Finally in Republique de France - First 3 days

We departed Berlin on a sleeper train bound for Paris, from the Hauptbahnhof, on the evening of Tuesday 8th at about 8pm arriving at Paris Est station at about 9.30am. This time on a German train with a larger couchette, but unfortunately much harder bunk beds. We had to find our way to Charles de Gaulle airport (by metro and regional trains) where our leased Peugeot 308SW was waiting for us to collect the keys. Without too much fuss we found the car and were on the road by about 12.30pm that day.

Getting away from CDG airport in any direction but north is quite challenging as all roads lead into Paris, but we managed quite well and took less than an hour to navigate our way out of the rather large tentacles of the city of Paris and point the car in the direction of Normandy, or more specifically Mont St Michel (the second most visited site in France).We ended up driving nearly 400kms this afternoon finally reaching a cute little village called Ducey, after a couple of stops along the way at other delightful villages – there are so many in France it boggles the mind. It is great to be back in France I must say – we feel very comfortable here. We had a choice of two hotels in Ducey, opted for the 2 star (and cheaper one) after inspecting the rooms, and to our delight found they had a 3-4 star restaurant in house. We were given the prime table, right in the middle of a fairly crowded dining room full of very quiet and seemingly boring couples having little if no interaction, so we four Aussies did our best to brighten the place up. This is not an unusual experience in France. If there could be only one word to describe French people it would be CONSERVATIVE. At least that is our impression after several visits to the country. While on the subject of the French, what they are NOT is arrogant, as is the popular perception of many people, particularly the English. In fact on the whole they are very charming while being reserved. For those thinking about visiting France in future we would like to share an important tip with you. Whenever you find yourself interacting with a French person make sure they know you are Australian, and NOT English or American. It makes a huge difference.

The next morning we drove the remaining 20kms to Mont St Michel, making sure we got there well before it opened as everything we have read, and been told, about the place is that it can be overwhelmed with tourists. Mont St Michel is a simply amazing sight to behold, being a medieval abbey perched on what was a small island in a very tidal estuary, but now joined to the mainland by a man-made causeway. The photos herein don’t really do justice to the magnificence of this abbey. We managed to be nearly first in the queue, just in front of a couple of busloads of Japanese tourists, every one of whom had a camera that was in continual use. We have always thought that many Japanese tourists must only see the sights through a camera lens. When we eventually came out of the abbey we counted nearly 20 tour coaches in the car-park, along with hundreds of cars that were not there when we arrived, so the early start was smart.

After leaving Mont St Michel we drove to a nearby resort city called St Malo where we dipped our toes in the Atlantic (for the very first time). Would have enjoyed a swim but didn’t have the gear, and there were too many “conservative” French people around to go skinny-dipping. We weren’t overwhelmed by St Malo, in many ways it reminded us of tacky English seaside towns that we have visited in the past, so we didn’t hang around for long.

We drove for most of the rest of the day having decided we now wanted to get to Lodeve as quickly as possible, preferably in time for the Saturday morning markets. As we headed further south the landscape was steadily changing, becoming more mountainous, greener and generally more spectacular. We stopped for a breather in Nantes, but didn’t really gain a strong impression of a city that the travel guides rate quite highly, and then drove on to an innocuous looking place on the main road, but once we turned off and negotiated the ever narrowing streets into the “Centre Ville” we discovered a pretty little village, like so many built around a small river and with a more than acceptable hotel where we ate, drank and slept the night away. The need to overlook the drab outskirts of French villages and towns, and find the often surprising centre, is so common in this country.

3rd Day in France

We got a reasonably early start today, with the aim of reaching Lodeve by late afternoon (which we duly did). We stayed on a major national (N) road for a couple of hours before diverting on to a minor (or D) road to the amazing sight of Rocamadour, a village spectacularly built on the side of a high rocky outcrop. The photo below tries to do justice to the majesty of this very old village.
After stopping for a while here, enjoying a beer while overlooking Rocamadour and buying our very French style lunch ingredients at a mini supermarket, we were back on the road heading for the valley of the Lot river, which we remembered from 2005 as a stunning landscape. After a slight (and unintended) detour which took us through the town of Cahors which is situated within a large loop of the Lot, we eventually found our way to the road we were looking for.
The drive along the course of the Lot was enjoyed by all, with many beautiful views of the river itself, pretty little villages along the way, and of course the ever present spectacular geological features so prevalent in this region.
Once we left the Lot behind we had a relatively uneventful 3 hour drive to Millau, punctuated from time to time of course by stunning scenery and many little villages and towns. Millau is a regional centre (pop. 22,000) spectacularly situated (no other words can be used) at the bottom of part of the Gorge du Tarn at the confluence of the Tarn and the Dourbie rivers, and overlooked by the now world famous Viaduc de Millau, designed by the much lauded English architect Sir Norman Foster (remember the dome of the Reichstag in Berlin), to allow the A75 motorway to cross the Gorge du Tarn. This magnificent structure spans 2.5kms and is up to 343m above the valley bottom. In its first year of operation (2005) it carried 4.43 million vehicles. It took more than 3 years to build at a cost of more than AU$750 million, and is a true icon of modern design and engineering. Once we had crossed this superb bridge we were only 60kms from Lodeve. This section of the A75 (i.e. Millau to Lodeve) is quite superb, as it wends its way down the southern edge of the Larzac plateau, falling 500 or 600m and negotiating a long tunnel.
We drove into Lodeve about 7pm that night. It was good to be “home”! As we all wearily extracted ourselves from the car right outside of the apartment, a dark haired and well dressed Frenchman walked past, that none of us paid much attention to. As he passed us and was walking away we heard a quiet “aussie aussie aussie oi oi oi” which of course we all reacted to. Amazingly it turned out to be Michel Canac, a local doctor and good long term friend of Ian’s who has become our local guardian in Lodeve, as well as our friend. He just happened to walking by on his way to the local supermarket. Of course we were very happy to see him, and made arrangements to catch up on Sunday night at his place for a welcoming aperitif. The apartment is looking great, particularly with several of Ian’s paintings now hanging on the walls. Ian de Souza (and his wife Ros), one of the four owners of the apartment, is a celebrated artist from Fremantle who recently had his first French exhibition here in Lodeve. We are very glad that he has left some of his works behind for us to enjoy.

More photos of the amazing Reichstag Dome

Berlin - A very interesting city

At about 9pm on Friday 8th we boarded a sleeper train for Munich, from where we transferred to another train through to Berlin. The four of us ended up in a 4 person couchette as the more private alternative was just too expensive. Our Eurail pass does not cover “sleepovers”. It was a bit crowded but after a few Glavas and Cointreaus we didn’t care and all eventually had a good nights sleep. We transferred at Munich about 7am and travelled in real German luxury for the next 5-6 hours before pulling into Berlin Hauptbanhof. We were in first class admittedly (thanks to Eurail) but the luxury of this train had to be seen to be appreciated.

We found our way to our pre- booked apartment in East Berlin (in the Mitte district) by tram, travelling through what appeared to be somewhat grungy urban surroundings, thinking that our choice of location (via internet) may not have been as good as it could have been. We soon changed our mind on that score. The apartment was great, certainly not luxurious but it definitely had loads of character, with the only real negative being a very small and solitary bathroom. As soon as we got out on the street and started wandering we knew the grunge was superficial and that we were in fact in a very vibrant and happening city. The grunge is understandable when you consider that this area was well behind “the wall” just 20 years ago. We were told there was not a shop, café or pub to be seen anywhere near our apartment in those days. Today almost every second building in Kastanienallee Strasse (our street) was a bar, café or restaurant. Our first impression of Berlin from our wandering through the Mitte was that it is a young person’s city. Over the next 3 days the number of people of our age (in fact over 40) that we saw within the vicinity of our apartment could have been counted on one hand. We were later to find out that Berlin is in fact a relatively poor city, with a high unemployment rate (17%) and a disproportionately high student population. It is also a cheap city to live in by ECU standards, and therefore attracts many young people either to study or to further their artistic endeavours. This particularly applies to the East Berlin side, hence the absence of oldies from that part of the city. A tour guide told us that commercial rents in the centre of Berlin are 15% of the equivalent in London.

Over the next 3 days and nights we were to discover that Berlin is a fascinating city, and that we needed far more time to really appreciate it. With such an amazing recent history, since the emergence of the Nazi party under Hitler in 1933, including the smashing down of the wall just 20 years ago, it could not be anything but interesting. Again due to our limited time we linked up with two local tours, one a hop-on/hop-off bus and the second a walking tour with Terry (which we should have done on the first day so that we could better appreciate the city later). We had read about Terry’s walking tour on the net, and were determined that if we did nothing else in Berlin we would do it. Terry is an eccentric 74 year old Brit who has lived in Berlin for a significant part of his life, including the period of occupation and the subsequent tearing down of the wall in 1989. He has served with the military, and the British diplomatic corps in Berlin previously and for a period of time was the official Berlin guide for senior military personnel. His intimate personal knowledge of Berlin is quite extraordinary, and as an ex-history teacher, his ability to tie it all together and deliver it in an entertaining way is fantastic. His tours typically last from about 10am until as late as 8 or 9 pm, whereas most similar walking tours we have seen advertised in Berlin (and other cities) are for just 2-4 hours – his energy is something to behold. We most strongly recommend this tour to anybody visiting Berlin, and that it be done as early as possible during the stay as it sets the scene brilliantly for what will be experienced later.Apart from Terry’s tour, the highlights (of many) in Berlin were probably the opportunity to visit the magnificent dome over the house of parliament (the Reichstag) designed by Sir Norman Foster to replace the one burned in the great fire of 1933 (which was the final catalyst in Hitler gaining complete control of government in Germany), and to use the new Hauptbahnhof train station built for the soccer world cup a few years ago. Both buildings are triumphs of architectural design and of German engineering. The several funky cafes and restaurants we found were also a highlight of our time in Berlin, with prices noticeably cheaper than Vienna.

At risk of sounding repetitive we want to come back here one day with more time credits.

Budapest - a real surprise

We left Vienna behind, reluctantly, on Wednesday afternoon, heading for Budapest by train using our Eurail ticket. We left with shared impression of Vienna as a relaxed but reserved, highly cultured and aesthetically beautiful city with our only real disappointment being the fact that we were not able to attend a Beethoven or Mozart concert (and have a decent coffee!). Next time – and there WILL be a next time!

On our way to Budapest we passed through an amazing wind farm site that we estimated could have in excess of 1000 wind turbines spread over an area of a couple of square kilometres. There is so much evidence already that Europe is far ahead of Australia in harnessing renewable energy sources, and we have not experienced Germany yet.

We arrived in Budapest around 7pm on Wednesday evening and left just 50 hours later (what a planning error that was i.e. much more time is needed). From the time we stepped out into the huge railway station we knew we were in a very special place. Budapest has everything that Vienna had, and a lot more. It is a faster paced, and a more friendly place, with a population that continues to rebuild and re-define itself after the communist rule that only ended 20 years ago. It is a place on the move. We had no idea of the glorious past of Budapest, and its eminence in previous times as the capital of middle Europe. In so many ways it is reminiscent of Paris, which is understandable given the apparent influence French architects had on their Hungarian peers. It is also still a cheaper place to visit than other major European cities including Vienna, but there is no doubt that this will change as American and German tourists (and others of course) come in increasing numbers. On that subject it is very evident that Americans are not travelling at the moment (GFC we assume). We hardly heard a yankee accent in either Vienna or Budapest (MOST unusual in Europe) and were told by several people, including our Vienna guides, that they had not come this summer. Not good for the local tourist industry but great for us.

We packed so much into the next 50 hours, our heads were spinning, and our legs aching, by the time we boarded our sleeper train last night, bound for Berlin via Munich. Again we did a couple of guided tours (which is a bit unusual for us), one by boat along the Danube, another on a hop-on hop-off open deck bus which takes you to all of the most interesting parts of Budapest, with an optional commentary on the way. Given the limited time we had we decided this was the only way to really get a feel for the city. The following selection of photos (from the 300 or so I took) gives an impression of the extraordinary beauty and style of this city. We want to come back and recommend it to anybody considering a European adventure.

The first stage - Vienna

Sitting on the Leipzig Express from Munich to Berlin, in first class luxury, at 8.30am on Saturday morning (5th Sep), I am contemplating our first week in Europe (well almost a week). In a word it has been sensational, exceeding our expectations in most ways, particularly Budapest but more about that wonderful city later.

Our adventure started in good old Perth at 10.30pm on Saturday 29th August when we boarded an Emirates flight for Vienna via Dubai. Everything about Emirates was excellent except the seating arrangements which for a six-footer+ like Ron is just inadequate. Back to Malaysian Airlines next time – the seating is much better. Not much to say about Dubai as we only experienced the new airport terminal, which was opulent in a way that only oil can buy! Arrived in the beautiful (and relaxed) city of Vienna early on Sunday afternoon and made our way to the apartment we had booked on the net.
Fantastic choice – we found ourselves in a modern roomy 2 bedroom apartment, in a highly energy efficient building, where both the heating and the cooling comes from geothermal resources directly under the building…..and we were within 5-10 minutes walk of the main city square, Karlsplatz, which is also the central hub for all public transport – very convenient. Like most European cities we have experienced, the public transport is superb.

We had 3 nights in Vienna, enjoying perfect weather the whole time, filling our days with constant activity. To make the most of our limited time we decided to do a couple of guided walks and were very glad we did. The first one was The Third Man walking tour. For those who don’t know, The Third Man, consistently rated one of the best British made films of all time, was set in Vienna – mostly in the sewers, although we were told most of the filming was done in a studio in England because Orson Wells (the lead actor) did not want to get his hands (and knees) dirty! The tour was conducted by Chris, the son of the local woman who founded the tour 20 years ago and has since written several books about the subject. Not only Chris, but her two daughters have also followed her into the tour guiding business. The 2.5 hour tour visited all of the locations used in making the film, covering a sizeable portion of the centre of Vienna, and was full of entertaining and informative anecdotes. Highly recommended for anyone visiting this city. A couple of photos of film locations visited are shown below. In each case Chris is holding up a print from the film that was set right where he is standing.

The second tour, guided by a retired woman passionate about her city, was more about the fascinating history, architecture and culture of Vienna, and again had us wandering all over Vienna for more than 2 hours. No-one else turned up for the tour so we had her to ourselves. She was an excellent guide with exceptional knowledge that she enthusiastically shared with us.
The partially revealed fresco in the picture on the right dates from medieval times. Apart from these two organised tours we just explored the city as best we could, armed with our map, our 3 day transport pass and plenty of excitement. The highlights were probably the Salm Brauerie (brewery), sort of a “poor mans Little Ceatures”, the fresh food markets, and the continually stunning architecture. The few negatives included the failure to find a decent coffee (always a problem when you leave Australia), and some bum directions to our departure point that almost saw us miss our train to Budapest.