Aug 7, 2018 - Travels with Alison

Bonjour mes amis, My travels in France have continued amidst the heat wave but for the last week I've had my friend and former colleague with me. I got up very early to meet her at the airport after a sleepless night in Paris due to inconsiderate hotel guests below me. They were outside in a courtyard below my room and sound reverberated off the stone walls. At 2am I asked Reception to get them to be quiet but they only increased the volume of the music and the talking. Like a grumpy old lady, I rang again at 2:20am. Again they ignored the...

Aug 2, 2018 - Paris Bus Tour and other things

This morning we had a lovely breakfast at the Hotel before setting off to do a bus tour of the city. Although we had been on bus tours on our first days in Paris this one was specific for APT, we did see a lot of what we had seen previously, but we did stop t the Eiffel tower and ogt another close up view from the other side - alas it was closed due to a strike - in relation to the online ticketing system that was causing longer line ups. We stopped for coffee at a little cafe right near Napoleon's Tomb at the "Les Invalides Hospital" site....

Aug 1, 2018 - Paris APT - Joining the tour

This morning we had a lazy morning - packing the bags and cleaning the BNB. We had Brunch at our favourite Pub/Restaurant Bolivar for our final meal. After a wonderful breakfast we headed back to the unit to finalise packing and waiting to meet Sandrine to say au revoir, and get teh cab to the hotel to join our tour. We managed to get to the hotel without any drama, no crashes, no fires and no strikes. we met the lovely Evelin our cruise director and went to our rooms, settled in and then decided to go for a walk. WE made our way to the Arc...

Jul 31, 2018 - Paris - Doing our own thing

Today we decided to do our own thing in gay Paris. We started the day on the Metro and headed into the city centre, we have booked for a tour of the Notre Dame. Although the cathedral looks very similar to the one in Reims, this one does have its own stories and history. Notre-Dame de Paris (Our Lady of Paris) is one of the largest and best known churches, it is of the Gothic style with 2 bell towers, it has been ransacked and parts destroyed over the centuries and rebuilt and is currently having restoration work done, in the 1800's Victor...

Jul 31, 2018 - Massif la Chartreuse et fin à Lion

Bonjour à Tous, Sans le savoir, pour finir mon tour, je suis allée dans un Massif de montagne que je regardais de l´autre côté de la vallée lors de mon déplacement vers Alpes d’Huez. Je trouvais ces falaises très belles et impressionnantes. Comme il me restais du temps et suite à ma recherche sur internet pour une dernière via ferrata sur ma route pour Lyon. J’en ai trouvé une dans le Massif de la Chartreuse, tout près de Grenoble sur ma route ou presque. Sauf qu’il y avait encore un col de plus de 1000 m de grimpe. Partant de 200 m à 1300...

Jul 30, 2018 - Paris - Reims Champagne Tour.

This morning was an early start as we were picked up at 7:20 for our small group Champagne Tour - Stephanie our tour guide was a lovely lady! There were only 6 of us on the tour and we learnt a lot about the Champagne making process. The other couple were from Atlanta Georgia, USA. They were a lot of fun! The drive to Reims takes approximately an hour and a half, and it is lovely countryside, we did see the turnoff to Eurodisney, we did not end up going as Tracey has hurt her leg...... not enough alcohol!! We arrived at Reims and the first...

Jul 29, 2018 - Paris - Hop on Hop off Bus tour

So this morning we got up and showered and then set off for our adventure for today. We went back to Cafe Bolivar for breakfast and then went to see if we could conquer the Paris Metropolitan.... We caught the train to the pickup point for our Bus tour - the only thing was we were going to miss 2 spots due to today be in the completion of the Tour de France - but matter not - we would do the best we can, we saw a lot of old Paris, including the Notre Dame, Musée d'Orsay, by passed the Champs-Elysées and Grand Palais (near the Arc de...

Jul 28, 2018 - Injuries and travels

Bonjour mes amis, Since my last entry we have had our regional "Tour de France" bike race, much smaller but still exciting as it started in Saint Savin and circled back later in the day. We have a few hills to challenge the riders and I noted that some looked particularly fatigued as the day wore on. We were waiting to receive gifts thrown out by the caravan. Again this year they threw them at the opposite side of the street. A car slowed near me and I put my hands out to receive my bounty. Alas, they just sprayed me with water. People on...

Jul 23, 2018 - Day 7: June 24, 2018

Day 7 began with a huge performance, and was truly the culminating experience of my Masters Degree! Today was the day we performed in the Holy Mass of Notre-Dame! **NOTE** Due to larger photo files, I have uploaded Day 7 pictures into a photo folder on my Google Drive. Copy and paste this link to see photos of the performances in Notre Dame!** https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1VkiPrKTQ-GDarssOpoy3yKq_SLuHurDf?usp=sharing We loaded up the bus from the hotel around 9:00 am in order to warm-up as a choir, approximately an hour before...

Jul 23, 2018 - Amis à Briancon et Alpes d’Huez

Bonjour Familles zé Amis (e), Bien oui, bientôt la fin de mon Tour des Alpes !!! Je redescends vers Lion pour mon vol de retour. J’ai 10 jours, un petit arrêt ds le Massif La Chartreuse pour quelques jours de treck et une via ferrata, ma dernière, oui oui. De plus, ds le Massif, je suis au moins à 1000 m et il fait moins chaud que ds la vallée. Je veux être à Lion 3-4 jours avant pour trouver une boîte de vélo. Cette fin, coïncidait avec la visite d’Amis français de Briancon (allo Lola, Marie et Manu, bisou), rencontré en Americ du Sud....

Jul 15, 2018 - Celebrations

Bonjour mes amis, We've had all kinds of celebrations in the village since my last journal entry. Firstly on 7/7, it was Virginie's birthday so she hosted a musical evening at her bar, Le Saint Savin. We sat on the terrace with some wine, listening to the musicians called Ambience. They've performed here before and they're great. Keith always says that the woman sounds like Joni Mitchell, her voice is so pure. Later in the evening we were treated to strawberry sponge birthday cake but no champagne this year. Things are changing! It...

Jul 14, 2018 - Paris—End of Week

On Thursday Pastor Chai arranged to take us on a road trip to the little town of Noyon. Apparently, in the 10th Century, Noyon was a larger city than Paris boasting a much larger Cathedral with a much more important Bishop. Today, it feels like a sleepy town with a few interesting sites to keep tourists making a stop along their way. For us, Noyon was simply the birthplace of John Calvin, probably the most significant French Reformer, barely escaping the massacre of Protestants in Paris and fleeing to Strausburg, then onto Geneva,...