DRAFT ROME

Not much here yet, more soon. Promise,
Make that eventually, maybe.



We arrived back in Orly just past midnight after a much delayed flight and as we wondered how to get to our hotel (it was just past the last shuttle departure time) we were surprised to see the hotel shuttle arrive. We happily approached the rear of the van with our cases, but the driver said no, he was there for the air-crew only. The look on our faces must have been pathetic because he took pity on us and agreed to take us along. We threw the bags in and waited for the air-crew to arrive. Within minutes they were all there--we were a couple of seats short! The driver also had a friend with him which complicated matters but we were all soon squeezed in--as Art said to the Captain, just like tourist class.

Ten minutes later we were at the hotel desk and checked in, looking for food, to find the restaurant and bar kitchen closed! We settled for a couple of half litres of beer and the waiter supplied a large bowl of nuts and snacks. Again, rather than stumble along with our than adequate French, we conversed with the bartender in Spanish! It appears that he is originally from El Salvador. A bit later four business men arrived wanting drinks--by this time it was after closing and they were refused at first but eventually the manager relented and allowed them to be served. The one doing all the coaxing was doing it in Spanish--he was a Mexican! We all spent the next while conversing, laughing and telling jokes in Spanish!

We eventually got to our room, having picked up the bag we had left last week (intentionally) and the room was very pleasant. Shower, set the alarm and sleep followed in quick succession.

Morning came early but we woke quite refreshed in spite of the long yesterday and short sleep and were soon in the dining room to catch up on lost meals and prepare for our journey to Rome. The hotel served an excellent breakfast buffet--Gillian was amazed that the scrambled eggs remained so soft and fluffy. Pancakes, bacon, sausage, eggs, steak (if you wished) cereals, fruit, cold meats, cheeses, etc. etc.


We returned to the front desk at 8:39 to find that the 8:40 shuttle to Orly airport had already left! We made the 9:00 with out trouble, planning on taking the train to Charles de Gaule Airport for our Rome flight but the shuttle driver told us the bus was better.


There was a long line at the bus, lots of people jostling and arguing about getting their suitcases stored, but we were eventually rolling. But only after another 30 minute wait for another bus--after the one we were lined up for drove off full! We had a nice drive through Paris and as we approached Charles de Gaule we told our driver which flight we wanted and when everyone else got off, he told us to stay put while he chauffeured us (the only two passengers remaining) around to the other terminal and dropped us off at exactly the right spot, in front of the Lufthansa counters.

As we entered the Departures area and headed for the Lufthansa check-in we were approached by a Lufthansa agent who directed us to the automatic check in and, spotting Art's cane, asked if we needed a wheelchair. Art said that he had done too many stairs in the Paris Metro, she laughed knowingly and told us to see her colleague after we had our boarding passes. This young lady asked if Art could manage the escalator and moving walkway, which he could of course, but told her that our biggest concern was the 30 minute connection we had in Munich, so a ride between gates at Munich was arranged.

The flight was late departing but we were met as promised and made the flight with 5 minutes to spare. The Lufthansa flights were excellent, we had reasonable legroom and actually got fed. Nothing exciting, but edible food as airline food goes.

Our arrival in Rome was again uneventful, a passing glance at our British Passports and we were waved through. We followed the signs for the train--there is a direct express from the airport to the centre of Rome, the station in town only five or six blocks from our hotel.

At the airport station we purchased train tickets and also a three day transit pass which included entrance to the first two museums (more or less of our choice) and reduced entrance for the rest. These turned out to be a good deal except:


Art had his wallet go missing somewhere between the train ticket window at the Rome Airport station and our hotel. Gone were about 130 Euros, Master Card, Bank card, driver's license, Care Card etc etc etc. Phone calls got the cards cancelled and he still has a VISA card and another bank card and Gillian's are of course fine, but very annoying to say the least.

We got into the hotel eventually. Having walked the wrong way first, we did about 4 blocks too many. As we wandered through what looked to be a not too good part of town we passed a small sidewalk cafe that was busy with an interesting menu. A block further along we found our hotel.

After checking in we called MasterCard and the bank--free calls from our room!!!! and arranged for Art's cards to be cancelled. We quickly unpacked, showered, changed and went out looking for supper. We wandered back down the street and encountered a few places that weren't too appealing, then crossed to the one we had seen on our way up. There must have been an angel looking over our shoulders, as the food was heavenly! Art moaned over his melt-in-your-mouth fresh lasagna, Gillian pronounced her seafood pasta as "excellent", accompanied by a very good local red wine.



After they threw us out--they were closing! we wandered up to the other end of the street to the Piazza and a church which we later decided was the most beautiful in Rome. On the corner we discovered a restaurant bar that looked interesting and over the next few days spent enough time there to be recognised by the waiter--who a few days later joked that our regular table was occupied, would the one next to it be OK?







Saturday





Coliseum, way too much walking and too much food.






Sunday, see the e-mails, more to come later, probably a month or so after we get home!

Will stick in a few pictures and update the text as we get around to it.



Our Last Day, June 22nd



Another day enjoying the architecture and many piazzas of Rome. Much more walking! The streets are getting harder to walk on.



Art was taken (figuratively) with the police cars. (Many years ago he owned an Alfa Romeo. In fact he traded in Gillian's VW fastback on it--but that is another story probably best left forgotten!)

DRAFT MARRAKECH

Day One; Departing Orly

Arriving Marrakech

Again just a reminder, "click" on the pictures to enlarge, then use the "Back arrow" at the top to return to the blog page.



Just to prove that we are actually here.



















Day 4--Last Day, a final wander around the souk, and time spent just people watching.



It was a bit crowded in the narrow streets! The donkey cart managed to find a place to pull off to let the taxi through, though I don't think cars are really supposed to come through here! This was the narrow lane that starts in front of our hotel and ends in the big open square seen in the following pics.







This picture was taken just outside the door of our Riad at the other end of the lane above. These pots, jugs, stools, basins etcetera are all made out of old rubber tires, stitched and glued together. They are quite amazing. We would have loved to have brought some back, they would have been useful in the garden.






The various methods of transporting things is varied and inventive to say the least. How the cardboard recycler has survived so long is beyond me. The little skip is transporting a yard to so of wet concrete! We met him in the little lane a while later while going back to the Riad.



















Relaxing and people watching in a cafe in the souk, Gillian with a coca cola and Art with a coffee.


The last purchase in the souk was a souvenier for a friend who collects glasses etc from around the world. We didn't have room for a complete set of 6 glasses and tea pot used to prepare and serve the ever present mint tea, but managed to convince a vendor to part with just one glass. It was made of very thin glass and sat nestled in a framework of "silver" wire. We wrapped it carefully and returned to the Riad to finish packing.

We laid everything out on the bed puzzling where things were to go. During the shuffling around of stuff Art picked up a plastic bag spilling out the tea glass which then rolled off the bed land on the hard tile floor with a crunch-- scattering tiny shards of glass across the room. Words were said!

Our driver arrived and while we were downstairs saying goodbye to Nigel and Diane we related the story of the tea glass. Diane immediately presented us with one of theirs from the hotel, saying "it's just a plain one, but at least it's not as fragile and has a story to go with it".

With thanks Art stuffed it into his pack as we climbed into the van for the ride to the airport.

Some time time later at the airport Art reached into a jacket pocket looking for something and his had came out grasping the room key complete with fancy fob! We tried without success to phone the Riad, due probably to our unfamiliarity with dialing local phone numbers. Eventually we had to go through security to our gate, wondering how we were going to explain this to Diane and Nigel!

Murphy being Murphy, our flight was listed as departing from Gate 29 -- out of a total of 29 gates! A long walk later we reached gate 29 and found a seat; we had about 40 minutes before the scheduled departure time. A bit later we noticed that the gate sign had changed to a different flight number and destination! We checked the main board, our flight to Orly was still listed as departing from gate 29. As departure time approached with no change in the gate sign, Gillian went up to the agent to confirm things. She came back to advise Art that there had been a gate change--we now had to return to gate 3! The main board still listed our flight as departing from gate 29 at 18:00. It was now 17:45!

Gillian set off down the loooong hallway at a very brisk walk while Art followed along at a more normal pace. We arrived at gate 3 to find our flight listed on the sign board--as "delayed"! The large board however still directed passengers to gate 29! 15 minutes or so later it was corrected.

Eventually we boarded a very full flight and were up and away about an hour and a half late. The flight was uneventful, we even managed to snooze a bit.

PARIS

Day One

As we descended through the clouds on our approach to Paris we could see the farm land and many scattered villages below.


Landing in Paris; as we landed another plane was taking off on a parallel runway.

Immigration and customs were a snap, a glance at the red British (EC) Passports and we were waved through. The weather was cloudy and cool, just right for traveling.


Nephew Steve met us at the airport on time in spite of Art's neglecting to give him the airline and flight number! Fortunately he had told him our arrival time and a bit of internet searching indicated that there was only one flight due in at that time!

We stayed with him in his small bachelor pad--well equipped as you can see! He has a couch which folded down to a very comfortable futon bed.



It is well located near 3 metro stops as well as several shops and restaurants and made an excellent base. The only problem was the stairs--69 from the street! We stayed there 4 nights, touring Paris by metro and tour bus.

The metro is an excellent way to get around Paris, though Art found the many stairs in each station very tiring. If we changed lines, and we usually had to, there were stairs to each line. The claim is that there is no place in Paris more more than 500 metres from a Metro.

Steve had to work a couple of days but we were able so spend some time with him and have him show us around what seems to becoming his adopted city. He speaks French very well, and says that while people can recognise that he is not French most cannot place his accent.

This first day we didn't stray far, walked to Place de la Republique where we got a sim card for Art's phone with Steve's help--Gillian's was still back at the apartment! We later had a good dinner in a small restaurant near his apartment and finally fell into bed about 11:30 PM. It had been one very long day.


DAY TWO

Le Louvre and River cruise

We started our cultural tour at the Louvre, our photos certainly don't do it justice. We spent hours walking around, again too many stairs. Near the end of our visit we finally discovered the elevators. There weren't many and those were not well placed. Obviously they can't chop up the fine architecture willy-nilly so I think they did fairly well. At one point, to avoid stairs, a guard phoned the security centre and then unlocked a security door to enable us to by-pass the stairs and directly enter the next section of the museum where we were heading to see the Mona Lisa.




The long hallway was filled with paintings and statues. Click on the Diana statue and examine her left hand. Is that a remote control or a phone?!












The museum was quite busy even mid week, there were a lot of school tours in progress, and the most popular exhibits were of course the most crowded.



We did eventually manage to get to the front of the pack and to see Mona Lisa up close; almost disappointing--the protective glass detracted quite a bit from the effect and of course made photographing it very difficult.

Soon we had had enough, or perhaps to be truthful Art had had enough walking and stair climbing ,so we left the Louvre and went looking for lunch.




Not far away we found a place to stop, sit and sample the food. We soon discovered that in Paris the food was for the most part good but very expensive. Lunch for 2 was usually in the 60 euro range--about $100 Canadian! The meal in the photos above was excellent--except for the price. Gillian had a Salade Nicoise while Art's was described simply as a cheese and ham plate, he moaned in contentment as he worked his way through it. When you consider the price included 19.6% tax (yes that amount is correct!) plus a 10% service charge (in lieu of tip) the prices are not too bad.


River Seine Cruise Tour.

We went for a wander after lunch to try to find a stop for the open topped tour buses we had seen traveling around. Art had had more than enough walking and stair climbing we thought a tour bus would be a good way to spend the rest of the day before we met Steve for dinner. We didn't spot any right away but soon but came upon across a river tour company operating out of Isle de la Cite. We bought our tickets and were soon on the Seine, cruising completely around the 2 islands and as far up as the Tour Eiffel.


















That evening we met Steve for dinner at a nice sidewalk cafe on Place de la Repblique where we realised we might really have trouble finding our way around Paris, at least judging by the sign to a couple of railway stations! How can East and North be in the same direction?!!






DAY THREE, Friday

Steve had to work today to get the equipment ready for his working weekend, so he was up and gone early, might be able to meet us for dinner later so we were on our own for the day.

What French we had appears to have completely disappeared; every time we try to say something it comes out Spanish. As citizens of an officially bi-lingual country everyone expects us to speak French. We feel a bit sheepish if not outright embarassed quite frequently. Steve suggested " stick an American flag on your shirt, then no o ne will expect you to speak French"! I hesitated to put that comment here in our blog for fear of offending some of our many American friends, but I then realised that most of them would agree with me that, although it was a bit rude, it was funny. For those that I may have offended I apologise. Speaking about funny and languages, several times we have had to resort to Spanish in order to communicate. Buying a new sim card for Gillian's phone this morning was done using a mixture of Spanish and English!



Versaille Indescribable! When we finally got up and going we set off via metro and train to Versaille. The trip went quickly and smoothly and soon we arrived in the pretty little town of Versaille. We took a quick "tour train" (really a tractor in disguise) around town then walked up to the Palace.
At the entrance we found that at the tourist office in town we had been sold the wrong tickets--we had entry just for the grounds and gardens! We turned around and set off to buy the right ones for the Palace when one of the agents ran after us and said we really should see the Palace, and as it was late we wouldn't have time to see both, so he let us in for the tickets we had!

We took hundreds of photos, we won't bore you with them all--besides, it is frustrating to get them placed correctly! One day I will figure out how to attach or link to albums, then we will be able to post the lot!














Art was pleased to see by the wear pattern on the marble staircase that he wasn't the only one to prefer staying close to the handrail! We couldn't guess how many pairs of feet traveled those stairs over the centuries. The royal chambers are off the long hallway above. The picture on the right is the Queen's chamber. Good thing we redecorated our bedroom only last year--it could have been expensive if we had waited until now for ideas!




DAY FOUR, Saturday 13 June

Speaking of photos--most of the next 2 days pics have somehow evaporated!

Today we set off with Open Tour, a double decker bus with open top for a tour around Paris. They have several routes and you can get on or off at any of the 15 or so stops. The routes overlap at a couple of stops and here you can change buses to another route. Tickets are good for 24 hours though for 5 euros more we thought the 48 hour ticket the better bet.

At the first stop on Champs E"lysee we got off to meet Steve for lunch. We wandered by several places including a McDonalds and finally settled on one that advertised crepes, as Gillian had her heart set on a good French crepe. We could have chosen better; we paid 9 euros for a disgusting crepe which was more like a chewy pancake and the same for a "croque monsieur" essentially a toasted ham and cheese sandwich which was about the same standard as the crepe, while a half litre of beer set us back 11 euros--about $15.00 Canadian. Each. Steve says this is very common in the very popular areas--they know that most tourists won't be coming back any way so they don't have to worry about attracting repeat business and regular customers.

















The meal above was one of the good ones, another restaurant in Place de la Revolution, about 15 minutes walk from Steve's apartment. On the way home we passed these three bicycles "securely" locked to the fence. The red one hadn't been there too long by the look of things--in a few days it will probably resemble the other two.


DAY FIVE Sunday

Continue Bus tour, Notre Dame


Steve had left very early this morning for a shoot in Capri, so he was gone when we woke up--almost noon--we had obviously been sleep deprived and were catching up! We carried on with the open tour and visited Notre Dame Cathedral and took way too many pictures again, all of which are hiding somewhere in never-never land.


Later in the afternoon of this our last day in Paris we returned to Steve's apartment to re-pack. Since Steve was not home anyway and we had an early flight (8:00AM) to Marrekech, we decided to go Orly for our last night. We traveled by metro and train to Orly airport and over-nighted at the Holiday Inn, ready for our morning flight to Marrakesh. We thought this
would be a leisurely operation.

Not Quite. A short walk brought us to the metro, to find it very crowded. After only a couple of stops we got off to change metro lines and several flights of stairs later we were waiting for the next train. There were many people on the platform, not a good sign, and when the train arrived it was jam packed, standing room only. A few stops down the line Art managed to get a seat, but we were glad to arrive at our stop, a combined metro and rail station.

More walking, more stairs, though there were a couple of escalators and elevators which helped out, and once a gentleman took Art's two cases (and his cane!) up two flights of stairs. Not to infer anything but this was the only time Art was offered help with his baggage on this trip. Last year in London, on the train and the tube, he never once carried his bags up a flight of stairs.

We finally arrived at the right platform to find that we had just missed a train. 11 minutes later the next one came along. This train too was jammed full but we were able to find seats after a stop or two. There was a very frail looking lady that boarded at the next stop, struggling with a suitcase. Everyone shuffled about until there was room to let down the folding seat for her, inspite of the sign prohibiting its use when the train was crowded--no one objected--she obviously couldn't be expected to stand. Moments later she sat with her suit case on her lap, hunched over her cell phone texting like a teenager!!!

Art noticed a family nearby that he thought was speaking Spanish but they spoke so quietly (even their young daughter) he couldn't be sure.

Eventually the train pulled into the town of Antony where we had to change for the last time for Orly airport. As we stepped on to the platform there was a passage marked Orly Airport, and a little way along we found ourselves in front of an open door to the train! No Stairs! As we sat down the family Art had noticed on the previous train entered and sat across from us. They were from Chihuahua Mexico, and were also staying at the Holiday Inn.

At Orly airport we waited with them for the shuttle bus to the hotel (a bit over half an hour) and soon we were checking in and finding that the bar restaurant closed at 11:30 (PM) As it was by this time 10:30 we just had time for a shower and change before supper.

There is a direct train from Orly airport to Charles de Gaulle airport which will be our departure point for Rome on Friday after our return from Marrakech so we booked in here for Thursday night as well. We also decided to leave a bag here as we are only allowed one carry-on bag for the Marrekech flight. This meant of course that we would have to re-pack!

We got to bed a bit after midnight, setting the alarm and a wake up call for 5:30 AM, the shuttle would leave at 6:00 for our 8:20 departure for Marrakech.

Travelling again

June 6th 2009

In just a few days we will be off to France to visit Art's nephew Steve in Paris. From there to Marrakech to visit a couple who we "met" through an e-mail mix-up and finally to Rome, where we will celebrate our 34th wedding anniversary.

Packing is almost complete--we can probably make it with just carry-on! We will take the little notebook computer so hope to keep in touch.


All Art's clothes fit into one carry-on backpack! Gillian's fit into a slightly bigger bag,but still carry on size. Air Canada allows one carry on plus one smaller carry on--computer etc so we should make it. Not sure what the Atlas Blue to Marrakech or the Lufthansa flight to Rome allow, hope it's all carry on as it's lot faster thorough customs and immigration.

Only 3 more sleeps!!!!


June 9th

Our dog/house sitter arrived last night, Trekker ecstatic to see new friends. It was obvious that they were going to get along just fine.

Our neighbour John showed up at 8:05 AM as arranged and not too surprisingly we were on the way to the Victoria airport for our first of the 3 leg flight to Paris only 10 minutes later, arriving in plenty of time.

As we entered the terminal we ran into a former client of Gillian's, a Jazz Air employee, who immediately took us under her wing so to speak and got us checked in and and on our way without having to stand in line. We had time for a coffee (breakfast!) and in a little while we proceeded to security.


Gillian was told that the X-Ray had detected that she had a pair of scissors in her case; she said "no I don't, I'm sure!" they said "yes you do" so she opened her case and a bit of rummaging around disclosed a pair of bandage scissors forgotten in the first-aid kit. Oops! After close inspection the agent decided that they were blunt enough to pass. Meanwhile Art watched his belongings go through, several agents peering at the screen, moving the conveyor belt back and forth. Finally Art was asked to open his bag, the item of concern proving to be a small metal cased penlight. We were both released without incident and shortly thereafter we were all allowed to board and we were soon rumbling down the runway then up and flying over the Gulf Islands.



Leg one was an uneventful flight except for the arrival in Vancouver where we experienced something that we had never seen before in all our years of flying: As we taxied in, the usual announcement was made about remaining seated with seat belts on until the aircraft was at a complete stop, the seat belt sign off and the door opened. When all this had in fact occurred, the flight attendant had to tell us that we could now stand up and exit the aircraft. Each and every passenger had remained sitting up to this moment! Several people commented that they had never seen this happen before. Art suggested that perhaps we were all Islanders and as such didn't really want to go to Vancouver anyway!


An hour and a half in YVR and we boarded our Air Canada flight to Toronto. Again a pleasant uneventful flight, except that the plane was full and the midship washroom was out of service, the entire economy section had only two working toilets. They soon realised that this was not going to be sufficient end eventually we commoners were permitted to traipse through the first class section and use their facilities (no fancier than ours) though we were not allowed to actually line up in the first class section, we had to wait behind the curtain at row 12 in economy.


There were quite a few small children on the plane but happily, for the most part, relatively quiet. We were seated next to a Dad with his 2 year old daughter on his lap. Fortunately she was very well behaved with only a few isolated incidents of fretting. We tried to nap without much success, but passed the time well enough, though we were glad to hear the landing announcement.



In Toronto again there were no problems and soon the third and final leg was under way; yet again a full aircraft and a bunch of kids, but we have seen worse. A pleasant surprise was that the meal was included; edible chicken, the pasta option all gone by the time they got around to us. After dinner we got as "comfortable" as possible and closed our eyes. Gillian got a bit of not too restful sleep, Art got none but of course eventually we were below the clouds and flying over farming country on our approach to landing in Paris.

Getting things fixed-eventually

Back home there was a lot of catching up to do, not the least of which was getting the last of the motorhome issues taken care of. The inverter problem, modifying the battery rack to accept 6volt "golf cart" batteries, water heater serviced etc etc etc.

There was also a motorhome rally to attend, the first of the year for our local FMCA chapter, the Vancouver Islanders, which we could not miss--we always enjoy the group so much.

Will up-date this entry much later as at the moment there is just too much to do.