Going to the dogs

Another late rise this morning after a poor nights sleep - I think the body remains in a different time zone - breakfast and then out into the humidity that is Singapore.

A walk around Burgis Junction and then to Suntec Plaza & Millenia Walk for lunch.

The streets are full of slow moving traffic as more road closures take effect for the F1 race, the first day of action being tomorrow. From the hotel one can see one of the corners of the circuit

however authorities have made sure with the erection of screens etc. that only paying patrons will have a view from close up!

Though life here is very orderly one suspects that for the majority of Singaporeans the weekend will create some chaos - imagine closing off a decent chunk of Auckland City for 4 or so days!

Sherry took the plunge and had her hair cut in the Zinc Korean Saloon in Millennia Walk this afternoon and came out looking a million dollars!

Outside Raffles City are a set of attractive statues of 4 dogs in different poses as photographers 

and it seemed appropriate that we took our final selfie on the trip in front of them

Effectively this is the last day of our holiday as tomorrow we check out of the hotel mid afternoon before flying out in the evening to home, so it is time to reflect

We will have been away for 83 days and will have visited 6 countries and each has in their own way added to the mosaic.

It is difficult (impossible even) to pick out a highlight as some of the trip is now hazy in the memory though once we are home and we review the blog and the many photos we took it will bring each day back into focus and allow us to relive our holiday.

There is no doubt that we have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it and have had the good fortune to visit some wonderful countries, cities, villages, ancient ruins, historic buildings etc. all of which will be etched in our memories.

Despite all the bad things that are happening around the world travel remains the most educational and providing one is sensible it is still a safe activity - we hope that health and wealth permitting this is not the last time we can enjoy it.

Good bye         Hwyl fawr         Adios          Au revoir       Selamat Tinggal 

Like an old slipper

Yesterday afternoon we were walking around in the vicinity of Suntec Plaza when we were stopped by a TV crew from a local channel who interviewed us obtaining our opinion on the F1 week. Not sure we were helpful or that they would use our Vox Pop but hey for 30 secs of our life we were famous!

Cannot remember sleeping in so long for a long time - perhaps the last time we travelled back from Europe - as it was 9.00 am before the eyes opened this morning and thankfully that hangover feeling one has after an overnight flight with no sleep had disappeared.

Having been in Singapore a few times now it feels like an old slipper - very comfortable. Nothing has changed but nothing is still the same.

• A consistent temperature of around the high 20s during the day
• The buildings are still imposing and there seems to be more of them.
  
• There are as many shops as you could ever want (and there seems to be more of them)
• There are people everywhere (and there seems to be more of them)
• There are vehicles streaming down the street (and.......)
• Orchard Rd still represents all that Singapore is - glitzy, brash, commercial 
• Etc.

It is a relaxing environment and we feel comfortable here.

While in one of the plazas today we were invited by a delightful young man to see a range of anti-aging products - he didn't pitch them to us as that, more of a wrinkle removal product. He used the product on both of us by applying under one eye and it was amazing how much improvement it made, reduced puffiness, filled in some wrinkles etc. so both of us walked around the rest of the afternoon looking a little "unbalanced".

It was tempting to buy some of the product but the price of in excess of SGD1000 but which he kindly reduced for us to SGD856 (cheaper than an operation he reminded us) made the decision quite easy.

We spent the day in and around Orchard Rd arriving back at the hotel around 6pm.

Singapore Airlines - A great way to fly!

It is their advertising slogan and from our experience it is very true.

Today we flew with them on SQ335 from Paris to Singapore aboard an A380 and once again we were very impressed with their service:

Pleasant staff- 👍🏼

No fuss boarding - 👍🏼

Hot towels before take off - 👍🏼

Reasonable (for airline food) lunch & breakfast - 👍🏼

Inflight entertainment selection - 👍🏼

Travel kit provided - 👍🏼

Hot towels before breakfast - 👍🏼

Despite the accolades that Air NZ seem to receive in our experience Singapore Airlines beats them hands down.

We were seated in the upstairs cabin which because of the small numbers in the cabin meant that staff were always available to attend to passengers as required.

The flight which was scheduled for 12 hours 50 minutes only took 12 hours which though quick for the route is quite long enough.

We left Paris at noon and landed in Singapore at 6.15am the next day so from approx. above the Caspian Sea to Singapore was in darkness which allowed at least one of us to get some sleep if only for a short time.

We were fortunate to have a row of 4 seats with the other 2 seats vacant so we were able to stretch out and be more comfortable than usual.

To enjoy the service one has however to go through an airport and in that regard Charles de Gaulle leaves a lot to be desired.

There are 3 terminals (1,2 & 3) with Terminal 2 made up of 2A, 2B, .......2G and is a behemoth.

We left the hotel and walked to Terminal 3 and from there took the train to Terminal 1 - moving around with 4 suitcases and using escalators is not easy for us oldies and it is made harder because some idiot decided that the concrete floors/walkways would be better rutted than smooth so that it would challenge passengers who were wheeling suitcases around.

There is nothing pleasant about the interior of the Terminals - best described as stark - and the shops are not available until you have passed through Customs and then there are only high end shops such as Hermes and Gucci and no more than around 12 in number.

One certainly wouldn't want to spend too much time here and a transiting stop of 2 or so hours would be a right royal bore - it was good to board the plane!

Singapore as we have come to expect was mid twenty temperature and after collecting luggage etc., getting some SGD from the money machine we took a taxi to the hotel hoping that we would be able to book in even though it was 7.00a.m but no such luck, however our booking entitled us to use the Premier Club Lounge and we were even offered breakfast.

As I write this post we are still sitting in the lounge and are hopeful of having a room by 10, if not I guess we will go for a walk outside once the city livens up which from past experience is around 10.

How long we will be active today is problematic as by days end we will not have seen a bed for 32 hours.

This weekend the F1 circus is in town with the first practice being on Friday the day we leave - a pity I didn't know when we made the booking 10 or so months ago as I would have extended our stay by a few days and gone to at least one of the days.

Paris - Charles de Gualle Airport

Drove through from Orleans (sad to leave there!) this morning having set the GPS for rue de Rome, Paris being the address of the hotel at CDG airport.

We have all had that feeling that things don't seem to be right and we got that around 15 minutes from when we were due to arrive at the hotel as we were driving through high rise suburbs and it seemed highly unlikely that there would be any airport in the vicinity.

Sure enough there wasn't but we can now confirm that there are two rue de Rome in Paris. Having found somewhere to pull over we then played around with the GPS and set it for CDG airport and after it had recalculated we found we were 27 kms away from where we had hoped to be.

After another half hour or so we arrived at the airport and then had to find the way to the hotel which we could clearly see but this airport isn't Auckland with one road in and one hotel on site, this is some monster with three terminals and cloverleaf roads etc. so again we had to pull over and search through the GPS points of interest and found an entry for Hilton Hotel CDG Airport so set it for that and after some more driving around, in circles I think, we pulled into the hotel.

Book in is scheduled from 2 pm and we had arrived at 12.30 but given the size and quality of the hotel thought it would not be an issue to book in early - "Monsieur book in is at 2 pm, your room will be available at 2 pm but you can book in early for €50!". No f...ing thanks!    If the room is available for a cost then it sure as hell is available right now, I would have thought.

We sat in the hotel cafe and ordered a panini for lunch, the waitress set the table & brought over some water. The next contact was with some gentlemen waiter advising there was a problem - they had no paninis even though that was a menu item....starting to get very unimpressed!

We left without eating and delivered the car to the Eurolease return depot reasonably close by. A very smooth handover and they didn't comment on the small blemish on the left front bumper which I had noticed when we were parked at Clermont-Ferrand!

We walked back to the hotel via Terminal 3 where we stopped for lunch and completed our book in as by now it was 2.10pm. When I asked re the WIFI code she advised me that it was €25 for 24 hours, however I had some pleasure in showing her our booking confirmation that showed that WIFI was included in the room cost.

Our room as booked has a view out over Terminal One and the runways (not sure how many there are but definitely at least 3)

A pity that the windows on the hotel haven't been cleaned on the outside for some time!

Spent the afternoon rearranging & repacking suitcases and weighing them to make sure we weren't in for any surprises when we book in tomorrow morning!

May need to go to one of the terminals to find a reasonably priced meal tonight as I suspect the hotel knows how to gouge!

Some facts re the use of the vehicle:

• We drove for 6204 kms - our planning before we left home had us travelling 6118 kms 👏👏
• We purchased 262 litres of diesel at an average cost of €1.13/litre in Europe and a further 88 litres in the U.K. at an average cost of £1.17/litre
• When we dropped off the vehicle there was approx 15 litres left in the tank
• The vehicle averaged 5.4l/100kms
• We drove for between 100 - 110 hours in total

Given we will be in the air we will be offline until Tuesday afternoon Singapore time which is evening Tuesday NZT as Singapore is 4 hours behind NZ

Oh no(se)!

This morning we were woken early by the first tram chugging down the mall outside our hotel, a morning that also brought some rain and ...
First however our impressions of Orleans which weren't too favourable after yesterday's debacle:

• Clean
• Dog poo less
• Well laid out
• Easily walkable
• Good quality boutique shops
• Beautiful buildings
• Gorgeous old town area
• Grand gothic Cathedral 

Perhaps in short, one of if not the nicest French or Spanish city (as distinct from village) we have visited on any trip including Paris.
After walking around town for a while with Sherry I returned to the hotel to follow the football and left her to continue her assault on any shop that was open (they all were!).
A couple of hours later Sherry also returned holding a paper tissue to a very bloodied nose - as she was walking out of a shop she walked straight into the closed glass door and gave herself a fearful smack.

The picture doesn't do it or her justice!
It seems she is an accident waiting to happen - Singapore 2015, tripped over on sidewalk, Cardiff 2017, slipped on stairs at Castle!
After lunch we went "sightseeing"

Joan of Arc statue in square


The house where she lived


The Loire river


The Cathedral


Quite beautiful narrow "rues"


Gate crashed another wedding 


A selfie with the Loire in the background 
Today is our last day before we hit Paris - we are staying at the Hilton at Charles de Gaulle airport before we fly out midday the next day so whether we take the Metro into central Paris for a few hours remains problematic so this could be our last day out in a French city or for that matter Europe.
Will we come back? - would love to but that will depend on what the future holds.
Also today we say goodbye to ....

.... our trusty kettle which we purchased in Bilbao for €16 and which has served us well in those hotels which don't provide such a facility (and that is every Spanish one).

North towards Paris

6 September 

A long drive (for us) had us arriving in Clermont-Ferrand around 2.30pm and shortly after unloading at our accommodation which is a studio attached to the owner's residence on the side of a hill overlooking the town.

While there is a pool on site, the temperatures have dropped significantly over the passed few days and the pool while it looks nice is not that inviting.

On the journey we crossed the Millau viaduct, an impressive structure

The owner appears to be a rugby fanatic supporting the local team which he proudly tells me were the champions of Europe last season. The sole Kiwi playing for Clermont Auvergne is Isaia Toeava ex AB, ex Auckland.

Clermont-Ferrand is bicephalous being a combination of two towns, Clermont and Montferrand which were joined by a royal decree in 1633 and is surrounded by 80 sleeping volcanoes the biggest of which is Puy de Dome.

It sits basically in the centre of France, and as such is the crossroads of the main highways, and is also the gateway to the vast Massif Central which we crossed over today.

With the volcanoes being in such proximity the historic part of the town was built with volcanic stone and as such a lot of the buildings are black in colour something I took a little while to take to.

The Cathedral sitting in the centre of Clermont and as black as

The tourist information centre recommended 3 restaurants that served quality meals traditional for the area and on our first night here we chose to go to one of them, Le Kitchen - we were not disappointed with what they offered, cheese and walnut salad, truffade, boeuf with puy lentils all prepared by the husband of a delightful lady waitress. 

The restaurant which did not present well on the frontage and which was in a street that 99 times out of a 100 we would choose to bypass was exceptionally nice inside and by the time we left appeared to be full - never judge a book by its cover rang true as we walked back to the car.

7 September 

Dawned rather cooler than what we have experienced over past weeks - in fact would categorise it as cold though the warmth started to come through later in the day.

We drove into the city this morning (it is 3-4kms from the accommodation and our hosts suggested that it was a 20 minute walk!!!!) and had a wander round taking in some of the sites. It is a city dominated by the Cathedral which sits up on the hill in the Clermont historical area.

In comparison to Montpellier the city is less bustling, quiet even, cleaner, next to no dog poo and more appealing.

Found a luggage shop and brought a new suitcase to replace one of ours which gave up the ghost with a large cracking sound as we brought it in from the car yesterday.

There is a delightful garden on the main square, in fact the most colourful we have seen and folk were sitting around eating lunch - a nice spot.

Later in the afternoon we drove to Parc de Montjuzet which is an elevated parkland that overlooks the city and gives a good view of some of the dormant volcanoes in the background - if you were unaware that they were volcanoes you would just regard them as hills.

As we walked back to the car we saw a squirrel darting around picking up "things" to nibble on and then scurrying up a tree to safety - from memory this was the first squirrel either of us have seen in the wild.

Had another rugby discussion with our host Alain, he really is quite a character - his English is as poor as my French but nevertheless we were able to communicate. He was proudly wearing a Classic All Blacks jacket which I suspect was being worn for our benefit.

He seemed to know all of the ex All Blacks playing in France, names that he mentioned included Carter, Williams, Nonu, Cruden, McAllister and told me the clubs that each played for.

Alain Giraud

Tomorrow we make another jump north to Orleans, home of Joan of Arc for a two night stopover before arriving in Paris on Sunday.

8 September - A day to remember or perhaps quickly forget!

The journey to day was almost all on the motorway (A71) so we picked up the toll ticket just after leaving Clermont-Ferrand. On route as is normal we stopped at a service stop for coffee in weather that we are no longer used to, 16 degrees.

About 15 minutes after leaving the stop I was heard to say "Sherry, where did we put the toll ticket". After a search of pockets and a look inside the car there was the realisation that we (I think she thinks I) had lost it at the service stop. There were moments of panic but I thought we weren't the first to lose a toll ticket so I guessed as we exited the highway there would be someway of dealing with it - if you don't put in your ticket and pay the toll the barrier arm stays firmly down!

Turned off the motorway at Orleans and pulled into a toll booth, there was a button you could push for assistance so explained to the operator our predicament - in no time at all a € amount appeared in the screen and the operator said "That is the cost of a lost ticket".

Gulp - €58.40 or approx. $98.00. There being no alternative the credit card was inserted, the deal was done, the barrier came up and we were on our way again.

Arrived at Orleans and found the entrance to the road leading to the hotel which was protected by bollards that can be dropped into the ground to allow vehicles to pass. Beside the bollards there is a button you can push to speak to the hotel's agent telling them you require entry as you are a guest - well bugger me all the pushing in the world wouldn't raise the operator so Sherry had to go on foot to the hotel and ask for entry while I stayed with the car. Long story short, it was a shambles but finally got entry as a resident in the street dropped the bollards to exit her car and while they were down we scooted across hoping like hell they didn't rise as we were going over them.

Weather today cold and some showers en route and also on arrival.

Grande perhaps over sells it

Today we drove to the resort town of La Grande-Motte 24kms from Montpellier and which was largely built between 1960 and 1975 on virgin beachfront dunes.

It is characterised by the architecture with many of the prominent buildings pyramidal in form. With 2 million tourists per year it is one of the favorite resorts of the French.

From our point of view we wanted to visit the Mediterranean again and go for a last seaside swim in Europe and from that point of view while the water was not as warm as the day it was pleasant to have a dip.

As for the town, yes it was well laid out and felt beachy but a little sterile, certainly not "grande". With schools having returned, this week we think, after the long summer holiday the place was not crowded.

The World Nacra 17 sailing championships are currently being held off La Grande-Motte and there are two NZ crews taking part in what is the first world championships for this mixed sex foiling catamaran. Today was the first race in the champs so it will be good to see how our representatives fare over the next week or so.

As we saw in Le Grau Du-Roi, there were sand sculptures on the beach at La Grande-Motte - one being the Last Supper ...

...and the other a car load of Minions!

Today is our last day in the south of France as tomorrow we start the drive up to Paris to catch our flight to Singapore next Monday. We have enjoyed our stay in Montpellier particularly our day trips to Uzes and the towns in the Camargue.

We have two stops between here and Paris, Clermont- Ferrand and Orleans each of two nights as the drives each day are relatively long. 

From memory the accommodation at Clermont-Ferrand does not have internet so we may well be offline for 48 hours!

A load of shite

The European love of dogs is well documented but there are some aspects of that love that needs to be improved.

Why do "alleged" homeless people always have at least one dog tethered beside them - if they can't feed themselves how do they provide for the dog?

The treatment (or is that mistreatment) of dogs by guys who we see on the street corner is not pleasant - the dogs are so controlled to the point of being fearful. I sat near a guy and his dog while waiting for Sherry yesterday and a gentleman using a walking stick came over to share the seat however when the dog saw the stick it was obvious that this dog had had a stick used on him many times before as he cowered away.

Many times you see the lead being pulled so roughly to bring the dog to heal that the dog whimpers in apparent pain.

As for picking up after a dog defacates well that appears to be a no no. 

The other day in one of the main downtown shopping streets a lady waited while her dog relieved itself and then casually walked away leaving the mess for, and here it becomes multi choice:

a) the council cleaner to remove

b) to stay there until it dried solid and someone kicked it down the road

c) for someone to stand on it and smear it up the street

Today on two occasions we saw dogs defacate in the street and the owner leave it where it fell - in one case another gentleman pointed out to the dog owner that his dog had messed in the doorway of a shop without any reaction from the dog owner and in the other the dog had left droppings over about a metre but the dog owner had no concern to leave it on the footpath.

And to top it off this morning while walking in town Sherry had the misfortune to have a small amount of bird shite land on her arm!

After lunch in the city we walked to an area called Antigone which had different style buildings (more modern and set out with a degree of symmetry) and which commenced at the shopping area called Polygone and ended at Le Lez the river that flows through the city.

It was an open area with numerous trees on either side of the street

The council clearly has a problem in that the river harbours a weed that seems to be growing rampant 

but they also appear to be taking steps to remove it or at least try and control it

In the Antigone district is the Olympic sized swimming pool and a row of billboards outside of the pool made one think of home, if only momentarily 

With the election campaign being on at home and the promise of money being tossed around like confetti as parties promote their transport solutions particularly in Auckland, one would hope that someone has at least researched tram transport as used in Montpellier and other cities around the world as they are comfortable, can be installed in existing streets and also relatively quiet.

Montpellier has 4 lines across the city connecting 84 stations, with a total length of 60.5kms and over 300,000 people use them each day. The rolling stock consists of 85 trams.

A Citidus 401 tram manufactured by Alstom operating on Line 1 of the Montpellier network

The cost is €1.60 per ride over any distance on any number of trams in a 60 minute period if purchasing a single journey ticket reducing to €1.00 if purchasing a 10 trip ticket.

Later in the afternoon we refreshed in a rather cool pool at the apartment complex.

Day trippers

After sorting out a Sky reception problem back home we set sail for Aigues-Mortes some 33kms from Montpellier.

Aigues-Mortes is a completely walled city, built on a lido, in 1240 by Louis IX - the shape is an irregular quadrilateral and the walls are 1640 metres long

Arriving in town parking was hard to find as some of the parking areas outside of the Walls were taken over by the Sunday market which was a hive of activity with I guess over 50 stalls selling veggies, meats, breads, clothes and bric-a-brac.

It was a colourful environment.

The main entrance to the city is an imposing tower set in the walls and through that entrance one walks straight into the commercial part of the city leading down to Place Saint-Louis the historic heart of the town.

The immediate reaction is that the town has been over commercialised but when you go up on the walls and look across the whole town the area that has been commercialised would be less than 20%, the remainder being the townsfolk's residences.

It is quite a delightful town to visit and the walk around the walls gave views of the salt lakes adjacent

The photo of the lakes above doesn't do justice to the colouring seen through the eyes as they were very much distinctly pink.

6 kms down the road and also in Camargue natural region sits the town of Le Grau Du-Roi. If we thought that Aigues-Mortes was commercialised then we hadn't seen anything as Le Grau Du-Roi was absolutely a mass of people walking what appeared to be aimlessly passed shop after shop.

It struck me that when they left home with the idea of visiting Le Grau Du-Roi those folk were going there to swim, look at the scenery or even take a boat trip out into the Mediterranean but they arrived and were seduced by the shops which like a magnet drew them in.

This photo was taken at 4.57pm and the crowds didn't even hint at thinning out.

Whether the shops are worthwhile someone else would need to say!

There was a canal flowing from Aigues-Mortes down to Le Grau Du-Roi and then on out into the Mediterranean and there were various tourist vessels taking visitors through the canal and out into the sea

.

Leaving the masses behind we walked along the beach promenade and came across three sand sculptures that some one had crafted during the day

By now it was after six so we returned to the carpark, fired up the 3008 and drove back to Montpellier and home.

All this tripping around would be impossible without a good GPS and we appear to have that in this vehicle the motorway issue arriving in Montpellier excepted!

Safe as...

...obviously terror issues are always in the back of the mind and all we can do is go about our holiday as if nothing is happening but being mindful to stay away from any areas that lend themselves to what the scum have in mind.

In Montpellier every time we are out we always see a pod of four well armed soldiers strolling through the area - today there were at least two pods out in the vicinity of Place de La Comedie the main gathering point it would seem in Montpellier 

I certainly wouldn't want to be around if these guys let rip with their weapons but just seeing them and numerous police cars around gives one a since of comfort.

A quiet day otherwise today - a stroll into the city to allow Sherry to have a look at more shops and after finishing I am told that there are others she wishes to call into.

 If someone can tell why shops are magnets to ladies I would be indebted however I can't complain too much as she did find a shoe store that had my size of sandals and for the princely sum of only €15.

Returned to the apartment mid afternoon as the wind came up and the temperature went down and we were not really dressed for what felt like 18-20 degrees.

Followed qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix online as couldn't get it on the TV and found that Monza Italy is currently being bombarded with rain while here the sky stays relatively free of any sign of rain.

Later we will go back into the city for dinner.