Friday - Vence to Santa Marguerita

We said goodbye to Kristina and Frederik at about 10:15am. We followed Kristina's advice and followed the freeway until we got to Imperia where we turned off the freeway to take the road along the coastline. This proved to be hard work because of the narrow, windy roads.

We had a quick lunch near the sea and got back on the freeway. We reached Santa Margueritta mid-afternoon. We were staying at the Hotel Jolanda. This was a step-up in many ways from the B&Bs.

Next, we took a bus trip to nearby Portofino. You see this town on many brochures about Italy because it is simply gorgeous. It is by the sea with painted 4-storey houses, yatchs etc. A great place to have a drink overlooking the Mediterranean. On our way out, Suzy said she saw Bob Geldorf.

The road to Portofino was very narrow. You would think it was a one-way street but there were cars travelling in both directions. When the bus driver got to a sharp corner, he would sound his horn to warn any drivers coming around the corner hidden by the cliff face.

The dinner at a cafe in Santa Marguettia wasn't brilliant. Poor service and noisy.

Thursday - St Paul, Nice, Monaco & Menton

After breakfast, I walked down to the internet cafe at Vence while the others had a quiet morning. They picked me up from the internet cafe at about 11:45am.

We decided to go first to St Paul which is a town just on the other side of the valley from Vence. After parking in the multi-storey carpark, we wandered the streets (which was interesting) until we stumbled on the entrance to the ancient town. A great discovery.

Like other ancient towns we have seen, there were narrow cobbelstone streets but this one had more character because of the hilltop location. It also had lots of shops and lots of tourists from various countries.

We could have spent hours there but decided to continue on. So we headed off towards Nice.

A combination of signs and the navigation system (Gabrielle) got us to Nice. After travelling for a while along Promenade des Anglais, the boulevard along the beach front, we turned in to drive through the city centre. We did not find the city very attractive - it was just a big, noisy city. So we didn't stop but continued on to Monaco.

After parking in a multi-storey carpark in the centre of Monaco, we strolled around the streets and down to the waterfront where we visited the tourist information office. They suggested we take the "train" tour. So we climbed up the hill to the palace area. The train trip took us down the hill via the grand prix circuit, past the casino and past the palace.

We drove on to Menton which is a town close to the Italian border. We had dinner at a restaurant on the promenade next to the Mediteranean. Great location for dinner.

The trip back to Vence was quite an adventure. We had thought it would just be a case of getting back on the freeway and driving back to the Vence turnoff. However, the freeway is at the top of the mountains overlooking the sea. The roads were narrow and windy yet again. When we got to the freeway, Gabrielle let us down because she told us to turn off at the first Nice turnoff which just took us to Nice airport. We were lost. Perhaps she was giving us a message that she was tired of directing us around France.

We eventually found our way back but it taught us yet another lesson about driving in France: don't try driving long distances at night. We vowed only to go to restaurants close by from now on.

Wednesday - Cannes

Breakfast at the B&B was at 9am. Our original plan was for me to spend a couple of hours at an internet cafe in Vence in the morning while the others had a quiet morning. However, Kristina suggested that we go to Cannes instead via Antibes. She said there were several internet cafes in Cannes. She suggested that we go to Nice and Monaco tomorrow.

We followed her instructions and only got lost a few times. The scenery is beautiful which is probably why there are so many expensive houses and yachts along the way.

At Cannes, we parked under the Palais de Festivales. I went to an internet cafe and the others went to the beach. When we met up again, Ralf told me I had missed out on seeing a lot of topless women on the beach. Apparently, most were pretty ordinary but there were a few that more than made up for the others.

We went to a photo shop to transfer pictures onto CD. While waiting for the CDs, the girls went shopping and Ralf and I admired the "scenery".

We returned to Vence via the A8 for dinner. The restaurant we selected, Le Scanpi, was a big success. The food was good, it had great atmosphere and the waitresses were very entertaining. The staff seemed to be kissing each other on the cheek all the time and so Ralf convinced them that they should be kissing us as well.

Ralf drove back up the hill to the B&B. We arrived in one piece. Ralf did not drink much because he knew he had to tackle the hill but the rest of us had lots of wine to sedate us for the journey.

Tuesday - Vence

By the time we got close to Nice, we struck peak-hour traffic.

The trip up the hill from Nice to Vence was quite an adventure. The streets were narrow to start with but got even narrower as we got further up the hill. Our navigation device did not have the street address of the B&B and so we were relying on signs and the instructions we got from Jean-Pierre's computer at La Brugierre.

Just when we thought the road couldn't get any harder, it did. We went up steep narrow paths and hair-pin bends before finally reaching our destination at about 6:45pm. Our host, Kristina, said foreign guests find the journey challenging.

She suggested that we walk down the hill to Vence for dinner and catch a taxi back up. We set off at about 7:30pm down the path she suggested. The path was very rough and slippery. Even though we had a couple of torches, it wasn't easy going and we decided not to use the path again even in daylight.

The restaurant she suggested, Le Clemenceau, was in the ancient town centre. It had lots of atmosphere but the service was slow. A large grey dog went from table to table begging for food.

The taxi driver had no difficulty navigating his way back up the hill to the B&B.

Tuesday - La Bruguiere to Vence

Since we had a big day for travel, we set the alarm, had an early breakfast at 8am and managed to get away at about 9:15am.

Ralf decided to move the car before breakfast from the car park to the front gate so it would be easier to pack the car. This seemed to alarm Marie-Claude because she came running out after him.

We had decided to travel through some of the towns that Carol & Trevor had suggested we visit on the way to Nice.

The first town we stopped at was Gordes - a spectular town on the side of a steep hill. We spent a few hours there because there was a market there today. The girls loved the shopping and found even more shops that sell tablecloths.

On our way out, we bought food for a picnic lunch and I walked back down the road to take lots of photos of the town from across the valley.

Leaving Gordes was a challenge for a couple of reasons. Firstly, we forgot to close the boot. We wondered why so many friendly people were waving at us until it dawned on us what they were saying. Secondly, Gabrielle insisted on taking us back through the centre of town - through the market, stalls, people, narrow streets, etc and then back to the parking area where we started.

It wasn't easy to find a spot to stop for lunch. In the end, we improvised and stopped in a field on the side of the road. We spread Suzy's raincoat out as a picnic rug and enjoyed our bread, cheese, sausage and fruit.

We passed through Roussillon and stopped at Bonnieux for a quick look around and a cup of coffee.

Originally we had planned to go to Aix-en-Provence as well but decided against this because we had run out of time. The road did take us through Aix-en-Provence before we got onto A8 freeway.

Freeways are very good in France. They are two or three lanes in each direction. The speed limit is normally 130km/h in good weather and 110km/h in rainy weather. On many stretches, there is a toll. Sometimes you pay a fixed toll and on other stretches you take a ticket at the toll plaza at the beginning and pay at another toll plaza at the end.

Other French roads are not so good. Even the major roads are narrow and windy. The roads in the towns are even worse. At least the French drivers are fairly sensible (most of the time). However, they cut in sharply in front of you when overtaking or when coming out of side streets.

Monday - Avignon & Arles

Today we decided to go to Avignon and Arles - two of the main tourist towns in Provence.

We took the northern route to Avignon rather than going through Uzes again.

Today Suzy sat in the front passenger seat and managed to master John Hepburn's Navman navigation system. It did a great job of telling us where to go most of the time.

We eventually learned when to take her advice and when to ignore it - like when she tells us to turn down a dirt track or the wrong way down a one-way street. There are some roundabouts that she does not seem to know about. She is still polite even when we go the wrong way. She recalculates the journey to get us back on the staight and narrow.

By the end of the day, Pam had decided to name her Gabrielle and Ralf was falling in love with her sexy voice. I just wish she would learn how to pronounce kilometre correctly.

The main attraction at Avignon is the Palais de Pape where the popes used to live centuries ago. They have a guided tour with headsets for commentary. The entire tour took about 90 minutes. Well worth it.

Believe it or not, about half way through the tour, we ran into Dave and family (our American friends from the Midi Canal).

We had lunch in the plaza near the entrance to the palace. Ralf and I thoroughly enjoyed our beers after the long tour through the palace. It is very pleasant having lunch at open-air cafes.

Ralf started up a conversation with the people at the next table who were from Denmark where he was born.

After lunch, we continued on to the second part of the tour - the Avignon Bridge. This proved to be more interesting than we expected. It was built before the Palais de Papes but only half of it is still standing because floods have washed the rest away over the centuries.

Dave and family strongly suggested that we continue on to Arles. So off we went. We found the ancient town including:

• The amphitheatre.
• The forum plaza.
• A church in the plaza.
• The hotel that Philip had told us about with ancient ruins below glass in the floor in the foyer.

We returned to the B&B via Uzes.

Marie-Claude had prepared another wonderful meal for us.

Sunday - Pont du Gard, Nimes & Uzes

Breakfast was very good - croissants, bread, home-made jams, fruit and lots of coffee. Interestingly, he served the coffee in very large cups, not the tiny short-black cups we are becoming used to.

Today, we decided to visit Pont du Gard and then go on to Nimes.

The Pont du Gard is an ancient Roman aquafer near Nimes. It was bigger than I had expected. The French have done a good job of maintaining it and have catered well for the large number of tourists that come to see it.

After lunch at a cafe at the Pont du Gard, we drove to Nimes and then on to Uzes - the last town we pass through on the way to our B&B.

Uzes was fascinating. We went into the old city. It has lots of narrow streets, wide plazas and lots of shops. The architecture is fascinating - stonework, arches, vaulted ceilings, etc.

It is amazing how narrow some of the streets are. We saw some streets where there is only an inch clearance on each side for the cars. They must lose a lot of external mirrors. Talk about living close to transport!

Jean-Pierre had suggested a few restaurants for dinner. We decided to go to one at Lussan because Lussan is only about 7km north of the B&B but when Jean-Pierre rang to book for us, he was told they are not open on Sunday night. Instead he booked at La Taverne in Uzes, close to the tourist office we had seen earlier in the day.

The food was great. Each of us had Chateaubriand. We stumbled along with our French as usual until we found a waiter who was Dutch who spoke excellent English. A great birthday meal. Ralf offered to drive home so I could have as many glasses of wine as I liked.

B&B at La Bruguiere

The B&B was quaint. Jean-Pierre and Marie-Clause had lived in northern France and come here some years ago to set up the B&B. They refurbished the existing buildings.

Our hosts lived in a building that had been the shepherd's cottage and the guests were in a building that had been a stables. The buildings were built of stone and the property was surrounded by a stone wall about 2m high.

Suzy and I had a room on the first level. The stairs were a bit of a challenge with all our bags but it was more of a challenge for Pam & Ralf because they were on the second level.

We met several other guests who were staying there.

Jean-Pierre had misunderstood our conversation earlier in the day and was expecting us for dinner tonight rather than tomorrow night. He offerred us a pre-dinner drink that tasted a bit like licorice.

The dinner was "formidable". Marie-Claude is a fabulous cook. It tasted good and was well presented - so much so, I took several photos of the food.

Saturday - Narbonne to La Bruguiere

We had booked our rental car from Montpellier which is about 100km from Narbonne. Originally we had planned to get the train from Narbonne to Montpellier.

However, after the experience of our train trip from Montpellier to Narbonne, we decided that it was going to be too hard for all of us to go by train to Montpellier to pick up the car with all our luggage. So, after we completed all the paperwork at the Connoisseur office at about 9:30, Ralf and I set off for the station at Narbonne, leaving the girls at Narboone.

Ralf and I had to wait about an hour and a half for a train. The journey on the TER was comfortable and only took about an hour.

I rang Avis again while we were on the train and they said they would have the car at their office at the station rather than having to go into their city office by taxi. We found the booth OK - I'm getting better at reading French and the cryptic signs they use.

Despite the number of times we stipulated that we wanted a Renault Grand Scenic with deisel fuel, this isn't what they had for us. It was an Opel Zafira - about the same size as the Grand Scenic. And it was petrol rather than deisel. That's all they had, so it was take it or leave it.

Ralf drove from Montpellier to Narbonne. The trip went well. They was one occasion where we went the wrong way up a one-way street while we were trying to find the A9 motorway. This seemed to surprise a few onlookers but a quick U-turn solved the problem.

It was about 3:45pm when we got back to Narbonne. There is no prize for guessing what the girls were doing while we were away - they went shopping. They ran into the American family (Dave and family) yet again that we first met when we were booking in at Trebes.

On the trip to our B&B, Pam tried to get the Navman navigation device working. We did something wrong because it kept telling us to do a U-turn as soon as possible. At least we could use the map on the screen to see where we were.

At one of the stops, I rang the B&B to ask for directions (in my broken French). After I struggled for a while, he asked if I would prefer to speak English - to which I gratefully agreed.

We followed his directions and arrived just before 6pm (with only a few wrong turns).

Midi Canal - Colombiers to Narbonne

Ralf drove the boat when we set off this morning and noticed that the steering was difficult. It wasn't long before we had to go through the tunnel. The boat kept veering to the left and hitting the side of the narrow canal within the tunnel. I was trying to take photos and was almost knocked into the drink.

After the tunnel, I had a drive to see if I thought the steering was playing up too. After having trouble navigating our way under the next bridge, we decided to moor the boat and call Connoisseur.

They sent a man in a car from Narbonne. He arrived an hour later. Once again he had a bottle of oil. He poured it into the workings of the steering on the top deck and checked a few other things. He told us that the steering often needs some extra oil. He was right - the problem was solved and we set off again.

While we were waiting for him, we walked up to a nearby bridge and noticed a series of rusty cannons pointed out across the canal. We found out that the cannons had been there for hundreds of years protecting the area from attack.

When we turned into the branch of the canal heading to Narbonne (Canal de la Robine), we encountered a series of seven locks each about 750m apart. We adopted a routine that Ralf would drive, the girls handled the ropes and I did the on-land activities. I rode the bike from one lock to the next rather than getting back on the boat. This helped build up the count on my pedometer.

The last lock just before Narbonne proved to be a problem. The lower of two locks was stuck partway open. We tried pressing buttons etc without success. In the end, I pressed the emergency button and tried to call the emergency number. For the first few attempts it was engaged. That was surprising enough for an emergency number but when I did get through after about 15 minutes, the operator did not speak English. I explained the problem in my broken French and they sent a man to fix the lock.

Eventually, we managed to reach Narbonne. We had been concerned that we wouldn't make it before dark when they closed the locks for the night.

We found a pizza cafe in Narbonne for dinner and slept on the boat again.

Midi Canal - Le Somail to Colombiers

We decided to follow Dave's advice and go along the canal towards Bezier. This was a fairly long distance but there were no locks to slow us down.

Soon after leaving Le Somail, we stopped to get water from a supplier on the bank. We must have been too early because, after waiting for almost an hour, nobody turned up and so we gave up and continued our journey.

Nearby, the canal passed over a river - one of several cases where we saw a canal bridge crossing a river.

We managed to get water at a town around midday. To save time, we had lunch on board the boat - bread, cheese, sausage meat and red wine.

Just before Colombier, the canal went through a tunnel that was about 300m long.

We continued past Colombiers and stopped just short of Bezier. There is a long drop down towards the town of Bezier and there are several locks in a row. The locks would have been hard work and we had had been advised not to go into this town.

We then headed back along the canal and moored the boat at Colombiers. The wharf area is fairly modern - a harbour area with modern shops along the wharf. We tied up on an island that is connected to shore by a modern footbridge.

In the evening, we walked up to the chateau that Dave recommended. A very nice building with high ceilings, thick walls, nice views. The restaurant had good food, good service but (as you might expect) was a little more expensive than we had been paying until now along the canal.

Midi Canal - Paraza to Le Somail

It was an easy trip to Le Somail because there were no locks along the way. About halfway, we stopped at a town called Ventenac.

For lunch, we went to a pizza cafe near the river at Le Somail.

There was a barge moored on the other side of the canal where people could buy basic supplies such a bread and fruit.

Another feature of the town was an ancient bookshop - they sold old French books.

We went for a walk beyond the town to a fruit shop in a large factory-like building.

More boats arrived during the afternoon and by evening, there were boats moored all the way along both sides of the canal near the town. One the boats was the American family (Dave and family) we had met in the office at Trebes on the first day.

Dave told us they had travelled up the canal towards Bezier rather than down the canal towards Narbonne. He said it was very worthwhile. He suggested we do the same and that, if so, we go to a chateau at Colombiers for dinner.

This evening, we went to a restaurant near the bridge for dinner.

Midi Canal - Ralf's adventure with Pam's camera

When we stopped beyond the bridge at Paraza, Pam & Ralf could not find Pam's camera. They thought it had been on deck and we were concerned that it might have fallen off the boat when went aground just before the bridge.

They looked thoroughly both inside the boat and outside but without sucess. Ralf suggested that the rest of us go explore the town while he had another look.

When we returned, we saw him waving at us very excitedly and he seemed to be holding the camera. He told us that he had searched the boat again for the camera without success. He had sat down on deck for a smoke when he caught a glimpse of the camera out of the corner of his eye, hanging from a branch over the canal about 5m behind the boat.

He said he tried to reach it with the poles from the boat but it was too far away from the bank. It was hanging precariously by the stap and the camera case wasn't zippzed up properly - so the camera was in danger of falling out of the case.

Since it was fairly breezy, he decided he could not risk waiting until we got back. She he untied the boat by himself, steered it back under the camera, grabbed the camera, drove the boat back to shore and tied the boat up again.

He was afraid that nobody would believe him.

Midi Canal - Homps to Paraza

In the morning we decided to go to a market at a nearby town. Ralf and I rode the bicycles while the girls walked. Pam and Suzy both bought warm fleecy tops at the market.

We returned to the boat at about midday and set off again on the canal.

To save time, we didn't go to a cafe for lunch. Instead, we stopped and had a picnic lunch at a picnic table we found next to the canal.

We decided to stop at Paraza but managed to run aground temporarily when coming in to moor the boat. We got free with some hard revving and continued a few hundred metres further up the canal past the bridge and successfully moored the boat.

Suzy, Pam and I walked through the town and booked at a cafe that faced onto the canal. See my separate blog entry for Ralf's adventure with Pam's camera.

The restaurant turned out to be one of the highlights of the holiday so far. It was run by a fascinating (large) man from New York. We all ate the dish of the day which was roast pork - a beautiful meal.

Midi Canal - Quiet day at Homps

In the morning, we went for a walk through the town. We had coffee in the garden of a cafe close to the pizza restaurant we went to last night.

I found an internet cafe in a restaurant and in the evening we went to that restaurant for dinner. It was run by an English couple and so we didn't have any language problems tonight.

Midi Canal - Locks

There are more locks than we expected. They are certainly more work than we expected.

When you approach the lock, you need to signal to the lock attendant that you want to come through. Our instructor warned us not to sound our horn at him - otherwise, he will quite happily let you wait for three or four days for his service.

Often you need to tie up at the side of the canal waiting for the lock to open. This isn't too hard normally. You just steer the boat close to the bank. Then one person jumps off the back of the boat at the front with a rope, ties it around a bollard a starts pulling the boat into shore. A second person then jumps off the boat and tries to do the same. Hopefully, the back of the boat hasn't started to drift out into the canal by that time.

The entry into the lock is only just wide enough to accommodate the boat. Inside the lock, there is usually enough room for four boats - two on each side. Getting through the entrance is OK but once inside, you need to manoeuvre next to other boats. This isn't easy especially when the other drivers are just as inexperienced as we are.

The system we developed is for one person to steer the boat, one person to handle the rope at the front, another person to handle the rope at the rear and the fourth person jumps ashore to grab the ropes, pass them around the bollards and hand them back to the people on board. Ralf and I have shared the driving and on-shore roles while the girls have handled the ropes.

You don't tie the ropes to the bollards because, when the water level in the lock starts to drop, you need to gently let it slip through your hands as the boat descends with the water level. You need to pull the rope tight enough to keep the boat in position but you don't want to pull the cleats out of the side of the boat.

Once the water level reaches the lower level, the lock keeper opens the lower gates. You then bring the ropes back on board and each boat takes it in turns to head off.

As I mentioned in the previous blog entry, you can often have several locks in a row. In other words, there is no rest for the wicked. You have just finished the process for one lock and you are at it again. And I don't mean a kilometer or two away. Or even 100m away. I mean zero meters. Three in a row is quite common.

It has been a baptism of fire to the worderful world of canal boats.

Midi Canal - Fellow travellers

One of the great things about the trip so far has been the people we have met. They come from all over the world.

When were setting off from Trebes on Saturday, we met a boatload of South Africans. They were a lot of fun but ribbed us about the fact they had beaten the Wallabies in the Rugby.

We also met a very friendly family from the US who were setting out at the same time.

On Sunday, we encountered a group of Germans who did not seem to have a clue how to handle the boat. Theirs was the crew that lost a man overboard - as I mentioned in a previous blog entry.

Then there was a boat of Brits. They ribbed us about our loss in the cricket. I think that next time we go canal boating, we will leave it for a time when Australia has won a few more sporting competitions.

Most of us have a flag attached to the boat. Pam brought an Australian flag. We had some difficulty attaching it to the boat at first because our boat did not have a suitable mast like some of the others. Ralf was determined to fly our flag proudly. Eventually he found a suitable piece of timber on the shore and improvised to produce an excellent mast.

Shortly before we arrived at Homps, we passed a hotel on the bank. A couple ran towards us cheering and calling out. It turns out they were Australian.

Midi Canal - Trip to the chateau

This morning (Sunday), we decided to stop to look at a chateau that was marked on the map. So we tied up the boat, got the two bikes off the back of the boat and set off. Ralf and I rode the bikes because the girls decided they would prefer to walk.

The signs indicated that the castle was about 1km away. We are getting better at interpreting French signs. I rode ahead to check out the castle but found it was quite different from what we expected. There were no turrets and no stonework. It was just a nice two-storey house - not too much different from the houses you would see in Telegraph Road in Pymble.

I rode back to tell the others, who had come about two-thirds of the way by this time, and we headed back to the boat.

Midi Canal - Marselleitte to Homps

Undeterred and ready for more adventures, we set off on Sunday morning from Marseillette for our first full day of boating.

I didn't mention the wind in my last blog entry. The weather had changed on Saturday - the day we picked up the boat - and it was cool and windy. The wind in this part of France is called the Mistral but we might call it by less flattering names because the wind makes it a lot harder to control the boat.

We had a few interesting episodes where our steering went astray especially when trying to get into locks. But by the end of the day we were certainly getting better.

There were lots of locks between Marseillette and Homps. So by the time we got to Homps we needed a rest. We decided to stay at Homps for the following day to have a good look around and rest our weary bones.

In fact, it wasn't just our bones and muscles we had to rest. Ralf went for a spill when he was jumping ashore at one of the locks. His ankle gave way. So he ended up doing a spectacular tumble-roll (on purpose) to protect his ankle from further injury. Quite a sight!

At the previous lock, one of the men on another boat had also taken a tumble when trying to get ashore and ended up dangling from a rope with his rear end in the water. It was good to see that other crews were even more amateurish than us.

In the evening, we went to a pizza restaurant. Most of the town was on the other side of the canal - accessible by a modern footbridge.

Connoisseur has an office close to where we moored the boat. The wharf area is a modern structure. On the wharf, you can get fresh water from a hose to refill the boat's tanks. It even has power outlets for the boats.

You cannot just plug normal electrical equipment into the power outlets - you need a special adaptor (and not just a Euopean-to-Australian power plug). I borrowed a power adapter from Connoisseur and managed to have a shave for the first time in a couple of days.

Midi Canal - Trebes to Marseillette

Suzy & I caught a taxi from Carcassonne to the Connoisseur office at Trebes. We checked out the boat, put our luggage on board and went off to a supermarket about 1km away to get supplies for our canal trip. Apart from the standard grocery items, we got several bottles of wine. So we were well prepared.

We caught a taxi back because we had so much to carry.

Unfortunately, we had a major mixup in our meeting place with Pam & Ralf but we eventually met up with each other at the Connoisseur office at Trebes at about 4pm.

We filled out the paperwork and then received a comprehensive briefing from one of the Connoisseur staff about how to operate the boat. He took us for a short trip down the canal so we could get some practice.

After that it was all up to us and so we set off. Our plan was to get as far as Marseillette, the first town along the canal.

The instructor had told us it would take a while to get the hang of it. He was right. Steering the boat was not too hard. The problem was dealing with the locks - "les ecluses" as they call them here.

The locks take a lot of effort. Often there are two or three of them in a row. I'd thought this was going to be a leisurely cruise - justing sitting on the deck watching the scenery and sipping French wine. In fact, it is hard work a lot of the time. By the time we got to Marseillete, we were well and truly ready for a drink.

I'll tell you more about the locks in a separate blog entry.

Carcassonne

Carcassonne is quite amazing. It is definitely worth a visit. Very narrow streets, lots of cafes, bars and souvenir shops.

We stayed at Le Donjon in La Cite and it proved to be very comfortable. We found an excellent restaurant for dinner. It was packed, service was slow but it was quite entertaining watching the waiters literally run from table to kitchen.

Saturday brought a complete change of weather. It is now quite cool.

Train trip to Carcassone

We caught the TGV from Gare de Lyon to Montpellier at about 9:30am.

It was a great journey - lovely scenery. However, the train line seems to avoid most of the towns along the way.

At Montpellier, things were a lot less organised. We struggled with instructions being only in French. Fortunately, a young man helped us and we determined that we needed to wait 1.5 hours for our direct connection to Carcassone.

During lunch, we met up with a group of 10 aussies who were also off to collect boats for the Midi Canal - maybe we will see them again on the canal.

The remainder of the trip was chaotic to say the least. The train was packed - lots of people without seats and the temperature must have been at least 30C. When we got to Carcassone, there was no elevator at the station and so Steve carried all the heavy bags up and down several flights of stairs.

We had to wait quite a while for a taxi to our hotel. To our surprise, the taxi dropped us at the entrance to La Cite (the walled city of Carcassone). We were met by a tiny minibus from the hotel. We transferred ourselves and our luggage to the minibus and set off on an amazing trip through extremely narrow streets, almost running over pedestrians on several occassions.

Louvre museum & Printemps

Although Suzy had been to the Louvre when she had come to Paris with Lindy some years ago, I'd never been there.

We decided to catch the metro. This was easy because there was a metro station at Gare de Lyon and another one at the Louvre.

It would have taken forever to see the entire collection, so we decided to go to the wing (Denon) that houses the Mona Lisa. We entered under the glass pyramid, bought our tickets and started at the top floor.

So many people had told us that the Mona Lisa was small that I had expected in the end that it would be about the size of a postage stamp. It was small but nowhere that small. It was protected by glass and there were several guards keeping an eye on it and all the visitors.

We made sure we saw as many as possible of the other famous statues and paintings.

Next, Suzy wanted to go to the shops. So we caught the metro again and visited Printemps and Gallerie Lafayette.

We had a cup of coffee in a cafe on the footpath and watched the world go by. The cafe owner suggested we catch the mainline train back to the Gare de Lyon rather than using the metro.

The train arrived just as we reached the platform. Suzy jumped on board but the doors slammed shut before I could get on. I waved goodbye wondering when or where I would see her again. I protested to the attendant standing next to me but she claimed there was nothing she could do because the guard controlled the doors.

I was afraid that it might be ages before the next train arrived but it came only a few minutes later. Suzy was waiting for me on the platform at Gare de Lyon. All's well that ends well.

P.S. I obtained directions, bought the tickets and had my conversation with the attendant on the platform in French. My French lessons paid off.

Arrival in Paris

We eventually arrived at our hotel in Paris but not without a few incidents/ challenges on the way.

At the airport, there were two customs windows open for EU residents but only one window for the rest of the world. Although the queue for EU people was long, the other queue was even worse. In fact, it wasn't even a queue - more like a crowd of people massed near the gateway.

We were gradually getting closer to the customs official, when all the customs people decided to close down all the windows and shoot through. We don't know what happened but they eventually came back and started processing us again. In the meantime, some people were starting to feel faint waiting in the throng in the heat.

It turned out to be easy to contact the driver the hotel had organised to take us to our hotel. However, it soon became obvious that he hadn't been to our hotel before. Once we got close, he went around the block at least three or four times before he found the hotel. In fact, if Suzy had not spotted it, we would probably still be going around the block.

The hotel (Hotel Terminus Lyon) was OK but had a very small lift - only big enough for one person and one suitcase. Unless we were having to move our luggage, I avoided the lift and used the stairs.

We had picked this hotel because it was close to Gare de Lyon - so it would be easy to catch our train tomorrow to the south of France. It was close alright - we could see the station from our room.

In the afternoon, we went to the Louvre - see separate blog entry. In the evening, we had dinner at the cafe near the entrance to the hotel.

Flight to Paris

Our trip to Paris went smoothly. British Airways did a good job. As you would expect the crew were polite and courteous. The planes were on time and we did not have any problems with the connections.

It made a difference that Suzy is a nember of the Qantas club (or whatever the right term is) because this gave us access to the BA lounge - a lot more comfortable than sitting in the transit lounge. When we got to London, we even had a shower (in separate showers unfortunately) which was quite refreshing.

The plane to London was a 747-400 and had screens in the back of the seat in front. The movie selection wasn't great but we watched a movie called Sahara.

A lot of people complain about airline food but I thought the food was OK. We were flying in darkness most of the time and so it was a bit hard to work out what meal we were eating - breakfast, lunch, dinner, etc. The best part was that they served alcohol with almost every meal. So we had a mixed drink before the meal and a glass of wine with the meal.

I did not sleep very well on the first leg but Suzy gave me a sleeping pill on the Singapore-London leg. This seemed to do the trick.

Singapore

It's just after midnight Sydney time and we've landed at Singapore. We'll be boarding our plane again in a minute or two.

Departure

We left Sydney on Wednesday 14th September on our trip to France and Italy.

The first leg is to Singapore and the second leg takes us to London. After changing planes at Heathrow, our first night's accommodation will be in Paris.

Although we booked through Qantas, all these flights are with Qantas's One World partner, British Airways.