Dubai, Saturday August 15th to Wednesday 19th
Not much of Saturday left as we arrived at the hotel at about 11.30 pm and it was still hot and steamy. The plane trip was as we expected, sat behind each other despite several at the airport to rectify the BA stuff up. We were not on our own as there was a family of 4 in business all seated separately. Only BA could be so customer (dis) orientated. The level of on board service was also way below JAL, Cathy and Qantas, although we must say that the crew were polite and helpful. Obviously BA are seeing how low they can go before the flying public totally revolt.
What can we say about Dubai other than it was an experience not to miss. On the one hand there is some marvellous architecture but on the other hand it all reeks of a house made of playing cards.
I have never seen so many abandoned projects, both civil and built, and I would not want to be in the crane hire business as without exaggeration we must have seen over 1000 idle cranes on deserted sites. I guess you would not want to be in the plant hire business full stop.
Whilst the “international financial crisis” is obviously part of the scenario, it seemed to us that there was also a long term demand and a speculation issue. Even if the ICF has caused a drop in tourist numbers there seemed to us to be far too many elaborately built overly large malls, and an outright abundance of unoccupied accommodation.
We only visited three malls, The Mall of the Emirates, near our hotel, the Dubai Mall and the ...... Mall. All were pretty deserted particularly the Dubai Mall which is massive. In some arms we observed that there were no customers at all for extended periods and those few people who were strolling around were not carrying shopping bags. We reckon 90% of the few visitors that were there, were doing what we were doing and just having a gawk. Here were also many vacant shops particularly in the Gold Souk which was almost totally devoid of customers in the hour or so we spent there. The Mall of the Emirates was bit busier but potential customer numbers seemed to be way below sustainability.
Also impacting on the latter was the fact that it was surrounded on at least two sides by abandoned projects and for miles around by road works which seemed at least a year off finishing. Our hotel was only a couple of hundred yards from the rear entry yet because of the road works was virtually inaccessible by foot. In addition to get from the shops by car or taxi to our hotel required about a 4 km detour, (to cover the 200m lateral distance). It was the same every time we came back, we would pass within 2-300 metres of the hotel and then divert for 3-4 km to get there. And this was just not a problem in our area, several really high class hotels had appalling approaches to the extent you would not have wanted to stay in them they were so isolated. One 5 star hotel we visited to drop off other tour guests on the way back from our Desert experience was accessible only down a string of laneways boarded by abandoned developments. Heavens knows what the views looked like from the rooms.
The site between our hotel and the Mall was a massive hole in the ground several stories deep and covering at least 5 hectares and it was apparent that it had been all but abandoned for a very long time. It is difficult to imagine just when or even if work will recommence on any or of these sites and if not what will become of them. There must be thousands of such projects in terminal distress. We saw only a handful where there was any work in progress.
The development outlook from our perspective looked positively frightening.
On the other hand we were enthralled by the completed architecture and the vision. Even though I was aware of the size and magnitude of the “palm” developments I was quite taken aback by the intensity of development and the number of multi story apartment blocks. Just who owns the product and how much is ever occupied is anybody guess.
I was also somewhat perplexed by the number and dispersement of the commercial buildings, and wondered for a city of that size, even with the “international” influence, how they could all possibly be fully utilised and where the supposed demand was or all those coming (or at least were coming) out of the ground. I also found the distances between centres and infrastructure links, particularly transport, perplexing. It did not seem that there was any rhyme or reason to locational decisions and the transport network in its current state, (where everything seems to be half finished) chaotic. Traffic was also heavy on all major roads and a smog haze hung over the whole place whilst we were there, although to be fair the heat was also a factor.
I guess I am just too conservative and lacking in vision, however this would be the last place I would currently invest in.
From a tourist viewpoint however we had a ball, we overlapped with Lesley and John for a day and took the opportunity to join them on the desert safari and night BBQ. It was a long drive out but when we got off road, bloody hair-raising, although I thought Michele handled it pretty well even if her knuckles would not relax their grip in the hand rail in the back seat when we arrived at the “tent”. I did manage a pretty poor sand boarding attempt on the dunes and we both enjoyed our 200m camel ride and Michele her henna tattoo. The food was terrific and I will post a photo of the dunny sign when I get the chance. There was also a pretty good looking belly dancer who certainly did not cover up in the Islamic tradition.
The third night Michele and I also enjoyed a dhow cruise dinner on Dubai Creek, which I guess would be more properly described as an inlet. I should acknowledge that both the window, and actual shopping had its moments.
Dubai was also bloody hot and surprisingly humid at this time of the year. We had expected a clearer heat and not for our glasses to fog up every time we went outside.
Suggestion to anybody thinking of booking Dubai accommodation, the further out you get the more likely you are to be affected by road works or abandoned development works, in retrospect we would have been better off closer to Dubai Creek than the Mall of the Emirates.
Hong Kong, Wednesday 19th to Friday 21st August
Very different to Dubai, busy everywhere and although hot, I thought easier than Dubai to handle although Michele felt the humidity more.
Neither of us had been here for some time and found much had changed. Stayed in down town HK on Col Stubbings’ (very good) advice and close to times square.
We both found that it was much more modern than 20 years ago and much more cosmopolitan.
Certainly the shopping has changed, particularly in the malls, to upmarket designer stores, although the old style markets and stores do still exist. Around where we stayed, near the Times Square Mall, there seemed to be few westerners around, although plenty of Japanese but no touts, or very few anyway. Kowloon was much different, more tourists and full of touts.
We spent our two nights and three days here casually wandering around in various directions and kept tourist activities to the star ferry to Kowloon and a trip up the peak. We enjoyed the executive treatment at the hotel (we upgraded on arrival) and in particular the evening drinks on the 26th floor taking in a view of the Peak. Of course there was some shopping, notably for a new suitcase to replace our now two broken ones and a new pocket camera for Michele.
We also ate well, why is it that Chinese food tastes much better over here than at home, is it MSG or lack of?
As I type this we are awaiting our 11.15 evening plane home and looking forward to sleeping in our own bed tomorrow evening and to a Lions victory!!.
PS. Our first Qantas flight on our One World ticket and they s*** all over BA for service both on the ground and in flight!!!
Friday, August 21, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Blog notes, firstly I have not as yet re typed the Cruise blog but intend to so if for no other reason than I promised Karen Butchers. Secondly Michele has not done a Spain entry and probably won't as it is so long ago now. Therefore this new post covers Prague and London. The next will probably be Dubai then the boat.
Since the Boat
Since the lost blog what has happened?
Monday 10th August to Wednesday 13th August, Prague.
Left the boat in lovely Budapest on the morning of Aug 10th and about 1/3 of the boat travellers journeyed to Prague by bus. The trip itself was about 8 hours and a bit boring, mostly on a motorway and we wondered whether or not Scenic should do this transfer either by air or train if practicable.
It was also memorable for the wrong reasons as there were only two breaks, the first of which was at a clean and reasonable motorway roadhouse. The second was scheduled for a lunch stop at a hotel, however for some reason to do with timing was instead made at a lower standard roadhouse where the food options were average to say the least. The general consensus was that if we had known we all would have bought sandwiches at the first stop.
The hotel in Prague on the other hand was very comfortable and well located for our three day stay.
Prague is said to be the Paris of the east and we could see why. We were some 100m off the middle of Wenceslas Square, which is really a very wide boulevard about 1 km long rather than a square.
On our first day we did the obligatory walking tour of the castle, the Charles bridge, the old town, old town square with the astronomical clock (dates to 1420), cakes and coffee. It is really impressive to see the attempts made to preserve these old areas.
The afternoon and the next day were at our own program and we went at our own pace. As usual Lesley and Michele spent a good portion on retail therapy.
As with all the towns we visited on the tour, Prague was in full tourist season, full of visitors of all ages and tourist shops the same everywhere with similar ranges of goods. I love (heart) Prague, Paris Budapest or where ever T shirts, local and not necessary local football shirts, carry bags with the name changed and nick-knacks. The real trick is picking the somewhat unique ones for the country or region.
Our last tour dinner was at a “traditional Czech” restaurant and other than it was very hot was a pleasant way to finish the tour.
As with all tours there were a range of co travellers mostly from Australia, with couple of Kiwis, Canadians, Yanks and Brits.
One lady would be a real role model for the Bubbles girls. Janet was a sprightly 92 year old travelling on her own and keeping up pretty well. At one stage she queried whether the “slow walking group” would be too slow (and they were as it was made up of a few strugglers) and on the last morning in Prague she took a lady about 20 years younger to the astronomical clock and then pointed her in the direction of the hotel so she could continue on alone to see some of the other highlights. Not only was she physically up to it but was a very knowledgeable, independent thinker and good company.
Michele and I parted from Lesley and John in Prague (if not explained earlier Michele’s sister Lesley and Brother John were on the river cruise), as they went to Dubai and we went on to London.
London Thursday 13th and Friday 14th August
Although we only effectively had two nights and one day in London, we made good use of them by seeing both, Billy Elliot and Hairspray and spending a delightful time at the British Museum.
Stayed at a hotel in a chain recommended by Geoff’s niece Rebecca which turned out to be a great choice as it was located in a fairly quiet street right behind the British Museum and only 50m from Russell Square. The latter was a very peaceful respite with beautiful Georgian Gardens. Michele was particularly interested in that the plants in the garden beds were the result of a collaboration with a local school where grades 3 and 4 had researched and visited Georgian gardens to determine the type of plants used in that era and then helped plant them, to a truly great effect. We would recommend The Grange –Whitehall to anybody visiting London as well located and reasonably priced by London standards (just under 100 UK pound a night).
We chose the location as it was close to Covent Garden and the theatre district, but would you believe that Billy Elliot was on the other side of town just behind Buck Palace and opposite Victoria Station. However even this turned out to advantage as to get there we walked the tourist route and killed two birds with one stone. Shaftsbury Avenue, Leicester Square, Piccadilly, Trafalgar Square (fenced off due to a concert or whatever so Aerlyn would not have been able to climb a lion as she did in ’95), The Mall, the gardens, Buck Palace (passed at 6pm and saw them change the guard although not the ceremonial one). Dinner in a Pub and a spectacular theatre performance. The lead boy was truly fantastic as for that matter were the rest of the cast. Home by underground, left mortgage with station master, although as this was our only UG trip we were able to redeem the same the next day. Don’t ever complain about the cost of Brisbane Bus fares!
As noted above visited the British Museum and although we were “museum’d” out a bit (lot) we still enjoyed our couple of hours there mostly in the Egyptian and Middle East section but also in the special displays of clocks and watches and the history of coinage and money.
The only London lowlight was dealing with British Airways who managed to seat Michele and I in separate rows for the second time on a long haul flight (this time to Dubai, the first time on the NY-London leg) and in this instance were unable to re-seat us. To cut a long story short BA have a terrible booking and seat allocation system and even poorer public relations. In addition their in-flight service, at least in Business, is far below the other airlines we have flown with as part of our one world ticket (although to be fair the in flight staff were polite and efficient). No wonder they are going down the gurgler!
Given the choice we have resolved to never fly with them again.
By coincidence Michele was chosen as one to fill out a survey in which she gave them a real serve, particularly in regard to our being left hanging on an international roaming call for some 15 minutes. We are determined to send them the bill for the call.
Had drinks to celebrate that Friday is Bubbles day before seeing Hairspray which although very different to Billy Elliot is another great musical theatre experience. This time the theatre was only a few hundred metres away and an easy stroll home until we reached our street corner at the same time a fire engine, siren blazing and lights flashing did a two wheeler around it and nearly sucked us into its slipstream before screeching to a halt behind another appliance and a couple of Police cars right outside the entry to our hotel. Flashing lights everywhere!
Passports in flame? No instead an accident between a cab and a car the cause of which or even the action of which was difficult to determine in such a quiet low speed street. Notwithstanding what seemed to be a low impact apparently the rear seat passenger was in a bad way and getting him out via the door (wide door in a London Cab) not practicable or else desirable and we watched as the firies first took out the rear window and then the side windows. Interestingly the ambulance was the last vehicle to arrive.
Trust the Brits to put on a show for us on our last night, we just hope the passenger was OK.
Saturday morning once again saw in a Taxi to Paddington Station and then on the Heathrow Connect to the airport, a really efficient was to get to and from the airport, only this time our train was cancelled and we got a free upgrade to the more expensive and quicker Heathrow Express an even faster and more impressive alternative and one which did not entail a change of train to get to terminal 5. Win-win all round. To all the cities we have visited before, each time you re-visit, you see a different face of the city or perhaps the memory is fading and it all seems new again.
Since the Boat
Since the lost blog what has happened?
Monday 10th August to Wednesday 13th August, Prague.
Left the boat in lovely Budapest on the morning of Aug 10th and about 1/3 of the boat travellers journeyed to Prague by bus. The trip itself was about 8 hours and a bit boring, mostly on a motorway and we wondered whether or not Scenic should do this transfer either by air or train if practicable.
It was also memorable for the wrong reasons as there were only two breaks, the first of which was at a clean and reasonable motorway roadhouse. The second was scheduled for a lunch stop at a hotel, however for some reason to do with timing was instead made at a lower standard roadhouse where the food options were average to say the least. The general consensus was that if we had known we all would have bought sandwiches at the first stop.
The hotel in Prague on the other hand was very comfortable and well located for our three day stay.
Prague is said to be the Paris of the east and we could see why. We were some 100m off the middle of Wenceslas Square, which is really a very wide boulevard about 1 km long rather than a square.
On our first day we did the obligatory walking tour of the castle, the Charles bridge, the old town, old town square with the astronomical clock (dates to 1420), cakes and coffee. It is really impressive to see the attempts made to preserve these old areas.
The afternoon and the next day were at our own program and we went at our own pace. As usual Lesley and Michele spent a good portion on retail therapy.
As with all the towns we visited on the tour, Prague was in full tourist season, full of visitors of all ages and tourist shops the same everywhere with similar ranges of goods. I love (heart) Prague, Paris Budapest or where ever T shirts, local and not necessary local football shirts, carry bags with the name changed and nick-knacks. The real trick is picking the somewhat unique ones for the country or region.
Our last tour dinner was at a “traditional Czech” restaurant and other than it was very hot was a pleasant way to finish the tour.
As with all tours there were a range of co travellers mostly from Australia, with couple of Kiwis, Canadians, Yanks and Brits.
One lady would be a real role model for the Bubbles girls. Janet was a sprightly 92 year old travelling on her own and keeping up pretty well. At one stage she queried whether the “slow walking group” would be too slow (and they were as it was made up of a few strugglers) and on the last morning in Prague she took a lady about 20 years younger to the astronomical clock and then pointed her in the direction of the hotel so she could continue on alone to see some of the other highlights. Not only was she physically up to it but was a very knowledgeable, independent thinker and good company.
Michele and I parted from Lesley and John in Prague (if not explained earlier Michele’s sister Lesley and Brother John were on the river cruise), as they went to Dubai and we went on to London.
London Thursday 13th and Friday 14th August
Although we only effectively had two nights and one day in London, we made good use of them by seeing both, Billy Elliot and Hairspray and spending a delightful time at the British Museum.
Stayed at a hotel in a chain recommended by Geoff’s niece Rebecca which turned out to be a great choice as it was located in a fairly quiet street right behind the British Museum and only 50m from Russell Square. The latter was a very peaceful respite with beautiful Georgian Gardens. Michele was particularly interested in that the plants in the garden beds were the result of a collaboration with a local school where grades 3 and 4 had researched and visited Georgian gardens to determine the type of plants used in that era and then helped plant them, to a truly great effect. We would recommend The Grange –Whitehall to anybody visiting London as well located and reasonably priced by London standards (just under 100 UK pound a night).
We chose the location as it was close to Covent Garden and the theatre district, but would you believe that Billy Elliot was on the other side of town just behind Buck Palace and opposite Victoria Station. However even this turned out to advantage as to get there we walked the tourist route and killed two birds with one stone. Shaftsbury Avenue, Leicester Square, Piccadilly, Trafalgar Square (fenced off due to a concert or whatever so Aerlyn would not have been able to climb a lion as she did in ’95), The Mall, the gardens, Buck Palace (passed at 6pm and saw them change the guard although not the ceremonial one). Dinner in a Pub and a spectacular theatre performance. The lead boy was truly fantastic as for that matter were the rest of the cast. Home by underground, left mortgage with station master, although as this was our only UG trip we were able to redeem the same the next day. Don’t ever complain about the cost of Brisbane Bus fares!
As noted above visited the British Museum and although we were “museum’d” out a bit (lot) we still enjoyed our couple of hours there mostly in the Egyptian and Middle East section but also in the special displays of clocks and watches and the history of coinage and money.
The only London lowlight was dealing with British Airways who managed to seat Michele and I in separate rows for the second time on a long haul flight (this time to Dubai, the first time on the NY-London leg) and in this instance were unable to re-seat us. To cut a long story short BA have a terrible booking and seat allocation system and even poorer public relations. In addition their in-flight service, at least in Business, is far below the other airlines we have flown with as part of our one world ticket (although to be fair the in flight staff were polite and efficient). No wonder they are going down the gurgler!
Given the choice we have resolved to never fly with them again.
By coincidence Michele was chosen as one to fill out a survey in which she gave them a real serve, particularly in regard to our being left hanging on an international roaming call for some 15 minutes. We are determined to send them the bill for the call.
Had drinks to celebrate that Friday is Bubbles day before seeing Hairspray which although very different to Billy Elliot is another great musical theatre experience. This time the theatre was only a few hundred metres away and an easy stroll home until we reached our street corner at the same time a fire engine, siren blazing and lights flashing did a two wheeler around it and nearly sucked us into its slipstream before screeching to a halt behind another appliance and a couple of Police cars right outside the entry to our hotel. Flashing lights everywhere!
Passports in flame? No instead an accident between a cab and a car the cause of which or even the action of which was difficult to determine in such a quiet low speed street. Notwithstanding what seemed to be a low impact apparently the rear seat passenger was in a bad way and getting him out via the door (wide door in a London Cab) not practicable or else desirable and we watched as the firies first took out the rear window and then the side windows. Interestingly the ambulance was the last vehicle to arrive.
Trust the Brits to put on a show for us on our last night, we just hope the passenger was OK.
Saturday morning once again saw in a Taxi to Paddington Station and then on the Heathrow Connect to the airport, a really efficient was to get to and from the airport, only this time our train was cancelled and we got a free upgrade to the more expensive and quicker Heathrow Express an even faster and more impressive alternative and one which did not entail a change of train to get to terminal 5. Win-win all round. To all the cities we have visited before, each time you re-visit, you see a different face of the city or perhaps the memory is fading and it all seems new again.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Bugger had a new post ready to paste to the blog relating to boat trip and lost the lot!!!! Over wrote the whole word documentand lost everything since arriving in Paris !!! Bloody computer.
Suffice to say we are in Prague and leave for London in the morning and I will have to endevour at some stage to retype the lost masterpiece. The boat trip other than an odour problem exceeded expectations.
Geoff and Michele
Suffice to say we are in Prague and leave for London in the morning and I will have to endevour at some stage to retype the lost masterpiece. The boat trip other than an odour problem exceeded expectations.
Geoff and Michele
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Been lax on the blog, a combination of internet conditions on the boat and a lack of time and or inclination when there is time, will catch up over the next few days.
Paris Friday 24th to Monday 27th
Geoff arrived at the hotel first carrying his own bags from the train, Michele sms’d from the airport notifying a safe arrival but lacking luggage!
Apparently this is not unusual in Europe where, either or both, a transfer is involved or Paris airport is involved. The concierge at the hotel had a list of customers, and not a small one, with lost luggage which he followed up every two hours and our regular bulletin for over 24 hours was “no new news”.
Michele without a change of clothes, nor make up for two days, unheard of!
A situation relieved with the purchase of a new skirt and a couple of tops and make up at Paris prices. It’s a good thing that well organised Geoff carries a spare tooth brush and other small essentials. The luggage finally arrived at 2.30am (yes am) on Sunday morning, apparently having been offloaded at Madrid on the way between Valencia and Paris. To say Michele was pissed off would be an understatement!
We had been warned, but boy o’ boy is Paris expensive. At the hotel internet was 7 Euro an hour (free everywhere else we had been, a cup of tea, crepe and beer 40 Euro ($30)! We later heard of a couple who had a room service cup of tea.... 40 Euro (80 $A)
In fact the whole hotel, the Westin was a joke, the blurb, including the compendium in the room, assured us that every room had a safe, iron and ironing board in the wardrobe. In our case in our very small room (rack rate 750 Euro per night!!!!), without joking, our wardrobe was not big enough, at 800mm deep, (just big enough for a jacket and a couple of shirts), to contain the safe let alone the iron and ironing board.
It was far and away the smallest wardrobe we have ever come across in a hotel of any star rating. The drawers were 100m deep and 100mm high, you could not even put your smalls in them! The staff from reception up to the duty manager insisted that there was a safe in every wardrobe in every room, however housekeeping told us that around us none did so. Whilst waiting for Michele, Geoff being the sort of troublemaker he is had taken the in room compendium down to reception and the duty manager had been summoned. An indictment on either their knowledge of there own hotel or an entrenched dis-information policy from management down!
But Paris, cost of living aside, what can you say, surely one of the finest cities in the world by any scale of measurement. We had a ball.
If there was a particular highlight it was Monet’s water lilies at the Musée de l'Orangerie followed by dinner on the Eiffel tower, the tour of the Opera and of course the finish of le tour on Sunday afternoon.
Our hotel was adjacent to the course, opposite the Jarden de Tulleries, just inside the 1km to the finish archway and 100m from the Place d concorde. We managed to snare a barrier spot which we held despite the efforts of the Gendarmes who kept trying to move us on, “ ja’no parle francee officer”! It gave Michele a great insight of what Geoff had experienced and she was amazed by the caravan and all the cars and motor bikes following the riders and the speed at which they all went in order to keep up. It was a lovely sunny afternoon and a great carnival atmosphere.
Monday said goodbye to Paris with some reluctance, and a bus to Amsterdam via Brussels.
This took almost all day. Lesley had caught the fast train form Paris and it only took her 2 hours. The trains top speed is 500k but they usually cruise at around 300 – 400k. While we toddled along at around 50-80k.
Met up with my brother John who joined us on the boat too, he had been to Italy and UK. So the four of us are travelling for the next 2 weeks. This is the longest time I have spent with any of my family members for years, apart from Lesley, as she and I have had a few holidays together.
The boat is quite luxurious, and is new (only commissioned in April). We have been going through some lochs or (locks) which are very tight, with the ship almost scraping on both sides, he is a wiz, the captain. I am glad I am not responsible for squeezing a huge big ship into a small space.
There is however one major problem, every time the boat stops our cabin and the cabins around us fill with sewerage gases which effectively makes the cabin uninhabitable. Thankfully the problem virtually goes away when under-sail and every night we are on the move so we can use it for sleeping.
Paris Friday 24th to Monday 27th
Geoff arrived at the hotel first carrying his own bags from the train, Michele sms’d from the airport notifying a safe arrival but lacking luggage!
Apparently this is not unusual in Europe where, either or both, a transfer is involved or Paris airport is involved. The concierge at the hotel had a list of customers, and not a small one, with lost luggage which he followed up every two hours and our regular bulletin for over 24 hours was “no new news”.
Michele without a change of clothes, nor make up for two days, unheard of!
A situation relieved with the purchase of a new skirt and a couple of tops and make up at Paris prices. It’s a good thing that well organised Geoff carries a spare tooth brush and other small essentials. The luggage finally arrived at 2.30am (yes am) on Sunday morning, apparently having been offloaded at Madrid on the way between Valencia and Paris. To say Michele was pissed off would be an understatement!
We had been warned, but boy o’ boy is Paris expensive. At the hotel internet was 7 Euro an hour (free everywhere else we had been, a cup of tea, crepe and beer 40 Euro ($30)! We later heard of a couple who had a room service cup of tea.... 40 Euro (80 $A)
In fact the whole hotel, the Westin was a joke, the blurb, including the compendium in the room, assured us that every room had a safe, iron and ironing board in the wardrobe. In our case in our very small room (rack rate 750 Euro per night!!!!), without joking, our wardrobe was not big enough, at 800mm deep, (just big enough for a jacket and a couple of shirts), to contain the safe let alone the iron and ironing board.
It was far and away the smallest wardrobe we have ever come across in a hotel of any star rating. The drawers were 100m deep and 100mm high, you could not even put your smalls in them! The staff from reception up to the duty manager insisted that there was a safe in every wardrobe in every room, however housekeeping told us that around us none did so. Whilst waiting for Michele, Geoff being the sort of troublemaker he is had taken the in room compendium down to reception and the duty manager had been summoned. An indictment on either their knowledge of there own hotel or an entrenched dis-information policy from management down!
But Paris, cost of living aside, what can you say, surely one of the finest cities in the world by any scale of measurement. We had a ball.
If there was a particular highlight it was Monet’s water lilies at the Musée de l'Orangerie followed by dinner on the Eiffel tower, the tour of the Opera and of course the finish of le tour on Sunday afternoon.
Our hotel was adjacent to the course, opposite the Jarden de Tulleries, just inside the 1km to the finish archway and 100m from the Place d concorde. We managed to snare a barrier spot which we held despite the efforts of the Gendarmes who kept trying to move us on, “ ja’no parle francee officer”! It gave Michele a great insight of what Geoff had experienced and she was amazed by the caravan and all the cars and motor bikes following the riders and the speed at which they all went in order to keep up. It was a lovely sunny afternoon and a great carnival atmosphere.
Monday said goodbye to Paris with some reluctance, and a bus to Amsterdam via Brussels.
This took almost all day. Lesley had caught the fast train form Paris and it only took her 2 hours. The trains top speed is 500k but they usually cruise at around 300 – 400k. While we toddled along at around 50-80k.
Met up with my brother John who joined us on the boat too, he had been to Italy and UK. So the four of us are travelling for the next 2 weeks. This is the longest time I have spent with any of my family members for years, apart from Lesley, as she and I have had a few holidays together.
The boat is quite luxurious, and is new (only commissioned in April). We have been going through some lochs or (locks) which are very tight, with the ship almost scraping on both sides, he is a wiz, the captain. I am glad I am not responsible for squeezing a huge big ship into a small space.
There is however one major problem, every time the boat stops our cabin and the cabins around us fill with sewerage gases which effectively makes the cabin uninhabitable. Thankfully the problem virtually goes away when under-sail and every night we are on the move so we can use it for sleeping.
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