Paris and beyond

Saturday or was it Sunday who cares we have arrived, I must be honest I was really knackered; it was that final bit from London to Paris that did it. We arrived here at the hotel at 10 on the Saturday evening and that was at 5am on Sunday morning for those of you who care! To those of you who I have driven crazy with my constant talk about going on holiday lately I don’t apologise cause I am now here and you just never know maybe I will talk about it for months after I come back as well!

Sharron and Garey were at the Hotel when we arrived as it was a damp evening in Paris, well I think that was their excuse cause I think that the reality of it was they were just so excited to see us come! Garey was downstairs like a shot lickety split to meet us and even carried our cases for us, whoops, no sorry let me correct that, at least my case upstairs to our suite, well maybe not suite but at least it does have a separate bathroom and really for Europe and the price is the best hotel that we have probably stayed in. (www.cheaperthan hotels.com ‘Alyss Hotel’)

We pretty much mucked around on Sunday visited the ‘Invalides Museum’ which is where Napoleon has his tomb. Talk about spending a fortune to bury ones-self this thing was massive took us hours to walk around as we also at the same time visited the museum which had a lot of military memorabilia for the past going back to the time when they used to wear armour etc. Let me tell you for those of you involved in the military today those guys and I guess maybe women did it tough then, if they had fallen over then the weight of the armour would have killed then let alone the enemy! It also covered the wars through to the last world war with a particular section on the holocaust which was sobering with it graphic shots of just how the victims were treated.

BTW we walked everywhere yesterday well at least almost everywhere, I recon at least a 1000 miles although that would probably be contested by the others who would say 15 to 20 K’s only, but for those of you who know me you would have to agree that was a miracle in its selfJ gosh that right I have had another of those seldom encountered moments I caught a TRAIN.
We had lunch at a little café the food was great not to expensive, well it can’t have been cause Gill only complained at me about the cost of the beer, but one had to have the beer to counter all that walking.

Last night was one of the evenings that will set this trip apart we went out to Diane’s and her parents for dinner and the evening. For those of you who don’t know, Diane was our last host student and this is the second time that we have had the chance to visit with her and her parents back in Paris. Xavier (Dianne’s Papa) and Diane picked us up down town in Paris by the ‘Arc De Tromphe’ and drove us back to their place it was fantastic meet up with Sylvia her Mama and brothers and sister again as well. Relived a bit of the past and generally caught on all of the changes over the last couple of years. It’s these type of experiences that money cannot buy and shows the true value of working with AFS, you do create worldwide friends. We came back to the city much later by train Silvia offered to take us, but, my trusty tour guide had decided that train once again was a good idea as apparently we wanted to stop at the Eiffel Tower and take a photo of it under lights – thus that is what we did.

Well it’s now Monday and today we head for Decize and the canal boat for the next five days – goodness me, how life is so tough, mind you, I think that I am designed for this style of life just wandering around the world so that is definitely the end of any inheritance sorry guys!! So till next time that I write TTFN for those of you working bad luck for those of you not you will know just how I feel.

Monday Afternoon 2 November.

We have arrived now in Decize and for those of you who don’t know where it is its in France somewhere. We picked up the car this morning its an Alpha and we drove here today from Paris in it, I can swear by my new mate the shella who talks to us from the navman thingy she actually got us here in a funny sort of way.

The next thing that I feel I must report on is Garey’s ability as a ships captain, the first lock (which is one of those water thingies that change you in the level of the river) no problems at all just more or less full steam ahead – we cruised upstream for about an hour a very pleasant experience I must admit – me drinking beer and Garey concentrating as he must and one would expect of the captain on the safe passage of his vehicle or in this case vessel. Well the time arrived for us to tie up for the night that’s when the fun started, first he tied us to a tree which in reality wasn’t a bad idea but no alas all on board advised him that that was not correct so he drove a stake into the ground – well you would have thought that would have worked but alas no we had to change the direction of the boat for which we had to reverse against the stake tearing it from the ground with Garey holding on for dear life the boat going backwards the captain on shore – not really a sight that any captain would like to imagine, anyways I was real disappointed that I did not have a camera as he fought to save his vessel as he held the rope for dear life stake attached and Garey coming along behind. I guess all ended well in the end and we did get tied up (all I had to do was just give him a little advise) in the end had dinner and I have lived on the sight all night!! So let’s see what tomorrow holds eh – it certainly will be interesting to see just how he gets those stakes out of the ground!!


Thursday 5th

My how time flies, Gill has this inane ability to find these small little Villages’ on the side of the canal that we are still floating along – mind you some of them don’t exist whilst other are not open until hours after we’ve have passed them, I guess that’s just another way of saving some money! Seems strange that as of yet I have not cleared email since last Saturday or was it Sunday in London one tends to wonder just what is happening out there in the big world and is anyone even missing me. Today as I understand it we are heading in the general area of Nevers where we will in nautical terms ‘Moore or tie up our Vessel’ whilst we once again explore old buildings and churches following which we should be able to find a small pub that will sell food etc so that we can replenish for the day.’ I would suggest that when you are reading my ramblings if you want to find out what we have really done read Gills or Sharons! Ok that’s all for now so till L8r cheers.