Leaving Toulouse...getting lost again...

My goodness, the streets in Toulouse are nightmarishly skinny, especially whilst we are getting used to the new car.  It is an Opel Meriva, manual and larger than we expected.

We made it out of town and headed for Le Cite de l'Espace, which is a museum about space, weather, satellites and related things.  It was exceptionally well done.  Everything was interactive so you could moon walk, you could set the frequencies to get clear satellite pictures and there were lots of games to teach you how things work.  You could also be a weather presenter using the blue screen technology so you were waving your hands around trying to look like you are pointing at a particular place - neither of us indulged in that!  I guess it was aimed at kids but we both thought it was brilliant.  Masses of people but the crowds flowed through quite well so there was no queuing.

From there we headed off to our accommodation for the night which was just 5 kms out of Carcassonne.  Nearing our destination, we were again driving in very narrow streets, relying on the GPS for directions.  We struggled to find it despite loading the name, and later the latitude and longitude into the GPS and I was starting to despair as we went around and around these country lanes.  In the end Allan asked someone and it turned out that we were parked up right outside the place -d'oh!

Shortly after we checked in, we headed into Carcassonne to check out the medieval city.  Turns out we didn't find that, but we walked around the old town.  So quaint, with tiny, tiny little streets but so much charm.  Just before we got back to the car, there was a massive electrical storm, with huge hailstones, so we got quite wet.

Navigating the narrow streets in the pouring rain was just horrendous and we got lost again, just by not being able to get into the right lane at the right time.  Suffice to say that by the time we got out of town, communication between the driver and the navigator was getting a little fraught!

I am not inspired to have a go at driving in the cities, or on the motorways where the speed limit is 130 kph, even though we paid extra to register me as an additional driver.

Our accommodation itself deserves a separate post so will stop here.

En France

Okaaaay - so we are in France.  This is going to be fun!

Having landed in Toulouse and negotiated immigration and picked up our rental car, we were ready to set off.  Gulp.  Left hand drive.  Manual gears.  Rush hour traffic.  I don't know who was more stressed - Allan as driver, or me as navigator!  We thought that it would be quiet on the roads because of Good Friday, but it is not observed as a public holiday here today.  Monday is a holiday though.

It took us 45 minutes to travel the 10 kms from the airport.  The GPS put us a bit wrong by taking us to Boulevard Matabiau instead of Rue Matabiau.  The former was a bit seedy and did not have a hotel where we expected it.

All sorted now though.  We checked in and were offered a welcome drink.  The receptionist had enough English to help us, and was able to recommend a delightful restaurant just around the corner for dinner. 

We had an exquisite three course set menu, and although in some instances we were not entirely sure what we were eating, we had a lovely time, and were able to practice our schoolroom French.  I am sure we will get more confident as we go along.

The Curious Incident...

We were out early to visit the Cutty Sark.  Last time we were here, it was just after the fire so we missed it.  They have done a brilliant job of restoring it and we had a pleasant but cold morning.

I dragged Allan to Harrod's after that, nominally looking for lunch.  What a disaster!  Millions of people - we couldn't move, so we gave up on that idea.

We had a matinee show booked, a play called the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.  Allan chose it, having read the book.  It was brilliant, quite different from anything I had ever seen.  We were seated in one of the boxes at the side with slightly restricted viewing - the only seats we could get as I believe the run is nearly fully booked out.  Anyway, the script called for the female lead to deliver some of her lines from our box - we were warned at half time that this would be happening. The actress was Niamh Cusack who appeared on TV years ago in a series called Heartbeat.  She patted me on the back and thanked us as she left the box, so we are moving in high circles talking to Kings and TV stars!

We ate at the hotel restaurant - a bit flasher than we'd previously done in London and enhanced by live entertainment from a piano player / singer. A fitting end to our week in the UK.
France tomorrow!

A day without Museums!

Last time we were in London we ran out of time to go to Hampton Court, so that was Wednesday's destination.  Travelled by overland train to the south west.

Hampton Court was the summer palace of Henry VIII and what made our visit interesting was the addition of little role plays as we went along.  After we had bowed, as directed, the King chatted to me about how much he wanted dispose of Catherine of Aragon and make Anne Boleyn his Queen.  It was good fun and a great way to bring history to life.

Against, it was bitterly cold and we both struggled with our runny noses and sniffles, so we returned to the hotel mid afternoon and took it easy. I should make it clear (lest you accuse me of being a Nana, which of course I am!) that the little extra naps that I have been taking have been due to the fact that there are no chairs in our hotel room, so I had no choice but to lie down!

More museums and lots of people

A bit slower to get going this morning (Tuesday) but since the wind has dropped, the wind chill factor has reduced, and there is no rain or snow.  Just a bit grey.

We were only going one stop on the tube this morning.  So funny how you quickly become a pro on the Underground but have no clue of distances overland.  Maybe we could have walked to the Victoria and Albert Museum, but we didn't!

This museum was completely different from the British Museum, but I really enjoyed it.  These places are so vast, the upkeep costs must be phenomenal.

There was a lot of old art and tapestries.  I enjoyed the fashion, furniture and jewellery displays - it made me wonder whether anything we own in our times would stand the test of time to be displayed in a museum in 500 years time.  Highly unlikely I think!  There was an interesting display of theatre and music memorabilia too.  The level of craftsmanship and sheer time it must have taken to create many of the items there are incredible.

We had lunch at the Museum - lovely food, but my goodness, the organisation was bizarre.  You had to queue separately for your sandwiches or hot food, your drinks and cakes, and then to pay.  And the queues were huge.  I reckon there was a good chance of your food going mouldy before you got through the queues!  It is mind-blowing to us humble Kiwis how many people there are everywhere you go, no matter what time of day it is.

I left Allan to go to the Science Museum on his own and nipped back to Leicester Square.  Minor diversion when I realised that Prince Charles was there - saw the red carpet, the cars, the security, the crowds, but not the Prince!

Much better choice of show tonight.  We watched Jersey Boys - so slick and polished, and thoroughly enjoyable.  [Allan: having seen this show, I have revised my rating of The Chorus Line - new rating 0.5 stars]

Secrets

I mentioned earlier how much we were loving our hotel. Allan is fascinated by a room adjacent to the breakfast room - it is labelled 'Secrets' and the door is always closed.  Makes you wonder!  (While we're thinking about secrets, did anyone spot the 20 different architectural styles in yesterday's photo of The Mansion at Bletchley Park?)

Our room rate includes a continental breakfast which we're really enjoying. There is something very civilised about breakfast in a restaurant in my book.

The very best thing about the hotel is the short walk to the Tube Station - this has been a bonus with the cold weather.  It's great when you come home late at night to have just a couple of minutes walk back to your room.

Code Cracking

Day three and the temperature has risen!  We're only at minus 2 wind chill now.  Seems likely to stay there or thereabouts for the rest of the week.  Sometimes it is refreshingly crisp, others it is breathtakingly cold, but we're wrapping up warm so it's not really impeding us at all.

Today we took a fast (very fast!) train out to Bletchley Park, probably 100 kms from London. The weather here had obviously been more severe as there was snow on the ground all the way - it was very pretty to watch from the warmth of the train.

For those of you who don't know (I didn't before we went), this is the place where the Brits broke the Enigma and Lorenz codes which were used by the Germans in their WW2 communications, and which they say shortened the duration of the war by a couple of years.  It was also the home of the first ever computer (Colossus).  Interesting parallels between cracking the Enigma code and cracking the Rosetta 'code' (see yesterday's photo of the Rosetta stone in the British Museum)

I think I learnt from my visit to the British Museum that I prefer 'people' history rather than 'natural' history so the stuff we heard at Bletchley was fascinating to me, and of course, right up Allan's alley.

On our way back, we called in at Leicester Square to pick up tickets to a show so we only had time for a quick dinner before we were out again.  We chose 'The Chorus Line' but it was a bit disappointing to be honest.  Well performed, as always in London, but not much of a story to it.  [Allan: 1 star rating]  Will have to do better with our next choice!

Freezing, but fun

Well, they were famous last words!  Even though we didn't think we were tired, I accidentally slept for 3 and a half hours yesterday afternoon, and then we both dropped off for 2 hours after dinner, and then we slept for 9 hours overnight.  Now we're not tired!

After we had freshened up yesterday, we took the train into Oxford St and visited Hamleys toy store.  We've been there before but it was worth another visit to soak up the atmosphere.  Six floors packed with toys, and lots of exuberant young people demonstrating products with much noise and enthusiasm.  The place was teeming with people despite the inclement weather.

It continued to snow all day, but it didn't settle.

We are delighted with our hotel which is 50 metres from the Tube station, a supermarket and several restaurants.  It is a Victorian terraced block of 5 stories, and has been beautifully restored.  Our room is small but perfectly formed.  In fact, from the wall to the foot of the bed is approximately 300 mm and on that wall there is a large flat screen TV at shoulder height so it is a bit of a contortionary act to get through!

Today we've been to the British Museum.  We thought it would be a good choice because of the weather - less snow but a biting -5 degree with the wind chill.  It is a pretty spectacular place with some exceptionally old stuff on display.  It is just huge - it took 3 or 4 hours for us to get around (not that we saw everything), well worth a visit.

London calling...

We are here and it is snowing! A max of 3 degrees expected today, but who cares?

The flight was long but uneventful. We left Melbourne at around 4.40 pm with the intention that we would stay awake until our stopover at Singapore which was seven hours' flying time.  We 'more or less' achieved that (read Allan did and I didn't quite!). It was a brand new Airbus A380 - very quiet and comfortable - for economy!  We ate well too and the service was very friendly.

The new plane has a cool feature on its in-flight entertainment. Qantas has mounted a camera on the tail and you can keep an eye on any fires that break out in the engines (none for our flight). Fun watching take off and landing from that perspective, but a little spooky when the plane banks to turn and the horizon does a drunken tilt!

We had a couple of delays in Singapore - a rubbish bag in our parking spot delayed arrival until it was cleared, and traffic control issues in the skies over Afghanistan delayed departure.  Not sure what that was all about.

Singapore to London was a 13 hour flight completely in the dark for the whole journey. We landed at 5 am Saturday morning and made our way to the hotel by Underground, watching the snow fall (the Underground is not under the ground all the way from Heathrow Airport).  Arrived at the hotel just before 8 am and the lovely man let us check in early - lovely to have a hot shower and freshen up.

Both of us slept in fits and starts on the plane from Singapore but got enough sleep to feel reasonably fresh.  If we can stay awake now until a normal bedtime, I think we'll do not too bad on the jet lag.  Off to Oxford St now!

Melbourne - done

Finally got to Melbourne at 7.30 pm on Wednesday – a couple of hours late but never mind.  We had to pick up our key from another site and chose to walk the 2 km dragging our suitcases in 27 degree heat.  So, we have some calories in the bank!

A bit cloudy and very windy for our first day on Melbourne – Allan went off early to his conference and I just pottered around the shops until he got back at 8 pm.   Had to be a bit restrained due to luggage constraints and, after all, it was just day one of 36!

We had a quick dinner at Hungry Jacks and then a short walk before heading back.  Scary fact about Melbourne – lots of cafes and fast food outlets now list the kilojoules next to the price.  Puts you off an Aussie burger when they tell you it has 3745 kJs!

Just sitting at the airport now waiting to check in. London here we come!

Still in Welly

What a busy morning. You might think you're well organised, but there's always lots of last minute things to do.

Minor hiccup at the airport. Wellington has run out of aviation fuel, so now we're flying to Auckland to pick up some gas. Now scheduled to arrive in Melbourne a couple of hours late.

Oh well...

We're off again...

Counting down to our departure in nine days time.  Lots to do before then!

Here's our itinerary (the short version!)

We head for Melbourne for two nights where Allan will attend a conference and I will shop (!)

Then we're off to London for six nights in London flying Qantas via Singapore.  Lots to see and do there that we didn't manage to see last time.

From there, we're flying to Toulouse to begin a road trip checking out Carcassonne, Albi, Sarlat, Tours, Bayeux and Rouen, including some of the WW2 sites.

We finish off with five nights in Paris.  Looking forward to just soaking up the atmosphere.

We meet up with our friends Janet and Phil for the last two nights so will have to find a swish restaurant to celebrate.

Allan's done a crash course in traveller's French and I have been practising the French I learnt for six years at school, so we will see how we go.

On the way home, we're stopping over in Singapore (where we've not been before) to see Allan's brother David, and Mary.  That'll be a highlight.

Home via Brisbane and Auckland after five weeks on our travels.