Berlin

On our ride into Berlin on the train it was interesting to witness apartment block after apartment block in 1950s-60s style and realise this is a city rebuilt at a particular time in history. Everything on this train line was very similar and it wasn’t until later we realised this was the old east Berlin we were riding through. It’s difficult to know today where the line was but you do notice at times which part of Berlin you are in. Our Hotel, for example is part of the old East. It’s a grand old lady from a period where bathrooms are still made in small white and green tiles and bedrooms were separate (a room with a bath meant hand basin); the lift will only accommodate four at a time and the waiters  wear kitchen-type aprons and have difficulty understanding your questions. On our first night we walked Kurfursten damm window shopping and looking at the differing architecture. It was a safe street to walk with people out and about, high end fashion in the windows and the weather was warm. We chose an Italian meal out, just a block from our hotel. We have discovered over the last three days that Berlin is full of restaurants with varying prices. For the remainder of or meals we took the advice of Trip Adviser. One of the best finds was a Chinese Restaurant for lunch, where we were served a “business lunch special” where we ate a two course meal for around seven euro each. The food was fresh and very tasty and we even managed to catch our emails with free wifi.

We visited three museums. Our first call was “The story of Berlin,” an interactive and clearly labelled museum displaying of the history of Berlin. There’s a lot to be learned about the place and we took it all in piece by piece. It covered lots including the rise and fall of monarchy and governments, the history of medicine, arts and culture, housing and architecture, the place of religion and inevitably the rise and fall  and rise again of Berlin in World War Two and the years after.  It was a good place to start as our next plan was to take a hop on hop off tour of the city where a lot of what was learned could be identified and looked at more closely. One of the strangest experiences in The Story of Berlin Museum was an escorted tour of the still operating emergency bunker in the basement. This is converted carpark with an airlock door for decontamination, security check and control of numbers. It houses only 3,600 people who would have to make do with stretchers in very a very confined space. This bunker was built in the 1970s when Berliners were very afraid of not only the East/ West divide, but Americans as well. Berlin keeps 20 bunker operable today as disasters like Fukishima keep the threat of “anything can happen” alive.

We took the tour bus to Checkpoint Charlie and what remains of the Berlin wall next to the now demolished Nazi Headquaters.Checkpoint Charlie was a disappointment for its crass commercialism, people trying to sell you rubbish and people asking you if you spoke English and trying to get what they can out of you. We spent more time around what remains of the Berlin Wall beside the now demolished Nazi headquarters. The bus tour with 20 stops took us as far as bus stop 16 where it was announced that I was 6pm and all buses would be stopping. Fortunately we were at  Berlin HBH, the train station, so it wasn’t a problem really. Well…a slight problem as it was so huge and quite difficult to work out where to go. We worked it out by taking our time, and all was sorted. What wasn’t so good was the credit card had gone missing as well as the cord to the computer, so we spent a number of hours hunting through luggage and not having a lot of success.

The following morning after a panic over a lost credit card had abated (found in a discreet zip and not stolen), we took ride on the bus to look at the shops. We rode to the top of a very beautiful department store which was old but had a glass elevator running through the middle of it. We tried to find a replacement cord to the computer but it’s too new. We contacted our last accommodation in Paris to see if it had been found there. We gave up looking for a while and decided to visit the Bauhus Museum instead. This was a good move and we had an enjoyable couple of hours there. Did you know that today Berlin has four universities and three art universities? It’s good to see that today the arts are alive and well here. Love it.

 We walked towards the tall Victory column not far, we discovered, from where the German president hosts international visitors. Besides being sobered by the bullet holes, the view from the top of this tower is worth the walk up the 70 steps to the mosaic on the column itself and up 226 steps to the top. Situated in the centre of a very wide roundabout in the centre of a park, you’re able to see the city from every angle.

We found our bus again from here, and continued back to the stop close to the hotel.  We also found the missing cord to the computer in a bag within a bag within a bag so all was well. We rested up for a few hours, then headed out to sample a bit of night life. The woman at reception must have thought were a bit stupid, as she directed us to a very dingy part of town with very little evidence of a night life at all. So we walked back towards Hackescher Markt and found an Irish pub with music and later a nice tapas bar for food and wine. It was, from there, an easy ride home.

In the morning we packed up, caught up on a bit of news, and found our way on the M49 to ZOB where the Berliner Bus would take us to Hamburg. This is a little advertised bus line which extends its run all the way to London and deep into the East as well. We’d picked up tickets about four months ago for nine euro each. One of our better bargins, I think. We scored a seat upstairs  at the very front of the bus where we had an unrestricted view. Our friendly neighbour next to us pointed out the old Russian army barracks, told us stories of escape through the Hungarian border to the West, and being present at the fall of the Berlin Wall. He then told us he wanted to come to New Zealand before he fell asleep for the remainder of the journey.

Paris

We’ve had a very relaxing day in Paris doing what each of us wanted to do. This included walking the parks in late summer (the trees are now starting to turn), and allowing the day to unfold. 

                                                         

We could have gone back to places we went to nearly four years ago- Musee d’Orsay, or the lovely l’Orangerie. Instead we walked and fell upon le Petit Palace (opposite le Grande Palace) and spent an hour or two wandering for free through the galleries. Here we could still see Monet, Seurat, Renior, Pissaro, and others but what was interesting to us was to find out more of the sculptor Dalou who was responsible in the 19^th century for many of the monumental sculptures around Paris  We were also very captured by the interior and exterior of the building itself. There were rooms in it for Louis XIV.  In the centre is a gardened courtyard and café where we ate our lunch.

Afterwards we walked in the direction of the massive army headquarters, and around the back, the army museum which houses Napoleon’s tomb among others. Napoleon gets centre tomb spot with a high gold dome above him which you can see for miles across Paris. It was this that attracted us in this direction in the first place. We didn’t go through more of the museum, but sat in the gardens for a while which are also available for les Invalides who live within these massive grounds. The cool winds had abated today and it was very hot. Sitting in the shade and watching the world go by was very much appreciated. When we had regained our energy, we took a walk in the direction of Tour Eiffel. Even though we had climbed it in the winter, S was keen to fully understand where the new building of Paris was situated. We queued for what seemed a lot less time than last time, and took a lift right to the top for €14 each. We spent quite some time taking pictures of this massive city and enjoying the views and sunshine.

Once back on Terra ferma, we decided to find the metro and hunt down our last and very favourite hotel- Hotel Dehly. We knew this hotel was closed for renovations, but we also remembered that there was a nice Italian restaurant next door. We found it and settled to a meal in the warm evening air.  Afterwards, we hung around la Sienne and looked over towards Notre Dame for a while then headed for our studio flat to get organised for the flight to Berlin.

We were impressed with the rail system which took us right to the airport doors. So easy. So straightforward.

In the morning the trip to the airport was relatively straight forward. The ticket machines sell tickets all the way to Orley Sud where we were headed. Surprisingly, we only needed to negotiate one staircase with our bags and that was because a lift wasn’t working.

Checking into Easyjet was easy as pie.  The people were courteous and didn’t behave as if they were luggage police trying to catch us out.  Ryanair caused us so much grief with their highly unreasonable charges just for not ticking a box when booking our fares. We are still gritting our teeth over that nasty experience and advise anyone looking for cheap fares around Europe to avoid them.  In contrast, dimensions for luggage with Easyjet were fair, booking online was clear and straightforward, staff didn’t walk up and down inspecting people’s bags and they didn’t expect passengers to stand in multiple queues for ages. Much more civilised.

We have now checked into our hotel in Berlin and look forward to the next two days exploring the city. This will be a last tourist run before my real work begins.

Sur la Loire

Last Friday Mary set off on the train via Lyon for Montpellier and we took a much shorter ride to Amboise. We rolled our bags across the Loire to the very easy-to-find hotel and settled into our dwelling. We’d heard that our friends Steve and Glenda were out exploring the town so we decided to go for a walk to try to find them. It was full of tourists hanging out in the cafes and organising themselves into groups to make their way up to the town’s obvious attraction Chateau d’Amboise.  Unsuccessful in trying to find our friends in town, we headed back to our accommodation and found them. 

Our decision was to join the throngs and go and look around the chateau. Because I hadn’t done any reading about the place it was a very nice surprise, when looking through the chapel in the chateau grounds, to stumble upon the grave of Leonardo da Vinci. He had spent his final years in Amboise, and on Sunday, we spent the afternoon exploring the home he shared with the sister of Duke Francois. Francois grew up in Amboise before becoming King in 1515. He was fascinated with the arts so invited Leonardo to the town and home where he had grown up, Chateau du Clos Luce. Surrounding Clos Luce is a children’s park with playground equipment based on Leonardo’s ideas. Very cool.

Saturday we shared Steve and Glenda’s car and had a good look around two very famous Chateau –Chambord and Blois. Chambord was built by Francois as a hunting lodge with 77 staircases, 282 fireplaces and 426 rooms. The biggest surprise was walking out onto the top terrace and seeing the turrets close up. 

You’d get an idea with what we confronted with by looking at the photo of the chateau.  Although Francois reigned for 32 years, it was his sons Henry 11 and Louis XVI who made most use of it. (Francois spent just 72 days there).

It was great then, to visit this sparingly furnished chateau first. Blois was a major contrast being decorated in the flamboyant Renaissance style and giving a far more once lived in feel. The walls were decorated not only with paintings, but wallpaper made from woven cloth possibly made in Tillerg as the patterns were very similar to what we’d seen a few weeks ago with Cathy.

Saturday evening we had tickets to a show back at Amboise castle. Run completely by locals and entirely in French it told the story of Amboise including the arrival of the young Duke Francois, his ultimate coronation, and the arrival of Leonardo. Groups of adults danced, and children aged from what looked like barely three did acrobatic tricks. There were horses who also did tricks and fireworks and the lighting display was impressive as it used the castle as a giant screen.

In the morning we set off for Cheverny Chateau on quieter roads; first along the edge of the Loire, then through forests and small villages. We finally came to a larger village where we were directed by signage to a carpark. We walked through the very pretty town and in through a gate where we finally spotted the chateau set in a huge park used for hunting. In one area we found a cage full of barking hunting dogs, and in another a paddock of horses. The gardens were also very pleasant to wander through. The chateau itself is only partly open due to the fact the family (now in its sixth century) still live there and it is used as accommodation if you are prepared to pay the price.

The first room you walk into is the dining room with 34 wooden panels illustrating the story of Don Quixote. Gold leaf was also very evident around the fireplace and this is repeated throughout the house that we saw.

For the second time, we’d taken a picnic and Glenda and I spotted a perfect place to eat our food in the shade. In the afternoon Steve drove us back to Amboise and we walked to Chateau du Clos Luce. In the evening we found a really nice hotel to eat our meal. We spent a very pleasant final evening with our friends drinking wine and reminiscing on all those places we’d been in the last three days.

In the morning we reconvened for a quick breakfast and soon we were on our way to Blois and then on the train to Paris. The four of us said our farewells at Gare Austerlitz. Steve and Glenda were catching a taxi to another station to ride on to Strasburg; S and I were negotiating the metro system to Montmartre.

We are now settled in a small studio for the next two days and last night took a walk up to Sacre Couer and saw the final stages of the sunset.

Tours, France

I seem to talk about food a lot in this blog, but food is an important part of what we do. Over the last while I have experienced some hugely gastronomically satisfying wonders. My belly has been treated to honey-coated quail in the restaurant among the trees in Le Pin followed by a wide choice of cheeses and a rich chocolate dessert. In Chaterllerault we dined with Mick and Kate  at  La Gourmandine. We ate a five course meal selected by the chef. This included two extra complimentary courses. We began with a cold melon soup, a fois de gras in a nest of peach, beans and nuts followed by lobster starter, Our main course was a gorgeous tasting piece of steak with potatoes. I‘d been put off steaks in this part of the world in the UK for the corn-fed flavour, but this restored my faith that continental steak could taste good. Our final three courses consisted of a selection of cheeses, a complimentary sorbet in tapioca, and a very rich berry dessert soaked in a sweet champagne sauce.

 

Lunch can be as simple as as un bagetette avec fromage, confiture de framboise ou de tomatoes et un avocet. We did this yesterday, after a drive from Tours to Saumur. We took the advice of a British couple who had chosen to picnic in the carpark next to the Loire. “No, not here,” they said, “there’s a much better spot if you are prepared to walk up the next street and up the steps  to the chateau. There you’ll find grass and plenty of places to admire the views of Saumur.” And they were right. It was a super place to stop and lay out our picnic spoils, relax in the sun and watch the world beneath us.

 

Mary has joined us for this part of our journey. We’re now staying in Tours and had the use of a car for a nerve- wracking two days. Learning to drive on the opposite side of the road, give way to our left, and over take on the left isn’t that easy when you have been driving cars for a very long time.

We drove on to Fontevraud Abbey. A magnificently restored Abbey with a very interesting past. It  was founded in 1100 and became a double monastery , with both monks and nuns on the same site. Robert of Arbrissel declared that the leader of the order should always be a woman and appointed Petronille de Chemille as the first abbess. She was succeeded by Matilda of Anjou, the aunt of Henry of England. This was the start of a position that attracted many rich and noble abbesses over the years, including members of the French Bourbon royal family. It also became a refuge for battered wives and even prostitutes.

Henry II's widow Eleanor of Aquitaine became a nun there. Hers and Henry’s tombs are still there and on display. Louise de Bourbon left her crest on many of the alterations she made during her term of office.

During the French Revolution, the order was dissolved. The abbey later became a prison from 1804 to 1963. Political prisoners experienced the harshest conditions: some French Resistance prisoners were shot.  Buildings were made public in 1985 and there is still evidence of continuing restoration work in the wider grounds.

Our final full day in Tours has been spent mainly wandering around, browsing the shops, taking photographs and yes, the inevitable stops for food and wine. The temperature is more changeable with a cooler wind blowing this morning, and we were soon back in our rooms putting on warmer clothes

TOURS CATHEDRALE (as seen from our hotel window)

 We're at Abbey l'Fontevraud  

Chateau de la Motte

We’ve spent the last couple of days in a chateau near Chatellerault. Chateau de la Motte was built in the early 12^th century, Prior to this, it was believed there was a wooden fort on this site.  A lot of the stone used to build today’s structure was gathered from a nearby quarry. These stones tell stories through their shape and scratched surfaces. During the Reformation and there is evidence of holes in the castle walls where muskets were fired. Unfortunately the interior was seriously damaged in a kitchen fire but in the early 18^th Century a massive rebuild took place. The original walls remain however the structure was converted from a flat roofed building to the pointed roof building of today. It became then a chateau, rather than a castle.

Sometime in 2002, a local farmer’s tractor some hundred meters away, slid partly into a hole. On further investigation, a series of rooms were found underground, dating back to Roman times. It’s highly probable that during the reformation these caves were used as a hiding place as there’s evidence of this. Once higher authorities found that people had discovered the caves and were excavating them, a ban was put in place. There is a law in France that anyone found excavating ruins without official permission, will be sent to prison. There isn’t enough money to employ the thousands of archaeologists needed to excavate the many ruins around France, so this site was closed up in 2005 and filled in.   The castle does hold some interesting artefacts, however, including jewellery, coins, animal skeletons from feasts, and many pieces from broken pottery all meticulously labelled.

After a breakfast at the banquet table with all the other guests, our host took us for an extensive tour of the chateau and regaled us with these stories and more. We all climbed the tower and took in the view and I was reminded of the many paintings and photographs I have seen of this area. One of the children was allowed to help raise the handmade flag which can be seen very clearly when you look back at the castle.

We had heard that the small nearby town of Vaux de Vienne was holding a medieval festival this weekend. From the castle, our host pointed out the direction we needed to travel to get to see it. It wasn’t far, and the picturesque windy road and colourful fields were great to drive through. Again, we sat in the back seat with the roof down and the wind doing its best to try and blow our hats off. We soon came to Vaux to Ville and were struck by how quiet it was. Our first view was the abandoned Abbey and it seemed perhaps we had the wrong day, but as we rounded a corner there, at the top of a hill in front of us, we saw people gathered in costume. We parked the car and walked up to join them. A man was playing a tradition set of medieval bagpipes and woman was striking a Lyre. A group all in costume were dancing around them all holding hands and swinging their legs slowly from side to side. Later the music became more lively and they split into pairs. we wandered down the hill and through the almost deserted streets looking at the stalls. Not many had customers so we stopped and tasted the breads, admired the tapestries, and watched a man blow glass. Later on, the townfolk descended in our direction and town to a marquee set up for a full lunch. We didn’t join them but opted for freshly baked pita bread (a portable pizza oven was used) stuffed with goats cheese (for Kate and me) and pork (for S and Mick). I’d bought a punnet of organic cherry tomatoes  for a euro which accompanied this very nicely.

The afternoon was spent back at the chateau where we dipped ourselves in and out of the pool and baked our skins in the sun. 

Chantome

As mentioned in the last blog, we have been whipped away it seems into mid-France...and we don't mind a bit. The weather is gloriously hot, and we've managed two river swims since we arrived. I've decided that today's blog, will start with the photos, and we'll take it from there. Above is us swimming in the River Crueze on Day 2. It's a really pretty spot, as you can see from the photo.

We loved the countryside in the UK and we now also love what France has to offer. It is a lot drier here so when we see a rain cloud we like  grab a quick pic. We passed a field of sunflowers so I did the same for those as well.

Agenton-sur-Crueze is the nearest larger town. We walked to the top yesterday beside 12th century church with a golden Madonna on top. The view across the town says it all.

I can quite understand why Kate and Mick have fallen in love with this area. There's so much to see (if you want) and also there's plenty here to enjoy as well.

The house (pictured right) is hugely improved since they first bought it and Mick's workshop (attached on the left hand side of the house) is impressive. He's been working on a project all week.

Yesterday evening we visited the town of Gargilesse-Dampiere described as "one of the most beautiful towns in France." My photos don't do it justice as the light was really high contrast...but google it if you are interested. There's a harp festival going on all month, and we were rated to one in the local church. It was a splendid way to spend a summer evening.

Today we visited the ruins of Crozant situated high above the meeting of the Sédelle and Crueze rivers it was a fortress since Roman times but became more a castle from the 11th century on.

Our final stop was Lake Eguzon, very close Chantombe where we are staying.

A few days in London

Our final driving experience in the UK was thankfully uneventful. It was such a big change experiencing the British countryside from the M4  rather than hedgerow after hedgerow. We decided to drop the car at Heathrow and take the tube into London. Sophie suggested she meet us at Hammersmith and point us in the direction of our planned accommodation for the next few days. She actually works above the station so it was no trouble…and it was great to see her smiling face.

After we had offloaded our gear and cleaned up a bit, we wandered down to The Swan, a pub on Hammersmith corner, where Sophie and ex- Drama Adviser friend Sarah Marino met us for dinner. We had a lovely meal and we were able to catch up on our travelling news

The next morning S and I caught the train to Leicester Square and we managed to acquire some reasonably priced tickets to Warhorse. I’d arranged we’d meet another ex-colleague, Siobhan. She was looking very rested having travelled for a good proportion of the year and has found a job in outer London, starting in September. After starting with a real flat white, we all headed for Southbank and the Tate Modern. We opted for looking through the basement exhibitions. They included Susan Lacey’s: The Crystal Quilt, which was a fascinating look at stories from women over 60 and Lis Rhode’s cross-arts exhibition of film, poetry and music.  S and Siobhan got fascinated with the building & began talking about the architecture. It is a fantastic space. We continued along the Thames and find a place to eat. There’s plenty to choose from of course, and we picked one which would give us a view of the river and some sun if we wished. Then we headed back over the Jubilee walk bridge and said our farewells. We needed to head back to the hotel, freshen up a bit before making our way back into the city to see War Horse. If you know nothing about this great show and horse puppets click this link.

On Saturday morning we found the local Laundromat across the road. I now had a place to recommend to Sophie. All our washing was done in about an hour and we found a different hotel to enjoy a fresh fruit breakfast while it washed and spun.

Sophie called to say we could go to The Walkabout (her local) for an All Black vs Australia experience. After a quick tour of her abode (above a bottle store), a hair trim, quick makeover, and meeting some of her flatmates we were down at “the Walkie” among many Aussies and a number of Kiwis watching the game. It was packed, and S (who had walked ahead of us) had already found a drinking buddy from Te Awamutu to enjoy the game with. There was barely room to move.

Sophie and I had organised some time together in the massive Hammersmith mall. I managed to find a few tops and we had a lovely Greek lunch together. I was pleasantly surprised by the space, with its undulating roofline and unusual shop exteriors so thought I’d bring S back later for a meal.

Sunday we needed to pack out of the hotel, store our luggage and meet Elise by 10. She was staying very close to us which made our rendezvous easy. She’s been over from New Zealand helping her mother make souvenirs for tourists and Olympic equestrian supporters in Greenwich. What an effort! Sophie arrived on time at 11 and we needed to say quick farewells before heading to Hyde Park to meet a very old friend Tessa and her family. Tessa had last seen Sophie when she was two and a half, and now has six year old twins of her own. We arranged to meet by the Serpentine opposite where the Olympic Triathlon took place. It’s still all there waiting for the Paralympics. It was really hot (well over 30) and humid. After a brief lunch and thunderstorm, which dealt briefly with the precipitation, we took a walk over to the Diana Memorial Fountain which was the perfect place for the twins to cool off.  Sophie rested, and Selwyn, Tessa and I took wander over towards Kensington palace.

Once we were back we all grabbed a very expensive ice cream, wandered and talked some more and generally caught up on the last 24 years. It was lovely to see Tessa again and we hope we can meet much sooner next time.

After saying our farewells we continued our walk through Hyde Park in the opposite direction towards Oxford Circus. It was still really hot and muggy so we left S in a pub to cool off while Sophie searched for a top in Top Shop. They were easily found, and soon we were heading back to Hammersmith to collect our luggage, give  a big hug and say farewell to Sophie, and jump on train and a bus out to Stansted for the night. It was actually our fifth anniversary so a way of ensuring that we celebrated in some way we decided to pop down to the local supermarket for a bottle of wine. Much to our surprise, we were asked to show our ID. The very straight faced checkout operator wasn’t going to give an inch. The ONLY way to buy our wine, was to leave the premises and send a very kind 32 year old next to us (who had ID) back into the store to buy it for us. I think by this time we were in stitches with the absurdity of it all; however, even in the dark as we walked back to the guesthouse, I did notice S was grinning from ear to ear perhaps feeling maybe he might actually look a bit younger than he thought.

I’d recommend a stay at Stansted Lodge if anyone was looking for a very reasonably priced place to stay and good service as far as transfers go. Our ride was back early in the morning and we reached Stansted Airport in good time…thank goodness as the dramas which followed with Ryanair left us little to smile about. First, after queuing in the wrong queue for half an hour, we were directed over to the right queue. Twenty minutes later, the woman behind the counter could find no evidence hat we had paid for our luggage. Apparently it is something you do within 15 days of flying and something I had neglected. Damn.  £210 later…we were finally winging it to Limoges. We were greeted by a smiling Kate and Mick, and whipped away in their Mercedes Coup to the River Creuse for a swim and picnic. So grateful to be able to relax and cool off after our Ryanair experience. So glad to be seeing a bit of K & M’s piece of France. Lovely.