September 14, 2007 10:19

Yesterday was another long day of travel and sight-seeing. After checking out of our hotel in Grau d'Agde we headed to Agde to fuel up and get breakfast. Then we were on the road.

We travelled north, aiming for Millau, and the largest suspension bridge in the world. It was quite a feat of engineering, towering over a deep valley, which I am told is the second deepest after the Grand Canyon. The view of Millau from the lookout point was also rather cool. For the record, the bridge stands at just under 800m (over 2400ft) above sea level

We continued to head in a north by northwesterly sort of direction, along some of the smaller roads rather than the motorway. Our only goal was Lyons on Friday, so we were in no great hurry. We passed through several small villages and I took several photos as we sped around the country side. As part of our travels we cross the high plateau that runs across the middle of France, with altitude markers placing us at 1200m (over 3600ft) above sea level.

We stopped for lunch in the moutain town of Mende. There was a beautiful cathedral in the middle of town. We parked the car and wandered into the older part of town. The old towns in the various cities we've visited have generally been the places with restaurants and pubs, and we were not lead astry with that assumption again. However we had arrived after the lunchtime part of the day, so most places were no longer serving food. We were still close enough to lunch time that most shops were also closed, so we settled for kebabs.

Then we were off again, continuing along route N88, through Lozere and heading towards the Hte-Loire. The distances travelled weren't huge, but the nature of the roads - narrow, twisty, hilly - meant that we couldn't make great speed, especially when we got caught behind slower vehicles.

Le Puy-en-Velay was our next target. We decided to check it out and possibly find a hotel and stay there for the evening. As we drove down into the town, we saw some pretty amazing landmarks: a huge statue of the Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus, several castles and a large cathedral. This looked good. We navigated our way into the centre of town, which was very busy. Thomo located a couple of hotels using the Garmin satnav and after stopping the car nearby, he and Sorty went to check them out. Both (an Ibis and the Dyke Hotel) were booked up. Pete and I then went in search of the tourist information centre.

Thinking that the tourist information center was just behind us, I didn't grab my camera. This was a mistake, because the Garmin had set us wrong and we had to wander a bit further, and because there were several buildings with incredible architecture. The old town (where we ended up) was typically beautiful in the typically French way. At the tourist centre, we were told that there was a medieval festival going on and that's why the city was so busy and why there were no hotel rooms available. It also explained why there were lots of people dressed in the garb of several hundred years ago. We returned to the car to relay our new-found knowledge. After much discussion, we decided to head in search of somewhere else along the road.

Oh yeah, something I haven't noted yet (I think): all of the towns we've stopped in have little trains for driving tourists around and giving guided tours. All of them. Just like they all seem to have carousels.

The next major town on the map was Yssingeaux. We had a little difficulty getting out of Le Puy, but we made it and were back on the N88. We got to Yssingeaux, but it was just a little too small to give us what we were looking for, so we returned to the N88 and passed into the Loire and stopped at St-Etienne for the evening. We found an Ibis hotel by the train station and they had accomodations. After settling in, having a shower, and getting online for the first time in over a week, we headed out in search of beer and food.

The city centre was rather quiet, and the map we obtained was not very useful. But we had a drink in a bar by the town hall as we tried to work out where to head next. After a bit of wandering we came upon some narrow streets with flags draped between the buildings on either side. There we also found bars and restuarants. We ate at "Little Rock Saloon," a tex-mex place. I started with pastis (an aperitif - wasn't too offensive) and had fajitas. I have been somewhat disappointed in the cuisine we have eaten on this trip, but that's largely because I'm travelling with a group of people who are somewhat jaded travellers, and I'm just one voice in four. Never mind.

Anyway, after dinner we went into one of the bars and spent several hours chatting and drinking beer. It seems that the bar we chose was a student pub, because most of the patrons were a lot younger than us. A group of people played some darts, and there were a noisy bunch in the next room. The music was pretty good for the most part. Ultimately it was time to head back to the hotel. Given that Lyon in only about an hour away and that we don't have to check out until midday, we decided to make Friday a sleep-in day.

I awoke fairly early (and am still being troubled by snatches of dreams that are behaving too much like memories - it seems that my mind has concocted a world that it is playing with when I sleep) and after laying in bed for a while, got up, showered, had breakfast and got to writing up this journal entry. Unfortunately, I can't seem to get online, because the login for the Wi-Fi is not being accepted. Therefore, you probably won't read this for a few days. There is a computer downstairs, so I think I'll just pop down to check my email on that.

September 12, 2007 23:41

I've been bothered all day with recollections and snatches of memory of things that have never happened. I may have dreamed about things that could have fitted in with the events of this holiday, and these are bubbling up to the waking aspects of my mind, but they are at the same time causing me some distress in the sense that these are memories of things that did not happen. I guess I'm just going nuts.

Anyway, today started as many others have. We got up, got in the car and went looking. We drove from Grau d'Agde to Cap d'Agde for breakfast. The Cap has a nice marina and several shops. And right next to it is the world's largest nudist colony. Apparently, 40,000 people during the peak season. But not so much right now. Anyway, we had our usual breakfast of croissant and beverage and then wandered about. With clothes. Then it was time to head out.

We stopped at a Decathlon, where Thomo picked up some togs, Andy picked up an Italian rugby shirt and I picked up a new All Blacks rugby shirt. We also stopped in at an "Optique" store to get my glasses repaired.

We headed to Montpellier today. The USA was playing Tonga and we had half a thought about getting tickets. But all the games appear to have sold out, so that really wasn't all that realistic. We took the scenic route to Sete, along the long white sand beach. Absolutely beautiful. From there we headed inland to Montpellier, passing the stadium on our way into town.

Montpellier is as beautiful a city as any of the other places we have visited. There is a magnificent aqueduct in the middle of the city, the ends at a wonderful temple (photo opportunities galore). Across the park from the temple is a beautiful Arc de Triomphe, which leads into the old city. We wandered around for a while, enjoying the ambience and taking several photos. We stopped for lunch at a kebab place and then found ourselves next to the Opera House in a huge plaza with a giant screen for the rugby.

Side note: The French appear to love their carousels. I have taken pictures of carousels in pretty much every town I've been in.

Then we wandered back to the car and made the drive back to Grau d'Agde and our hotel. We got changed and headed to the beach for some sun and some sea. A couple of hours later we got changed and went to a bar to watch rugby. We had missed the USA vs Tonga match (Tonga won), but enjoyed the Japan vs Fiji game. After the game, we went to get dinner from the pizza place we scoped out the night before. I had the Sicilliene - tomoato, cheese, anchovies, capers, olives. It was good. And the house beer (which I think was Heineken). Then we headed back to watch the Italy vs Romania game, interspersed with France vs Scotland football.

It was in the last couple of hours that the flashbacks were really starting to bother me. Things I must have dreamed about in the past 48 hours coming to life as false memories. Quite dodgy, really.

We didn't stay for the end of the football, but went for ice cream and then back to the hotel for duty free Jack Daniels and Coke. And much conversation about some of the stupid things we've done in the past. One of the things that has been funny about this trip has been various people's (Thomo - I'm talking mainly about you) recollection of events. I've always been interested about how people talk about events that have happened to which I have been witness or part of. Very fascinating how memory works.

For the record, Grau d'Agde is a small holiday village with a few small hotels, several holiday flats (about which I am getting some strange and not possible recollections), and a good dozen restaurants. The beach isn't too bad.

Time now for bed, as we are heading north to Millau tomorrow to look at a feat of engineering brilliance (and as I write this I am getting flashbacks of a conversation that did not happen with people that do not exist). It's late, time for sleep.

PS: If this is the first entry you've read for several weeks, then go hit the link to read earlier entries, because I've written a week's worth without actually having a chance to upload any of them.

PPS: It appears that throughout the south of France, most houses are pink, orange, yellow, or some shade in between. It's interesting.

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Montpellier was another example of a city built up around an old city. But the old city is apparently not as old as we thought. According to Wikipedia (my usual source of general information), the city is a little more than a thousand years old. And yet, where we parked was beneath an aqueduct that terminated at what appeared to be a Roman temple. Research tells me that this aqueduct is the Aqueduc Saint-Clément, and it was designed by Jean Giral and Henri Pitot and built in 1772.

Following in a straight line from the aquduct and faux temple is a broad path between two wooded parks, which leads to an Arc de Triomphe called Porte du Peyrou, built in 1692 and later dedicated to Louis XIV. Beyond that is the oldish town. This actually seemed a lot newer and cleaner than many of the other old towns we had wandered through. At the bottom of the old town is Place de la Comédie, a large open plaza with the Opera at one end. Another large carousel was here.

The pizzas that we had for dinner all came out looking the same - a layer of cheese with four olives on top. That was interesting.

September 11, 2007 22:40

Waking up was a little rough for everyone today. But wake up we did, then packed everything up and hit the road. Breakfast was (unfortunately) at McDonald's, because it was quick and easy on our way out.

From Antibes we got on the A8 and headed west, to Avignon and the Papal Palace (Palais des Papes). The walled city of Avignon was awesome. I took several pictures of the palace and the surrounding buildings. The streets were cool: narrow, one-way. And there were lots of very pretty girls around.

Across the Rhone and west took us to the Roman aqueduct at Pont du Gard. Those Romans were amazing engineers. I took several photos at Pont du Gard.

A short distance southwest of Pont du Gard brought us to Nimes. Again, the architecture was great, and Nimes is home to a Roman Arena and a Roman temple. Absolutely awesome. I didn't get a chance to get photos of some of the other major buildings (such as the Cathedral of Notre-Dame) because we were running short on time. We did stop here for lunch (sandwich rustique - ham and cheese in a baguette). Parking was a nightmare in Nimes, but we did finally find a spot in an underground parking garage.

And then it was back on the motorway, past Montpellier and on to Agde, or more correctly, Grau d'Agde.

We had a wander around and stopped for beer and rugby at a bar. We also got food. I nearly tried the horse burger, but decided against it in the end, keeping it simple with steak and chips and salad. After the match (Georgia looked good, but Argentina managed to come out well on top), we wandered around some more and then headed back to the hotel for an early night.

Oh yeah, my glasses broke this morning; the little screw on the hinge came away. I need to stop at a glasses shop to get a small screwdriver to tighten it back up again.

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Our travels today took us away from the coast, along the A8, upon which we had travelled from Marseilles to Monaco a few days earlier. We skipped around Cannes and dodged Marseille, then headed north west to Avignon. I was interested in checking out the Papal Palace at Avignon. For those unaware, in 1309, Pope Clement V decided to make his residency in Avignon rather than the Eternal City, and this became the home of the popes until the end of the 14th century.

The walled city is impressive. The roads are narrow and by necessity are one-way only. The architecture is beautiful. In the central plaza, just below the Papal Palace, restaurants abounded, and there was a large carousel.

The University of Avignon lies (at least in part) inside the walls of the old city. Many of the students appeared to enjoy relaxing around the square and in the plaza in front of the Papal Palace. The Lycee Aubanel (high school) is also located within the walls and would also account for a good number of the younger people around.

The Pont du Gard aqueduct, not far from Avignon, was built some time in the first century AD. It was part of an aqueduct system built to carry water from springs near Uzès to Nîmes, some 50km (31 miles) apart. The full aqueduct had a gradient of 34 cm/km (1/3000), descending only 17 m vertically in its entire length and delivering 20,000 cubic meters (5 million gallons) of water daily. That this structure still stands at it's full height, 49m (160ft) above the base of the river valley, is remarkable and a testament to the engineering capabilities of the Romans.

We stayed away from the motorway for our drive into Nîmes. The city appears to be built around the old town in such a manner to make getting places quite difficult. Think, in essence, of the old town being the centre circle of a very large roundabout, so the roads are one-way all the way around. I'm probably exaggerating a little, but it was somewhat crazy.

I'd like to get back to see more of Nîmes.

Agde was a Greek colony of the 5th century BC. Nearby to Agde are Le Cap d'Agde and Grau d'Agde. Grau lies at the mouth of the Hérault river. From this river there is a canal and lock system that goes out to the Atlantic Ocean. Grau d'Agde is a French summer holiday town, with a long beach and several holiday homes and a handfull of small hotels. Seafood is popular here, especially moul, or mussels.

September 10, 2007 16:15

A bit of a sleep in today and then we went for a walk around the old and new towns. We had our now not uncommon breakfast of croissant avec chocolat et jus d'orange/cafe au lait. Obviously, I was not drinking the latter. Then it was back to walking around. My flip flops were giving me some problems, which was leading to a sore calf. We took lots of photos, although unfortunately I didn't have my main camera, so I had to just use my phone's camera. Oh well.

Back round to the hotel, and we changed into our togs and it was off to the beach for lunch and some sun. The beach was glorious. Again, wthe no-tan-lines look is a pleasant sight. Except on the old Germans. But on the more appropriately aged, it makes for a pleasant sight.

Two hours of sun later we returned to the hotel for a beer and to plan out the net few days. Map in hand and guide book in hand, a plan was made. No need to discuss that right now. And then it was time to chill out for a while. It will be time to go out for drinks soon.

Later...

We tried a restaurant near our hotel, but they weren't serving food. So we wandered up into the walled Antibes. Seven bottles of wine and five pints of beer later we stumbled back to the hotel.

Nowhere was serving dinner when we headed out, so we stopped at a bar for a bottle of wine. It still wasn't dinner time, so we had another bottle of wine at a second bar. Now was dinner time, so we wandered to one of the places we had passed and sat ourselves down. I had the soup de poisson, then fish for my main course (served with rice), and sorbet for dessert. We polished off two bottles of wine with dinner. Then we returned to the second bar we drank at; I switched to beer (Saint Omer) and the others pushed through two more bottles of wine while I knocked down five beers. Then we hit another bar which seemed pretty popular and we nailed another bottle of wine. A good night out.

I've been drinking mainly lager while in France, with the odd Belgian abbey ale. I'll probably up the wine drinking over the next few days.

Oh yeah - while at the last bar, I made a call to the Local to check in with Rock of Love. Craziness.

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The change in plans that we made yesterday, to stay for two nights in Antibes rather than race on to the next town was a good idea. By slowing down the pace, it enabled us to enjoy more of where we were, although at the cost of not getting to everywhere we had hoped to see. Still, it was good to have a sleep in and then go for a proper wander through the old and new towns, followed by a couple of hours of sun-bathing on the beach.

Fun fact: Antibes has the largest yacht marina (by total tonnage) on the Côte d'Azur.

September 09, 2007 18:30

Marseilles to Monaco. It is interesting to note the transition from the lush verdent greens of the north to the dusty and rough environs of the south, but again, when taking the inland route to Monaco, the lands were green and full of vines and trees again.

Monaco is amazing. We did a shotgun run around the streets, a la Grand Prix, more or less. We stopped for photos at the casino, then parked for a wander. We had a good look at the port, and the HUGE yachts. Lots of photos. And then we walked up to the castle. Quite incredible.

We then drove along the coast to Nice, which is where I think I would like to spend a summer. We had lunch at Courtepaille. I had the Trio Gourmand which consisted of a piece of flank steak, a piece of chicken and a piece of pork, served with frites. And a Heineken, and they gave us a salad and bread to start. And the meat was all cooked over a wood-fired grill, and tasted great.

We continued out to the walled town of Antibes. We decided to stay the night here and went looking for a hotel. After driving all over the old (walled) and new town, we found ourselves at Le Josse Hotel, across the road from the beach. Here is where we made our first major departure from plans and decided to stay for two nights. We negotiated 28 euros per night per room off the standard rate (well done, Thomo). After checking in we wandered across to the beach, where Thomo, Sorty, and Pete went in for a quick swim. Water was a little chilly, so that didn't last long. However, nothing wrong with the beach, and several of the sun-bathers.

Later...

Back to the hotel and changed for a wander around town and to locate a pub to watch rugby. We caught two games - Scotland vs Portugal and Ireland vs Namibia. The expected teams won (Scotland, Ireland), but the other teams put up good fights, and both were very enjoyable games to watch. One thing I've noticed a lot this year is that referees are not calling penalties for shepherding.

Unfortunately, it appeared that everything was closing down in Antibes, and it was only 10pm. Granted, it is a Sunday, but still, this is largely a resort town. We did find a chinese take-away, so we stopped there for a bite to eat and another beer. We were kicked out at 10:30 and wandered back to the hotel. We picked up beer out of the hotel vending machine (Amstel Light) and went back to Thomo and my room to drink and chat and watch TV. After another round of beer and several Jack and Cokes, rugby highlights, the Daily Show and other tv, it was time for bed.

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Our route from Marseilles to Monaco was via the motorway. This meant that we got there in very good time. Once we got off the motorway, things slowed down quite dramatically. Because of Monaco's precarious position, essentially on the side of a mountain that drops into the sea, all the streets are narrow and twisty and have steep inclines. Having been there adds a new dimension to the Monaco Grand Prix.

We did not stop in at the Casino because (according to my travelling companions, who had been here before) the rooms open the public aren't really very impressive. But we did stop outside so I could get a couple of photos of the entrance.

We parked in one of the underground parking lots by the marina. There were some flash cars parked there, including a couple of Ferarris. There wasn't much space in the parking garage, and nowhere to really turn around. One couldn't help but question why anyone would want to park a nice car in such a spot, but I guess there really isn't much in the way of options.

There were a lot of very nice boats in the marina, as I mentioned above. There were boats of the sailing variety and those of the cruising variety. From 20 feet in length to, well, I don't know how big. Huge. The largest, I assumed, belong to Prince Albert II of Monaco. And there was a cruise ship in the harbour. So, lots of boats.

Trivia for you: Monaco is the worlds most densely populated country, with a population of 32,410 people in an area of 1.96 square kilometres (485 acres).

The coast road was what you would expect from a mountainous coast. Up and down around bays and twisting and turning roads. The vistas were gorgeous, typically with sparkling blue bays with lots of boats, and the pinks, oranges, and in-between hues of the houses and hotels and apartments built along the mountain side and bay side. Stunning. We stopped at various points so I could get a few shots that weren't out of a moving vehicle. Thanks guys. Cruise ships were also in plentiful supply.

Nice was very nice, but also very busy. Another long beach, with colourful buildings set back from the beach. There were lots of people around, so I can imagine that it's pretty slammed at the height of summer. At various places the layout, from south to north, was beach, road, tree-lined park, road, buildings. Nice was were I encountered the first of many carousels.

About 15km south of Nice is Antibes. Antibes was a Greek colony (as were many of the towns along the Mediteranean coast of France. Today it consists of the walled old town, the new town, and beaches around the cape, and of course, the marina.

The old town in Antibes was very touristy, but that is to be expected from a town that is, essentially, a tourist destination. There were several bars and restaurants, and most of the restaurants offered "menu" in addition to "a la carte."

Asking for la carte" is the same as asking for a menu in English, where you are given the complete list of items that are available for ordering. Menu, on the other hand, is a (mostly) fixed menu, where for a single price you get to choose an appetizer from three to five options, a main (entree) from three to five options, and a dessert from three to five options. Some menus are more restrictive in the number of options, and some are larger, with potentially more courses available. Similar to the menu, is the formula, which is like a combo meal at a fast food place.

As we are all aware, the French (and, indeed non-Anglo-Saxon Europeans in general) are much more comfortable with their bodies than those cultures descended from the British. So it was no surprise (and occasionally quite pleasant), to see the women relaxed about getting as much of a tan-line-free tan as possible. This was observed on all of our beach times. Of course, as is always the case, sometimes you see things you don't want to see, and, well, I saw too many speedos on overweight German men for my liking.

September 08, 2007 11:58

Day 3. New Zealand vs Italy in Marseilles.

We got up, sorted ourselves out and got a cab to the airport to meet Sorty. The cab cost 20 Euros, and took us about 3km. We found him easily enough and got on the bus to downtown Marseilles.

Marseilles is not a particularly pretty city. The outlying areas and suburbs are pretty grotty, mostly slumlike.

Downtown was kind of strange. Some nice old buildings, but mostly quite grubby. There was a lot of work in process, rebeautification or something, but very much in a non-complete state. We had breakfast soon after arriving, and then wandered around. From the train station, then breakfast, then down to the old port and then checking out a few sights.

We caught the Metro to the Stade de Olympique. We had some lunch (hamburger and chips, although the hamburger was cut in half and everything (including chips) was loaded into a baguette, and Heineken). Then we went in to the game. It was hot. Really hot. The only beer available in the stadium was non-alcoholic, so we didn't bother.

And then watched the All Blacks slaughter Italy. It was as if the Italians didn't even know there was a rugby match going on. They eventually scored two tries, but it was not enough to really make a dent in the 76 points the All Blacks scored.

After the game we hung out for an hour and a half before heading back in to the city. We found a bar and caught the end of Australia destroying Japan, and then watched the US put up a really good fight against England. It was funny, everyone in the bar was cheering for the US. The beer was cheap, too, although that may have been a thank you, because before we came in and asked to turn on the rugby, there was nobody in the bar.

After that game we wandered out to get dinner. Kebabs and beer for Peter and I; pizza and beer for Thomo and Sorty. Then we hailed a cab, headed back to the hotel and watched the Italy vs France Euro 2008 qualifying game. That was a draw, as is generally expected between these two teams. And we had more beer.

Back to the room, some Jack and Coke, the end of Final Destination 3 (in French), and then watching Hex (also in French), and then nighty night. I think I might hunt down Hex undubbed.

Hopefully I will get back and write up better comments before I post this. If you're reading this line, then I obviously didn't.

Tomorrow: Monaco.

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Not much to add to this one yet. I really need to review my thoughts on the place, and the games we watched.

Trivia for you: Marseilles is the second largest city in France, and the third largest metropolitan area in France (behind Paris and Lyon), with 1.6 million inhabitants (2007).

September 07, 2007 20:23

Wake up early. Out the door at 4:15 and off to Dover and the Channel Tunnel.

Arrive in France, put watch forward an hour and it's 8am or so. Switch the right hand side of the road and we're away n

Breakfast of croissant and meats at a "Services" along the A26.

Calais, Arras, Reims, Dijon, Lyons, Marseilles. A few photos along the way.

Lunch of sausages and chips at a "Services" just outside of Macon.

Check into motel. Walk up to the mall. Can't find my no-fee bank. Wander around. Went to Carrefour and bought a beach towell. Wandered more. Had an Anelka burger and a beer (Kanterbrau) at Quick (aka the French McDonalds/Burger King rip-off). Got to like fast food places where you can buy beer.

Back to Carrefour to pick up water, coke and ice. The former for hydration, the latter two for the Jack Daniels. Back to the motel.

Hang out, relax, watch some French TV. Work out what channel the France - Argentina game is going to be on. Work out where we might go to watch (the motel restaurant/bar, the bar up the road).

Amusing thing last night: Are you smarter than a 10 year old. Amusing thing tonight: the French version of the same. I watched neither, but was amused because the same thing is in the US as Are you smarter than a 5th Grader. Just terrible.

We've thrown the TV on and finished channel-surfing to watch the opening ceremony of the Rugby World Cup.

Oh dear god this opening ceremony is awful. And there's a big Microsoft advertisement in the middle of the field. Awful.

Later - 23:05

Well, that was a damn good game of rugby, and, shockingly, Argentina won, 17-12. It's never a good idea to write off the Pumas, but they really came out with all guns firing and never let up. At one stage, the French were really pushing on the line, and the Argentinians just wouldn't let them through. Fantastic.

And then the manager gave us a free round of beer, interestingly. Actually, he was a good bloke. And then it was time to hit the Jack and coke.

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There's not really a lot to be said about the drive to Dover, since it was still dark. We made good time, though. There were a surprisingly large (to me, at any rate) number of cars waiting for the Chunnel.

The way the Chunnel works is that you buy a berth for your car on the train, and when the train is loaded it takes you down under the Channel and across to the other side. The carriages fit three or four cars each, and there's really not a lot to do while you're in transit, which takes about 30 minutes. On the other side you drive off the train and onto the right hand side of the road. Courtesy of the EU, there is no immigration control and customs is optional.

Northern France was very green, lush and verdant. Southern France was a lot drier and rockier.

We made great time on the roads because the French motorways are of excellent quality. We were typically driving 90 miles per hour or better. The slow downs came at the tolls. Thomo and Pete took turns driving, since they were the only two in the crew having held a European or British drivers license for two years or more.

When you are on the toll roads, there are not many exits. And all the exits take you to a toll plaza. Therefore, if you are charging down the motorway and you need food or gasoline, you have to stop at special service areas, referred to as "Services." Some of these are as simple as being unmanned petrol pumps, with a dodgy restroom and coffee vending. Others have large service stations, with a restaurant and a gift shop. One of the ones we hit later in the trip also had a small supermarket. The restaurants that we encountered in the Services were Autogrills, whish is apparently an Italian-based company. The food was better than fast food, but since everything in France is apparently served with frites (fries), that "better" does not necessarily mean better for you.

Signs dotted the journey indicating upcoming towns, locales, and sights in the area you were passing through. These signs had the name of the location or sight and then a simple drawing illustrating a key theme of the location or sight. It was very well done.

Aural entertainment for the trip was provided by iPods: Pete's and mine. We switched DJ duties every few hours over the course of the trip.

The advertising during the rugby match was very entertaining. The best by far were commercials by one of the bank sponsors of the tournament. One was of a rugby match between Italy (I think) and France, with Zidane (a footballer) on the French team. And he was awful. Until the coach came out and spoke to him, and then whenever the ball came to him, he kicked the ball and used various footballing tricks. Until, at the end the ball came to him and he headed the ball under the crossbar. Hilarious (but probably isn't so much if you don't know rugby). There was another, in which there are a group of people at a barbeque/outdoor party. There's this one guy with barbecue tongs embedded in his shoulder. This other guy walks up to him, who has a pizza slicer embedded in his head. The talking is all in French, but by the gestures it's obvious that they were explaining how they were watching or listening to a game and the team scorred and they raised their arms, forgetting what was in them and thereby injured themselves. Then a guy walks past with a ceiling fan embedded in his head. A third commercial had a car driving down a typical French one-way road, but there was a blockage of people ahead, sprawling out of a pub, obviously watching rugby on the pub's TV. The guy honks his horn, and they turn around with ugly faces and then charge at the car and push it back. Then a group of locals see what's going on and come to the driver's rescue, pushing the car back the other way, a la a rolling maul. The rugby supporters get pushed all the way back and a gendarme blows his whistle, to signal a try (I guess). Brilliant.

September 06, 2007 14:30

The flight left about 30 minutes late, but it went rather well. Sparkling wine prior to take off. Lamb for dinner, with a Spanish wine. Finished with port and cheese. I watched most of episode four of Edge of Darkness. Then my laptop battery died (I had been doing some work while in the airport) so I looked at what was on the in-flight entertainment. This enabled me to see Flight of the Conchords, which was pretty great. Then I got a few hours sleep.

The flight got in a bit later than scheduled, but passport control was a breeze. Then it was a long wait for my bag, in spite of the priority ticket on it. I missed the train by a minute but didn't have long to wait for the next one. The thirty minute express to Victoria, where I jumped onto the District Line to Ealing. Thomo picked me up outside the Irish pub across the road from the station and then it was back to his place. A shower later and I am feeling pretty well human.

So just catching up now, shooting the shit, as it were. We'll be heading over to Pete's later this afternoon, and we'll be off to France bright and early in the morning.

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I had splashed out on the flights, with a seat in business class. Well, actually Business Elite, as that is the name given by Delta on their international flights with a business class but no first class. This meant plenty of leg room, free booze (my last cattle-class trip to England required payment for alcohol other than the free drink with the meal), and a seat that went most of the way back.

For part of the flight I chatted with the guy sitting next to me and his buddy sitting across the aisle. They both had played rugby for the University of Georgia in the 70s and were heading over to catch a couple of the USA games.

As the flight came to the British Isles, I had a pretty good view over south west Ireland before the clouds cover became an issue. It was lush and green; very pretty.

The cloud cover broke south of Ireland and I had an absolutely awesome view as we passed Land's End, Cornwall, Southhampton, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. The southern coast of England is really nice from the air. I could see the great swathes of farmland, spotted with hamlets and villages. This was particularly noticable on the Isle of Wight, with the towns around the coast. And, of course, the ferries making their way from Portsmouth.

As we descended into the London area, there were some good views of castles and manors as well.

As I mentioned above, passport control was a breeze. The immigration officer asked me how long I was going to be in England, and I said that I was flying out in four weeks, but would be bouncing between France and Scotland as well. He asked me the purpose of my visit, and when I said to watch rugby, he laughed and said, "oh yeah, the Rugby World Cup is going on." With that, he stamped my passport, told me to have fun and sent me on my way. It is a very different experience than immigration control into the US.

On the way to Pete's place, we passed Wembley Stadium. I didn't really get a good view, but it looked pretty big.

Thomo and I were early to Pete's place in East Ham, so we parked in front of Pete's place and drank a couple of beers. Thomo needed to take a leak, but there was nowhere to go. He made a couple of abortive attempts to sequester himself into a corner of Pete's front garden, but people kept on coming by, including the neighbours. It was rather amusing. He finally got a break and relieved himself. Not too long after, Pete turned up and let us in.

We chilled out in Pete's back yard, having a couple more beers and talking about the plans for the coming week. As it got later we wandered back into the house and threw on the television to catch several episodes of The Simpsons. Pete made pasta for dinner. I guess we hit the sack around 10ish, in preparation for our 4am start.

September 05, 2007 00:23

My summer holiday starts in 21 hours, when I board a plane for London. From there I will go to France, then back to England, then Scotland and then back to England and France and England again.

I do intend to keep things up to date over my travels. I've been slack only because I've been busy with work and with surviving work. Liverpool has done wonderful things.so far this year and I have great hopes.

And Dragon*Con was this weekend, which was too much fun. I didn't get up to the craziness I've done in years past. But it did get up to different craziness, which was good.

I'm thinking it's time to go to bed, so I can get things done tomorrow that need getting done before I leave

July 18, 2007 18:21

It's about 6pm on Wednesday. I had a really fun weekend in Chicago. On Friday, Craig and I had a smooth flight to Chicago, caught a cab to the hotel, and then had lunch at Harry Caray's. I had a very tender and tasty steak sandwich. We chilled out at the hotel, me working and Craig napping, and then went for a couple of drinks at The Boss. We then shot back to the hotel for happy hour (free drinks and hors d'ouvres), after which we met up with Matt and Lauren and made our way over to Union Park.

We got to Union Park as Slint was playing. They were good. We went a-wandering around the park, checking out merch and drinking beer (312 - a local brew - on my part). In our wanderings we found Kenyon, Shane and Natalie. Eventually it was time for Sonic Youth, and they were awesome, playing the entirity of Daydream Nation and a handful of tracks from Rather Ripped.

After the show Craig and I headed in the direction of Neo. We stopped for more drinks and a bite to eat at Red Lion. Lauren and Matt eventually caught up with us and we finished the night at Neo, bailing out early enough to get a jump on the action in the morning.

Saturday morning Craig and I sorted ourselves out (shower, dress, free food from the hotel) and hit the street. I picked up some sunglasses and we ate lunch at an Armenian restaurant. Then it was time to grab the train and head to Union Park. We got there in time to see Twilight Sad, who only played for 30 minutes. No matter, we were going to see them later that night. And the rest of the day was pretty cool. Drinking beer, chilling under trees, checking out merch, and, of course, listening/seeing plenty of music. Voxtrot was okay; Grizzly Bear kinda boring; Battles was awesome; Iron & Wine was too quiet; Mastodon was FUCKING LOUD; Dan Deacon was too packed. We caught the start of Cat Power, which was good, but we had reached that point of needing to leave. In general a good day, but towards the end there, far too many people.

It was back to the hotel to wash off the hipster funk, and then off to meet Lauren and Matt for dinner at Leona's. A veritable feast of food and then we all headed to Shuba's to catch Twilight Sad in a small venue. It was awesome. Afterwards, Shane, Craig and I headed to the L&L for some dive bar action, and several whiskys.

Our flight on Sunday was a little earlier than we'd planned for, so we had a bit of a rush to get out, but the trip back was fine. The weekend ended well, hanging out at the Local.

Work this week has gone well. Very steady. Lots of stuff getting ready to happen. And tomorrow I'm off to Athens for the day.

Monday night I ate at the Local and played some cribbage with Patrick. Last night I stayed in and read Gordon S Wood's Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different. It has been very interesting. I had finished Heart of Darkness on the plane on Sunday. That was an awesome piece of work.

I cuaght yesterday's friendly match between Liverpool and Werder Bremen, which the Reds won, 3-2. All the new signings made an appearance, and I was duly impressed. It's going to be a magic season, I can tell.

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