Next trip planned - China here I come

On Thursday I leave for Hong Kong to stay with my nephew Rich and his lovely wife Donna and 2 boys, Jack and Charlie. After 9 days there, spending time also sightseeing with my friend Cherril who will be there at the same time, I will fly on to Beijing to visit another friend, Alison.
How cheeky I am going away again so soon, however, while Bek and Mick are here to look after Byron, I decided to take the opportunity while I can. Bek and Mick are looking forward to moving into a home of their own at the end of the month, giving them time to settle in before their baby arrives at the end of November.
...and so the adventures continue. Hooray!

Dogs have adventures too

I took Byron with me to stay at Merricks with Michele and
Andy and I introduced him to water at the beach. For a pooch
that is otherwise terrified of water, he had a great time, chasing
the ball along the hard sand and into the water, led most of the
time by little Luna - the much older Jack Russell / dachsund. Byron played with the small waves just like a child and on one occasion raced full tilt into the water thinking that would be the direction of the ball. Wrong! He was immediately out of his depth, but that did not worry him, although he did make a very quick escape. What fun he had. At least now I should be able to coax him into the little shell paddle pool that I bought for his summer baths. Up to now, he wouldn't even step into 5 cm water to retrieve his much loved ball!

22nd May- A Final Fling in France

Our room at the Hotel Med was certainly interesting; it opened onto the street, but the windows, shutters and curtains blocked off most of the external night noises. The internal noises were something else and in the morning, more entertaining than we had expected.

Since our plane did not leave until the afternoon, we checked our luggage and walked to the old city and the busy port. The sun was shining as we passed through the Saturday book market and another popular fruit and veg market, both set up in plazas under umbrellas - very nice. Many photos later, a paddle in the Mediterranean Sea was a most pleasing final touch to our trip. The Airport bus carried us and many others along the front Promenade to the airport and after checking our luggage in to Emirates we had a most relaxed luncheon - duo salmon salad with a glass of rose.

Having taxied to the take off runway, one passenger became very agitated and we returned to the terminal to offload her and her luggage - this took some time, but we had bought a book each and I had my cards; just another traveller's tale!

20th May By Train to Nice!

In the fast train to Nice, we were pleased to find our seats were upstairs facing backwards - in fast trains your eyes get really tired watching things whizzing past. We passed through Marseilles and stopped at Toulon and Cannes. After St Raphael, the trip was along the coast with some beautiful views of rocky coast, sparkling water in pretty bays and lots of water craft.
We pulled our cases to the Berlioz Hotel, not too far from the station in Nice, only to be told we would be moved to a different hotel the next day, due to painting works.
Not wanting to waste a moment, we walked around town in the early afternoon then took a little tourist train on a sightseeing tour - the commentary was good and it gave us an opportunity to choose where we would like to go later.
21st May
After a complimentary breakfast, our hotel host drove us to the Hotel Med, just one block from La Promenade Anglaise and the beautiful, though stony, beach. After storing our luggage until the room became available, we went off to find a local bus to Eze, a village in the hills where there is a perfume factory and a famous garden "Le Jardin Exotique".
The road climbed up the steep hills after the port and we proceeded towards Monaco. The spectacular views were just as we had seen in photos - incredible mansions, chateaux and huge yachts.
At Eze we followed others towards a winding hill path on the sea side of the road and we continued up towards the medieval village of Eze. It was built then fortified at the top of a rocky mount overlooking the sea and the coast in both directions. The "Jardin" was at the very top, surrounding what's left of fortress ruins; it is unexpectedly, a huge collection of succulents and cacti. As we climbed through the village, every twisting lane and stairway was another photo; there were campanula growing from the rocky walls, huge urns by doorways, heavy timber and iron doors surrounded by flush stonework and staircases of rock polished by centuries of wear.

19th May Glorious Avignon

There are several self guided walks around Avignon and we chose one that would lead us through different quarters of the town through narrow, winding, cobbled streets lined with tall buildings (3-5 storeys) and many tiny "places" where maybe 5 streets meet at very sharp angles.

We were particularly interested in the street that follows a canal for about 1 km - it was the place where fabrics were dyed in the early days of Avignon. It used to be outside the city walls (very smelly occupation), but later the city walls were moved to take in the area. There had been 14 waterwheels along this strech of canal and we saw 4 still rolling with the fast moving water.

In the afternoon, we visited the Musee de Petit Palace, situated on the grand 'place' at the side of the Palais des Papes. I was astounded by the beautiful art works from 1300 - 1500 - religious paintings, icons etc. Only one room showed architectural features from the times - bosses and fine scultures of saints, The other 15 rooms all held paintings, even a few frescoes lent by The Louvre.

18th May - Day trip to Arles - a Van Gogh experience

Our coach delivered us from the train station at Avignon to a circular lawn with big shade trees, Place Lamartine, outside the the old city walls of Arles, the gateway is guarded by 2 circular pillars that have the great spaces where the draw bridge was attached. The street ahead of us was narrow and lined with cafes, bars and nice souvenir shops, many with fabric articles - tableware etc. The Roman amphitheatre is in the centre of the town and, as in Nimes, is now used for bull fighting!

Our self guided walk to places where Van Gogh painted, took us past many interesting places, so we really saw much of Arles. At each stop there was a good sized pedestal set where Van Gogh must have stood his easel and a copy of the particular painting was on each one. Fantastic. Lunch was yummy provencal pork at an outdoor restaurant under shady plane trees in the Place de Forum, where Van Gogh painted Cafe Terrace at Night. We loved Arles as a place to visit - it had a good atmosphere.

We saw other Roman ruins, Renaissance and classical architecture, lots of lovely curving, narrow streets with high houses protected by coloured shutters.

That evening, back in Avignon, Irene suggested we should take advantage of the terrace outside our 5th floor room, so, the French doors not yielding to our key, I handed 2 chairs out through the window and we sat out in style - our access being through a door down the hall!

At about 9pm, as it was becoming dark, we went out to see the beautifully lit Pont d'Avignon.

17t May The Charm of Avignon; Nimes, Uzes & Pont du Gard

On our first day in Avignon, Monday, we visited the Palace des Papes, a most photogenic structure with towers, turrets and spires, twisting staircases right up to the ramparts, fascinating halls, chapels, tiles, tapestries and remnants of ancient frescoes.
Wandering around nearby streets to the Pont d'Avignon we sang the old ditty "Sur le pont, d'Avignon..." then ate lunch in the Place d'Horloge, the tourist area of a hundred umbrellas right outside our hotel door.

At 2:30 we were met by our tour leader for an excursion to Nimes, Uzes and Pont du Gard (Irene's dream destination). The Mercedes vehicle held 8 passengers, 4 English, 2 New Zealanders and us, very good.
Our first stop in Nimes was at an ancient Roman hall, beautifully lazer cleaned for the film Gladiator, then on to the Roman arena which was, along with the whole city, being prepared for a bull fighting festival the following weekend! Built in the 1st Century, it is an amazing feat of engineering; I felt the atmosphere of the place so I was pleased I could focus on the engineering rather than its use!

Uzes is a beautiful medieval town with clean, cobbled, twisting, narrow, hilly streets opening on to a big, flat, open square shaded by huge plane trees and cooled by the presence of a fountain. Many houses were 4-5 storey with shutters closed, waiting for their Parisian owners to return for holidays.

Finally to Pont du Gard, the aquaduct carrying water from the spring at Uzes, 50 km to Nimes. Irene was ecstatic to walk across it and she made the most of every moment there.