Afterthoughts.....

1.  It is possible to pack in just carry-on luggage!  We faced early Spring temperatures where we needed jackets and gloves, as well as Summer weather, but we still managed.  I actually had one light shirt that I never wore.  I could have actually done with one less pair of pants.

 Mark gives himself a B+ on his packing; he wished he'd had a lighter jacket of some sort as he went with a winter jacket.  And, he could have probably used another pair of pants.  (It didn't help that he left one pair in England when we took off for France!)

2.  Drawbacks to carry-on:  not being able to buy certain presents because of how much room they'd take and not being able to buy wine which has to be checked.  Hence, we did buy a roller bag just before we left France so that we could pack 3 bottles of wine.

3.  Variety is the spice of travel and we managed to design a variety-filled trip - cities, towns, villages, countryside.  Castles, museums, ancient ruins, beaches.  We stayed with friends/family, in rented apartments, a farmhouse, in timeshare, in castles and....on a boat.  We traveled on buses, trains, subways, cars, taxis, boats and airplanes.

4.  It is important to build in 'down time'.   You can oversaturate with sights.

5. Travel is great for your mind.

6. Keeping a blog is a good thing - it made us take photos, for example, for every day we traveled.  It  forced us to go some place and do something every day that would be worth writing about and/or photographing.

7. Finally, we learned that, even though we are now 60 (and 61), we can rough it and can negotiate in countries where we don't speak the language and we can figure out how the public transport works.  (In England, Oyster cards have to be tapped on the way in AND the way out, unlike Boston's Charlie cards.  In Paris, the subway doors do not always open for very long and you can get your luggage stuck on the other side from where your body is!

 Also, it is important to put the ticket in the right turnstile and not open the door for someone next to you instead of for yourself!)  We can still carry backpacks and suitcases up and down subways and we can manage to read maps and not get too lost. We do NOT need GPS.  (Although we do admit that it was great to have Maura's when we were in London.)

Back to the States - May 17

  Today we flew back to Boston.  We started early, which was good as we went to Terminal 5, British Airway's international terminal.  However, while we were on a B.A. flight, it was operated by American Airlines, so we had to take the train to Terminal 3.  However, we were not stressed as we had plenty of time.

We breezed through security and, because, once again, the plane was not full, we were able to share 3 seats between us.  We were above clouds the entire way, but it was a smooth flight.  Our last glimpse of England was Windsor Castle and the first sight of the U.S. was the runway in Boston.

We breezed through Customs, caught a cab to North Station and the train to Concord, where Jecca picked us up.  She fed us a good barbecue dinner and we collapsed into bed.   It is nice to be home the day before Jecca's birthday.

So ends our 2011 European adventure.

Last full day of our holiday - off to Heathrow -May 16

We packed this morning, trying to condense our things so that our trek  would back be as easy as possible.  Mark has one wheeled bag (new), one backpack and his new orange bag.  So, he had quite a lot.  I had my backpack and wheely bag.

We took the train from Motspur Park to Wimbledon.  Changed to the District Line to Earl's Court. Changed to the Piccadilly Line to Terminal five.  It took about 2 hours.  Then, we got a free bus (#423) to our hotel on the Bath Road, right outside of the airport.  (The Thistle at Heathrow.)  

We got online and got our seats for tomorrow's flight. Later, we walked for a nice meal at a nearby Chinese restaurant.  We returned to the hotel and looked at the airport from their viewing terrace.

Later in the evening we ate at Kanis, a fabulous Indian restaurant on the Bath Road just down the street from our hotel.  The restaurant is newly opened and very beautiful.  The lighting of various water features and offset ceiling lights changed into seven different colors.  The food was delicious, so it was a wonderful last evening.

Sunday in Wisley Royal Horticultural Garden

Today we visited the Royal Horticultural Garden at Wisley.  Although rain threatened, the weather cooperated - again.  We have had the most amazing weather this entire trip.

Needless to say, the gardens and greenhouses were beautiful and interesting.  A huge new greenhouse was opened only a few years ago and it had quite a collection - orchids by the hundreds, cacti....

The orchards were especially interesting as they have trained the fruit trees into flattened shapes so that the fruit is easy to pick.  We have never seen anything like it.   
 We were also intrigued by the tiny alpine plants growing in rock.  And, we walked through a veritable jungle of multi-colored rhododendrons.

We spent the bulk of the day there - a lot of walking.

Later, we returned the Aygo to Kingston, taking the bus back to Maura's.

Another lovely day.

Betty Blue Eyes

Today's highlight was a matinee at the Novello Theatre on the Strand of Betty Blue Eyes, a musical that opened in March.  It was based on a comedy by Alan Bennett from the 80's which starred Maggie Smith and Michael Palin.

It was set in 1947 when England was still suffering from war shortages and rationing.  Set in the North, the village elders plan a banquet in honor of the marriage of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip at which they hope to serve an illegal and unregistered meal of pork.

Meanwhile, an irrational government inspector is in the village tracking down illegal meat and arresting butchers who were not obeying the law to the letter.

The hero of the story is a mild-mannered chiropodist whose social-climbing wife pressures him to join the village society.  When he discovered the illegal pig, Betty, he steals her.  Hilarity ensues.

The talent of the actors was amazing, especially their voices and the choreography.  The set was, of course, impressive and clever.  The story was corny, sentimental, funny and did not take itself seriously, which was, in itself, a joy.

Later, we walked to St Martin in the Fields and went into the crypt for tea.  In all the years, I have visited that church, I never knew about the crypt tea room.  We met a charming elderly woman from Rugby who told us about being evacuated in the war.  She told us about her life as a teacher and an artist.

Oh, and also:  in the morning, we went with Maura when she bought the Picasso after test-driving it.  She will pick it up next weekend. She is very happy with her purchase.  She's had quite a week; she paid off her house and has a new car!

Back to New Malden....We look at cars with Maura

Today, 'Jane' took us back to New Malden after a pleasant sunny morning of packing and visiting with Annie and Ewan again.  Ewan is very taken with Mark and calls us 'the special people.'

After arriving at Maura's we went to Epsom to a huge used car dealer where Maura sat in a variety of cars.  At first she thought she'd buy something quite small, but, after a process of elimination, she seemed to most like a 'super-sized mini', a one-year old Peugeot Picasso that has only 5,000 miles on it, having been used as a demo by the dealer.

Borough Market - a day on the South Bank

Ken took the day off and joined Christine, Mark and I in taking the train to Borough Market, underneath London Bridge.  We had never been there and it was a real treat.  Amazing foods for sale.  We sampled (and bought) olives at a stall with dozens of different olives.  Mark bought a carrier bag.  We all sampled cheeses, sausages, breads, jams, chutney, fish.....Yum!

We each bought different things to have for lunch and ate in outside at Southwark Cathedral's tea room area. Christine and I had 'salad in a box' complete with mango, sesame seeds, gammon, loads of tomato..... Mark had a spicy chicken wrap and Ken had a Caribbean curry.  We were all very happy with our choices.

We all strolled along the South Bank as the weather was, once again, warm and cooperative.  Mark bought a t-shirt at The Globe.  We went as far at the Tate Modern, stopping to see a few galleries.

After we took the train home, we took a lasagne and salad over to Katrina's for another family dinner.  Annie, Will and Ewan joined us, so it was another festive gathering.

Ken's birthday, Darwin, pub and family gathering

Today was such a lovely day.  Ken turned 64 and the weather cooperated for him.

His brother, Pete, picked Mark, Ken and I up in his snazzy Audi convertible.  (Christine was off to golf.)  We drove to Downe, a little village in Kent, where Charles Darwin spent the last 40 years of his life.

Down House was so enjoyable and informative that we spent a happy 3 hours.

 The top floor concentrated mostly on his theory of evolution and his contribution to science.  The journal that he kept when on the Beagle was 750 pages long; and, he kept many separate notebooks as well.

The downstairs focused on his family life.  He married into the Wedgewood family.  In fact, his wife, Emma, was his first cousin.  As both the Darwins and Wedgewoods were well-off, he was able to concentrate on his studies for his entire life.  They had 10 children, although 3 died before they were adults.  He was very much a family man and involved the children in his scientific pursuits.

His study was fascinating.  He adapted his chairs with raised iron legs on casters so that he could scoot around looking at things.  When he needed a break, he played billiards with his butler, who was also a friend.

He had an inside slide made for the children which attached to the stairs.  We all thought it ingenious.  Depending on the age and/or bravery of the child, the slide could be made steep or shallow.

His mind was inquisitive and wide-ranging.  Even as a child, he collected beetles.  He focused on barnacles for over 8 years.  He and one of his sons conducted soil experiments to see if earthworms were responsible for moving soil.  They built a wormstone that they used for 17 years and concluded that the worms sank the soil about 2 cm a year. He focused on geology, fossils and stones.  He conducted experiments on plants, both in the fields and gardens and in his greenhouse.  For example, he measured how fast a climbing cucumber made twists.  (one twist every 1 hour, 40 minutes.)  He put flour on bees so that his children could follow the bee's flight.

Afterwards, we went to a pub in Down that Darwin also frequented.  It was beautiful and built in the 1500's.  We all had some Doom Bar beer, a Cornish micro-brewery beer that Ken likes.  We all did a lot of laughing.  We met a field trip from Wisconsin of college student en route to Zambia to do science experiments.  We had seen them at Downe House, as well.

Later, the family gathered at the house to celebrate Ken's birthday.

Shirley and Pete's house exists! A visit to Streatham.

We went to Bromley in the morning to buy a few things (ie razor blades).  We were supposed to call Shirley when we got there so we could meet for lunch.  I did call, but, it turns out that I did not have her mobile phone number and was calling her house.  Meanwhile, she was waiting for our call and did not have our number.

So, we eventually went home and sat in the garden.  She eventually called and picked us up in her hot new convertible mini Cooper.  We drove to Coolings, a large garden center with an outside tea garden.


 Mark and I indulged in a scone with jam and clotted cream...yum.

Later, Mark followed Shirley and I in a twisty drive to Streatham.  He said that he ran two redlights and almost hit a bus in trying to follow the mini.

We had never visited Shirley and Pete's house and were charmed by it - lots of light, different levels going down a hill, outside decks, trees; you barely know you are in London.  Both Charley (21) and Pete came in, too, which was great.

The Aygo and Jane take us to West Wickham

Today, we relied on 'Jane,' the GPS navigator that Maura loaned us and, we made our way to West Wickham.  'Jane' was very helpful as it is tricky going with an average speed of about 6 mph!

We had Indian take-away with Katrina, Lewis and Walshie.

A day where Plan A failed....go to Plan B

Today, we set out in Maura's 15 year old little car toward Kingston where a hired car awaited us.  However, about a mile from the car hire, her car bucked and quit.  She managed to get it into a car park and put in a call to the RAC.  We set off on foot to get the rental car.  It is a little Toyota Aygo.  A bit tinny.  Mark drove back to where Maura was sitting and the RAC fellow showed up minutes later.  He was a wonder.  He determined that her distributor had given out.

It was decided that he would follow her back to her house.  It was harrowing for Maura because, as the car overheated, it would buck and stop.  Then, it was a question of letting the car cool down.  So, she led the way, followed by a big, orange RAC van, and we followed in our little blue car.  It took about an hour to get back to her house.

Our plan to visit Julia in Brighton for lunch had to be scrapped as we had spent so much time with the car.  So, we had a lunch at Maura's and then took a walk on Wimbledon Common where we all had ice creams.  The weather cooperated and we had a lovely afternoon despite it being Plan B.

Maura loaned us her 'sat nav', known in the States as GPS.  It guided us, thank heavens, across London to West Wickham where we went to Katrina's, played with Lewis in the garden with Walshie and, after Lewis went to bed, we got Indian takeaway and chatted until past 10. Then- to West Wickham and to bed.

Paris to London.....

We started with a hearty breakfast at the Formule #1.  We expected our fellow guests to be mostly back-packing students; instead, there was a wonderful variety, from families to tourists of many ages, including some back-packing students.  Many languages.

We trekked about 1/2 a mile to the nearest Metro, Line #4.  As we got on at the end of the line, we got seats. However, the train filled and filled as we crossed Paris and, by the time we got near the Gare du Nord, we found that we were so wedged in that we couldn't get out!  So, we missed our stop and had to turn around and go back a stop.  Luckily, we had plenty of time, so....no harm done.

Getting the Eurostar is great.  It is very organized and easy.  We were in Carriage #2.  I think the train was sold out.  We got the 12:13 to London, which left exactly on time. The trip is very pleasant and scenic and fast.  We arrived in about 2 and a quarter hours in St. Pancras-King's Cross station.  From there, we caught a subway and then, a train to Motspur Park where Maura lives.  Initially, we got on the wrong train, but hopped out at Clapham Junction and waited about 4 minutes and got on the right train!

Maura picked us up and we had a lamb feast with her good friend Vicky.  Good food, good conversation.....

Beaune to Paris -

Another sunny day!

We went to a fabulous and beautiful open air market in Beaune city center.  The array of vegetables, spices, olives, fruits, pates etc. was incredibly beautiful.  It definitely made us want to stay and have a kitchen in which to cook!  We did buy some pears, a baguette, some lovely cheese and some pate to eat later.  We also bought two necklaces of Murano glass, one for me and one for Jecca's birthday.

We changed some money at the Post Office and....I left my driver's license there.  They called the hotel and we had to go back to the city quickly before they closed at noon.  Ah - getting old and being forgetful.  In addition, we found that we had left our hotel room completely unlocked yesterday evening when we went out.  Sigh.

We went to a beautiful little park just outside of Beaune and had a great picnic in a pastoral setting with a lot of ducks and swans.  Idyllic.

As we did not have a long way to go to Paris, we took backroads for about half the distance.  At Auxerre, we hopped back on the highway and made our way to Paris.  We checked into the fully-booked Formule #1 and then drove to a Vietnamese restaurant for dinner, in a reminiscent nod to our first trip to Paris in 1982 when we ate at a lot of Vietnamese restaurants.  Then, we somewhat sadly, dropped off our car and walked back to the hotel.

The Formula #1 is huge - six stories high.  We were disappointed that the toilets/showers were not very clean.  For those who don't know what a Formula #1 is:  it is an automated, barebones hotel. All the rooms have a bolted frame bed - double below, single bunk.  There is a bolted in desk and a sink.  That's about it.  In the past we stayed at fairly small ones and had never booked into one so large. But, it is still cheap - 41 Euros.  We paid a bit extra for breakfast. The breakfast turned out to be great, though.  Bottomless cups of coffee, unlimited bagettes, cereal etc.

Cap Ferrat to Beaune....

Another sunny, warm day.....just perfect.

We started with an early morning walk from Cap Ferrat toward Beaulieu, the next village in the direction of Monaco.  (You can see both Monaco and Italy from Cap Ferrat).  We walked by some of the world's most expensive real estate, including the house that was owned by David Niven until he died.  Exquisite.

We had expensive cafes au lait in a waterfront cafe, bought some yummy croissants and went up the hill to Stan and Craig's.   After more coffee, we reluctantly said goodbye to them and to Cap Ferrat.  It is a place we could stay for weeks, it is so incredibly beautiful.

It was a long drive to Beaune, not to mention expensive in tolls - about 60 Euro.  Yikes.  We drove along the famous promenade in Nice as we left Cap Ferrat, stopping to get cheese, ham and bread for the trip.  It took us about 7 hours to get to Beaune, which was longer than we had anticipated.  It is in the heart of Burgundy and famous for its wines.

We are staying at Hotel Adelie in Montagny Les-Beaune, about 3 kilometers out of Beaune itself.  We drove into Beaune for dinner and to orient ourselves.  It is another beautiful French city.  Much of it is pedestrianised, so we walked quite a bit, into the center where we ate outside.  Amazingly, we sat next to a couple who were moving to Beaulieu for the next six months....a place we had never even heard of until yesterday.

We can tell that we'd like more time here and, as we had not planned to come here, we did not find out what we should have.  We have many friends who come to Beaune and could have given us some tips as to what vineyards to check out etc., but...it can't be helped; this was a last-minute decision and we are glad that we have even just this short time to explore.

Cap Ferrat Paradise, fabulous day with good friends!

Wow - today we may have discovered paradise!  We got up early and followed Jerry out the door so that we could arrive in St Jean Cap Ferrat for lunch.

We got a little lost going through Nice, but managed to find where Stan and Craig have an apartment in Cap Ferrat.  Wow - their apartment is stunning with a view of the Mediterranean.  They were gracious hosts, as always.  They made a picnic lunch of baguettes, cheese and ham and we walked around the lower cap.  The views were stupendous, beautiful and breathtaking.

Afterwards, we went to our hotel overlooking the harbor, La Fregate hotel.  We grabbed our bathing suits and set off for a lovely bay where we eased our way into the really cold water.  But, it was truly lovely and Mark collected a bunch of sea glass.

After a short rest and showers, we set off back up the hill to Craig and Stan's where Stan made a feast - veal with breadcrumbs and sun-dried tomatoes and mustard cream sauce, carrots, avocado salad with fabulous wines, followed by strawberries and dark chocolate ice cream.  Our second amazing meal in two days!

Afterwards, we walked back down the hill to our hotel and fell into bed!

Our last day in Arles

Another sunny day in the south of France. The light is amazing; you can understand why the impressionists painted here.

We went with Glenn, Jerry's son, into the Wednesday market in downtown Arles.  There, we bought fruit and vegetables.

When Jerry got home from work, we drove in his Mercedes back into the Camargue.  First, we stopped at a conservation area in the park and took a nature walk.  We also watched the salt flats being worked. We drove through Salin de Giraud where I visited an obstetrician many years ago when I was pregnant with David on our last trip....26 years ago.  We also visited Le Sambuc, the village where Jerry lived back then and had soft drink at a restaurant there.

Then, we went back to Jerry's and he and Mark made an absolute feast for dinner - pork with carrots made in cider, asparagus in a soy sauce, fresh heirloom tomatoes and cucumbers, followed by strawberries and pears.  YUM!   And, once again, we all stayed up late talking and reflecting on life.  We wish we could stay longer as there are many sites to see here and Jerry is good company.

 Plus, he is working on making a separate apartment for Glenn and it would be nice to help him out.  Alas...we have to leave.

Arles - May 3

Today was sunny and warm.  Jerry had to go to work; he owns his own print shop right in downtown Arles.  Mark and I puttered around the city.  We walked from the other side of the Rhone in Trinquitaille.  We walked by many of Arles' main sites, including the colisseum, which is the 20th largest left.  We walked by the town's ramparts and along the river.  We walked a long way!

Then, Jerry met us for lunch and we lingered over cafe au lait at a sidewalk cafe.

Later, we all drove out through the camargue, a huge swamp area famous for its salt flats, bulls, flamingos and white horses.  We stopped to look at many sites as we drove to Saintes Maries de la Mer, famous for the three madonnas, including a black madonna which is honored by the gypsies.  We wandered along the beach and then up the touristy main street where we had another wonderful meal.  Mark and Jerry had mussels and fries; I had a big seafood salad.

So, it was a wonderful day, full of history, nature, good food and good company.