WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27, 2012
PARIS, FRANCE
We got up very early today to pack our bags and return to Paris. I hate getting up in the morning and I was not ready to leave Nice so it wasn't a great morning for me!
We gathered everything up and walked to the train station. When we arrived a week ago we took a taxi from the train station to our hotel and it cost 17 euro. We thought that was expensive for an eight block ride! I'd rather spend my money in Paris so we walked and it was fine.
The train was very nice and clean today. I reserved our seats in a car they called a "serenity" car because they do not allow children, cell phones or basically any noise. It was pretty cool. Most of the passengers slept which is what David and I did off and on. It was a 5 hr. and 45 min. train ride.
We didn't have any food so I made a trip to the train "restaurant," and I use that term loosely. It was a snack bar. But they had pretty good pre-made sandwiches, yogurt, drinks and, get this, PRINGLES! We had a great brunch en route.
The train arrived in Paris at 1:15 p.m. and there was a very narrow passageway into the train station so it took us forever! We decided to take the Metro to a station close to the hotel and then walk to the hotel. We followed the directions on the hotel website but the Metro station where we got off was too far to walk with luggage. We hailed a taxi and arrived at our hotel pretty quickly.
This part of the trip we are staying at the Hotel Saint-Louis en I'Isle which is a sister hotel to the hotel we stayed in when we first arrived in Paris and it's only about two doors down the street. We checked in and walked up a spiral staircase to our room and it's beautiful! Larger than many European hotel rooms and it has a great bathroom and shower! The shower has one of those rain shower heads and it is wonderful. We are very happy here and want to live here forever.
We unpacked and then headed out to walk around. Of course we had some of the famous ice cream, Berthillon, and it was delicious. We wanted to see the inside of Notre Dame and during the day the lines are very long. When Diane, Sue, Carol, Linda and Sandy were here they went over early one evening just before dinner and they walked right in so we tried their tactic. We were just a few minutes late -- they closed at 6:45 p.m. Oh well, we'll try again.
It was time for dinner and we were hungry for pasta so we went back to a restaurant we had all eaten at on our previous visit, Sens'o. I had the lasagna which was fantastic and David had spinach ravioli with ricotta cheese in a cream sauce. He loved it. For dessert I had an ice cream sundae and David had a chocolate torte in a vanilla cream sauce. Amazing!
We returned to our cool hotel and went to bed early because we knew we were going to have a big day on Thursday.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
TUESDAY, JUNE 26, 2012
NICE, FRANCE
This was our last day in Nice so we wanted to spend the day here just sight-seeing and enjoying the absolutely gorgeous Mediterrean sea. From the moment we arrived in Nice the weather has been perfect! Sunny with blue skies and temperatures between 75 and 81 degrees. With the sea breeze the humidity is very low. Glorious weather all week!
We stayed in bed until about 8:30 which was nice. We decided we wanted to have a late breakfast and we were really hungry for omelets. We got ready and asked the guy at the front desk (not our Francois) where to go for good omelets and he scoffed and told us the French do not eat eggs for breakfast. Well, OK then. We headed to the Pedestrian Street and all of the cafes had omelets on the menu so??? We picked a cafe, Le Lorraine, on a side street we hadn't walked down before. We had a cool waiter who is Croatian and has lived in five or six different countries. He speaks eight languages! He had lived the previous five years in Ireland and we thought his English had an Irish accent. He was very nice. We had our usual omelets -- ham and cheese for me and cheese for David and they came with a small salad and delicious fries!
After breakfast we walked down all of the streets we had missed before and looked in some shops. Once again we did not buy anything. We are not very good consumers, are we? Well, we have no room in our luggage to bring anything home so that's why we aren't buying anything. There are so many cute t-shirts and souvenirs that I would love to bring home but I can't do it. Maybe on another trip.
We went down to the Promenade and walked along the sea for a long, long time. A few times we would sit on a bench and people-watch. There were hundreds of people along the beach. As I mentioned before, the beaches in Nice are beautiful, but they have pebbles instead of sand so they don't look that comfortable to us. We saw people struggling to walk from their towels to the water and back. We prefer sandy beaches. But we're in France so we can't really complain about anything, can we?
On the Promenade there was a little train-like thing that takes you on a tour of Nice. We decided to hop on and see where it took us. There were headsets provided and you could pick your language. It was actually very fun and took us to most of the places we had already been but gave us a little history on them. We learned that Nice was founded 5,000 years ago by the Greeks. Then the Romans took over about 2,500 years ago. The Barbarians eliminated the Romans and then the Normans took it over. I might be skipping over some of the details but that's the Cliff Notes. Hey, I'm on vacation!
On the way back to our hotel we stopped at a pharmacy to buy some Tylenol and it was the coolest little store. There wasn't much sitting on the shelves but the pharmacist had rows and rows of narrow drawers that different medicines were stored in. Very neat. And the pharmacy doesn't sell much other than medicines. They had a few cosmetics on the shelves but that was it. Not even any candy bars or the like!
We arrived back at our hotel and retired to the garden, as usual. David read the paper and I wrote in my blog and we relaxed. I haven't mentioned that in the garden is a big cage with two parrots living there. They are beautiful and mostly bright red. And there are also at least two cats living there and they really want to get those parrots! Yesterday we watched one of the cats attempt to jump on the side of the cage many, many times for over an hour. He would make it almost to the top of the cage and then fall off. Not that he could have gotten into the cage anyway. And those red birds taunted him relentlessly! They walked up and down on their perches and they kiss all the time. It's very cute. I tried to get a picture but I don't know if it will come out or not. This comment is for Carol: David calls the cage their birdoir!
We finally went inside and checked out because we had to leave at 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday. We then got ready for dinner. We wanted to go to Cave 35 for wine before dinner. We really like hanging out there! We arrived about 6:30 and, once again, we were the only people in there. We had our usual wine and appetizer and sat and talked about the whole trip and how much fun we were having. This has been an unbelievable trip and we feel so fortunate we got to take it! One glass led to another which led to another. We had a ball! Then we needed to eat so we just went back to our hotel for dinner and it was delicious once again. For a starter I had an artichoke and parmesan cheese salad and David had a little bit of lettuce salad and asparagus in a cream sauce. Both salads were excellent! For our main courses we both had the risotto finished with white truffle oil -- extremely good. For dessert I had creme brûlée and David had fresh local strawberries with cream. Another fabulous meal. We lingered as long as we could because we definitely did NOT want to leave Nice and we loved our hotel but . . . we finally went in to bed because Wednesday we had to make our journey back to Paris.
NICE, FRANCE
This was our last day in Nice so we wanted to spend the day here just sight-seeing and enjoying the absolutely gorgeous Mediterrean sea. From the moment we arrived in Nice the weather has been perfect! Sunny with blue skies and temperatures between 75 and 81 degrees. With the sea breeze the humidity is very low. Glorious weather all week!
We stayed in bed until about 8:30 which was nice. We decided we wanted to have a late breakfast and we were really hungry for omelets. We got ready and asked the guy at the front desk (not our Francois) where to go for good omelets and he scoffed and told us the French do not eat eggs for breakfast. Well, OK then. We headed to the Pedestrian Street and all of the cafes had omelets on the menu so??? We picked a cafe, Le Lorraine, on a side street we hadn't walked down before. We had a cool waiter who is Croatian and has lived in five or six different countries. He speaks eight languages! He had lived the previous five years in Ireland and we thought his English had an Irish accent. He was very nice. We had our usual omelets -- ham and cheese for me and cheese for David and they came with a small salad and delicious fries!
After breakfast we walked down all of the streets we had missed before and looked in some shops. Once again we did not buy anything. We are not very good consumers, are we? Well, we have no room in our luggage to bring anything home so that's why we aren't buying anything. There are so many cute t-shirts and souvenirs that I would love to bring home but I can't do it. Maybe on another trip.
We went down to the Promenade and walked along the sea for a long, long time. A few times we would sit on a bench and people-watch. There were hundreds of people along the beach. As I mentioned before, the beaches in Nice are beautiful, but they have pebbles instead of sand so they don't look that comfortable to us. We saw people struggling to walk from their towels to the water and back. We prefer sandy beaches. But we're in France so we can't really complain about anything, can we?
On the Promenade there was a little train-like thing that takes you on a tour of Nice. We decided to hop on and see where it took us. There were headsets provided and you could pick your language. It was actually very fun and took us to most of the places we had already been but gave us a little history on them. We learned that Nice was founded 5,000 years ago by the Greeks. Then the Romans took over about 2,500 years ago. The Barbarians eliminated the Romans and then the Normans took it over. I might be skipping over some of the details but that's the Cliff Notes. Hey, I'm on vacation!
On the way back to our hotel we stopped at a pharmacy to buy some Tylenol and it was the coolest little store. There wasn't much sitting on the shelves but the pharmacist had rows and rows of narrow drawers that different medicines were stored in. Very neat. And the pharmacy doesn't sell much other than medicines. They had a few cosmetics on the shelves but that was it. Not even any candy bars or the like!
We arrived back at our hotel and retired to the garden, as usual. David read the paper and I wrote in my blog and we relaxed. I haven't mentioned that in the garden is a big cage with two parrots living there. They are beautiful and mostly bright red. And there are also at least two cats living there and they really want to get those parrots! Yesterday we watched one of the cats attempt to jump on the side of the cage many, many times for over an hour. He would make it almost to the top of the cage and then fall off. Not that he could have gotten into the cage anyway. And those red birds taunted him relentlessly! They walked up and down on their perches and they kiss all the time. It's very cute. I tried to get a picture but I don't know if it will come out or not. This comment is for Carol: David calls the cage their birdoir!
We finally went inside and checked out because we had to leave at 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday. We then got ready for dinner. We wanted to go to Cave 35 for wine before dinner. We really like hanging out there! We arrived about 6:30 and, once again, we were the only people in there. We had our usual wine and appetizer and sat and talked about the whole trip and how much fun we were having. This has been an unbelievable trip and we feel so fortunate we got to take it! One glass led to another which led to another. We had a ball! Then we needed to eat so we just went back to our hotel for dinner and it was delicious once again. For a starter I had an artichoke and parmesan cheese salad and David had a little bit of lettuce salad and asparagus in a cream sauce. Both salads were excellent! For our main courses we both had the risotto finished with white truffle oil -- extremely good. For dessert I had creme brûlée and David had fresh local strawberries with cream. Another fabulous meal. We lingered as long as we could because we definitely did NOT want to leave Nice and we loved our hotel but . . . we finally went in to bed because Wednesday we had to make our journey back to Paris.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
MONDAY, JUNE 25, 2012
NICE, FRANCE
We woke up to beautiful weather again. It was sunny and warm and just how David likes it! We had two interesting experiences today . . . one funny and one disheartening. The first one occurred at the train station before we left. We went into a store to buy a newspaper and David politely got in line behind an elderly woman who was taking forever. When the clerk finished her transaction, a man tried to get in front of us -- he was waving his newspaper and euro. The clerk told him to get in line, that we were first. Then the clerk looked at us and said "f_____g French!" And, of course, he was French too. It cracked us up for some reason. I'll tell you the disheartening story at the end of today's blog. Now you have to read the whole thing.
We wanted to travel the other direction on the coast so we picked Saint-Tropez. We debated about going to Monaco but I had been there before so we decided against it. St-Tropez was a little farther away but we are always up for an adventure. We walked to the train station and bought roundtrip tickets to St-Raphael. We knew there we would have to take a bus to St-Tropez. The train trip was about an hour and it was a beautiful ride. The train follows the coast all the way and we saw gorgeous beach after gorgeous beach. There were lots of people on the beaches, but they were not overcrowded.
We got off in St-Raphael and checked the bus schedule and discovered we had an hour to kill so we went to a cafe for breakfast. We sat outside and had our usual breakfast but this time we had a waffle-looking pastry. For my Ohio friends and family, it tasted just like the waffles they make at the Stark County Fair. What a treat!
We boarded the bus which was very nice and clean and air conditioned and off we went. The trip was to take about an hour and 1/2. Again the route was all along the coast. On the way we started seeing many gigantic private yachts. You can't help but wonder who owns them! One even had a helicopter on it!!! When we were about half way there the traffic backed up and we slowed down to a crawl. It stayed that way for more than an hour so our trip actually took a little over two hours. We travelled through some little towns we loved like Antibes, St-Maxime and Agay.
We got off the bus and the port area was spectacular. Again, lined with private yachts. We saw crew members in their matching outfits working. One guy was fixing a huge electrical plug. We saw one crew member walk off a yacht with two huge German Shepherds to take them for a walk. It really is a dog's life! We walked the entire length of the port (not very big) and there were many shops and they were expensive shops! Chanel, Burberry and shops with gorgeous evening gowns in them. Everything had sparkles and crystals and sequins . . . I was in heaven!
We sat at a cafe and had drinks and people-watched. We saw a group of people with a lot of shopping bags getting back on a yacht. They took their shoes off and handed them to a crew member along with their packages. Oh what a bother shoes and packages can be. Ta ta!
We headed back to the bus station because we wanted to have gelato before we boarded the bus at 3:15 to head back. I had coconut and strawberry - yum - and David had cookies and cream and pistachio. Very good!
We rode the bus back to St-Rapael and it was a little faster trip going back. We got off the bus, walked over to the train station and our train was there. It was a milk run and made many stops. At one stop two young British women, I guess they were in their early 20s, got on and sat in the seats in front of us. Theirs were the first seats in the coach. They were fun and animated and they were both listening to their IPods. The girl next to the widow had her purse unzipped on her lap and her IPod laying there. At one of the stops, a second before the doors were going to close, a young kid -- maybe 12 or 13 -- ran onto the train and ripped the IPod right out of her purse. He hopped off and the doors closed and he was gone. It was shocking to see it happen and we felt sorry for the young woman. At first she didn't know what happened. She felt a tug at her neck and thought he might haves stolen her necklace but then she realized the tug was when her IPod disconnected from her earphones. It happened in a second! We know to be careful of our belongings but that is the first time we actually saw anything like that happen. The young woman was glad it wasn't her phone or her camera. That is my disheartening story.
We got off the train and walked home. We had reservations for dinner here at the hotel so we go cleaned up and went to eat. We sat in the garden and it was incredible. We each had gin and tonics while we read the menu. For a starter I had hot goat cheese salad and it was excellent! David had cheese gnocchi which was listed as a starter on the menu. It was wonderful!!! For my main course I had rump steak in a pepper sauce with scalloped potatoes served in a cute little crock. Again, really good. David had vegetable risotto finished with white truffle oil and he loved it. For dessert I had a strawberry cream flaky pastry creation and he had vanilla creme brûlée which they fired up at the table. The restaurant here is listed as a 4 star and now we know why. We hadn't planned to eat here at all and we are glad we did.
We went to our room and tried to watch TV and read but we couldn't stay awake. All this happiness and joy makes us tired!
NICE, FRANCE
We woke up to beautiful weather again. It was sunny and warm and just how David likes it! We had two interesting experiences today . . . one funny and one disheartening. The first one occurred at the train station before we left. We went into a store to buy a newspaper and David politely got in line behind an elderly woman who was taking forever. When the clerk finished her transaction, a man tried to get in front of us -- he was waving his newspaper and euro. The clerk told him to get in line, that we were first. Then the clerk looked at us and said "f_____g French!" And, of course, he was French too. It cracked us up for some reason. I'll tell you the disheartening story at the end of today's blog. Now you have to read the whole thing.
We wanted to travel the other direction on the coast so we picked Saint-Tropez. We debated about going to Monaco but I had been there before so we decided against it. St-Tropez was a little farther away but we are always up for an adventure. We walked to the train station and bought roundtrip tickets to St-Raphael. We knew there we would have to take a bus to St-Tropez. The train trip was about an hour and it was a beautiful ride. The train follows the coast all the way and we saw gorgeous beach after gorgeous beach. There were lots of people on the beaches, but they were not overcrowded.
We got off in St-Raphael and checked the bus schedule and discovered we had an hour to kill so we went to a cafe for breakfast. We sat outside and had our usual breakfast but this time we had a waffle-looking pastry. For my Ohio friends and family, it tasted just like the waffles they make at the Stark County Fair. What a treat!
We boarded the bus which was very nice and clean and air conditioned and off we went. The trip was to take about an hour and 1/2. Again the route was all along the coast. On the way we started seeing many gigantic private yachts. You can't help but wonder who owns them! One even had a helicopter on it!!! When we were about half way there the traffic backed up and we slowed down to a crawl. It stayed that way for more than an hour so our trip actually took a little over two hours. We travelled through some little towns we loved like Antibes, St-Maxime and Agay.
We got off the bus and the port area was spectacular. Again, lined with private yachts. We saw crew members in their matching outfits working. One guy was fixing a huge electrical plug. We saw one crew member walk off a yacht with two huge German Shepherds to take them for a walk. It really is a dog's life! We walked the entire length of the port (not very big) and there were many shops and they were expensive shops! Chanel, Burberry and shops with gorgeous evening gowns in them. Everything had sparkles and crystals and sequins . . . I was in heaven!
We sat at a cafe and had drinks and people-watched. We saw a group of people with a lot of shopping bags getting back on a yacht. They took their shoes off and handed them to a crew member along with their packages. Oh what a bother shoes and packages can be. Ta ta!
We headed back to the bus station because we wanted to have gelato before we boarded the bus at 3:15 to head back. I had coconut and strawberry - yum - and David had cookies and cream and pistachio. Very good!
We rode the bus back to St-Rapael and it was a little faster trip going back. We got off the bus, walked over to the train station and our train was there. It was a milk run and made many stops. At one stop two young British women, I guess they were in their early 20s, got on and sat in the seats in front of us. Theirs were the first seats in the coach. They were fun and animated and they were both listening to their IPods. The girl next to the widow had her purse unzipped on her lap and her IPod laying there. At one of the stops, a second before the doors were going to close, a young kid -- maybe 12 or 13 -- ran onto the train and ripped the IPod right out of her purse. He hopped off and the doors closed and he was gone. It was shocking to see it happen and we felt sorry for the young woman. At first she didn't know what happened. She felt a tug at her neck and thought he might haves stolen her necklace but then she realized the tug was when her IPod disconnected from her earphones. It happened in a second! We know to be careful of our belongings but that is the first time we actually saw anything like that happen. The young woman was glad it wasn't her phone or her camera. That is my disheartening story.
We got off the train and walked home. We had reservations for dinner here at the hotel so we go cleaned up and went to eat. We sat in the garden and it was incredible. We each had gin and tonics while we read the menu. For a starter I had hot goat cheese salad and it was excellent! David had cheese gnocchi which was listed as a starter on the menu. It was wonderful!!! For my main course I had rump steak in a pepper sauce with scalloped potatoes served in a cute little crock. Again, really good. David had vegetable risotto finished with white truffle oil and he loved it. For dessert I had a strawberry cream flaky pastry creation and he had vanilla creme brûlée which they fired up at the table. The restaurant here is listed as a 4 star and now we know why. We hadn't planned to eat here at all and we are glad we did.
We went to our room and tried to watch TV and read but we couldn't stay awake. All this happiness and joy makes us tired!
Monday, June 25, 2012
SUNDAY, JUNE 24, 2012
NICE, FRANCE
Today there was an Ironman Triathalon being held here in Nice and many of the streets were closed and access to the beaches was limited. Our favorite front desk clerk, Francois, suggested it would be a good day for us to check out the beach at Cannes. Good plan.
We got up early and gathered up our beach stuff and off we went to the train station. We are so lucky to be within walking distance of the station! We stopped on the way and picked up our usual pastries for breakfast. We bought roundtrip tickets on the regional train to Cannes. I have to say, the mass transit system in Europe is fantastic! I love riding on trains anyway so this is paradise.
We took the 10:00 a.m. train and the trip took about 30 minutes. We got off the train and headed to the beach. On the way we saw a clothes store I like (there was one in Bayeux too) called Armand Thiery. I bought a pair of capri jeans there when we were in Bayeux and Sheryl found a cute pink t-shirt she wanted but they did not have her size. I checked the store in Cannes and they had the shirt in her size BUT it had stains on it -- someone's makeup, I think. I asked the clerk and she didn't have another one so, sorry Sheryl, I'll keep looking.
I keep meaning to mention that lots of men in France wear capris. Most of them wear white capris. I think they look pretty cool but David wouldn't go for it. Probably a good call on his part.
We knew we wanted to go to a private section of the beach where we could rent lounge chairs and an umbrella. You know I'm the palest person ever (except for Jill) and I burn very easily so I wanted to be very careful. We found the perfect spot and the beach attendants set us up. The beaches in Cannes are even more beautiful than the ones in Nice because they are sandy -- the beaches in Nice are covered in stones. There was a restaurant right there and nice changing rooms. Also you could order drinks and food delivered to your lounge chairs! Really? See why we don't want to come home?
The Mediterranean is aqua blue and beautiful and clear. It was a little chilly at first but you quickly get used to it. When we arrived our beach wasn't too crowded but it filled up as day went on. Lots of topless sunbathers -- all ages, shapes and sizes. Many of the people are sooooo tan you know they really spend a lot of time working on it. I get bored too easily! I did have my Kindle, tho, so I was happy reading and enjoying the beach and the sea.
About 2:00 we decided to take a break from the sun and go inside for lunch. It was still open-air but covered. David and I both had salads -- but mine had delicious ham on it. It was an interesting salad because it was a plate of greens with dressing and then on the side there was a row of fresh tomatoes and mozzarella cheese with olive oil and fresh basil -- so a regular salad and a caprese salad all on one plate. Great!
Around 5:00 we had had enough so we showered and changed for our trip home. No adventures on the way home. Walking back to our hotel neither of us wanted to go out for dinner so we decided to bring dinner home and eat it in the garden. We bought a bottle of wine, a baguette, two kinds of cheese and some crackers and came home. The hotel staff gave us plates, knives, glasses, etc., and we had a wonderful dinner in the beautiful setting of the garden. Very romantic and relaxing -- especially because we were the only ones out there!
Just another incredible day in paradise. I can hardly believe we are lucky enough to be here!
NICE, FRANCE
Today there was an Ironman Triathalon being held here in Nice and many of the streets were closed and access to the beaches was limited. Our favorite front desk clerk, Francois, suggested it would be a good day for us to check out the beach at Cannes. Good plan.
We got up early and gathered up our beach stuff and off we went to the train station. We are so lucky to be within walking distance of the station! We stopped on the way and picked up our usual pastries for breakfast. We bought roundtrip tickets on the regional train to Cannes. I have to say, the mass transit system in Europe is fantastic! I love riding on trains anyway so this is paradise.
We took the 10:00 a.m. train and the trip took about 30 minutes. We got off the train and headed to the beach. On the way we saw a clothes store I like (there was one in Bayeux too) called Armand Thiery. I bought a pair of capri jeans there when we were in Bayeux and Sheryl found a cute pink t-shirt she wanted but they did not have her size. I checked the store in Cannes and they had the shirt in her size BUT it had stains on it -- someone's makeup, I think. I asked the clerk and she didn't have another one so, sorry Sheryl, I'll keep looking.
I keep meaning to mention that lots of men in France wear capris. Most of them wear white capris. I think they look pretty cool but David wouldn't go for it. Probably a good call on his part.
We knew we wanted to go to a private section of the beach where we could rent lounge chairs and an umbrella. You know I'm the palest person ever (except for Jill) and I burn very easily so I wanted to be very careful. We found the perfect spot and the beach attendants set us up. The beaches in Cannes are even more beautiful than the ones in Nice because they are sandy -- the beaches in Nice are covered in stones. There was a restaurant right there and nice changing rooms. Also you could order drinks and food delivered to your lounge chairs! Really? See why we don't want to come home?
The Mediterranean is aqua blue and beautiful and clear. It was a little chilly at first but you quickly get used to it. When we arrived our beach wasn't too crowded but it filled up as day went on. Lots of topless sunbathers -- all ages, shapes and sizes. Many of the people are sooooo tan you know they really spend a lot of time working on it. I get bored too easily! I did have my Kindle, tho, so I was happy reading and enjoying the beach and the sea.
About 2:00 we decided to take a break from the sun and go inside for lunch. It was still open-air but covered. David and I both had salads -- but mine had delicious ham on it. It was an interesting salad because it was a plate of greens with dressing and then on the side there was a row of fresh tomatoes and mozzarella cheese with olive oil and fresh basil -- so a regular salad and a caprese salad all on one plate. Great!
Around 5:00 we had had enough so we showered and changed for our trip home. No adventures on the way home. Walking back to our hotel neither of us wanted to go out for dinner so we decided to bring dinner home and eat it in the garden. We bought a bottle of wine, a baguette, two kinds of cheese and some crackers and came home. The hotel staff gave us plates, knives, glasses, etc., and we had a wonderful dinner in the beautiful setting of the garden. Very romantic and relaxing -- especially because we were the only ones out there!
Just another incredible day in paradise. I can hardly believe we are lucky enough to be here!
SATURDAY, JUNE 23, 2012
NICE, FRANCE
Today we actually got up at 7:00 a.m. because we were planning to take the train to see Eze, France. But when we asked our hotel desk clerk about it, he told us to just take the tram a few stops and get off and take bus 82 to Eze Village. Eze is a historic hill town which is referred to as the "Eagle's Nest." It is located on a high cliff 1,041 feet above sea level and has spectacular views of the Mediterranean. The oldest building in the village is the Chapelle de la Sainte Croix which dates back to 1306.
The small medieval village is famous for its beauty and charm. Its many shops, art galleries, hotels and restaurants attract a large number of tourists and honeymooners. I saw a sign that said Walt Disney spent a significant amount of time in Eze but there was no explanation why. The bus dropped us off at the base of the town and we walked over to a small cafe for a breakfast of coffee and hot chocolate and pastries. After breakfast we walked up and up weaving our way to the top. There were tons of shops and we looked in most of them but we didn't buy anything. When we got to the very top we wanted to check out the highest view but they charge 6 euro per person ($7.52) to gain access. We declined and instead stopped at a cafe for Coke Zero and Coke Light. Once again, it was good people watching!
On the way back down we happened upon a courtyard outside a medieval church which was being decorated for a wedding. It was a very small chapel but very beautiful. A fussy wedding planner and his two assistants were finishing up with the flowers when we went in. They had an arrangement of flowers hanging on the end of each pew and flowers at the front of the church and tons of white rose petals strewn about. They were gorgeous and made the church look very romantic. We did not see the bridal party but we saw a lot of fabulous cars (Bentleys, Rolls Royces, Ferraris, etc.) driving up the steep streets and we assumed they were wedding guests.
We were going to go on to Monaco after seeing Eze but decided to go back to Nice instead. We took the number 82 bus and then the tram back to our stop. When we got off the tram we were right in front of a huge department store called Gallaries Lafayette. We looked around a little bit and I bought a charm for my Pandora bracelet.
We started walking back to our hotel through the Pedestrian Street and stopped for lunch at a small cafe. We had sandwiches on baguettes and they were very good. We looked in a few more shops walking back to the hotel. When we got "home," we took drinks out to the garden and relaxed awhile while I wrote in my blog.
We wanted Italian food for dinner so we went to La Trattoria just down the street from our hotel. On the way we stopped at our favorite wine bar, Cave 35, for a glass of wine (or two). The owner recognized us and was very friendly. Once again they brought us an appetizer which was sliced french bread with cheese . . . and goose liver pate and froie gras. YUCK! It's a shame we don't have a taste for the exotic stuff. We stayed there about an hour and my cute dog friend did not show up so we left to walk to dinner. We ate outside and it was a lovely evening. We shared an avocado salad which was excellent! David had vegetarian pizza and I had a pepperoni pizza. Mine was particularly spicy and good.
We went to bed a little earlier than usual because we wanted to get up early for our trip to Cannes.
We are seriously thinking about not coming home!!!
NICE, FRANCE
Today we actually got up at 7:00 a.m. because we were planning to take the train to see Eze, France. But when we asked our hotel desk clerk about it, he told us to just take the tram a few stops and get off and take bus 82 to Eze Village. Eze is a historic hill town which is referred to as the "Eagle's Nest." It is located on a high cliff 1,041 feet above sea level and has spectacular views of the Mediterranean. The oldest building in the village is the Chapelle de la Sainte Croix which dates back to 1306.
The small medieval village is famous for its beauty and charm. Its many shops, art galleries, hotels and restaurants attract a large number of tourists and honeymooners. I saw a sign that said Walt Disney spent a significant amount of time in Eze but there was no explanation why. The bus dropped us off at the base of the town and we walked over to a small cafe for a breakfast of coffee and hot chocolate and pastries. After breakfast we walked up and up weaving our way to the top. There were tons of shops and we looked in most of them but we didn't buy anything. When we got to the very top we wanted to check out the highest view but they charge 6 euro per person ($7.52) to gain access. We declined and instead stopped at a cafe for Coke Zero and Coke Light. Once again, it was good people watching!
On the way back down we happened upon a courtyard outside a medieval church which was being decorated for a wedding. It was a very small chapel but very beautiful. A fussy wedding planner and his two assistants were finishing up with the flowers when we went in. They had an arrangement of flowers hanging on the end of each pew and flowers at the front of the church and tons of white rose petals strewn about. They were gorgeous and made the church look very romantic. We did not see the bridal party but we saw a lot of fabulous cars (Bentleys, Rolls Royces, Ferraris, etc.) driving up the steep streets and we assumed they were wedding guests.
We were going to go on to Monaco after seeing Eze but decided to go back to Nice instead. We took the number 82 bus and then the tram back to our stop. When we got off the tram we were right in front of a huge department store called Gallaries Lafayette. We looked around a little bit and I bought a charm for my Pandora bracelet.
We started walking back to our hotel through the Pedestrian Street and stopped for lunch at a small cafe. We had sandwiches on baguettes and they were very good. We looked in a few more shops walking back to the hotel. When we got "home," we took drinks out to the garden and relaxed awhile while I wrote in my blog.
We wanted Italian food for dinner so we went to La Trattoria just down the street from our hotel. On the way we stopped at our favorite wine bar, Cave 35, for a glass of wine (or two). The owner recognized us and was very friendly. Once again they brought us an appetizer which was sliced french bread with cheese . . . and goose liver pate and froie gras. YUCK! It's a shame we don't have a taste for the exotic stuff. We stayed there about an hour and my cute dog friend did not show up so we left to walk to dinner. We ate outside and it was a lovely evening. We shared an avocado salad which was excellent! David had vegetarian pizza and I had a pepperoni pizza. Mine was particularly spicy and good.
We went to bed a little earlier than usual because we wanted to get up early for our trip to Cannes.
We are seriously thinking about not coming home!!!
Sunday, June 24, 2012
FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 2012
NICE, FRANCE
We slept in a little bit today and got up at 9:25. Yes, we are definitely on vacation!
We decided to have a leisurely day in Nice because there is a lot to do here. We were told about the Pedestrian Street which is lined with shops and cafes. We went there and walked for awhile and found an outdoor cafe for breakfast. We had coffee and hot chocolate and small pastries. David's was almond and mine was chocolate. After breakfast we walked all the way down the street shopping and looking. We did not buy a thing! We then walked over to the Old Town which is very lovely. We walked for miles and ended up at the Vieux de Nice. There were many, many steps to get to the top but, luckily, a free elevator ride. There are walkways there through a park with many outcroppings for views of both Nice and the Ferry and Yacht Port. We took a ton of pictures. There are so many boats here you cannot even imagine. While there we noticed some excavation going on. David inquired in fluent French (ha!) and the young French woman said they were performing an archeological dig from a ruin which was from about the 4th or 5th century AD. She said it was very hard work, especially in the heat, and they had a very long way to go.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, Nice is a lot bigger than we imagined it. It is the 5th most populous city in France. The population is 350,000 but when you include the urban areas, it is about 1 million. It is the second most visited city in France after Paris receiving 4 million visitors per year. The summer/holiday season lasts from May to September.
David and I opted for ice cream cones instead of lunch -- easy decision for me! It was a day for walking and picture taking and getting familiar with our neighborhood.
We came back to the hotel around 4:30 and enjoyed some time in the garden. It is so nice to have a garden to come back to after a day of walking miles and miles. We had a Coke Zero and a Coke Light and just relaxed for a bit.
We asked our friendly front desk clerk, Francois, where to have dinner and he recommended a wine bar called Cave 35 for a glass of wine before dinner and a restaurant called Cave de l'Origine. We went to Cave 35 around 6:30 which is clearly too early for the French! We were the only ones there. We asked the owner for wine suggestions and he selected a white wine for David, a dry wine called Poully Fumee, and a Chateau La Lagune Bordeaux for me. Both were delicious. So delicious that we had a second glass. A few people straggled in and it got a little livelier. It was a younger crowd, but you know David and I think we're hip so we enjoyed it. The owner brought us an appetizer of cheese, bread and salami. It was delicious. So we had a 3rd glass of wine! Those of you who know me know that I'm OK at two drinks but three . . . .!!!! I was a happy girl.
About this time a group walked in with the coolest dog -- one I had never seen before, even on TV. He was sturdy-looking with thick fur which was tightly curled. He was grey and white and very well groomed and well behaved. I asked what kind of dog he was and what his name was but I did not understand the answers. I can't understand French sober let alone after drinking 3 glasses of wine. He knew I was talking about him and he put his head in my lap and then rubbed his big head against my arm. Such a cute guy! David took 2 pictures of him so maybe one of you will know what kind of dog he is. He would be a good boyfriend for my Halo!!!
After that we thought dinner would be a good idea so we walked over to Cave de l'Origine. The host said they did not have any vegetarian entrees but the chef would make David a pasta dish. We had an appetizer of some kind but we cannot remember what it was (must have been the 3 glasses of wine!) I had flank steak with red wine butter and mashed potatoes and it was so good! The chef made David penne pasta with peas, onions and tomatoes with dill and other spices. He thought it was very good too. We looked at the dessert menu but it seemed like everything had apricot in it and didn't sound great so we didn't have any. It was a pretty little cafe and it seemed like there were a lot of regulars eating there.
We walked back to our hotel in a dreamy state and soon fell fast asleep.
NICE, FRANCE
We slept in a little bit today and got up at 9:25. Yes, we are definitely on vacation!
We decided to have a leisurely day in Nice because there is a lot to do here. We were told about the Pedestrian Street which is lined with shops and cafes. We went there and walked for awhile and found an outdoor cafe for breakfast. We had coffee and hot chocolate and small pastries. David's was almond and mine was chocolate. After breakfast we walked all the way down the street shopping and looking. We did not buy a thing! We then walked over to the Old Town which is very lovely. We walked for miles and ended up at the Vieux de Nice. There were many, many steps to get to the top but, luckily, a free elevator ride. There are walkways there through a park with many outcroppings for views of both Nice and the Ferry and Yacht Port. We took a ton of pictures. There are so many boats here you cannot even imagine. While there we noticed some excavation going on. David inquired in fluent French (ha!) and the young French woman said they were performing an archeological dig from a ruin which was from about the 4th or 5th century AD. She said it was very hard work, especially in the heat, and they had a very long way to go.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, Nice is a lot bigger than we imagined it. It is the 5th most populous city in France. The population is 350,000 but when you include the urban areas, it is about 1 million. It is the second most visited city in France after Paris receiving 4 million visitors per year. The summer/holiday season lasts from May to September.
David and I opted for ice cream cones instead of lunch -- easy decision for me! It was a day for walking and picture taking and getting familiar with our neighborhood.
We came back to the hotel around 4:30 and enjoyed some time in the garden. It is so nice to have a garden to come back to after a day of walking miles and miles. We had a Coke Zero and a Coke Light and just relaxed for a bit.
We asked our friendly front desk clerk, Francois, where to have dinner and he recommended a wine bar called Cave 35 for a glass of wine before dinner and a restaurant called Cave de l'Origine. We went to Cave 35 around 6:30 which is clearly too early for the French! We were the only ones there. We asked the owner for wine suggestions and he selected a white wine for David, a dry wine called Poully Fumee, and a Chateau La Lagune Bordeaux for me. Both were delicious. So delicious that we had a second glass. A few people straggled in and it got a little livelier. It was a younger crowd, but you know David and I think we're hip so we enjoyed it. The owner brought us an appetizer of cheese, bread and salami. It was delicious. So we had a 3rd glass of wine! Those of you who know me know that I'm OK at two drinks but three . . . .!!!! I was a happy girl.
About this time a group walked in with the coolest dog -- one I had never seen before, even on TV. He was sturdy-looking with thick fur which was tightly curled. He was grey and white and very well groomed and well behaved. I asked what kind of dog he was and what his name was but I did not understand the answers. I can't understand French sober let alone after drinking 3 glasses of wine. He knew I was talking about him and he put his head in my lap and then rubbed his big head against my arm. Such a cute guy! David took 2 pictures of him so maybe one of you will know what kind of dog he is. He would be a good boyfriend for my Halo!!!
After that we thought dinner would be a good idea so we walked over to Cave de l'Origine. The host said they did not have any vegetarian entrees but the chef would make David a pasta dish. We had an appetizer of some kind but we cannot remember what it was (must have been the 3 glasses of wine!) I had flank steak with red wine butter and mashed potatoes and it was so good! The chef made David penne pasta with peas, onions and tomatoes with dill and other spices. He thought it was very good too. We looked at the dessert menu but it seemed like everything had apricot in it and didn't sound great so we didn't have any. It was a pretty little cafe and it seemed like there were a lot of regulars eating there.
We walked back to our hotel in a dreamy state and soon fell fast asleep.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2012
NICE, FRANCE
David and I enjoyed Bayeux so much we really hated to leave. The people were incredibly nice and you can tell they are still grateful for the help of the United States Military in WWII. As we toured the area we saw many, many American flags flying from flagpoles in the yards of French homes. It made us proud to be Americans!
We had to get up very early because our train to Paris and then on to Nice was at 6:51 a.m. We didn't even get any coffee/tea before we boarded the train! It was an easy train ride to Paris and we arrived at one train station and had to transfer to another train station to catch the train from Paris to Nice. We had intended to take a taxi between stations but there were no taxis available so we made our way to the Metro to get there. It was funny but we were on the top level of the train station and had to make our way down four levels to get to the Metro. The fare was 1.70 euro each -- about $2.13. We missed the first car but another one came quickly and I believe we rode about four stops to Gare de Lyon.
We figured out which platform to wait on for our next train scheduled at 10:49 a.m. David watched our luggage while I shopped for breakfast and lunch for the train ride. I bought croissants for breakfast and for lunch I bought David a tomato and cheese sandwich on a baguette and I had a ham and cheese sandwich on a baguette. No condiments like mayonnaise or mustard but they do put butter on their sandwiches! I also bought water and Coke Light (not nearly as good as Diet Coke) and bottled ice tea for David.
We had assigned seats on this train because it was going to be about a five hour ride. Our tickets said Car 3, Seats 93 and 94. Of course we boarded the wrong car first and had to get out and go to the right one!!! Our two seats faced another two seats with a table between us. They were very comfortable. We rode with a couple who have lived in Paris for 45 years. They spoke good English and we talked to them quite a bit. Very interesting. It's really what David and I love most about traveling; getting to know the local people.
The scenery on the way to Nice was gorgeous. It started out very green and lush with lots of farmland. The people from Paris said the farmers were growing flax and wheat. Then the scenery changed and looked a little like our Southwest. Small mountains and foothills, scrubby growth out of rocks, misshapen trees and rock formations. The closer we got to the sea, we saw many different varieties of cactus. Really not what we were expecting. The first view of the Mediterrean made our mouths drop open. Beaches and ocean as far as we could see. Sure hope our pictures are good.
We arrived in Nice at 4:30 p.m. and the weather was perfect. Sunny and 77 degrees with no humidity. People streamed off the train all ready for their holiday in Nice! We made our way to the taxi stand and people were lined up. I would guess there were 25 or more people ahead of us in line. But it was finally our turn and we got to our hotel quickly.
I picked the Hotel Windsor on tripadvisor.com. It is a lovely, quirky hotel where each room is decorated differently by an artist. It has a small beautiful garden (where I am writing this) with a small pool. The garden is pretty and peaceful. Our room is on the first floor and overlooks the garden. It has a big bed and a nice size bathroom. Very clean and neat! The location is great. We can walk everywhere which is very convenient. The front desk staff speak very good English and are so helpful. There is wifi in every room and, of course, the garden!
After we checked in and unpacked we set out to see the city. Nice is much larger than we anticipated but we are only two blocks from the beach which is very nice. The water is aqua blue and very clear and clean. The beaches are topless. There is a Promanade that runs the length of the beach and we strolled along there for quite some time. We also sat on a bench and people watched for well over an hour. It is just so beautiful and relaxing here.
There is an Ironman competition here on Sunday and the city is packed with athletes. I can't wait to see how many people participate -- it looks like it will be huge.
We decided to have dinner about 8:00 p.m. and we went to an excellent restaurant recommend by the hotel desk clerk. It was called Restaurant 11eme ART and it was beyond doubt the best meal of our trip and one of the best meals we have ever eaten. We both had a glass of wine and asparagus soup with hazelnut oil. It was a cold soup which I was worried about but it was INCREDIBLE! David said he wanted to drink a liter of it!!! David could not drink from the bowl as he likes to do because it was a shallow bowl with about a 6" lip all around it. I should have taken a picture! David had vegetable risotto which was creamy and so good. I had a very interesting dish -- chicken meatloaf with a gorgonzola sauce. It was beautifully presented and so good I can't even tell you! Delish! Then we had another glass of wine. We figured if the meal was that good dessert would be amazing. We ordered creme brûlée and it was the best we have ever had.
We wandered back to our hotel and quickly fell asleep. It had been a long day of travel and we were very content.
NOTE TO LOGAN: The Fex Ex drivers in Nice drive Mercedes trucks (small). Very cool!
NICE, FRANCE
David and I enjoyed Bayeux so much we really hated to leave. The people were incredibly nice and you can tell they are still grateful for the help of the United States Military in WWII. As we toured the area we saw many, many American flags flying from flagpoles in the yards of French homes. It made us proud to be Americans!
We had to get up very early because our train to Paris and then on to Nice was at 6:51 a.m. We didn't even get any coffee/tea before we boarded the train! It was an easy train ride to Paris and we arrived at one train station and had to transfer to another train station to catch the train from Paris to Nice. We had intended to take a taxi between stations but there were no taxis available so we made our way to the Metro to get there. It was funny but we were on the top level of the train station and had to make our way down four levels to get to the Metro. The fare was 1.70 euro each -- about $2.13. We missed the first car but another one came quickly and I believe we rode about four stops to Gare de Lyon.
We figured out which platform to wait on for our next train scheduled at 10:49 a.m. David watched our luggage while I shopped for breakfast and lunch for the train ride. I bought croissants for breakfast and for lunch I bought David a tomato and cheese sandwich on a baguette and I had a ham and cheese sandwich on a baguette. No condiments like mayonnaise or mustard but they do put butter on their sandwiches! I also bought water and Coke Light (not nearly as good as Diet Coke) and bottled ice tea for David.
We had assigned seats on this train because it was going to be about a five hour ride. Our tickets said Car 3, Seats 93 and 94. Of course we boarded the wrong car first and had to get out and go to the right one!!! Our two seats faced another two seats with a table between us. They were very comfortable. We rode with a couple who have lived in Paris for 45 years. They spoke good English and we talked to them quite a bit. Very interesting. It's really what David and I love most about traveling; getting to know the local people.
The scenery on the way to Nice was gorgeous. It started out very green and lush with lots of farmland. The people from Paris said the farmers were growing flax and wheat. Then the scenery changed and looked a little like our Southwest. Small mountains and foothills, scrubby growth out of rocks, misshapen trees and rock formations. The closer we got to the sea, we saw many different varieties of cactus. Really not what we were expecting. The first view of the Mediterrean made our mouths drop open. Beaches and ocean as far as we could see. Sure hope our pictures are good.
We arrived in Nice at 4:30 p.m. and the weather was perfect. Sunny and 77 degrees with no humidity. People streamed off the train all ready for their holiday in Nice! We made our way to the taxi stand and people were lined up. I would guess there were 25 or more people ahead of us in line. But it was finally our turn and we got to our hotel quickly.
I picked the Hotel Windsor on tripadvisor.com. It is a lovely, quirky hotel where each room is decorated differently by an artist. It has a small beautiful garden (where I am writing this) with a small pool. The garden is pretty and peaceful. Our room is on the first floor and overlooks the garden. It has a big bed and a nice size bathroom. Very clean and neat! The location is great. We can walk everywhere which is very convenient. The front desk staff speak very good English and are so helpful. There is wifi in every room and, of course, the garden!
After we checked in and unpacked we set out to see the city. Nice is much larger than we anticipated but we are only two blocks from the beach which is very nice. The water is aqua blue and very clear and clean. The beaches are topless. There is a Promanade that runs the length of the beach and we strolled along there for quite some time. We also sat on a bench and people watched for well over an hour. It is just so beautiful and relaxing here.
There is an Ironman competition here on Sunday and the city is packed with athletes. I can't wait to see how many people participate -- it looks like it will be huge.
We decided to have dinner about 8:00 p.m. and we went to an excellent restaurant recommend by the hotel desk clerk. It was called Restaurant 11eme ART and it was beyond doubt the best meal of our trip and one of the best meals we have ever eaten. We both had a glass of wine and asparagus soup with hazelnut oil. It was a cold soup which I was worried about but it was INCREDIBLE! David said he wanted to drink a liter of it!!! David could not drink from the bowl as he likes to do because it was a shallow bowl with about a 6" lip all around it. I should have taken a picture! David had vegetable risotto which was creamy and so good. I had a very interesting dish -- chicken meatloaf with a gorgonzola sauce. It was beautifully presented and so good I can't even tell you! Delish! Then we had another glass of wine. We figured if the meal was that good dessert would be amazing. We ordered creme brûlée and it was the best we have ever had.
We wandered back to our hotel and quickly fell asleep. It had been a long day of travel and we were very content.
NOTE TO LOGAN: The Fex Ex drivers in Nice drive Mercedes trucks (small). Very cool!
Friday, June 22, 2012
SUNDAY, JUNE 17, 2012
BAYEUX, FRANCE
Sunday morning we planned to meet in the lobby of our hotel at 8:00 to take the train from Paris to Bayeux. David and I got ready a little early so I could have coffee before we left. We went down to the lobby and Carol was there, waiting on the shuttle to take her to the airport so she could fly home. We were delighted we had another half hour or so to visit with her before she left! Tom had been down earlier and ordered two taxis to take us to the train station at 8:15 to catch a 9:10 train. He and Sheryl came down ready to go and then Sue came down to say goodbye so we had another few minutes with her too. Because the sun was shining, Sheryl made a quick trip to Notre Dame to take pictures. The shuttle arrived and off Carol went. The first taxi arrived and David and I took it. Soon after the second taxi arrived for Sheryl, Tom and Noel. Of course the taxis dropped us off at opposite sides of the station so we fumbled a bit before we found one another.
We met on the platform and Sheryl and David went shopping for breakfast. They picked up delicious muffins and croissants and water. When our train time was posted we made our way to the track and walked to the far end of the train so it was easy for all of us to get on and sit close together. It was about a two hour trip and we all relaxed and enjoyed it.
When we arrived in Bayeux, everyone got off the train and walked out front looking for taxis. It is a very small town and there were no taxis there. We knew it wouldn't be too far to walk but we had luggage so we didn't want to do that. Resourceful Sheryl called our hotel and asked them to send a taxi for us and it quickly arrived. Because we loaded it up with luggage, David and Noel walked to the hotel.
We arrived at the Hotel Villa Lara and it is very beautiful. Sheryl had read about it in her National Geograpic Magazine while it was being built. It only opened in March so it is very new. We checked in and discovered our rooms are huge and modern and gorgeous. The bathroom is large and it has a big shower with a rain shower head and also a hand held shower. There is also a separate bathtub. It is a fabulous hotel and we are very happy here.
Noel booked a hotel at a B&B down the street. It is charming and lovely and has a beautiful garden. The view out his window is of the garden. I wouldn't have minded staying there either.
After we all checked in, we gathered and headed out for lunch. We only walked one block and decided to eat at Brasserie Reine Mathilde. They had lovely tables outside but we decided to eat inside this time. The waiter spoke excellent English and we had very good food. David had an omelet, I had a sandwich -- croque monsieur which is a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. Delish! David and I both had french fries with our lunches. At the moment I can't remember what the others had to eat but I will check my notes and update this later.
It was time to walk around and check out Bayeux. We first walked to the Bayeux Cathedral. Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Bayeux is a Norman-Romanesque cathedral. It is the seat of the Bishop of Bayeux. It was the original home of the Bayeux Tapestry and is a national monument of France. The site is an ancient one and was once occupied by Roman sanctuaries. The present cathedral was consecrated on July 14, 1077, in the presence of William, Duke of Normandy and King of England. It was here that William forced Harold Godwinson to take the oath, the breaking of which led to the Norman conquest of England. We spent a lot of time there because it is so beautiful. We hope our pictures turned out.
We saw there was a British cemetery and we walked there. It was a small cemetery -- about 4,000 graves. It was very manicured and well maintained.
After that we walked back into the little city and decided to go see the Bayeux Tapestry which is now displayed at a museum right behind our hotel. The Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidered cloth — not an actual tapestry — nearly 230 ft. long, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England concerning William, Duke of Normandy and Harold, Earl of Wessex, later King of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings. The tapestry consists of fifty scenes embroidered on linen with colored wool yarns. With the price of admission you got a headset which described the scenes in detail and it was very interesting.
Then it was time for a rest. We decided to meet for dinner at 7:00 p.m. and then we all went to our rooms to get settled in.
We asked the desk clerk where to have dinner and he recommended La Drakkar which was just a short walk from our hotel. It was funny because we all thought Bayeux was just a small town with one main road -- mostly just a place where people gathered to take tours of Normandy. Nope! When we got to the street where the restaurant was we discovered a wonderful, long street of shops and restaurants. Really, really nice! The restaurant was lovely and the food was delicious! Sheryl and David had french onion soup and they shared a cheese pizza. Noel had mussels, I believe Tom had a salad with corn, etc. and I had a delicious rib eye steak with a twice baked potato! The dessert menu featured many ice cream sundaes and most of us had one.
After dinner we returned to our rooms to get some sleep because the next day we had scheduled a full-day tour of Normandy and the D-Day Beaches with a private tour guide.
It was another fabulous day!!!
BAYEUX, FRANCE
Sunday morning we planned to meet in the lobby of our hotel at 8:00 to take the train from Paris to Bayeux. David and I got ready a little early so I could have coffee before we left. We went down to the lobby and Carol was there, waiting on the shuttle to take her to the airport so she could fly home. We were delighted we had another half hour or so to visit with her before she left! Tom had been down earlier and ordered two taxis to take us to the train station at 8:15 to catch a 9:10 train. He and Sheryl came down ready to go and then Sue came down to say goodbye so we had another few minutes with her too. Because the sun was shining, Sheryl made a quick trip to Notre Dame to take pictures. The shuttle arrived and off Carol went. The first taxi arrived and David and I took it. Soon after the second taxi arrived for Sheryl, Tom and Noel. Of course the taxis dropped us off at opposite sides of the station so we fumbled a bit before we found one another.
We met on the platform and Sheryl and David went shopping for breakfast. They picked up delicious muffins and croissants and water. When our train time was posted we made our way to the track and walked to the far end of the train so it was easy for all of us to get on and sit close together. It was about a two hour trip and we all relaxed and enjoyed it.
When we arrived in Bayeux, everyone got off the train and walked out front looking for taxis. It is a very small town and there were no taxis there. We knew it wouldn't be too far to walk but we had luggage so we didn't want to do that. Resourceful Sheryl called our hotel and asked them to send a taxi for us and it quickly arrived. Because we loaded it up with luggage, David and Noel walked to the hotel.
We arrived at the Hotel Villa Lara and it is very beautiful. Sheryl had read about it in her National Geograpic Magazine while it was being built. It only opened in March so it is very new. We checked in and discovered our rooms are huge and modern and gorgeous. The bathroom is large and it has a big shower with a rain shower head and also a hand held shower. There is also a separate bathtub. It is a fabulous hotel and we are very happy here.
Noel booked a hotel at a B&B down the street. It is charming and lovely and has a beautiful garden. The view out his window is of the garden. I wouldn't have minded staying there either.
After we all checked in, we gathered and headed out for lunch. We only walked one block and decided to eat at Brasserie Reine Mathilde. They had lovely tables outside but we decided to eat inside this time. The waiter spoke excellent English and we had very good food. David had an omelet, I had a sandwich -- croque monsieur which is a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. Delish! David and I both had french fries with our lunches. At the moment I can't remember what the others had to eat but I will check my notes and update this later.
It was time to walk around and check out Bayeux. We first walked to the Bayeux Cathedral. Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Bayeux is a Norman-Romanesque cathedral. It is the seat of the Bishop of Bayeux. It was the original home of the Bayeux Tapestry and is a national monument of France. The site is an ancient one and was once occupied by Roman sanctuaries. The present cathedral was consecrated on July 14, 1077, in the presence of William, Duke of Normandy and King of England. It was here that William forced Harold Godwinson to take the oath, the breaking of which led to the Norman conquest of England. We spent a lot of time there because it is so beautiful. We hope our pictures turned out.
We saw there was a British cemetery and we walked there. It was a small cemetery -- about 4,000 graves. It was very manicured and well maintained.
After that we walked back into the little city and decided to go see the Bayeux Tapestry which is now displayed at a museum right behind our hotel. The Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidered cloth — not an actual tapestry — nearly 230 ft. long, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England concerning William, Duke of Normandy and Harold, Earl of Wessex, later King of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings. The tapestry consists of fifty scenes embroidered on linen with colored wool yarns. With the price of admission you got a headset which described the scenes in detail and it was very interesting.
Then it was time for a rest. We decided to meet for dinner at 7:00 p.m. and then we all went to our rooms to get settled in.
We asked the desk clerk where to have dinner and he recommended La Drakkar which was just a short walk from our hotel. It was funny because we all thought Bayeux was just a small town with one main road -- mostly just a place where people gathered to take tours of Normandy. Nope! When we got to the street where the restaurant was we discovered a wonderful, long street of shops and restaurants. Really, really nice! The restaurant was lovely and the food was delicious! Sheryl and David had french onion soup and they shared a cheese pizza. Noel had mussels, I believe Tom had a salad with corn, etc. and I had a delicious rib eye steak with a twice baked potato! The dessert menu featured many ice cream sundaes and most of us had one.
After dinner we returned to our rooms to get some sleep because the next day we had scheduled a full-day tour of Normandy and the D-Day Beaches with a private tour guide.
It was another fabulous day!!!
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
SATURDAY, JUNE 16, 2012
PARIS, FRANCE
Today was the only day Linda, Sandy, Diane, Sue and Carol had to spend in Paris. Their must see, of course, was The Louvre. Sandy had ordered all of us tickets ahead of time which was very helpful. They were up early and, I think, walked to The Louvre. It opens at 9:00 a.m. and I'm not sure if they ate first or visited the museum first but I know they did both. They all absolutely LOVED The Louvre. They spent about a half a day there and could have spent much, much longer but Paris awaited! I know that they ate at a small cafe somewhere close to the museum and I think Linda remarked that it was her best meal of the trip. I'm sorry I don't have more details but that's what happens when the Group of 9 splits up!!! I know that after the museum they took a hop on, hop off boat and did some sight-seeing and shopping.
Sheryl was up early and went out to look around and photograph Notre Dame. It was a very short walk from our hotel. It was cloudy and rainy on Saturday and I think she was disappointed in her photographs. She had to stay pretty local because she was meeting Tom (who had flown in that morning) at the train station.
David and I had a bit of a lie in because it had been an exhausting and exhilarating week. After we got up and dressed we walked down the street to find a cafe for breakfast. At the corner, with a view of Notre Dame, we discovered Le St. Regis Cafe. It was pouring down rain so it was the perfect time and location to stop. It was a bustling cafe but we managed to get a table right in the front for good people watching. We had coffee and hot chocolate and we both had omelets. Mine was ham and cheese and David's was just cheese. It came with really good bread and a side salad. David commented that the eggs in France are so, so good. We don't know why -- maybe they are fresher, but they are delicious. Side note: Sheryl had an omelet in Bayeux and she agrees that the eggs are better than what we eat in the States. David and I lingered over breakfast hoping the rain would stop. It did not. It rained on and off all day but we only had a few big downpours.
After breakfast we walked over to Notre Dame which is GORGEOUS. We took some pictures but who knows how they will turn out since it was cloudy and drizzly. We walked into some shops and looked into the windows of many patisseries. If only you could eat one bite of every pastry!
David collects hand-painted metal soldiers and we stopped into a toy store to see if they had any. They did not, but the salesperson told him about an antique store just across the river on the left bank. We walked over there but it was closed. David decided to return later.
We crossed a different bridge back to our hotel which is called the Pont de l'Archevêché Bridge. The metal railings on the sides of the bridge were filled with hundreds of bike locks, padlocks, etc. Apparently starting in early 2000, lovers engraved their initials on locks, locked them on the bridge and threw the keys into the Seine River as a way of declaring thier love forever. In early 2010 this caused concern to the city officials because they worried about how they might be damaging the bridge railings. Also they were concerned about ex-lovers hacking away at the locks to remove them!!! Almost overnight the locks disappeared. But they are re-appearing by the hundreds again now. I think it's very sweet! Of course there are street vendors on the bridge selling padlocks now!
We went back to our hotel to dry out our shoes and the hems of our pants and just to get out of the rain for awhile. Sheryl texted that she and Tom were at the hotel and they came to our room so we could greet Tom and visit a little bit. Then they headed out to walk to the Eiffel Tower and do some other sight-seeing. When Tom saw the Eiffel Tower he said his trip was complete!
David walked back to the antique store and bought a few soldiers so he was very happy. I wandered the streets looking into the shops and people watching. David returned and we went out to get some of the famous Paris ice cream from Berthillon. On the way we ran into the Group of 5 -- Sue, Diane, Carol, Linda and Sandy, who were shopping close to our hotel. They had already had ice cream but they visited awhile while we waited in line to get ice cream. It was DELICIOUS! I wish I had ordered more!! Hmmmmm, I believe I will gain back all of the 22 pounds I lost before this trip!
We decided to gather back at our hotel at 5:30. We texted Noel to meet us there too. David and I bought two bottles of wine for the Group of 10 and we really enjoyed it! It was the last night for the whole group to be together so we all hugged and said goodbye and carried on! We were very sorry that they had to leave the next day.
Sheryl and Tom left for dinner because Tom was very tired from his flight and wanted to get to bed early. The Group of 5 decided to walk to Notre Dame in the hope that the lines would be gone and they could get in to see it. Noel stayed with us for another glass of wine. They said they walked right in! When we were there earlier, the lines were probably 200 people long so we did not wait. We will try their trick when we go back to Paris so we can tour Notre Dame.
They came back to the hotel and collected Noel for dinner. David and I were just planning to buy a sandwich from the patrissie across from the hotel but by the time we finished the wine, it was closed. So we wandered down the street to find a restaurant too. Funny enough, we ALL ended up at the exact same restaurant -- Sens'o. Tom and Sheryl ate early and I think they had pizza. When we arrived, Noel, Sue, Sandy, Diane, Linda and Carol were eating at a table on the upper level. David and I were not that hungry so we just split a cheese pizza. I visited the Group of 6 and they had a wide variety of dishes -- lasagna, linguini with pesto and I don't know what else. All of us liked eating there. After dinner most of us headed back to the hotel for the evening but the wild ones -- Carol, Noel, Linda and Sandy headed out into the night. Noel took them to the Latin Quarter and a few other places and they had a ball!!! I'm so happy they all had a great day because they had to leave the next day to go home.
That concludes my report from our first day in Paris. I think we all enjoyed it very much. Note to Carole Lang . . . now I know why you love Paris so much. We cannot wait to spend a few more days there at the end of our trip. I definitely think you should celebrate your next birthday in Paris! Note to Stephanie . . . KEEP SAVING!!!
Love to all!
PARIS, FRANCE
Today was the only day Linda, Sandy, Diane, Sue and Carol had to spend in Paris. Their must see, of course, was The Louvre. Sandy had ordered all of us tickets ahead of time which was very helpful. They were up early and, I think, walked to The Louvre. It opens at 9:00 a.m. and I'm not sure if they ate first or visited the museum first but I know they did both. They all absolutely LOVED The Louvre. They spent about a half a day there and could have spent much, much longer but Paris awaited! I know that they ate at a small cafe somewhere close to the museum and I think Linda remarked that it was her best meal of the trip. I'm sorry I don't have more details but that's what happens when the Group of 9 splits up!!! I know that after the museum they took a hop on, hop off boat and did some sight-seeing and shopping.
Sheryl was up early and went out to look around and photograph Notre Dame. It was a very short walk from our hotel. It was cloudy and rainy on Saturday and I think she was disappointed in her photographs. She had to stay pretty local because she was meeting Tom (who had flown in that morning) at the train station.
David and I had a bit of a lie in because it had been an exhausting and exhilarating week. After we got up and dressed we walked down the street to find a cafe for breakfast. At the corner, with a view of Notre Dame, we discovered Le St. Regis Cafe. It was pouring down rain so it was the perfect time and location to stop. It was a bustling cafe but we managed to get a table right in the front for good people watching. We had coffee and hot chocolate and we both had omelets. Mine was ham and cheese and David's was just cheese. It came with really good bread and a side salad. David commented that the eggs in France are so, so good. We don't know why -- maybe they are fresher, but they are delicious. Side note: Sheryl had an omelet in Bayeux and she agrees that the eggs are better than what we eat in the States. David and I lingered over breakfast hoping the rain would stop. It did not. It rained on and off all day but we only had a few big downpours.
After breakfast we walked over to Notre Dame which is GORGEOUS. We took some pictures but who knows how they will turn out since it was cloudy and drizzly. We walked into some shops and looked into the windows of many patisseries. If only you could eat one bite of every pastry!
David collects hand-painted metal soldiers and we stopped into a toy store to see if they had any. They did not, but the salesperson told him about an antique store just across the river on the left bank. We walked over there but it was closed. David decided to return later.
We crossed a different bridge back to our hotel which is called the Pont de l'Archevêché Bridge. The metal railings on the sides of the bridge were filled with hundreds of bike locks, padlocks, etc. Apparently starting in early 2000, lovers engraved their initials on locks, locked them on the bridge and threw the keys into the Seine River as a way of declaring thier love forever. In early 2010 this caused concern to the city officials because they worried about how they might be damaging the bridge railings. Also they were concerned about ex-lovers hacking away at the locks to remove them!!! Almost overnight the locks disappeared. But they are re-appearing by the hundreds again now. I think it's very sweet! Of course there are street vendors on the bridge selling padlocks now!
We went back to our hotel to dry out our shoes and the hems of our pants and just to get out of the rain for awhile. Sheryl texted that she and Tom were at the hotel and they came to our room so we could greet Tom and visit a little bit. Then they headed out to walk to the Eiffel Tower and do some other sight-seeing. When Tom saw the Eiffel Tower he said his trip was complete!
David walked back to the antique store and bought a few soldiers so he was very happy. I wandered the streets looking into the shops and people watching. David returned and we went out to get some of the famous Paris ice cream from Berthillon. On the way we ran into the Group of 5 -- Sue, Diane, Carol, Linda and Sandy, who were shopping close to our hotel. They had already had ice cream but they visited awhile while we waited in line to get ice cream. It was DELICIOUS! I wish I had ordered more!! Hmmmmm, I believe I will gain back all of the 22 pounds I lost before this trip!
We decided to gather back at our hotel at 5:30. We texted Noel to meet us there too. David and I bought two bottles of wine for the Group of 10 and we really enjoyed it! It was the last night for the whole group to be together so we all hugged and said goodbye and carried on! We were very sorry that they had to leave the next day.
Sheryl and Tom left for dinner because Tom was very tired from his flight and wanted to get to bed early. The Group of 5 decided to walk to Notre Dame in the hope that the lines would be gone and they could get in to see it. Noel stayed with us for another glass of wine. They said they walked right in! When we were there earlier, the lines were probably 200 people long so we did not wait. We will try their trick when we go back to Paris so we can tour Notre Dame.
They came back to the hotel and collected Noel for dinner. David and I were just planning to buy a sandwich from the patrissie across from the hotel but by the time we finished the wine, it was closed. So we wandered down the street to find a restaurant too. Funny enough, we ALL ended up at the exact same restaurant -- Sens'o. Tom and Sheryl ate early and I think they had pizza. When we arrived, Noel, Sue, Sandy, Diane, Linda and Carol were eating at a table on the upper level. David and I were not that hungry so we just split a cheese pizza. I visited the Group of 6 and they had a wide variety of dishes -- lasagna, linguini with pesto and I don't know what else. All of us liked eating there. After dinner most of us headed back to the hotel for the evening but the wild ones -- Carol, Noel, Linda and Sandy headed out into the night. Noel took them to the Latin Quarter and a few other places and they had a ball!!! I'm so happy they all had a great day because they had to leave the next day to go home.
That concludes my report from our first day in Paris. I think we all enjoyed it very much. Note to Carole Lang . . . now I know why you love Paris so much. We cannot wait to spend a few more days there at the end of our trip. I definitely think you should celebrate your next birthday in Paris! Note to Stephanie . . . KEEP SAVING!!!
Love to all!
FRIDAY, JUNE 15, 2012
Paris, France
We are having way too much fun and I'm getting behind on my blog! I know Sheila is reading it and I want to keep her informed about her daughter, Sheryl's, behavior so I must get caught up.
Friday was a typical travel day. Lots of fun with a little transportation hassle thrown in.
Friday morning Sheryl, Noel and Linda had to attend the last day of the conference. The rest of us met for breakfast at 9:00. After breakfast David and Carol decided to check out the car museum, the Louwman Museum. They found out how to get there on the bus. But they were told to get off the bus at the wrong stop and they could not find it. There were some city workers working in a park or garden or something doing some kind of landscaping so they asked one of the men where it was. He tried to give them directions but said it was confusing so he told them to hop in his truck (with a trailer attached) and he would take them there. I guess it was quite the ride. They drove to dead ends and had to turn around and he drove them on bike paths, etc. Sounds like a riot but he did finally get them to the museum. How nice is that?
But I digress. The collection of over 200 cars has been assembled since 1934. It is the oldest private collection of automobiles open to the public in the world. It's interesting that the museum was designed by an American architect, Michael Graves. David and Carol said it was fantastic. I remember they mentioned they saw the car from the movie "Gold Finger" and also one of Elvis Presley's Cadillacs. I know they really enjoyed it because they were almost late to meet the rest of us to leave for the train station!
Sue, Sandy, Diane and I decided to go to the Centrum to shop. Luckily we are all tram experts now so we hopped on the tram and took off. We got off in the shopping area and walked around awhile. We spent a lot of time shopping at P&C's (Peek and Cloppenburg). It is a large department store like a Macy's. Sandy bought a scarf and a soccer jersey for her son and Sue bought a pair of shoes. We also went to the top floor to use the restroom. I don't think I've mentioned that you often have to pay to use the restroom -- from .30 euro to .50 euro generally. I was surprised that we had to pay to use the restroom in the department store! At least when you pay to use it, it is usually very clean. Just outside the hallway to the restrooms was a gigantic cafeteria with many different food stations and it looked and smelled delicious!!! We weren't hungry so we didn't have lunch but I wish we could have. We shopped at a few more stores and picked up some things (I bought a pair of loafers) and then we had to head back to the hotel to meet up with David and Carol to go to the train station.
Here was the plan. We all had train tickets from the Rotterdam train station to Paris at 4:58 p.m. BUT, Sheryl was on a panel that started at 1:30 and was scheduled to end at 3:00 p.m. Linda was finished with her work at the conference so she joined us. We planned to leave the hotel at 2:00 to give us plenty of time to take a taxis to the train station in The Hague and then to take a train from there to the Rotterdam train station. We planned to take Sheryl's and Noel's luggage with us so that when they finished up at the conference they could easily and quickly take the tram to the train station in The Hague and then take the train to Rotterdam and we would all meet on the platform for the 4:48 train to Paris. You can see this required some logistical planning -- performed by our Sheryl! We asked our hotel clerk to order two taxis for us to take all of us plus a ton of luggage to The Hague train station. Apparently she asked for a van instead of two taxis. It was a 7 person van and, somehow, we were able to fit all of us and all of the bags into it. By this time is was raining and just a little miserable. None of us were looking forward to getting all of the bags onto the train from The Hague to Rotterdam, THEN schlepping them to the train to Paris. While we were riding to the train station in The Hague our taxi driver made us an offer we couldn't refuse!!! He offered to drive us directly to the Rotterdam train station for less money than it would have cost us to do it as originally planned. We instantly took him up on his offer and were very relieved that it would be a little easier on all of us.
We arrived at the Rotterdam train station with plenty of time to spare and with our spirits lifted! We were hungry by this time so we decided to would get all of our bags to the correct platform and then we would go in groups to find some lunch. We checked on the platform number a couple of times and found out we would have to carry our luggage up a lot of stairs. The train station was torn up for remodeling or whatever and we could not find an elevator or escalator. David found a station employee and asked her if there was a elevator AND THERE WAS!!! It was just kind of hidden away in the mess of the construction work being done. She actually led us all to the elevator. Whew! Saved us a lot of work.
Diane, Sue, Sandy and Linda left us to guard the bags and they went in search of some lunch. They were gone a half hour or so which made me think they had found a nice restaurant. Nope! The only place they could find was a Burger King!!! Kind of disappointing. I walked down the train platform a ways to a little snack shop and they had some things that I thought would be better than Burger King. Carol and David had croissants with butter and I had a ham and cheese croissant and they were delicious! They also had fresh baked cookies so David and I had a chocolate chip cookie.
About this time Sheryl and Noel showed up. They were able to leave the conference at 3:00 and efficiently made their way to the Rotterdam train station. Sheryl's presentation on the panel was well-received and I think she was happy to have it behind her so she could actually enjoy a little holiday.
Sheryl had purchased all of our train tickets to Paris and we had assigned seats. The train pulled in on time and after a bit of a hassle getting all of our luggage loaded on we found our seats and off we went to Paris. PARIS!!!!! Imagine! It was a very nice train and the two hour trip passed by fairly quickly. When we arrived in Paris we planned to take a regional train to a station close to our hotel and then take taxis to the hotel. We made our way to where the regional trains were and Noel purchased all of our tickets. It's so funny . . . we all relied on Noel to tell us which train to take and kept asking him if we were going the right way and if we were taking the right train, etc. But Noel hadn't been to Paris in 30 years! I guess we think because he's European, he knows his way everywhere. Way too much pressure to put on dear Noel!
The regional train pulled in and we and about 300 hundred other people pushed and shoved our way onto the train, bags and all. We were squished in there like sardines! But, somehow, I managed to get a seat. I think I was the only one of our group who got to sit down. We only rode a few stops and then we all poured out of the train. We made our way out to the street where it was still raining and after awhile managed to get taxis to our hotel. Except for Noel who decided just to walk to his hotel which is located fairly close to ours.
Our hotel, De Lutece, is located on the Ile Saint-Louis in the Seine River. It is a 17th century hotel and it is very charming. although the rooms are small, we all loved our rooms. And the location is spectacular. We are so lucky we got to stay there!
After we all got settled, Noel joined us and we went to dinner. The hotel clerk recommended a restaurant called Auberge de la Reine Blanche which was just down the street from us. It was small and lovely and the food was incredible. A few of us had spaghetti with bolognese sauce, David and Sue had a "cheese salad" which looked great, Sue had french onion soup, Sheryl had beef bourguignon, Noel and Linda, I think, had Coq Au Vin -- everything was great. Noel selected a wonderful red wine which some of us drank. All in all it was good food and good friends and we were eating dinner in Paris. What could be better?
After dinner we called it a night and we returned to our hotel and went to bed.
I promise to write again soon.
Paris, France
We are having way too much fun and I'm getting behind on my blog! I know Sheila is reading it and I want to keep her informed about her daughter, Sheryl's, behavior so I must get caught up.
Friday was a typical travel day. Lots of fun with a little transportation hassle thrown in.
Friday morning Sheryl, Noel and Linda had to attend the last day of the conference. The rest of us met for breakfast at 9:00. After breakfast David and Carol decided to check out the car museum, the Louwman Museum. They found out how to get there on the bus. But they were told to get off the bus at the wrong stop and they could not find it. There were some city workers working in a park or garden or something doing some kind of landscaping so they asked one of the men where it was. He tried to give them directions but said it was confusing so he told them to hop in his truck (with a trailer attached) and he would take them there. I guess it was quite the ride. They drove to dead ends and had to turn around and he drove them on bike paths, etc. Sounds like a riot but he did finally get them to the museum. How nice is that?
But I digress. The collection of over 200 cars has been assembled since 1934. It is the oldest private collection of automobiles open to the public in the world. It's interesting that the museum was designed by an American architect, Michael Graves. David and Carol said it was fantastic. I remember they mentioned they saw the car from the movie "Gold Finger" and also one of Elvis Presley's Cadillacs. I know they really enjoyed it because they were almost late to meet the rest of us to leave for the train station!
Sue, Sandy, Diane and I decided to go to the Centrum to shop. Luckily we are all tram experts now so we hopped on the tram and took off. We got off in the shopping area and walked around awhile. We spent a lot of time shopping at P&C's (Peek and Cloppenburg). It is a large department store like a Macy's. Sandy bought a scarf and a soccer jersey for her son and Sue bought a pair of shoes. We also went to the top floor to use the restroom. I don't think I've mentioned that you often have to pay to use the restroom -- from .30 euro to .50 euro generally. I was surprised that we had to pay to use the restroom in the department store! At least when you pay to use it, it is usually very clean. Just outside the hallway to the restrooms was a gigantic cafeteria with many different food stations and it looked and smelled delicious!!! We weren't hungry so we didn't have lunch but I wish we could have. We shopped at a few more stores and picked up some things (I bought a pair of loafers) and then we had to head back to the hotel to meet up with David and Carol to go to the train station.
Here was the plan. We all had train tickets from the Rotterdam train station to Paris at 4:58 p.m. BUT, Sheryl was on a panel that started at 1:30 and was scheduled to end at 3:00 p.m. Linda was finished with her work at the conference so she joined us. We planned to leave the hotel at 2:00 to give us plenty of time to take a taxis to the train station in The Hague and then to take a train from there to the Rotterdam train station. We planned to take Sheryl's and Noel's luggage with us so that when they finished up at the conference they could easily and quickly take the tram to the train station in The Hague and then take the train to Rotterdam and we would all meet on the platform for the 4:48 train to Paris. You can see this required some logistical planning -- performed by our Sheryl! We asked our hotel clerk to order two taxis for us to take all of us plus a ton of luggage to The Hague train station. Apparently she asked for a van instead of two taxis. It was a 7 person van and, somehow, we were able to fit all of us and all of the bags into it. By this time is was raining and just a little miserable. None of us were looking forward to getting all of the bags onto the train from The Hague to Rotterdam, THEN schlepping them to the train to Paris. While we were riding to the train station in The Hague our taxi driver made us an offer we couldn't refuse!!! He offered to drive us directly to the Rotterdam train station for less money than it would have cost us to do it as originally planned. We instantly took him up on his offer and were very relieved that it would be a little easier on all of us.
We arrived at the Rotterdam train station with plenty of time to spare and with our spirits lifted! We were hungry by this time so we decided to would get all of our bags to the correct platform and then we would go in groups to find some lunch. We checked on the platform number a couple of times and found out we would have to carry our luggage up a lot of stairs. The train station was torn up for remodeling or whatever and we could not find an elevator or escalator. David found a station employee and asked her if there was a elevator AND THERE WAS!!! It was just kind of hidden away in the mess of the construction work being done. She actually led us all to the elevator. Whew! Saved us a lot of work.
Diane, Sue, Sandy and Linda left us to guard the bags and they went in search of some lunch. They were gone a half hour or so which made me think they had found a nice restaurant. Nope! The only place they could find was a Burger King!!! Kind of disappointing. I walked down the train platform a ways to a little snack shop and they had some things that I thought would be better than Burger King. Carol and David had croissants with butter and I had a ham and cheese croissant and they were delicious! They also had fresh baked cookies so David and I had a chocolate chip cookie.
About this time Sheryl and Noel showed up. They were able to leave the conference at 3:00 and efficiently made their way to the Rotterdam train station. Sheryl's presentation on the panel was well-received and I think she was happy to have it behind her so she could actually enjoy a little holiday.
Sheryl had purchased all of our train tickets to Paris and we had assigned seats. The train pulled in on time and after a bit of a hassle getting all of our luggage loaded on we found our seats and off we went to Paris. PARIS!!!!! Imagine! It was a very nice train and the two hour trip passed by fairly quickly. When we arrived in Paris we planned to take a regional train to a station close to our hotel and then take taxis to the hotel. We made our way to where the regional trains were and Noel purchased all of our tickets. It's so funny . . . we all relied on Noel to tell us which train to take and kept asking him if we were going the right way and if we were taking the right train, etc. But Noel hadn't been to Paris in 30 years! I guess we think because he's European, he knows his way everywhere. Way too much pressure to put on dear Noel!
The regional train pulled in and we and about 300 hundred other people pushed and shoved our way onto the train, bags and all. We were squished in there like sardines! But, somehow, I managed to get a seat. I think I was the only one of our group who got to sit down. We only rode a few stops and then we all poured out of the train. We made our way out to the street where it was still raining and after awhile managed to get taxis to our hotel. Except for Noel who decided just to walk to his hotel which is located fairly close to ours.
Our hotel, De Lutece, is located on the Ile Saint-Louis in the Seine River. It is a 17th century hotel and it is very charming. although the rooms are small, we all loved our rooms. And the location is spectacular. We are so lucky we got to stay there!
After we all got settled, Noel joined us and we went to dinner. The hotel clerk recommended a restaurant called Auberge de la Reine Blanche which was just down the street from us. It was small and lovely and the food was incredible. A few of us had spaghetti with bolognese sauce, David and Sue had a "cheese salad" which looked great, Sue had french onion soup, Sheryl had beef bourguignon, Noel and Linda, I think, had Coq Au Vin -- everything was great. Noel selected a wonderful red wine which some of us drank. All in all it was good food and good friends and we were eating dinner in Paris. What could be better?
After dinner we called it a night and we returned to our hotel and went to bed.
I promise to write again soon.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2012
We were all very tired last night so we decided to sleep in today and meet for breakfast at 9:00 a.m. Except for the conference board members, Sheryl, Linda and Noel who had to be at the conference by 7:45 a.m. Linda provides the IT support for the conference and it is a HUGE job. She has way more duties than any one person can accomplish which isn't helped by the fact that most of the presenters don't send her their materials and power point presentations ahead of time which just makes the conference VERY stressful for Linda. Noel is the Treasurer so he had to be at the conference early this morning for the people who registered today. Sheryl is the Executive Director of the Association and I think I mentioned before one of the founding members. So . . . those three had to work. The rest of us met for breakfast at 9:00. Oh wait -- Sandy overslept so she missed breakfast entirely! She said she woke up at 5:00 a.m., realized she could sleep a little longer, and woke up for good at 9:27 am. She was very sorry she missed out on the morning activities. Anyway, after breakfast David, Sue, Carol and Diane headed out to the Gemeentemuseum specifically to see Vermeer's painting of The Girl With The Pearl Earring. It is only temporarily housed there because the museum where it is permanently housed, The Mauritshuis Museum, is currently undergoing renovation. Sheryl, Noel and I went to The Mauritshuis Museum last year and loved it and especially loved Vermeer's paintings so we are happy they got to see some of his work. I'm not sure what else is there but I remember one of them mentioning the first floor was modern art. In any event, they enjoyed it.
I walked over to the conference and helped a little bit at registration. They really had plenty of people helping so I wandered around a bit and talked to people and went back to the hotel. I was sitting in the lobby reading and Sandy came in. She had been out walking and sight-seeing. Just a few minutes later David, Sue, Diane and Carol returned to the hotel from the museum. Our group planned to take the tram to the Kerhaus -- a luxury beach hotel overlooking the North Sea. The planning committee looked at holding the IACA conference there and a lot of us wished they would have! It is a spectacular hotel opened in 1885. Sadly, before the hotel even opened, it burned to the ground. Within a year it was rebuilt. Many famous people have stayed there -- the Rolling Stones even performed a concert there in 1964. Other famous guests are, of course, Dutch Queens, Henry Kissinger, Marlene Dietrich, Emperor Hirohito of Japan and many more. I cannot wait to show you all pictures. Anyway, we all took the tram there to have lunch. Sadly, the restaurant was closed for a private event. There was a lot of activity going on there with security and TV equipment, etc., so it must have been a pretty big event. We decided to walk along the boardwalk to find another place to eat. My first choice was a place called "Peuky." No one else thought it sounded appetizing so we walked on to a place called Columbia Grande Cafe. We sat on the terrace in the sun and it was heavenly. We chose the perfect day to go to the beach because it was blue sky, sunny and warm. We could not have asked for a better day! We all ordered similar lunches . . . lovely bread/buns with melted cheese, tomato and pesto. Carol also had salmon on hers. And we shared french fries. After lunch we walked down the boardwalk just enjoying the North Sea and people watching. Along the boardwalk were quirky cartoon-like metal sculptures that were cute and funny. We have pictures of them. We were running out of time so we headed back to the Kerhaus to have drinks on the terrace. It was gorgeous and the view of the sea was stunning. We just had coffee, water and soft drinks. I think Diane maybe had a glass of wine. Alas all good things have to end so we took the tram back to The Hauge to get dressed up for the conference's gala dinner.
We all gathered in the hotel lobby at 6:30 p.m. to take taxis to the event. We were all dressed up -- the men in suits and the women in cocktail dresses. I had a new dress that David picked out for me before we left home. Yes, there will be pictures! The gala was held at the Nieuwe Kirk (new church). It was built in 1649 and finished in 1656. What a beautiful building. It has not functioned as a church since the 1970s. When we walked into this magnificent building we were shown downstairs for the cocktail hour. Waiters passed wine and hors dourves that were very pretty. Our Sheryl, of course, snuck upstairs to the dining room and scoped out the best table for us and put a reserved sign on it!!! She is so great! After about an hour we were ushered upstairs to the dining room and quickly found our "reserved" table. It was a table for 12 so two other people joined us. A retired judge from Brazil and his wife who were delightful! Their English was very good and David, Sue and I talked to them a lot. He is now a professor of environmental law which I found interesting. The dinner was pretty good. The salad was white asparagus with smoked salmon. Didn't eat that. The main course was round medallions of chicken (and other birds the waiter told me . . . I didn't pursue that and just ate it), over mashed potatoes. It was very good! The waiters kept our wine glasses full and I loved the wine. David wrote down the name of it and I believe he told me it was from Argentina. There were just a few short speeches so that was tolerable. After dinner I saw Judge O'Scannlain so David and I walked over to visit with him and we asked Linda to take our picture together to e-mail to Judge Redden to show him I was hanging out with Judge O'Scannlain in The Hauge! That might surprise him.
Then they ushered us downstairs again for dessert and coffee. Loved, loved, loved the desserts! No surprise there, I guess. Waiters passed very small, varied desserts (so you could have more than one). We had delicious chocolate mousse and then orange sorbet in a phyllo cup. I think there were other choices but that was enough for us. We all took taxis back to our hotel and called it a night. We had a GREAT time and it was a wonderful thing to do our last night in The Hague.
We were all very tired last night so we decided to sleep in today and meet for breakfast at 9:00 a.m. Except for the conference board members, Sheryl, Linda and Noel who had to be at the conference by 7:45 a.m. Linda provides the IT support for the conference and it is a HUGE job. She has way more duties than any one person can accomplish which isn't helped by the fact that most of the presenters don't send her their materials and power point presentations ahead of time which just makes the conference VERY stressful for Linda. Noel is the Treasurer so he had to be at the conference early this morning for the people who registered today. Sheryl is the Executive Director of the Association and I think I mentioned before one of the founding members. So . . . those three had to work. The rest of us met for breakfast at 9:00. Oh wait -- Sandy overslept so she missed breakfast entirely! She said she woke up at 5:00 a.m., realized she could sleep a little longer, and woke up for good at 9:27 am. She was very sorry she missed out on the morning activities. Anyway, after breakfast David, Sue, Carol and Diane headed out to the Gemeentemuseum specifically to see Vermeer's painting of The Girl With The Pearl Earring. It is only temporarily housed there because the museum where it is permanently housed, The Mauritshuis Museum, is currently undergoing renovation. Sheryl, Noel and I went to The Mauritshuis Museum last year and loved it and especially loved Vermeer's paintings so we are happy they got to see some of his work. I'm not sure what else is there but I remember one of them mentioning the first floor was modern art. In any event, they enjoyed it.
I walked over to the conference and helped a little bit at registration. They really had plenty of people helping so I wandered around a bit and talked to people and went back to the hotel. I was sitting in the lobby reading and Sandy came in. She had been out walking and sight-seeing. Just a few minutes later David, Sue, Diane and Carol returned to the hotel from the museum. Our group planned to take the tram to the Kerhaus -- a luxury beach hotel overlooking the North Sea. The planning committee looked at holding the IACA conference there and a lot of us wished they would have! It is a spectacular hotel opened in 1885. Sadly, before the hotel even opened, it burned to the ground. Within a year it was rebuilt. Many famous people have stayed there -- the Rolling Stones even performed a concert there in 1964. Other famous guests are, of course, Dutch Queens, Henry Kissinger, Marlene Dietrich, Emperor Hirohito of Japan and many more. I cannot wait to show you all pictures. Anyway, we all took the tram there to have lunch. Sadly, the restaurant was closed for a private event. There was a lot of activity going on there with security and TV equipment, etc., so it must have been a pretty big event. We decided to walk along the boardwalk to find another place to eat. My first choice was a place called "Peuky." No one else thought it sounded appetizing so we walked on to a place called Columbia Grande Cafe. We sat on the terrace in the sun and it was heavenly. We chose the perfect day to go to the beach because it was blue sky, sunny and warm. We could not have asked for a better day! We all ordered similar lunches . . . lovely bread/buns with melted cheese, tomato and pesto. Carol also had salmon on hers. And we shared french fries. After lunch we walked down the boardwalk just enjoying the North Sea and people watching. Along the boardwalk were quirky cartoon-like metal sculptures that were cute and funny. We have pictures of them. We were running out of time so we headed back to the Kerhaus to have drinks on the terrace. It was gorgeous and the view of the sea was stunning. We just had coffee, water and soft drinks. I think Diane maybe had a glass of wine. Alas all good things have to end so we took the tram back to The Hauge to get dressed up for the conference's gala dinner.
We all gathered in the hotel lobby at 6:30 p.m. to take taxis to the event. We were all dressed up -- the men in suits and the women in cocktail dresses. I had a new dress that David picked out for me before we left home. Yes, there will be pictures! The gala was held at the Nieuwe Kirk (new church). It was built in 1649 and finished in 1656. What a beautiful building. It has not functioned as a church since the 1970s. When we walked into this magnificent building we were shown downstairs for the cocktail hour. Waiters passed wine and hors dourves that were very pretty. Our Sheryl, of course, snuck upstairs to the dining room and scoped out the best table for us and put a reserved sign on it!!! She is so great! After about an hour we were ushered upstairs to the dining room and quickly found our "reserved" table. It was a table for 12 so two other people joined us. A retired judge from Brazil and his wife who were delightful! Their English was very good and David, Sue and I talked to them a lot. He is now a professor of environmental law which I found interesting. The dinner was pretty good. The salad was white asparagus with smoked salmon. Didn't eat that. The main course was round medallions of chicken (and other birds the waiter told me . . . I didn't pursue that and just ate it), over mashed potatoes. It was very good! The waiters kept our wine glasses full and I loved the wine. David wrote down the name of it and I believe he told me it was from Argentina. There were just a few short speeches so that was tolerable. After dinner I saw Judge O'Scannlain so David and I walked over to visit with him and we asked Linda to take our picture together to e-mail to Judge Redden to show him I was hanging out with Judge O'Scannlain in The Hauge! That might surprise him.
Then they ushered us downstairs again for dessert and coffee. Loved, loved, loved the desserts! No surprise there, I guess. Waiters passed very small, varied desserts (so you could have more than one). We had delicious chocolate mousse and then orange sorbet in a phyllo cup. I think there were other choices but that was enough for us. We all took taxis back to our hotel and called it a night. We had a GREAT time and it was a wonderful thing to do our last night in The Hague.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 2012
The reason we are here at The Hague is to attend the International Association for Court Administration conference. I am a member of the Association and David came along to volunteer. As former court employees we are very interested in this subject matter. We said we would help at registration or wherever we were needed. Coincidentally, a Court of Appeals Judge from Oregon was flying in to be on a panel at the conference. Since I knew him, I was asked to meet him at the airport this morning and escort him on the train to The Hague. Sheryl is a founding member of the organization and she and Noel are both Officers and Board Members. They had a day-long Board Meeting to attend so they were out of the picture. David, Sue, Carol, Sandy and Diane had a day of sight-seeing planned in Amsterdam. We all took the tram to the train station and the same train towards Amsterdam. I got off at the airport and they continued on.
I arrived at the airport in plenty of time to meet the judge's plane. It was delayed about 20 mins. which gave me time to find where the platform was for the train back to The Hague. I wanted him to think I was very familiar with the whole situation and very efficient. Luckily I recognized him when he walked out of the terminal -- it's funny how he has aged since I knew him about 15 or so years ago! It's surprising because I haven't changed a bit. He recognized me too and off we went to catch the train back to The Hague. Yes, he was very surprised that I knew my way around so well (ha!) and said many times how efficient it was to get right off the plane and onto the train. We had a great visit on the train and talked about all of the judges I knew in Portland and what everyone was up to. We arrived at the train station in The Hague and took a taxi first to his hotel and then I returned to my hotel. I have to say it made me a little homesick for Judge Redden and all of my friends in Portland.
The conference is being held at The Peace Palace. The Peace Palace is considered the seat of international law because it houses the International Court of Justice which is the principal judicial body of the United Nations, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, The Hague Academy of International Law and the Peace Palace Library. It is the most beautiful building you can imagine with a magnificent welcoming hall that takes your breath away. The building was constructed starting in 1907 and completed in 1913. It was funded by Andrew Carnegie. I could go on and on about its beauty but I'll just say it is an honor to even see the Peace Palace and attend an event there.
After fetching the judge from the airport, I went over to the conference to help with the set up for registration. I met some very cool people there! I believe there are about 345 members here for the conference representing 43 countries. What an incredible group of people. Because I was here last year as part of the group of people who selected the location, I made some international friends then. Noel from Ireland, of course, and a few others. It was so much fun to meet up with them again and catch up. I must thank Sheryl for inviting me on the planning trip last year and getting me involved in the organization.
Back to the other group . . . they all arrived in Amsterdam and searched for a place to have breakfast. Hardly any restaurants were open but they finally found one. They had traditional breakfasts but David and Diane had egg salad sandwiches for breakfast. David said it was really good! The first place they visited was the Anne Frank House. Sheryl, Noel and I visited it last year and it is so, so interesting. Carol and a few others mentioned that it made them sad to see it. After that they got on a "hop on, hop off" boat and toured the Amsterdam canals. They all enjoyed that very much. Then David and Carol went to the Rijksmuseum and Sandy, Diane and Sue "walked the streets" of the Red Light District and walked through the Amsterdam Market which did not impress them too much. They all hopped back on the boat to the train station and although they did not meet up there, they all made it back to the hotel safely. It sounded like they all had a great day!
We all attended the conference welcoming reception in the evening which was held in the great hall of The Peace Palace. We were welcomed by dignitaries whom I don't remember except one was the Mayor of The Hague. He wore a cool ceremonial necklace which I assume indicated his position and David, of course, wanted one!!! I saw a few more friends there which was fun. It ended around 7:30 and we all met back up at our hotel. The plan was to go to the same restaurant David and Noel had gone to the night before because they liked it so much. David and I went ahead to get a table but the restaurant was full up! Turns out Holland was playing in the the soccer finals (sorry I don't know anything about this) so there were many groups settled in for the night to watch the game. The hostess told us about another restaurant close by but we never found it. The group had many discussions about what to do for dinner and we finally admitted defeat and trudged off to the local Dominos's pizza and got pizza and cheese bread and took it all back to our hotel to eat and visit. Yes, we are extremely embarrassed that we had Domino's pizza in The Hague. Oh well, it was getting very late and we were all really tired! It was actually the first time Noel had eaten Domino's food -- I'm sure it was a big treat for him. Ha! Soon after dinner we all went to bed to get ready for another fun-filled adventure on Thursday.
The reason we are here at The Hague is to attend the International Association for Court Administration conference. I am a member of the Association and David came along to volunteer. As former court employees we are very interested in this subject matter. We said we would help at registration or wherever we were needed. Coincidentally, a Court of Appeals Judge from Oregon was flying in to be on a panel at the conference. Since I knew him, I was asked to meet him at the airport this morning and escort him on the train to The Hague. Sheryl is a founding member of the organization and she and Noel are both Officers and Board Members. They had a day-long Board Meeting to attend so they were out of the picture. David, Sue, Carol, Sandy and Diane had a day of sight-seeing planned in Amsterdam. We all took the tram to the train station and the same train towards Amsterdam. I got off at the airport and they continued on.
I arrived at the airport in plenty of time to meet the judge's plane. It was delayed about 20 mins. which gave me time to find where the platform was for the train back to The Hague. I wanted him to think I was very familiar with the whole situation and very efficient. Luckily I recognized him when he walked out of the terminal -- it's funny how he has aged since I knew him about 15 or so years ago! It's surprising because I haven't changed a bit. He recognized me too and off we went to catch the train back to The Hague. Yes, he was very surprised that I knew my way around so well (ha!) and said many times how efficient it was to get right off the plane and onto the train. We had a great visit on the train and talked about all of the judges I knew in Portland and what everyone was up to. We arrived at the train station in The Hague and took a taxi first to his hotel and then I returned to my hotel. I have to say it made me a little homesick for Judge Redden and all of my friends in Portland.
The conference is being held at The Peace Palace. The Peace Palace is considered the seat of international law because it houses the International Court of Justice which is the principal judicial body of the United Nations, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, The Hague Academy of International Law and the Peace Palace Library. It is the most beautiful building you can imagine with a magnificent welcoming hall that takes your breath away. The building was constructed starting in 1907 and completed in 1913. It was funded by Andrew Carnegie. I could go on and on about its beauty but I'll just say it is an honor to even see the Peace Palace and attend an event there.
After fetching the judge from the airport, I went over to the conference to help with the set up for registration. I met some very cool people there! I believe there are about 345 members here for the conference representing 43 countries. What an incredible group of people. Because I was here last year as part of the group of people who selected the location, I made some international friends then. Noel from Ireland, of course, and a few others. It was so much fun to meet up with them again and catch up. I must thank Sheryl for inviting me on the planning trip last year and getting me involved in the organization.
Back to the other group . . . they all arrived in Amsterdam and searched for a place to have breakfast. Hardly any restaurants were open but they finally found one. They had traditional breakfasts but David and Diane had egg salad sandwiches for breakfast. David said it was really good! The first place they visited was the Anne Frank House. Sheryl, Noel and I visited it last year and it is so, so interesting. Carol and a few others mentioned that it made them sad to see it. After that they got on a "hop on, hop off" boat and toured the Amsterdam canals. They all enjoyed that very much. Then David and Carol went to the Rijksmuseum and Sandy, Diane and Sue "walked the streets" of the Red Light District and walked through the Amsterdam Market which did not impress them too much. They all hopped back on the boat to the train station and although they did not meet up there, they all made it back to the hotel safely. It sounded like they all had a great day!
We all attended the conference welcoming reception in the evening which was held in the great hall of The Peace Palace. We were welcomed by dignitaries whom I don't remember except one was the Mayor of The Hague. He wore a cool ceremonial necklace which I assume indicated his position and David, of course, wanted one!!! I saw a few more friends there which was fun. It ended around 7:30 and we all met back up at our hotel. The plan was to go to the same restaurant David and Noel had gone to the night before because they liked it so much. David and I went ahead to get a table but the restaurant was full up! Turns out Holland was playing in the the soccer finals (sorry I don't know anything about this) so there were many groups settled in for the night to watch the game. The hostess told us about another restaurant close by but we never found it. The group had many discussions about what to do for dinner and we finally admitted defeat and trudged off to the local Dominos's pizza and got pizza and cheese bread and took it all back to our hotel to eat and visit. Yes, we are extremely embarrassed that we had Domino's pizza in The Hague. Oh well, it was getting very late and we were all really tired! It was actually the first time Noel had eaten Domino's food -- I'm sure it was a big treat for him. Ha! Soon after dinner we all went to bed to get ready for another fun-filled adventure on Thursday.
TUESDAY, JUNE 12, 2012
The Hague, Netherlands
We sure covered a lot of ground today! We all met in the lobby of our hotel in Bruges at 8:00 a.m. I saw some of the others drinking coffee and went into the bar to get a cup for myself. It cost 4 euro ($5.00)!!! For a teeny cup of coffee in a proper tea cup. They put a few store-bought cookies with it but $5.00??? Oh well, it was coffee.
We ordered two taxis to take us all to the train station and they arrived promptly and drove us to the train station with plenty of time to spare. We were able to get a little breakfast there. I had a banana and it wasn't dipped in chocolate! Since David and Sheryl had bought our tickets yesterday, we just had to make our way to the platform.
While we were waiting for the train a sweet, cute, young woman, Anna-Clare, heard Sandy speak English and she came over and checked with her to be sure we were on the right track and knew where we were going. They chatted awhile and she was very helpful. When we arrived in Antwerpen where we had to change trains, she sought us out again to be sure we knew where the platform was for the train to The Hague. She made sure we got on the correct train and then she also found us when she got off the train (a stop or two before us) and waved goodbye to all of us. What a sweetheart! Two of our travelers wished they had their sons with them to introduce them to her.
The train ride from Antwerpen to The Hague was uneventful. We took 3 taxis to our hotel. The hotel is new and "green" and very spartan! But it is not very expensive and it's location is very near the conference we are attending. More about that in a minute. We all checked in and then quickly assembled again to take a tram to Delft. Some of you will remember the blue and white bracelets I brought back from my last trip to the Netherlands. Sheryl, Noel (friend from Dublin) and I really liked Delft when we were here before and we wanted the other travelers to see it. It was a fairly short tram ride and we arrived there around 2:00 p.m.
Most of us were starving so we split up into several groups to have lunch and shop. David and I had lunch at Het Konings Huys and it was very good. David had brie cheese and tomato on dark bread with french fries and I had wienerschnitzel with fries. After lunch we walked a little bit and looked in a few shops and then looked out the window and saw that Noel had arrived from Dublin. Noel had not had lunch yet so David and I went with him to a cafe where Linda, Diane and Carol were having lunch. Noel had a very delicious looking lunch -- ham and cheese melted on bread with a fried egg on it. David had hot chocolate and a piece of chocolate cake (didn't want Noel to be lonely) and I had coffee. We had a nice long visit and then went our separate ways to look around Delft.
We all met up again at 5:00 p.m. to take the train back to The Hague. Upon arrival we all gathered in the lobby of our hotel and got out the snack bags again. It was so nice just to sit and relax and talk. We all started to fade and people wandered off to bed. David and Noel were a little hungry so they headed out to have a little dinner. They went to a nearby restaurant called Ciao! Ciao! and had pizza and wine. David brought back a few pieces and it was delicious! His was four cheese pizza and one of the cheeses was gorgonzola . . . yum! Noel's had ham and I don't know what all but I didn't taste it. It was kind of a late night but what a fun day of travel, sight-seeing and friendship!
The Hague, Netherlands
We sure covered a lot of ground today! We all met in the lobby of our hotel in Bruges at 8:00 a.m. I saw some of the others drinking coffee and went into the bar to get a cup for myself. It cost 4 euro ($5.00)!!! For a teeny cup of coffee in a proper tea cup. They put a few store-bought cookies with it but $5.00??? Oh well, it was coffee.
We ordered two taxis to take us all to the train station and they arrived promptly and drove us to the train station with plenty of time to spare. We were able to get a little breakfast there. I had a banana and it wasn't dipped in chocolate! Since David and Sheryl had bought our tickets yesterday, we just had to make our way to the platform.
While we were waiting for the train a sweet, cute, young woman, Anna-Clare, heard Sandy speak English and she came over and checked with her to be sure we were on the right track and knew where we were going. They chatted awhile and she was very helpful. When we arrived in Antwerpen where we had to change trains, she sought us out again to be sure we knew where the platform was for the train to The Hague. She made sure we got on the correct train and then she also found us when she got off the train (a stop or two before us) and waved goodbye to all of us. What a sweetheart! Two of our travelers wished they had their sons with them to introduce them to her.
The train ride from Antwerpen to The Hague was uneventful. We took 3 taxis to our hotel. The hotel is new and "green" and very spartan! But it is not very expensive and it's location is very near the conference we are attending. More about that in a minute. We all checked in and then quickly assembled again to take a tram to Delft. Some of you will remember the blue and white bracelets I brought back from my last trip to the Netherlands. Sheryl, Noel (friend from Dublin) and I really liked Delft when we were here before and we wanted the other travelers to see it. It was a fairly short tram ride and we arrived there around 2:00 p.m.
Most of us were starving so we split up into several groups to have lunch and shop. David and I had lunch at Het Konings Huys and it was very good. David had brie cheese and tomato on dark bread with french fries and I had wienerschnitzel with fries. After lunch we walked a little bit and looked in a few shops and then looked out the window and saw that Noel had arrived from Dublin. Noel had not had lunch yet so David and I went with him to a cafe where Linda, Diane and Carol were having lunch. Noel had a very delicious looking lunch -- ham and cheese melted on bread with a fried egg on it. David had hot chocolate and a piece of chocolate cake (didn't want Noel to be lonely) and I had coffee. We had a nice long visit and then went our separate ways to look around Delft.
We all met up again at 5:00 p.m. to take the train back to The Hague. Upon arrival we all gathered in the lobby of our hotel and got out the snack bags again. It was so nice just to sit and relax and talk. We all started to fade and people wandered off to bed. David and Noel were a little hungry so they headed out to have a little dinner. They went to a nearby restaurant called Ciao! Ciao! and had pizza and wine. David brought back a few pieces and it was delicious! His was four cheese pizza and one of the cheeses was gorgonzola . . . yum! Noel's had ham and I don't know what all but I didn't taste it. It was kind of a late night but what a fun day of travel, sight-seeing and friendship!
Monday, June 11, 2012
MONDAY, JUNE 11, 2012
Bruges, Belgium
We had an incredible day today -- even tho we had to put up with rain showers most of the day. Luckily the hardest rain of the day was during our leisurely lunch so we never got soaking wet.
We met in the lobby of our hotel this morning at 8:00. Diane had scoped out a breakfast restaurant that had coffee! The name of the restaurant was Prestige and it was a "patisserie" and small breakfast/lunch restaurant. The front part was the bakery and the displays were mouth watering! The tables and chairs were in the back of the restaurant. A very nice waiter (owner?) arranged tables for us to sit together. David and I split a four cheese quiche and had delicious rolls with it. It also came with a salad which David ate. No, they did not have ranch dressing and David survived! I had coffee and he had ice tea from a bottle and it was carbonated. He said it was good. The others had waffles, salmon quiche, raisin croissants and Carol had a delicious-looking yogurt with fresh fruit -- berries, I think. When we were leaving they were arranging gorgeously decorated pastries in the cases. Sheryl and I spotted bite size pastries that were also beautifully decorated. But . . . we did not buy any.
After breakfast we strolled around the city shopping and people-watching. Some of our travelers bought handmade lace souvenirs that were so delicate and beautiful. Some bought lace scarves that are spectacular. At one of the shops that I did not go into the male owner was in he back making lace! What an art. So intricate.
Yesterday during our explorations we discovered two eye glass stores. You all know that Sheryl, David and I have glasses from Venice. Yes, we think we're really cool. So we decided to check out the stores. The first store had glasses from Paris and they were very expensive. For instance one pair we liked for David was 800 euro -- about $999.00. The store owner was not very nice either so we quickly left that store. Then we went to one just down the street from our hotel named Hoet (pronounced hoot). It is a family run business and the father is the eye glass designer. The glasses are all made in Belgium. They had a huge selection in many, many colors and Sheryl and David tried on a bunch. They each selected a pair -- Sheryl's are purple (Laurie, you would LOVE them) and the rest of you will just have to wait to see what David picked out. These glasses were affordable! The owner also showed us the most unique glasses we had ever seen but the glass part is so intricate that the salesman said it might be hard to get someone in the US to make them into progressive lenses so we couldn't buy those. Carol, who was just along to look and had no intention of buying glasses, bought the BEST sunglasses any of us have ever seen. I cannot do them justice describing them so you will have to wait for pictures.
The last time we were here we heard about the 4 windmills and we wanted to see them and Sheryl wanted to photograph them. Sheryl, Noel and I walked and walked but did not find the windmills -- turns out we were walking in the wrong direction! So today we decided to go see them. The desk clerk at our hotel showed Sandy how to get there and also recommended a restaurant for us to have lunch on the way. The restaurant was called Du Phare and it was a very interesting place. The menu was extremely varied and offered seafood, salads, spaghetti, chicken tortillas with salsa, cheese croquets, shrimp croquets, etc., so we had quite the variety of lunches. David had vegetarian couscous which he liked and I had the chicken tortillas. All of the food looked very good and I think everyone enjoyed it. It was a lot bigger lunch than we are used to but we were able to stretch it out for a very long time to avoid the heaviest downpours of rain. Two interesting things about this restaurant. First of all, patrons brought their dogs in. And not just service dogs. Secondly, the restroom had a seat cleaner on it that cleaned the seat after every use. A contraption came out and the seat moved through it in a circle and cleaned it. Very good idea, I think. I didn't even need to use the bathroom but I had to go check it out anyway because Sheryl said it was blog-worthy!
After lunch we had just a short walk to the windmills. They were something cool to see and we took photographs of them. Then we walked back into the town center and headed back towards our hotel. We did have to stop at Dumons Chocolatier one last time just to pick up a few more treats before we leave tomorrow. Just so you all know, we are not able to bring home chocolate this trip because we have no room to pack it AND it would probably melt into a gigantic mess!
We met back up at the hotel and Sue, Diane, Sandy and Linda went on a canal cruise which they all enjoyed very much. David and Sheryl went to the train station to buy our tickets for our trip to The Hague tomorrow and I came back to the room and rested a little bit. Soon Sheryl and David returned and Sheryl went to her room and brought Carol and their treat bag back to our room. What a treat bag! They had chocolate twizzlers, M&M pretzels, Rice Krispie treats, plain M&Ms, granola bars, etc. So we all had a few treats and visited. Then the other four returned from the canal trip and they gathered in our room too. We all had a blast just sitting around talking. I will have to finish this tomorrow because I am just too sleepy to write anymore. Good night!
Back to the blog. After the treat frenzy in our room, Sandy, Linda, Sue and Diane decided to head down to the bar for a glass of wine. David, Sheryl, Carol and I went out to see a Christmas store I had spotted earlier and to have waffles. You know . . . Belgium waffles!!! The Christmas store was closed but we did find a great place for waffles! Sheryl had hers with butter and powdered sugar, David had his with sugar and whipped cream, Carol had hers with warm cherry sauce and I had mine with chocolate sauce, ice cream and whipped cream. They were deadly and sooooo good. I hate to admit this but I think I have even reached my "sweets threshold!" We walked back to our hotel, said goodnight to the girls in the bar and went to bed. We all hate to leave Bruges in the morning because it is a wonderful, historic city and everyone is so nice here!
Bruges, Belgium
We had an incredible day today -- even tho we had to put up with rain showers most of the day. Luckily the hardest rain of the day was during our leisurely lunch so we never got soaking wet.
We met in the lobby of our hotel this morning at 8:00. Diane had scoped out a breakfast restaurant that had coffee! The name of the restaurant was Prestige and it was a "patisserie" and small breakfast/lunch restaurant. The front part was the bakery and the displays were mouth watering! The tables and chairs were in the back of the restaurant. A very nice waiter (owner?) arranged tables for us to sit together. David and I split a four cheese quiche and had delicious rolls with it. It also came with a salad which David ate. No, they did not have ranch dressing and David survived! I had coffee and he had ice tea from a bottle and it was carbonated. He said it was good. The others had waffles, salmon quiche, raisin croissants and Carol had a delicious-looking yogurt with fresh fruit -- berries, I think. When we were leaving they were arranging gorgeously decorated pastries in the cases. Sheryl and I spotted bite size pastries that were also beautifully decorated. But . . . we did not buy any.
After breakfast we strolled around the city shopping and people-watching. Some of our travelers bought handmade lace souvenirs that were so delicate and beautiful. Some bought lace scarves that are spectacular. At one of the shops that I did not go into the male owner was in he back making lace! What an art. So intricate.
Yesterday during our explorations we discovered two eye glass stores. You all know that Sheryl, David and I have glasses from Venice. Yes, we think we're really cool. So we decided to check out the stores. The first store had glasses from Paris and they were very expensive. For instance one pair we liked for David was 800 euro -- about $999.00. The store owner was not very nice either so we quickly left that store. Then we went to one just down the street from our hotel named Hoet (pronounced hoot). It is a family run business and the father is the eye glass designer. The glasses are all made in Belgium. They had a huge selection in many, many colors and Sheryl and David tried on a bunch. They each selected a pair -- Sheryl's are purple (Laurie, you would LOVE them) and the rest of you will just have to wait to see what David picked out. These glasses were affordable! The owner also showed us the most unique glasses we had ever seen but the glass part is so intricate that the salesman said it might be hard to get someone in the US to make them into progressive lenses so we couldn't buy those. Carol, who was just along to look and had no intention of buying glasses, bought the BEST sunglasses any of us have ever seen. I cannot do them justice describing them so you will have to wait for pictures.
The last time we were here we heard about the 4 windmills and we wanted to see them and Sheryl wanted to photograph them. Sheryl, Noel and I walked and walked but did not find the windmills -- turns out we were walking in the wrong direction! So today we decided to go see them. The desk clerk at our hotel showed Sandy how to get there and also recommended a restaurant for us to have lunch on the way. The restaurant was called Du Phare and it was a very interesting place. The menu was extremely varied and offered seafood, salads, spaghetti, chicken tortillas with salsa, cheese croquets, shrimp croquets, etc., so we had quite the variety of lunches. David had vegetarian couscous which he liked and I had the chicken tortillas. All of the food looked very good and I think everyone enjoyed it. It was a lot bigger lunch than we are used to but we were able to stretch it out for a very long time to avoid the heaviest downpours of rain. Two interesting things about this restaurant. First of all, patrons brought their dogs in. And not just service dogs. Secondly, the restroom had a seat cleaner on it that cleaned the seat after every use. A contraption came out and the seat moved through it in a circle and cleaned it. Very good idea, I think. I didn't even need to use the bathroom but I had to go check it out anyway because Sheryl said it was blog-worthy!
After lunch we had just a short walk to the windmills. They were something cool to see and we took photographs of them. Then we walked back into the town center and headed back towards our hotel. We did have to stop at Dumons Chocolatier one last time just to pick up a few more treats before we leave tomorrow. Just so you all know, we are not able to bring home chocolate this trip because we have no room to pack it AND it would probably melt into a gigantic mess!
We met back up at the hotel and Sue, Diane, Sandy and Linda went on a canal cruise which they all enjoyed very much. David and Sheryl went to the train station to buy our tickets for our trip to The Hague tomorrow and I came back to the room and rested a little bit. Soon Sheryl and David returned and Sheryl went to her room and brought Carol and their treat bag back to our room. What a treat bag! They had chocolate twizzlers, M&M pretzels, Rice Krispie treats, plain M&Ms, granola bars, etc. So we all had a few treats and visited. Then the other four returned from the canal trip and they gathered in our room too. We all had a blast just sitting around talking. I will have to finish this tomorrow because I am just too sleepy to write anymore. Good night!
Back to the blog. After the treat frenzy in our room, Sandy, Linda, Sue and Diane decided to head down to the bar for a glass of wine. David, Sheryl, Carol and I went out to see a Christmas store I had spotted earlier and to have waffles. You know . . . Belgium waffles!!! The Christmas store was closed but we did find a great place for waffles! Sheryl had hers with butter and powdered sugar, David had his with sugar and whipped cream, Carol had hers with warm cherry sauce and I had mine with chocolate sauce, ice cream and whipped cream. They were deadly and sooooo good. I hate to admit this but I think I have even reached my "sweets threshold!" We walked back to our hotel, said goodnight to the girls in the bar and went to bed. We all hate to leave Bruges in the morning because it is a wonderful, historic city and everyone is so nice here!
Sunday, June 10, 2012
SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012
Bruges, Belgium
The end of our first long day of travel! The trip from Charlotte to Philadelphia to Brussels was great. We had a strong tail wind and arrived 30 minutes early in Philadelphia and over an hour early in Brussels. David and I were the first of our group to arrive and easily made our way through customs and baggage claim. We found the Java Hut and I had coffee and David had hot chocolate.
Linda and Sandy arrived about an hour after we did and they had no problem with their flights either. Sheryl, Sue (Sheryl's sister), Carol and Diane had a little issue. Their planes to JFK had mechanical issues but they were able to get flights to Laguardia airport and then took a taxi to JFK to board their flight to Brussels. Just a little stressful glitch! They arrived about 30 minutes after Linda and Sandy.
We easily found our way to the train station, one level down from baggage claim, and bought our train tickets to Bruges, Belgium. The tickets cost about $21.00 a piece. We rode to Brussels-Midi and had to change trains there. It was a bit of a goat rope as David would say because no one, even the train station official, knew which track the train to Bruges was going to leave from. After some marching around the station, we finally got to the right track. The trip from Brussels to Bruges only took about one hour.
We arrived at the Bruges train station and decided to take taxis to our hotel rather than hauling our luggage a mile or so on cobble stone streets. This was interesting: David, Sheryl and I took one taxi and it cost 11 euro. The other group of 5 people took a separate taxi and it cost them 8 euro. Go figure! Our hotel is the Heritage Hotel which was built in 1390 and housed businesses and families until the 1900s when it became a bank. For the last 20 years or so it has been 4-star boutique hotel with 24 rooms. Claudia checked us in and upgraded all of our rooms to superior rooms. They are typically European -- a little small but very charming! Each room has an IPad for the guests to use and free wireless internet. Nice bonus but, of course, I have an IPad 2 so I do not need to use it. That comment was for Kema and Steve. We were able to check in but our rooms were not ready. We stored our luggage and headed out for a little sight-seeing and chocolate-buying.
When Sheryl and I were here before, she knew about a wonderful chocolate shop called Dumon Chocolatier. We loved the Dumon chocolate so that was our very first stop today. Most of us bought some treats for sustenance! We strolled through the Market Square and headed to the Church of Our Lady to see Michaelangelo's Madonna and Child sculpted out of Carrara Marble. It is one of a very few of Michaelangelo's pieces to leave Italy. It was sculpted in 1504, bought by a Bruges' merchant and donated to the church in 1506. It is a gorgeous sculpture and it is hard to believe it is on display here in Bruges.
David and I were really tired so after that we walked back to the hotel to rest. The others stayed out and continued to sight-see and visit a few shops. I believe there was another chocolate purchase and I know several of them tried the frites from the vendor stand in the Market Square. David and I napped and a few the others did too and then we met for dinner at 5:00 p.m.
We decided to have an early dinner so we could all get to bed early and try to get our bodies on "Bruges time." At 5:00 all of us except Carol (she decided she would rather rest than eat dinner) gathered and headed out for an Italian restaurant recommended by Rick Steves. It did not open until 6:00 so we wandered around and did a little shopping waiting for it to open. But it never opened! Maybe it's closed on Sunday although there was no sign on the door. In our earlier wanderings we saw another Italian restaurant so we returned there and had a delicious meal. I'm sorry to say I do not remember the name of the restaurant but I will fill it in later. It was a very small restaurant with a huge menu. Two people had vegetarian lasagna. Sheryl and David had tagliatelle with mushrooms and cream sauce, Sue had four cheese penne pasta and I had salami and mozzarella calzone. All of us loved our dinners.
After dinner we strolled back to our hotel. We agreed to meet for breakfast tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. Until then, good night and love to all!
Bruges, Belgium
The end of our first long day of travel! The trip from Charlotte to Philadelphia to Brussels was great. We had a strong tail wind and arrived 30 minutes early in Philadelphia and over an hour early in Brussels. David and I were the first of our group to arrive and easily made our way through customs and baggage claim. We found the Java Hut and I had coffee and David had hot chocolate.
Linda and Sandy arrived about an hour after we did and they had no problem with their flights either. Sheryl, Sue (Sheryl's sister), Carol and Diane had a little issue. Their planes to JFK had mechanical issues but they were able to get flights to Laguardia airport and then took a taxi to JFK to board their flight to Brussels. Just a little stressful glitch! They arrived about 30 minutes after Linda and Sandy.
We easily found our way to the train station, one level down from baggage claim, and bought our train tickets to Bruges, Belgium. The tickets cost about $21.00 a piece. We rode to Brussels-Midi and had to change trains there. It was a bit of a goat rope as David would say because no one, even the train station official, knew which track the train to Bruges was going to leave from. After some marching around the station, we finally got to the right track. The trip from Brussels to Bruges only took about one hour.
We arrived at the Bruges train station and decided to take taxis to our hotel rather than hauling our luggage a mile or so on cobble stone streets. This was interesting: David, Sheryl and I took one taxi and it cost 11 euro. The other group of 5 people took a separate taxi and it cost them 8 euro. Go figure! Our hotel is the Heritage Hotel which was built in 1390 and housed businesses and families until the 1900s when it became a bank. For the last 20 years or so it has been 4-star boutique hotel with 24 rooms. Claudia checked us in and upgraded all of our rooms to superior rooms. They are typically European -- a little small but very charming! Each room has an IPad for the guests to use and free wireless internet. Nice bonus but, of course, I have an IPad 2 so I do not need to use it. That comment was for Kema and Steve. We were able to check in but our rooms were not ready. We stored our luggage and headed out for a little sight-seeing and chocolate-buying.
When Sheryl and I were here before, she knew about a wonderful chocolate shop called Dumon Chocolatier. We loved the Dumon chocolate so that was our very first stop today. Most of us bought some treats for sustenance! We strolled through the Market Square and headed to the Church of Our Lady to see Michaelangelo's Madonna and Child sculpted out of Carrara Marble. It is one of a very few of Michaelangelo's pieces to leave Italy. It was sculpted in 1504, bought by a Bruges' merchant and donated to the church in 1506. It is a gorgeous sculpture and it is hard to believe it is on display here in Bruges.
David and I were really tired so after that we walked back to the hotel to rest. The others stayed out and continued to sight-see and visit a few shops. I believe there was another chocolate purchase and I know several of them tried the frites from the vendor stand in the Market Square. David and I napped and a few the others did too and then we met for dinner at 5:00 p.m.
We decided to have an early dinner so we could all get to bed early and try to get our bodies on "Bruges time." At 5:00 all of us except Carol (she decided she would rather rest than eat dinner) gathered and headed out for an Italian restaurant recommended by Rick Steves. It did not open until 6:00 so we wandered around and did a little shopping waiting for it to open. But it never opened! Maybe it's closed on Sunday although there was no sign on the door. In our earlier wanderings we saw another Italian restaurant so we returned there and had a delicious meal. I'm sorry to say I do not remember the name of the restaurant but I will fill it in later. It was a very small restaurant with a huge menu. Two people had vegetarian lasagna. Sheryl and David had tagliatelle with mushrooms and cream sauce, Sue had four cheese penne pasta and I had salami and mozzarella calzone. All of us loved our dinners.
After dinner we strolled back to our hotel. We agreed to meet for breakfast tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. Until then, good night and love to all!
Friday, June 8, 2012
Hello all,
It's the evening before we leave on our trip and we are very excited! Today was a full day of errands, allergy shots, last minute shopping and, last but not least, a pedicure. David had to go to court in Asheville about his ticket for driving without a CDL and the DA quickly dismissed the case when David showed him proof that he now has a CDL. Whew! If he had gone to jail, who would I have taken to Europe with me???
I just checked us in for the flight and printed our boarding passes. We leave Charlotte at 2:45 p.m. and fly to Philadelphia. We leave Philadelphia at 6:10 p.m. and arrive in Brussels, Belgium at 7:55 a.m. It's a 7 hr., 45 min. flight which isn't too bad. I'm sorry to say that first class is sold out so I was unable to upgrade us for the flight over. Oh well, we have good exit row seats with a lot of leg room in front of us (and then there's the lavatory) so we should be pretty comfortable.
We will be meeting up with six other people when we arrive in Belgium. We all arrive within one hour of each other. We will meet at the Java Hut and then proceed to the train station where we will take a train to Bruges, Belgium for the first part of our journey. More about that tomorrow.
Now it's time to finish packing and go forage for food for dinner. We've tried to empty out the cupboards and refrigerator because we will be gone for so long so it will be slim pickins'. I'm thinking hot dogs with a frozen vegetable of some kind. Luckily I have low carb fudgesicles for dessert!
Will write more tomorrow.
It's the evening before we leave on our trip and we are very excited! Today was a full day of errands, allergy shots, last minute shopping and, last but not least, a pedicure. David had to go to court in Asheville about his ticket for driving without a CDL and the DA quickly dismissed the case when David showed him proof that he now has a CDL. Whew! If he had gone to jail, who would I have taken to Europe with me???
I just checked us in for the flight and printed our boarding passes. We leave Charlotte at 2:45 p.m. and fly to Philadelphia. We leave Philadelphia at 6:10 p.m. and arrive in Brussels, Belgium at 7:55 a.m. It's a 7 hr., 45 min. flight which isn't too bad. I'm sorry to say that first class is sold out so I was unable to upgrade us for the flight over. Oh well, we have good exit row seats with a lot of leg room in front of us (and then there's the lavatory) so we should be pretty comfortable.
We will be meeting up with six other people when we arrive in Belgium. We all arrive within one hour of each other. We will meet at the Java Hut and then proceed to the train station where we will take a train to Bruges, Belgium for the first part of our journey. More about that tomorrow.
Now it's time to finish packing and go forage for food for dinner. We've tried to empty out the cupboards and refrigerator because we will be gone for so long so it will be slim pickins'. I'm thinking hot dogs with a frozen vegetable of some kind. Luckily I have low carb fudgesicles for dessert!
Will write more tomorrow.
Saturday, June 2, 2012
David and I are happily getting ready for our three week trip to Europe. We will leave next Saturday, June 9, 2012, and we will return on Saturday, June 30, 2012. We are visiting Belgium, The Netherlands and France. I hope you will all enjoy my blog and will leave me comments after you read it. Your comments will help me from becoming too homesick! Until next Saturday . . . .
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