We are now in Italy… you know how when you talk to an Italian person and they always go on about how good the food is in Italy… and you just roll your eyes, like whatever… well I have to say I am a firm convert… the food is inexplicably unbelievable.

There is a lot more detail to come in future posts, but we just wanted to let you know we are alive and well… oh we are struggling with italian, so if you know some useful phrases then please put them in a comment below! Grazis et arivaderche.

We have made up our own names for the Spanish coast (as one does) like the Costa Plenty, Costa Lota, Costa Moucho, Costa Armanalega, enough already??? We must be getting hard up for things to do in the car!!! Back in France it’s the street names that Mark liked to corrupt; Rue de Remarks, Rue De Noises etc!
According to Tom, our sat nav friend, it is a 13 ½ hr drive to Terni in Italy and we’ve allowed 4 days. That’s 13 hours via the toll ways or 26 not using them. You do pay for the motorways tho, its nothing to hand over 10 to 15 euros (16 to 24 AUD) so we keep a pocketful of change in car!

Crossing the border between France and Spain is not a bother either way. It involves slowing down through what looks like toll booths where armed guards take a cursory glance into the car.  You do see some cars pulled over undergoing a thorough search but generally everyone’s sailing through and there is no need for passports.

For the first time we have trouble finding accommodation and its after dark when we arrive in St Germaine, 130k’s from Nice, at the Hotel Plaisance. It’s our last night in France so we go out for dinner; another story!!! When in France don’t order Steak Tartare! After sending the raw meat doughnut with the raw egg in middle back to be cooked I ended up actually paying for a rissole and chips! I knew of this raw meat dish and really kicked myself for not looking out for it and avoiding it! Tired from a long days travelling though made me a little careless!

We have a long drive today. We want to see the bridge in Millau, it’s a bit of a detour and more back roads but we’re sure seeing the country! This is real France; farms on rolling hills and beautiful villages with people dining outside.

The Millau bridge is an incredible feat of engineering it is 2.5 k long joining two mountains 2550 ft above sea level. We strongly recommend looking this up on google as in this case a picture can truly replace a 1,000 words. The motorway crosses the bridge and this section has 110k speed limit (normally 130) but it was quite gusty up so high even though generally it was not a windy day. Our little Citroen was being buffeted around a bit so it felt slightly freaky! We stopped at the ‘Pointe de Vue’ to take photos of this tribute to man’s ingenuity and God-given intelligence.

The scenery today is a complete contrast to yesterday’s rolling fields.  We travel through the province of Auvergne renowned for its chain of 80 volcanoes. As this would suggest it is a drive through beautiful mountains with deep gorges, spanned by enormously high bridges. The gorges are covered thickly by trees in their autumn colours. Gorgeous! Ws stopped at the ancient stone village Terrasson, parts of which were built in 1177AD. It is magnificent, built on a cliff face overlooking a little river over which the Pont du Terrasson provides a walkway.  We have taken the motorway through the mountains and our little diesel Citroen hums along at the 130km speed limit. The roads in France are wonderful.  The total for tolls today thought, has been 20 euro ($30.15 AUD) however, we figure we would have saved at least an amount of that in fuel had we had to wind up through the mountains. We found a nice little motel for the night and did a quick change so we could have some dinner and attend the meeting in Riberac.  The meeting is in French with a second school in English and so there are some brother and sisters there who understand us. Lovely!

We are picking up our brand new C3 that we are leasing for the rest of the Europe trip.   We are impressed with the service and whole concept of leasing rather than hiring a car.  We can drop the car off in Frankfurt and in the deal they provided us with a nights accommodation near the airport and paid the costs of getting the car back to Paris, all this cheaper than hiring.  Insurance with no excess (even if we write the car off and they will provide another one) is included. We do have to make sure the car has its first no charge service at any curie dealer. Citroen will find it much easier apparently to sell the car as a demonstrator, without the obviously huge new car sales tax on it, something that new car buyers also want to avoid.

Leaving Paris was interesting, not difficult even driving on the other side of the road except for the roundabouts.  They have to be experienced to be believed.  Lanes lead onto the roundabouts but after that it’s every man for himself.  If four cars can fit across what would normally be two lanes then so be it. Picture dodgem cars and you come close! Watching people park in Paris is also hilarious! Drivers will pull up to the car in front, hit it and back of an inch. I asked a sister at the meeting about this and she said you have to keep bumping the car back and front to get out. They believe bumper bars are just that and as you can imagine they are well ‘massaged’. It was awesome to get into the French countryside south of Paris.  It is a buffet for the eyes. We took the ‘off motorway’ route through little, ancient villages and ploughed fields as far as the eye could see, south to Burgundy.

It was a wonderful meeting in English! The brothers and sisters were so friendly and there were other Aussies there from Melbourne. A few sisters, the other Aussies and ourselves hit a local café for lunch. It’s a gorgeous sunny day and we sat outside. Its not long and we feel we’ve known our new friends for years. We could have sat and chatted all afternoon but the café had other clients needing tables. We sadly said goodbye and exchange email addresses.  By the time we walk home the markets are packing up. Its very important to pack this afternoon and clean the apartment as we leave early in morning. We get done in time for one last walk in Paris at dusk. 

We visit a local park, Parc Butte Du Chaumont. It very large with a large ‘butte’, hill in the middle with lovely old trees and families are strolling enjoying the serenity in true Parisian fashion.

We ate lunch at the market and had a selection of Asian dishes and rice. Apparently Asian restaurants are only just starting to spring up around Paris. France has extremely high standards for serving food so eating out is as safe as it can be anywhere.

After lunch we catch another two trains to Monmatre in the shadow of Sacre Coeur, originally famous for its artists but now it seems, dominated by souvenir shops. It’s an interesting place though if only to observe the guys with the coin under the three discs swiftly moving them around and the gamblers sure they know where the coin is and willing to bet on it.

There are more buskers on the train home and they are really talented. Another singer accompanied this time by a friend with an accordion played by blowing with the mouth. There are also more people begging in the stations, every day they are out there. There are some who are obviously homeless but also those using their children as emotional incentive to extract money. We have had women claiming to be from Bosnia who hand you a note to read asking for money for food as their mother is ‘ded’ and they have children to feed. Surprising to us, was the Islamic women in full dress, sitting with exaggerated depressed expressions and their hands out for money. Paris apparently has more than its fair share of underprivileged people. The hard thing is to tell the genuine from the professionals.

It’s fine so the guys disappear into the dark for their Paris by night shots.

Well, the Palais de Versailles is ‘tres tres grande’! It is still raining however, we don’t mind as the grounds are breathtaking. Sculptured gardens stretch literally, as far as the eye can see! There are long avenues, lakes, monuments and flower beds. To picture the size of these grounds we figure that the building and grounds would stretch conservatively, from Oxley beach in the east to Short St in the west, Clarence St north to Koala St South, for all the Port Macquarieites!

French royalty sure knew how to live well, just not long! The boys intended to take some Paris night shots tonight but it’s way too wet!

After a quick dinner it’s off to the meeting. Well…..yet another story. After ringing the branch earlier in the week and trying to make the poor brother understand our high school French, he told us in his broken English the address of the English speaking congregation.  We catch two trains and walk some distance to arrive just as the meeting started… in Portugese!! The English meeting was apparently last night according to the board outside written in French! It was still nice to be with brothers and sisters, sing the songs and follow along in our English literature.

We did discover a beautiful part of Paris though, amazing cafes and patisseries near the Kingdom Hall.  We decide to walk home, a very brisk 35 minute walk with the five flights of stairs at the end!

It has been such a long cold ordeal that it’s well past lunch time so we eat our packed sandwiches at the top!

This afternoon we visit the Louvre. Honestly, a month wouldn’t be long enough and words can’t describe the immense size of this musee d’art. We walk the long corridors awe struck by the works of art on the ceilings that tower from above. We decide to make a point of seeing the Mona Lisa and the Venus De Milo, however there was so much more. For example a collection the exquisite crockery, bowls and goblets, belonging to Louis XIV or the diamond and emerald necklace and earring set, priceless and a wedding present Napoleon gave to a friend.

We are exhausted tonight as we have done so much walking today. Home for dinner, Quiche!

Another short Metro trip takes us to the Tour De Eiffel! We are not ascending the tower as dark clouds are congregating and the view would be spoiled. We will come back. Leisurely walking along the Seine with its many restored barges and bridges reminds me of a song my mother used to sing about being “Under the Bridges of Paris with You”. I wish she was here.

The area contains magnificent building, such as the Museum of Modern Art and the Trocadero.  There are stunning parks with fountains and monuments.

It’s raining now so we decide to check out Haussman street and a quick look at the exclusive (and expensive) department stores of Printemps and Lafyette.

Our metro ride is typical with a gypsy singer accompanied by a friend on the piano accordion. She had a beautiful voice and sang familiar French tunes, amplified by a microphone and speaker attached to a suitcase trolley with wheels. Her accompanist hands around a cup for donations before moving onto the next carriage.

Once we arrive at our stop it’s just a short walk to our apartment on the 5^th floor! No lift! Around the fourth floor our luggage seems to treble in weight.

This is a very typical French street with patisseries, fruit and vegetable market and trees shedding their autumn leaves.  There is a supermarket so we do some grocery shopping for the week ahead as we can cook for ourselves in the little 1 bedroom apartment, we can climb the stairs again with the groceries, why not??