. It was another hour getting to the top and I would love to say that the views were awesome but that would be a lie. My vertigo was screaming the whole time I was up there. I have attached a shot showing how much higher the Cathedral view was above the town but I will confess that the way I got that photo was holding the camera out at arms-length away from my body over the catwalk I was on.

In other words, I didn’t actually see that view until that evening when we were looking at our shots.
 The whole time I was in this town in a mountain I was thinking, this is it!!! This is why I came to France! As much as I have raved about this trip, so far for me, this half day in Rocamadour has been the highlight. (Sorry Vincent) Anybody planning a trip to France.. this is a must see.
  This morning we drove to the little town of Cognac… yes the town where most of that famous liquor is bottled. It was again really quaint and well worth seeing. This evening we walked around old Bordeaux. It is a nice city but seems to be suffering from the bad economy more than most places we have seen.
 I am sending only photos of Rocamadour as it was a real highlight and Cognac and Bordeaux were to me, just peripheral.
Feeling melancholy,
Garry

Carcasonne and Toulouse

Bonjour Again.

 I did a little research before starting this email. Here’s a little tidbit for you. France, while being the third largest country in Europe, is still only half the size of Ontario. I’m saying that because when you have driven through as much as Joani and I have the last 10 days, it seems much larger. We talk sometimes about whether we are trying to see too much too fast, but we have so many more destinations on our bucket list that it seems unlikely we will be back to France, so we prioritize the things we really want to see, rent a vehicle, and go on these extended road trips. We try to see all the things that are important to both of us, and with our own mode of transport, we don’t have to see travel companies’ suggestions that we don’t want to see. Besides I will tell you that I honestly get a great kick out of being able to say that I have driven around Spain, Portugal, and now France. It adds to my trip.

 With that in mind, we left Aix-en-Provence yesterday morning headed for Toulouse. We had one stop planned, but it was a doozy! Carcassonne. Again, I will cheat and use the description that I lifted directly out of Wikipedia, below.

    “The Cité de Carcassonne is a medieval citadel located in the French city of Carcassonne”

 I love that word Medieval. When you look at the photos you’ll see what I mean. This city was first settled by the Romans more than 2000 years ago and has changed hands many times since but it is soooooooooo  cool.

 Well wait; let me clarify one thing in case you visit. The interior of this extremely large, walled, fortified city has been turned into a giant tourist trap with shops, cafes, clothes stores and artisan shops. But if you walk around outside or manage to find a place inside where the tourists haven’t congregated in mass numbers, all you have to do is close your eyes and imagine yourself being transported way back in time to the days of knights and damsels, squires and maidens. I see myself as a storyteller along the lines of Homer or Chaucer. But you can be a lord or a lady, knight or maiden. Whatever tickles your fancy. It all comes to life when you’re in this citadel. See the photos below and use your imagination.

 We spent half a day at Carcassonne and then drove on to Toulouse, which I will get into later. By the time we got to our hotel it was late so we just ate some supper and took a short walk on one of the main scenic streets and then turned in.

 Today we got up, had breakfast and drove to another medieval (there’s that word again) town “Albi”. Albi is another of those “UNESCO” heritage sights and it has another one of those “boring” impressionist museums that I love spending time in. This one was centered around “Toulouse-Lautrec”.

While I would not compare him to Vincent (nobody compares to Vincent), Toulouse-Lautrec painted one of my all time favourite paintings. At Montrouge (Rosa la Rouge), by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec I first saw this painting between 15 to 20 years ago and have been a Toulouse-Lautrec fan ever since, so it was great seeing so much of his work and Joani was so impressed she said “ He has become one of my favourite impressionists”. I’m glad she liked him as I have been a fan for so long. Anyway that’s enough art talk, I’m sure if my emails didn’t bore all of you enough, my constant chatter on visiting museums must be becoming white noise.

 Albi itself, was a beautiful town with more great buildings, tiny streets and beautiful gardens.

A must for anyone wanting to tear themselves away from the more known sights around France.

 This afternoon after we got back from that visit, we spent 3 or 4 hours getting lost in the old section of Toulouse. Another beautiful city, (I’m running out of adjectives) full of fountains, statues and tiny winding streets.

 I will be honest, and I hope I speak for Joani here. (She proofreads these emails before I send them.) I find that most times these cities are just the resting point for us and it is the smaller towns that we find the most fascinating in our travels.

 On to Bordeaux tomorrow. Another drive, and we will be stopping for lunch at another very cool place,”Rocamadour”. I’m not going to say anything about it now as I will wait until I see it but I believe it will be sooooooooo cool.

 Garry

French Riviera

Another long email.

 I have started worrying about two things the last while.

 1^st)  I know that I keep sending emails as I see things through these lovely rose coloured glasses that I bought second hand from Dorothy after she finished visiting Oz. Am I getting too soft? How can I go back to work at Sunnybrook with this perpetual smile? I have to toughen up and show that France is not all ice cream and rainbows! I’m going to tell you some of the harsher details of this trip.

 2^nd) Joani and I, in the last couple of years have seen so many ancient ruins, old buildings, exotic cultures, that the last while I seem to be walking by 500 year old buildings with a complete blasé attitude as if to say. “Didn’t I see something like that last year in Spain“, or, “wow that’s almost as nice as that building I saw in Sienna a few years back.” Today we were walking through this beautiful little town/city, Aix En Provence, and I had to give myself a shake. I was seeing the most marvelous fountains,

500 and 600 year old buildings, and beautiful statues, and just sort of wondering what there is to see here. We have none of these types of things in Ajax or Toronto!  I resolved to open my eyes and see things as I saw them the first time I came to Europe and things looked amazing again.

 So this will be a Jeckyll and Hyde email. On the one hand I’m going to tell you the things about France that aren’t the great and on the other hand I’m going to tell you about the things I saw today that took me back to my first day in Europe walking through Rome.

Dislikes

 #1: Driving in France is a never ending adventure. Now I’m not talking about the small lanes in towns and cities, the one lane roads in the country or on mountains that are being used as two lane highways. These problems have been in place for ever and I know that there are room and financial issues to account for. What I’m talking about is other things. The average French driver seems to favour one of two possible extremes. He either drives 20 kms under the speed limit or 40 over and whichever one you come across, they have no respect for anyone else. So if you catch up to the slow driver they will back up traffic for 3 or 4 kms, without ever thinking of pulling over to let people driving the normal speed limit pass. The drivers speeding will catch up to you and if they can’t pass immediately, they will pull up so close to your bumper that you will think they are attached to your car with a trailer hitch and honk at you until they get a chance to pass.

 French Pedestrians seem to feel that auto drivers need to always be aware and so they will walk out anywhere, between parked cars, into the middle of an intersection regardless of the colour of the light, or even stand in the middle of the street with their head in the window of a parked car talking to that driver completely oblivious to the fact that their “fanny perpendicular” is hanging out into traffic and you need to maneuver around them.

  French car drivers have the complete opposite idea. Pedestrians are fair game. You can be crossing a street at a green light, completely in the right and drivers here will speed up seemingly threatening to run you over if you don’t hurry through the crosswalk. Heaven forbid if you actually are jaywalking and one of these drivers turns a corner and sees you! Guaranteed they will hit the accelerator because now you really are fair game and I believe there is some sort of point system if you get to scare a walking tourist over here.

 Lastly, if you ever do drive over here, remember that truck and bike/moped drivers have a completely different set of rules than we are used to in North America. Basically for them, there are no rules. A truck driver in the city can stop where ever he wants and stay however long he wants regardless of what it does to traffic. They also get to change lanes on the highway without any warning and if you are in the lane they want, move or they will run you over. Bikes and mopeds on the other hand, don’t need lanes. They create them as they go. They will come up on your right or left with no warning and you will go to make a turn and lo and behold you’re about to run over a biker. On the highway they are impervious to traffic jams because they will go between lanes or into the parking lane to get to where they want to go. You have to always be aware. These are my problems driving in France.

 #2: We went to Monaco

and Nice

yesterday and although I know that for a lot of people in France as well as other countries these are the ultimate vacation destinations, Joani and I both found them very commercial and crowded. Monaco seemed a place that catered mostly to millionaires which is probably true and Nice, while less so than Monaco, stilled seemed pretentious. We considered stopping for a drink in Monaco and looked at an outdoor café as a possibility. When we looked at the menu we saw Champagne cocktails for 22 euro each. To put that into perspective, it would have cost us approx. 50 euro (80 dollars) with tip to sit down and have a cold drink. Joani pointed out that we could have had a normal cocktail for 18 euro so that would have only cost approx. 40 euro (60 dollars) for a couple of vodka and orange juice. (On the other hand we did go into the casino and spend 10 euro on the slot machines.

I busted out, Joani won 18 euro back!!)

 #3: There is a shortage of public washrooms as you walk around the towns and cities and when you’re a tourist you can be walking around for hours and need one.

 #4: I don’t have anymore…..we seem to be having a pretty good time! (I’m still not going to be wearing a perpetual smile when I get back to Sunnybrook.)

So as I have said. This is an email about likes and dislikes. Most of my emails have been likes and thhe rest of this one will be back in that category.

  First I’d like to say that although I said some harsh things about Monaco and Nice, there was some incredible scenery and I will include some photos as proof. Basically nice place to visit, wouldn’t want to live there.

 Next topic… Aix-en-Province. When we first decided to stay in Aix during our stay in the south of France it was because Aix-en-Provence/Marseille, (twin cities) seemed to be central to the things we wanted to see down here. Arles, Nimes were west, Monaco, Nice were East and Chateauneuf-du-Pape and Verdon Gorge was north.  We set aside one day to visit in one of these 2 cities. I was fairly certain that it would be Marseilles as it is bigger and beside the Mediterranean. But the more we read the more Aix turned out to be the better choice. It apparently is the artistic capital of this region. If you put art in the word that is the town for me.

 So today we spent the day in Aix-en-Provence and it was terr..,marv..,fant…, I can’t figure out what word to use to describe it that I haven’t already used, but I definitely had those special glasses on again today. Paul Cezanne, another of those Impressionists that I love so much was a native son to this region and spent his entire career down here painting except for a few years he spent in Paris. They worship him here.

They name areas of the city, and streets after him, and have turned his private studio into a shrine/museum which we visited early this morning. Early on in the visit we met the curator of this small museum and the woman spent the next hour educating us on Cezanne’s techniques and what made him unique. We were amazed and amused as she seemed to completely forget about the other visitors and focus her sole attention on us. I earlier on italicized the word Impressionist because according to this woman, Cezanne as it turns out wasn’t ever considered an impressionist but only got lumped in with them because he painted during that period. When I confessed I wasn’t really a Cezanne fan she said, “neither am I”! Go figure! The curator of his personal museum. Anyway, art trivia for anyone interested.

 After that we went to another art gallery. Surprise, surprise….well why did you think I wanted to go to France so much? We got to see a whole bunch more Cezanne works but also some other stuff including a couple of Toulouse Lautrec works and another Van Gogh. (can’t get enough)

 Then we spent the rest of the day walking around this beautiful town. I love art! I love old towns. I love old buildings. I love Europe. If I could figure out how to spend my life bopping around over here from country to country, Museum to Museum, Art Gallery to Art Gallery, I’d be ever so happy. But Joani would miss her boys and grandchildren, and I wouldn’t function too well without her

so I guess I’ll see you all in another 10 or 11 days.

Garry