acrossthearctic
Travels of Tezza
Tales of the Arctic and other travels
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Paris -Home
End of "La vigne & le terroir" Tour
Another grey, drizzly cold morning but a few of us ventured out for a final lunch at Relais de Venice. This restaurant across the road from our hotel only seves one meal - steak and frites. As people queue to get in and these queues can extend around the corner and down the street, for Will kindly queued for us .
Then it was time for 18 of us to board the bus to travel to the airport. CDG airport is a bit iof a nightmare to neghotiate but a number of us found our way to the same cfae for a last charcuterie baord and a glass of rose!
Flights were FULL. On first leg I had one of the wallaby team ( travelling privately) next to me and I did feel a little guilty ( for a very SHORT time) not giving him my aisle seat. The second leg Ihad a very chatty kiwi woman traveliing home to Keri Keri so she had an extra two flights ,an extra 8 1/2 hour trip ahead of her.
We arrived home on time at 7am . This ended a fabulous trip. While we did not get to see the Wallabies play , we saw some amazing games - probably some of the closest in RWC history.We saw South Africa, the first team to win 4 RWC pull off some amazing wins. I have travelled on 5 RWC trips overseas and without a doubt this was the best group I have travelled with . Everyone mixed even though there were groups of friends within the group, everyone was on time ,all helped each other whether it was carrying luggage , making sure you didnt get lost within the massive crowds exiting the game or swapping seats to ensure you had a better seat to accommodate your moon booted leg.
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Paris
The day after a big event is always a bit flat and this morning was wet and grey which didnt help.
I however negotaited the metro alone as Stuart was niot well to go across the city to Jules Joffrin station in the Clignancourt district located in Montmartre. I was wary (not of the metro ) asthe roads and footpath were very wet and slippery and i thought if I fell I was on my own.
My reason for going was to meet my friends Greg and Maureen and attend mass with them in the delighful parish church Notre Dame de Clignancourt. It was lovely to hear the church bells ringing as i alighted from the metro.
The churcjh was full and the congregarion was led in singing by a wonderfully exuberant woman.
when the mass ended the sun was shining and we were met ouside by John ,one of my fellow tourists and the four of us then wlaked up a hill to a delighful locval cafe for lunch. it was nice to see the non tourist side of Montmartre .
John and i travelled back to prepare for the group's finl event a dinner at La Coupole Restaurant in Montparnasse. A fabulous mesl was had and the addition of an amazing birthday cake for Marie, half of our Kiwi couple was a bonus.
Damien somehow managed to avoid being run over as he stood in the road captuting a photo of us as we left the restaurant. After all who was going to run over our large ex wallaby forward the day after a RWC!!
When we got back to the hotel it was time for our gift exchange. Stephen our tour leadert has a tradition whereby at the start of the tour you draw a name out from a hat( and it cant be your partner ) and you have to buy them an appropriate gift (5 to 10 euros).This encourages you to get to know them and on the last night you give them the gift and say what you have learnt about th person and why you chose the gift.
During the trip if a person starts asking you questions you think " Am I their secret person". As we had a couple of Tony's and Vicki's on the trip , one person confessed he spent the first week "questioning": the wrong Vicki until his wife corrected him! I was lucky to draw a guy with whose wife I had struck up a conversation in Dubai airport and learnt a lot about them so my task was easy . Similarly my gift giver was someone who has kniow me for 8 years and is a friend outside the travels so his task was easy .
It was 1 am before we headed to our rooms o a late night.
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PARIS
A grey cold morning in Paris but we took the metro to Chatelet and wlalked across to Ile de la Cite . The queue to get into St Chapelle was ++++ long so as I had benn there at least three times I decided not to join. A walk to see the restoration work on Notre Dame followed.A lot of photographs explaining the phases are on the hoardings
From my observation there were a lot more Springbok than AB supporters in the city.
Paris has been on a red alert for weeks and the number of poolice etc is amazing but today it was wall to wall police. Peoples bags and backpacks were searced as they were crossing back to Place du Chatelet from Ile de la Cite.
We then wandered St Gervais area before going to Les Haslles area where we found the wonderful Church of St Eustache.
"Home" to a late lunch at La Terasse and shared an extra bottle of wine with John and Julie .
Then out to THE GAME. It rained as we exited the coach so we all donned our ponchos for the walk to the ground . we have become experts on the route " cross at the lights then walk until the ramp go through two lots of '"frisking"( male and female queues ) then walk to your gate then efficient roundabout queues to finally scan your ticket and get into your alloted area". The rain had stopped by then and altohugh there was a light droizzle through much of the game we were all dry.
What a game it was - hardly running rugby but the most brutal defence and you can't deny the Springboks know how to win a game. Three 1 point victories in the last 3 weeks demonstrate this. My "Man of Match " was Faf de Klerk .He can kick, tackle and had a wonderful pass - all from the smallest guy on the field.
The crowd was amazing in this marvellous stadium and the noise and atmosphere was electric.
About ten of us stayed to watch all the festivities - mainly those of us who had been barracking for the Bokka. The others got out to beat the crowd ( most of the 80,000 plus crowd stayed ) .The fireworks were great but I think provoked another downpour as we ten got absolutely drowned on the walk back to the bus. Lots of videoas were taken.
The trip home was the quickest ever and lots of game analysis .All agreed we have been so lucky to only see one game where the result was a foregone conclusion before the last few minutes.
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Bordeaux to Paris
A lazy wet morning beforevwe boarded the TGV for the trip to Paris.I was supposed to attend the bronze medal final but as I was suffering from 24 hours of nausea , i gave my tickets to a couple on the trip .
Instead i went out for my first food in 30 hours and managed a few bites before returning to the hotel to watch the match with others on the big screen TV. Rea.l disappoined for the Argentine team- third loss in a bronze final and this time to to what had to be the most boring team England. i was siting next to an English guy during the match and even he agreed with me!
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Bordeaux
Another wet day so most of us had a bit of a lie in which helped the coughs and colds. Ared in the trusty rain jacket and with my umbrella , I set off to explore the beautiful city of Bordeaux.Like many French cities there are stunning buildings, squares and churches. The Garonne River which runs through the city also allows for great riverside walking .
After a walk down the lovely shopping street Rue St Catherine and a stop for lunch at a local creperie , it was time to heading back to the hotel to dry off and put the feet up It had been 8km after all in continual rain!
Group drinks in the rooftop bar finished off the day
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Bordeaux
An other early start in drizzle but while we grumbled we could see why we needed to get going as the traffic was horrendous.
The air conditioning on the bus( which could be labelled the sniffles and cough bus at present) was broken so it was so stuffy. This was alleviated bu opening the roof hatches.
We travelled to the delightful town of Arcacheron Bay, a popular seaside resort on the Atlantic Ocean. It has forests of pine trees and has many villas of a style known as Arcacachonnaise built in the nineteenth century It has dunes and marshes and many oyster farms. We went to one of these and had an oyster and wine tasing-amazing.
We then set out on a walk through the town but the rain came tumbling down so we hopped back into the bus for a drive around the town and to a lovely park. We got off the bus and stated to walk around the park but again rain thwarted us.
A lovely seafood lunch overlooking one of the marinas in town then followed .
Next we visited the Chateau d'Agassac for s tour and wine tasting. This time wines of the Medoc region. Very beautiful building and impressive tour.
.A drive back in the rain to Bordeaux and a quiet dinner ended up an enjoyable day despite the rain. For my fellow Malta travellers , we had a guide for the day,Julie that could talk ( and did so) more than Maria!!
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Sarlat to Bordeaux
It was dark and drizzly when we left Sarlat and then became very foggy which was disappointing as we missed seeing some of the beautiful littel villages along the way. Good excuse for a snooze on the Bus!! Our first stop was at The Chateau de Candale, a gorgeous vineyard and as the sun had come out we all enjoyed wandering amongs the vines.
A wine tasting followed and some leisure time on a balcony before enjoying a fabulous lunch at the restaurant in the vineyard.
We then drove onto Bordeaux. Our hotel has a rooftop bar area and the group had impromptu drinks there. It was a fun time with Stephen, Damien and Michael relating stories of their football days and their favourite players
John , Stuart and I then went to a nearby restaurant for dinner . The area we are stayibng in is full of antique shops and cafes- very interesting.
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Sarlat -La Caneda
An early morning visit to the " Australian Embassy" i.e the laundromat before wandrering through this gorgeous medieval town. It is a photographers delight and you coud take hundreds of photos as there are so many amazing buildings.
A group dinner in a lovely old restaurant rounded off the day in one of my favourite places in France.
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Paris to Sarlat-La Caneda
A day of travel today. An early morning trip to Gare Montparnasse to catch the TGV to Bordeaux. A very relaxing trip catching up on some reading. We then boarded a coach for a relaxing drive through the countryside to the lovely town of Sarlat. Great meal of cassoulet at a lovely one of the mamy many restaurants in town.
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Paris
A late start after the late night at the football. The breakfast room was packed+++++ with rugby followers all recounting last night's game .I had a very interesting chart with a couple from Sheffield. He was really interested to hear why people voted "no".
Stuart and I then set off via the metro to Le Marais area and wandered the streets ending up at one of my favourite places Place des Vosges and the beautiful Eglise St Paul .
A metro ride back to our Porte de Maillot stop and then a short walk to a fabulous resturant Sebillon recommended by our guide Allane ( whom I dislike but he is good for something!!!). Lunch was an amazing gigot d'agneau washed down with a ver=y nice glass (or two) of chardonnay.
Then we set off for the next football game England v S Africa. Most of supported the Boks ( Southern hemisphere v the motherland).
This turned out to be a boring game for all but the last 7 minutes . As one of us said England played not to lose rather than to win. Their defence was amazing. The rainy conditions and the stop/ start nature of the game plus the incessant kicking made it a boring affair .
We were all pleased to see SA win as it should make it a more enjoyable final and we won’t have to hear the English supporters singing “ Swing low” - do they know more than two lines and know what the song is actually about? As one person in the crowd said “ For heavens sake take your f….chariot and go home”
A very wet walk back to coach after game and another late night.
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PARIS
After an amazing breakfast we set off on a long walk. There had been early morning drizzle and the weathger did not look too promising so the trusty rain jacket came out ( shades of Ireland!!). We firstly set off for the fairly close by Arc de Triomphe then down Champs Elysee to Place de Concorde. The Place de La Concorde is a huge Rugby village at present.
We then walked through the Tuileries Gardens through a bit of drizzling rain to the bank of the Seine . We walked along the river (meeting Carol and John en route) crossing to the other side to the base of the Eiffel Tower before crossing back to Place de Trocadero to take the customary photo.
A walk back to Arc de Triomphe and then back along the Avenue de Grande Armees with intersting ad for World Cup on a buildingto our hotel(18000 steps and > 11km ) for a brief rest .
Then it was a late lunch / early dinner of poulet ( I think i had half a chicken!!) with Lynette before donning the warm and rain gear to attend the game. The 9 pm start is a bit different for us and must have something to do with TV rights!
A disppointing game for Argentina but an awesome display by he ABs.rowd control leaving game was a bit scary. they funnelled us all into one exit lined with police (some with machine guns).
Late night as we didnt get ack to hotel until 12:15 am
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Beaune to Paris
This morning we visited a mustard factory in Beaune . Very interesting tour but i spenty much of it with my eyes closed as the spices in the aiur stunbg my eyes so much . The afternoon was spent on the train to Paris. We were due to travel in to Paris Bercy but about 10 minutes before we were due to arrive there was an annoucement that as there was a bomb scare at that station we wouild be going to Gare de Leon instead. Hasty rearrangements had to made for our coach to come and pick us up! The hotel we are staying in in Paris is very large and is full of rugby fans . We we wnt to dinner fairly close by at a lovely restaurant Chez George . Our companions at the next table were two people from Vancouver also here for the rugby.
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Lyon to Beaune
Our very punctual group boarded the bus nd bags were all loaded ready to depart only for there to be a fuss as they had sent the wrong bus . After negotaiations which involved changing the driver we set off in the very luxurios bus for our excursion into Burgundy. Our first stop at 10am was at Chateau de St Aubin for a wine tasting. Our driver did a magnificent job negotaiting the very narrow streets of the village. The winery(and adjoining hotel ) was very glamorous and the guide and the wines excellent.
We then ventured on to the lovely town of Beaune, which I had visited previously and loved. After a quick lunch, we toured the famous and amazing Hospice de Beaune and all were most imoressed. I enjoyed it more than my previous visit as it was less crowded and I was able to enjoy the pharmacy rooms at a more leisurely pace.
After some quiet time at the hotel Stuart and I ventured into town to Place Carnot to meet up for a pre dinner drink with Greg and Maureen and Terry and Jenny. We were lucky as our walk in a slight drizzle was a lot less wet than those who came along later
A group dinner at the wonderful Caves des Arches finished off a great day.
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Lyon
Quite a busy day in the beutiful city of Lyon. Our first stop this morning was to Fourviere, a hill wesgt of the city and site of the original settlement. The basilica,Notre Dame de Fourviere is beautiful with some amazing mosaics amd is topped by a golden statue.. The gardens surrounding the basilica command an outstanding view of the city below.
we then walked down +++++ steps to Old Lyon and had fun trabouling between the streets and see what was hiding behind the facade of many buildings.
Then it was off to a lovely group lunch in one of the restaurants in one of the fabulous streets lined with restaurants.
After lunch Stuart and I walked crossed one of the many bridges to the other side of the Rhone and had a long walk.
After a cupof tea we talk another short walk before joining some others for Happy Hour before setting off for dinner.
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Marseille to Lyon
An early start for the drive to Lyon and just as well as there was an accident along the autoroute which delayed our arrival at Ampuis Rugby club for lunch by an hour. What a time we had there with fellow travellers from the Tony Shaw and Ian Kennedy groups. We were greeted by a little band and given tastings of three wines fom the area (Cote Roti) and a marvellous charcuteric platter before going into lunch. I presented their club officials with some Sydney Uni merchandise and the club president worn the cap for the rest of the day. Joyce and I had a photo taken with him after the lunch.
Lunch was amazing -not to mentio tyhe whiskey laden coffees. The ex playes from Brothers in Brisbane entertained us with their "Singing in the Rain" routine and a conga line was established at some stage with my "South Coogee"friend Lis Casamento leading the throng . It was great to also catch up with the Casamentos as well as Toni and Ian Kennedy and Terry Sheahan and Jenny Hardy. Jenny immediately sending photos of the two of us to her boys Gareth and Duncan 9 two former S Uni players) who both now live in the UK.
We arrived at our hotel in Lyon which is situated very close to place de Rebubligue. The rooms are French style (ie tiny). A walk around town and an early snack finished the day.
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Marseille
After a great breakfast (these hotel buffets here have been fabulous). Stuart and I took a long walk along the Corniche past the Plage de Catalans.There was then some time for reading by the pool before setting off for the rugby. Our driver was really good taking us to the ground so that we didn't have to encounter the city traffic. Nearly all of us hit the merchandise store and also grabbed one of the complimentary straw hats. Our seats were in a good position but i must say the stadium seats were terrible . dirty , so small and very little leg room.
As always when you go to a game when Argentina is playing the atmosphere was wonderful .We were fortunate in that there was a large group in front of us and their singing and dancing was amazing. The game itself was so good and I was so thrilled that the try which sealed the game was scored by one of my favourite players, Nicolas Sanchez. My friend Marita and I have had "a crush" on him for years.
Everyone was very quick getting back to the coach and we had a quick trip back to the hotel where we had had a tV set up around the pool for us to all enjoy the NZ v Ireland game. My friends Greg and Maureen came from their hotel to join us. The group was probably 70% going for Ireland but the NZ lot were able to smile more at the end of the night unfortunately. I was getting texts of frustration fom my lovely Irish neighbour Eoghan all night . My Irish shamrock socks didn't bring the luck for which I had hoped
It was amazing to have two good close games.
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Aix en Provence to Marseille
An early start to try to beat the traffic to get us to Marseille by mid morning. I also had the opportunity to call my friends Sonia and Nerida who were down in Coootamundra preparing for our SI south West Slopes International Rural Womens Day event.
We arrived to a fairly quiet Marseille as there was a transport strike Our local guide them took us on a tour of Marseille including the amazing Notre Dame de Garde church perched on the highest hill overlooking the city. AN Aamazing numer of steps to climb though!!
Obviously from this vantage point overlooking the city there was an amazing view.
our ciacj driver pierrce did a marvellous job navigating the steep, winding narrow streets getting us there and back.
We then went to our hotelto unload our luggae and arrived at the same time as another busload of Australians . i was so pleased to receives a big wave and shout out from their tour leader Dean Mumm.
As we had an hour or so to spare a few of us wandred across the road to the wonderful Park Pharo which affords a great view of the city and marina.and the cathedral.
A great group lunch at the nearby Yacht Club before a relaxing afternoon around the pool at tyhe hotel.
In the evning Joh,, stuart and I wntured don to the marina area for a tapas meal. The town was full of English and Welsh supporters . on our way down we were followed by three Welsh supporters who were singing the whole way.
Tomorrow is our first day of football. We see Wales v argentina then hurry home to watch the All Blacks v ireland game.which is being played in Paris.
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