Landed in London

Tuesday 23 – Friday 27 August

Monday night's dinner at a local French restaurant – La Vieille Forge – was totally divine. Such delicious food and wine and the ambience was lovely too. It was nice to walk through the town at night without the bustle of tourists and to see the buildings lite.

Tuesday we drove the 5 hours or so to the Frankfurt camp site we'd booked for our overnight stay. The one big highlight was stopping at a McCafe along the way for a soy latte.

Wednesday morning we handed back the motor home and much to our disgust, had to pay 85 Euros for the Austrian tolls - we'd traveled on the toll roads for only two days there. Ridiculously expensive.

Our taxi driver to the airport was quick to reassure us that all was well with his vehicle which he had to hang onto whilst putting our luggage in the boot, because the handbrake didn't seem to work properly and it kept sliding away.

The German customs agent was showing his younger colleague how to freak people out by asking us to prove that we hadn't stayed more then 90 days in Germany in contravention of the Schengen Agreement. Luckily we'd kept all the camp site receipts from where we'd been, plus our arrival and exit dates didn't exceed 90 days anyway.

The 1.5hr flight to London City Airport was fine and we were grilled by the customs agent on arrival about why we wanted to stay 3 months in the UK. They want to ensure you're not there to stay or work.

While in London, we are extremely lucky to be staying in Southwark (pronounced Sutholk) within sight of Tower Bridge in an apartment owned by the parents of our girlfriend Charlotte. It is such a great location, well appointed and comfortable, we almost feel like we're back in our Teneriffe apartment.

Thursday we took it easy first up and went for a stroll along the Southbank of the River Thames in the afternoon amongst all the other tourists. We organised two Oyster cards, the London version of the Go-Card, which is exactly the same concept – load funds onto the card when necessary, tag on only for buses, tag on and off for trains.

There is a lot of construction and renovation going on in preparation for the Olympics next year. What will be Europe's tallest building, The Shard, is just about finished and looks very impressive.

That night we met up with an old Brisbane friend of Bill's who has lived in London the past 20 years. We caught the bus to Convent Gardens and met in a traditional English pub for a few drinks then onto a local pizza place for a quick bite.

Friday we were on a mission to buy a few things so headed back to Convent Gardens and walked from there. It was a very rainy day with occasional heavy showers but we persisted.

We also wanted to join the British Trust which is very worthwhile for then visiting museums etc and we can use it in Brisbane as well. However they don't make it easy via their website and their headquarters is locked up tight and unwelcoming so we'll have to find another way of organising that.

Finding ourselves outside Buckingham Palace, we organised tickets for a visit of the State Rooms on Sunday afternoon. Liz and Phil may or may not be there!!!

We've noticed that London drivers are very aggressive, love to use their horn and are quite partial to mouthing off to other drivers. The traffic is quite hectic, but maybe the added aggression makes it more so. We witnessed some “bus queue rage” as well with this guy mouthing off at someone wanting to push in, then wanted to pursue the matter once they were on the bus.

A quiet night in front of the telly was well deserved after a pretty full on day.

Saturday 28 August

Our nephew, Nathan, is living in Liverpool at the moment but comes to London a couple of days a week so we'll catch up with him today. He's a hair and make-up artist and recently finished a 3 month stint in Dohar in the Middle East and is now working on a local soap “Hollyoaks”, a bit like “Neighbours”.

We met at the Borough Markets which are a short walk for us. They are fresh food markets opened to the public Thursday – Saturday, and extremely popular. A duck sandwich was our choice for lunch. Yum.

We will be in London until Thursday, when we pick up our next campervan, so we will be out and about exploring this massive city.

More photos here.

Route des Vins, Alsace

Friday 20 August

Lots of dark clouds that looked here to stay, but we're off this morning on a 5 hour drive towards Colmar in the Alsace region.

We were taking the non autoroute roads to avoid the tolls until we got very close and basically had to take this tunnel through a mountain to get there faster. The toll was a horrendous 20 Euro and the tunnel was the longest we've been through to date.

The weather had changed to fine and hot by the time we arrived at our camp site at Camping de L'ill in Colmar. The camp looked nice at first glance but once we set up and had a look at the sanitaries, we weren't so impressed. There is a brand new sanitary but unfortunately it's closed tonight, during the high season, for repairs until tomorrow morning so we had to use the old ones which are unisex, have very poor drainage in the showers, lights that don't work and open urinals for good measure.

But on the upside, it's only for one night, and we're in Colmar which has been highly recommended by one of our guide books so we'll explore tomorrow.

Saturday 21 August

We have been so lucky with the weather of late and it certainly feels like summer now in these north/east regions of France.

Finding a car park in down town Colmar didn't prove to be all that difficult in the end. France really makes it easy for mobile homes at tourist attractions, by providing their abundant Aire services throughout the country and even car parking in the city. We just pulled in behind two other mobile homes in special spots for camping cars, paid the meter and set off.

Like the Champagne region, Colmar was under German governance until the end of World War I, and you can really see it in the architecture. It was like we'd been transported back to the first German town we had visited. There is obviously a modern side to Colmar, but we headed straight for the old town.

Many of the works of Colmar's great artist, Martin Schongauer of the 15th century can be found in the Unterlinden Museum which was once a Dominican Convent. The building itself is incredible, but the multitude of different works gathered here is amazing.

The Isenheim Altarpiece, created as a distraction for people with the skin disease Ergotism, is really beautiful and surprisingly large compared to other altarpieces we've seen.

In the “English Maiden's Room” was the first harmonica every constructed and played with a foot pedal.

The suits of armour in the Weapons and Armour room definitely looked the real deal with worn leather backing and indentations in the chest plates from being struck by lances way back when.

Once outside, the Colmar dream just continued. This place is totally enchanting with so many gorgeous “icing” covered houses, colourful flower boxes, inviting restaurants and historical monuments.

Following the Tourist Trail, our second attraction was the Dominican Church containing the Virgin in a Rose Garden altarpiece by Martin Schongauer from 1473. Stolen from this very church in the 1970's but recovered a few years later, the security is obviously now very high and no photos are allowed (not sure how we got these then). The piece is wonderful as are the many wooden carvings throughout the church, again a German influence.

Another famous son of Colmar is Bartholdi who went on to create the Statue of Liberty. The museum housing his works is actually the house he grew up in. In the courtyard is a fantastic work depicting The Three Foundations of the World – Justice, Work and Fraternity - Very inspiring.

We could have spent the entire day visiting this town but we were on the meter and wanted to get to our next camp site, only 30 minutes away in Kaysersberg.

Our camp site, Camping Municipal Kaysersberg, is terrific. You can see the German influence here too and it's great to finish off our European tour this way.

After setting up and lunch we headed into town but were soon (nicely) accosted by an French older gentleman insisting we walk up to the Chateau to take some panoramic photos “almost to America”. The Chateau is abandoned and much of it is gone but it has been maintained to a safe standard including the 107 stairs to the top. It was such a clear afternoon, we could almost see America :)

By the time we got down to the town centre, we were a sweaty mess with this glorious, fine, 29 degree day. This town is as gorgeous as Colmar with “icing” covered houses etc. And it is the start of the Route de Vin (wine road) which we will explore tomorrow.

The Church of Saint Cross dating back to the 13^th century is in the Roman Gothic style. The first thing you see in the central naïve is the crucified Jesus measuring 4.1m surrounded by the Virgin and St John. We've never seen anything like it. There is no gold or marble but quite a large altarpiece, beautiful stained glass windows and many large statues, amazingly well preserved.

Down an alleyway further along we watched a glass blower in action making a beautiful golden coloured vase then visited the boutique containing all sorts of lovely, expensive things.

Back at camp, Sylvi had her first go at cooking rabbit stew with red wine, carrots and champignons, accompanied by mashed potatoe and greens It was pretty good.

Sunday 22 August

Another beautiful sunny day with a pleasant breeze which proved to be very welcome for what we were about to unknowingly undertake.

The maps of the region we'd been given weren't great in their description of the terrain, nor did any of the sign posts along the way mention that the 2hr walk to the next town of Riquewihr was mostly uphill for an hour (we reached 650m at the peak). 

It would have been longer uphill but we decided to use our instinct and follow the path amongst the vines for another hour to our destination. Only the other day Sylvi had complained about not having done many hill walks lately, so this was the “reward”.

Walking amongst the vines was wonderful though. They totally covered the hill above us and stretched as far as we could see below. The bunches of grapes were huge and plump and of course we had to try just one grape each. Delicious and sweet.

Arriving into the town of Riquewihr slightly exhausted and dripping in sweat, we found it to be very similar to Colmar and Kaysersberg only smaller. These towns are so cute with their cobbled streets, gorgeous houses and multitude of local craft (wine, cakes, cheese etc). The place was bustling with tourists.

After lunch we set off in the direction of home but on a flatter route which took us to the even smaller and more deserted town of Kientzheim. Being a Sunday everything was shut except for a small gathering of people enjoying a BBQ and wine tasting.

We decided to carry on home as the day had become extremely hot and we just wanted a cooling shower so stopped in town only long enough to buy a bottle of the local Pinot Gris to try with dinner.

It certainly was a very full on day and we were proud of our efforts and happy that our fitness levels haven't dropped too much since this trip began. We'll see if we pay for it in the next day or so.

Monday 23 August

Woke up feeling pretty good. Today we'll start cleaning the motor home and sorting out what we'll take and what we'll leave behind relating to things we've bought for the motor home (buckets, kettle, heater etc). Although we've posted some things home already (summer clothes mainly), we won't have room to take everything to the UK and will have to buy them again there if they don't come with that motor home.

Later we'll go back into town for a wander and dinner tonight. The day is once again hot and sunny which is a lovely way to finish off the European leg of our adventure.

We may not post again until after we arrive in London on Wednesday as tomorrow will only be travelling back to Germany to stay overnight close to Frankfurt and Wednesday we return the motor home and head for the airport.

Hopefully those reading have enjoyed the first half of our adventure including the great photos Bill is taking. This is our way of communicating with you all, so don't hold back in making comments or sending us emails to let us know what is happening back home and in your lives.

More photos of Alsace here.

Champagne for Everyone!

Tuesday 16 August

Another beautiful day as we set off early to visit the Chateau of Vaux le Vicomte in Melun before heading to the Champagne region. It was a last minute decision to visit this Chateau but we felt we couldn't pass it by seeing as it was the inspiration for Versailles, which has been the inspiration for so many other Chateaus and residences we've seen throughout Europe on this trip.

The gates open at 10am and we arrived 15 minutes early for prime position. This is a now a private family owned estate and has been extremely well maintained, though the exterior of the building could do with a touch up of yellow paint to bring it back to its original glory (and to match the advertising brochures). The gardens alone cover 33 hectares (82 acres), so when you add the Chateau, stables and servants quarters, you get the idea that this place is huge.

We would have loved to spend all day here but also wanted to get to our camp site in Epernay Champagne which we hadn't booked, so only did the basic tour which was basically everything apart from the original owner's (Nicolas Fouquet) private rooms.

Nicolas Fouquet was the finance minister in the day of Louis XIV, but a very wealthy man in his own right and dreamed up this magnificent Chateau with the help of 3 masters of the time – architect Louis Le Vau, landscape artist Andre Le Notre and painter-decorator Charles Le Brun.

Fouquet mastered his own downfall by building a Chateau that was better then the King's residence, which was a great insult. This situation was taken advantage of by one of Fouquet peers – Jean-Baptiste Colbert - who wanted to set him up, to hide his own money issues. A grand opening party was held on 17 August 1661 (350 years ago tomorrow) with the King and his mother as prominent guests together with fireworks and a play by Molière to entertain the guests. 

That night, Fouquet reached the peak in his life, and the next morning, his fate was sealed. In September of 1661, the King had the captain of the musketeers, d'Artagnan, arrest Fouquet. His farcical trial lasted 3 years ending with his imprisonment and death 9 years later. Louis XIV then had the same 3 masters build Versailles. This is totally fascinating and amazing stuff.

Our tour (with audioguides) took us through the King's rooms, where no monarch actually stayed, a games room, dining room, the kitchens and several other rooms, all beautifully appointed. It really was very impressive. The gardens are a work of genius and in fact the King had the gardener nobled after the completion of Versailles. His chosen coat of arms were 3 snails on a bed of soil with a cabbage atop. Very amusing.

A quick stop in the Carriage Museum was also very impressive with many different styles and a beautiful collection of saddles and harnesses.

This Chateau is far less visited then Versailles, though they do still get 250,000 visitors a year. But really it is very worth the 55km travel from Paris to see it as in a way it is more spectacular.

Just before we arrived in the Champagne region we saw the amazing sight of oil extracting machines in the fields. Apparently Oil was discovered here in 1959.  Who knew such a thing occurred here?

We arrived at our camp site, Allees de Cumieres, at Epernay, within 2.5 hours. This area is totally amazing and contains all the Champagne vineyards of note – Moet et Chandon, Pommery, Perrier Jouet and one we will definitely visit tomorrow, and our favourite bubbles, Veuve Clicquot.

We set up quickly and went to explore the town which itself has many caves to visit along the Avenue de Champagne. The Town Hall in fact was once the private residence of Mr Auban Moet and the Chateau of Mr Perrier is just up the road.

Dropping in at the Gare (train station) we bought our tickets for tomorrow morning's trip into Reims for our visit to the Veuve Clicquot winery. The journey will take 20 minutes at a cost of 13 Euros each for a return ticket which seems a touch excessive.

Back at camp we discovered an older group of American couples travelling in 8 motor homes accompanied by a guide set up just near us. This is our first encounter of a so-called Guided RV Tour.  It seems they've all hired their campers from Germany and set off with a guide to shown them this region and possibly beyond. The job of the guide is to not only show them the tourist sites, but to also describe the features of the camp site – the showers are here, the dump site is here etc. Good on them. They are here to see the sites and learn about other cultures. We know they won't be any trouble as they are older and need their sleep as much as we do.

Wednesday 17 August

Up very early to ensure we didn't miss our 9:01am train to Reims, which we found out later is actually pronounced Rance. The TER train is very modern and comfortable with pull down tables as well as power outlets for laptops and the like. We had an express service so the 20 minute journey went very quickly, passing through kilometres of vines growing on the sloping hills.

When we arrived at Reims we thought things looked fairly deserted, but then thought shops etc may not open until 10am. We picked up the town map at the Tourist Office situated in a historical stone building beside the massive Notre Dame Cathedral, then see off on the 30 minute walk to reach Veuve Clicquot.

Bill had previously read the story about the widow Clicquot and how she was forced to take over her husband's family winery upon his unexpected, early death in 1805 only 7 years after they married. She was 27 at the time with a 6 year old daughter. But carry on she did with the help at first of one of her husband's business contacts and years later, another, but she directed everything herself. The business would never be inherited by her daughter as Mme Clicquot did not believe her or her husband to have a strong business ethic.

The first big success for Mme Clicquot was in 1811 when she observed a comet which resulted in an excellent crop of grapes that year. She exported that production to Russia, received rave reviews which set her on her way. She also pioneered the méthode champenoise with the technique of remuage (gradually turning and tilting the bottle over a period so the sediment moves to the neck to enable its removal by disgorgement).

The 1.5hr tour of the caves was conducted only in French, so Bill satisfied himself with taking photos. It was a very chilly 10 degrees with a constant humidity of 90%. Just before the tour ended we were shown a bottle recovered last year in the Baltic Seas as part of a cargo which sank hundreds of years ago. An expert analyst was sent to attest to its authenticity, the result being that the Champagne could have been made no earlier then 1772 (when the Clicquot house was founded by Madame's father-in-law) and no later than between 1788 and 1789 and although it no longer contained bubbles, nor could it have been served for public consumption, the taste was not unpalatable (apparently).

At the end of the tour we enjoyed a delicious glass of the non vintage yellow label which is our favourite.

On our way back into the city we stopped in at the Pommery winery (enormous) but Sylvi couldn't face another visit or at this hour of the day another glass of bubbles, shameful as it is to say.

After lunch we visited the Notre Dame Cathedral from the 13^th century which must be the largest church we've seen on our travels. The outside is adorned by so many statues you could spend all day going around the exterior alone. There are in fact over 2500 statues inside and out. Inside is massive and beautifully decorated but not with gold or marble. Joan of Arc featured prominently here too, having been mainly responsible for settling the succession and therefore the coronation of Charles VII right here in Reims at this cathedral in 1429. It was also here that French President Charles de Gaulle and West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer attended a service on 8 July 1962 and publicly stated their determination to achieve reconciliation. An amazing place.

We walked along the main shopping mall and were surprised by how empty the place still was. A lot of shops were closed (still holiday time here) and the area quite deserted.

Another interesting site was the Cryptoportique built in circa 200 AD. These Gallo-Romain galleries were once built to store grain and now house different exhibitions.

The Town Hall was once again a work of art and although it has also housed a savings bank, library, police services and a museum, it was never someone's personal residence.

Before we caught the train home we stopped to look at Porte Mars (Mars Gate), the only remaining monumental gate built in the first part of the 13^th century giving access to the Roman city of Durocortorum.

Back at our camp site we met a lovely older English couple, Ian and Cath who gave us some good information about UK camp sites. We enjoyed a drink and a chat late into the evening.  

Thursday 19 August

The dark clouds quickly cleared to another fine day for us as we set off into Epernay.  The Synagogue was the first thing we came upon, built in 1880 but not open for visits. It was located very close to the Notre Dame Cathedral which may not have the elaborate statue decorations within and out, but is still a beautiful church with very life like stained glass windows.

There has been a church on this spot since 596. All that remains of the 16^th century version is the Gateway of Saint Martin which was repaired and moved to a location further along in 1916. This current church began in 1897, finished in 1917, partially destroyed in 1918 and restored in 1924. In fact the entire Champagne region was badly decimated during the first War with great loss of life and habitation.

We arrived too late to visit the Town Hall which closes for lunch at 12pm and doesn't reopen until 4pm, but the building itself and surrounding gardens are lovely.

Now in the Avenue de Champagne, we started at Moet & Chandon, just visiting the boutique. 

Scarlett Johansen is the new face of Moet and there are some great publicity shots. Something you don't expect to find in a Champagne house is the model of Claudia Schiffer's breast taken by Karl Largerfeld in a 1995 campaign to honour Dom Perignon. Apparently the original version was modelled on Queen Marie Antionette in 1787.

There was also this magnificent chandelier in the foyer of Moet made from - of course - Champagne Glasses...

We walked the rest of this Avenue admiring the beautiful Champagne houses – Pol Roger, Perrier Jouet, and a few we hadn't heard of before – as well as houses belonging to obviously wealthy citizens before coming to an amazing roundabout with giant champagne cork and capsule.

Bill had his first taste of rabbit for lunch which he thoroughly enjoyed in its two mustard sauce, and after a walk to see some other historical monuments, dessert at Dolci and Gelati which was recommended by the guide book.

To top off the day we wanted to do two Champagne houses – de Castellane and Mercier.

The exterior of de Castellane is very impressive with its tower of 200+ steps which we climbed and museum of historical equipment used in champagne production, but that's where the good bits end. The tour of the cave was conducted in such a slip shod manner followed by a glass of very average champagne, it could not possibly compare in any way to our tour of Veuve yesterday. We did get some good photos at the top of the tower however.

The Mercier house was a great revelation. Eugène Mercier was a very enterprising young man who at 20 started his champagne house in 1858 and later convinced other vignerons to come under his umbrella for production and marketing purposes. In 1889, a gigantic barrel is laboriously carted to Paris for the Universal Exposition at which Mercier receives rave reviews.  That same barrel was right there in the foyer!

We had audio guides for the tour, firstly watching a short film showing snippets of one of the first publicity films made during that time by the brothers Lumière, descended an elevator watching depictions of Mercier's exploits in miniature and toured the caves in a laser-guided train. Yes – a small train was needed due to the amazing size of the kilometres of interconnecting tunnels where 10's of millions of bottled champagne is stored to mature. 

You literally are walking on champagne wherever you go in Epernay.

It was all enchanting including an unexpected sight of a squirrel which we initially thought was a toy set up as part of the “show” until it moved. We both enjoyed the tasting of the non vintage Brut and bought a bottle of vintage to try later so we could compare with Veuve. The price of Mercier's vintage is around the same as the Veuve non vintage, so we'll see.

The weather held out for us all day, though a few clouds threatened, and we thoroughly enjoyed this town full of history, beauty and quality.

More photos here.