10 August - Edinburgh Tattoo

Wanting to get the most out of our overnight in Edinburgh for the Tattoo, I booked an early flight from Heathrow.  The car picked us up at 3.30am for a 7.00 am flight. Boy did I stuff up on that one.

Our hotel was right in the middle of the city and within walking distance to everything.  We got a cab to the Castle but the driver had to park about 3 blocks away where it was cordoned off.  there were police everywhere and souvenir shops on either side of the walk called the royal mile and as Edinburgh holds a Fringe Festival in conjunction with the Tattoo, the population grows each year from the approx 500,000 people living there to twice that for the month of August.  it was shoulder to shoulder for the full width of the street for the entire length up to the Castle gates.  I have never seen so many people in one place before.

This is one of the tallest monuments I have seen and is in memory of one of Scotland's greatest writers, Sir Walter Scott.

The start of the Royal Mile which is the road way leading up to the gates of the Edinburgh Castle which is lined with tourist type shops and stalls.

Our seats were perfect.  When booking them, I asked for the best seats and was informed that they were reserved for Her Maj.  We had plenty of room and faced front on to everything.  The program was very good and the light show off the walls of the castle was terrific.

The weather held off but as the sun went down it got very cold.

I was rugged up in scarf, gloves and huge coat but was still cold till I remembered the cashmere scarves I purchased earlier and wrapped them round me as well.

The show was amazing but we were thrilled with the light show that was displayed on the Castle wall with each performance.

The evening ended with a single piper playing a Scottish Hymn from the walls of the Castle.

Never have I heard a more emotional recital from one bagpipe.

A statue of Shirlock Holmes in the street near where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born

Next day we booked out of the hotel and went on the hop on and off bus to some of the highlights of the city, had lunch at the "Conan Doyle" Hotel which is very close to the birthplace of the author of the Sherlock Holmes series, Arthur Conan Doyle.  Unfortunately, there is a roundabout on that spot now.

The hotel was oozing atmosphere with small levels only a few steps apart.  The walls were covered with old wallpaper and very old photos and lined with bookcases with very old books.  You could almost expect to see Sherlock Holmes on his hands and knees under one of the tables with his deer hat and magnifying glass calling to his trusty Watson.

Of course a visit to Scotland wouldn't be complete without a taste of the real thing.

Haggis, taties and neeps. (Turnips)

A little cafe we went into for morning tea had an original roof dating to the thirteenth century.

It was called the Deacon Brodie after a business man of the day who subsidised his gambling by being a house breaker by night and was eventually caught and hanged.  It is said it inspired Robert Louis Stevensons book Dr Jeckle and Mr Hyde.

An interesting array of soups.  The first two would have been ok but I think they must have got the recipe for the last one from Mr Heinz.

As we were leaving we spotted this sign above the door on the way out.  Just as well neither of us wanted to go or we would have needed a ladder.

All too soon we had to get back to the airport for our flight back to London and then off to Budapest.  But we will leave that for another time.

5 August - Paris

On arrival in Paris we went to our hotel and settled in ready for the big night at Moulin Rouge.  A cup of tea would have been nice but no milk.  I still have a fair bit of my stash of bushels tea bags left.  I went down to get about 1/4 cup of milk and they wanted €4.50.  Needless to say the cup of tea didnt happen.

The Internet was €10 for 24 hours so we didn't go for that either.

MOULON ROUGE!!  What can I say....

We got there early and had dinner first.  There was a band playing during dinner so we got up on the dance floor for a while.  The show was spectacular.

The costumes, the dancing, the singing, the acrobats and the stage were all mind blowing.  All the girls costumes displayed their upper body, in a tasteful sort of way.

They crammed so many people in though it was a little uncomfortable.

Next day we went to the Palace of Versailles and it was wonderful but I think we have seen too many castles and palaces in the last week they are starting to blend into one another.  However this one was very rich and authentic.

A beautiful church we passed on our way through Paris.  The gold leaf on the do,e is reputed to weigh about 300 pounds.

The Arc De Triomphe

Yes - we did do a wander up one of the most famous shopping streets in the world

For €89 Stuart could have driven this Lamborghini around Paris streets but we didnt have time - maybe next time.... 

A distant and close up view of the fates of the Palace

We saw the bedroom of Marie Antoinette and the sleeping chamber of King Louis 14th still with the same canopied beds.  The majority of the furniture was all original

A clock and bureau dating back to the days of Marie Antoinette

King Louis always liked to have himself painted with his legs showing as he considered he had great legs.

A courtyard inside the palace of Versailles

A small part of the gardens at the Palace

Another section of the gardens which stretched for miles

The line up to get in the gate which wound back and forth about 3 times to the gates at the back about a block and a half away.....We walked straight to the gate with our guide and in we went.

Stuart in front of the gate where the line up started to snake.

Soldiers setting up to light the flame as a memorial to the unknown soldier

At the base of the Arch de Triomphe stands a torch. Every evening at 6:30 P.M. it is rekindled, and veterans lay wreaths decorated with red, white and blue near its flickering flame.   It burns in the darkness to recall the sacrifice of an unknown French soldier who gave his life during World War I. 

Self explanatory

Our last excursion for the tour was a cruise down the Seine River for an hour or so and then a trip up the Eiffel Tower.  How great it was to walk past the lines of people again and just march straight on.  The Eiffel Tower was a jigsaw of steel and about 2.5 million rivets.  The lift took us diagonally up one leg of the Tower, and then straight up to the first level, where we could walk around.   We had an hour to see the sights of Paris by night and at 11.00pm the lights on the Tower started to twinkle.  How lovely.   All too soon we were on the bus and headed for Calais for the ferry ride back to London.  We are going to have a bit of trouble getting into London, as there is an International bike race through there and all of the inner city of London is closed off all day.

We got to our hotel and after a small butter box last time I insisted on a bigger room.  It was and they assured me that we would have this one for the remainder of our stay in London.

Monday morning, we boarded the London Underground for a few stations before heading to Plymouth.

On the way to Plymouth, it rained a little and threatened to spoil our near perfect record for rain free since we left home 2 months ago.  We had a day of drizzle while in Canada and that was all.

3 August - Florence, Nice, Switzerland

We had an overnight in Florence so that we could pay a visit to David, the famous sculpture by  michaelangelo  .  It has now been put in the museum because someone tried to vandalise it some years ago.  This is something we learnt about at school, we read about it over the years but never dreamed of ever going to see it only 3 mtrs away from us. This is a very good copy of the statue of David standing on the site of the original.  Photos weren't allowed inside.

There were also people dressed as the statue wanting you to pay to have your photo with them.  This one seemed to have too many lumps and bumps.

After Florence we drove on to Pisa to get our first look at the Leaning Tower.

After many years of increased leaning, they have tethered the left side with straps to stop the lean increasing.  So far it has worked.

 We found a lovely young English couple who offered to take our photo "holding up the Leaning Tower" and did a fine job of it - both them and us.

On our journey north we went by little towns along the way and as we were so close to the border of France the  main industry of the area is flower growing because France is very big in the perfume industry and so the Italians supply a large percentage of flowers to the French.

The countryside was dotted with chateaus like this owned by the rich and famous.

T

Little villages sprang up all along the track in nearly every valley

We drove over the hills and through the tunnels and round the corner and into the Principality of Monaco.  What a sight!!

We saw large cruise ships, a large yacht belonging to Prince Albert and millions and millions of dollars worth of private yachts.  Our tour guide found out that to buy a small flat in Monaco would cost approx 1.2 million.

We went into the large Catholic Church where Prince Rainier married his princess Grace Kelly the movie actress and later buried her.  

The Catholic Cathedral where Prince Ranier and Princess Grace were married, and where they are both buried.

The Palace of Prince of Monaco and his family

The Chapel inside the church

A Chataeu on to of a hill which is owned by some big rock group.

We were looking forward to the next day as we had nearly all day to ourselves.  Stuart and I made the decision to wash and rest up.

That night we went up the mountains behind Nice and looked over the Mediterranean and the French Riviera and looked  down on, reputedly the most expensive real estate in Europe on Cape Faret.   

We went to a restaurant owned by an Aussie Jeff for dinner which started with drinks and ended with drinks and the food was amazing.  It was here we tried escargots for the first time.  That one has been ticked off the bucket list and won't be going back on.  Very chewy and garlicky with no real flavour at all.

The Mediterranean Sea was only a block from our hotel and when we walked down to see it, it was the most amazing blue but by the time I want back to our room for the camera it was a very dirty brown as it had rained that night and the runoff from the streets in town had polluted it for a few klms out to sea.

All the large hotels owned an area of beach on the Mediterranean and guests had to show their key to use the facility and the drinks and snack bar within. 

We left France and then travelled back into Italy before going into Switzerland where we had to get off the coach and into electric vehicles as Zurmatt is pollution free.

This has been a long and hectic tour with the mind trying to absorb so much in a short time, but the guided tour has been so much better than doing it on our own if for no other reason but that we have not waited to get into anything.  We just bypass the lines and stroll straight in.  Most times earlier than any body else so that we are 15 minutes ahead of the crowds.  We walked past line ups every where we went and most times in 35' heat.  In some instances the line ups were about 2 or 3 city blocks long.  Even in the big stores, like the leather store, as soon as we mentioned out tour guides name we got priority service.

After a lovely Swiss meal of crusty bread clear soup and Swiss veal sausage and Potato Rosti washed down with a wine we came back for a good nights sleep.

The view from our hotel window of the Matterhorn.

Next morning we were picked up by little electric buses that carried only 7 people in each and were dropped off at the bottom of the ski lift.  Although there didn't appear to be too much snow around, an American was on our gondola and he was heading up to do some snow boarding.  Apparently the ski lifts traverse the mountains all around the Matterhorn and although some have closed down for the summer there are still a few running to catch the last of the snow. 

We seemed to go up for miles and the houses in the town of Zurmatt looked like little rocks from where we were

Stuart went up and extra few thousand feet in a lift to another level but I chose to stay and have a cup of hot Ovaltine.

On the way up we had to stop halfway at 9642 feet up and get off the lift for half an hour to get our lungs used to the thin air and then finish the trip,  up to just over 12,000 feet.  The actually height is over 14,500 feet but you have to walk the rear of the way and ski down.  I expected to suffer with my weak lungs but was fine for the first couple of hours and then I started to get very short of breath and light headed so we headed to the ski lifts and back down again.

Not before I had a few goes on the rubber tube down the hill in the snow.

For a little while I thought I was 16 again.

Somebody had a St Bernard dog with the traditional whiskey barrel to search and rescue people lost in the snow, but he was only here for people to have their photo taken (I found out after I had taken the photo)

We are up to the 1st of August and that is Switzerland's National Day and we were heading out on a train to Lucerne, still in Switzerland.  At Lucerne we were given a few hours to wander the city but most of the shops were closed.  One big store that sold watches was open and was about 3 stories high selling mainly watches priced from under $100 to about $154,000 for a Rolex (the real kind, obviously).

This is the one I wanted but Stuart wouldn't buy it for me......

This is the dearest one we saw but there were some much dearer.

We visited a memorial to the local soldiers who fought for France in the First World War and lost their lives in the thousands.  The lion represents the might of the French army, the stake in the side for  the fallen.  The Mayor of the day reneged on the agreed amount to the sculptor and so for the surrounding edge he made in the form of a pig.....

After a bit of a bus ride we went to a small dairy (17 head of cows) where we had a horse and buggy ride around the town for about an hour and then went back into the dairy for wine, cheese and meats as well as apple strudel and cooked sausage on a stick over the fire.  It was very interesting.  Because of the sever winters, the whole farm is down in the valley with the animals kept inside most of the time.  Then in Summer they are moved (dairy and all) up to the hills where they graze and help to keep the grass short as if it is long when the snow builds up it will slides on the grass lying flat causing an avalanche.  

Our ride around Town in the horse drawn carriage.

Friday we had an early start to Paris for our trip to Moulen  Rouge .